The morning began with complaints.
Not from Kamui.
From the old carpenter.
“This leg is too short.”
He placed a wooden stool on the workbench.
It rocked from side to side every time he touched it.
Daichi frowned.
“I measured it twice.”
“You measured it wrong twice.”
Kamui walked over and pressed a hand against the seat.
The stool answered with another wobble.
“It’s got personality.”
“It has a problem.”
“Some people call that personality.”
The old carpenter looked at him.
“…You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
The stool became everyone’s problem.
Daichi tried sanding one leg.
Now another leg was too long.
Kamui suggested placing a folded piece of paper underneath it.
The old carpenter stared at him.
“For customers?”
Kamui thought about it.
“…Fair point.”
By noon, the stool still wasn’t finished.
The old carpenter finally waved a hand.
“Enough.”
“We’ll remake it.”
Daichi sighed.
“All morning…”
“…gone.”
Kamui looked at the crooked stool one last time.
“It wasn’t completely wasted.”
The old carpenter raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“I now know at least four different ways not to build a stool.”
Daichi laughed.
The old carpenter tried not to.
He failed.
Only a little.
Kamui carried the useless stool outside.
He leaned it beside the workshop, intending to dismantle it later.
Before he could…
A familiar voice called from across the street.
“Hey!”
Naruto.
His Academy bag hung over one shoulder.
He stopped in front of the workshop and pointed at the stool.
“…What happened to it?”
Kamui folded his arms.
“It lost an argument.”
Naruto walked around it.
“It looks fine.”
“Sit on it.”
Naruto shrugged.
He sat.
For exactly two seconds.
Then the stool tilted sideways and dumped him into the dirt.
Daichi burst out laughing from inside the workshop.
Even the old carpenter coughed suspiciously into his sleeve.
Naruto looked offended.
“You did that on purpose!”
Kamui nodded.
“I wanted a second opinion.”
Naruto stood up, rubbing his elbow.
“It’s terrible!”
“Now we have confirmation.”
Naruto kicked one of the legs lightly.
“…Can I have it?”
Kamui blinked.
“The broken stool?”
“Yeah.”
“What for?”
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
“I dunno.”
“I could probably use the wood.”
Kamui looked at the old carpenter.
The old man shrugged.
“It belongs to the workshop.”
A pause.
“Take it.”
Naruto’s face brightened.
“Really?”
“It’s firewood otherwise.”
Naruto immediately hoisted the stool onto his shoulder like a great treasure.
“I’ll make something with it!”
Kamui grinned.
“Show me when you do.”
“I will!”
Naruto hurried away before anyone could change their minds.
Daichi watched him disappear.
“You think he’ll actually build something?”
Kamui smiled.
“I don’t know.”
“But now he’ll have the chance.”
That evening…
Naruto sat outside his apartment.
The broken stool lay in front of him.
He poked it with a screwdriver he’d borrowed from a neighbor.
“…How hard can it be?”
An hour later…
The stool no longer resembled a stool.
It barely resembled wood.
Naruto sat back, covered in sawdust.
“…Okay.”
“…Pretty hard.”
He looked at the pile for a long moment.
Then remembered something.
“I now know at least four different ways not to build a stool.”
Naruto snorted.
“…Guess I know five.”
Instead of throwing the wood away…
He stacked the pieces neatly against the wall.
“I’ll figure it out later.”
The next afternoon…
Kamui stopped by Ichiraku after work.
Teuchi placed a bowl in front of him.
“You look tired.”
“I’ve been defeated by furniture.”
“…Again?”
“It’s becoming a pattern.”
Ayame laughed from behind the counter.
“I heard about the broken stool.”
Kamui looked up.
“…How?”
Teuchi smiled.
“Customers talk.”
“I’ve only lived here a few weeks.”
“It’s still a village.”
Kamui shook his head.
“I need to be more careful.”
“You need to accept reality.”
“And what’s reality?”
Teuchi leaned on the counter.
“If one person knows something…”
“…by tomorrow, everyone knows.”
Kamui sighed dramatically.
“My reputation…”
“…destroyed by a stool.”
Ayame couldn’t stop laughing.
As Kamui left the ramen stand, he noticed two Academy students walking ahead of him.
One nudged the other.
“Did you hear?”
“The carpenter made a chair that threw Naruto onto the ground.”
“It was a stool.”
“Whatever.”
They kept walking.
Kamui stood still for a moment.
Then laughed so loudly that several people turned to look.
“…That’s definitely not how it happened.”