Night shrouded the rice paddies of the village as Ichi slipped through the dark. He admired the starry clear skies above that he couldn't see in the city. He might be in the Spirit World tommorrow. The thought excited him as he strolled, thinking of what kind of place it might be like.
He reminded himself this trip was something he chose. Tama suggested it, and that was enough to get him going. Which turned his thoughts to Renya. It was near midnight, and Ichi still felt groggy from sleeping in Renya's fort, so Ichi wandered towards her house.
At least he'd say his goodbye to Grandpa in the morning, he reasoned. Surely Renya would let him stay over? He'd never been to her house, so he tracked her smell. The thought occurred to him that normally, this would be stalking. No, wasn't it still stalking? Ichi put it out of mind. It's Renya, she shouldn't mind.
After all she did put him through a lot trouble last night. He justified his behavior like that. Ichi began to wonder if it was good idea or not to even stay near her in the first place despite her pledging loyalty, so when he arrived at a strongly built thick wooden house, he knocked weakly on the door.
A deer scarer, a bamboo pipe that filled to the brim with water then dumped it with a pleasant hollow tap into fountain, went off nearby. It flowed into a small curated pond filled with black goo. The stench clogged Ichi's nose. In the corner, he noticed a giant metal form taller than the house. Giant robot? Renya did say something about a golem. Ichi's heart beat with excitment.
The thick wooden door opened to a candlelit interior. Renya pulled the door aside fully, she folded her hands in front her and bowed deep, outfitted in an elegant western maid outfit.
"Welcome home, my lord."
"I like the effort." Ichi said.
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His eyes moved over the bowing Renya, her cat ears twitching through her short blonde hair as two tails, one white, one black, swished behind her.
"Is Miko in there?" Ichi wondered aloud pointing to Renya, half asking Renya, half not really wanting to know.
Renya straightened her body and moved her hand over her flat chest.
"Inside me? Just another flow of thoughts. I already have lots of those, so she's in good company."
"Huh." Ichi blanked.
Renya stood aside. She pointed inside with a open palm and bowed slightly with a light smile.
Ichi walked in admiring the rustic style of Renya's place. A fireplace crackled with a bear rug in front of it. There was only the one room, but the ceiling was higher than his eyeline so he had to slightly tilt his head up to see a dark metal candelabra hanging in the eaves.
"You're really into this maid thing." Ichi said. He ambled around the place, not taking off his shoes.
Ichi heard the door close softly behind him.
"For now, please take it as gratitude for last night."
Ichi turned to her.
"What did I do?"
Renya averted her eyes. The blue in her irises shimmered. Ichi sighed and turned around ambling over to the fire and waving his hands near it to feel the warmth on his palms. Better not to press the issue? Ichi got that sort of feeling. It was a different sense of danger than when Renya came at him with the katana. Ichi found it more frustrating in comparison, despite one would kill and one might upset her.
Renya started to voice something despite his worries, half vocalizing then trailing off like a sigh.
"Ichi. I'm serious."
Ichi didn't turn around as he answered in a droning tone.
"Really? Last night, I realized you could have killed me with a kiss. You never went all out."
Renya smiled behind him laughing a little.
"You didn't either."
"I suppose that's fair, then. Just two kids like us playing around, not knowing any better, then one summons an adult and things get hairy." Ichi turned around. "Normal journey to adulthood."