[ic] as i walk through the valley where i harvest my grain

[pancakeboy]

They don't have time to hang around the Dojima house till the kids deign to return. So eventually Akechi sends Hawk a text, as you do.

Hello, Hawk. Are Akira-kun and Moth with you?

Comments

[pancakeboy]

[In the entrance, he steps into his shoes, picking his blazer from its hook and pulling it on, and keeps an eye on Hawk to do the same.] All ready?

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro bends down to carefully pull on his shoes. Then he makes sure he has his phone, because he forgot it one time and Crow got worried. ]

Yeah.

[pancakeboy]

Then away we go. [And they step outside, into the really-not-very-wilds of Inaba, heading down the street towards the magic door—the tall Akechi and the small one, the magpie and the hawk. His skin prickles with stress, all down his arms and down his spine.]

So what were you up to with the others? Anything good?

[aspiringhero]

[ He perks up at the question. ]

We were Feathermen! We had to steal the Gem of Power from each other's home bases. Whoever gets all three wins, except if someone else has your Gem of Power you have to take it back first so you can have power again, and if you have someone else's Gem of Power you can use the safe zone...

[ He continues in this vein, describing what is in essence an incredibly intricate three-person version of capture the flag using river rocks. ]

[pancakeboy]

[It does sound incredibly intricate. It also sounds a lot like games he devised himself at this sort of age—you're Red Hawk, you're Feather Owl—except that he'd never had anyone to share those games with?]

Sounds like a cool game. Whose idea was it? [He suspects the answer will be that they all made it up together.]

[aspiringhero]

[ This requires some thought. ]

Kind of mine. But kind of Moth's? And Aki-chan helped with the gems...

[pancakeboy]

[Confirmed.] Ah, yes, the gems sound a little like Akira-kun. Wasn't there something about a floatie at the beach?

[aspiringhero]

He tagged my floatie. And Crow said it counted. [ He pouts a little. ]

[pancakeboy]

Had you agreed in advance that floaties count? [Obviously not.]

[aspiringhero]

No! [ Magpie is on his side! ...Maybe. ]

[pancakeboy]

[We-ell, we'll see.] Then you were both right. And both wrong.

[aspiringhero]

...We can't both be right.

[ We can't be right and wrong, is another objection he could have raised. But it's more important that one of them is right (him), and one of them is wrong (Aki-chan). They're rivals now! ]

[pancakeboy]

[As they walk, he offers Hawk a gentle tap on the head, with one gloved finger.]

Broaden your mind. Right and wrong are both relative. If the two of you didn't agree on the rules, then each of you had your own rulebook, yes?

[aspiringhero]

[ Yes, but one of the rulebooks was right. Or maybe neither one was right? But they weren't both right, because they said opposite things. He frowns up at Magpie in confusion. ]

How are they relative?

[pancakeboy]

Each of you thought you were right. [They're just turning the corner, towards the glowing blue door.]

And, of course, that the other was wrong. So from your perspective, you were right, and Akira-kun was wrong. But what did Akira-kun think?

[aspiringhero]

He thought I was wrong and he was right. [ It was easy to see that. ] But that's because... because he was wrong. But Crow didn't think so.

[pancakeboy]

And does Crow make the rules? [He gets the Velvet Room door for Hawk.]

Or do you have your own rules, in your heart and your head?

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro bites his lip.

The rules are there and you follow them, or you don't, and either way that's what the rules are. Even when it's the rules of right and wrong. His own rules?? That doesn't make sense at all, but it's obviously what Magpie, the only adult present, wants him to say.

A month or two ago, he would have just said it. He isn't quite brave enough to say, Crow makes the rules, but his silence is still progress. ]

[pancakeboy]

[They pass through the Velvet Room. Akechi offers Igor a bit of a glare, as they go; he has never got a coherent word out of ... whatever he is. They head for the Tokyo door.]

Think of the bookshop. [The big one in Shibuya, that looks like a sugar cube and is surrounded by trees.]

[aspiringhero]

Okay. [ That's less confusing and he's used to doing it, so he's relieved. He squints in concentration as he pictures the bookshop with all his might...! ]

[pancakeboy]

[He does the same, intense and determined to make the damn place be where he wants it. And when they open the door, there it is—a big, textured white building, strangely surrounded by trees and grass. He breaks into a smile.]

There we are. Good work. [It's safe for Hawk to run ahead, if he wants to.]

[aspiringhero]

[ His eyes shine at the praise! He beams up at Magpie for a second, confusing talk all but forgotten. But he doesn't run ahead, or at least not yet. ]

What book do you want? Like. What kind?

[pancakeboy]

[Oh, look at that. He's pretty sure he never smiled like that; it's unfair as hell.]

Something interesting. [He always says this, though anything really interesting to him won't be found in a bookshop.] Politics or history, maybe. Or a cookbook, perhaps. I have time.

[Or a novel; there are still mysteries he hasn't read. They cross the barely-trafficked road, taking the path up to the bookshop door.]

[aspiringhero]

[ Politics and history are so... grown up. But the cookbook interests Goro some. ]

Crow cooks yummy food. Can you cook too? Will I when I'm big?

[pancakeboy]

[Shit, he should have known better than to invite that question.]

I've never learned. Been too busy. [He gets the door, again, for Hawk.]