After the tournament, a group of them sat around a long table in one teahouse close to the arena. It was Hiroshi, Ansei, Itaro, Udo, Yuto, Nishikigi, Ezra, and the Oyakata. Hiroshi’s mother and little sister surrounded him at the large table that was populated by the larger-than-life men, and Asami couldn’t stop looking around and gaping at all of them.

Hiroshi was informed that it was one of the nicer tea houses in the city. It was also close to the arena, so it made for a pleasant spot for sumotori to relax after a long day. In fact, Hiroshi’s table wasn’t the only table populated with people from sumo. They were the largest group, but still there were a few smaller tables with larger-than-life people sitting and enjoying their tea, wearing their ornate kimonos.

Honestly, the boy could see why. While he’d never been in a teahouse before but judging from how everything was polished and the fabric was silk, he could understand the reputation. The short table the group sat at was black polished wood, with a white top made from a sort of stone that Hiroshi couldn’t place. The whole place had a very simplistic feel to it. The only colors in the restaurant that weren't white or black were the teapots. Every teapot Hiroshi had seen looked like it had been broken at one point and then put back together with gold.

When Hiroshi had asked, he learned it was a sort of art known as keynotes. It was developed to celebrate and embrace the flaws and imperfections of things. Apparently, the Mama-san from this establishment went around and found the porcelain pots that the makers couldn’t sell otherwise. She’d then commission someone to fix them up with gold.

Hiroshi took a moment from eyeing the teapot that sat in front of him and looked around. He marveled at how everything in here was so clean. It wasn’t only clean, there was just something about the place he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Everything just had its place, and each place seemed to have a mountain of reason behind its placement. It all seemed like the sort of thing the master of the garden at the stable would do to embrace and generate a peaceful aura from the world.

Even the banner near the entrance that read ‘Karyu’, the name of the teahouse, seemed to generate a sort of peacefulness to it. The sign was written in the old language from his home island. Further testament that it specialized in catering to the sumotori. The brush strokes of the characters that roughly translated to ‘Flower Willow’ in the newer language of the Empire were so precise and exact. Hiroshi couldn’t imagine his handwriting ever being that nice.

“I’m glad you won today, Nishikigi,” Ansei said and looked over to the yokozuna and knocked Hiroshi from his thoughts of zen and peace.

Nishikigi nodded his head and took a sip of his tea. “Thank you, Junior brother. Any day where you can win is a good day,” he said with a nod.

“Well, yeah, but you were up against someone so much lower ranked than you,” Hiroshi said. “I bet you’ll do great when you go against Zoichi as well,” he continued.

The boy had been trying to continue to hype Nishikigi up and give him the praise he deserved. Instead, he felt everyone stare at him. Hiroshi looked around the table and frowned as his face flushed red.

“That’s one of the beautiful things of sumo Hiroshi. You should know, you showed it when we practiced together. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Yes, my opponent today was new to the top division, but he was a worthy adversary. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have climbed to where he was so quickly.” Nishikigi set his teacup down and looked over to the boy with a kind smile.

Hiroshi’s blush just set in deeper, and the boy nodded. “Yes, senior. My father used to say the same thing,” he offered meekly.

Hikari put a hand on her son’s shoulder and smiled over at Nishikigi. “Still, you showed quite impressive sumo. It was a good match. I admit, I was never the fan my husband was, but seeing it in person instead of hearing stories is quite exciting,” she said.

“Alright, we made a convert!” Ezra yelled as one of the young ladies came over to fill his teacup. “We’ll have you waving fan towels and those little fans with sumotori faces on it in no time.”

Hikari gave a soft laugh and then looked down at Hiroshi. “I think I’ll wait until my son has one with his face on it to buy anything,” she said, which made Hiroshi’s face red once more.

Everyone gave a small laugh and raised their teacups in cheers to the mother looking to support her son. It wasn’t any doubt, of course. She had done everything she could for the boy since her husband died and life turned rough money wise. Even Itaro took a moment away to raise his cup in celebration of the hopeful young junior.

“Everyone did rather well today. There’s always room for improvement, but I’m happy with the way things went,” Kenjiro said as he looked over his wrestlers.

“Even Yoshitaro showed he’s been doing better today,” Yuto said with a chuckle.

Everyone else at the table gave nods and small chuckles until Kenjiro gave a look of disapproval around the table. “Yoshitaro has been training hard, and it shows,” he said, and cut off any further down talk about their stablemate.

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Up to this point, Itaro had been deep in conversation with a young lady who worked at the teahouse. She looked a little different from the others who worked here. She was more dolled up than they were. While the other women looked nice in their fine silk dress robes, she wore a style of kimono that Hiroshi hadn’t seen before. He thought only sumotori wore them. Her sash was bigger and the obi in the back was much bigger and had more flourish than any of the ones he had ever seen. It was a soft pastel blue embroidered with pink flowers, and the obi was a deep pink that matched. In a word, the woman was beautiful, and Hiroshi could barely stop staring.

