50. Favor

There was a stranger in their garden when Shuuhei went to get his bike.

"Sorry," the stranger said before Shuuhei could do more than blink. "I didn't realize it was sold already." He pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger, stepping away from the white chrysanthemums he had lain under the Momi fir. "I'll leave now."

Shuuhei looked at the flowers, and then at the young man. "What…?"

The teenager paused, considering him, and then said softly, "One of my ancestors fought here in the Winter War. It's a favor, his descendants leaving flowers for his old companions."