Kenta started carving something else into the tree. "But.. you just said you didn't explore because..." He finished adding a sun, and added the kanji for sun (日), moon (月) and star (星).
Shay didn't know what any of those signs meant, but she watched in fascination as he drew them. "What does that all mean?" She decided to ignore how he called her out on her tough girl acted. She really wouldn't have been able to protect herself, but no one else needed to know that but her.
"Huh? Um..." He pointed to each symbol as he went. "Sun, Moon, and Star. Its in kanji, one of the writing styles back home." He explained. For a bit there, he had forgotten people didn't all know that here.
"Do they have some symbolic meaning?" Shay asked. She almost reached forward to take the stone from his hand, but she stopped herself and held her hand to her chest. She had almost forgotten.
Seeing her go for the stone, he held it out to her, holding it by the sharper end to give her enough room to grab it. "They... mean about as much as any english word, I guess. Theres some sort of history to it as well, but... well, I'm two." He said jokingly.
She smiled her thanks when he held the stone out for her. Gingerly, as not to touch him, she took it. Shay turned to the tree as she thought about what she might draw next. After a moment of deliberation, she did each of their initials. "Ready to continue?"
Kenta smiled, giving their art a final look before nodding.
"Yep. Lets keep going."
Shay opted to keep the stone as they walked. The trail was well worn and every now and then a jogger would pass them. Shay always moved to the side to let them pass. She remained quiet for a long time. Shay liked silence, she found it comforting.
"Um," she said, watching her feet. "The orphanage should be coming up soon. Just past the next set of trees. Thanks for the mochi and walking me home. It was....nice."
Kenta blushed a bit. He didn't expect her to outright say something like that. He scratched the back of his head nervously, stuttering a bit before getting out the simple statement of "Any time.." Past the trees, the building came into sight. He finally added. "Maybe next time, you can pick where we go."