Later that evening, Gengyo made his way through the forest following the route they had walked yesterday.
He was feeling mildly irritated following the events of the day, but he did his best to calm himself before he met up with Akiko.
He passed through the remaining trees and arrived at the gateway to the courtyard that Akiko had disappeared into yesterday, and fashioned himself a comfortable waiting place on a nearby log.
There was a clear path from the mansion toward the rice fields and the like, but bordering the path were trees on each side.
'If such a place were to be attacked, they would have a hard time spotting any enemies.'
Gengyo thought to himself idly, stroking his chin.
The wall surrounding the mansion and its land was not that high either. It could be jumped rather easily, and was most likely designed with style in mind rather than defence.
And style is what it certainly achieved. It perfectly captured the height of medieval Japanese architecture with its angular tile rooves and whitewashed walls that sat upon a layer of wood.
'If it looks this well-to-do from the outside, the inside has got to be pretty good.'
Gengyo had not gotten a good look at the inside yesterday as it had been dark – even darker than it was now – and he had been in a hurry to leave.
'Anyway… Where's that girl? I'm surprised that she's making me wait, considering it's her that wants to be out so badly.'
He moved closer to the gateway, intending to attempt to peer through the gap between the two solid wood doors that occupied the frame.
He leaned forward, pressing his face against the wood to secure the best view.
But inside the courtyard he could see nothing. A mere stretch of gravel filled his view, with the bottom of some trees revealing themselves at times depending on his viewing angle.
"BOO!"
A loud shout directly next to his ear caused Gengyo to flinch, heavily.
He bashed his nose against the wood, giving a snort of pain as he turned around to face his attacker.
"Hahaha! Your face! Who would have thought you'd be scared so easily?!"
A gloating Akiko held her belly in laughter as she giggled uncontrollably causing tears to form in the corners of her eyes.
Gengyo stared at her in a stupor. It was such a ridiculous set of events that he had trouble processing what had happened.
Holding his nose – so his voice came off a little more nasally than it normally might – he attempted to voice some complaints.
"Did you… seriously… wait there all this time? I've been here for like ten minutes…"
His words only caused Akiko's laughter to grow louder.
"Hahaha… My god… hahaha… it was so worth it!"
Gengyo could only shake his head in exasperation at her childish antics, waiting for her to calm down.
Well, that's all he would have liked to have done, but he could not help smiling despite himself.
'It's been a long time since I've been involved in something so silly… It feels rather refreshing.'
Though he had been the butt of the joke this time, it had lightened his mood considerably.
Akiko showed no signs of calming down, so Gengyo attempted to move things forward.
"Come on Akiko, jump up. We're going to be bringing your entire household guard down on us if you keep laughing like a madman."
"Fufu, okayyy!"
She conceded the point, covering her mouth with her hand as she moved onto Gengyo's back.
Her hair fell past Gengyo's head, tickling his neck and filling his nose with a comforting feminine scent.
Akiko dried the tears of laughter from her eyes, and she leaned forward letting loose some idle chatter.
"So how was your day, Scaredy-cat-san?"
Gengyo winced a little at her question, but dared not let such thoughts ruin his good mood.
"It's –san now? You're finally giving me the respect I deserve, Swan-kun."
"'Swan-kun?'"
"Yup. Did I not tell you? When I look at you a swan comes to mind."
Akiko tilted her head, feeling there was a compliment hidden somewhere.
"Because of the purity of my character, and my awe-inspiring beauty."
"Nah. Just when you were hiding in the undergrowth that time, I thought you were a swan. Something about the way you acted."
Akiko pouted, still searching for her compliment.
"My actions were dignified and purposeful, right? Like a swan."
"Oh no, quite the opposite I'm afraid. I thought only a bird would be behaving so foolishly."
"But-"
Gengyo cut her off as he continued his teasing.
"To be honest with you, Niwa-san, when you emerged I felt a little disappointed in the human race. For a good few minutes, I honestly thought about killing myself."
She chopped the back of his head as hard as she could – which incidentally was not very hard – pouting all the while.
"That's so cruel! I asked you how your day was, and then you tell say that meeting me made you want to kill yourself! You're a cold man, Miura-kun."
Gengyo shrugged.
"My apologies my lady. Your profound beauty makes me act unlike myself. Let me – who is most unworthy – return the question. How was your day?"
Akiko was quiet for a time, realizing that she was being made fun of, but was rather unsure how to begin to deal with it. In the end, ignoring it seemed to be the best path.
"Well… It was a little boring. There's not much I can do with my foot, so I sat in my room and read all day."
Gengyo nodded with interest. Reading had been a favourite hobby of his in the many hours he had spent alone.
"Mmm, reading eh? I did not realize that Niwa-san had such refined interests. What kind of things do you like to read?"
"You're making fun of me again…"
"No, truly, I wish to know what the kind lady reads."
