All the Things She Said They're Running Through My Head

by LizzyLovesPink

After her parents die in an accident, a young Chiaki is sent to live with her aunt and uncle and cousin; the Fujisakis. She grows up in their care, developing her talent and getting close to Chihiro. As she gets older, she realizes she wants to be someone's hope, the reason they live. This is the story of her life all the way up until The Tragedy. Did she get her wish?

Chiaki stood in the doorway of the living room, nervously looking around. She was still dressed in her funeral wear; a dark black sundress patterned with white flowers because it was the only black thing a five-year-old would own. She didn't even have time to change before arriving at her new home. Her luggage was kept in a pink suitcase that was now being rolled into the house by her Aunt Rika while a smaller pink bag was still being clutched in Chiaki's hands.

"Welcome to your new home, Chiaki! Don't be shy," Her Uncle Taichi announced, dramatically sweeping his arms around the living room. Chiaki smiled lightly and finally walked inside, following Aunt Rika into their guest room, which she understood would now become her room. She sat down on the plain grey bed, bouncing up and down slightly. "Don't worry, we'll paint this room in your favourite colours and make it all bright and preppy for you! What colour would you like? Purple? Pink? Yellow?"

"Dear, you're likely overwhelming her," Rika scolded her husband, nudging him playfully. He laughed awkwardly.

"Sorry...I'm just excited to have her here. You know, I've always wanted a daughter. Now I have one! Technically."

"She's my niece," Rika reminded Taichi, wheeling Chiaki's little pink suitcase over to a white chest of drawers. "Can you be a big girl and help me unpack your things?"

Chiaki nodded eagerly, already happy to help her aunt with something. She jumped up off her bed and unzipped her suitcase, making all of the outfits she owned-which wasn't very much-come tumbling out onto the floor. For some reason, the sight amused her and she chuckled.

As she helped Rika unpack, Taichi left the room. Chiaki continued to help out, being very quiet. She was already enjoying the company of her aunt.

"Alright! So we finished unpacking your clothes!" Rika announced when they were finished, clapping her hands together triumphantly. "After lunch we can unpack your toys, alright?"

Chiaki nodded, though she didn't have very many of those. Her most favourite toy, a large dollhouse, was too big to be moved, the movers told her. So she had to leave it behind. But maybe her Uncle Taichi could buy her a new one, an even bigger one.

"What now?" She finally spoke for the first time that day, finding her voice. It was soft and meek; even back at home, even when her parents were still alive, she hadn't needed to speak much.

"I think your uncle is cooking lunch for us. It should be ready soon," Rika thought about it. "How about you help me wake up your cousin?"

"Cousin?" Chiaki nodded, though she still tilted her head curiously. She didn't remember very much about a cousin. A vague memory of holding a baby and that was it. She didn't remember if they were a boy or a girl or even what their name was.

"Yes, your cousin. He's two years younger than you, so please be gentle with him, and quiet. Can you be quiet for me?" Rika asked, putting a finger to her lips. Chiaki mimed her and toddled after her, her feet padding along on the blue carpet.

She followed her aunt down the hallway, walking inside a room right next to what she thought was her aunt and uncle's bedroom. She thought she wouldn't be allowed in there unless she was ill, like her parents dictated.

Rika silently pulled open the bedroom door and walked into the room, which was light blue with duck motifs everywhere. A small toddler bed was pushed up into the corner, along with a rocking chair and small bookshelf in the other corner. A toybox was next to the door, and in the middle of the floor was a little boy dressed in blue overalls and a white T-shirt, pushing a toy car on the floor.

"Sweetheart, did you have a good nap?" Rika asked softly, making her voice sound more babyish. The boy looked up, startled, then relaxed when he recognized Rika. He then nodded.

"Vroom-vroom!" He returned to his car, pushing it closer to Rika. The car fascinated Chiaki and she gently kicked it back to the boy when he pushed it over to her.

"Cars go vroom-vroom!" She smiled happily.

The boy froze instantly, staring at her in obvious fear. He wobbled unsteadily over to Rika and buried his face in her jean leg, trembling. Chiaki stared at him, suddenly worried she did something wrong. She looked at her Aunt Rika for reassurance.

"Don't worry about it, darling. Chihiro is just an extremely shy boy," Rika reassured her, scooping Chihiro up in her arms. "And a very big boy too! Soon you'll be too heavy for me to carry!"

"Who she?" Chihiro asked, pointing at Chiaki.

"That's your cousin, Chiaki!" Rika walked out of the bedroom, bouncing her son as she did so. Chiaki hurried after her. "She will be living with us from now on, because her parents, one of them being my sister, got into an accident and found themselves unable to provide for her,"

Chiaki wondered if Chihiro could understand anything she was saying. Chiaki barely understood it herself, and it actually happened to her. Very quickly too.

She remembered just a few days prior when she came home from the daycare she attended just a few blocks down from her house and saw an ambulance parked outside of her house. She ran over to it, feeling scared. The paramedics refused to let her in the ambulance and told her very little details of the event. Her Aunt Rika showed up a few minutes later and hugged her tightly, explaining softly that her parents had been involved in some sort of accident and that after the funeral, she would live with her.

"But why?" Chiaki questioned, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Because, darling," Rika started out, kneeling in front of the young girl, "Your parents are both dead. They aren't coming back,"

Something clicked in Chiaki then, something that made her feel extremely unpleasant and sad. Tears started flowing down her cheeks then, and Rika pulled her in for another tight hug. She didn't even really understand 'death', yet the way her Aunt Rika phrased it made her genuinely believe her parents were gone for good.

She wasn't expected to help out much at the funeral, and even her dress was barely black. Rika went to the funeral as well, lifting Chiaki up gently so she could look into the coffin and toss a flower in.

Before the funeral, Chiaki stayed with her grandfather briefly; the old man spent almost all of his time locked in his rec room fiddling with computers. Chiaki was mainly left alone and just occupied her time watching TV while eating the few snacks he left out in the kitchen for her. She returned to her own house a total of two times to help the movers get her clothes and toys. But not her dollhouse. That was too big.

And now she was living with Uncle Taichi and Aunt Rika. Everything moved too fast for Chiaki and she felt she would never truly be over it.

"There's the rest of the beautiful family! Lunch is ready!" Taichi beamed, already serving everyone. Rika chuckled and helped Chiaki sit down at the table, then placed Chihiro in a high-chair that had the same duck motif as his room.

"What are we eating?" Chiaki asked just as Taichi placed a hot grilled-cheese with fries in front of her with a glass of milk. "Are you eating this?" She asked.

"We adults are eating something else!" Taichi teased, placing bowls of beef stew in front of Rika and his own place-setting. Before Rika sat down to eat, she cut up pieces of the grilled cheese and placed them on Chihiro's tray, then poured some milk into a sippy cup and handed him to him. She then sat down to eat.

"Oh, in our house, we always say Grace before we eat. Did your mommy and daddy do that with you before, Chiaki?" Rika asked nicely, and Chiaki nodded. She had faint memories of doing just that. As was expected, she bowed her head and closed her eyes, folding up her hands in the prayer position. Rika led the prayer quickly, Taichi repeating after her and Chiaki slowly following along. After they finished, she opened her eyes and started to eat her food slowly, watching Chihiro.

He was sipping his milk through his sippy cup, kicking his legs back and forth in the high chair. Chiaki giggled a bit and started drinking her own milk. Rika and Taichi smiled softly at the children before they started talking about other things, things Chiaki recognized as being 'adult things'. She finished eating her food and jumped out of her chair, walking over to the high-chair and watching Chihiro eat.

The toddler suddenly decided he didn't like having an audience and promptly spat up milk on himself, crying. Rika gasped and instantly hurried over, gently picking him up and carrying him over to the sink where she wet a washcloth and wiped his mouth off with it. Chiaki continued to watch.

"I was just watching him eat!" She fussed slightly, Chihiro's crying starting to annoy her.

"I think he's just overstimulated. Chihiro is a very fragile child, you know. He normally doesn't spit up right after eating," Taichi tried to reassure Chiaki.

"What does fragile mean?" She asked instead.

"He gets sick and hurt easily," Rika finished rinsing Chihiro off and gently set him down on the floor, and he just hid behind her again, giving untrustworthy looks to Chiaki. She started to fuss more.

"I just want to play with him!" She fussed, getting closer to Chihiro.

"No!" He cried, trying to back away from her. Eventually Chiaki gave up and ran back to her bedroom, throwing all of her toys down on the floor in a huff. Taichi arrived a few minutes later, knocking on her door even though it was already open.

"Why don't you play with me, your uncle? I'm feeling pretty left-out here," He laughed awkwardly. Chiaki rolled onto her stomach and looked at him, trying to remain annoyed. "We can play whatever you want. Do you want to play dress-up? Your aunt has lots of pretty outfits you could borrow for today," He continued, gently picking up Chiaki. "Whoa, you're already such a big girl!"

"I wanna play with Chihiro!" She pointed to her cousin's bedroom fervently.

"Chihiro isn't feeling very well right now. Do you want people playing with you when you're sick?"

"...No." She sniffled.

"Let's go play dress-up. We can even ask your aunt to take pictures of us," He walked to Rika's bedroom, gently bouncing Chiaki in his arms to the best of his ability. He then gently sat her down on the large dark red bed, pulling open the closet doors. "Look! How pretty!" He pulled out a violet business suit with a pencil skirt. "She wears this to work every day! Do you know what she does for a living?"

Chiaki thought about it, but couldn't find an answer. She didn't even remember her parents talking much about her Aunt Rika, so she had no clue. She shook her head.

"She is a programmer! More specifically, she manages a gaming company and helps train apprentices and makes sure they're focusing on their work! It's a very important job!"

She tilted her head slightly, not understanding a lot of the big words Uncle Taichi used. "What about you?"

"I work in airport security. I have to program the metal detectors," He hung the purple suit back up in the closet and dug around some more.

"Am I allowed to be in here?" She asked, bouncing up and down on the bed some more. "Mommy and Daddy said it was bad to be in their room. 'Cept when I got really sick,"

"You are welcome in our room whenever you want to come in, as long as the door isn't locked," Taichi reassured her, motioning to the white door. "See the gold lock on it? If we need private time, we'll lock it and you won't be able to come in,"

"Okay," She nodded in understanding. "Aunt Rika said she would help me put my toys away after lunch," She pouted as she recalled how she pulled them all out of her suitcase in an angry fit. She wondered if Rika would punish her later.

"How about I help you? Your aunt is still busy with Chihiro," He suggested, hanging up another dress back in the closet. He walked back into Chiaki's bedroom and tsk'ed when he saw all of the toys strewn on the floor. "What a mess!"

