proofed8

*Nom!*

Mio happily chews her dumpling. You and Sanae also eat your share, although not as enthusiastically as her.

“Mio, could you tell us about your family?” Sanae starts to talk. The girl quickly shallows her dumpling in her mouth to answer her.

“My family?”

“Yes, your family. Like, your father works as a farmer, right? What about your mother? Is she helping your father on the field or does she have another job?”

“I never see mother. Father said that she was gone to a very far place.”

“...Oh. Sorry.”

“Why you're saying sorry, miss Sanae?”

“You'll know it someday Mio, when you're older,” Sanae pats her head, trying to dodge her question. “Your father doesn't let you go to school?”

She shakes her head.

“Father said that I could learn better by helping my brothers.”

Uh... She could indeed learn how to farm or how to tend a shop, but it's useless if she can't learn something very basic like reading.

“Can you read Mio?” Sanae asks.

She nods. Huh? Then why she can't read your writings?

“How much?”

“I can read the labels inside the store for types of rices and their goodness.(I don't use the 'quality' word to emphasis her low knowledge in words, but feel free to change it if you don't see it fit.) I don't understand most words on Hiroshi's book, but I want to know what it reads...”
(I think it works pretty well, especially since she uses odd phrasing in other places as well. You could have Sanae as her if she means "quality", if you want to sneak in an explanation. You know: "Goodness?" Do you mean "quality?" "Yeah! That's the word!")

“Hiroshi? You mean the boy that owns the toy that Mister Nobu carries, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“Did he bring some books to you yesterday?”

“Uh huh.”

“Did he teach you how to read?”

“No, he said he doesn't want to be a teacher like Miss Grumpyshirasawa.”

Sanae covers her own mouth and laughs a little. Kids.... It seems the brat doesn't really like his teacher. Miss Keine wouldn't be amused by the name if she heard that too.

“Hihi... Do you know that the person he meant is Miss Kamishirasawa the teacher?”

“Miss Kamishirasawa? But she isn't grumpy when she's coming to our shop...”

“It's his personal opinion, Mio. Maybe she's grumpy when teaching him in school, maybe it was just him, we don't know.”

“Oooh...” She nods a couple of times, then turns to you. “Mister Nobu, may I ask you something?”

Sure. You nod and looks to her.

“Why do you talk to me with your board-thing? Does all outsider in outsideworld do that?”

Heh. You give a signal to Sanae to answer the question for you.

“No Mio. Mister Nobu have to talk using his writing board because he can't talk.”

“Can't talk?” She turns to you. “Do you want me to teach you how to talk, mister Nobu?”

“Mio, mister Nobu can't talk because of an incident in his past. He could talk before I met with him.”

You nod to Mio to confirm Sanae's story. You can't remember how your voice sounds like, but you are certain that you do talk in your past.

“Hooh...”

“We're here.”

Sanae points to the familiar building on the side of the road. It's Keine's school. You look inside from the window: Keine's still going on with her lesson. You can also spot Hiroshi in there.

“Hmm... Miss Keine's lesson isn't over yet..” “Hey, Mio, do you want to hear what Hiroshi learns in school?”

“Uh huh, I want!”

“Stand near the window there and be quiet, okay?” She tap your shoulder. “Could you go lift her on your shoulder?”

Eh? Fine...  You lower your body, then Sanae lifts and puts Mio on your shoulder. She grabs the frog on your head. Oomph... She's not really that heavy, but you doubt you can hold her on your shoulder for long. Let's hope Keine will finish her lesson soon...

“Mister, there's a frog on your head!”

“That's... What should I say to her, Lady Suwako...” She mumbles in low voice.

“I'll just introduce myself then.” Suwako's voice hums, then the frog jumps onto Mio's head. “Hello there little girl!”

“Whoa!”

Mio gets startled and almost lose her grip on your body. Sanae immediately holds her back before she can fall.

“Don't be afraid, I am Lady Suwako, one of the goddesses of Moriya Shrine!”

“Wow! Nice to meet you, Lady Goddess Suwak-”

“Okay, enough with the introduction, go hear what the teacher says in that building, you might be able to learn one or two things! Nobu, go stand up and give this little girl a nice view, will you?”

Okay, okay... You put strength into your legs, stand up, and walk to the window, allowing Mio to see what Miss Keine teaches inside the class too.

“...Write this letter carefully.” Keine instructs to her students while pointing to a kanji letter. Welp, an eleven strokes kanji...

(I'm not sure when schools are teaching Kanji to children, or what words that teachers are teaching to them. I assume they re-teach the basic words that they usually use in Hiragana to Kanji. Is that correct?)
(I'm not a native japanese speaker, I've only learned a bit in college, which is way different from what is taught in grade school. But I would assume that they learn some of the more common ones early.)

“Miss Sanae... What's that letter that Miss Kamishirasawa pointed to?”

Mio asks to Sanae on your side. Her voice alerts Keine and the students inside the school. Hiroshi recognize you and waves to your group. Uh oh...

“Get back to your assignment,” Keine orders him, and he immediately turns his head back to the paper in front of him, along with the rest of his classmates. Keine stares to you three, then walks to the door.

“Mio, don't make any noises next time!” Frog Suwako jumps repeatedly jumps on her head. You and Sanae bow your head the moment Keine walks out from the school.

“I'm sorry Miss Keine, we're interrupting your class...”

“It's okay. I see you brought Farmer Himura's daughter.” She bows to your group as a greeting. “This is just my guess, but did you convince him to allow her daughter going to school?”

“Not really... We found her helping her brother's shop when we were shopping for some rice. He promised he wouldn't tell his father that we're taking his sister for a little trip.”

You put back Mio on her feet and she bows to Keine. You write to Keine that Mio can't read some basic hiragana letters.

“As expected...” She sighs. “Today's class is not for her, we're learning third grade kanji right now. She should be attending my Saturday class with younger children.” (I don't know if Gensokyo uses regular calendar for tracking days, but looking they uses seasons to track years... Any suggestion? (Either just assume that they use our calendar, or you could say that the classes are held every X days, next one being Y days from now.)

“If her father will let her to go to school. We can't secretly fetch her and bring her to school everytime, and if her father finds out, it won't end up good for us either.”

“Right.” Keine crouch in front of Mio. “Himura, do you really, [i]really[/i] want to go to school?”

“Yes miss!”

“Hear this: When I come to your house someday to discuss the matter with your father, tell him that you want to go to school. Do you understand?”

Mio nods. Keine smiles and rubs her head.

“Miss...” A sound calls from behind, it's one of Keine's student.

“Get back inside, I'll join you soon,” She tells her, and the student walks back into the school. “My apologies, I have to attend my students right now.”

“I should be the one to say sorry...” Sanae bows down. “Before you go, how long until the lesson is done, Miss Keine? We want to talk to Hiroshi.”

“Shouldn't be long, I need to have my lunch soon anyway. See you later.”

Keine stands and walks back into the school to attend her student. Sigh... It seems you have to wait a little bit longer...