Ehren was enjoying the peace and quiet with his arms wrapped around Akira when she threw the blanket in his face and dashed away. He could hear her laughter echoing in the quiet field as he struggled to disentangle himself from the blanket. When he finally freed himself from it, he raced after her. By this time, Akira had disappeared.

“Guess we’re playing hide and seek now,” he said.

“Who said I was hiding?” she asked from behind him.

He spun around. Akira was hanging upside down by her knees from a branch on the large oak tree. He stared at her in shock.

“What? Never seen a girl hanging from a tree?”

He laughed.

“Didn’t expect you to climb a tree,” he told her with a smile.

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She grabbed his shoulders and let her legs straighten. She stayed like that for a moment before hooking her legs back onto the branch. She let go of his shoulders and swung up so she was sitting on the branch looking down at him.

“That was fun,” she said. “Used to do that all the time with Father when I was little.”

She looked down at him.

“Are you going to join me up here? The view is great.”

“I’m sure, but have you gotten your hands taken care of?”

“Aside from picking out any splinters, nope.”

“Why do you say that so cheerfully?”

Akira didn’t reply. She just looked off to the horizon.

“Let’s go back to the house so I can take care of your hands.”

“Fine, spoilsport.”

Akira huffed in frustration then stood up on the branch. She lept off and did a flip in midair before landing lightly on the balls of her feet. Ehren shook his head. They were walking back to the house when Akira suddenly broke into a run. Ehren struggled to keep up with her. By the time he made it back to the house, he was out of breath and Akira was scurrying around. He tried to grab her to stop her but she shook him off. Something was wrong. It had to be Askel.