It's early morning when Momoka arrives at Farm Wakatsuchi's main entrance. The farm is closed for the time being but with blooming season just a month away, the roads are busy with workers preparing for the arrival of tourists. Gravel cracks beneath Momoka's heels as she makes her way down the main road. She passes by familiar faces and greets them with a bright smile and a cheery wave of her hand.
The distillery supervisor asks if she's staying for long and if she'd like a fresh batch of essential oils before she leaves.
One of the forest caretakers stop her for some small talk where he mentions his upcoming retirement later on this year. He hopes she could visit for the send off.
By the time she reaches the front door of her childhood home, she is all caught up with the past few months' affairs.
"Aaah, Mocchi, you're here!"
Hiroki greets her with a wide grin on his face. Momoka sits on the deck to unlace her boots.
"You didn't have to put in a mission request just to get me to come home, you know,"
"You always say you're busy," Hiroki shrugs.
Momoka sticks her tongue out at him in response.
"You shouldn't be rude to your clients, Mocchi. It would be unbecoming for the village,"
"I would never!" she says, making a show of acting offended.
Hiroki laughs in response as he sets down her house slippers. Momoka puts them on as she enters the house and the two of them make their way up to the second floor.
"How's the shop?"
"Same as always. A really interesting customer came in last week,"
"Interesting?"
"He bought a chamomile plant and then offered me an Epiphyllum oxypetalum as a gift,"
"Oh he did, did he?"
Momoka rolls her eyes when Hiroki smiles stupidly at her.
"How's Kei-ji and Shiko-ba?" she asks, changing the subject.
"They just got back yesterday. They'll probably want to see you before you go,"
"Of course,"
They stop in front of her mother's old study, greeted by the sign that says Off-Limits Unless Momoka's Home.
Takeko's research isn't dangerous, per se. After all, she was a medic, so her efforts were primarily focused on cures and preventive treatments. However, because her death had been unexpected, most of her work was left in their experimental stages. Some of the chemicals she worked on turned toxic from lack of oversight, and Keiju had the misfortune of almost dying from poisoning when he attempted to clear out her study himself.
Hiroki unlocks the door to let her in and Momoka looks around the room with mild interest, noting that it hasn't changed much since she's visited last.
The left side of the room is pretty bare, just wooden shelves filled with medical texts in a variety of widths. There's a small window between two shelves and where an armchair and a lamp are placed right next to. One of the shelves is bent at the corner of the room and continue onto the next wall, where it meets the large window that opens to a view of the fields. Below the window is Takeko's old desk, littered with scrolls and a couple of old books. There's another shelf next to the window, but this time it's filled with binders of Takeko's research.
The right side of the room, by comparison to the left, is cramped. There's a row of cabinets on the wall with matching drawers at the bottom. The countertop is filled with an assortment of instruments and there's a sink by the right wall. Two large cabinets are between that and the door. There is a separate table at the center that has some contraption with glass containers meant for diluting certain chemicals.
"The renovations are mostly for repair work, but baa-chan wanted to take the chance to remodel the house a little too. They're going to combine your old bedroom with Ta-chan's and converting this study into an additional guestroom," Hiroki tells her, "Take whatever you want to keep, we'll sell or donate the rest,"
He gestures at the boxes they left out for her, assembled and labelled accordingly. Momoka nods as she decides to start with her mother's book collection. It has been five years since her mother died, so she supposes it's inevitable for her grandparents to want to make use of her old room again. She's thankful they're at least keeping her room. For the length of time she stays in Konoha, she wouldn't have been surprised if Hiroki told her she should just move out there instead.
"I'll be downstairs or just outside if you need anything,"
"Thanks, Hikkun," she smiles at him as he leaves the door open behind him.
Relative silence envelopes the room and Momoka begins pulling out the books from the shelves. Some of them were outdated, so Momoka stores them in one of the extra boxes For Recycling. She places some of the rare titles she finds in the Keeping box and makes a mental note to ask Hiroki if they could move one of the shelves into her room. As for the other books, she realizes she either has a copy of her own or just didn't feel like keeping, so they went to the Donate box. She thinks about dropping them off the library when she returned to the village.