"I was angry..." Chiaki explained, slightly embarrassed. She started to pick up some of the dolls and neatly set them in front of her closet door. "I don't have a lot,"

"No, you don't. But you don't really need many toys in this house." Taichi helped her set up the remainder of her dolls, then helped her put away some toy musical instruments and some baby-doll things. The last thing was an interactive learning toy that was shaped like a large book.

"Mine!" Chiaki gasped suddenly, jumping up and down to try and grab it from Taichi. "That's my favourite!"

"Ohhhhhh," He laughed awkwardly and handed it to the platinum-blonde girl, who hugged it close to her body when she was given it back.

"Daddy got it for me," She gently slid it under her bed.

"How are things going in here?" Rika asked, still holding Chihiro in her arms. The brown-haired toddler had been changed into green pajamas with a blue pacifier in his mouth, which he sucked on peacefully. Chiaki happily ran over to her.

"My toys are all put away!"

"I see that. I hope your uncle didn't make too many messes while he was helping," She chuckled, making Taichi blush and rub the back of his head.

"Come on, dear, I'm not that incompetent!"

"You're right. You excel at programming, and fail everywhere else,"

"What now?" Chiaki pulled on Rika's pant leg, pouting lightly.

"I didn't have anything else planned for today...how about you just play in your room until dinner?" Rika suggested nicely, and Chiaki pouted further.

"You can play with that fun learning game!" Taichi added, ruffling her head.

She finally nodded and perked up slightly, pulling it out from under her bed. She plopped down on the floor and kicked her legs in the air, installing one of the default books into the system and pulling out the pen.

"Have fun," Rika gently kissed her forehead, then she left with Taichi and Chihiro, closing the bedroom door. Chiaki silently played with her toy for the remainder of the day, learning how to read with it. She only came out to eat dinner with her family, then to take a bath and get ready for bed. She put on her light pink nightgown that was patterned with yellow and purple stars with ruffles on the sleeves; it was one of her favourites.

"Good night," Taichi whispered, gently kissing Chiaki's forehead as he tucked her into bed. She closed her eyes slowly, soon falling asleep.

She had already decided she enjoyed living with them. She wondered when they would decorate her bedroom to suit her tastes better, and when her little cousin would finally warm up to her.

#########

A few days later, Taichi had gone shopping while Chiaki was at daycare; when she returned home, her room had been painted a light lavender and her bed looked like a pink flouncy marshmallow. Portraits and porcelain dolls lined the top of her dresser, and more pictures and fake flower garlands hung on her walls. But the biggest surprise of all, at least to her, was the large dollhouse placed at the foot of her bed. Her eyes widened and she gasped, dropping her backpack on the floor and running over to it.

"I take it you like it?" Taichi asked nervously, appearing in the doorway. Chiaki kept looking over it, almost afraid to touch it. Her old dollhouse had been quickly forgotten in her memory as this one was much nicer. After she finished inspecting it, she hugged him tightly.

"It's pretty!" She offered, and he smiled back and gently patted her head.

"I'm glad I could make you happy," He then left the room quickly, going into his own bedroom. Chiaki tilted her head in curiosity at that, wondering why he had to leave so suddenly. She then realized she hadn't seen her aunt all day either; she hadn't helped her get ready for daycare. It was all Uncle Taichi.

"Is it their private time?" She wondered out-loud to herself, not even sure what that term meant. She walked around the house instead, finding Chihiro in the living room, staring at the computer in fascination. Chiaki slowly came up behind him and bent over, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

Whoever was on the computer last left a Mahjong game open and that was what Chihiro was spending his time staring at. The chair had been pushed far back, too far from the computer, but he had pulled himself up into it and was reaching his hands out for the keyboard.

"Keyboard? Do you want to type?" Chiaki asked softly, pulling out the keyboard. Chihiro immediately stopped reaching for it and stared at Chiaki, giving her an untrustworthy look. "I dunno how to play this..." She stared back at the screen and randomly moved the mouse, clicking two random tiles and jumping when they vanished. "They matched! Oh, I think you...have to match them," She explained, still trying to keep her voice down around Chihiro. She stood in front of the computer desk, quietly clicking the mouse and trying to find matching Mahjong pairs. It was hard for her, since she was only five and it was hard for her to read a lot of the small text on the tiles.

"You're good!" Chihiro said in awe after she made several more matches. "Good at game!"

Chiaki beamed slightly, feeling proud. "Yes...I am really good at this game," She continued making matches, and eventually Chihiro got into it, clapping and cheering whenever she made a particularly exciting one.

"What are you two doing?" Rika announced in surprise, making Chiaki jump.

"Aunt Rika!" She started to fuss. "I was bored and found this open on the computer! Chihiro was enjoying it!"

"Looks like I have to start a new game..." Rika ended up sighing. Her eyes were red and her tone sounded exhausted. "How did you get up here all by yourself, hm? Is my little man turning into an adventurer?" She smiled weakly as she picked up Chihiro, who giggled happily.

"Computer's bright!" He cooed.

"Yes, the computer screen is very bright," She smoothed down his hair.

"I got a high score of 1400," Chiaki added softly, following after Aunt Rika. "Is that good?"

"That's actually really impressive...you must've matched a bunch of special tiles together," Rika explained.

"I just matched random ones,"

"That's very good indeed. Seems like we have a little gamer in the family,"

Chiaki smiled a bit. Somehow, that title sounded right to her, even at her young age.

##########

"Time for school!" Taichi announced happily, waking both Chiaki and Chihiro up. The boy mumbled and tightly hugged his pillow, but Chiaki quickly woke up and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She was seven years old and showers made her feel like an adult. They were quick yet warm, and standing up for a long time was bound to make someone feel better.

After her shower, Rika softly brushed Chiaki's shoulder-long hair, making it flip up like feathers. Aside from the hair colour and a slight height difference, she looked almost exactly like Chihiro, and her Uncle Taichi for that matter. She liked that fact. Her mama had feathery hair too, in a strange shade of brown and blonde.

"Your bangs are getting long. Perhaps you'd like something to pin them back with?"

"Ooooh, like a barrette?" Chiaki asked eagerly, and Rika nodded. "I'd love one!" Her Aunt Rika was very fashionable and looked like she knew the best places to get barrettes.

She then got dressed in a dark blue skirt with a white blouse, pulling a fuzzy pink sweater on over her head. She hurried into the kitchen to eat the breakfast Uncle Taichi was making, Chihiro dressed similarly except in shorts and a blue sweater. He tapped his fingers somewhat rhythmically on the table.

"There's the little lady of the house!" Taichi laughed, giving the two children pancakes. Chiaki smiled politely and thanked her uncle, eating quickly. Chihiro mainly played with his food, getting syrup all over his face and stabbing the pancakes. Taichi simply laughed, but Rika sighed when she came into the kitchen and saw what happened. Her nails were long and painted a sparkly purple to match her uniform.

"Honestly." She scooped the boy up and gently washed him with a washcloth, making him wriggle around from the cold water on his skin.

Chiaki picked up her lavender backpack and tightened the straps, bouncing up and down as she waited for Chihiro to get cleaned off. As she waited, she put on her yellow hat to complete her uniform. Before the two could get into the car, Taichi stopped them at the door.

"Don't forget, the most important thing we all do before we leave the house," He pulled out two thermometers and placed one in Chiaki's mouth, then one in Chihiro's mouth. Chiaki's eyes widened at the feeling of cold metal in her mouth, trembling slightly as she tried to keep it under her tongue. Hers beeped first and Taichi pulled it out, looking satisfied. "No fever! Go wait outside in the car,"

Chiaki nodded and started to walk outside, rubbing her eyes. Chihiro's thermometer beeped next, and Taichi pulled it out with a frown.

"One degree above normal," He said quietly. Chiaki paused in the doorway, glancing back.

Chihiro had a fever? It wasn't too uncommon of an occurrence, but she was sad because today was his first day of daycare. She really wanted to see if he had her old 'teacher'. She pouted childishly, puffing out her cheeks.

"I think he's healthy enough to go," Rika frowned at Taichi, feeling Chihiro's forehead for herself. "See? He's not even warm. He likely just moved his tongue around too much,"

"I feel fine," Chihiro spoke up quietly. He nervously tugged on the end of his sweater. "I wanna go to daycare!"

Taichi bit his lip slightly, glancing at Chiaki, then back at Rika. He then finally sighed in defeat and vanished into the kitchen. Rika crossed her arms under her chest and walked outside, strapping Chihiro and Chiaki into their booster seats. She then got into the driver's seat and started up the car, driving slowly.

"Honestly, the nerve of that man sometimes. Chihiro is a little weak, but he's not on death's door constantly!" She mumbled to herself.

Chiaki looked out the window as she drove, not having an opinion. She thought Chihiro was healthy, but that was evidently a bad answer. Her elementary school showed up first, so she tightened the straps of her backpack once more and waved to her aunt and cousin, jumping out of the car and walking to her classroom.

It was her fourth month of second grade and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Due to how quiet she was, she had yet to make any friends, aside from one girl in her class who was even more shy and quiet than her; painfully so.

"H-Hi, Chiaki-chan!" A girl with very long purple hair named Mikan greeted her as she walked inside. "Y-You're here a b-bit late..."

Chiaki simply nodded as she continued walking to her class. Mikan's uniform was a bit big on her; the pink sweater was too baggy on her. She had a yellow purse at her side instead of a backpack like Chiaki. "Uncle Taichi thought Chihiro had a fever when he took our temperatures this morning,"

"Oh no! D-Did he?" Mikan gasped in surprise. She clasped her hands together, one of her nervous ticks.

She shook her head. "His temperature was one degree warmer though,"

"W-Well...that might still be bad..."

The two girls reached their classroom and hung their bags up in the closet, as well as taking their shoes off and putting on a pair of pink Mary-Janes.

"But Aunt Rika felt him and said he wasn't even warm!" The two found their desks and sat down at them, continuing to talk quietly as the rest of the students filed in, and then finally the teacher.

Their first lesson of the day was math, and Chiaki sat up straight in her seat as she tried to solve the subtraction problem on her worksheet. She always had problems with subtraction. She briefly glanced over at Mikan and saw that the sleeves of her sweater had ridden up, revealing several dark purple bruises on her arms; the same shade as her hair almost. The bruises resembled handprints.

"Mikan-chan? What's on your arm?" Chiaki asked quietly, gently nudging her. Mikan looked up in absolute alarm, only to calm down a tiny bit when she saw it was just Chiaki.

"I-I...spilled paint on myself," She smiled nervously, rolling down her sleeves. "I-I was painting my room this morning,"

Chiaki pouted childishly. Who let a seven-year-old just paint a room all by herself? She knew what paint looked like from Uncle Taichi spilling it all over himself when he tried to repaint their house; it didn't look anything like the marks on her arms. Plus, they looked like they hurt badly at one point. "Just paint?"

