“Uta-san?”
Uta turns around with surprise. Yomo’s ten-year-old niece stands in the doorway to HySy, waving at him.
“Hi there, [Name]. Is your family with you?” Uta asks.
“No. I snuck away.” She giggles.
Uta snickers. He shouldn’t praise her for this – Yomo will surely kill him – but he will anyways. “Nicely done.”
“Uta-san, you’re very handsome. I made this for you.” They hurry over to hand a – rather good – drawing of a red rose.
Uta tries not to laugh as he takes the drawing. “Thank you, [Name].”
“Can you teach me more art?”
“Of course. We can start with you helping me make mask molds.” Uta nods. “Would that be good!”
“Yes!” cheers the child, beaming up at Uta.
Everything’s all well and good for an hour, until Yomo bursts into HySy with Touka on his heels. “Uta, we can’t find [Name]. Please help us search.”
Uta looks up from where he and [Name] are pouring clay into molds. “Found her.”
“She was with you?!” Touka yelps. “Thank god.”
Yomo’s eyes flitter to the rose drawing on Uta’s table. He bites the insides of his cheek to keep from laughing.
“Apparently I’m popular with the ladies,” Uta drawls once [name] and Touka have returned to Anteiku.
“I was hoping she’d moved past that stage,” Yomo said dryly.
“You know, she is a talented artist. I’m happy to give her lessons,” Uta offers.
“I’m sure she’d love that.”
Mercy and Magic 