On the first day, Shuo woke earlier than usual. He had not woken naturally-the racket outside had made it impossible to sleep. Those fragments were making more noise than the craftsmen at the construction site.
Hand Princess Big led dozens of white hands back and forth across the ruins. The thudding of bricks being moved made the ground tremble.
Hand Princess Small led a crowd of feet in hopping around an open space, their pounding sounding like drums. Hand Princess Three was even rowdier, bouncing here and there, blasting a small crater into the ground with a boom every time she landed, never tiring of it.
Hand Princess Four floated in midair, shouting slogans at the top of her voice until she was almost too hoarse to speak.
Hand Princess Five, that huge torso, squatted atop the highest pile of rubble, every eye on her belly wide open and staring fixedly, looking just like a strict overseer.
They were rushing the work, working as though their lives depended on it.
All because Shuo had left them with one sentence the day before: "Repair as much as you can before Isshiki comes. The more you repair, the more candy you get."
Kaguya still stood at the general store's entrance, holding a chestnut candy. She had not unwrapped it, simply keeping it clasped in her hand. Her gaze rested on the busy fragments, her face expressionless, but she did not look away.
Miyoko crouched beside her, flipping through a ledger to check their stock, her brows tightly furrowed.
"Three hundred and seventy-two left."
Miyoko sighed and looked up at Kaguya. "How many days will this stock last?"
Kaguya thought for a moment, her voice flat. "If they don't eat any, and only Shuo does, a month."
Miyoko snorted. "As if they could