"Y-Yes...I'm a v-very clumsy painter..." Mikan looked uncomfortable, as if she wished for the conversation to end. After staring at her for a few more seconds, Chiaki finally returned her attention to her work, thinking about what she saw. She also started to find herself worrying about Chihiro. How was he doing in daycare? She hoped he was having fun and not being pushed around.

After school, the two girls grabbed their things and put their shoes back on, walking outside of the school.

"I think Aunt Rika is picking me up. We're going shopping for hair pretties!" Chiaki smiled happily.

"R-Really?" Mikan asked curiously. "I'm jealous. I-I wish I could get my hair cut...it's t-too long," Even now it was dangerously close to dragging on the ground. "I can't even wear anything in it. I-I like your hair. You have pretty hair,"

"It looks like my cousin's!" She stood on her tiptoes, trying to see if she could spot Uncle Taichi's tiny boxcar. "Are your parents picking you up too?"

"N-No...I walk home..." Mikan waved shyly and walked away, putting an end to that conversation. Chiaki looked after her, then walked over to the sidewalk and sat down on the curb.

Aunt Rika drove up a few minutes later, helping the little girl into the car and strapping her into her booster seat.

"Are we getting those barrettes?" She asked, squirming around in her seat.

"Of course!" Rika gave her a smile back, slowly driving away from the school.

"How was Chihiro's first day of daycare?" She asked instead.

"It went very well, actually! He mainly sat at a table and played an educational computer game, but he managed to be nice to one of the girls there named Taeko. Isn't that adorable? The little charmer,"

Chiaki giggled, already picturing Chihiro and Taeko growing up and getting married. It was hard for her to picture Chihiro being an adult though. "I saw Mikan-chan at school today! She had these weird marks on her arms,"

Rika's sunny aura suddenly vanished and she leaned back sightly in her seat. "What did the marks look like, Chiaki?"

"Like...big, purple grapes. They looked like someone grabbed her roughly,"

"Does your friend speak of her home life very often?"

She shook her head. "She just said her parents are very strict,"

Strict parents, she understood. Her mama and papa were very adamant about making sure they knew where she was and what she was doing, all hours of the day. That learning game had been more of a tool than anything else, and in spite of their rules, she barely saw them as it was. She had vague memories of them; her mother had dirty blonde hair that flipped a certain way and hazel eyes, while her father had light brown, spiky hair, blue eyes, and freckles on his face.

"We're here!" Rika announced, startling Chiaki and making her gasp. She squirmed around more as Rika unbuckled her, jumping out of the car. "We can't spend too much time here, so let's just head straight for the hair section and you can pick out a few hair clips you like,"

Chiaki nodded and hurried into the store, looking around for a sign proclaiming the beauty product aisle. Rika showed up an gently took Chiaki's hand, walking with her through the various aisles.

"Are they with the hair stuff?"

"Uh-huh,"

Chiaki looked around at some of the other aisles as they walked, seeing some other children out with their parents as well. She didn't see Mikan, but she did see a girl who looked a few years older than her with a large fluffy yellow coat on. She was sneaking a bag of candy into her parents' cart. Another family featured a young girl with an even younger brother, sitting in the cart and loudly announcing which aisle they were about to head into. She saw a family with a very plain-looking boy, currently being scolded by his parents for trying to get a different brand of lemonade mix. As Chiaki walked past the boy, their eyes locked for a second, and she could've sworn she felt her heart stop in that second.

But then she was pulled into the hair product aisle, and she never saw the boy again.

"Like I said, just pick out something you like," Rika gently nudged her over to a display of various barrettes. Chiaki nodded and glanced at the bottom two racks, since those were the only two she could reach. She looked each one over, finding most of them to be too plain or not interesting.

Finally, when she was about to give up, she spotted a triangle-shaped barrette near the end of the second rack that looked like a pixel. Her eyes lit up and she bounced up and down, pulling it off the rack. "This one! Aunt Rika! This one!" She ran back over to her aunt, who turned around to look at her.

"Ooooh, it's very cute! It looks like a spaceship! Good choice," She gently patted Chiaki's head and held her hand again, heading to the checkout aisle. The only other people in line were the family of the first little girl in the coat, who seemed even more energetic than before. She spotted Chiaki and suddenly turned her nose up at her, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Chiaki felt scared and ducked behind Aunt Rika.

Soon, it was their turn to check out, and the barrette was scanned as Rika pulled out the amount needed to pay for it. Chiaki bounced up and down slightly, pulling on Rika's brown tights. "Aunt Rika!"

"What is it?" She asked, grabbing the bag and adjusting her silver glasses.

She pointed over to the bathroom, and her aunt nodded and walked her over to it. "Don't take too long,"

Chiaki nodded in understanding and hurried inside the bathroom, locking the stall closest to her. She was glad this store had Western-style toilets; her school didn't and she often had trouble using them because she was so used to using a Western-style one at her aunt and uncle's house.

After she finished peeing, she walked over to the sink and washed her hands then dried them off gently. She then ran back to Rika, who took her hand again and walked with her back to the parking lot, buckling her back into her seat and getting herself, driving back home.

When they returned home, Chiaki immediately pulled the barrette out of its bag and slipped it into her hair, pulling back some of her bangs. She posed for Aunt Rika, who smiled softly at her.

"It looks very good on you. Why don't you go show your uncle and cousin?" She gently patted her back to make her go, and Chiaki nodded and started running around the house, finding Uncle Taichi in his office. She hurried over to him and tried to peek over at what he was doing on his computer.

"Uncle Taichi!" She finally announced. "Look at my new barrette!"

"Hm? Oh, it looks very pretty on you! Just like the true little lady of the house should wear, hm?" He rubbed her head.

"Where's Chihiro?"

"In his room like always," Taichi's voice started to sound distracted, so with a pout, Chiaki left the room and instead walked into Chihiro's bedroom, finding him playing with a toy train-set. It was motorized, but he hadn't seemed to have figured that out yet and was instead pushing the train down the tracks himself.

"Hi Chihiro!" She announced happily, making him freeze. His face was flushed. "Is this a train?" She found the remote control underneath his bed and got on her knees, turning the dial around. "It drives by itself if you have this remote," She flipped the train over on its side and quickly switched it on, setting it back upright. Chihiro gasped in distress at the thought of his beloved train being violated, but then perked up when Chiaki turned the train on and it started chugging along the track, all by itself.

"Whoa, it goes really fast!" He said in amazement, crawling along the ground to try and catch up to it. Chiaki tightened her grip on the controller, keeping the train at a slow but steady pace so she wouldn't accidentally startle him.

"Choo-choo!" She smiled, making him slowly smile back at her.

"C-Choo-choo..." He slowly stood up, making the yellow hat on his head fall off. He looked around the room and gasped, pulling a white teddy bear off his bed. "C-Can you make this move too?"

"No...!" Chiaki gasped in surprise, turning the train off. She took the bear from Chihiro anyway, cradling it in her arms. "Did you give this a name?"

He shook his head.

"Then let's name it Shirokuma! A fitting name!"

"Dinner!" Rika called from the kitchen, and Chiaki gently set Shirokuma down on the floor before hurrying to the table to get her food. Chihiro followed after her, his cheeks even more flushed than before. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

"What's for dinner?" Taichi asked, arriving late, as he usually did. When he showed up at all.

"Just beef stew. I wanted to make something simple," Rika explained, pulling it off the stove. "Chihiro, can you please help Chiaki set the table?"

He nodded and took the plates off the counter, taking a few steps towards the table before he started coughing really hard, falling on the ground. The plates all collapsed in a pile.

Everyone in the room screamed as he continued to cough and wheeze, holding onto his throat. Rika instantly ran over to him, picking him up.

"He's burning up!"

"I'm calling an ambulance!" Taichi announced, rushing out of the room.

Chiaki just stood there, numb. She felt like she was swimming underwater and all of the noise was far-away. She slowly walked over to Chihiro, glancing at him.

"Chihiro..." She wasn't sure what else to do, so she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, quickly whispering a prayer to God in the hopes He would help Chihiro recover quickly.

"The ambulance will be here soon," Taichi took him from Rika. "We have to make sure he's supported and loosen his clothes,"

He gently laid Chihiro down on the couch and pulled off his blue sweater, revealing his white shirt underneath. Taichi unbuttoned a few of the ones close to his throat and chest.

Chihiro continued coughing, though they weren't nearly as violent before. They sounded more raspy.

"Chihiro..." Chiaki sat down next to him, bouncing up and down from nervousness. Taichi paced back and forth in the living room from nervousness, while Rika wet a small washcloth with cold water and placed it on his forehead.

There was a loud knock on the door, and Chiaki stood up and quickly opened the door, finding the paramedics there.

"Were you the ones who called earlier?" A female asked, and Rika nodded.

"You guys sure arrived here fast,"

Two other paramedics gently picked Chihiro up and carried him out into the ambulance. Chiaki froze up at the thought, remembering her own parents being carried away in a similar-looking ambulance.

And how they didn't come back.

Because they died.

She collapsed to the ground and started to cry, afraid Chihiro would die too. "He's so sick! He couldn't even breath!" She sobbed as Rika helped her up to her feet and strapped her to her booster seat.

"Your uncle is going to travel in the ambulance to keep an eye on Chihiro. We're driving to the hospital," Rika explained, already speeding after the ambulance.

Chiaki could only nod, feeling numb and miserable. Chihiro would die, she just knew it. He had trouble breathing earlier and he had a fever. Wasn't that bad? She sniffled, trying to calm herself down.

He would be okay. He just had to be. After all, she prayed to God, and He had all of the answers, didn't He?

############

After a very short trip to the hospital, Rika helped Chiaki out of the car again and carried her into the hospital, telling her to sit quietly in the waiting room as she spoke with the secretary. Chiaki noticed there was a set of blocks and a bead table on the floor for her to play with, so without a word, she got on her knees and started playing with the blocks.

She reached for a blue one to complete her tower, only to gasp slightly when another hand reached for the same block, picking it up before her. The girl had sparkly blonde hair and a smug smirk on her face.

"Looking for this?" She held the block just out of Chiaki's reach, making her pout childishly. "You just get off school? I can tell by your uniform," She finally handed the blue block back to her. "So, who you in here for?"

"M-My cousin..." She suddenly hesitated, realizing how urgent the whole thing was. Chihiro was probably dying as they spoke! "H-He's really sick!"

"Cousin, hm? If he really is that bad off, then I'm sorry," Genuine concern filled the girl's expression. "Name's Natsumi. I'm in here 'cuz my big brother got cut,"

"Cut...?" Chiaki asked curiously, stacking the blue block on the top of her tower.

"Uh, yeah. Schoolyard bullies. You know how rough they can be. But he didn't lose a lot of blood, so I know he'll make a right recovery,"

As if on cue, a nurse walked into the room, holding a clipboard. "Miss Kuzuryuu? Your brother is ready to see you," She announced, making Natsumi glance over.

