25: Final Night Stay

The evening passed quickly once Kana returned inside the inn.

The simple dinner Michiko prepared was accompanied by the low conversation between Yuka members as they changed shifts and went back to sleep. Again, their discussions allowed Kana to get a sense for how their travels had been and gave her a few ideas about what to follow up on later. If acting director Fumio were unavailable, as was liable to be the case, she'd have to find someone else to talk to and get details of their destination countries.

It seemed Kana had missed her chance for the evening though, slightly disappointed that she'd let herself get so wrapped up in her thoughts as to lose track of time while she was outside with the wounded woman. Many of the Yuka were heading back to sleep already by the time Michiko finishing attending to Kana's meal.

And for some reason, Michiko seemed much more eager to stay close to Kana, perhaps because it was the last night Kana would be spending at her inn? After they shared that hug, Michiko seemed more relaxed and satisfied too.

"Kana-chan, I know you wish to leave, but should you ever return someday, my inn will always be open to you." was what the older woman whispered softly before releasing her embrace that time.

Even to this day, Kana failed to understand what Michiko was thinking. Seemingly nothing made sense about her motivations, but nonetheless Kana was grateful for her kindness the last few days.

Simple kindness from a stranger had given her more comfort than she knew possible, if only briefly. Kana would not forget this kindness, nor its apparent unwarranted nature. She'd given up asking why by now, and learned to merely accept that people could have their own reasons. That didn't mean Kana wasn't still curious, though.

Kana was also now certain that some of her own actions made little sense to others, especially given the looks she received from the medical staff outside.

It was clear to her now that people naturally struggled to read what was going on with other people, and to make inferences about their intents and motivations was a difficult and valuable skill indeed. It was a poignant lesson in perspective, perhaps, that Kana wasn't sure she would ever have learned properly without the last few days spent here among civilization.

A lesson in how to accept things more naturally. Not everything needed to be questioned at first glance and in depth, but that was just how her mind was used to operating for a long time now. Habits like that are hard to break and even harder to overcome entirely.

Soon the silence of night once again filled the inn, and Kana was left at a loss as how to spend the night. She didn't particularly need nor want to sleep tonight, now that more interesting answers and information sources were quite literally sharing a roof with her.

Still, she'd failed to factor in that she would be the only one awake this late into the night. Outside, the samurai had woken for their nightly guard duties, but they were busy and would find it suspicious if Kana interacted with them. She'd briefly observed them from the inn's roof for a time, and it was immediately apparent that those samurai were a grim lot.

All four of the middle-aged men from the Land of Iron bore a startling collection of scars, on both skin and armor. Their hands were almost always on their swords, looking visibly uncomfortable, and they glanced around suspiciously as if they somehow sensed Kana's gaze on them.

Seeing them like that made Kana feel worried too, so in the end she'd returned to her room without interacting with the samurai too much. She would have more chances as they traveled.

Instead Kana reclined on the bed in her temporary quarters, reflecting on what she'd learned, how she felt, and her own actions throughout that day.

The meditation served her well, and as the sun rose again, Kana felt much more comfortable about a variety of things. It was fundamentally difficult for her to relax around other people and Kana felt most at ease when she was alone, but if she could keep herself from overstressing about it then her travels would be just that much more comfortable.

Such little comforts were something Kana realized she had come to treasure since beginning her life anew.

Still, it would take more time to get used to being near a crowd of fellow travelers. As of now, Kana was merely thinking about her 'fellow travelers' in a sense of literal proximity rather than any form of camaraderie. All of the things that the standard 'traveling together as a team' mindset might entail or imply to others were in actuality as far from Kana's mind as to be incomprehensible.

What did it mean to be a team? How did groups like the Yuka Group function with so many people among their ranks? How and why did other people feel relaxed in each other's presence? It was a matter of Philosophy again.

As long as she had some time alone to think, Kana always wound up finding much to consider relating to the realms of philosophy, and soon it was time to start the next day. The conclusions and sentiments Kana sometimes reached through her musing often represented breakthroughs in her understanding of the world around her, and understanding brought her one of the only joys she'd ever known.

Rubbing her eyes and forehead to clear her mind, she made her way out to have some breakfast. Once settled on a bench, Kana caught snippets of a conversation in front of the inn between Fumio, Ryuu, a few other walking-wounded Yuka members, and later a few of the samurai. Ryuu somehow seemed even more exhausted than before he'd slept, his pale brown hair looking greyer in the dawn light, his narrow eyes having even darker circles under them. These men were some of the only fully-able-bodied Yuka members, so they bore enormous portions of the convoy's workload.

Their conversation consisted mostly of standard reports, from inventory lists to patient conditions to observations from the guards. It was also made apparent that Ryuu had just been promoted to head supervisor of all the long-term field medics, given that his predecessor had unexpectedly died of his wounds overnight. It was then that Kana also learned that one of the convoy wagons was dedicated to returning the bodies of deceased Yuka members to their next of kin or hometown.

