The Takamori Story

Love and friendship

They stood tall next to each other with the beautiful view that the result of their hard work gave them.

-"Woah... We actually did it"

-"Yeah..."

The house was now fully rebuilt, updated if anything, while it used to be small and with a hay roof, now it was slightly bigger and fully made of wood.
One year. It had taken them one year to do it. Between having to buy what was necessary, learning how to build more efficiently, and only being two people, it took them one year to make a house out of wooden planks and beams.
As for the forest, they replanted some trees, but not all of them, some grass was already growing over it, so it'd be good as new, eventually. But for the time given, the house was done.
Two bedrooms, one bathroom, one dining room, and a kitchen. Besides the bathroom though, most rooms were empty and undecorated.

Kiara looked at Calli.

-"So, what now?"

-"I said I wanted to stay here, right?"

Calli started walking back to the camp, and Kiara followed her.

"I want to keep my word. Besides, the forest didn't completely grow back, I want to see how it looks when that happens"

-"Alright, so we're staying here?"

-"yup"

They reached the camp, and Calli simply picked up her backpack and started making her way back to the house.

Once inside, she dropped it on the ground and sat down.

She looked around and noticed the sheer emptiness inside as Kiara walked through the door, bringing her bag as well, holding it tightly against her chest.

Calli sighed and let her shoulders fall with her eyes closed as she let her back slowly fall until she laid down on the ground and spread her arms and legs.

"(It's really done...)"

Kiara stared without even questioning her. Even after finishing the house, she'd have to work on other things like furniture, but for now she was eager to tell her something.

-"H-hey Calli"

Calli opened one of her eyes to look at her.

-"Hm?"

The very view of her carelessly laying on the ground with a laid back face and a tired voice already made Kiara skip a beat.

-"I... Well, you know how we've been moving and working non-stop since you arrived..."

She reached into her bag and started digging deep into it.

-"Yeah, so?"

-"Well, I thought maybe you haven't had that much time for yourself, and I..."

As she kept nervously babbling, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out immediately.

"I got you something!"

Calli sat up and painfully straightened her back to see what was being held in front of her. It was wrapped with what looked like a cleaned up potato sack and a string wrapped around it.
She grabbed it. It was about half a meter long but wasn't all that wide.
She looked back at Kiara and didn't know what to say.
Kiara was nervous since Calli's face had frozen in a not-so-impressed look.

"... Will you open it?"

Calli's eyes shot open for a second as she snapped back to reality.

-"Oh... yeah"