"See? That's me. Hope everything turns out okay with your cousin," She smiled nicely at Chiaki before following after the nurse. Rika showed up almost as soon as Natsumi left, staring at Chiaki's block tower.

"Luckily, he's taking visitors. So that means he's not that bad," She gently picked up Chiaki and followed another nurse to a different part of the hospital; Natsumi had turned left while Rika and Chiaki were lead to the right.

After walking up a flight of stairs, the nurse pushed open a plain white door and revealed Taichi sitting at Chihiro's bedside; Chihiro himself was dozing lightly as a breathing machine was hooked up to him. Chiaki immediately decided she didn't like the loud noises it was making and buried her face in Rika's chest.

"He has a case of the flu and a moderate fever," The nurse started to explain after everyone had settled in. "Due to how weak his lungs already are, the mucus became too much for him to handle and he started coughing it all out,"

"She said we were lucky to have brought him here when we did, " Taichi finished slowly, not taking his eyes off the little boy. "They cleaned out a lot of the mucus in his chest, but he's still too weak to begin breathing properly on his own,"

Chiaki snuck a glance at Chihiro and noticed him looking back at her weakly with his hazel eyes. He tried to smile, only to almost dissolve into another coughing fit.

"Will he die? God told me he wouldn't!" She asked the nurse loudly, noticing her about to leave. The nurse jumped at the sudden noise.

"No, he won't die. But he's very weak and fragile. His immune system isn't very well-developed either, so it would be best to keep him inside and make sure he doesn't overexert himself as much as possible," The nurse explained.

Rika huffed slightly. "All of this because he was born a month and a half early..."

The nurse finally left the family alone. Rika gently placed Chiaki down on the floor and she hurried over to Chihiro's bedside, pouting at how loud the breathing machine was.

"You heard her. No overexertion for our little boy," Taichi decided, looking at Rika. "He shouldn't play very roughly either,"

"But he hardly played roughly as it was," Rika stated, pulling up a chair and sitting on the other side of Chihiro. "But...if it really will help him get better, then I hate to agree with you, but...yes. No more roughhousing,"

Chiaki pouted even more. She continued to stand next to Chihiro, watching his eyes gently flutter in and out of a drug-induced slumber. His face was lightly blushed from his fever.

After she stood there for a few more minutes, Rika finally stood up and drove Chiaki home, helping her get ready for bed. Chiaki wasn't very tired, but went along with it so she wouldn't cause trouble for her aunt. After her light was turned off, she whispered another quick prayer to God, thanking Him for keeping her cousin Chihiro alive.

########

For the next few weeks, Rika and Taichi either spent their days at work or at the hospital, leaving Chiaki to start going to daycare again, at least temporarily. She was one of the oldest ones at this particular one, which made her pout.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it.

Today they were to colour a picture of something they liked, and Chiaki grabbed a piece of blue construction paper and sat down at a yellow table with two other girls; one older than her, the other one younger. They both interested her. The older girl wore a lavender dress with lots of frills, but she also wore a mask over her mouth. She slowly drew her picture, filling in a lot of smaller details. The other girl had short black hair and a long baggy purple hoodie that went to her knees and barely covered up her pair of worn, distressed jeans. She was already halfway through her picture of a castle.

"My name is Chiaki, what's yours?" She randomly asked, wanting to make conversation with the two girls. The girl with the mask looked up briefly before looking back down at her drawing, while the girl in the hoodie sniffed distastefully.

"Taeko." She finally responded. Purple fake earrings shaped like hearts were on her ears, and almost all of her fingers had on a cheap plastic ring in a different colour. They looked like ones you'd find in a cereal box, or a 100 yen store.

"What a nice name!"

Taeko gave Chiaki a stare that froze her to her core and she quickly turned her attention back to her drawing. She then remembered why that name sounded so familiar and smiled at her again.

"Taeko-chan? That's the name of the girl my cousin likes!" She pulled out a pink crayon and started colouring her picture, scribbling.

"That annoying little puke?" Taeko rolled her eyes. "He did call me pretty though,"

"What are you drawing?" Chiaki continued to ask, thinking Taeko was warming up to her.

"My dream. When I grow up, I want to be rich and live in a beautiful castle. With servants to take care of my every need. And I'd live someplace fancy, like England,"

"Ooooh, fancy! Like a princess! I'm drawing my family and I playing video games!" Chiaki held the picture up for Taeko to see, but she kept her head down. The blonde pouted in response and set the picture down, continuing to colour it.

"How are you girls doing?" The teacher asked eagerly. Chiaki smiled back at the orange-haired woman.

"Good! I'm almost finished colouring mine!" She showed her half-finished picture to the teacher, who patted her head.

"Great job! What is it of?"

"My family and I playing video games! See, that's me, my cousin Chihiro, Aunt Rika, and Uncle Taichi!" She pointed to each person in succession.

"And how about you, Taeko-chan?" She tried to pat the snobby girl's head, but she leaned back to avoid her touch.

"The castle I will live in when I'm an adult," She showed it off; it was already coloured in. It was perfectly filled in and Chiaki found herself suddenly self-conscious about her own messy scribbles.

"Beautiful! Just like a princess! And you, Seiko-chan?" The teacher addressed the third girl, who jumped slightly in surprise. She shyly held up her own picture.

"Of my friends and I finding puppies on the street and taking care of them," In the picture was her, a girl in pink, and a boy in red all wallowing on the floor as lots of puppies crawled all over them. The three children in the picture looked happy, which clashed with Seiko's currently-sad expression.

"I see," The teacher responded, clearly unsure of how to respond to that properly. She then perked up. "I'm going to go check on the others, but please let me know if you girls need anything else, alright?"

"Alright!" Chiaki replied, finally finishing up her colouring. She messily wrote her name at the bottom with a small flourish, liking how fancy it looked. Taeko wrote her name in a similar way, then pushed the box of crayons away from her and started toying with her fake rings. Chiaki kept sneaking glances at her for the rest of the art-time, finding her to be extremely mysterious and incredibly fascinating.

Chihiro had good taste in girls.

##########

"Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday to the most amazing niece and the most magical son anyone could ever ask for!" Taichi loudly cheered as Chihiro and Chiaki returned home from school one day. Chihiro was far more bundled-up than she was; wearing about three layers despite the weather slowly warming up.

She instantly gasped. "Uncle Taichi!"

"Papa! I thought you forgot!" Chihiro echoed, clasping his hands together in excitement.

"Oh, come on, give me a little bit more credit than that," Taichi laughed awkwardly, throwing some confetti onto the children. "It's easy to remember because you two share the same birthday! Not the same year though,"

"Yeah, my little Chihiro was so excited that when he sensed Chiaki having her second birthday, he gave a little kick and said: 'I want to come out now!'" Rika laughed. She had on a dark red evening gown with lots of poofs and sparkles that Chiaki beamed at. She even had a sparkly scrunchie in her hair to pull back her blonde ponytail.

"It certainly makes things easier for us, dear," Taichi laughed, wearing a dark green suit. "But don't just stand around with your mouths open! Go put on some nice clothes so we can get this party underway!"

Chiaki and Chihiro both nodded eagerly, hanging up their backpacks and dashing into their bedrooms. Chiaki emerged a few minutes later in a white turtleneck sweater, sparkly white tights, gold Mary-Janes, and a gold jumper. She hurried over to Rika, who helped her zip the dress up in the back. As always, her spaceship barrette was secured firmly in her hair.

Chihiro showed up a while later, blushing in embarrassment. He had on a light blue button-up shirt, green vest, and khakis with penny loafers. "I think I messed up...I accidentally got dressed for church..."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you still look handsome!" Taichi laughed, making Chihiro smile back lightly. "How about we get the special birthday dinner started? What would you two like?"

"Sakuramochi!"

"Dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets!" They both answered at once, only to stare at the other in curiosity. Taichi just laughed again.

"We'll make them both!" Him and Rika started to get the food ready; Taichi making Chihiro's nuggets and Rika making Chiaki's mochi. Chiaki went into the living room and dialed a number on the phone, flopping down on the couch.

"Who is this?" A rough voice asked almost as soon as the phone started to ring, scaring Chiaki out of her wits. "Look, we don't want no products. Nothin' you're sellin'! So ya might as well just hang up!"

"Uh...Mr. Tsumiki? Is your daughter home?" She asked a bit nervously. She didn't have the wrong number, did she?

Chihiro sat down next to her on the couch, swinging his legs back and forth.

"My daughter? Oh, yeah, she's here. Don't know what you'd want with such a useless hunk of trash, but I'll get her for ya anyway," The line was silent for a while before there was a loud crashing sound and Mikan's nervous voice filled Chiaki's brain.

"S-Sorry! I am so, so sorry! I-I dropped the phone when F-Father gave it to me!" She cried from embarrassment. "I-I'm terrible..."

"You're not terrible, Mikan-chan! Your father sounds like...a meanie," Chiaki said quietly, not wanting to incur the wraith of her best friend's father.

"O-Oh...he's not t-that bad...he just really hates telemarketers," She laughed awkwardly. Chiaki frowned. "A-Anyway...I know why you called! Happy Birthday, Chiaki-chan! I hope you have a good one!"

"Thanks! I hope it's good too! And I hope I can do something for your birthday too!" Chiaki smiled happily at the thought of going over to Mikan's for a birthday party. She'd want to stay up all night making a cake and surprising her with it!

"Yeah...my house..." There was more screaming on the other line, along with the sound of someone being hit, then the phone hung up, making a beeping sound. Chiaki pulled the receiver away from her ear, staring at it in curiosity.

"Mikan-chan...?" She finally put the phone back and went back into the kitchen, smiling as she sat down and Rika placed two sakuramochi in front of her. "They're pink!"

Chihiro hurried into the kitchen afterwards, sitting down next to his cousin and clasping his hands together at the sight of his own food. "Thanks, Papa!"

"You're welcome," Taichi smiled.

Both of the children both said Grace before digging into their food, complimenting how good it tasted.

"And when you finish eating that..." Rika trailed off, pulling out a large chocolate cake from the oven. The two gasped happily at the sight and started eating their food even faster.

After they finished eating, Rika placed green candles on top of the cake, lighting them and carrying the cake to the table. Her and Taichi started singing the song to the children, who bounced happily in their seats at the idea of eating cake.

"Happy Birthday, Chiaki. Make your wish," Rika said, motioning to the ten green candles. "Ten years old,"

Chiaki closed her eyes and wished for there to be some cake leftover that she could give to Mikan the next day at school, then blew out her candles. Everyone clapped for her, then Taichi lit up eight of the ten old ones.

"And Happy Birthday, Chihiro. Make your wish. Eight years old today!" He smiled, and Chihiro suddenly blushed at being thrust the center of attention so suddenly. He closed his eyes and whispered something, then slowly blew out his candles, taking a longer time than Chiaki, who blew hers out in one quick breath.

