Holmes of Kyoto Volume 1 Chapter 3 part3

"That was a really fascinating story. It was good that we stopped to listen to it."

 With the main hall behind us, I spoke excitedly as Holmes-san looked at me with gentle, narrowed eyes.

"You're right. Coming to a place like this and listening to that story was an extraordinarily good use of our time, I think."

"Yes, I think so too. But Zensan was also quite good at talking. If it were me, I would have probably said something boring like 'He prayed with utmost effort, but no one knows how many times he actually prayed since it wasn't counted.'"

"At that point, when he said 'He prayed one million times', I felt that it was really smart and humorous."

We continued our discussion while we returned to the lively Handicrafts Market.

As he was looking at an antique stall, Holmes-san suddenly went "Hm?", stopped moving and strained his eyes to get a better view.

"Holmes-san, is something wrong?"

Slightly bewildered, I turned around to look at Holmes-san who had suddenly stopped.

"Ah, no, just that I recognize that stall owner in that antique corner over there."

Holmes-san's eyes were on the middle-aged man selling antiques.

"…He's called Kanebayashi-san, and he also used to operate an antique store, but I believe it was closed down last month."

"So he's setting up a stall here to deal with all the antiques left from his old store?"

"I suppose," came the reply. A little further away from us, an elderly lady approached Kanebayashi-san.

"My my, if it ain't Kanebayashi-san? I was worried when you said you closed down your shop."

Upon hearing the lady speak, Kanebayashi-san's face lit up with a smile.

"Long time no see, Nakamoto-san. Yeah, I went bankrupt. The antiques weren't selling very well, so I shut the shop down and started a business in Osaka."

"I see, that's good to hear. So, do ya getting rid of yer stock?"

"Yeah, so please buy some. Ah, but this one's just there as a sign to draw customers; it ain't for sale."

Kanebayashi-san said as he pointed at a tokkuri1 on a table.

"Oh, is it something good?"

"Yep, it's a 'washed-up bizen ware'

Chapter end