Recap:

Mama nodded. "This is my daughter, Rena. I'm Makoto Tachibana ma'am." The lady look from Mama to me. "Will you stay with your father when your mother is working?" I looked up at her, confused.

"What's a father?"

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The lady looked at Mama and sighed. "I need a clerk and your daughter can be the towel boy, but I'm not going to pay her 'till she's old enough. Got it?" She said sternly to Mama. "Yes ma'am, we'll do our best." I nodded as the lady went around the desk and in front of us.

"We have to do something about those cloaks."

Mama stuttered and tried to stop her but she dragged us to a back room. There was no window which was okay. She took off our cloaks making us cover and hide our faces.

"Ma'am, really. We don't want to show our faces." Mama said as her right arm was covering most of her face as she looked down.

"Both of you, look at me." She said sternly making us look at her. For some strange reason, the lady's face was all red. She stuttered for a moment before clearing her throat. "I see now, I'm sorry." She turns around and walked to a shelf. She went to us and gave us a white kimono and a small cloth. "Use the cloth to cover part of your face. Make sure that your kimono is a bit big for you so you won't attract anyone. She's still young so we won't worry about it till she grows." The lady said with a small smile. Mama nods her head and bows down, pushing my head down too.

"Thank you very much, we appreciate it!" The lady smiled and ushered us to get dress.

Mama helps me with wrapping the cloth and fixing up my kimono up a bit. We both wore the white kimono and the white cloth covered our face except our brown eyes. Mama's hair was up in a bun as Mama fixed my short hair. We exit out and looked at the lady. She nodded in approval and started to explain our jobs. Mama was to be at the front desk to register the money and help customers who ask for help or asked questions. I was to collect any wet towel or unused towels that were laying around in the women's and men's side.

"Now, Rena. Why don't you follow me so I can show you."

I looked at Mama and she nods. I look at the lady and nod as I follow her to an opening where a small curtain hangs that read "Women". She slides the door open and closed it behind us as we went inside. There were only a few girls in the water relaxing or in the side washing themselves up. "Now, as you can see, most of the girls are wearing towels. Your job is to find any wet towel on the floor or collect all the used towels that were throw in this basket here." She pointed to a basket that had two or three towels inside. I looked at her and nod. "Yes ma'am, I'll do my best like Mama!" She smiled and nodded. "Alright, when you finish here, you go to the men's side and you do the same. Don't worry, they will do nothing to you." She smiled down at me.

"You use that basket to gather all the towels that aren't being used. Once it's filled, you go to your Mama and she'll know what to do." The lady pats my head and walked out to go to Mama. I grabbed the basket and smiled.

Alright, I can do this!

I carried the basket in my arms and started to walk around. I would get the wet towels I'll find on the floor and sometimes ask the girls if they were using it. After a while, it got heavy to carry so I went out. I had trouble with opening it but I got it and went out. I close the door with my bare feet and made my way to Mama. All of the sudden, I hit something and fell down with the basket. I look up and gasped as I saw a small chubby kid on the other side of me sitting on his butt like me. I look down to see my cloth on the floor.

"Ah, I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to b-bump into you!" I quickly said looking down while covering my face with my left arm. My right hand was on the floor looking for the cloth. I felt a hand touch mines and another lifting my head up by my chin. My left hand stilled cover the lower half of my face. He put the cloth over my nose and tied it on tightly. I put my arm down slowly as the boy smiled at me.

"Sorry for bumping into you, I didn't see you there! I'm Choji Akimichi, want to be friends?" He held his hand out.

My eyes widen at his response. I can finally have a friend. I quickly nodded and grabbed his hand with mine. "Y-yes! I would l-like to be your friend t-too! I'm Rena Tachibana!" I shake his hand rather quickly. He smiled with red coating his cheeks. My face feels hot for some reason.

"Great, want to play at the park together?" He asked me. I smiled but it was quickly replaced with a frown. "I'm sorry, I-I'm working right n-now..." He smiled. "Okay, then we can play tomorrow if you want!" I smiled and nodded. He chuckled at me. "Well, I better get going! I have to go home with my parents. Meet me tomorrow at the park!" He ran out of the place while waving at me.

I slightly waved at him as my face felt really hot. I slowly put my hand down and started to collect the towels that were on the floor into the basket. I carried it and walked over to Mama, my face still feeling hot.

"Here Mama..." I said and look at Mama. "Hey, my face feels hot Mama but I'm not sick. What does that mean?" I asked her as she laughed. "That's called blushing darling." She laughed again. "Oh." I nodded and started to walk away with the basket. I put it back in the ladies section and went to the men's. I grabbed the basket and did the same thing I did in the ladies sections.

Only, there were some kids that would give me a confused look or their cheeks would turn red and hide in the water. I tighten the cloth and kept doing my job. There was only one thing that was keeping me busy with collecting all the towels.

I have a real friend...

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Welcome to another chapter hope you enjoy this one. I like it, I personally found it cute. So they work in the Hot spring! Pretty nice, eh? I won't lie to you guys, almost forgot to update lol.

Now you guys know which timeline it takes place! I love the way how she met Choji, I found it adorable.

Like always, drop a vote, comment, or follow so I will know if you guys like it and to know if I could continue writing this story.

Till next time!