Now at the foot of the dark Okutama mountains, Ren was still marching forward with unwavering resolve. Kon, who was now comfortably perched on his shoulder, looked around at the empty wilderness and suddenly broke the silence.
"Ne, Ren-chan... where exactly are we going?"
Hearing the question, Ren froze mid-step. His confident, heroic facade instantly crumbled into a look of loss. "Uh... I-I don't know?" he stuttered, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"What do you mean you don't know, you idiot Ren?!" Kon shrieked in sheer exasperation, almost tumbling off the boy's shoulder.
Letting out a heavy, tired sigh, the little spirit fox forced himself to calm down. "Maybe... we can go to your ancestral home?" Kon finally suggested.
"Ancestral home? Didn't I just leave that place?" Ren asked, tilting his head in genuine puzzlement.
"Idiot Ren! I mean your mother's ancestral home!" Kon explained, thoroughly exhausted by the young boy's one-track mind.
"Ohhh... Where is that?" Ren asked, his eyes suddenly lighting up with renewed eagerness to get moving.
"Maybe we should find lodging first?" Kon suggested, glancing up at the pitch-black sky. "It will take a few hours to get there by train, and it's already late."
"Ah, yeah. You're right." Ren nodded in realization. "Then... where can we get a place to sleep?"
Letting out another long-suffering, exaggerated exhale, Kon shook his furry head. "Ren-chan, what would you ever do without me?" he grumbled affectionately. "Let's head into the town of Okutama first. Um... that way." He pointed a small paw toward a distant cluster of faint lights at the base of the mountain.
"Oh. Okay!" Ren nodded dutifully, immediately adjusting his pack and marching off in the exact direction the fox pointed.
**********
Wandering into Okutama, they found that most of the rural town had already gone quiet for the night.
The traditional houses sat far apart, tucked neatly into the mountain slopes or lined along the narrow roads. Each one held a small, inviting pool of warm yellow light glowing softly from behind sliding shoji screens. Walking along the quiet streets, Ren looked around with wide-eyed wonder at the unfamiliar sights.
For his entire life, he had been strictly confined within the stone walls of a European-style castle. Now, surrounded by a completely different world of architecture and atmosphere, the sheltered six-year-old was experiencing his very first taste of culture shock.
"Wow... Is this what Japan really looks like?" Ren breathed in awe.
Unlike the cold, suffocating pressure of the Ritsuzen estate, this sleepy town felt like a warm blanket—soft, inviting, and deeply comforting.
"Hm! Hm! Just wait until you see Tokyo! It will definitely blow your mind!" Kon boasted, standing tall on Ren's shoulder and proudly puffing out his furry chest.
"Well, let's find shelter first," Ren said. Then, without a shred of hesitation, he walked right up to the nearest house on his right.
Knock. Knock.
"Eh?" Kon watched from his shoulder, utterly dumbfounded. Because Ren was a sheltered child with zero experience in the outside world, his logic for "finding shelter" simply meant walking up to a random house and asking to stay, rather than looking for an actual inn or hotel!
Swish.
The sliding shoji door was soon opened by the resident. It was an elderly woman with her white hair tied neatly into a bun, wearing a light gray yukata.
"Oh my... what is a child doing out here?" the woman asked in surprise when she noticed little Ren standing on her porch.
"Obaa-san, may I please stay here for the night?" Ren asked politely, bowing his head in perfect traditional etiquette.
"Where are your parents, child?" The kind lady kneeled down to Ren's height and questioned him softly.
"Ah. Um..." Ren kept his head bowed, answering with genuine sadness in his voice. "They're gone, Obaa-san."
Refusing to even acknowledge Kyora as his family anymore, Ren simply filed the Patriarch away into the "gone" category.
"Oh, dear... I am so sorry. Come! Come inside first. We can discuss this properly tomorrow," the lady offered warmly, ushering the boy out of the night.
**********
At 4:00 AM the following morning, Ren was already standing outside the sliding shoji door, fully dressed and wide awake long before the kind elderly woman had even stirred from her sleep.
