I already thought of the possibilities. I have to type this fast before moving onto another story. Sorry if I don't spend some time on other stories. I just need more informations and interesting ideas!

Chapter 2: A man into our lives

Long ago, when someone told me that I would soon be reincarnated and time traveled, I would laugh at their face and proceed to send him/her/them/it to a mental hospital. But no.

At the age of 4, I had successfully mastered a total of 1000 words... I think. Mama, or Kotoko, has a special way for teaching me instead of the useless school who wastes 7 hours of your life by explaining things too broadly. Mama had pointed at things and say their names repeatedly. After I gotten used to it, she'll point at it without saying anything and probably asked 'What is/are those?'. This is how I broadened my word at the same time. I would say the answers. But if I get it wrong, she'll smile a 'nice try' before pointing to other things/go to another place, before pointing back to the ones I had missed. She also tried to correct me with my slang and other. Like Imma, or I'm. I have to refer them as I am.

I would help her with her daily chores. I don't seem to have a father at all. So I would help with the work load for her too even though my body still couldn't handle much. Doing farmwork is really exhausting. But I soon got used to it. And the funny thing is, we don't take a bath.

Yeah, if we take a bath, we'll have to use the river or a hot spring. But chances were that you might get killed by a demon. I raised my eyebrow at the notion. I know that Japaneses loves fiction and supernatural, but is this how some people does at first?

Mama would teach me how to cook, how to clean the house, how to farm, how to take good care of the animals. We had 2 chickens named Hiyo and Chiyo, Male and female respectively along with Yuukan, our ox.

We were poor and live in a seriously tiny hut. For winter, we almost froze to death but then some neighbors were kind enough to let us stay in their house in the cold only.

For plants we got only rice. Fishing is also important, though we barely eat them since 1) Mama has to take care of me 2) We don't have 'manpower' and 3) Because I'm still young.

I never played with the local children since their mentality was low that I could not stand them. I made sure to even protect Mama who seemed thinner than the last time… Obviously, with her starving and giving me all the food and thought that I didn't notice. I tried to fish but absolutely failed. The elders thought that with my intelligence and 'astounding' ability to adapt fast. They called me a half demon. Of course, no one else believed in them as most of them were senile. But why did they call me that?

Mama took me out to the village on a festival one day in the summer. This was the day when everything was either cheap or free. So we took a lot of food and leftovers. I was enjoying trying to catch the fish when I heard Mama squeak. I spun around and saw her on the ground because she was crouching down to watch me try and miserably fail. I saw someone next to her, must have accidentally knocked her down

I looked up at the person who was wearing a gray Yukata. He was wearing a fox mask that was cast aside of his head and him fanning himself with a fan. He obviously is a rich guy, I could see it in the state of his yukata that wasn't worn out nor was it dirtied…. and I don't recognize him in the village. He had a serious, rough look but I saw the genuine worry in his eyes. He was also quite attractive.

"Mama...Okay?" I asked her, she got up and dusted her yukata off and smiled at me.

"I am okay." She said before facing the guy

"I am very sorry for being in your way" She said submissively.

"Mama. You don't have to be submissive to him. Just because he's a male, doesn't mean that you can't not kick him" I said without caring. She flustered over my blatant disrespect while I just shrug off when I said that males don't even know the pain of childbirth when she flustered again where I heard of it. I said that I heard when Miyako-san- who was one of the villagers- who was giving birth, practically screamed out even though it was a disgrace screaming out. Tch, it hurts and guys can just do the process. We stopped when we heard a deep short chuckle

"Don't worry. I am the one at fault" He said, facing us with a small tilt in his lips.

"My name is Isada Takenosuke" We stared at him, he looks like he was anticipating something. But I'm not sure.. But he seemed to notice that we don't recognize him at all.

"Suiren" My own childish voice said.

