With very little warning, a couple of months swept past. Every day seemed to drag on achingly, as though every single minute was spent staring at an analog clock that never seemed to change. Yet, throwing all of the days together as one, they blurred into weeks, and then swept full into months with little accord. Looking back, Shion remembered each painfully slow day individually, but felt as if no time at all had occurred total.
Shion had spent many days working in his mother's bakery in those last two months. When he was not spending time with the baby, that was. Little Safu had begun to stumble around the house on wobbly little legs in that time, giving Shion still more trouble when his mother ran the shop, leaving him to care for the infant. In fact, she was even starting to speak. Her first little guttural word had sounded something like "flower"- or probably "flour" rather, since that word was quite common within their bakery—but she hadn't uttered it since, so Shion counted "mouse" as her true first, although she pronounced it much like "moose."
The little child would parade around, shouting "Moose!" whenever she encountered Hamlet scurrying around on the carpet. Hamlet would give an encouraging squeak at the word and crawl close to let the baby pet him, although he'd often have to scamper away seconds after as Safu had no idea what "gentle" petting was quite yet.
Two months ago, reading Cravat's message, Shion had thought that he would spend an eternity wallowing in some depressed state, jumping at every sound as he waited for Cravat to race back to him with word from Nezumi. True, he had spent a handful of days in that jumpy state but, with all of the work to do around home and the shop, Shion had found it relatively easy to set his mind on more productive, chipper thoughts. He'd wake up and hop to work, throwing back those thoughts to save for another day.
Well, maybe not throw them all aside.
Within the last two weeks it had grown very cold as winter settled in over the city. After walking Dog out in the chill several times and returning with a shiver up and down the entire course of his spine, he resolved to actually use the only scarf he possessed—Nezumi's scarf.
At first, Shion had thought that wearing the scarf would be a very bitter and ugly reminder of his current predicament. He had been, truthfully, very afraid of throwing those emotions over his shoulders, but… after finally doing so… he found that it was rather bittersweet. Sad as it was, throwing the fact that Nezumi was not there around his neck every day, it was also wonderful holding the item—the scent. No, he didn't have Nezumi there with him physically, but the grey-eyed boy was definitely there in a sense.
On a cold evening, Shion sat at the counter of the bakery, watching over the shop as his mother ran out to fetch some ingredients from a supplier. Karan had left a couple of hours ago and he wasn't quite sure when she would be returning. A couple of children had stopped by earlier, but past their appearance, no business had since cropped up. Though it was a bit of a pain to simply sit there and wait, Shion found that it was an excellent time to sit back and read. The books he had weren't near as interesting as those that had sat in Nezumi's grand library, but they were enough to pass the time with. Leaned back with the book in one hand, a hot drink in the other, and Nezumi's scarf draped over his shoulder's, he was quite content.
Suddenly, the door swung open and there was a loud "BRRRR!" sound. Shion looked up from the novel in his hand to find his mother walking in, carrying a large sack full of goods.
Shion set his book and drink down and stood up. He looked down subconsciously and started as he noticed that the scarf was still around his neck. He quickly grabbed it and tossed the fabric over the back of his chair, wondering if Karan had noticed. She did know that it was Nezumi's scarf, after all. Seeing him wear it indoors, where it was actually very warm, might make Karan a bit suspicious, he was sure.
"Cold outside?" he asked his mother, stepping forward to take the bag from her hands. It was actually a lot heavier than it looked, he realized, nearly falling over as she dropped it into his palms.
"Careful with that—yes, it is!" She said in a breathless voice. His mother pulled off her hat, scarf, and two layers of coats. His mother had never been one to prefer the cold, the white-haired boy remembered with a grin. "It hasn't stopped snowing since I left!"
Shion had dropped the bag down on the counter and was rooting through it, pulling out sacks of flour and sugar when he stopped at the mention of snow. He quickly spun around and looked out the shop's front window. There, quite obviously, he could already see a solid layer of snow covering the path outside. Flakes were still falling in a steady stream that seemed to bear no notion of stopping any time soon.
"Snow!" He simply said in an overjoyed tone. If there was one thing about winter that made it worth going outside, it was definitely the snow. And hey, he'd blend right in with his hair now!
Shion's mother laughed. "Shion, did you really just notice it was snowing only now?" she asked in disbelief. She seemed mildly worried—but then her eyes found the book on the counter and a knowing look swept her face.
"Hadn't really looked up," Shion said.