Going through Takeko's library took up the rest of Momoka's morning. By the time she's finished sorting the scrolls on her mother's desk, she hears Hiroki's knock on the door.
[MFT]
The distillery supervisor asks if she's staying for long and if she'd like a fresh batch of essential oils before she leaves.
One of the forest caretakers stop her for some small talk where he mentions his upcoming retirement later on this year. He hopes she could visit for the send off.
By the time she reaches the front door of her childhood home, she is all caught up with the past few months' affairs.
"Aaah, Mocchi, you're here!"
Hiroki greets her with a wide grin on his face. Momoka sits on the deck to unlace her boots.
"You didn't have to put in a mission request just to get me to come home, you know,"
"You always say you're busy," Hiroki shrugs.
Momoka sticks her tongue out at him in response.
"You shouldn't be rude to your clients, Mocchi. It would be unbecoming for the village,"
"I would never!" she says, making a show of acting offended.
Hiroki laughs in response as he sets down her house slippers. Momoka puts them on as she enters the house and the two of them make their way up to the second floor.
"How's the shop?"
"Same as always. A really interesting customer came in last week,"
"Interesting?"
"He bought a chamomile plant and then offered me an Epiphyllum oxypetalum as a gift,"
"Oh he did, did he?"
Momoka rolls her eyes when Hiroki smiles stupidly at her.
"How's Kei-ji and Shiko-ba?" she asks, changing the subject.
"They just got back yesterday. They'll probably want to see you before you go,"
"Of course,"
They stop in front of her mother's old study, greeted by the sign that says Off-Limits Unless Momoka's Home.
Takeko's research isn't dangerous, per se. After all, she was a medic, so her efforts were primarily focused on cures and preventive treatments. However, because her death had been unexpected, most of her work was left in their experimental stages. Some of the chemicals she worked on turned toxic from lack of oversight, and Keiju had the misfortune of almost dying from poisoning when he attempted to clear out her study himself.
Hiroki unlocks the door to let her in and Momoka looks around the room with mild interest, noting that it hasn't changed much since she's visited last.
The left side of the room is pretty bare, just wooden shelves filled with medical texts in a variety of widths. There's a small window between two shelves and where an armchair and a lamp are placed right next to. One of the shelves is bent at the corner of the room and continue onto the next wall, where it meets the large window that opens to a view of the fields. Below the window is Takeko's old desk, littered with scrolls and a couple of old books. There's another shelf next to the window, but this time it's filled with binders of Takeko's research.
The right side of the room, by comparison to the left, is cramped. There's a row of cabinets on the wall with matching drawers at the bottom. The countertop is filled with an assortment of instruments and there's a sink by the right wall. Two large cabinets are between that and the door. There is a separate table at the center that has some contraption with glass containers meant for diluting certain chemicals.
"The renovations are mostly for repair work, but baa-chan wanted to take the chance to remodel the house a little too. They're going to combine your old bedroom with Ta-chan's and converting this study into an additional guestroom," Hiroki tells her, "Take whatever you want to keep, we'll sell or donate the rest,"
He gestures at the boxes they left out for her, assembled and labelled accordingly. Momoka nods as she decides to start with her mother's book collection. It has been five years since her mother died, so she supposes it's inevitable for her grandparents to want to make use of her old room again. She's thankful they're at least keeping her room. For the length of time she stays in Konoha, she wouldn't have been surprised if Hiroki told her she should just move out there instead.
"I'll be downstairs or just outside if you need anything,"
"Thanks, Hikkun," she smiles at him as he leaves the door open behind him.
Relative silence envelopes the room and Momoka begins pulling out the books from the shelves. Some of them were outdated, so Momoka stores them in one of the extra boxes For Recycling. She places some of the rare titles she finds in the Keeping box and makes a mental note to ask Hiroki if they could move one of the shelves into her room. As for the other books, she realizes she either has a copy of her own or just didn't feel like keeping, so they went to the Donate box. She thinks about dropping them off the library when she returned to the village.
Going through Takeko's library took up the rest of Momoka's morning. By the time she's finished sorting the scrolls on her mother's desk, she hears Hiroki's knock on the door.
[MFT]