"There's a fawn inside the house..." Ritsuki blankly states to his mother when he heard her enter.
Akiko frowned curiously before following her's sons eyes towards a baby animal who seemed to be limping one of its hoofs in the corner.
It was too big to be a baby deer, so it must have been an elk; though she could understand her son's error. The woman quickly marched over while Ritsuki slowly followed behind.
"Not a fawn, Ritsu, a calf. This is a baby elk," Akiko corrected with a soft chuckle.
"Mmm-hmm..." the boy absently nodded along, "What is wrong with it?"
The woman scanned the left hind leg which had been limping.
"He is injured..." moving in, the calf seemed to try to jump but Akiko managed to close the distance in time.
Her mouth turned flat when she felt an abnormality in the leg, a joint was sprained no doubt the cause of its limping and discomfort.
Akiko signalled for her boy to hold the calf's head and as the boy obliged, she adjusted her grip on its left hind leg.
"Ready?" she turned towards her right.
"Mmm-hmm..." the boy lightly nods.
Gritting with a jerk, she snapped the bone back in place and painful squeaks began to erupt from the calf. Ritsuki did his best to hold its head in place.
"It won't be able to walk properly at first," his mother began, "We'll need time for this to heal. Ritsu, stay here while I fetch some braces."
Akiko got to her feet and marched back to the entrance. They had left their bags and moving baskets here and she began to dig through the disassembled furniture pieces.
Finding the items she needed she inspected them for a moment before a squeak alerted her to head back, two narrow sticks and a knife in hand.
"Oh..." she uttered when she saw Ritsuki, the boy had managed to get comfortable with the calf it seemed. It was resting its head on his lap while the boy leaned his back on the wall.
"He has named me friend..." he stated, almost with a chuckle.
Akiko looked glazed at first, but soon she couldn't hold back her stun. It had been so long since Ritsuki had smiled.
"So, he's a boy, is he?" she tried to rouse his cheer. It was so dark inside the house that Akiko was unable to notice the calf's gender for herself.
The boy nods as he gestures to the animal resting on his lap.
"When I tried to move him closer to the wall I accidentally grabbed the precious jewels between his legs."
"Aha, was he amused?" Akiko stifled a laugh, she bent down as she began to position the improvised wooden braces.
"He was angry, he scolded me very harshly." the boy shook his head with his eyes shut.
"So that was the squeak I heard...?" Both mother and son shared a small laugh.
Tieing the braces with a strap from one of Ritsuki's bracers, they ensured it wasn't too tight before nodding satisfied.
"Let's have him stretch his legs." Ritsuki was the one who had suggested this, and Akiko immediately nodded.
The calf must have weighed a little over 3 kan (貫), and both mother and son had to be careful so as not to harm it.
"He loves the water..." Ritsuki noted to his mother, they both sat on standing logs overlooking the reservoir.
The calf had taken to the shallow pool despite his brace and was joyfully swimming around while the boy and his mother watched.
"Do you wish to keep him?" Akiko hoped her son would answer 'yes', that Ritsuki would project his father's injury onto the animal, and in helping the elk the boy's grief would be overcome.
"... We should... At least until he gets better..." Ritsuki shrugged, and his mother silently cheered.
"Where would you have him sleep?" she immediately asked, the boy turned to her to regard his mother with a frown.
"I suppose... my room would be fine? I don't bring many things with me, so it would be rather spacious for a time." It was the truth,
When she asked him to pack his necessities, Ritsuki had only wrapped his father's tachi sword in his futon for concealment and placed a small collection of books in a linen pouch along with his broken hanya mask.
He also packed an ink portrait Akiko had done of Giichi holding a six-month-old Ritsuki in his arms; he placed it between the pages of his books.
"Well, why don't you go and show your friend where he'll be sleeping?" Akiko gestured with her brows and the boy nodded.
Getting up, he began to walk down to the reservoir to fetch the injured calf who was still swimming.
"Ritsu..." his mother called and the boy turned back. Akiko smiled brightly,
"Your father would be proud so of you, you know...?" her voice trembled at the end and the boy noticed.
He turned to her with a smile of his own.
"I'm sure he'd be proud of you too, Mother." Ritsuki nodded firmly then and went on his way.
Akiko brought up her hand and held her mouth as she cried, but this time she wasn't sad; these were tears of joy...
"Ritsu, could you go to the village for me?" Akiko entered her son's room carrying an armful of cleaning supplies.
"What for?" the boy looked up from his feeding the elk calf. He had cobbled a small elevated platform from smooth stones to serve as the animal's bed.