Karan laughed again, this time a quiet little chuckle. "Well, now I can watch the shop. You can go out and do what you like in it."
"You'll be fine by yourself?" he scanned over the large sack of new ingredients.
Karan nodded. "Just go have fun—but don't stay out too late!" She turned to smile at her son before turning back to the new supplies. She started to sort through what was there, humming quietly to herself.
Shion wasted no time in throwing on his maroon coat and tossing Nezumi's scarf back over his shoulders. For a moment he raced back towards their living room, thinking to grab Dog, but suddenly turned back around to the door alone. He'd let her out later; right now he just wanted to go enjoy the snow.
Shion smiled as he stepped outside, welcomed by a thousand snowy flakes that drifted past. He delighted in the pleasant crunch of fresh snow underfoot and scraped his boots through the white powder, kicking up a blizzard.
A couple of men passed by, turning towards the shop. They gave him awkward glances, as though they couldn't believe that a young man such as himself was behaving like a child in the snow, but Shion couldn't bring himself to even attempt to act remotely mature. They rarely got snow as it was, let alone enough to cover the entirety of the ground. He was going to make this as memorable of a snowy day as he possibly could.
Down the path away from their house, Shion walked through the market district, meeting very few people along the way. It seemed as though the majority of people had locked themselves up indoors, away from the cold. Maybe it was because it was growing late, he thought. Surely so many people could not ignore the wonderful sight?
Then again, as he grew farther away from the business area of town and more into the residential area, he found more and more children bouncing about, playing in the snow that had gathered within the confines of their yards. He quickly found three snowmen, a stubby little snow rabbit, and then a large cluster of snow angels that had formed into one solid cluster of malformed dents. He had been walking the entire time, quietly taking in the sights, but found himself running away laughing as several children chose to bomb him with snowballs, only letting off when one insisted that they ought to leave him alone, as he seemed to have enough snow in his hair already.
With his coat growing damp from the snow, Shion thought that he should turn around before he began to shiver. Besides, the sun had sunk low over the horizon, leaving him to wander in the pale light of dusk rather aimlessly. Much more of that, and he'd be sure to slip and—
Suddenly the streetlamps burst into life, illuminating the streets with a glowing haze. Everywhere the white flakes drifted, the light caught. It was as though many little fireflies were floating about, teasing him while the wind whipped at his pale hair.
He couldn't go home just yet. It was too much of a magnificent scene to return yet.
Carrying on further into town, Shion soon slipped down a path he could not truly recognize at this time. He followed the lights of the lamps, considering them a trail. Where they led was probably nowhere interesting, let alone special, but it was just something more to do—something to give him a reason to stay out and enjoy the snow further.
After some time, Shion approached the very last streetlamp. The lamp was across a short bridge, right before an open area nestled between trees on either side. A sign nearby marked the spot as a park, though Shion could not read its name for the top of the board was covered in a cloak of snow and ice. He was sure that, in the right light, he'd remember the park within an instant. Yet in the dark, he could not recall the place at all. It was a nameless, dark spot that had yet to be discovered.
Though the lamps did not carry straight into the park, the space within the trees was not necessarily dark. In fact, with the moon lit overhead, the snow had a wonderful blue tint that illuminated the path before him. And, just as the lamps had done, the white-haired boy felt drawn forward by the sight.
As Shion walked, he shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced downwards. He watched his feet break in new snow as he went across the bridge, and then onto where he assumed there was a dirt path beneath. The snow here was completely new and untouched by—
Footprints. He suddenly stumbled upon footsteps, just hardly larger than his own. He looked back up, tracing the trail back towards the right, where they seemed to come directly from the path running alongside the river on this side. And where they went… in the same direction that he was headed.
Shion walked alongside the prints, as if to keep them company. He imagined a person walking beside him and silently wondered who it was that had left them—were they still around? Maybe he'd just run into another kid that would hurl snowballs at him, but he just couldn't resist following them.
The prints went directly along the outer reaches of the park, wandering past broken bits of what must have been a building at some point. They wove and looped around scattered bits of the stone and rubble, always then falling into step in the same straight line.
Shion followed directly beside the prints for the most part, but felt after the third loop that he'd take another course, looping around the other side of the stone. He looked back down at his now lonely set of steps, and then across to the prints on the other side. Silly as it may seem, he felt a bit guilty for abandoning them. He quickly turned towards them, ready to reconnect with his invisibly walking partner.
But very suddenly the footprints ended, stopping beneath the feet of a tall, grey-eyed boy.