Muku Sakisaka/Happily Ever After

The Prince of Three Good Deeds a Day

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Sakyo	Thanks for the meal.
Izumi	Tonight’s dinner is fancy too~
Itaru	This pot pie is great.
Homare	The round fatty tuna, a tres bien, mellow innocence... mm, inspiration is coming to me.
Omi	Glad to hear it.
Tenma	By the way, where’s Muku?
Misumi	He hasn’t eaten dinner yet, right~?
Yuki	We weren’t together today, so I haven’t seen him since coming home.
Kazunari	Looks like he hasn’t come home yet, huh. He hasn’t read my LIME either.
Izumi	Maybe he went to his parents’ house?
Kazunari	Guess I’ll try contacting him again.
Muku	I’m home.
Izumi	Oh, Muku-kun. Thank goodness.
Muku	?
Tenma	We were worried, since it’s late and we couldn’t get in touch with you.
Muku	Ah! Really? I’m sorry!
Kazunari	Didja take a detour?
Muku	Actually, while I was walking, a lady’s dog got loose... we were looking for him together.
Izumi	That was a serious situation.
Misumi	Did you find Mr. Dog?
Muku	We did. He was playing with some kids in a nearby park.
Misumi	That’s great~
Kazunari	That’s our Mukkun!
Izumi	Great job.
Yuki	Sigh It’s good to help others out, but doing it without contacting anyone until this late is too much.
Muku	Sorry...
Kazunari	Come on, Yukki, it’s ‘cause Mukkun’s a nice kid!
Yuki	Recently, Muku’s been helping people all the time as part of his role study for Prince Florence.
Tenma	Role study?
Muku	Yeah. I thought that if I’m as kind to people as I possibly can, I’d familiarize myself with Prince Florence’s mindset.
Tenma	That's not really necessary.
Izumi	Yeah. Even without trying, I think you’re the embodiment of Prince Florence, Muku.
Muku	My motto is “one good deed a day.”
Yuki	At school too, he gave his own eraser to someone who forgot theirs, so he was stuck without one after that, and he gave out the chocolates he was holding onto for later.
	He went hungry because he gave someone his bread during lunch too, just in general losing his own things all the time.
Tenma	That goes way beyond one good deed a day.
Yuki	He’s doing like twenty-one good deeds a day.
Muku	No, I’ve only done like... eighteen so far.
Yuki	That’s plenty.
Homare	You already have a self-sacrificing mindset.
Omi	You should tone it down so you don’t wear yourself out.
Itaru	Don’t overdo it.
Sakyo	These days, there are assholes with bad intentions that’ll take advantage of people’s goodwill too. You should be careful.
Izumi	How about doing just three good deeds a day?
Muku	Three good deeds... got it.
Itaru	Then, can I ask for one of those good deeds right now? A godlike pull with the power of good deeds...
Muku	Sure!
Tenma	That’s more of a waste of a good deed than it is anything else.
Izumi	Please don’t take advantage of the situation.
Omi	Here, Muku, you must be hungry too. I made some pot pie.
Muku	Thank you very much!

Izumi	(Guess I bought a little too much. Alright, let’s carry these babies home!)
Child	Thank you, Mister.
Mother	Really, thank you so much.
Muku	It’s no problem! Then, I’ll be going now.
Izumi	Ah, Muku-kun. Was that one of your good deeds for today?
Muku	Ah, yes. Um, that makes my first one for the day.
	Did you go shopping, Director-san? I’ll carry your bags.
Izumi	But, I don’t want you to use up one of your good deeds on something like...
Muku	It’s only natural that I do this, so it doesn’t count.
Izumi	You sure? Thanks! Then, I’ll leave it to you.
Old Woman	Owww...
Izumi	Huh? Ma’am, what happened?
Muku	Are you alright?
Old Woman	Yes, it looks like I strained my back a little is all...
Izumi	That’s awful...! We should go to the hospital!
Muku	I’ll carry you on my back.
Old Woman	No, it’s alright, I called a taxi.
Muku	In that case, we’ll wait for it with you.
Old Woman	I’m sorry for the trouble.
	Ah, there IS one thing I’d like to ask of you, but...
Muku	Yes?
Old Woman	Well, I was planning to go support my grandson at his event today.
	I promised him I’d bring him a bento, but then something like this happened...
	If you have the time, would you deliver it for me...?
Muku	Of course.
Old Woman	Really? Thank goodness! Yeouchhh.
Izumi	A-Are you ok!?
Old Woman	I’m fine. Let me see, the event was at...
Izumi	Who’d have thought that woman’s grandson was on a track team.
Muku	It really is a coincidence.
	I went to this track a few times back when I was in my track club, so we were able to make it here without getting lost. I’m glad.
Izumi	(Muku-kun seems kind of nostalgic...)
Muku	We’re running low on time, so we’d better get this to him quickly.
Izumi	Where would the team members be?
Muku	Ah, the waiting area is over here.
Izumi	You said this is East Junior High, right?
Muku	That uniform is East Junior High’s.
Izumi	Spoken like a true former track club member.
Muku	Ehehe.
Male Student	...
Muku	Excuse me—do you know where Yoshino-kun is?
Male Student	Huh? Yoshino? He went that way.
Muku	Thank you.
Izumi	Ah, there. Is that him?
Yoshino	—
Izumi	He’s doing a long run. I feel like that’s a little intense for a warm-up—
Muku	—Yoshino-kun, stop!
Yoshino	!?
Izumi	(Muku-kun doesn’t usually look this serious...)
Yoshino	Who are you...?
Izumi	Oh, we came to deliver this bento that your grandmother asked us to bring you.
Yoshino	Ohh, you guys are... I got a call from my grandma a little while ago.
Izumi	Great. Here you are.
Yoshino	Thank you very much.
	Alright, there’s still some stuff I need to do so—
Muku	Hold on—um, Yoshino-kun, you’re a sprinter, right?
Yoshino	That’s right.
Muku	How many meets have you been to?
Yoshino	This is my first one. I was always a substitute before this, so...
Muku	I see. Then, you must be pretty nervous, right?
Yoshino	That’s... I can’t sit still when I get anxious. I should have practiced more.
Muku	Pushing yourself right before the meet isn’t going to do you any good.
	It’ll be fine. The practice you’ve put in until now will help you enough.
	Don’t think too hard about setting a good record or anything. Just show everyone the results of the practice you’ve done up to now.
Yoshino	...ok.
Muku	Practicing a lot is important too, but... you really need to be careful to not injure yourself. Do your best.
Yoshino	Thank you.
Izumi	(Muku-kun... this must overlap with what he went through in the past.)

