The train ride was a blur but Homura jerked awake when they reached her destination. She was one of the last to get out of the now empty bus and because she was groggy she almost bumped into a large man. She was momentarily stunned at the beautiful ocean view and the small town resting down the cliff. The air was different from the city and the mop clean smell of the hospital. Homura smiled as the sun shinned at her and the ocean sparkled with welcome. The buildings had a light colors theme going and there was the summer feeling brimming in the small town.
"Maybe this is the start of something new," Homura whispers to herself, but not fully believing her words.
Homura scans the area and spots a girl with golden, twirled hair carrying a sign that has Homura's name written on it. She has the same sunny disposition as the rest of the town and the comforting aura is the reason why Homura was able to approach her without shying away.
"Hi," Homura said awkwardly and glances down.
"Hello. Are you Homura Akemi?" The girl asks and Homura bobs her head. "Great. I'm Mami and I'm here to take you to the Home. Let me help carry your luggage," Mami says.
Homura was taught to always have a bag ready in case she needed to move. Her stay at the hospital hadn't changed that and her dark duffel bag had been pushed into a corner. Her first home had taken into consideration Homura's frail body and gotten her a bag with wheels to take off some of the burden. Homura hates being a burden to others but she doesn't know how far the Home is and she's still recovering from her heart operation. It wouldn't do good extort her heart and give Mami a heart attack when they're walking there.
"Thank you," Homura hands her the dark bag containing all her belongings.
Mami nods and leads the way down the stairs. She talks animatedly along the way and goes into brief introduction about what Homura suspects is important. Some older gentlemen glance at them, specifically Mami, as they go down the long stairs.
"I don't actually live at the Home," Mami informs her.
"What? You're adopted," a little too forward but Homura is shocked, there have been cases of couples adopting young teens except Mami doesn't look like one.
"No. My parents died but they left me money. Under the law I can live by myself under certain restrictions. I have a job at the beach, I'm sixteen, and I don't have any medical issues. I stayed at the Home for a few weeks while my lawyer got the papers worked through but my time there changed me. I volunteer there from time to time. Feel free to come to me if you have any problems, question or need an ear," Homura doesn't ask how her parents die and Mami doesn't add more information. Homura might get into her life story but she figures Mami was briefly told by the head of the house or saw Homura's file.
"Actually, Mami, if you don't mind me asking..."
"Not at all! Go ahead and ask," Mami smiles brightly.
"Does this town have a library?" She asks meekly.
"Yes! It's a small town, but unfortunately it's on the other side and a little distance from the Home," Mami smile is almost apologetical.
"Oh," Homura says a little disappointed.
"However, the Home is close to the beach. It's also located at the feet of the mountain and has a small creak running down behind the house. The younger girls like to go there and find fairies," that makes Homura smile.
"About the Home?" Homura lets the sentence hang there.
"What did your social worker say?"
"Not much. It's located in this charming little town and the lack of car fumes will be good for you Homura," Homura mimics the woman's voice. She fishes out her phone and-" she wasn't kidding about the signal here."
"Strangely, if you climb the mountains there's magnificent wifi signal and view." Maybe Homura will try to hike up when she's better and stronger. Right now she's drowsy and weak from her medicine and she has to scope her new location. "You okay Homura?" Mami asks and Homura nods.
"Tell me about this town," Homura inquired, slightly out of breath once they reached the last step and she cringed at the slope going down.
She follows Mami and studies the tall, classy, building with pretty colors.
"Why are the colors so...?" Homura fidgets and Mami chuckles.
"There is a girly color scheme going on, huh."
"Yeah," there's varying degrees of pink, red, orange, and light blue.
"According to legend," Mami begins. "The men were mostly fishermen and their wives tended the shops and homes. The fishermen would identify their homes by the colorful roofs and walls painted with their wives and children's favorite colors. I guess it uplifted their spirits when they were having a slow day. On that note, the light house by the pier doesn't work. Apparently, everybody complained about the strong light and since there has never been a boating accident or loss, it got shut down."
"That's cute," Homura says about the building. "It's a nice contrast to the lively Tokyo."