"Yosh! Let's go to Tokyo, Kon!" Ren declared energetically, adjusting his heavy bindle.
Draped lazily across the top of the boy's head like a soft, furry hat, a still-half-asleep Kon just let out a weak, tired yip. "Mmm..."
With his spiritual navigation system currently out of commission, Ren began to march off in a completely random direction, having absolutely no clue how to actually get to the Tokyo metropolis Kon had hyped up the night before.
'Supposedly, we are going to Tokyo to board a... Shinkansen? And that takes us to Kyoto?' Ren thought cluelessly, trying his best to piece together the complicated travel plan.
Unsurprisingly, without the little fox awake to guide him, it took the directionally challenged six-year-old over an hour of wandering in circles just to find the single, tiny train station in the rural town.
After somehow managing to purchase a ticket from the glowing, beeping machine, Ren soon found himself sitting quietly on the chilly platform bench, waiting for the early morning train.
Soon, the steel rails began to hum. It was a soft vibration at first, but then the sound steadily grew into a rising electric whine, smooth and rhythmic. Pushing a sudden, rushing breeze ahead of it, the commuter train finally glided into the station.
"Woah..." Ren breathed in awe, his wide eyes staring at the massive, advanced metallic contraption for the very first time.
"Mmm..." Kon simply grumbled, still fast asleep like a hat on the boy's head, completely unconcerned with the marvels of modern public transit.
**********
Two hours later...
"We will soon be arriving at Tokyo. Tokyo," a crisp, automated voice announced over the train's intercom, chiming softly and repeating the message to alert the morning commuters.
"Ah. We have arrived," Ren murmured to himself, gently informing the still-sleepy Kon.
After surviving a gruelling battle and then immediately forcing himself to follow the boy out of the Ritsuzen estate, the little spirit fox was simply too exhausted to function.
Shffft.
The train soon coasted to a complete stop at the Tokyo Station platform, and the doors slid open smoothly.
Ren tried to stand up and walk out confidently, but he was instantly swallowed and swept away by a terrifying, fast-walking sea of Japanese salarymen during the 7:00 AM morning rush hour.
"AH! Wait! Help!" Ren yelped. He could only helplessly wave his hands in the air as he was physically carried along by the relentless tide of commuters pouring out of the train cars.
Plop.
As soon as the crowd finally spat him out onto the main concourse, the six-year-old flopped unceremoniously onto the polished tile. With the army of businessmen already rapidly dispersing toward their respective offices, Ren was left sitting there alone, rubbing his sore butt in a daze.
'Tokyo is terrifying,' Ren thought fearfully, still sitting on the polished floor.
"Ren-chan?" Kon mumbled, finally blinking awake. He looked around the massive, bustling Tokyo train station in utter confusion. "Are we here already?"
"Hmph!" Ren crossed his arms and looked away huffily, still furious that the fox had slept through his humiliating defeat at the hands of the commuter stampede.
"Uh—hehe. Sorry. Sorry, Ren-chan. I won't sleep next time. Forgive me, okay?" Kon laughed sheepishly, desperately trying to appease his pouting master. "Tell you what! How about I treat you to a nice meal to make up for it?"
"You?" Ren plucked Kon off his head, holding the little fox at eye level, and stared at him with absolute disdain. "Aren't I the one holding all the money?"
"Uh..." Completely speechless, Kon could only look away in guilty defeat.
Letting out a defeated breath, Ren finally relented. "Let's go," he muttered, immediately marching off to lead the way once again. He had clearly not learned his lesson about being completely directionally challenged.
Kon was left utterly speechless by his little master's unearned confidence. 'Why does he always march forward like he actually knows where he's going? Sigh...'
"That way," the little fox instructed helplessly. Pointing a tiny paw down the bustling concourse, Kon simply relied on his advanced, supernatural nose to navigate them through the labyrinth of the station toward the nearest restaurant.
