Hiro silently followed Akito back to the horse. He had wondered where the creature wandered off to, but didn’t worry too much about it. It was obvious it was a palace horse, and Akito wasn’t bothered about it so there was no reason to. Spotting the children around the horse made him laugh softly; a little more when Akito had to shoo them away. Once he was aided onto the horse, he looked around one final time. “This was nice.” He smiled and got comfortable where he was sitting, “Thank you Akito.” His thanks was followed by a small nod and soon enough they were off. 

The prince was pretty silent for most of the trip, wondering when they’d be able to visit again along with how his parents would react when he returned. However, the latter wasn’t too interesting of a thought. The trip was fairly uneventful and it took a moment for Hiro to recognize the path they had taken. Coming into view of the entrance of the palace, guards were quickly at the ready to help Hiro (and Akito if he wanted it) off the horse and take it to the stables. He nodded towards the soldier guard that helped him and then bowed. 

“Well Akito. Back home!” He slipped his hands behind his back and chuckled. “I suggest disappearing now before you’re roped into long conversations with my parents.” He gave a low whistle as he walked towards the doors. “Unless of course you’re into those long talks.” Thinking a little longer about it, he figured it would be impolite to just leave Akito alone. That, and if he did the soldier might have ran away again. “Come on.” Just before he made it to the palace steps, he turned right, following along another path. “We’ll go another way. Maybe through the gardens.” He began to walk backwards in order to face Akito. “You’ll be able to find your room this way as well. Also, closer to the room I showed you with the people playing board games.” He informed. “Hm. That’s not a bad idea actually.” He wasn’t the best at shogi, but he did know how to play. Maybe he could practice since he hadn’t done so in a while. 

During the walk, he paused to look at a few new growing flowers that the gardeners added. In one particular section, a color scheme was beginning to become more noticeable. Hiro wondered if that was his mother’s doing for the wedding, but he didn’t question it. It was making her happy, so there was no need to complain. And even if he wanted to complain about the wedding, it would have been a futile effort.