"My name is Kotoko. I apologize for my daughter" She said

"Daughter?" He asked. She smiled uncaringly. In this Era, it seems that women as young as 13 can get married off and soon pregnant without a care in the world. Since most start their puberty at that age, nobody cares.

"I apologize if this might be a bit too uncomfortable but may I ask a favor?" He asked politely, seemingly as if desperate.

"If it is in our disposal, I suppose that I would not mind" She said with a thoughtful look.

"Mama!" I furrowed my eyebrows and stared at the man intently. He smiled softly at me before looking at Mama in the eyes

" Would you not mind if I company you?" He asked. I saw his eyes glancing around. Mama saw his problem before smiling softly at him before nodding.

He slid his mask onto his face and I turned around again to concentrate on getting the fish. I squinted hard and managed to only get one.

"Goodbye!" I heard the stall keeper called out as we left together. There was a commotion and soon, men began to enter, trying to seemingly find someone before leaving somewhere else.

I tried my best to get prices everywhere. Like free Daikon,clothes, tofu, a pot, ladle etc. I might have failed in most of them, but the Isada-san helped us earned it. He was seriously good at aiming. There were archery, throwing, catching etc.

Mama turned around and I followed with her. A man asked her and the guy if she ever saw someone named Hariyama Isao. He also showed a scroll with the picture of the person and explained to us 'pheasants' that the Hariyama Isao was a rich nobleman who ran away and his father wanted him back. I peeked into it and saw that it was the same man who was accompanying us. And the guy in red makes it sound as if like his father was a child and wanted his unwanted toys back.

Mama smiled politely at the man and I glanced at the guy, he seemed stiff. Mama shook her head and the man with the scroll narrowed his eyes, seemingly suspicious of her. I had to help, after all, who would suspect a kid

"Papa! I wanna eat fish!" I whined towards the… not Isada Takenosuke. I tugged on his yukata and he seemed to hesitant before he ruffled my hair and nodded towards Mama who stiffened before smiling at him.

"Hurry upppp!" I whined again, dragging him. The man soon began to accept the answer and left us as I dragged the either criminal or someone who escaped from their residence into who knows where.

After we were in a fairly uncrowded area, I stopped dragging him

"That was absolutely repulsive. Please do not try and make me act like that again unless desperate" I said with disgust in my voice. Silence reigned the area before Mama began

"Ummm…. Hariyama-san-" Mama started before she was interrupted by him

"Please call me Isao" He interrupted, sliding his mask of to the side of his head

"Okay. I-I-I-I-Isao-san" She stuttered. Obviously not used to calling a male's first names.

"Why was I running away?" He asked bitterly. She nodded hesitantly

" They were putting all their burdens onto me. Every time when they do something wrong, they blame me after placing their works onto me. I could not stand it and soon, I ran away and here I am" He said…. Actually, I barely was able to understand. He was speaking in the polite and formal tone that was too fast for me to apprehend. I grabbed my head

"Urghhh, stop speaking fast! Cannot understand!" I said, my grammar was still not good and I was doing it to stop the awkwardness filter through the air. Mama lectured me with my grammar. I could spot Isao smiling at us. In happiness.

"Umm…. I-I-I-Isao-san. Since you ran away….. why don't you stay with us?" She asked. His eyes widened

"I could not possibly burden you" He said

"Eh, you won't burden us" I shrugged. And I stared into his eyes with my eyebrow raised as in a 'why not'

"I apologize for the inconvenience" He said defeated. He said that he left his belongings at the inn and we went with him to get it before leading him back to our house, which was tiny, not that we were the most poorest, but not the most richest either.

"I apologize if it is too small for you I-Isao-san" She stuttered much better

"No, I apologize-" He started before I interrupted them with annoyance laced in my voice

"Would you stop with the 'apologizing' and start kissing?" I asked, they flustered with my language and with the 'kissing' part. I knew that he would be a significant to Mama so I let him into our world.

END!

Somehow, I feel that Suiren treats Kotoko as her own best friend who teases her for a crush...