Everyone seemed to have their own small conversations at the table and all of them would join together in one large conversation here and there. Udo, naturally, seemed to mostly keep to himself and didn’t say much at all to anyone. He still smiled and nodded his head and spoke when spoken to. He just seemed to be happy to be out of the stable for a little while and be able to relax. When a woman who seemed more like the woman Itaro was talking to tried to talk to him, the man just blushed and shook his head with a raised palm. This brought a chuckle from Ezra and Nishikigi, which only deepened Udo’s blush. Hiroshi was just confused about the whole thing.

Once everyone had their fill of coffee and the little snacks the tea house provided, the Oyakata nodded his head. “Alright then, we should be heading back. It’ll be another early morning since there are more junior bouts to start the day,” he said and drained his cup.

“Aye,” Ezra said with a grunt as he climbed to his feet from the seated position at the little table.

Everyone in turn also stood to their feet and fixed their kimonos without saying anything except Itaro who cleared his throat. He was still in his seated position and his eyes didn’t leave the woman that was seated next to him.

“Uh, Oyakata…” Itaro trailed off, unsure of what to really say.

Ezra just gave a chuckle and shook his head as he walked to the doorway for the establishment.

“Don’t stay too late, Itaro,” Kenjiro said and shook his head before he followed Ezra to the front counter to settle the bill.

Itaro gave his master a seated bow. “Of course Oyakata. Would you like me to let you know when I return?”

Kenjiro looked back at the younger wrestler and shook his head. “No, but Botan will probably still be awake doing his nightly cultivation. You let him know,” he said with a smirk before he exited the teahouse.

Itaro gulped but nodded his head. “Yes Oyakata, thank you,” he said mulishly.

As the group walked through the chilly night spring air, Hikari carried the lightly sleeping Asami in her arms. Hiroshi walked alongside his mother and Ezra was close by, with everyone else walking slightly faster than the old man and the woman who carried her daughter.

“Ezra, who was that girl Itaro was talking to all evening?” Hiroshi asked the man softly.

He didn’t notice his mother stop suddenly and look wide eyed. Ezra just looked down at Hiroshi and cleared his throat.

“Gently, please,” Hikari said to the old man.

“Ah, uh…. Well, Hiroshi,” Ezra coughed a little and looked around as he looked for an answer. “That girl was just someone who specializes in a more.” he struggled a moment. “Uh, a more private sort of tea ceremony,” he said after several long moments.

Now that Hikari had caught up with the pair once she found her feet worked again, Hiroshi stopped to pause. “Oh, is that all?” he smiled and nodded. “That seems a little boring and way too formal. It was much nicer having tea with a group and being able to laugh and joke.”

Ezra nodded his head and chuckled a little. “Aye, indeed it is Hiroshi. Indeed, it is.”

When the group returned to the stable, they found the others cleaning from the stable dinner. Not everyone went out for the evening. Instead, they stayed home and relax and have the always delicious cooking of the Okami. When the Oyakata walked in, the disciples who were in the room stood and bowed towards him and welcomed him. He waved away the ceremony and told everyone goodnight and not to stay up too late before he headed up the stairs to the top floor where his room was.

Hiroshi greeted everyone and then said goodnight. It had been a long day and being back at the stable hit the boy with a sudden wave of exhaustion. He looked up at his mother with a smile and patted Asami on the head. His little sister was awake now, but her eyes were barely open and she smiled sleepily up to him.

“Goodnight mother, Asami. I’m going to go to bed,” he said before he leaned in and gave them both a hug.

He felt their arms around him and returned the hug and then his mother kissed him on top of the head. “Yes, we’re going to go to bed as well. We’ll see you in the morning,” she said and took Asami’s hand once the hug broke up.

The pair followed Hiroshi up the stairs and when he broke away to go into his room, they continued on to the next flight of stairs. Since they were guests, they could stay in the private rooms on the floor with the first and second ranked wrestlers. Auntie Yi, Ezra, and Botan all also slept on this floor in private rooms, as being higher members of the stable’s hierarchy.

The gerbil went right over and flopped on the futon cushion on the floor and spread out. Huan was already in bed and snoring on his side. Hiroshi groaned but tried not to let the snoring get to him as his mind wandered.

Tomorrow is going to have to go better. I will not drop another match.

Hiroshi cursed. A henka. What kind of yokozuna does that? Even if he is a junior yokozuna, he still has the title. I’m going to win the title of this tournament.

That was the last thought he had that night before sleep overtook him. Angry and upset over the day’s events and what had unfolded. He fell asleep with the promise to himself that he wouldn’t let it happen again and that he would win the next day’s matches.