Suzuka was riding her horse behind Yuma. They were heading to the residence after training. Since Mirai and Hikaru departed to meet Ryosuke, she was left alone in the residence, and to her horror, she always found Yuma waited for her everyday to her to the camp for training and back to the residence. It was the fifth day. She had refused politely in the first day after Mirai left, and asked whether she could be escorted by other soldier instead, in order not to bother him as she believed a general like him would have many things to do in preparing the battle. Yet, she remembered his answer:

“It’s not that I like doing this,” he said with his firm tone. “But Lady Mirai had instructed me to you while she is away and I would not defy any order. So, you better go along.”

Uncomfortable at first, yet she forced herself to get use to the silent general. They so rarely exchanged words, not even a simple greeting. Bowing head was their way to greet each other. The only chance they talked was when he asked her what time her training would finish. She said thank you every time they reached the residence but the response was always a nod. Really, Yuma was so different from Yuto; the gap was like earth and sky.

Remembering Yuto still gave her a painful feeling. She heaved a sigh to ease her heart. Not long after, they arrived at the residence. She dismounted her horse and a guard took it away immediately. Usually, she would bow and say thank you without him ever dismounted his horse. Yet, to her surprise, he did this time.

“I need to ask you something, lady,” he said while holding his horse’s reign.

One more thing she realized: he never called her name.

“What is it?”

“What will you do after this?” he asked.

She did not catch his meaning, “Pardon?”

“The fleet will be arranged soon. I need to know whoever will be included in it. Lady Mirai will leave to the hideout as Prince Ryosuke doesn’t allow her to join the troop. How about you?”

She as though swallowed a lump, “I haven’t thought about that.”

He waited for a couple seconds before replying, “I believe Lady Mirai and Prince Ryosuke would want you to be safe and join the escaping caravan. But since you’re not bound to us, I think you should decide it yourself.”

She considered his opinion and said, “Thank you for telling me. I’ll think about it.”

He added, “Tell me your answer in three days most. I need to ask for Prince Ryosuke’s consent about it.”

“I understand,” she bowed and said, “Thank you for escorting me.”

He bowed then mounted his horse. He did not spin around and leave, but he spoke again instead, “And should anything like today happen again, tell me soon.”

She saw he pointed his gaze to her bandaged left hand. Today she was paired with a woman in training. She realized that the woman recognized her as an Okamoto since she threw insults openly to her. She had started getting use to this kind of treatment and she would usually just ignore it. Yet, when the woman threw a cynical remark about her brother, she could not restrain herself from giving her a slap on the face. That ignited her partner’s rage and soon a fight broke out. She only defended herself by dodging the attack, but then the woman scratched her and left a bleeding wound on her wrist. The fight ended only when the other trainees brought the woman away by force.

“I’m sorry for causing trouble in the camp,” she bowed. “But please don’t punish her. Her family was killed during the rebellion by my family. I understood how she felt.”

“Good if you can understand, but your concern won’t change the fact that she violated the rule. No one will be exception, but I assure you she will get her penalty fairly.”

“Thank you.”

He bowed slightly then pulled the reign and speeded away.

Staring to the path where Yuma disappeared, there was a thing she realized. Yuma had a similarity with Yuto in his sense of justice. Another pang hit her. She sighed and entered the residence, wondering when she would be able to forget Yuto or at least would not feel hurt when remember anything about him.

**********

Mirai pouted and whined, “Halt! It’s not fair! Your hands are bigger than mine.”

Ryosuke chuckled but complied and stopped his move, “All is fair in war, my lady. Besides, it isn’t my fault that your hands are small.”

She plopped down on the grass, sighing, “Why should I be the only one get wet from head to toes?”

Ryosuke lied down beside her, looking up at her side and grinning, “Says the one who started it first.”

She could not help but pout more when noticing that her hair indeed got wet. “My poor hair...”

She should loosen the braid and wear her hair down. Braiding wet hair might damage it. Sighing, she took the braid and brought it to her front so she could untie the ribbon.

“I can help you,” she heard Ryosuke said.

She looked to her side and saw Ryosuke had sat up. Seeing the better option, she accepted the offer and turned her back to him. He took the braid from her front and brought it to her back. She could feel it when he started untying the ribbon.

Enjoying his gentleness when he carefully pried the braid open, she reminisced about their circumstance.

It was mid afternoon and several hours had passed since she knew the truth about Ryosuke’s first love. The first hour after that was spent with her asking numerous questions to him as she still could not believe that she was the little girl he loved since a long time ago. The next two hours were spent with them exchanging stories about their childhoods.

She had ever wondered why she never met him during his training under her father. It turned out he was getting trained by her father when he was eleven. It meant she was ten, and that was when she started studying in the Royal Academy. Royal Academy was a boarding school, so she was required to stay there and allowed returning home only one day on the end of the week. Unfortunately, that was the holiday for the training with her father. Fate was indeed unpredictable.

After exchanging stories, Ryosuke led her walked along the path through the meadow. She was amazed seeing the clear water of the stream. But the most she could not forget was what he said when they reached the bank.