"I hope you don't get homesickness."
"Tokyo wasn't home," Homura sighs.
"Oh! I'm sorry, that was-"
"It's fine. I know you didn't mean anything bad about it. It was boring staring at skyscrapers from my window," Homura smiles and that seems to relieve Mami. They hear yelling and Homura turns her head back to see four kids flying down a street on a skateboard. Homura is relieved that the lack of cars means they won't become roadkill. She moves to the side and a boy waves at her as he goes down.
"There isn't much on entertainment but we get by," Mami chuckles lightly. "There's a small cinema in the middle of town but movies show up late. The price of the popcorn is reasonable though," Mami laughs. "Unless your name is Kyoko. The cinema owner won't make the same mistake twice."
"Who?"
"Ah, sorry. She was my friend. She arrived a week after I did and we got attached quickly," Mami explains.
"Was?"
"We quarreled," Mami turned her head away from Homura.
"Oh," Homura glances at the ground, guilty for bringing that up.
"I guess you don't have to worry about this right now but middle and high school are cramped together so you'll be seeing me when school starts again."
"Oh," Homura gulps.
"It's just the beginning of summer so we just have to get you enrolled and get your electives picked. The school is located on the far west side because the kids might be tempted to escape and run to the beach. Everybody knows everybody so the adults would easily call them out if they see them going east on school hours."
"Clever," Homura chuckles nervously. She's frightened about being the new girl both in town and at school, she'll stand out in this close-knit community. "Is the woman in charge of the house kind?"
"She's...lovely," Mami offers and Homura gulps. She hopes beyond hope that the woman isn't a witch. "I can't give a confident review since I was busy and was only there for a few weeks. And we're here!" Mami stops and Homura almost stumbles into her. She glances up at the Home and she's getting serious Monster House vibes. It's not falling apart or anything, the lawn and the light brown paint looks freshly done but she has this weird gut feeling. Perhaps it's just jitters. "Ready?"
Homura wants to say of course she is, in fact she's a pro at coming and going without getting attached to anyone. Homura's been ready ever since she was left at the doorstep of a convent. All she says is a simple, "Yeah," accompanied by a tight lip smile.
Mami unlocked the door when she saw Homura put her game face on that promptly transformed to surprise when a red head barreled past her. Homura groaned from the ground and the red haired girl back tracked, stooped and grasped Homura's waist. Homura whelped when the girl easily lifted her from the ground.
"Kyoko! What have we told you ab-"
"Sorry! There's a special at my favorite place. Hey roomie. Got to go," and she ran with a speed that made Homura think she should try for the Olympics.
"That's Kyoko," Mami sighs. "She's a free spirit and is rarely here, except to sleep and eat."
"I like her already," Homura says.
"Come in," Mami leads her inside and down a corridor with the kitchen at the left side and the living room at the right. Down the corridor there is a stair case leading to the second floor but they don't go up. Instead they go straight where there's a single lightbulb giving its all to provide dim light and Homura sees the closed door.
"This is the office," Mami knocks softly and Homura can hear a muffled come in.
The conversation isn't as awkward or stifled as Homura dreaded. The woman is polite and pleasant, she gave Homura a list detailing all her Homura's duties and what summer she needed to do, and where she could leave her medicine. Mami gave her a tour of the Home starting with the first floor and then upstairs. Homura realized how old this House was when the floor boards squeaked obnoxiously. Mami laughs at Homura's sheepish face.
"You'll get used to it but don't try to sneak out of the House at night. The kids must have finished lunch and wandered off. You'll probably see them when they have to prepare dinner. Are you hungry?"
Homura takes stock of her body. No she wasn't hungry but she hadn't eaten anything besides a banana this morning and pudding last night. Her medicine must have reduced her appetite but she should eat.
"No, not really," Homura says instead.
"Okay. Let me take you to your room."
There are candy wrappers everywhere. Not just candy wrappers but, bags of empty chips, soda cans, napkins littering the floor. Homura schools her face but Mami growls. "I told Kyoko to clean before you arrived!" She sighs. "I'm sorry, I'll clean this up real quick."
