Meteor Arts Saga

Chapter 31

The entire convoy had made it back to Kyoto. Finally, it was good to be back. They could finally get some rest and away from trouble, but there was barely any celebration to be made, nor there was needed to be. Future concerns aside, the Artists were exhausted after their close escape from the Hagetaka at Kochi. It was even a rough journey for the samurai, too. After returning to the Renmei's hideout, Taro mentioned his father, the president, was away until tomorrow morning. Some members had gone to their dormitories and got changed. They would just spend some quiet time dining in restaurants, drinking in bars, going to the public baths, or like Koki who individually took a silent walk in the lively streets at night, the same places where he and his friends went on the first night of his visit.

He was thinking about the woman whom Hitomi mentioned to him. It was about her mother, Touko. She had been floating around in his head ever since the name was mentioned. There was nothing running in his mind but the thought or depicted imagery of Touko.

When Koki returned to the hideout, it was already beyond midnight and many men had slept in their beds in the dormitory, softly and peacefully. Their futons were laid adjacent to one another. Koki changed into his sleepwear and went into his futon. He had not yet gone to sleep straight away, for he still yearned to know more of Touko and imagined what she was like. Eventually, all that thinking rendered him tired and finally went to sleep.

It was a nice summer day in Nagoya. A young boy was walking alongside with his father. His father told him he wanted to pay an old friend a visit. They entered a small florist in the middle of the street. It was small, yet so simplistic and charming; the flowers placed by the walls and are well arranged with white, purple, red, yellow, pink and blue. Roses, tulips, daisies, and sunflowers.

His father found his friend, and it was the merchant of the florist. The merchant was a woman in her mid-30s and with a pixie haircut who appeared to be a loving and dainty. She was dressed in simple clothes with an apron over her.

"Hello!" he greeted.

The woman was startled and then turned around. "Oh! Makoto! It's nice to see you!" She noticed the boy besides him. "Ah... This here is your son?"

Yes he was, Makoto told her. He turned to his son and said to him she was a friend of mine and had known each other long before he was born. He told him to say hello to his friend and tell her his name.

The boy gulped and made eye-contact with the woman. "Hello... I'm Koki."

"Hello, Koki. I'm Touko," she introduced herself.

Koki clenched tight to his father's shirt, turning shy and nervous when meeting her.

Touko ended with a giggle. She invited them into the lounge and offered them some refreshments at the table. Koki was sitting quietly while drinking some juice from his cup, but he had been listening to both his father and his friend chatting away. It was not just Koki and Makoto arriving in the city but the rest of the family as well. The entire family came to Nagoya to spend at a resort for a summer vacation, but Makoto himself thought about taking an opportunity of visiting Touko. Koki never knew they both were old acquaintances and had been close friends.

Touko asked Makoto on why he brought Koki along. He could just come here all by himself, yet out of all his children, Koki and only Koki joined him. Makoto thought he just liked to tag along with him and was very eager to learn, simply because he was a Meteor Samurai.

Hearing the word 'Meteor Samurai' put Touko in a sombre mood.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that is still bothersome to you," he pardoned himself.