“You know,” he started while they stood side by side. “If you walk further along the stream you will find that this stream diverges into several small canals surrounding the meadow. The flowers and any plants around the meadow live from the water they bring.”

“So, the canals are important?”

He chuckled before answering, “Yes. And you know Mirai? I start to think that this pattern is just like us.”

She turned her head and looked up to him, “Eh? What do you mean?”

He turned and met her eyes, smiling gently, “The stream has the water the meadow needs, and the canals deliver it to the meadow. The stream and the canals both are so important. They are, more or less, the source of life for the meadow. In our case, the stream is you, the water is your devotion, the canals are your words and actions, and the meadow is me.”

It was as though there were butterflies in her stomach once she caught the meaning, but before she could form any response, he ruffled her hair and walked ahead. She followed him to squat down and observing the water.

“It is so clear and fresh, right?” he asked for her opinion.

And that was when she got an idea. She cupped some water in her hands and splashed it to him. He was taken by surprise, but then he grinned mischievously and mirrored her action. Soon, a battle of water broke out.

She giggled remembering that.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked while combing her tresses with his fingers.

“I just think that we are like kids a moment ago,” she smiled saying this.

He did not give any response to that, but started another topic, “You know, I like it most when you wear your hair down. Your hair looks silky.”

Warmth enveloped her heart, “Thank you. I’ll let it down then whenever I’m with you.”

He tied her hair loosely at her nape. “And your flowery scent… where it comes from?”

She could not help but feel happy he paid attention to her, even to the trivial things. “It’s my perfume. Umika chose it for me and since I like it, I use it until now.”

Suddenly he encircled her waist, giving her a back-hug and resting his chin on her shoulder. “Maybe I should give Umika a reward later.”

The feel of their wet shirt pressed to each other sent a flutter on her stomach, her heart started to pick up. “Wh-why?”

What he did after that trapped the air in her lungs and made her heart thumped loudly she thought he possibly could hear it. He planted a kiss on the joint of her shoulder and her neck, where her skin was exposed, uncovered by her blouse.

“Because I like it, too,” he whispered behind her ear, sending another butterflies to her stomach.

She gulped in nervousness and unconsciously fastened the collar of her blouse.  Just as she thought he would do something further, he pulled away all of a sudden.

“Let’s head back,” she heard his voice from above her.

“A-alright,” she stuttered her reply and rose to her feet.

Awkwardness hanging in the air for some time as no one of them spoke. She even did not dare to lift her gaze. Suddenly, the breeze blew and she sneezed. She shivered in her wet clothes. Yet, thanks to that, she heard a chuckle from Ryosuke. When she looked up, his expression was the one she used to see.

“You should change your clothes before you catch a cold,” he said while holding her coat out to her. Fortunately, before their water battle worsened, he had been thoughtful to suggest her putting her coat away. The coat was secured before it got too wet.

After she finished putting on her coat, he took her hand and led her to walk back to where his horse was left. Reminded that she would be riding with him caused her nervousness returned.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said all of a sudden, his hold on her hand tightened. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

She was surprised he noticed her jitters. She could not see his expression as he was a step ahead of her., but by the tone of his voice, she knew she did not need to worry. He always kept his promise. Thus, when they reached the horse, she could genuinely smile to him.

**********

Yuto was arranging the report he would give to Ryosuke when a soldier came informing him that Ryosuke and Mirai had returned. He immediately left to fetch them. When he had arrived at the camp’s gate, he saw Ryosuke boringly leaned on the gate while Mirai stood patiently beside him.

“How is your day?” He greeted when they had been in hearing-range.

Mirai smiled and Ryosuke straightened his back.

“It’s really fun, Yuto-kun,” she answered with a wide smile and he noticed her hair was wet. When he looked at Ryosuke, he realized that Ryosuke’s hair was wet as well, though only a small part of it.

“What were you doing that you drenched yourself like this?” He curiously asked.

“Oh, just playing with water,” said Mirai.

He was about to probe further when Ryosuke interrupted, “More important, Yuto-kun, why we should wait here? Mirai needs to change her clothes soon.”

He grinned and threw his arm over Ryosuke’s shoulder, answering, “Because you need me to show where you and Mirai will stay from today onward.”

Ryosuke’s eyes narrowed slightly, “I already have my tent.”

Patted Ryosuke’s shoulder, he took a step ahead of them, “Not anymore, Ryosuke. Let’s just head there and I will explain.”

He turned to Mirai and held his hand out to her, “Shall we, my lady?”

Mirai got a confused look on her face, hesitated whether she should accept it or not, so he acted first and took her right hand. He was just teasing Ryosuke actually, and he got the response he expected.

“Oi, what do you think you’re doing,” Ryosuke’s annoyed voice reached his ears.

He could not help but chuckle before he reached for Ryosuke’s left hand and placed Mirai’s on it. Making sure Ryosuke had held her hand, he remarked, “That’s the way you should treat your wife, Ryosuke.”

Mirai blushed and Ryosuke frowned, but kept his