Where She Came From - 1.4

She had a fitful sleep that night.

After remembering her time at the orphanage, she couldn't help but feel shaken and uneasy with her current situation that it reached a point where she woke up every couple of hours.

It didn't help that she was still starving!

Ai didn't really get the chance to find anything to eat since she was so absorbed in her thoughts and fell asleep in one of the chairs in the room. Her head was awkwardly resting on the padded arm rest while her legs dangled from the edge of the chair.

Her position was so uncomfortable that it made the muscles in her neck and back all sore and stiff.

Glancing at the window, she saw sunlight already streaming in through the gossamer curtains as she stretched her body.

Hearing popping sounds as her joints were stretched and settled in its proper place, Ai couldn't help but let out a small groan in both pain and relief.

Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, she heard a knock before a voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Ai, I'll leave some clothes here then after you finish preparing meet me at the dining hall for breakfast. It's at the central side of the courtyard, by the kitchen." Daisuke called out before she heard his retreating footsteps.

Shuffling to the door and sliding it open, she saw a pile of folded clothes on the floor which she hastily grabbed before retreating back inside the room.

Rummaging through it, she settle on one of the oversized shirts and shorts and set it aside before making her way to the door that led to the adjoining room where she assumed the bath was.

What she found was simple but still elegant just basing on the materials used in the bath. There was a big and sizable wooden rectangular tub at the far-end of the room which had the only window located high on the wall with swaying bamboos on the other side while there is a couple of stools near a small wooden water pump and wooden buckets with some containing a variety of brushes and scrubs as well as a slatted bamboo table with a shelf that contained toiletries such as soaps, shampoo and oils.

Everything matched, from the sink to the mirror to the tub, stools pails table and all the way to the slats of the beautiful bamboo flooring. Just the design of it was a genius. The slats only had small spacing between each bamboo and it served as an easy way to drain the water from the floors just like the modern drains nowadays.

Pushing aside her amazement and her desire to soak in the huge tub, she promptly stripped and put her clothes in one of the baskets she spied by the entrance near a shelf that held some towels before quickly scrubbing her body and making sure to clean herself from all the dirt and filth she acumulated from living in the streets then quickly rubbing herself dry and pulling on the clothes she set aside earlier.

Looking at her outfit, she couldn't help but giggle since the shirt was so big on her that it almost reached her ankles and the shorts she wore was almost just as long.

Her amusement at how she looked abruptly vanished when she heard her stomach grumble angrily making her feel just how hungry she was.

Ignoring her damp and tangled hair, she made her way out of her room and quickly found her way to the dining hall. The delicious smell of food leading her and making her mouth water at the delicious smell.

Arriving at the dining hall, she found several dishes already on the table with Daisuke drinking tea while he waited for her.

As soon as he saw her, Daisuke grinned and gestured for her to sit beside him to which Ai quickly complied. Her eyes were practically devoured the food as she eyed them, salivating as she inhaled the mouthwatering aroma that Daisuke had to control the laughter that wanted to escape him as soon as he saw the way Ai looked at the food.

The moment she sat down, Daisuke immediately gave her a bowl of rice and handed her chopsticks and gestured to the food.

Needing no additional instructions, Ai ate to her heart's content, not realizing that she almost resembled a ravenous animal as she wolfed down the food making Daisuke shake his head with a smile full of amusement.

He just ate quietly and paid attention to the little girl, making sure that she never ran out of rice and drank tea in regular intervals to prevent her from choking. One by one, the dishes were devoured until each morsel of food was eaten by the two of them.

"Are you full?" Daisuke asked, smirking at the little girl who promptly blushed a deep red at the question.

"I...uhh yes. Sorry." stammering, Ai just blushed harder, realizing how she must have looked like and at the thought, she felt herself heat up with embarrassment all the way to the tips of her wars which were not a bright red making Daisuke burst out laughing as he waved her apology off.

"Don't worry about it. Now that you've eaten, let's talk about the arrangements of you staying here shall we?"