The old man found it a little amusing.
She'd been here several times already...
So why was she still so nervous?
But you couldn't just decide not to be nervous and make it happen.
Little Mango was simply a timid child.
There was nothing to be done.
She would have to work through this slowly.
Without a proper excuse to come by...
Although the old man didn't understand...
What proper excuse did anyone need to visit a general store?
But clearly, the child needed one.
Without a proper excuse, she couldn't muster the courage to step into the store.
If the child didn't come...
There was no way to solve the mystery of the black-and-white goldfish's disappearance.
But...
The old man thought of another possibility.
What if the child came over...
Only to discover in the end...
That she didn't know how the black-and-white goldfish had disappeared either...
Then it really would be like a horror movie.
The old man thought of something else.
He got up and inspected the entire store.
The store was full of odds and ends, but the old man remembered every item and where it belonged.
After all, he'd looked after the place for so many years...
He and his wife had chosen, bought, and arranged everything in it together.
Phew~
The old man sat down on a stool.
Going over the whole store like that...
Had really taken a lot out of him.
He was tired.
But he wasn't sure whether the results were good or bad...
Aside from the little black-and-white goldfish...
Nothing else was missing.
That didn't prove no thief had broken into the store, of course.
Something really was missing, after all.
Even if it was only a tiny goldfish.
But if there