Kei jumped backward as a pack of small boys plowed through the evening market crowds, and then nearly fell. His sister had shifted aside half a second before they would have rammed into her, and continued on her way.
Kei looked after them. "Their parents should be watching them," he muttered, dusting himself off. "They shouldn't be allowed to run wild like that."
"They're from the orphanage at the Buddhist temple," she said mildly over her shoulder. "They don't have enough nuns to watch after all the children all the time."
Kei shook his head. "I'll be glad when we get back to Aizu, Megumi," he said fervantly. "It's not like this there."
"No. Not as I remember."
"I'm so glad to have found you, Megu-chan." It was half-deliberate, using her childhood name. Reminding her.
"Me too."
"I rebuilt the house, and it's just like it was. You can have your old room back. Do you remember that room?"
She paused. "A little. I remember a little."
She'd lived in that room for twelve years. "You had the cherry tree right outside."
"Oh. Yes."
Such a tepid response . . ."You never used to let me inside." It had been her shrine, her private space. Their parents had supported her, telling him that sometimes a girl needed to be alone.
She smiled at that. "Nothing's changed. I still won't let anyone--" She broke off abruptly.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Nothing's wrong."
"You've been like this all day." Ever since she'd told him that she only needed a few days to tie up loose ends before she came back to Aizu with him.
"I'm just--wondering how best to tell my friends."
"I'm sure they're expecting it," he said.
"Yes--but they're my friends. They've been here for me quite a bit over these past months. I'm going to miss them very much."
"You never told me how you fell in with this--Kenshin-gumi."
Was it his imagination, or did her eyes shift away and her shoulders hunch, just a bit? "It's a long story, and--not very interesting."
He accepted that. He'd just been making conversation. He really wasn't interested in how she'd met that strange group of ruffians and misfits.
Ruffians . . . "By the way--I think I should tell you something."
"What's that?"
"Your gangster friend--"
"You mean Sano?" Her voice was a little chilly. "What about him?" she asked when he didn't go on.
Kei didn't know quite how to say it. "Well--" He forced a laugh. She was giving him a raised-eyebrow, expectant look, the kind their mother had given them when they'd pussyfooted around. "He--he has a crush on you."
Her mouth fell open.
He laughed again. It was such a ridiculous notion that he'd rejected it himself at first. That bandaged gangster thinking he could aspire to a Takani . . . "I know--strange, isn't it?"
Her voice sounded funny. "Kei--how did you--why do you--"
It must have been a real shock. "Well, every time I looked up last night at dinner, it seemed like he was watching you. And then teasing you in that--that undignified way . . ." Kei rolled his eyes. "And then he came to the clinic this morning, with that ridiculous story about his hand hurting. Well, it's obvious."
She gaped at him.
"You know," he added kindly, "sometimes an outsider can see things that you can't see from the inside."
"Y-yes. I suppose that's true."
He put a comforting hand on her arm. "I just wanted to make sure you were aware of it, so you could let him down easily."
She looked dazed. "Yes. Well. Thank you."
Then she muttered something that sounded almost like, "I suppose."