"Uhm… Poetry. But my favourite are travel novels, about people who get to go on all kinds of adventures."
"Heh, travel novels eh? I would have thought romance or something of the like."
"No way. Romance doesn't exist. It's just people pretending that they're enjoying the marriage they were forced into it. But anyway, did you know that there's this big mountain called Mount Fujiyama? Warriors climb it – it's really hard – to prove their strength."
"Mm. I'd heard some rumours. It's not that far from here I don't think. Perhaps you could visit it yourself one day."
Akiko went quiet at that.
"You don't want to?"
She shook her head.
"No… it's not that. I really want to."
"But?"
"There's no way I'd be able to Miura-kun. There's no way either of us will be able to."
Gengyo felt a little sorry hearing that, and attempted to cheer her up.
"Sure we could. We could walk there right now."
Akiko tilted her head. The nuance of what he meant had escaped her.
"Don't be silly Miura-kun. There's no way we'd be able to do that."
"Why not?"
"Well… that's… There's my father, he'd never let me go – especially not with you. And we'd need food, and horses."
"We needn't tell him, we could just leave. No one would ever find us if we were careful."
Akiko started to take him a little too seriously.
"It's too sudden… I'm not sure if I'm ready to go right now."
Gengyo shook his head.
"I didn't mean that we should really head there now. I just meant that it's well within our capabilities. If we ever felt like it, travelling to Mt Fujiyama would be easy enough done. It's pretty far, but we'd get there. We could travel anywhere we want, providing we could find some food along the way."
Akiko stared across the expanse of water that now filled her vision, as Gengyo gently set her to the floor and she took a deep breath.
"Mm… When you say it like that, I start to believe it to be true."
Gengyo turned to look her in the eye, offering his honest thoughts.
"Why shouldn't you? There's no reason for you to play out the card you were dealt, little lady. There would be no meaning to life if we gave up on our dreams."
She offered him a gentle smile, taken in by his philosophy, and nodded.
"I hope you're right, Miura-kun, because I don't have much time left."
Gengyo was put off by those ominous words, and frowned slightly.
"Not much time left… Surely you're not thinking of killing yourself?"
Akiko shook her hands in front of her, indicating a negative response.
"No no, nothing like that. It's just, when I get married that man, my life will no longer be my own."
He nodded, understanding.
"Do your best to endure, and if it is ever too much, I'm sure Fujiyama would be happy to make your acquaintance."
Silence reigned for a while, as a gloomy atmosphere began to take over.
'The kid's got it rough, but she'll probably find that the man she's set to marry isn't as bad as she thinks. Our brain does a good job of distorting the things that we're reluctant to do into grotesque monsters.'
"Ah, Niwa-san. I have a little surprise for you."
Her face perked up a little as curiosity took over.
"Oh? What is it?"
Gengyo gestured for her to follow, and they walked towards a patch of reeds that occupied a spot near the shoreline.
"Have a peak."
Gengyo held back a layer of reads, offering a better view.
"My! Is that the raft you were talking about building yesterday? How did you manage to get it all done by yourself?"
Excitement now filled her eyes.
"Aye. I managed to complete it yesterday, but it was difficult, as I spent a good couple of hours helping an injured swan."
His teasing was met with a pout and a look of indignation.
"You mean me? Honestly Miura-san, there has never been a ruder peasant in existence. If you spoke like this to my father, he'd probably club you to death."
"And you seem to be fond of speaking some rather grotesque words for a lady, so I'd say we make fairly good company."
Akiko giggled, appreciating his wit.
"Yup. Father always used to scold me about it."
Gengyo began to pull the raft toward clearer water, fetching a long bamboo pole in the process.
"Good, I hope he scolds you more in future."
He then leapt onto the surface of the raft, causing it to shake violently almost throwing him off.
He then extended his hand to Akiko to help her on.
"I hope the swan knows how to swim."
She gulped, but took his hand. His words were not exactly encouraging.
Her step sent the raft backwards, causing her to lose balance with a rather feminine squeak.
Gengyo's grasp of her hand allowed him to quickly stabilise her.
"Ah, I'd appreciate it if you didn't break my bow straight away."
She blushed, recalling the noise she had just uttered.
"Hmph. It's so strange to stand on. Even if I did break your silly little bow - that you foolishly left right in the middle of the raft - it wouldn't be my fault!"
Her reaction only caused his grin to widen as he poled them away from the shore.
When they were a good distance away – almost 60 paces from the usual target – Gengyo took up his bow.
"Would it trouble the lady if I were to loose a couple of arrows?"
Akiko was kneeling down, looking into the depths of the clear water at the panicked fish swimming by.
"Mmm, sure."
She was not exactly paying all her attention to what he was saying.
Not that such a thing bothered Gengyo, who already had the string pulled back toward his cheek and was lining up the perfect shot, intending to it time his release just right with the sway of their raft.