The New Winds

Tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap.
The sound of wood over wood, or more accurately, the sound of a pair of sandals over the floor. Although he learnt many skills on his stay at the place, Ginksrasu-finding was still undeveloped.
Then he had an idea. If he was bad at finding, then he would just wait in a point until the Yasuki passed by. No errors, right? Well. So he thought. After waiting give minutes that more seemed like an eternity, he went back on the run.
Not so fast. He didn't want to ruin what he was kind of but not really hiding with his hands.

Ginkarasu was found, looking through a pile of rocks that had been put to one side after the battle.

He stops running as he approaches, looking at which kind of rocks Ginkarasu was poking at.
...Oh.
"Those are broken roof tiles."

"Some of them! Some are from the pits that got dug! I'm hoping to find some nice ones. No luck so far." He grins, picking up a few and then setting them down to one side with a small shake of his head.

He sits in the grass in the grass.
"Broken tiles are less likely to be round like pebbles, but clay has around half the density. If you shaped them, they would make excellent skipping stones. But it kind of defeats the purpose of throwing rocks away in a lake."

A nod. "Yeah! And I expect that clay that became a roof and saw the sky probably doesn't want to go to the bottom of a lake and never see it again."

"Would be helpful to have a shugenja around times like those." He nods. "It reminds me a little of the flying sticks. Don't know if this exists outside the Kaiu. You know. The ones you roll in your hand and they glide in the sky."

He nods. "Yeah! Some families make a bunch of money selling those! Everyone loves them during festivals!"

"We sometimes threw those outside windows. Highest we could get. Students are not allowed to be on top of the wall."
He smiles slightly.
"Ginkarasu-san?"

"Yeah! Wouldn't want them getting into the Shadowlands. Can you imagine them coming back?" He shakes his head with a shudder.

"Yeah, Aiichiro-san?"

He removes his hands from the awkward position they were, revealing something he was kind of hiding. Which was a small rabbit bunny statuette with a heavy base, painted over and quite neat in appearance.
"The thing I was sketching last day. It was that." He shows it, bringing the sculpture forward.

"Neat! A rabbit!" He exclaims, setting down a rock that had a slight green tint to it.

"Good work Aiichiro-san!"

He blinked a few times. "Clean your hands and take it. It's yours. Not a puzzle box like you hoped, though."

"Wha what?" He looks up to Aiichiro, cleaning off his hands. "No No, how could I?"

"It's because I noticed something. Usually I force myself to talk with whoever is in the room. So I don't normally care, like, who I am talking to."
He looked from the trinket his hands held to Ginkarasu, his eyes getting distracted by the white blotches.
"But your company was the one I really, like, actually sought. I looked for you almost everyday. I enjoy it, talking to you, teasing you, and you too proved to care for me. So I think it is only fair to show you that you are my friend, instead of only saying so."
Aiichirō's eyes moved to the toy again, moving the hand a little up and down.

He sighed a bit, looking at the toy.

"You're very kind. And someone who gets into trouble. And this is something you made. And so many things break in my hands. Are you okay risking that?"

"I broke the only toy my mother ever made for me, Ginkarasu-san. My hands aren't that different from yours if that is your fear."
He stopped the offer three times game upon noticing Ginkarasu's expression, lowering the gift from the offering-take-it position and holding it a little closer to his lap.
"Didn't like it?" Aiichirō asked, tone quite less calm, quite more desesperate, On being scratched.

"No its marvelous Aiichiro-san! You made it!" He smiles. "I don't have anything I can give to you that matches it. Just..just the skipping rock I brought from home."

He opens up the pouch hanging from his obi and pulls out a shiny flatish rock.

"I was going to skip it, but I kept hanging onto it. Would you like it?"

The Yasuki! Fortunes, they couldn't accept something without trade! The thought of it was kind of funny and leveled back up his humour.
"Only if you really want to gift me it, Ginkarasu-san. But you don't need to give me anything back. I wasn't expecting on receiving anything."
He offered silently the toy again.

Ginkarasu accepts the toy, smiling. Still, he sets it down to one side.

"My family might not go right back to Crab lands though. And today's the last day." He sets the stone down between both of them. "You can have the moment though. The throw. The skip."