After finishing a hearty, steaming bowl of breakfast ramen, the duo successfully navigated the station's labyrinth and arrived at the glowing Shinkansen ticket machines.
"Ne, Ren-chan. Are you sure you don't want to explore Tokyo a bit more?" Kon asked from his perch on the boy's shoulder, gesturing toward the bustling exits.
"Ummmm... No."
Though visibly tempted by the dazzling, high-tech city around them, Ren firmly shook his head. A deep, bittersweet longing was already lingering in his young heart. He wanted to reach his mother's ancestral home as quickly as possible; he desperately wondered what kind of life she had lived before his birth.
With Kon's help deciphering the complex screen, Ren quickly purchased a ticket to Kyoto. A short time later, the young runaway stepped onto the platform and boarded the fastest bullet train of the era: the sleek, aerodynamic N700 Series Shinkansen.
**********
For two and a half hours, the Japanese countryside blurred past the window in a mesmerizing, high-speed canvas of green mountains and quiet towns.
Eventually, the subtle, electric hum of the Shinkansen began to drop in pitch. The bullet train decelerated with supernatural smoothness as the rolling hills gave way to the dense, sprawling cityscape of the Kansai region.
Ding-dong. A gentle, melodic chime echoed through the quiet cabin. "We will soon make a brief stop at Kyoto. Kyoto," the crisp automated voice announced.
Pressing his hands against the glass, Ren stared in awe as the train smoothly glided into the station. Unlike the claustrophobic underground tunnels of Tokyo, Kyoto Station was a breathtaking, cavernous marvel of modern architecture, encased beneath a massive, sweeping canopy of steel and glass that let the midday sun pour over the platforms.
"Wake up, Kon," Ren whispered, lightly tapping the snoozing fox on his shoulder. "We're here."
Despite his earlier, frantic promises that he absolutely wouldn't doze off again, the little spirit fox had snored through the entire two-and-a-half-hour journey.
Ren just let out a long, tired sigh, staring down at the snoozing furball on his shoulder. 'Is sleeping this much actually good for his health?' the young boy wondered with genuine exasperation.
"Muuh..." Kon let out a long, dramatic yawn, stretching his tiny paws high into the air before vigorously shaking his fur out. He blinked his golden eyes, looking up at the towering steel-and-glass ceiling of Kyoto Station. "Ah! I wasn't sleeping! I was simply... conserving my spiritual energy for the upcoming search!" he declared, puffing his chest out in a shameless attempt to save face.
Ren gave him a flat, deeply unimpressed stare. "Right. Sure you were."
Stepping off the sleek bullet train and navigating their way out of the massive terminal proved much easier than their disastrous arrival in Tokyo. Here, the midday crowd was thick but moved at a more leisurely, forgiving pace. As they emerged from the station's grand exit, the bright afternoon sun washed over them.
Ren stopped in his tracks, his breath catching in his throat.
Towering right across the street was the iconic, needle-like spire of Kyoto Tower, stabbing into the clear blue sky. But as his eyes traced the skyline further down the bustling streets, he could see the modern concrete buildings slowly giving way to rolling, forested hills. In the distance, the curved, elegant rooftops of ancient temples peeked through the trees. It was a breathtaking city where the hyper-modern and the deeply traditional existed side by side.
"So..." Ren adjusted the heavy bindle on his shoulder, his voice softening with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. "Where to now, Kon? Do you know the address?"
"Address? Please, Ren-chan. We don't need something as mundane as human mail coordinates," Kon scoffed lightly. He hopped down from Ren's shoulder to the pavement, his lazy demeanour instantly vanishing.
Closing his eyes, the little spirit fox raised his snout to the breeze. Less than a second later, his golden eyes snapped open. "There!" he declared confidently, pointing a tiny paw in a seemingly random direction toward the distant hills.
In truth, the fox didn't need a map, a street address, or even his advanced spiritual tracking to find the estate. He simply remembered the way. After all, long before Ren was ever born, Kon had been there before.