| [May. 15th, 2009|02:07 am] |
Hiro blinked at the leaves through the rapidly dissipating smoke of Ginta's departure, fluttering shapes chasing each other in haphazard loops as the whirlwind died down. They were brilliant red and orange despite the season, which made Hiro smile to himself as he turned back to his ramen. Autumn leaves at the beginning of spring... what a showoff! Still, it had been a nice effect.
A nearby child apparently appreciated it as well; she darted past, take-out bag of taiyaki clutched tightly in one grubby fist, and snatched up the leaves in the other. As Hiro watched, she ran back to a group of her friends standing nearby, waving her prize above her head and chattering excitedly. The ramen-seller's son Koji, stuck behind the counter instead of out playing, turned to Hiro hopefully. "Hey, ninja-san! Can you teach me that trick?"
"No, I don't think so," Hiro told him gently, his voice mild but firm. "You'd better stick to juggling." Koji managed to sulk for about a minute at the refusal before he was hijacked back to the sink to wash more dishes; the ramen chef gave Hiro a reluctantly thankful nod over his son's shoulder.
By the time Hiro left the stand, the girl with the leaves had become queen of the moment among the crowd of children; she stood in the center of a cluster of them, handing out treats from her crumpled paper bag with the two colorful leaves stuck proudly in her hair. Koji waited in the ramen stand, his focus drifting off until his father rapped him lightly over the head with a ladle. And Hiro smiled as he walked past, content. His stomach was full, and sixty-four ryo in coins rested muffled in his pocket; if Ginta didn't contact him, he'd have a reason to find him and return them sometime.
Friends, after all, were good to have. |
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