Stone Flower ch1: Hiring a Maid

Okay, get ready~

Say cheese.

Here you go.
Thank you very much.

You in Kyoto for a trip?
Yes.
It's our honeymoon.
Ooh, that's nice.

Ah, that's right.
Have you seen a pair of girls during your trip? One in a maid outfit, the other in a wheelchair.

Two girls in a wheelchair and maid outfit together? Can't say we have.
Ah, but it's just someone in a maid outfit...

There's one over there.
!

We've found her!
Where?
Kiyomizu's theater! Hurry!

Kana-sama.
Where's the young lady!?

There's no escape!
...

Don't be so sure.

Wha-!?

Ah.

Oh right.
Please let Ruten-chan's father know
that she's doing well.

Huh!?
What are you...
say...

Someone fell!

Are you okay!?

I'll call an ambulance, so please look for an AED!
Got it!

...

Hello?
Hey~

How long are you gonna sleep for,
Kana-san?

Oh.

You're already here,
Milady?

Are your wounds fixed?
Yep. I'm pretty much fully healed.

But my uniform's all ripped.
And I really liked this china maid outfit too...

I'll have to buy a new maid outfit...
No, we don't.
It's because that maid outfit stands out so much that we keep getting chased.

But you can't be a maid without a maid outfit...
I've been saying since the start that you don't need to wear one!!

For starters, I didn't hire you to be a maid...

One year ago

Woah, it's huge...
Pretty crazy to have a house like this in Kyoto City.

Did I get the wrong place?

Yes?
I'm Kana, here for the housekeeping job interview.
Please come inside.

Furthest down the hall...
This door, I guess?

Excuse me~

Eh?

A kid...?

Hey, little miss. Erm.
You in grade school? Good girl watching the house.
Is Ruten-san your mom?

I came here because I have business with Ruten-san...
I'm Ruten.
Hm? You say something?

p10

I'm Ruten.
And I'm in middle school, thank you very much.
Ah, sorry.

When you get to my age, it's hard to tell grade schoolers and middle schoolers apart...

Speaking of which, it's the middle of a weekday. Shouldn't you be at school?

Life seems long, but it's oh so short.
You should do the things you can only do now.

Please leave...

LEAVE RIGHT NOW!

p11

Construction

Another failed interview.
Guess I'd better look for another job...

Good morning~
Good morning.

Another day, another part-time job.

Alright~ Alright~

Say, Kana-san.

What do you do on your days off?
Go on outings, mostly.

p12

Since we're in Kyoto and all,
I often go to shrines and temples.
Hmm. I don't really get what's so interesting about those.

Well, they're the setting for some anime, so.
Ah, so you're one of those?
What's that supposed to mean?

Where are you going next?
I was thinking maybe Kinkakuji.

Heh~ Sounds good. We should go together.
No way. You wouldn't find it interesting, right, Satou-san?

I'm clocking out~
Kay~

p13

I'm getting pretty sick of construction work...
I thought housekeeping might've been fun.

Hm?

A girl...?

She's collapsed!

p14

Are you okay?

Can you hear me?

Medicine...
Bag...
Got it!

There!

Thank you.
I feel a lot better now.
That's good to hear.

p15

Ruten-san, was it?
Should I see you home?

Ah.
No.
The medicine seems to be working, so I can get home by my... self...
Wait, how do you know my name...?

Hah
Are you the one from yesterday...?

The really rude woman!
Ah...
Yeah... That's me...

I'm sorry about yesterday...
Ah, no.
You came to my rescue so...
we can call it even...

Man~

Hahaha

Okay.
I'm heading home.
Eh?
Ah.
Right.

p16

She's gone.

She was a nice lady.
She only said that stuff yesterday because it was common sense.
I should've stopped her...

But now it's too late...

p17

What is?
Woah!

Why are you still here?
Well, y'know.

Even if you say you're okay, I wasn't sure if I should leave you by yourself.
Let me see you hope.

So you live by yourself
in that huge house?
That's right. It's technically the main residence, but it's not being used.

Even so, I can't believe someone would make a girl in a wheelchair live by herself...?
No.

p18

I'm the one who wanted
to live by myself.

I contracted an illness a few days ago.
They told me I could die at any time.

Up until then, I was a proud daughter with excellent grades as school,
but after getting sick, I've been cooped up at home without going to school.