While all of this information was quite revealing as to the true status of the convoy, what truly caught Kana's interest was when the samurai reported feeling like they were watched by an unknown figure occasionally during the night.

To Kana, that confirmed that the samurai had indeed sensed her gaze somehow, which bore all sorts of implications she would have to worry about. Mostly, she wanted to learn that ability for herself. How did they do it? Her senses were already sharp enough to warn her of danger, but these samurai were on another level. Was it another sense entirely? Fortunately, it didn't seem like they had identified her as the culprit.

Being aware of unknown gazes would help her avoid being ambushed, which Kana recognized from personal experience as a major advantage.  At the very least, it would be a major contribution towards accounting for her current inability to sense with her chakra functionally. After considering all that, Kana hadn't lent much attention to their conversation, tuning it into background noise as she busied with her own thoughts.

Eventually Michiko came out from the kitchen and noticed her, inviting her to share a meal at the counter while they had a moment free. Outside, Yuka members were almost fully up and about even just after dawn, prepping wagons and stretchers to depart. A flurry of shouted orders from Fumio indicated the end of their staff meeting, and the general commotion of the convoy swelled as people went about finalizing their preparations.

Soon after, Fumio and Ryuu also made their way up the stairs and back inside the inn, both exchanging greetings and well wishes with Michiko at the front desk before glancing towards Kana.

With a nod from Fumio, Ryuu made his way over to the girl.

"Good morning, I hope you're well rested. Well, better rested than I anyway, " he only muttered that second sentence before glancing towards the inn's door, "We aim to head out within the hour, so I'll need to detail your assignments to you. For the sake of convenience today, Fumio-sama has ordered me to act as a sort of supervisor for you. So you'll be working under my purview provisionally."

Again, Ryuu looked somewhat concerned, furrowing his brows and rubbing the light stubble that darkened his chin. "After your behavior yesterday, we felt it best... no, nevermind. It's beside the point. Suffice it to say that you'll be around the patients' stretchers just as often as I and the other medics.  This is because we'll be paired together as the two-man team needed to carry a stretcher. Consider that your primary responsibility for now."

Until now, Kana had merely listened in silence and nodded at his words, but now she had a question.

"We'll work together, Ryuu-san? But...can I still be with that woman-"

Ryuu interrupted her with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Yes, yes. I haven't forgotten what we agreed upon. I'm just going to be more directly involved as well." He punctuated his finals words with a put-upon sigh before turning around and running a hand across his scalp. "Heavens know Fuzō-san is one of our members in most dire need of care. To think humanitarian workers could be targeted so ruthlessly. Poor woman had barely survived by the time we pulled her out of that rubble... and such tenacity despite those wounds."

Kana's eyebrows tightened slightly hearing this. So the woman's name was Fuzō, was it? Somehow Kana regretted hearing of it from someone else. Though on the other hand, she was glad to have learned a bit more about her. That last tidbit of information was interesting too.

Ryuu, an experienced medic who had directly witnessed the ravages of the war, was shocked by Fuzō's vitality and ability to survive her wounds. Kana's own vitality was rather high, so that added another item to the list of shared characteristics between the two. Very interesting indeed.

Kana was interrupted from her thoughts by Ryuu again, who cleared his throat to gain her attention.

"Kana-san, since we'll be leaving soon. I also wondered if you might like to say your farewells to Michiko-san. It seemed as though you two had grown close before we arrived. This would be a good time to say goodbye."

This was doubtless true, though while she was being nudged towards the counter where Michiko and Fumio stood, Kana wondered how truly close they were. How did Michiko feel about her? Or did he mean that they were physically close to each other... was he talking about their hug? Kana still did not understand. All Kana knew was that she herself only regarded Michiko with curiosity and gratitude.

After reaching the counter, Fumio politely excused himself and left the girl to face her benefactress. A teary farewell ensued, concluded by another, lighter hug. Kana still wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to react, so was still somewhat physically awkward about it. Not that she particularly held that impression herself though. Did even hugs need practice?

People were just too difficult. It was barely past sunrise and already her mind was overheating.

As the two wished each other well, Kana exited the inn with the remaining Yuka members, turning back to give a small wave at the older woman. This was one of those hand gestures that Kana had figured out while she stayed in town, and it just felt appropriate for this situation.

Michiko saw them off with a smile and returned a wave, which greatly pleased Kana, who affirmed that she had indeed correctly learned the usage of waving between people.

When Kana finally turned her back away, led off by Ryuu towards the stretchers, Michiko's wave tapered off and her smile slackened gradually into a more and more lonesome one. Bringing the palm she used to wave goodbye before her eyes, she clenched it tight to her chest before turning away herself, shaking away tears from her eyes.

"Truly, Truly I wish you the best, Kana-chan." Those words, whispered as softly as snowfall into the now-silent inn's parlor, were spoken with the conviction and warmth of a hearth.