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"So, he is here." She gestured at the bedsheet. "Naked and eating breakfast."

"Yes," Fae said, then winced. "When you say it like that, it sounds…difficult to believe."

Aiko covered her mouth.

Kenji, mortified, bowed from where he sat, clutching the edge of the fabric carefully. "I apologise for the…situation."

Aiko covered her face with both hands. "Kenji-san," she muttered in a hushed, wondering voice. Then she peeked through her fingers. "So you're real."

Fae blinked. "Aiko?"

"I have heard so much about you from Haruko-san and everyone else," Aiko said, lowering her hands at last, eyes wide and openly awed. "Kenji-san."

Kenji's ears went pink. He bowed again, deeper this time. "I didn't know anyone remembered me, except my parents."

"Oh, they do," she said briskly, already backing out of the room. "Stay here. Do not"—she waved a hand vaguely between them—"do anything."

The door slid shut.

Fae exhaled. Kenji stared at the floor.

Moments later, Aiko was back, balancing another bowl of rice, something steaming and savoury, and a folded yukata laid carefully on top.

"For you." She setting everything down. "After bath." She hesitated, then added, holding out a pair of slippers. "These?"

Kenji glanced at them, then shook his head gently. "If it's all right…I prefer bare feet."

Aiko smiled, unexpectedly soft. "Of course. Haruko-san will be so happy."

She straightened, expression turning all business again. "Eat. Then bathe. Then we take you home."

Her eyes flicked briefly to Fae with a wondering light as if she had achieved a miracle.

"Fae?" she added, lips twitching. "Next time you have naked man here, give me warning?"

Chapter 29

They walked side by side as the village eased into the morning.

Mist still clung low to the ground, thinning as dawn crept in while dew sparkled like tiny prisms on the wet grass. Doors slid open while a kettle whistled somewhere. There was a vague sense of anticipation, as if the air anticipated what the pack was about to witness.

A shopkeeper was sweeping his porch when he looked up.

The broom stilled mid-stroke and slid from his nerveless fingers.

He stared with wide eyes at the group making their way down the street.

Then he did a double take, squinting as though the light was playing tricks on him. Slowly, he stepped forward and reached out, laying a hand on Kenji's head as he stopped and stared at the familiar neighbour who would sneak him tanghulu behind his mother's back, allowing shaking fingers to brush his hair like a blessing.

"Is it you?" he asked, voice barely more than a breath.

Kenji tried to speak through a throat that felt full before nodding.

The man's hand trembled before he drew it back, eyes shining.

"I have to see my father," Kenji said quietly.

Fae felt the urgency in him in the way his stride lengthened. Their pace quickened, feet striking the packed earth in unison.