Little Haruko looks sad. Normally the girl gets angry over failures, but she’s become completely quiet lately.
Mako takes a seat next to her during lunch.
— Haruko, lighten up. What happened?
— Nothing special, — the girl pokes at the sticky rice in her bowl with chopsticks, — it’s just… I saw the merchant’s family…
— And?
— He was with his son Modi. They were joking, playing. The merchant hugged Modi. They looked so happy… And we… We only work out, study, and do chores.
— Are you jealous of Modi?
Haruko nods. Mako remembers well that she once thought the same.
— You know, when I was very little, just like you, Yumi and I ran away to see the village nearby…
— You could have been punished!
— And we were. So, the local children invited us to play. It was lots of fun, not at all like here. Then the children were called back for lunch. And we were left standing in the street.
— So?
— Just accept that you will never become the merchant’s daughter. We grow up without a childhood so that others can have one.
Master Wei overhears the conversation and does not tell the girls that Modi’s father died yesterday.
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