After the old man left, the Japanese-style room was quiet for about three seconds.
Shin-chan jumped up from the cushion. "My snack-management studies have evolved."
Ai slowly stood up from the cushion and smoothed the hem of her kimono. "What are snack-management studies?"
"A field of study I invented." Shin-chan put both hands on his hips. "It's way more practical than what that old grandpa was talking about."
"How is it practical?"
"The things that old grandpa talked about take a long time before you can use them. Snack-management studies can be used right away." Shin-chan counted on his fingers. "For example, one piece of chocolate shared between two people, half each. That's rational resource distribution."
Ai was silent for a while.
"What do we do next?" Shin-chan rolled up his sleeves. "Is it time for lunch?"
"There are more lessons after this."
Shin-chan froze. "What lesson?"
"Tea ceremony."
Shin-chan stood there, his whole body wilting. "I don't like lessons."
"There are still many things to learn," Ai said. "Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy, etiquette..."
"Stop, stop, stop." Shin-chan covered his ears with both hands. "Just hearing those names makes me want to sleep."
Ai looked at him without saying anything.
For as long as she could remember, every day of hers had been arranged like this.
"Ai." Shin-chan secretly glanced around. "Do you want to go out and play?"
"I do." Ai's fingers twisted together. "But there's still a lesson next..."
Before she could finish, Shin-chan had already grabbed her sleeve.
"Then let's go play."
Ai's heart skipped a beat. "But..."
Shin-chan had already pulled her along and turned to run outside.
The paper door slid open with a clatter, and the sound of two children's footsteps rang down the long corridor.
A maid carrying tea utensils saw this scene, and the tray in her hands nearly slipped.
"Your Highness."
Ai turned back and smiled at her.
That smile was completely different from her usual one.
The maid froze in place, watching the two children turn the corner and disappear at the end of the corridor.
The two of them ran for quite a while before finally stopping.
"Which way?" Shin-chan looked left and right. All the corridors looked the same to him.
Ai caught her breath. "You don't know the way?"
"It's my first time here."
Ai looked around, then pointed in one direction. "That way."
They followed the base of the wall all the way to the end, only to find a wall in front of them.
"There's no road." Shin-chan looked up.
Ai was just about to say, "Then let's go back," when, before she could speak, her waist suddenly tightened.
Shin-chan wrapped one arm around her waist, bent his knees slightly, and landed with her on top of the wall.
The hem of her kimono spread out in the air.
Ai instinctively grabbed his sleeve. "You..."
"Keep quiet." Shin-chan held her and jumped down from the wall.
When he was at the ninja academy, he had climbed over walls plenty of times.
"So this is the capital?" Shin-chan let go and looked around.
There weren't many pedestrians on the street. A few people occasionally passed by, and when they saw two children running out from the Daimyo's residence, they froze.
Kuroiso stood in the shadows, his brows tightly furrowed.
As the princess's personal guard, his duty was to ensure her safety without disturbing her.
"Where should we go?"
"This way first." Ai pointed in a direction. "There's a river over there, and a market by the river."
"How do you know there's a market here?"
"I can see it from the castle tower," Ai said. "But I've never gone there."
"Why not?"
"Because a princess can't just go out into the streets."
"Then today, you're not a princess." Shin-chan stepped forward. "Today, you are member number two of the skipping-class squad."
"Who is member number one?"
"Me."
"Wait for me." Ai hurried after him.
But before they had gone far, a group of people suddenly turned the corner.
Yellow monk robes. Bamboo hats.
The monk at the front looked to be in his early fifties. He lowered his head and looked at the two children in front of him, his gaze pausing on Ai's face for an instant.
"You two young benefactors came from the Daimyo's residence?"
Ai instinctively took half a step back, her fingers clutching the sleeve of her kimono.
She recognized those monk robes.
They were monks from the Fire Temple. Every year on the Daimyo's birthday, they came to the palace to pray for blessings. She had sat beside the Daimyo and seen them several times.
If they recognized her and reported it back, then the fact that she had secretly slipped out would no longer be hidden.
Shin-chan, however, was completely unaware of the situation. He looked up and examined the monk in front of him. "Why don't you have hair?"
"Because this poor monk has left the secular world." The monk pressed his palms together and bowed slightly.
"Do people who leave home not grow hair?"
"Shaving one's head is a symbol of letting go of attachments."
"Then where did you put your attachments?"
The monk was slightly startled, as if he hadn't expected a child to ask such a question.
At that moment, a small bald head poked out from behind the monk. His eyes stared straight at Ai, his mouth slightly open, unable to close for a long while.
Ai felt uncomfortable under his stare and shifted half a step behind Shin-chan.
Masao felt that his life before today had been black and white.
He had grown up in the Fire Temple since birth. Every day was spent chanting sutras, meditating, sweeping, and cooking. His senpai had told him before that in the outside world, there was a type of creature called "girls," and they were different from everyone he saw in the temple.
At the time, Masao had bitten his chopsticks and asked how they were different. His senpai had thought for a long time before saying, "You'll know when you see one."
Now he had seen one.
The vocabulary in five-year-old Masao's brain was not enough to describe the scene before him. He only felt his chest thumping rapidly, his cheeks heating up, and his palms sweating.
"Senpai." Masao tugged at the sleeve of the seven-year-old novice monk beside him. "senpai, I think I'm sick."
Chiriku lowered his head and looked at him. "What illness?"
"My heart is beating really fast, and my face feels hot." Masao clutched his chest. "Am I going to die?"
Chiriku rolled his eyes. "You're not sick."
Masao did not shut up.
He walked up to Ai, pressed his palms together, and his voice changed from nervousness. "T-this young monk is Masao. I am five years old. May... may I ask the female benefactor's name..."
Before he could finish, a hand reached over from behind and lightly knocked him on the bald head.
Thud.
Masao covered his head and crouched down.
"Forgive his rudeness." Chiriku pressed one hand together and bowed slightly to Ai. "My kouhai hasn't seen much of the world. Please pardon his offense."
"senpai, did you see? Her hair is glowing..."
Thud.
Another chop to the head.
"That is the sunlight reflecting off it," Chiriku said expressionlessly. "Get up. Don't embarrass the Fire Temple."
Masao tugged at Chiriku's sleeve. "Can I follow them?"
"No."
"But I..."
"You haven't finished copying today's sutras." Chiriku grabbed him by the back of the collar.
"senpai." Masao did not give up. "Can I return to secular life?"
Chiriku looked down at him expressionlessly. "You are five years old."
"Does returning to secular life have anything to do with age?"
"You haven't even grown any hair yet. What secular life are you returning to?"