"Yay!" They all cheered, Taichi cutting up two small pieces for the kids. "After this, presents,"

"Hooray, presents!" Chihiro smiled, eating his cake messily and getting chocolate all over his face. Chiaki smiled as well, eating her cake neatly. She wondered what sorts of presents she received from her aunt and uncle, and she also wondered if Mikan sent her one.

Taichi took a lot of pictures of the two eating their cake; Chihiro mostly blushed and hid his face while Chiaki smiled eagerly for many of them.

After they finished eating, Rika led them into the living room and pulled some smaller presents out of hiding, handing them to the appropriate child. Chiaki eagerly unwrapped hers first, finding a navy blue hoodie with cat ears on the hood. She pulled it out of the box to look it at closer and blushed when she noticed how big it was.

"Oh dear, I got the wrong size!" Taichi gasped in a worried tone. "Don't worry, I can just go back later and get the right size for you-!"

"No...I like how it's big. It looks like it'll be fun to snuggle in!" She declined, smiling. "Besides, I can just grow into it, right?" She placed it to the right of her, unwrapping some of her other presents.

Chihiro got a new pair of shoes, a stuffed rabbit, a book, while Chiaki got a makeup kit, a stuffed rabbit that matched Chihiro's, and, perhaps the biggest surprise of all, a new gaming system for the living room. She gasped loudly and ran over to it, inspecting all aspects of it.

"Do you like it? It cost a lot, but you seem to like video games so I thought-"

"Like it? I love it!" Chiaki smiled, already starting to set it up. Rika instantly hurried over and took the wires away from her, setting it up herself. The console was a Nintendo system in a bright pink colour. "Does it already have games on it?"

"It has some starter games, but if you genuinely end up loving this, then we'll get you more," Rika explained, already concentrating on setting up the game system. Chihiro snuggled happily with the rabbit he got, smiling. Chiaki smiled back at him.

"Don't think that I forgot about the lady of the house, either!" Taichi announced, making Rika look up at him before he left the room. She shrugged and went back to work on setting up the game system.

"You two, clean up all of that wrapping paper and start putting your toys away," She directed, and Chiaki nodded and started to gather up the wrapping paper; hers was purple and Chihiro's was red. Chihiro helped her a little bit, but it was obvious he was starting to get overwhelmed, as his breathing was starting to become heavier. She kept an eye on him as she put away her toys, hanging up her hoodie in her closet.

When she returned to the living room, Rika had finished setting up the gaming system and motioned Chiaki over to it, who instantly plopped herself down on the floor and turned the system on, starting up one of the games. Chihiro was nowhere to be seen, but Taichi soon returned to the room with something behind his back.

"Close your eyes," He laughed nervously, and Rika eventually did so after she subtly rolled them. Taichi walked over to her and placed a small box in her hands, and she opened her eyes and unwrapped it, gasping when she found a new pair of earrings with a matching bracelet inside, all set in emerald.

"This must've costed a fortune!" She gasped, already putting the earrings in.

"Nothing's too expensive for the woman I love," Taichi laughed again, rubbing his head. Rika smiled happily and kissed him, making Chiaki giggle slightly. Taichi then turned his attention back to her.

"I hope you enjoy that new gaming system. Break it in really well, okay? I mean, don't actually, literally break it. But you know what I mean...right?"

She giggled again. "I know what you mean, Uncle Taichi,"

Rika and Taichi soon retired into their bedroom after a few more kisses, and Chihiro and Chiaki both spent the remainder of their birthday playing on the computer and playing video games, respectively.

##########

Due to how busy Rika and Taichi had been lately involving their jobs, Chiaki and Chihiro were often left home alone most of the time, and with a babysitter the other half of the time, when they could find a suitable one. Their usual choice was one of the women in the neighborhood who Chihiro was visibly nervous around but Chiaki secretly adored. She found her to be just as fashionable as Aunt Rika, but in her own way.

Today was one of the days when the babysitter was scheduled to come, and she was already there when they arrived home from school, opening up a box of pizza she recently ordered.

"Yo! The name's Lisa Kuwata. What's up?" She grinned, making Chiaki smile.

"Y-You always introduce yourself when you come over..." Chihiro pointed out shyly, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

"Just makin' sure you don't forget my name! This last name will be famous one day, I guarantee it!" Lisa grinned even more. She had short red hair that looked like a fire, bright blue eyes, and a lot of spiky earrings. Her nose was even pierced, and she wore a very short black dress with knee-high black boots and a long grey trenchcoat over everything. She pulled out some plates from the cupboard and gave Chihiro and Chiaki the biggest slices, pushing them onto the couch. "So, when your folks gonna be home this time?"

"Around eight or nine in the evening," Chiaki recited perfectly, blowing on her pizza to cool it off. Chihiro simply stared at his, his eyes welling up with tears slightly.

"I-I'm lactose-intolerant..." He said quietly, so quietly only Chiaki could hear him. She pouted slightly, but didn't tell Lisa. She knew the woman would just forget the next time she came over anyway, so what was the point?

"What are you guys in the mood to watch this time?" Lisa grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels, finally settling on an older drama show. "How about this?"

"It's a medical drama!" Chiaki noticed. She smiled even more, thinking of how Mikan often told her she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up and helped people who were unable to help themselves. She wondered if Mikan was watching the same show at the same time they were.

"Yup! I hope it won't be too intense for you two," Despite being the one who picked it, Lisa seemed utterly uninterested in the show, instead playing with her earrings and chatting with Chiaki whenever commercials popped up. "So, you're ten now, yeah? And the little guy's eight?"

Chiaki nodded. "Our birthdays were a few weeks ago," She decided her pizza was finally cool enough to eat and took a large bite, grease running down her chin.

"I have a son who's around this kid's age," She placed her hand on Chihiro's head, making him stiffen up slightly. "He's only eight years old and is already really good at baseball. I bet when he becomes an adult, he'll be a real all-star player!"

"That's cool," Chiaki continued eating.

"Maybe, after we eat, we can go outside and I'll show you some of the stuff he's learned? I think it'd be fun," Lisa suggested, starting to flip through the channels again.

After a while, the two finished eating and put their plates away, Chihiro holding onto his stomach with a nauseous expression on his face. He slowly walked over to the computer and pulled himself up onto the seat, starting to use it. Chiaki stared at him for a while until Lisa walked into the living room with some baseball equptment.

"Come on, let's go outside and play!" She smirked, tossing a baseball to Chiaki, who caught it easily. "Are ya joinin' us, shortstuff?" She glanced at Chihiro, who looked out the window, looked at the baseball bat, then shook his head slowly, covering his mouth. Lisa simply shrugged. "Suit yourself, I guess,"

She led Chiaki outside to the front yard and ordered her to stand a few feet back. She then slipped the mitt on her right hand and handed the bat to Chiaki. "How about we just practice some hittin'?" she asked, and the blonde nodded, striking a pose and tightening her grip on the bat."Here it comes!" She threw the ball really hard at Chiaki, who tightened her grip on the bat and hit it, hearing a loud crack as the two made contact. The ball sailed through the yard, landing in the backyard. Chiaki quickly ran to go get it.

"Damn, you're already pretty good!" Lisa praised in surprise. Chiaki blushed lightly.

"I play some baseball games on my console...so I'm pretty good at timing," She admitted, striking another pose.

The two 'played' baseball for a while until Lisa was sufficiently worn-out enough and decided to call it a day. Chiaki offered her some of the leftover birthday cake and started to get ready for bed as her aunt and uncle arrived home from work and paid Lisa for her time.

"What happened to my program?" Taichi announced, making Chiaki look up from the buttons she was unbuttoning. She peeked out of her bedroom in curiosity. "I had a processing program on the computer and someone messed with it earlier. It's kinda...I don't know, responsive. It definitely wasn't like this when I left!"

"I-I did that..." Chihiro replied shyly, blushing and holding up his hand. "I couldn't go outside and play with Chiaki-chan, or Mrs. Kuwata. I felt really sick...so I instead stayed in here and played on the computer and I found your processor. I started messing around with it and then, all of a sudden..." He cut himself off and looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry..."

"Sorry? Chihiro, what you've done is amazing for your age! If you keep going at this pace, you could very easily invent an A.I. by the time you enter high school!" He scooped Chihiro up, making him gasp.

"Y-You're not mad?!"

"Why would I be mad? We have a little genius in the family!"

Chiaki pouted slightly. She noticed Rika walking back to her room and quietly got her attention. "I got a new high score in my fighting game yesterday! I beat my previous score of 1300 and got 1700!" She boasted.

"Hm? Oh, that's great," Rika replied in a distracted tone, continuing to walk to her room. Chiaki's face fell and she pouted childishly. She glanced briefly at Chihiro still being praised by Taichi, then finally closed her door and finished getting ready for bed.

############

She was eleven, nearly an adult. At least, at the time, it seemed like she was. She had gotten her hair cut into a fashionable bob and now wore a thick black choker where-ever she went; even with her school uniform. She had grown slightly taller and the blossoming buds on her chest showed that when she got older, she would be the owner of large breasts.

Lisa still came over to babysit occasionally, still teaching her baseball. She often bragged about her own son, as well as his cousin; she said so because Chihiro and Chiaki reminded her so much of them for some reason.

Soon, Chiaki would be in middle school and she would hone any of her talents in the hopes of going to high school at the famous Hope's Peak Academy.

But that would be much, much further down the road.

Since it was recess, she asked special permission from a teacher to get some equipment out of the shed, and once being given said permission, she came back out with two mitts, some baseballs, and a metal bat. She had wanted to play some games with Mikan and show her what Lisa had been teaching her.

"Mikan-chan! Mikan-chan! Where are you?" She asked, looking around the playground. She was unable to find any trace of her purple-haired friend, which made her frown. Mikan often came running whenever she heard her name, so why wasn't she coming today? Chiaki placed the balls and mitts down on the sidewalk and swung the bat over her shoulder, looking around for her best friend.

The sound of children laughing and someone crying soon got her attention, and she hurried over to the basketball court to find Mikan being held down by some bigger boys, having her hair forcefully cut and brushed by some girls. Mikan was obviously not enjoying it, though she wasn't struggling either; her cries were all the indication Chiaki needed. Her hair had already gotten a lot of damage done to it; many spots were uneven and jagged and crooked.

Something broke inside of Chiaki, and her grip on the bat tightened.

"Hey! You leave her alone right now!" She screamed, suddenly charging at the bullies. She swung the bat around crazily, not actually wanting to hit anyone.

"Oh, shit! She's crazy!" One of the boys gasped, dropping Mikan harshly on the ground and running off. Mikan gasped softly when she hit the ground, one of the combs being roughly yanked out of her hair.

