Her sobs are loud, and even without walls surrounding her, they echo. Her little hands clutch at the broken crayons, her tears wetting her new dress.
A group of little boys walk away from her, laughing loudly. Kotori looks up at them again before wiping at her nose with her sleeve, a habit her mom is trying to break her out of because "it's bad hygiene!". She stands up, hiccups and pats off her now dirty dress. The crayons in her hand aren't the biggest problem, but it was kind of the last straw. Next to having gum in her seat or being pushed off the swing, at 6 years old, Kotori didn't really feel wanted around in the kindergarden.
What she doesn't see is a little boy watch her as she walks off.
"Hey, what do you guys think you're doing!"
The boys from earlier look up to meet Ryouga, another one of the students at the kindergarden. His face looks angry, and his little arms are crossed to show he means business.
"Nothing?" one of them replies, confusion on his face. Ryouga scoffs the best he can and gets closer to the boys. "I saw you bullying that Kotori girl!" he exclaims, tapping his foot on the ground. Then, the bigger one of the group of boys stands up, getting right in Ryouga's face. "So!? What're you gonna do about it?!" he yells, immediately getting Ryouga to tackle him on the dirty ground. Ryouga starts to pound his tiny fists on the other boys face, who screams and pulls at one of Ryouga's purple locks of hair, making Ryouga cry out and flinch. The other boys decide to help their friend, grabbing a pile of tiny pebbles and throwing them at Ryouga. Suddenly, the boys are separated, but they're still trying to kick at each other.
"Hey, what did we tell you about picking on people, boys?!" says one of the caretakers to the group of bullies. They all look down, obviously ashamed, and Ryouga calms down a little. "But you, Ryouga! You never fight! Sweetie, that's not how we solve things." says the other caretaker, getting down on eye level with Ryouga, who is covered in dirt and scratches. He nods, biting at his lip, and walks back inside the building to wash his face.
"You can have one if you want."
Ryouga looks up from his drawing to see Kotori, dress a bit cleaner but still dirty. She's holding a box of My Little Pony band-aids out to him. She probably saw his scratches…
As Ryouga takes one, she takes a seat next to him at the tiny table. "My mommy says that ponies aren't just for girls, so that's why I gave you one. Mommy says when this box finishes, I can have Power Rangers ones." she says, her feet swinging back and forth on the chair.
Ryouga smiles a little, putting the band-aid on his knee. "Are you okay?" he asks, pulling out a green crayon from his box. "What do you mean?" Kotori asks, resting her head on her arms. "From earlier, those mean boys… they broke your crayons and made you cry. But that's okay, because I beat them up for you." he says, proudness in his voice. Kotori's eyes widen, and she grins, all teeth there but one - she lost her first tooth the week before. "Really?! Wow, you're like a hero! Hey, can I borrow your crayons! I'm gonna draw something." Ryouga nods, passing over the paper and his box, and watches as Kotori amusingly doodles. She uses only purple and green.
"Ta-da, it's finished!"
She holds her drawing up, and Ryouga blushes.
It's him, with a cape, holding Kotori as he flies away from a… building? He can't tell much. Her messy handwriting claims that he's "Superhero Ryouga", and he "saved her day". He smiles and takes the drawing. "Thank you. Can I have it?"
Kotori nods before leaning over and kissing his cheek. "My hero!"