"I'm clearing the terrace leading up from the reservoir tomorrow and I'd like a few komatsuna and kabocha seeds to cultivate."
The boy's expression was blank before he nodded, "I'll go right away," he placed down the small cup of milk and dusted himself up.
"Have you thought of a name for him?" Akiko asked as she handed him a folded piece of paper containing the list of items as well as the money.
"Uh... no, I haven't." Ritsuki shook his head sheepishly, "I can't think of a good one."
They were walking together to the entrance, the boy bent down to fix his shoes.
"You should give it time and think of something special." his mother encouraged.
"Right... so, milk and honey and..." he read over his mother's list, "I'm going to the carpenter too?" he looked up slightly confused.
"Yes," she confirmed, "You should be able to carry a few stools, right?"
"I suppose," he shrugged, "Then I should get going now or I'll be late for dinner."
"Of course, be careful on the way back Ritsu." the boy walked over to the front door and pulled it open, and left.
"Who are you, mister?" a young boy, perhaps between eight and ten years old stood with his arms folded in front of the front door.
"Um," Ritsuki stuttered at first, adjusting his grip on the linen bags which carried his groceries, in his other hand he used a walking stick he had planned to use to carry the stools.
It was the beginning of Fall, and the evening was cool.
"I was told this was Mister Jungu's house, the carpenter...?"
"Hmph, maybe...?" the young boy frowned, "What do you want with him?"
"I want to buy two stools, the shop wasn't open today so people told me to meet him at his-" he was interrupted.
"Today is Father's Day off, if it's so important, come back tomorrow then." the young boy did his best to look tough, huffing and puffing up his non-existent chest.
"Oh, so you're his son...? What is your name?" Ritsuki seemed amused with the younger boy as he bent down to level with his eyes.
"Hiroshi..." The boy stated, immensely suspicious of Ritsuki.
"Really...? But you're not being too generous, now are you?" the older boy gave the kid a look, which seemed to have made him mad.
"Alright, smarty-pants, I've reached my limit," Young Hiroshi went to grab a walking stick to use as a staff, brandishing it to the stranger in an attempt to intimidate him, "Go away now, or I shall be compelled to use lethal force!"
Ritsuki softly chuckled as he stood back up, straightening his back he looked the younger boy dead in the eyes and uttered,
"... No..." the older boy flashed him his brows.
At the end of his rope, Hiroshi spurred forward with a strike in an attempt to hit the stranger.
To the younger boy's surprise, Ritsuki had just sidestepped to avoid the initial strike and used his walking stick to bat his weapon away.
Conserving the momentum of his strike, the older boy then used his tiny opponent's off-balance to swing for his head.
"Ahh-!" the young boy brought up his guard just in time and closed his eyes as he waited for an impact.
When the hit never landed, he hesitantly opened his eyes to see the older boy innocently smile at him.
"You're not so bad, Hiroshi..." he commended, then brought his walking staff around and down to smack the boy on his butt.
"Gah-!" the younger boy cried, and though he tried to hit back he was always denied with a swift parry.
Ritsuki had made his way inside the house with a genuine smile, and Hiroshi followed him inside begrudgingly.
"How old is that one...?" Ritsuki sat across from Hiroshi's mother who was nursing a younger child of hers.
"Fifteen months, his name is Shota." she was breastfeeding the baby boy.
Suddenly, young Shota reeled his head back and began to cry.
"Dear goodness... It seems I'll have to go put this one to sleep," the mother sighed, "I hope you don't mind having to wait on your own..."
"I will make do, ma'am." the boy reassured with a discrete nod.
When he had met with the carpenter inside his house, Ritsuki had inadvertently made his wife volunteer Joji-san to make the two stools he requested because there were none left in stock.
The man was just outside the living room, working up his sweat as he switched between his many different tools.
"Dear goodness..." As Ritsuki echoed the woman's exasperated expression to himself, he got up and decided to head out and join the carpenter in his work.
The wife was adamant that Ritsuki was a guest, and as such should not be allowed to assist her husband in any circumstance, even if the man insisted.
But Ritsuki just couldn't help himself as he untied his beige coat, leaving himself with nothing but his red-coloured gold-spotted arm sleeves.
Exiting the living room and out into the backyard, he was immediately greeted by the man with a chuckle.
"Oh, you've come to get me in trouble...?" the man chuckled as he placed one of the wooden stool legs on his work table.
Ritsuki nodded and stepped up, which made the man laugh.
"We'll, seeing that you're already here, why don't you carry that big log over? We'll cut it up like loaves of bread and use it for the seat."