"Leave her alone," Chiaki repeated, moving closer to the girls. At first they tried to stand their ground, but after seeing Chiaki advance closer to them, they finally threw the scissors and combs on the ground and running off as well, yelling about how 'the crazy ones always start out as the quiet ones'. Chiaki took a deep breath and dropped the bat on the ground, hurrying over to Mikan. "Are you alright?" She asked nervously, helping her sit up.

Mikan nodded numbly, tears in her eyes. She very slowly picked herself off the ground and picked up her yellow hat, trembling. "H-How does it look? M-Maybe...it doesn't look that bad,"

"It's...interesting," Chiaki offered, making Mikan cry out. "Don't cry! Give it a trim, a few brushes, and it'll look adorable!"

"I want hair...t-that looks like yours. You always have such pretty hairstyles," Mikan gently ran her hand through Chiaki's bob, making her blush.

The teacher then blew the whistle to mark the end of recess, making Chiaki pout slightly.

"I was hoping I could teach you how to play baseball," She admitted, sighing as she started to walk back to the storage shed, dragging the baseball bat on the ground.

"There's always tomorrow..." Mikan suggested, surprisingly hopeful for once. Chiaki smiled lightly.

"Yeah...tomorrow..."

########

Chiaki came home from school early and started to start up her gaming system, having an urge to replay her baseball simulator when Chihiro came home a few minutes afterwards, limping badly. Chiaki noticed and stared at him, frowning.

"What's wrong?" She asked curiously, looking up from her game.

"N-Nothing!" Chihiro jumped and flashed her a nervous smile, trying to stand up straight. He ended up putting too much weight on the injured leg and cried out in pain, falling over.

Chiaki gasped and ran over, helping him up to his feet. "You're in pain. What's wrong?" She asked again, slower. Chihiro winced.

"I...I was pushed down the stairs at school and I think my ankle is sprained..." He admitted quietly. "Some bigger boys cornered me and shoved me down the stairs, saying that I was too weak to fight back..." He teared up. "B-But...they were bullies. They bully everyone in my class. It was only a matter of time before they got to me," He laughed awkwardly, limping back into his room. "D-Don't tell Mama and Papa. I don't want them to worry!"

"Okay..." Chiaki promised, frowning when he closed his bedroom door. She felt like there was more to his story than he initially let on, and the thought of Chihiro being bullied at school was something that didn't sit well with her.

######

"I-I want to be a nurse to help people who can't help t-themselves. They're sick and hurt and oftentimes can barely move...I-I'm their salvation I have to take care of them,"

"I think you'll be a lovely nurse when you grow up, Mikan-chan!"

#########

"T-They cornered me again and...beat me up. See these bruises? All f-from them,"

"You should tell Uncle Taichi and Aunt Rika,"

"N-No way! I-I don't want them to worry...besides...I'm almost done with elementary school anyway...once I graduate and go to middle school, the teasing will stop,"

###########

"Today is your entrance ceremony! Are you excited?" Aunt Rika asked twelve-year-old Chiaki as she gently brushed her bob, pulling her into her new middle-school uniform. Chiaki nodded eagerly.

"I can hardly believe it...I'm in middle school already! I feel like such an adult!" She boasted, making Rika laugh. Her uniform was a simple starched white blouse with a blue sailor collar and red bow, with a matching pleated knee-long blue skirt with white kneesocks and black Mary-Janes. As a gift for graduating from elementary school, Aunt Rika bought her a small pink backpack shaped like a cat, which she adored the moment she laid eyes on it because it matched her hoodie.

Rika got into the car, watching as Chiaki got in the front seat and buckled her seat belt carefully. She then drove off, arriving at the ceremony fairly early.

"So many people here already..." Rika said to herself. Chiaki played with the black choker around her neck, noticing Mikan standing around nervously with who seemed like her parents. She gasped and hurried over to her, giving her a huge hug.

"Mikan-chan! We're in the same school together! Again!" She smiled happily, and Mikan smiled back nervously. Her hair had failed to cover up the damage the bullies had done a year ago; her hair was still very uneven and choppy, and it was obvious Mikan herself made no further efforts to fix it.

"Y-Yeah...that's pretty strange, huh?" She laughed nervously. Her hands were clasped together.

"Oh, this is my Aunt Rika," Chiaki pointed over to where Rika was talking with some other adults. Mikan smiled nicely.

"T-These are my parents..." She gestured to the dark-haired man and woman behind her, who weren't even paying attention to her. "They didn't really want to be here...they said they would just stay for the photos and then t-take me h-home,"

"Aunt Rika said the same," Chiaki nodded.

As if on cue, the cameraman arrived and started setting up his camera, two staff members hanging up a giant banner that spelled out 'Entrance Ceremony' in huge yellow letters.

"That colour reminds me of pus," Mikan announced suddenly, startling Chiaki. "Like when you squeeze an old wound and yellowy, cheesy stuff gushes out..."

"Let's get all of the families together and celebrate your first day of middle school!" The principal announced, making everyone cheer.

Mikan's family were one of the first ones up, and Mikan, despite her nervous smile, did seem to be genuinely happy to be there. Chiaki's picture was one of the last ones taken, and she was standing quietly next to Rika, who had a polite smile on her face. Chiaki gave one of her own warm smiles just as the camera clicked.

After the ceremony, Rika took Chiaki home and she happily showed her picture to Uncle Taichi and Chihiro, both of whom agreed she looked adorable and 'very grown-up' in it, respectively. Rika promised to get the picture framed, and put it next to Chihiro's once he had his own middle-school entrance ceremony.

###########

Chiaki spent almost all of her freetime absorbed in video games; it wasn't unusual to find her passed out asleep late at night, several empty bottles next to her and her game still running. However, it seemed that no matter how much she played or what scores she beat, Chihiro was always one step ahead of her when it came to receiving praise.

It made her talent feel...well, useless.

After school one day, she arrived and instantly laid herself down on the floor, not even bothering to change out of her uniform. She started up her gaming system and dove straight into the sci-fi game she was playing where one had to battle aliens. She liked it partially because the ship in the game resembled the one on her barrette.

She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she barely heard the door being slammed shut until the sound of someone desperately trying to choke back sobs reached her ears.

"Chihiro!" She gasped, dropping her controller on the floor.

Him coming home bloodied, broken, and bruised was a common-enough occurrence, but how he arrived today was something else entirely.

His hair had been roughly pulled into messy pigtails; they were lopsided and one clearly had more hair in it than the other. Makeup had been haphazardly placed on his face and looked like it had been smeared on carelessly. A large pink dress was over his normal uniform; a pink frilly thing that resembled an apron with a large pink ribbon tied in the back.

"Chihiro," She repeated, trying to get him to speak. She already knew what had happened, but she needed him to explain it, in his own words, to her. She needed to hear it to prove to herself she wasn't dreaming.

"T-They finally got me...those bullies I always talk about," He sniffled, trying his hardest to not burst into tears. "When I tried to use the bathroom at the end of the day, they...t-they cornered me and shoved me down to the ground. Their leader started talking about how...I-I'm really weak and never fought back. He then laughed at me and said I was so weak, I'm practically a girl...a-and then...and then..." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Him and his group did this to me," He motioned to his figure. "B-But you know...they're right. I really am a weak piece of trash,"

"Chihiro," Chiaki grabbed him and held him firmly. "You are not. Have you not heard the way Uncle Taichi praises you? You are so talented and smart!"

"Yeah, I'm just good at computers. How far will that get me in life? Will I ever get any friends? Will I ever get a girlfriend? Nobody will ever want to be around someone as weak as me," He managed to push her away and trudged into the bathroom; Chiaki just followed after him, undeterred. She watched as he sat down on the shower floor and just let the hot water wash over him, not even bothering to remove any of his clothes, not even the apron-dress.

Then, and only then, did he finally start to sob uncontrollably.

"Y-You know...when I really look at myself...I don't look bad like this. I could make a cute girl...I'd make a very cute girl..." He laughed dryly inbetween his sobs, his entire body trembling. The makeup was starting to run down his face and down the drain, leaving pink, black, and red streaks on the floor. Chiaki pulled open the door and got in with him, her own clothes getting soaked.

"Please don't do this, Chihiro. Please don't be like this," She got down on her knees in front of him slowly. "Deep down, even you know you don't want to do this,"

"I can't go on living the rest of my life like this. Around you and Mama and Papa, I'll be myself. But around others, I'll be a girl. A weak, fragile, emotional girl who somehow developed a talent for computers,"

"I hate seeing you like this," The water had soaked through her white shirt, making it see-through. Some of her own blush was starting to get rubbed off in the water as well.

Chihiro didn't say anything and continued to cry, not looking at her. Chiaki moved closer to him.

"What friends will you have? All of the people you play games with. Who will love you? Me and your parents. And what girl will love you? Me, Chihiro. I will love you. You are smart, talented, kind, and very sweet. Any girl would be lucky to date you! Any guy would be lucky to have you as his friend!" She screamed over the shower. "But...you don't care. You only see your own weakness..."

She finally moved in closer to Chihiro and planted a long kiss on his lips, making his eyes widen. She closed her own after a while, wrapping her arms around him. They were soaking wet and his tears and makeup were getting on her, but she didn't care.

In that moment, the only thing that mattered were his lips, which tasted strongly of cherry. The shower still roared above-head, but she paid it no attention.

Eventually, she pulled away from the kiss, breathing heavily. Chihiro looked just as blushy as she felt, blinking at her.

"Come on, let's get that dress off you, at least," She finally found her voice, standing up. Chihiro nodded in agreement and started to undress, not caring about modesty in that one moment. Chiaki peeled off her own school uniform. She rubbed some of the more stubborn makeup off of his face, pushing him back into the shower.

The two didn't speak for the remainder of the day, prompting some jokes from Taichi at dinnertime.

She hoped Chihiro would take what she said to heart. That was, ultimately, her one wish. For her cousin to be happy and confident.

###########

"Where's my uniform?" Chiaki questioned, already running late enough as it was. She slipped her barrette in her hair and stood up from her bottom drawer, putting her hands on her hips. She pouted. "Where could it be?" She left her room and went straight into Chihiro's, figuring he'd be able to help her find it. And even if he couldn't, he'd at least be able to steer her in the right direction.

"Chihiro, do you know where-"

Both of their eyes met simultaneously, and Chihiro blushed extremely heavily. There was her uniform, in all of its glory, being worn by her cousin. It was obvious he was making poses in the mirror, since he was currently standing in front of it still, his hand poised behind his back. It was extremely baggy on him, and the skirt nearly went down to his ankles.

She quickly shut his bedroom door, muffling his loud scream of surprise.

############

"Today was his Entrance Ceremony!" Taichi announced proudly, showing off his own picture of the event. Chiaki smiled, her uncle's mood infectious. She took the picture from him and giggled at how uninterested Chihiro seemed in having his dad lock arms with him. She then frowned when she recognized the green and yellow uniform he had on.

It was a girls' uniform.

She carefully set the picture down.

