"I thought you would scold me for losing my nerve before the fight..."
"You only said they were terrifying, not that you were afraid. If you were afraid, why would you have stood in front of Yuichiro that night?"
Tetsu no Sosuke smiled. "Besides, a little fear is always a good thing. It helps you proceed with caution. Of course, you shouldn't be too cautious... being overly cautious isn't caution. It's an illness."
"Oh." Muichiro only half understood.
"Was this what you wanted to look at when you couldn't sleep?" Tetsu no Sosuke pointed at the ashes on the ground.
Muichiro nodded.
"All right, then. Once you're done looking, get some sleep. We still have traveling to do tomorrow."
With that, he returned to his spot and went back to sleep. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down.
Muichiro stood there alone for quite a while before finally going to sleep too.
Traveling during the day was tiring, and although their sleeping arrangements at night weren't much, they managed to make do.
The next morning, Tetsu no Sosuke stopped taking them along mountain paths and headed toward more populated areas instead.
The roads were easier to walk on, and there were places to rest at night.
Had Tetsu no Sosuke been alone, he would have reached home in a few days, but with two little burdens in tow, the journey took much longer.
The upside was that it broadened their horizons. After all, they had always lived cut off from the world.
The downside was that once the two boys grew comfortable with Tetsu no Sosuke, they really stopped standing on ceremony.
They wanted everything they saw, and in the end, he had to buy them a few trinkets to satisfy their cravings.
On their final night on