"Do you remember me?"
The man stopped in front of him, looking earnest and hopeful. "I'm Ishida. You visited my stall a few days ago!"
"Ishida?"
Hyuga Kiyonari furrowed his brow and tried to remember. Gradually, fragments of the scene came back to him.
"Ah, I remember. You're the man who sells game."
"That's right!" Ishida nodded excitedly. "It's me! You stopped by my stall and chatted with me for quite a while. I even gave you a pheasant."
Just then, Hinata Hyuga noticed what was happening and hurried out of the accessories shop, setting down the hairpin she had been holding.
"Kiyonari, is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. I ran into someone I know," Kiyonari said with a shake of his head. "You two go on shopping."
Ino followed close behind, then tugged the two of them over. "Let us hear about it, too."
Ishida was clearly lost in his memories and hadn't noticed Ino and the others coming closer. His voice was full of feeling. "I really have you to thank for pointing me in the right direction. Now I have a goal, and I'm full of energy. It feels like I could go on forever!"
Kiyonari waved a hand. "We just had a casual chat."
"No, no!" Ishida shook his head emphatically. "It might have been a casual chat to you, but to me, it completely changed my life!"
"Changed your life?" Ino couldn't resist interjecting, her eyes shining with curiosity. "That sounds amazing. What happened?"
Ishida turned to look at them and bowed slightly. "These ladies are your friends, benefactor?"
Hyuga Kiyonari nodded and introduced himself. "My name is Hyuga Kiyonari. There's no need to call me 'benefactor.'"
Benefactor? He's calling him that without even knowing his name. What exactly did Kiyonari do?
Ino couldn't help giving him a curious look.
"Very well, Benefactor Kiyonari!" Ishida said, clearly taking the stance of I understand, but I'm not changing a thing.
He took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, and began his story.
"Before I met my benefactor, I was just an ordinary man who'd recently moved to Konoha Village and sold game. Business was terrible. It had been that way for days. When I couldn't figure out why, my benefactor explained it to me: hunting was easy for shinobi, so I'd be better off selling something Konoha didn't have."
"For example, some of the new things that were all the rage in the Land of Fire's capital were rarely seen in Konoha Village. If I brought them back to sell, they might be popular."
Ino's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait! Are you talking about those fashion magazines?"
"That's right." Ishida nodded.
Ino was so excited she almost jumped. "It really was you! I knew it! Konoha Village didn't have those magazines before, and then suddenly a shop started selling them. They even have such a wide selection! So it was you!"
"Looks like this young lady is one of our loyal customers?"
"Of course! I've read every issue of Fashion of the Nations in your shop. I heard you got new ones in today, too?"
Ishida bowed sincerely. "Thank you so much for your support! Since you're my benefactor's friends, I'll take the liberty of giving each of you a set of the new releases."
"No, no," Ino said, waving her hands to refuse. "Just save four sets for me, boss. I'll pay for them."
"Uh... all right." Ishida couldn't tell what their relationship was, so he agreed and continued his story.
"After chatting with my benefactor that day, I went home and tossed and turned all night without getting any sleep. Early the next morning, I went straight to see a few old friends. Like me, they ran small businesses and barely scraped by."
"I told them exactly what my benefactor had said. Everyone was fired up after hearing it, and in the end, we decided to take a chance! We'd go to the capital of the Land of Fire together and see what they had there that you couldn't find in Konoha Village!"
"And then?" Sakura listened intently, leaning forward slightly as she pressed him for more.
"Well..." Ishida's face filled with emotion. "A few of us pooled what little capital we could and climbed into a horse-drawn cart. After two bumpy days on the road, we finally reached the capital. I'd never seen streets so wide and straight, or buildings so tall and impressive. There were shops one after another, selling all sorts of things. We country folk were dazzled by it all. Everything looked new and fascinating."
"The first difference I noticed between the capital and Konoha was how many customers there were in the bookstores. So I went in to take a look and saw people crowded around all kinds of magazines. I heard they were about fashion, art, literature... I didn't understand any of it, but they were selling like hotcakes."
"I made up my mind right then and suggested we use all the money we had left to buy a huge batch of magazines!"
Ishida recalled, "My friends were nervous, worried that if they didn't sell, we'd lose all the money we'd put in. But I insisted we give it a try! I believed my benefactor was right. Even if they sold slowly, their novelty alone would be enough to attract some buyers."
"And then you succeeded!" Sakura clapped her hands, caught up in the story. The whole experience was as exciting as something from a picture book.
"We did!" Ishida beamed. "When we got back to Konoha Village, we carefully picked out a little stall on the main street and displayed the magazines there. At first, hardly anyone paid attention, but soon a few girls were drawn in by the beautiful covers of the fashion magazines. The moment they opened them, their eyes lit up."
Ishida laughed heartily, his voice full of admiration. "We owe everything we have today to my benefactor. You have to let us repay you."
"What happened next?" Ino's curiosity was thoroughly piqued.
Ishida raised his voice excitedly. "The moment I got the money, I sent one of my friends straight back to the capital to buy a second batch! This time we were bolder. We bought more, and we chose a much wider variety!"
"Last night," he said, excitement and a hint of mystery in his voice, "my friend finally came back with the second batch! And... he brought back some huge news, too!"
"What?" Sakura pressed him eagerly.
Instead of answering directly, Ishida pointed to the building behind him, which was still under construction. "They're building a movie theater!"
"A movie theater?" Ino tilted her head, looking confused. "What's that?"
Sakura looked just as puzzled. "I've never heard of one either..."
Hinata looked to Kiyonari, who gave a slight shake of his head.
Seeing their baffled expressions, Ishida laughed. "I knew you wouldn't know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself. All I know is that it's something that can turn the stories in novels into moving pictures and show them to everyone!"
"Turn stories... into moving pictures?"
Ino suddenly understood. She'd visited the place where her father worked, where there was a machine called a surveillance camera that could display images from far away on a screen. But she'd never imagined those machines could be used to make "movies," too.
"I don't really understand how it works," Ishida said, scratching his head sheepishly. "All I know is that they use a machine called a 'camera' to film actors as they perform. Then they use another machine called a 'projector' to display those images on a huge white screen. The audience sits below and watches the whole story come to life!"
"That sounds... amazing!" Hinata murmured, her eyes full of curiosity.
At that, Hyuga Kiyonari narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the unfinished building.
Movies... Actors...
Now I remember.
Before you continue