#########

She was in need of new games. She had already beaten her high scores on all of her previous ones-four or five times by that point.

Meanwhile Chihiro had been giving his own little programming center in his bedroom.

################

Wednesdays were either very fun or very stressful for the Fujisaki family, depending on whether they had to bring a dish to their church's potluck dinner.

Today was a stressful day, as Rika and Chihiro had to make cupcakes while Chiaki and Taichi made baked beans; all in the span of a few short hours.

But they somehow got it done, and Chiaki and Rika were the only ones currently left at their table; Chihiro had gone to help out with the younger kids and Taichi had gone off...well, Chiaki actually wasn't sure. She was dressed in her church outfit; a pure white ballgown with a large skirt patterned with blue flowers. A blue ribbon was tied around her waist, and the dress had short shell sleeves and she wore a gold charm bracelet as her accessory. Gold tights and white Mary-Janes completed her look; she still wore her black choker.

"How old is your niece?" One of the usual churchwomen asked Rika, sitting beside her. Chiaki recognized her as the woman who wore fake grapes on her pink hat. She was also one of the chattier ones.

"Oh, she turned fifteen last March! This August, she will be starting highschool," Rika said cheerfully. Chiaki stirred her baked beans around on her plate.

"So your daughter is thirteen, right? Have you thought about what highschools you want to enroll them in yet?"

"No...did you have any in mind?"

"I have several!" The woman chirped, pulling out several pamphlets and brochures from her purse. Rika laughed a bit nervously, clearly not expecting that.

"Excuse me," Chiaki said politely, and after Rika nodded at her, she left the table, looking around to see if the church set up a gaming room like they normally did. A lot of the games tended to be for children, but Chiaki still enjoyed playing with the other younger kids and teaching them tips and tricks.

As she walked down the hallway, she suddenly paused when she heard soft, muffled cries coming from a storage closet. She frowned, realizing the cries sounded far too familiar to her, then pushed open the closet door, finding exactly who she expected to find.

Chihiro was sitting with his back against the wall, his light blue flats off and on the opposite end of the room; she wondered if he threw them. He stiffened when he heard someone come in, only to relax only slightly when he saw who it was.

"What happened?" Chiaki asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Chihiro shifted his position slightly, refusing to look her in the eyes. His dress was a ruffled short white one with pink trimmings on it; he even wore a light pink headband with fake white roses on top. She moved closer to him and gasped softly when she noticed a small puddle underneath him.

"I-I can't use the bathroom anymore...I can't go in the boys' while I look like this, and I can't risk using the girls'...you know, because I'm not a girl!" He explained, sniffling.

Chiaki didn't say anything, she simply looked around the room and soon found a roll of paper towels. She gently handed them to him and turned on her heel, silently closing the door on her way out.

##########

"Look dear, their acceptance letters came in the mail!"

The two came running in and were soon handed their respective letter. Chiaki gently opened hers, being careful to not rip anything.

"I got accepted! For...St. Elizabeth's School for Girls," She recited slowly, remembering that school was very low on her list of choices. She had hoped to get into St. Elbandia Academy, an extremely prestigious Catholic school. St. Elizabeth's, according to the letter, was simply a semi-public all-girls' school. She continued reading the letter, finding the school to be quite liberal with many of their rules, the only major one being the requirement of a uniform.

"I-I got in! I'm going to St. Elbandia Academy!" Chihiro gasped, trembling as he read his own letter. It was easy to see how much he trembled from both excitement and nerves under his jeans.

"Seriously?" Chiaki asked in disbelief, checking his letter.

Right at the very top was the insignia of the academy, a golden wheel that was supposed to represent God's 'steering wheel'.

"I don't believe it," Chihiro continued, sounding even more shocked about it than her.

The symbol of her school was a grain of wheat drawn stylistically. She assumed it represented God's bountiful harvest when it came to taking care of humanity...or something similar.

"We'll go shopping Saturday evening for your supplies and uniforms. Oh, this is so exciting!" Rika gushed, making Chiaki smile.

However, she was a bit jealous of her cousin. St. Elbandia Academy was fairly famous throughout their city for being a prestigious Catholic school. It was a co-ed boarding school, which would mean Chihiro would be gone for almost the entire school year. She would be alone again.

With just her video games to keep her company.

#######

Chiaki's uniform ended up being a starched white blouse, a blue tie, a dark red sweater with the school's logo on it, a dark grey skirt that went a bit past her knees, black tights, and white penny-loafers.

Rika tried her hardest to make Chihiro wear brown shorts with his uniform instead of the brown skirt, but he wouldn't budge. Chiaki blushed slightly when he came out of the dressing room to show off the fit, twirling around slightly.

"How does it look?" He asked shyly. His uniform was a starched white blouse with an upturned collar, a brown skirt with matching suspenders, white knee-socks, and tan-coloured Mary-Janes. A green jacket was to go over the outfit, and a lot of the girls were recommended to wear gloves.

"You look very...handsome," Rika blinked, smiling nervously. "It fits you, at the very least,"

"What do you think, Chiaki-chan?" Chihiro asked nervously, addressing her. She blushed even more in surprise. "It's awfully old-fashioned. I like yours better...it's modern,"

"I think yours is cute!" Chiaki said simply, giving him a smile.

#####

"It says here you strongly dislike alarm clocks?"

"Yes, Sister. What is so funny about that?"

"A bit unusual, that is all."

"They make super loud noises. Even if you're expecting it, it's still startling, Sister Yoko."

"You have a point there."

She started gathering up her things to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Nanami? I am afraid to say this, but your choker violates the dress code. Tomorrow, please take it off."

"Yes, Sister Yoko."

###########

"So, you're the sister of that femmy wimp?"

"She's it's cousin,"

"Same difference!"

"Chihiro is not an 'it'. Please leave him, and for that matter, me, alone."

"And why should we? It's not fun to bully him anymore. I bet you're a lot more fun,"

"I bet those tits, big as they are, are fake! You're probably just as much of a tranny as your cousin!"

Everything passed by in a blur for her. She was vaguely aware of something shiny and silver being held dangerously close to her head, then the sound of something being cut off. Her hair being forcefully cut rang loudly in her ears. It gave her bad flashbacks to the same exact thing happening to Mikan, and she started to thrash around, hoping to hit one of the boys, even accidentally.

The boys just tightened their grip on her, laughing and talking with each other about nonsensical things as they chopped off a good chunk of her bob. One of them took their scissors to her shirt, popping all of the buttons off and ripping it open.

Somehow, the boys had gotten bored in the middle of their assault, dropping her harshly on the ground and running off, leaving her just lying there on the middle of the sidewalk. She was a mess. Perhaps they found her boring because she didn't scream, fight, or cry out, she mused.

She nervously swallowed, an extremely salty and acidic taste heavy and thick in her throat. She slowly peeled herself off the ground and gathered up her belongings, pulling her hoodie on over her ruined shirt.

When she walked home, she briefly locked eyes with Chihiro, who simply took her to the bathroom and helped her run a shower.

She vomited in the middle of it. He did too. And then they both started to cry, both overcome by the others' tragedy.

Even the kiss they both shared after the shower did little to ease their pain.

##########

"Y-You go to a girls' school too? W-What a coincidence!" Mikan gasped happily over the phone. "I go to Lapis Lazuli Girls' High School. It's on the coast,"

"Is it a nursing school?"

"No, but they do offer a health committee for girls who want to study or take up nursing in high school and university. I am a member of that. They gave me a little apron with the school's logo on it!"

Chiaki boredly played with the frayed, chopped ends of her bob as she listened to Mikan talk. Her hair grew pretty fast, so she knew it wouldn't be too long before the boys' damage was undone. As always, her barrette pinned back her bangs, even now, though her bangs were mostly gone so there was little point.

But it gave her a sense of comfort, something she found increasingly little of in her everyday life.

#########

"The Novoselic princess just arrived in Japan this afternoon, citing how exciting it was for her to finally be in a new country. She's still a bit jetlagged, but still had time to participate in a quick photoshoot before heading to her hotel earlier!"

The TV then cut to a young woman with shiny golden hair in a bun, wearing a huge ball gown just as golden and sparkly as her hair, twirling around and doing a few poses.

"Sonia Nevermind..." Chihiro said to himself, blushing heavily. He smiled at the TV. "She's so beautiful, isn't she?"

Chiaki nodded in agreement, feeling her own cheeks grow warm. "I hope we get the chance to meet her at some point. She wants to be like a real girl and not a princess when she's visiting, so maybe she'll end up attending one of our schools,"

"Really? I hope so," He sighed to himself, and Chiaki smiled slightly. Her little cousin already had such high standards for girls.

###########

Her stuff was all packed up in that same pink suitcase she brought her stuff in, nearly twelve years ago at this point. A staff member promised they would get her stuff and deliver it personally to her dorm later.

She nervously clutched the pink gaming system Uncle Taichi and Aunt Rika gave her a going-away present, one that was given very tearfully. Even Chihiro seemed disappointed at the fact she would be going away for the remainder of her high-school career.

This was it. She had finally been accepted to attend Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Gamer. What an ironic title for someone such as herself, but she didn't make up these things. She took a deep breath to calm herself down as she stared up at the tall, imposing school. She just had to walk through its gates, and she would officially be considered a student, and a 'Beacon of Hope for the next generation', as the brochure so proudly proclaimed.

Her brochure also urged her to fully encompass her Ultimate talent-to utterly become whatever it was. She pulled up her cat-ear hoodie, adjusted the straps of her cat backpack, took one final look back, and stepped through the gate, starting up her handheld gaming system. It was a GameGirl.

Chiaki continued walking across the courtyard, keeping her focus on her system. It was a game she had beaten several times before, but it was one of the rare games that she didn't ever get bored of replaying. The courtyard was loud and full of ruckus from the anxiety and excitement of the first day, but Chiaki managed to ignore it all and cancel it out.

Be the Ultimate Gamer. Be the Ultimate Gamer. Be the Ultimate Gamer. Her penny-loafers silently tapped against the concrete of the sidewalk. Soon her breathing had synced up with her game sounds. And the outside noise seemed to cease all at once.

#######

After finding her dorm, Chiaki was encouraged by one of the students to attend the speech Headmaster Kirigiri was going to put on in a few minutes. Chiaki nodded and made her way to the auditorium, where several other students had already gathered.

She sat down near the front, continuing to play on her system. As more students entered, she looked up a few times to briefly acknowledge them. A trio of students were sitting a few feet behind her; one of the girls had a mask on her face and Chiaki tilted her head as she tried to figure out where she saw that before.

"Pardon me, but is this seat occupied?" A formal voice asked. Chiaki finally turned off her system and looked up, blushing slightly when she saw it was the Princess of Novoselia herself, Sonia Nevermind.

