I sat on a mat with Wakana next to me as Renn wrote notes down on his scroll about the visit. We all sat in silence for a while, drinking tea, till Renn looks up at me again and held some kind of writing utensils to his chin.

"No pain internally?" He asks.

"No."

"Any muscle spasms?"

"No."

"Headaches?"

I hesitate before completely answering him.

"...No." My answer results in the doctor sighing to himself as he slumps his shoulders.

"Last time you said no, you a had sever concussion." Renn informs me. "You have a history with head traumas so I will have to do this test with you." I felt Wakana's eyes on the side of my face before she spoke up finally.

"What do these tests include?"

"He must memorize objects and we must test to see how fast his reflexes are to be sure that nothing is wrong with him." Renn explains as he pulls out three colored rags from the shoulder bag he brings with him everywhere.

"Why is it so simple?" She asks.

"The brain is a mysterious organ. So little damage to the brain and the victim would become brain dead. His head traumas would have caused him amnisia, but so far, no signs of memory loss has been found." Renn explains to her as he puts out three identical cups out with the green piece of fabric under the middle cup. "I think you remember this. But I will explain anyway. I hid a colored cloth under the middle cup and I will be rearranging the order. You must remember where the cloth must be. I will experiment 10 tries with you. And if you fail any time, you will not go back to your post."

My expression stayed neutral as he spoke to me in a warning. And it was normal for him to say this, especially since he's said this many times in the past. But everytime he has done this test on me, I have successfully passed. I am not failing this time.

Without saying about word, Renn began shuffling the cups around before he looks up at me to tell me that I must choose. I felt tension surrounding Wakana as she sat next to me, biting her lower lip. I stare at the cups before pointing to the one on the right. Renn picks up the cup to reveal the green cloth. He nods once before reshuffling the cups around again. He started with just moving them around twice and after every turn, shuffled an extra two times. By the tenth shuffle, Renn orders me to close my eyes and listen to the shuffling to find the cloth. My eyes widen in surprise at his request, but I reluctantly obeyed and shut my eyes tightly. Listening to the shuffling, I tried to figure out where the cup was going.

Left

Left

Right

Left

Right

Right

Center

The shuffling noise stops and I felt both sets of eyes on me. It made me feel nervous on the inside, knowing that there is a greater chance that I could get this wrong.

"You got it, Kotaro?" Renn asks me.

"Honestly, no." I answer bluntly with my lids still shut.

"Let me give you some encouragement; not even Goemon can pass this test." I frown as I heard him smile.

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime."

The room went silent again before I finally let out a breath of air and tell Renn to lift the center cup. As I heard it lift, Wakana let out a gasp and I felt my heart skip a beat.

Did I fail?

I hesitated before I finally opened my eyes and saw the two cups on either side of the green cloth in the center. I look up at Renn and see him staring at me with a small smile of triumph.

"Does this mean,"

"You get to go back to your post in the spring."

A feeling of relief flowed through my body as I heard those words. A proud feeling opened in my chest and I smiled widely at the news.

"Congratulations Kotaro." Wakana tells me as she pat my knee.

I didn't say anything to her as I turn to face her and lock my lips onto hers. She let out a surprised gasp before kissing me in return.

"So when did you get a girlfriend?" Renn's voice ruins the moment as he watched the two of us kiss. Parting my lips from her to look at Renn, I gave him a playful glare without a word, making him raise both his hands and smile. "Alright then."

Then the little kitten walks into the room and jumps onto the table in front of us, making Renn look at him curiously.

"And the kitten?"

"Wakana found him before the winter got bad. Brought him here and now he's a domestic." Renn nods at my words.

"Did you name him yet?"

"Well we don't know the gender yet." Wakana tells him. He then picks up the little kitten and checks him out before setting him down on the table again.

"Well, the kitten is a she. So that narrows it down."

"Can we name her Akane?" I look back at Wakana in surprise before I nodded in reluctance.

"It's will take some getting used to but you can." Wakana gives me a smile before thanking me and picking up the little kitten in her hands.

"Your name is Akane." The kitten then meows in response.