Ren felt that his first day at school was a success. Nova had gotten off work early to pick him up even though he had mentioned that he didn't mind walking. However, she felt guilty she would be unable to pick him up from school everyday and so, she decided to do so at least on the first day.
Excited, he ran over to the stream, but, remembering what happened the last time, slowed down as he neared it. To his pleasant surprise, there were two cute little ears sticking up from among the flowers.
Chiyo was dressed in a deep purple yukata this time. She knelt on a small mat in the sunlight and, with a brush, wrote something he didn't understand in a language he didn't understand. There was an inkstone next to her, although Ren didn't recognise it. As he moved closer, a stick cracked underneath his feet, and her head whipped over to the sound.
Frozen in place, Ren expected her to run away, but surprisingly, she remained where she was. "…Hello" he said carefully. A high pitched sound escaped Chiyo's throat.
Although he couldn't see her… Why did he get the impression she was trembling just now? …Surely he must have imagined it ^•^.
He waited for a while but she didn't reply. Just as he was getting disappointed, she picked up her brush and started writing. Intrigued, Ren looked over keenly at the steady strokes she was making onto the next paper.
Not long after, she held up the paper with big, clear letters on it. "I'm Chiyo". Ren chuckled and sat down on the grass. "My mum and I just moved here", he stated with a small smile. Chiyo quickly began to write again. Although it was a little time consuming, Ren patiently waited for her to finish. "My grandmother and I have always lived together here".
"Must be nice" he mused.
Chiyo nodded and they slipped into a comfortable silence. An unknown bird called in the distance. The sound of the stream rushing over the rocks was as soothing as ever. Chiyo returned to grinding the inkstone and Ren leaned over curiously.
"What's that?" She looked over to him and muttered "It's an inkstone" Ren was so shocked he almost fell into the stream. Up till this point, he had just assumed she was unable to speak. Well, her voice was scarcely above a whisper and he could barely hear her over the sound of the stream.
She quietly explained that an inkstone was a traditional method used to procure ink by grinding an inkstick onto an inkstone that had some water applied onto it.
Although he had to strain his ears somewhat to understand, Ren listened and asked her several questions, fascinated. It seemed that having a topic of discussion also lifted some weight off Chiyo's shoulders and they began to converse more freely.
Somehow, the topic moved to her mask. "It's a gift from my mother,'' she said and tilted her head. "I vaguely remember her wearing it…"
It seemed she didn't want to discuss it further, so he also didn't pester her. "My dad gave me this''. He held up his fingers on which sat an unassuming ring.
"He used to wear it all the time".
"It's beautiful," she remarked.
They continued to converse till the early evening when they parted ways with a promise to meet the next day.
***
It had been a week, and Ren had begun to adapt to life in Averile (the country he currently resides in). He would often hang out with the "Furious four", and though they sometimes had little spats with Ally, it wasn't anything to be concerned about. He would also converse daily with his father. Sometimes they talked for very long, and at other times, the conversations were shorter.
However, they were both content.
After school one day, Liane and the rest invited him to the park with them. Ren was absolutely elated and he really began to feel like part of the group.
"We're a complete set now!" Fred yelled as he pedalled ahead. "The Furious five!". Usually, someone (usually Cory) would have gone over to give Fred a slap on the head, but this time, they were all quiet and even nodded in agreement.
Ren was so touched by this he decided to give 150% of his energy to their activities that afternoon. When they got to the park however, he was so tired from biking he just sat in the shade and watched the others play around.
Dera came over to join him and told the story of how his sister's hair dryer had malfunctioned that morning, causing her hair to stick up everywhere. The two boys were soon bubbling with laughter.
Eventually though, the laughter died down and the atmosphere became more serene. Dera laid down and, bored, Ren rolled up his hair into different shapes. Sleepily, Dera hummed a simple song.
It was an idyllic scene; the clouds above were like splashes of white paint against the blue skies. The chirping of birds above them and the muted sound of people playing around in the park made Ren begin to feel drowsy and his eyes began to blur as he watched their friends running and jumping around. His hands on Dera's head drooped off and he started to doze.
However, just as he was about to fall asleep… "Chirp, chirp…". There was a strange sound which made his eyes shoot open. Dera also heard it and lifted his head to listen closely. "Chirp…" Once again they heard the sound. It was much weaker this time.
Dera got up and also helped Ren up while shouting for the others. Without waiting for them to catch up, they followed the sound. It wasn't far from them, infact, just as they turned around the tree, they easily saw it.
There, lying in the grass was a cute little duckling. "Chirp…", the duckling called weakly. It was shivering a little, and when he picked it up, Ren found out that it was missing a leg. The rest of the "Furious Five" had already made it over and were staring at the duck curiously. A solemn air permeated the atmosphere and even Fred had stopped bouncing around as a frown came over his face.
"It's so cute…" Liane offered weakly in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Why is it missing a leg? And it looks sick." Unlike Liane, Cory was much more blunt and asked the question they all wanted to know the answer to but didn't dare to ask.
"Should we get it to the hospital? I think it's going to die…"
"....Can I touch it?"
Ignoring Fred, Ren offered a suggestion. "We should call the vet I think…" Ren said doubtfully. "I'll call my mum and ask ".
"Here, give it to me so you can call."
"Ok…" Ren reluctantly agreed and Dera carefully collected the duckling in his arms. At first he was a bit suspicious that the boy would be too violent or drop it, but he was surprisingly gentle and took care of it.
Ren called and told his mum about the situation. As he watched the duckling which looked like it was on the verge of death, he began to get flustered.
"Okay… sweetie, where are you now?" Nova replied quietly. Her cool and collected voice made him also begin to calm down.
"We're at…" He looked to Dera who mouthed a word to him. "... Criston park".
"Okay I'll call the wildlife professionals and get over there quickly. Before that, can you go to the nearest vet? I'll call and let them know you're on your way."
Ren nodded then realised she couldn't see him, then embarrassingly said "yes".
The others had worriedly been fidgeting but they were all surprisingly quiet. Carefully, Dera sat on the back of Ren's bike. He couldn't take his bike because of the chick in his hand, and he refused to take Fred's for obvious reasons. Liane wasn't strong enough to carry both of them, and Cory just wasn't having it.
Just as they were about to leave they saw a brown duck waddling at a distance. A few ducklings similarly waddled after her. It was a very cute scene.
"That should be its mother". Liane remarked.
"Well." Cory pushed his bike past her without looking back. "I wonder how you feel about presenting the dead body of her son to her since you all refuse to hurry?"
Liane's face became a little pale and she had a bitter taste on her tongue. She quickly overtook Cory who was still leisurely pushing his bike as he walked along. The others quickly followed suit.
As Ren drove by, albeit rather slowly, Dera looked at Cory and raised his eyebrow to which Cory nodded. This exchange went unnoticed and they continued out of the park.
They were all so distracted they didn't notice someone watching them from the shadows. However, just as they were about to leave, Cory turned around and looked in that direction. The person slunk back and Cory's eyes narrowed. However, he didn't do anything and just turned away and left.