Chapter Text
“Are you sure you have everything you need?”
Ken nodded. “We sent all my clothes and stuff ahead a week ago, remember? I’ve got the stuff I’m wearing, my train tickets, my phone…” There was a whine from the singular piece of luggage next to him. “And Koromaru! Though...”
“Inaba is a small town out in the countryside. You’re not going to need an Evoker. Also, I believe your uncle would object if we sent you to him with a spear.”
Probably. For some reason, people didn’t like it when twelve-year-olds carried weapons around. And he hadn’t had a real need to battle for a whole year, now. Still, it would have been nice to have the option to summon Kala-Nemi if anything went wrong.
“I guess so… I’ll send everyone a text once I get to Inaba, all right?” Really, they didn’t have that much reason to be worried… It was him who would be moving to a new place, after all. Not that he was completely sure about this himself, after so long had gone by without a word from any of his relatives, but he was sure it would be fine. Worst case, he had Koromaru to protect him.
Besides, his uncle couldn’t be that bad, if he was letting him bring a dog along with him. The only condition had been that he would be Ken’s responsibility, and that honestly wasn’t too different from how things had been already. Besides, Koromaru was smart enough to let Ken know if he needed anything.
Neither Aigis or Kotone objected to the idea, and Fuuka simply nodded along.
“Make sure the two of you take care of each other, all right?” She asked. “I’m sure that our senpai and Minato-kun would say the same thing, if they were here.”
Ken found himself grinning, just a little. “Not so much Junpei-san?”
“Arf!” Koromaru barked in agreement.
“Hey, that’s mean!” Kotone scolded. “Junpei’s grown up a lot since I first met him. But… you might have a point. I’d be sort of worried about him, if he didn’t have Chidori-san and Minato-kun. ...Of course, that just means I’m worried for an entirely different reason.” He didn’t think he was meant to hear that part.
Aigis, being herself, spoke up to defend Minato. Fuuka sighed.
“Ken-kun, you should probably just go now. This might last for a while, and we don’t want you to miss your train.” Why not? If he missed his train, he could stay with everyone, right?
Still, he knew he had someplace to be, so he nodded and picked up the pet carrier. “Right. I’ll talk to you later, then.”
Inaba awaited.
Dojima Ryotaro had not meant for three and a half years to pass between his sister’s death and taking in her child. It had just happened.
Among other things, it had taken several months for him to even get the news that she had died. He and Chisato hadn’t been prepared to look after another child at that point, Nanako still taking up most of their time, but he thought they could have been prepared sooner if they had just heard about it.
By the time they were, almost, sort-of prepared, Ken had vanished in a mess of red tape and paperwork for reasons having to do with someone who ended up dying under mysterious circumstances. Right when his whereabouts were a known thing again, Chisato had been hit by a car, and before Ryotaro knew it, another year had gone by.
To say that fate clearly had it out for his family was… a bit of an understatement. But he’d managed to get things back in order eventually.
When he arrived at the train station with Nanako, the kid was already there, holding an empty pet carrier and standing next to a gray-and-white dog with bright red eyes that barked when they approached.
Ryotaro still wasn’t sure how his nephew had come to own a dog, it was one of those things that had never come up before, but there it was, tail wagging like nobody’s business.
“Come on, Nanako,” He said, quietly. “Let’s go meet your cousin.”
No matter how much Ren enjoyed hunting for bugs at the shrine with other kids, the fact remained that the best bugs still wouldn’t come out until summer, even if that was a time he might not be so welcome anymore.
One of the younger kids said it best. “You’re going to be a middle school student,” He stated, around one of the many drink cans he brought with him everywhere. “You’ll be too big to play with us, then.” Like it was his fault that he was one of the few kids in Inaba to have been born during a certain year.
“Then what am I supposed to do?” He asked. The only interesting thing around Inaba was Junes, and there were only so many times you could visit a giant department store before the novelty wore off.
He just got a shrug in return, which was not helpful in the slightest. Annoyed, he left the shrine, wondering if his allowance would be enough to get a book or two. If he wasn’t going to have anyone to play with, he might as well search for something to do with his time.
If he didn’t have enough money… Well, there were always steak skewers.
As he walked down the street, he bumped into an older girl with short black hair. “O-oh! S-sorry about that.” He backed away from her. “You’re not hurt or anything, right?”
“Hurt?” Green eyes blinked down at him, as if this girl somehow didn’t understand the basic concept of getting injured. “No, I don’t think I am. You should watch where you’re going, though.”
“I-I will. Sorry again!” He scrambled away from her, head slightly ringing for no real reason, and continued down the street.
By the gas station, he saw a boy roughly his age tapping away at his phone. A young girl sat next to him, along with a dog that seemed wholly unconcerned about anything other than how it was currently being scratched behind the ears.
...Well, mostly unconcerned. Suddenly, the canine’s gaze turned to focus on Ren, and he froze even as the other boy’s gaze drifted away from the phone, moving to follow his pet’s. His eyes met Ren’s, and he stood up.
“Oh, hello. Do you live around here?”
He nodded, because what else was he supposed to do? He’d never had to try talking to a new kid before, he’d already met his entire year group and most of the years surrounding it. There just weren’t a lot of preteens currently in Inaba.
“That’s right. I’m Amamiya Ren. Are you new in town?” He hoped he would. It’d be embarrassing if he somehow managed to forget a sixteenth kid in one of the classes at his elementary school or something.
“I just moved here, actually. I’m Amada Ken, and this is Koromaru. Say hi, Koromaru.”
“Arf!”
The little girl next to Ken laughed. “Koro-chan’s really cute, isn’t he?”
Honestly, Ren was a bit more of a cat person, but he could sort of see it. “Yeah, I guess, um…”
“Oh, right. This is my cousin, Nanako-chan. I’m… going to be living with her, from now on.” He seemed sort of uncomfortable talking about it. Ren supposed it wouldn’t be a good idea to pry. Maybe at some point in the future, if they ended up becoming friends.
He hoped they ended up becoming friends.