Name?

A few hours passed by and the boy just kept lying while staring at the ceiling without moving.

*Knock* "You should eat something so you can recover faster!" Taeko knocked on the door and walked inside the room while her mentor was out of sight.

'She looks about the same age as me' The boy moved his dull eyes towards Taeko and for the first time, he actually observed her age, height, and other things as he had too many thoughts to do that earlier.

Taeko was a small girl with short dark grey hair and lime eyes, she was wearing sleeveless clothes and constantly carrying a short sword adjusted to her height with her.

Before the boy knew it, Taeko arrived near his bed along with the wooden bowl in her hand. She helped him sit up or more like she made him sit up because the boy didn't feel like moving, he saw no motivation in moving or eating. He felt hunger yet at the same time he felt nothing. The current him felt like he couldn't even die on starvation, as if he was being punished for some sins.

"...I made the right decision by bringing you pottage! Look at your dry lips, you must also be thirsty...By the way, my name's Taeko and I am seven years old! If you are worried about grandma, she is not here so you can feel at ease." The girl said with a friendly smile while sitting on the edge of the bed while still holding the wooden bowl.

"..." The boy gave her a very subtle nod to acknowledge that he is listening to her.

"Um...What about you? How should I call you? I can't keep calling you "boy" or "you"" Taeko asked, it was visible that she was quite awkward doing this but her inexperience and unsocial nature made her seem quite innocent.

The boy turned his head a few inches to the side towards Taeko before he once again returned it to its original position.

'My name is...M-My name?!' The boy who thought that it is impossible to forget one's name raised his both hands and started staring at both palms with shaky eyes. To him, it felt like just before those nightmares he perfectly knew his own name but afterwards...it felt like all the knowledge completely disappeared from his head, leaving him with a completely blank mind, just like what the older woman mentioned...doll.

"?...Um, you don't have to say if you aren't comfortabl-"

"...-got"

"Eh?" Taeko didn't completely catch the boy's reply since he interrupted her in a very low voice. Not to mention that it slightly surprised her as this was his first time speaking up.

"Forgot" The boy said and his shaky eyes once again calmed down to completely "calm" lifeless eyes.

"Oh...? Then...How about making a new one?" Taeko asked with a patient and friendly smile.

"..." The boy didn't reply and Taeko had no idea whether he was thinking which name to use or whether he didn't care.

"Well, you can think about it after you eat something." Taeko said and offered the bowl but the boy just slowly moved his eyes towards it before losing interest.

"I won't leave until I see this bowl in your hands." Taeko said with a "stern" expression but she just looked cute at most.

"..."

*sigh* "Alright...Say "ah!"." Taeko sighed before bringing the spoon with the pottage towards the boy's lips.

Seeing Taeko's actions, the boy had a vision of a memory of his mother doing the same thing...and before he knew it, his lips grew slightly apart and a single tear came from the corner of his right dull eye.

Taeko had a slightly panicked expression as she had no idea what to do after seeing the sight of a blank expression with a tear rolling down the cheek, all she could do was to take advantage of the boy's lips being apart. Most people shedding tears make some kind of expression, be it a surprised expression, happy, sad, however, the boy in front of her wore a completely blank expression that was impossible to read.

'Is he even aware of that tear?' Taeko thought but she didn't think too hard about this since when she put the spoon with pottage inside the boy's mouth, he started eating just normal even when she brought the second spoon with pottage near his lips.

.

.

*sigh* Taeko sighed when the wooden bowl was finally empty. For her, it wasn't a that bad feeling, taking care of someone but she was disappointed in her inability to hold a conversation. She knew that the boy rarely spoke up but she was still disappointed more in herself than in him. She wanted to make friends with him, however, she had no idea how to do it, not to mention his mental state.

At least Taeko had a feeling that she wasn't repulsive in the boy's eyes, however other than that, she had no idea what he thinks about her.

"Well, I will be going now. The grandma will arrive shortly and I need to go back to my training. Let's talk later in the evening...that is if you don't mind talking to me." Taeko tried to keep a cheerful expression as she hopped off the bed.

"..." The boy looked at her and just nodded his head, this time much more than just a subtle nod he gave earlier.

"?! Alright! See you later! Use that bell if you will need anything, be it a sudden pain or even if you are just thirsty. After all, you shouldn't move around too much yet." *thud* Taeko said with a surprised but genuinely happy smile before she dashed out of the room while waving at the boy, closing the door behind her.

"...-anks" The boy mumbled without a single change in his expression, still a bit uncomfortable with talking aloud.

'Taeko, huh?' The boy thought, remembering the time when she first wanted to feed him. He sat up back again and turned his whole body to the side, touching the cold wooden floor with his bare feet.

The room he was staying in was small and the only things there were his bed, small nightstand, and single desk with a few papers, quill pen, and inkwell lying on it.

The boy slowly raised to his feet, careful not to reopen his wound. Not as much for himself as for Taeko who was the one who would have to treat his wounds again. He slowly reached the desk, occasionally almost stumbling on his way there.

The boy looked at the black liquid inside the inkwell and blank papers on the desk. Out of nowhere he gently pushed the inkwell and it fell over, spilling the ink all over the papers, creating some unrecognizable and bizarre images.

Looking at those images, the boy felt as if he saw the reflection of his own mind and thoughts.

'Ink...Should I use it as my name?' The boy thought while staring down at the desk with his dull green eyes.

.

.

After a few minutes of just staring at the desk, the boy went back to his bed. While he was sitting on the bed and staring into empty space in front of him, he started hearing muffled sounds of someone training outside. Since the window was located right next to the bed, the boy turned his head to the side, to see Taeko swinging around with a wooden sword under the older woman's guidance.

The older woman immediately sensed someone watching them so she looked towards the window and saw the boy looking at them. She stared at him for a few seconds before focusing her attention on her apprentice.

.

.

Their training session lasted for a few hours before Taeko was allowed to go take a relaxing bath.

'...That kid observed the entire training session. He never took his eyes off Taeko's sword. For someone of his age, he has great patience, a good trait for the assassin. Well, it's not like he has much to do there anyway, however, it still looked like he was truly paying attention to Taeko's swordsmanship. Let's see what will happen later, in the end, it might even become a good thing that Taeko convinced me to save him back then...who knows.' The older woman thought with her hands behind her back while staring at the window, this time without the boy being present.