"Oh, it turns them into human women--Jusenkyo is this field of cold-water springs and every one of them is the spring of Drowned or Almost Drowned somethingorother and if you get immersed you turn into the somethingorother. Hot water reverses the transformation but cold water reinstates it. And there's a bunch of ways to fuck with it, like, if you're submerged in the spring of thing-you-started-out-as the curse goes away, and there's stuff that can lock and unlock the curse, and this one magic splitty thingy can split the curse off into its own person--or not a person if it's an animal curse--that's what happened with me, my brother fell in Spring of Drowned Girl and the thing was advertised in such a way that he hoped it would be a cure, I was an unintended side effect."

"I've never heard of anything at all like that. Do you know how they were made?"

"No clue."

"They're certainly strange. Do you want to go do something, since we don't have any weird laws to stumble over?"

"Sure!"

"There's the market district, and I think some street plays, and the parks. There's probably a museum or two somewhere... Do you have any local money?"

"Where would I have gotten any?"

"Point. So, free stuff... Well, the things I listed should be free, other than shopping. Any of them interest you?"

"Street plays sound like fun!"

"I think those are mostly in the afternoon? We can wander over to the parks and see if there's any on, though."

"Okay."

He leads her over to the nearest park. Konoha's heavily wooded, with residential areas interrupted by trees, rivers, and general green spaces. It makes the village seem smaller than it is, and quieter.

After a bit of wandering they find a comedy show in one of the parks; it's mostly short skits put on by students, one every hour.

Ooh!

Ranko doesn't have the cultural context to get all the jokes, but she still appreciates it.

A lot of it's making fun of other countries. None of the jokes are directed at Konoha or the Land of Fire. A good number of the skits are based on other plays, shortened and with fewer actors and props.

Ranko doesn't know anything about these other countries! She will take what she hears here with a grain of salt.

After a few plays, Yamato notes that it's nearly lunchtime. "Want to find a food stall?"

"Ooh, yes!"

"What sort of food do you want?"

"The kind sold in places where they give discounts to cute girls willing to flirt for it?"

He chuckles. "We do have a reasonable budget for necessities like food, you know."

"It never hurts to keep in practice! Anything can be training if you do it right."

"Definitely. Well, I think I know a place..." He starts leading her to it.

On the way they pass a park with a bunch of kids shouting. There's a ring of girls who're probably eleven or twelve standing around a girl who's maybe six or seven, sprawled out on the ground with books and pencils scattered next to her.

Yamato frowns at the commotion, and his eyes narrow slightly. 

Ahuh.

Ranko marches over.

"And just what do you think you're doing?"

Yamato follows her, and crosses his arms. His face, if Ranko notices, twists into something scary.

A few of the girls are unnerved, but one of them just turns to Ranko and says, "Nothing."

The girl on the ground is eyeing the two newcomers warily. 

"This doesn't look like nothing to me."