And eventually,
my father looked at me like I was a disappointment.
The rest of my family acted the same way.

I felt like I was being a nuisance.

That's just cruel.
Not really.
It's better being in a house than a hospital.
They pay my living expenses too.

p19

So, about the housekeeping thing.
Yeah. Leaving completely on my own is still pretty rough.

I'm sorry about yesterday...
Even without knowing the circumstances, that was pretty rude of me.
It's fine...

What you said back there was correct, Kana-san.
I simply lost my cool back there.
...

...

Hey, Ruten-san.
Are you feeling okay?
?
I'm fine now.

How fine? Fine enough to make a stop on the way?
Yes, I'm fine.

p20

Wait, why Kinkakuji...?

I wanted to go see it.
Then go by yourself.
Eh~ But you said you've never been here.

Do you even know what Kikakuji is? Were you taught about it?

I know it just fine.

p21

Rokuonji Kinkaku.
A temple founded by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu during the Muromachi era,
right?
Ooh, you've done your research.

So, how's seeing it in person for the first time feel?

How does it feel?
Y'know, your opinions of the scenery and stuff.
Ah.

Well, it is pretty.
The way the gold color reflects on the water's surface.

Hmm.
What about you, Kana-san?

Me?
Well, let's see.

p22

It's hilarious.
That's what I think.

Eh? Hilarious...?

I mean, it's pretty funny, right?
All the walls are painted in gold
and it looks kinda blank.
It's kinda like, "was this really what they were going for?" or something.

It is kinda weird when you put it that way...
but the Buddha statue is all sparkly and gold too, right?

The Buddha statue is great because the shimmering flames from the candles in the dark temple alters its sparkliness.
Could you not suddenly talk like an advanced student?

p23

There was once a fire at Kinkakuji.
It was several decades ago, mind you.

You mean Kinkakuji caught on fire? The thing we're looking at right now?
Yeah. It got rebuilt into the one we're looking at right now.
Do you know why it caught on fire?
I don't. It was full of books, so I guess it was pretty flammable...

It was arson.

Arson? You mean someone set fire to it...?
Why would someone do something so appalling...?
A motive, huh?

p24

At first,
they said it was apparently
"revenge against society".

What revenge would burning Kinkakuji accomplish?

I don't really know either,
but the culprit was a poor priest who served at Kinkakuji.
There were supposedly all sorts of motives from mental illness to economics to Buddhist conflicts.

Well, I imagine it would've had to have been something pretty severe to make them do something that appalling.

That doesn't make it okay to burn it.

That's right. There's no nobility nor shit when it comes to criminal motives.
Well,
despite knowing that...

p25

The sight of Kinkakuji burning was beautiful.
The best Kinkakuji I've seeen up until now.

p26

She says some terrifying things.

Kana-san's weird,
but she doesn't lie.

She's completely different from those adults who changed their attitude towards me once I became ill.

Thinking that a burning Kinkakuji is beautiful
is a terrifying thing.

It's terrifying, and yet...

p27

"Kinkakuji would surely be beautiful if it was on fire"."

That thought crossed my mind too.

p28

Man, Kinkakuji was great, huh?
Wheelchair accessible too.

Kana-san.
Hmm?

Can we see each other again?

You mean... as friends...?

No.
I mean...
yes.

Hmm.
You don't want to?
It's not that...

p29

I wouldn't get any money for being your friend,
so I'd rather you hire me as a housekeeper.

Huh?

Think about it.
If I become your housekeeper, we can see each other every day!
Awesome, right?

It's not awesome at all!

Now now, don't say that.
Why don't you hire me?
I recommend it.
I can even do live-in~

p30

...

Fine, I'll hire you...

Alright!

Yay, I'm so happy!
Yay!
Room and board included?
Included...
Shall I sleep with you too?
No thanks!
Aw, too bad.

More importantly,
I need to report new hires to the family, so can I get a photo?

A photo?
Sure. Lend me your phone.
?
Here you go.

p31

Say cheese.
Why are you taking a photo of me!?

It's supposed to be a photo of you, Kana-san!
Oh, that's what you meant.

Okay, here we go~
Why are we taking a selfie together?

It's a good photo, right?

...

p32

Okay, I'll send it over LINE.
Ah, don't use my phone without asking!