Her hair was braided neatly, and unlike the other students who wore their old uniforms, she was dressed in a light green embroidered outfit that looked like something a Nordic Disney Princess would wear. Chiaki finally composed herself and shook her head.

"You can sit there if you want,"

"Ah! Thank you kindly!" Sonia beamed happily, her grin wide. She politely sat down next to her, placing a gold purse in her lap. Mikan waved shyly at her as she took the seat on Chiaki's other side. She had on a light pink blouse and matching blue skirt. Chiaki figured that the newer students just hadn't had time to put on their uniforms yet.

"Hello everyone, I would just like to formally welcome you to Hope's Peak Academy," Headmaster Kirigiri announced at the podium, making everyone stop talking and pay attention to him. "For a few of you in this room, you are returning as a second or third-year. I congratulate you for making is this far in your schooling and hope you continue to not only make the lives of your classmates and teachers better with your talent, but also the world once you graduate,"

Mikan stiffened slightly next to Chiaki, making her glance over curiously.

"However, for most of you, this is your very first year, and perhaps even your very first day here at this school. It may seem overwhelming at first, but I urge you to please not be intimidated. You are here because you are special. Because you are unique. Because you have something to offer to humanity. Embrace that fact and work on making your next three years here something special, something worth remembering,"

Everyone burst into applause at the end of his statement, but Chiaki frowned and stared down at the gaming system.

Her talent? Improving the world? Improving the lives of her friends and family? Unlucky. What an idealistic image. She would spend her next three years here just as she spent her time at St. Elizabeth's-as a hopelessly average student.

"Why don't we explore the school? I'm sure it's really big and I don't want to get lost!" Sonia smiled, gathering up her bag. She looked at Chiaki and Mikan.

"I-I think that's a good idea! Let's look for important things, like the cafeteria, nurse's office, and restrooms!" Mikan suggested.

"Great idea!" Sonia took Chiaki's arm suddenly, making her blush heavily. "Come on, you get to explore with us too!"

The bubbly blonde practically pulled Chiaki and Mikan both out of the room, and the three girls spent the remainder of their day exploring the school, finding their classrooms, dorms, bathrooms, and the cafeteria. Mikan found the health committee office, while Chiaki found the rec room, filled with both traditional and video games.

##########

The next day after breakfast, instead of attending class, Chiaki just spent her day wandering around the building, playing on her GameGirl. If anybody noticed her absence, they didn't say anything, and they certainly didn't go after her.

Be the Ultimate Gamer. Be the Ultimate Gamer. Be the Ultimate Gamer. Be the Ulti-

Her train of thought was interrupted when she collided with someone taller than her, and a lot more muscular. She blushed and glanced up, finding herself staring into the eyes of a very cute boy. He reminded her of that little boy she saw trying to get lemonade at the store, all those years ago. She then looked around and noticed the sun was starting to set and faltered, realizing she had literally wasted her entire day playing video games.

She invited him to sit on the bench and the two of them had a nice talk that was only interrupted when her teacher showed up and literally slung her on her shoulder, informing her it was time for class. She started playing her game again to get back into her mood, giving the boy-Hajime-a brief wave as she was literally carried off.

##########

A phone call every other week. That was the rule. This week, she talked about how after she set up a gaming system in her classroom, her classmates all realized her worth, wanting to befriend her. Mikan seemed to become even more friendly towards her after that fact, and she even managed to get a huge hug from Sonia, a memory that made her blush heavily as she relieved it to Aunt Rika. She was suddenly very glad it was only a phone call. She also talked about the new boy that she met named Hajime, blushing even more.

###########

"If you were to die, what would you want to come back in the next life as?"

"I-I would want to be a nurse. It's what I'm good at after all...!"

"I would want to be reborn as a normal girl instead of as a princess,"

"I'd want to be someone else's hope. I would want to be the reason they didn't give up and continued fighting for whatever it was they were fighting for. Even if couldn't physically be there with them anymore."

The lights turned off.

##########

"Aunt Rika, this is Hajime-kun. We've been getting fairly close these past few weeks. I thought he'd like to come over and play some video games with me!"

######

"Uncle Taichi, this is Sonia. Oh, you don't have to bow for her. She understands your intent. I invited her over to play video games!"

##########

Chiaki walked down the hallway, about to retire to her dorm for the night when she heard the sounds of faint crying coming from one of the corridors. Curious, she wandered over closer to the sound and found Mikan leaning against a trashcan, dried blood staining the front of her uniform.

"Mikan-chan?" She asked, making Mikan jump and shriek.

"I-I'm sorry! Y-You just startled me!" She gasped, trying to calm herself down. "Oh...I-I'm such a horrible nurse! S-So horrible! I can't even do the one thing that I'm good a-at right!"

"What happened?"

"A-A patient died on me. They aren't supposed to die if they're given to a health committee member, but...b-but...!" She clasped her hands together. "They did! I did all that I could...!"

Chiaki gave Mikan a big hug, making the other girl stiffen. "It's okay. I mean, you did all you could, right? I'm sure that patient was happy that you were attending to them. They're in Heaven now," She gave Mikan a smile, which the thin girl finally returned, albeit much more slowly.

As Chiaki walked back to her room, she didn't notice that Mikan had started mumbling something under her breath, something about loving Despair and wanting to kill for the sake of it.

########

"I-I got accepted too! I'm going to Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Programmer!"

##########

"Your test is to identify three major achievements in the gaming world, starting from the late 1970's and ending last year,"

At least her Talent Review wasn't her literally playing video games. Anything would've been better than that.

She still passed, of course. An A+.

Mikan passed her medical terms quiz, while Sonia aced her etiquette practice.

These tests were so pointless.

#########

"Chihiro!"

"Chiaki-chan!" The two hugged each other tightly in the halls, ignoring the weird stares other gave them as they walked past. "It's so good to see you again! It's been pretty lonely without you being home..."

"I can imagine," Chiaki said simply, smiling down at her cousin. "What class are you in? What talent do you have?"

"Class 78. I'm above yours. Or is it below...? And I'm the Ultimate Programmer! Remember?"

Chiaki's smile slowly started to fade.

"You look really cute in your uniform...it brings out...your...personality..." Chihiro suddenly announced, his whole face red. He kept his gaze pointed at the floor. Chiaki blushed heavily as well and excused herself, running in the opposite direction.

##########

"Y-You're...Hajime-kun...aren't you? I can...tell...that you...are..." She struggled, vomiting up blood on her last word. She shivered uncontrollably, then finally fell to the ground.

Chiaki was lying down dead in a pool of her own blood.

#########

Mikan took some silver scissors and started to cut up her old nurse uniform, wanting one that looked more fashionable. She chuckled quietly to herself as she did so, her classmates' own happiness infecting her. Truly, she had never felt so happy in her life!

The silver colour caught the glare of the lights and shimmered, and for a second, Mikan recalled a past memory of hers, of Chiaki saving her from those bullies who cut her hair.

But then the memory was gone, and Mikan resumed her cutting.

#########

Rika had gotten sick and it was up to Taichi to get some medicine for her. Normally he would be all for it, but with the apocalypse literally outside his door, he didn't feel very confident. But he had already supposedly lost his niece and son already, and couldn't bare to lose his wife too. So out to get medicine he would go.

He packed a few things into a small bag before he headed out, glancing at the two pictures above the couch of Chihiro and Chiaki's middle-school entrance ceremonies. After staring at them for a while, he finally pulled Chihiro's off the wall and stuffed it into his bag, heading out.

######

Chihiro picked up several sheets of metal, holding them close to his body. He had no idea how he even managed to walk with so much weight, but he somehow managed to make it back to Ishimaru, Leon, and Mondo; the four of them were assigned the jobs of boarding up the windows. His legs were trembling as he carried the sheets over to Mondo, who quickly hurried over and lifted them off his arms. Chihiro nervously tugged on his jacket as Mondo started going on about how 'she' would probably feel a lot more comfortable helping Aoi and Sakura with gathering tools, or Junko and Mukuro with hammering boards. He simply blushed and looked down at the ground.

He wondered how his parents and cousin were faring during all of this.

#########

Chiaki's dead body was scooped up and disposed without ceremony into the garbage pile under the school. Without her hair clip, her bangs fell into her face, partly obscuring her bloodied face.

Chiaki Nanami was dead in every sense of the word.

#######

Mikan filled another syringe from the sink in her lab. The water was dirty, quite dirty in fact, but that was what made it fun. As she gently screwed the top back on, she pumped it a few times and gave a grin to her current 'patient', who was tied up and completely at her mercy. She had 'diagnosed' her with a severe case of cholera and would need rapid rehydration. She laid herself down on the woman's body, continuing to pump the syringe.

Mikan Tsumiki was technically dead.

#########

A bag was thrown over Taichi's head and he was knocked out with a baseball bat someone hit on the back of his head. He wasn't even that far from his house, and he had no idea where he was going or what would become of him once he actually arrived there. Or what would prevent his kidnappers from just killing him right then and there.

Taichi Fujisaki was dead to the world. His wife, Rika Fujisaki, died wordlessly in her bed back at home, succumbing to a disease. She too, was dead in every sense of the word.

########

"Happy Birthday! It's one of my special recipes!" Sayaka cheered, placing a large chocolate cake on the cafeteria table. A circle of various fruits surrounded the cake.

"Eighteen years old! How do you feel?" Makoto asked cheerfully.

Where had he seen a cake like this before? With all of these people cheering for him, so happy?

When it hit him, vomit poured onto the table, streaming from his mouth. The cheers turned into screams of disgust as everyone tried to get away from the mess.

He tightly gripped his skirt underneath the table. What happened to Chiaki? Why had she not bothered to contact him in the previous year? What about his parents?

Was he truly all alone in the world, with no friends or family left to speak of?

Much like his father, Chihiro Fujisaki was dead to the world.

######

Chihiro squirmed around in his seat, biting his lip to help himself focus more. He had almost cracked the code. He had almost finished. Once he was done, he could die happily-if he was to die soon, that is.

A large computer monitor and several keyboards all stretched out in front of him, and he was rapidly typing something away on the biggest keyboard there. After a few more minutes, he finally sighed and tapped the spacebar, pulling on a pair of headphones with a microphone attached.

After making sure they were properly connected, he gasped as the screen filled with the figure of a girl in her old school uniform from way back when; the one with the red sweater and grey skirt.

"I-It worked! I-I did it!" He said to himself in disbelief. The figure on the screen tilted its head curiously. "Do you know who I am?"

"...Papa...? Are you...my papa? May I call you...that?" She asked very slowly, unused to speaking. Chihiro nodded eagerly, and the figure placed her hand on her heart, giving Chihiro a smile that was so warm, his heart both melted and soared to the nearest heaven simultaneously.

Tears started to flow down his cheeks as he placed his hand on the computer screen; her hand touched his from the other side. Her smile never once wavered.

"Papa."

He had done it. He had finally done it.

"Chiaki Nanami."