Jitsu -A different story-

Kurono was retracing his own steps, or at least that's what he thought was doing since he hadn't paid much attention along the way, but it wasn't too much of a problem since Shizune's house wasn't too far from the sake store.

At that moment, apart from Kurono's figure, no one was seen next to him. He probably would have found his way back if Akio or Ryo were accompanying him, but that wasn't the case.

In reality, it had already been several hours since Kurono had arrived at Shizune's family's store, apart from trying some types of sake that Ryo kept showing him, Kurono was quite entertained with all aspects of the store, both visual and administrative, and especially with the products and processing methods that Ryo told him about and showed him.

The situation also happened where Akio took Kurono to finally show him the results of the experiments he had been doing with Shizune's father, Ryo had also accompanied them since he was interested in the opinion that would come out of all that.

Kurono had to say that he was somewhat impressed with all the progress that Akio had right now, but just like Ryo's opinion, Kurono was quick to give his ideas and harshly judge the negative aspects so that Akio would know exactly what he needed to improve.

It seemed that his opinion had carried too much weight with Akio, although for some strange reason Ryo had also been involved in all this. In the end, both Akio and Ryo began to work as if something had taken over them.

It was quite clear that the ideas were sprouting in their heads and they couldn't waste that little inspiration, so, before they seriously started with everything, they both told Kurono to leave the work area since they preferred to show him everything once time finished.

That request had made Kurono have a strange expression on his face, but since he didn't have a problem with that, plus maybe there was some secret method that he shouldn't observe, so he simply said goodbye as he left the store with the goal of returning to Shizune's house.

And going back to the beginning scene, Kurono had finally crossed the main door to be greeted again with the view of the beautiful garden not far from him, maybe it would have been nice to enjoy a little of what nature offered, but as he was in someone else's house, he didn't feel totally free to do it, although that didn't prevent him from moving forward until he got inside again.

He had crossed the same door that led inside and his steps took him to the dining room where everyone had enjoyed the delicious lunch from before, Kurono thought that he would find someone there, but to his surprise, the place was completely empty.

This meant that the only idea left with him was to explore a bit in the hope of finding someone, although given the size of the house, he hoped he wouldn't get lost in the place.

Several minutes had passed since Kurono had started his journey, and several doors had been opened for him only to find himself with more empty rooms or more areas of the house, he was really worrying a little that he had really gotten lost since he had forgotten the way back.

'Hmm... Maybe it would have been a good idea to bring a piece of bread with me...' Maybe Kurono was starting to have strange thoughts because he was already getting tired, but his little worry would vanish the moment he opened the next door in front of him.

The sound of sliding was already something he had experienced lately, although it felt relaxing for some reason. The same scene where Kurono saw the surroundings of the room was repeating itself, some furniture was delicately arranged as well as some decorations adorned the place.

Something that had caught Kurono's attention was the huge door on the other side of the room, it was completely open revealing the outside space where the garden was once again. This had caused Kurono to unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief as she had at least found a way to escape from that labyrinth, but on top of that, Kurono entered as she noticed a figure that seemed to be surrounded by an aura of peace that was hard to interrupt.

But, although it seemed that way, Kurono's footsteps made that figure turn around and become aware of his presence.

"Did you want to scare me, Kurono-san? That won't work with me, hehe." Rena's animated voice was heard at that moment and Kurono explained quickly.

"Of course that was not my intention, I was lost and could not find anyone."

"Oh, that's right. Mom and Grandma went to Akio's house to say hello, I was about to go too since we all thought you would take a long time with grandpa." Rena started to explain everything to satisfy Kurono's curiosity.

He was about to ask Rena if he could come with her, but before those words were out of his mouth, Kurono's attention was caught by a particular spot right in front of Rena.

He had noticed before when he entered the room, Rena was in a prayer position, or at least he understood it that way, she was kneeling on the floor while her eyes were closed and she raised her hands and then put them together making that feeling of peace will surround her.

Kurono had also noticed a peculiar aroma coming from a small incense stick that was on top of a small wooden structure, and in fact, that structure was what had stolen Kurono's attention.

In Kurono's case, he knew that type of structure quite well, although it didn't always bring back very good memories... In a nutshell, the small incense continued to burn slowly letting out its aroma even more, and small flowers in a couple of vases were giving some color to image.

Kurono noticed that the whole house was clean, but that place seemed even more careful than any other, while Kurono was busy looking at all that, Rena had already stood up without much effort and then stood next to Kurono seeing the same thing as him.

Kurono was still appreciating everything in detail, and especially, she was seeing the image in the photo frame over the structure, some ideas were already in her mind, but before anything else happened, Rena's calm voice was heard at that moment.

"I may have to apologize to mom later, but I think I have some right to talk this time too..."