Hah...
I guess it's fine...

Ah.

Oh yeah, how about we go buy a maid outfit after this?
Why?

Can't be a maid without a maid outfit...
I'm hiring a housekeeper, not a maid.

Maid, housekeeper, what's the difference?
Aren't you the one saying maids need maid outfits, Kana-san!?

At any rate, I look forward to working with you.
Right...
I'm getting kinda worried, though...

Incoming call - Father

Don't worry. It'll all work out.

Call: Incoming call from Father
Father: Where did that woman come from?
Where are you right now!? Call me right away! Are you home?

Probably.

Stone Flower ch2: Riding a Truck

Minato Café

Shouldn't you answer that?

It's a call from your Dad, right?

Yes.
But
I decided I would live on my own, so.
Hmm.

That being said,

it's pretty pathetic that I can't live on my own at all.
I'm hiring you with my parents' money, after all, Kana-san...
No, no!

You're doing great!

When you needed help, you looked for someone to hire on your own!
That's not something anybody can do!
What's more!

I'm happy that I can finally become a maid like I've always wanted!
You're amazing, Ruten-chan!

So with that said,
let's go buy a maid outfit right away!

No way.
Why not!?

Why do you need a maid outfit so badly anyway?

I just wanna wear one, plain a simple.
Just wear one in your own house.

Ruten-chan.
We live one life, so we should live it doing what we want.
I'm not sure about you doing what you want on the job.

Please let me have this!!

Out of interest,
is there anything you want to do, Ruten-chan?
Something I want to do?

It's not fair that only I get to wear a maid outfit,
so I want to let you do something you want to do too.
I don't see what's unfair about that.

Let's see...

Urk

Oww...

You okay?

Kana-san?
Where are we?

Probably the back of a truck.
It appears

we've been kidnapped.

K-Kidnapped!?

You got any guesses why we'd be kidnapped, Ruten-chan?
None at all!
Figured as much.

Never mind that! We need to get out of here right away!

Ow!

Handcuffs!?

I-
I can't break free...

What do I do? Anything I can cut these cuffs with...

I'm guessing not...

Ah, that's right.

p10

Have you thought of something?

Ah.
No.
I just remembered you never answered my question.

In the end,
what was it you wanted to do, Ruten-chan?

Huh?

We don't have time for that right now!!
We've been kidnapped, remember!?
Who knows where they're gonna take us!

I have a rough idea of where we are.
Eh?

p11

We were just at Kitanohakubaichou interjunction, right?
From there, we headed north by truck via Nishioji-dori Street.

Then we continued down the road while ignoring traffic lights.

Nishioji-dori Street
Yodoyama
Kitano Shinto Shrine
Kitaoji-dori Street
Kinkakuji
Kitanohakubaichou

Which means we're currently on Kitaoji-dori Street.

What's more, the light coming through that small window has been filtering through trees for a while now,
There are roadside trees in the middle of the road, so even though we're on Kitaoji, we're still in the Kitayama area,

So we can still make it home by bus.

...

So,
Ruten-chan.

p12

What do you want to do?
Hah...
Let's see...

I've never actually left Kyoto.
I've never been on trips with my parents,
and I got sick before I could go on any grade school trips.

That's why,

p13

I want to get out of Kyoto
and go on a trip.

I want to see Mount Fuji
and the Skytree
and all sorts of places with my own eyes.

But most importantly right now,

p14

I wanna get off this truck!

I see!

It looks like you and I

have the same dream.

The first one won't be easy,
but that second one I can grant right away.

p15

Hup.

Phew.
This should make things easier.

p16

Yes, understood.

We'll deliver them right away.
Hey!

Hey, look!

Shut up!
Can't you see I'm on the phone right now!?

I know that!
Look behind you!

Behind me?

p17

Yes.

Yes, um...
The back of the truck that was carrying your delivery

has been blown away...

p18

Man, that truck had a fine set of wheels.
There's a maid outfit shop close by, so that worked out perfectly.

What was that just now?
What am I even supposed to think happened?

After getting the handcuffs off, Kana-san
This'll be a little bright, so close your eyes.
said that.

And then

p19

in the next instant,
the roof of the truck was blown away.

In the brief moment I could see what was going on,
Kana-san's appearance

p20

was like that of an angel.

Warning