Izumi	After cheering him on, it’s already gotten this late, huh.
Muku	I ended up getting really worked up seeing him.
Izumi	Good thing nothing I bought needed to be refrigerated. We should go home soon.
Muku	Ah, is it ok if we stay a little bit longer?
Izumi	Hm?
Muku	I wanted to walk on the track for a bit.
Izumi	I see... I’ll keep you company.
Muku	...
Izumi	Up until a little while ago a fierce competition was taking place here. It’s kind of strange.
Muku	Being able to walk here with this kind of calm feeling does feel strange, yeah.
	Back when I was on the team, I’d end up thinking about stuff like meets and records.
Izumi	I guess being onstage would give you a similar feeling now.
Muku	Yeah, it does.
	Come to think of it, there was one time that I laid down on the track back then.
	My junior was so nervous that he couldn’t get his usual results, so he laid down and stayed like that without moving.
	Everyone on the team laid down the same way around him... we understood what it was like to be so frustrated with yourself, so we couldn’t say anything to comfort him.
	I’ll never forget the clear blue sky we saw that day.
	Track meets were really fun. They were my youth.
	That’s why losing it was really hard for me, but thanks to that I was able to meet everyone in the Summer Troupe.
	I really am lucky.
Izumi	(Muku-kun’s smiling. He really has put this behind him now...)
Muku’s Friend A	Sakisaka?
Muku’s Friend B	Sakisaka, you were here too.
Muku	Oh, what’s up?
Muku’s Friend A	We were cheering on a junior. What about you?
Muku	I stopped by for a quick errand someone asked me to do.
Muku’s Friend B	Huh~
Muku’s Friend A	Oh yeah, what kind of play are you guys doing this time?
Muku	Actually, I’m playing the lead this time around.
Muku’s Friend A	Whoa! Seriously!? That’s sick!
Muku’s Friend B	What kind of role is it?
Muku	Well...
Izumi	?
	(Why is he suddenly facing me?)
Muku	“You’re beautiful today too, Princess. It’s like you’re the stars that light up the night sky.”
Izumi	—
Muku	...hehe, like that.
Muku’s Friend A	A prince!
Muku’s Friend B	Damn, that was cool!
Izumi	(That was so sudden, I was kind of taken off guard. Muku-kun, you’ve really embodied your role as a prince.)
Muku	Come see it, if you’d like.
Muku’s Friend A	I’ll go!
Muku’s Friend B	Break a leg!
Izumi	You really saved my butt, carrying those bags for me. I had a lot of stuff to buy today, so—
Muku	AH!!
Izumi	!? What happened?
Muku	I just realized, I only did two good deeds today.
Izumi	Ahaha. So it was that. I thought I had forgotten to buy something.
	You don’t have to force yourself to do three good deeds a day.
Muku	I guess.
Hisoka	Zzz...
Muku	!?
Izumi	Hisoka-san, why are you sleeping in a place like this again...
Muku	I’ll carry him to his room.
Izumi	It’ll be tough to do it alone. I’ll call someone over.
Misumi	Triangle, triangle~ where did you go, triangle~
Muku	Misumi-san, are you looking for something?
Misumi	My sparkly triangle is missing~
Muku	After I move Hisoka-san, I’ll help you look for it.
Misumi	Ya~y! Muku, thank you~!
Muku	Umm, first up, moving Hisoka-san...
Izumi	(In the end, it looks like Muku’s “three” good deeds a day aren’t going to end any time soon.)

Noodle