"Let me help," but Mami places Homura's bag on, presumably, Homura's bed and dashes off. "...Okay," Homura mumbles and immediately goes digging in her bag for her pills.
Mami comes back with a trash bag, a dust pan, and a broom. "Do you need water?"
"No, I'm used to going in dry."
"Let me tidy up your side of the room," and together they start picking up the trash on the floor.
Homura spots a newspaper almost tucked under Kyoko's bed and reaches it. She was going to fold it and leave it on the desk but the title of the article and the little scribbled notes on the side catch her attention. A large number of people disappearing and the police unable to find any clues. There was no signs of breaking and entering, they all just disappeared one night and the police had no idea what to make of it. It wasn't just child abduction but of all ages, going so far as to someone in the 50's, it was all very peculiar and odd. On the side are dates scribbled: 2015, 2001, 1987, 1973, 1959 and so on.
Homura jumps out of her skin when she feels a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry," Mami retracts her hand. "I asked if you were okay."
"Oh, yes, sorry." Homura glances back at the newspaper. "Do you see this?"
"Our local newspaper, Playa Pequena," Mami nods.
"Doesn't this worry you? There's a pattern of a 14 year break before it starts again. Shouldn't the government be all over this?"
"There's nothing to worry about Homura," Mami shakes her head. "Whoever organized that must be long gone or physically incapable of pulling an act like that again," Mami says with a kind tone to put Homura at ease. "Kyoko must have that because she's going to be taking history. Don't worry, this town is perfectly safe."
"I see..." Homura shrugs and puts the paper on Kyoko's desk.
"You should rest before the girls come back, they can be rowdy."
Homura wakes up to screaming, and she groans pitifully. She gets up and blinks wearily at nothing because she doesn't try to focus on the fuzzy shapes. She's startled not to see the white walls surrounding her but red. Homura's rubs her eyes and tries to locate her glasses. The hospital cabinet isn't there and that disorients Homura more. Patting her bed she feels the rims of the glasses and puffs out a relieved sigh.
She remembers that she had a successful surgery and finally being discharged. Leaving Tokyo and the bus ride comes back in full rush. Homura hasn't unpacked yet, she has to discuss with Kyoko what barriers there are going to be. Homura changes into a dress and fixes her braids before going downstairs to meet her house mates.
There are at least five kids younger than her and they're all in the living room playing UNO. The rest look a few years older than Homura and Homura wonders if the woman in charge, Kylie, assigns roommates by age group. Unease creeps inside Homura and she wants Mami or Kylie to come and guide Homura. The older kids are preparing dinner and shouldn't be disturbed so Homura goes to the living room. The younger kids look up from their game and Homura takes a step back because of the number of people staring at her.
"Hi," Homura squeaks.
The kids smile shyly and make space for Homura to join. She plops down next to a girl with a rabbit hat and they hand her seven cards.
"You're the new girl?" A boy with shaggy brown hair asks.
"Yes. I'm Homura Akemi."
"Is it true you're sick," they ask bluntly.
"Not completely, I'm better now."
"The hospital fixed you up?"
"Yeah, I don't have to return unless I get bad again."
"How bad are you? Can you eat candy or junk food?"
"Yes I can eat candy," Homura chuckles. "I can't do any strenuous activities though. My heart isn't that strong."
"That sucks. Its okay, girls should stay home anyways," shaggy hair boy shrugs and some of the girls roll their eyes while rabbit hat swats his shoulder.
"Ow! It's true!" he pouts.
"Don't talk bad about the people who feed you," rabbit hat snips. She slides a card to the table and smiles sweetly at Homura. "Plus four, Homura. I'm Jessie that one-" she points at shaggy hair boy- "is Devin. We're the top dogs here."
"Nice to meet you," Homura responds with a plus four. The boy next to Homura smirks and throws his plus four at the table. Devin groans with disdain at all of them.
"Ya'll suck," but he goes to collect 12.
"Talk sh- "
"Dinner is ready!" someone yells from the kitchen and that's when a door is hurled open and Kyoko comes running in.
"Just in time!" Say's a sopping wet Kyoko.