Youichi Hijiri.
To be honest, Youichi didn't exactly think about very much. He was very young; it was understandable. He thought about how cold and dark and sleepy the missions were and how he would cry if Natsume didn't come with him, and he thought about how strange it was that everyone else seemed to be afraid of his ghosts. He didn't think about why.
Youichi didn't know very much either. The idea of being at the Academy as opposed to being with his parents didn't mean anything to him. The idea that toddlers should live in a nice family home with proud parents and a doting big brother was something that had never entered his mind - and why should it? Perhaps in the back of his mind there was a still the vague memories of the woman who had raised him and perhaps a father looking down with some expression that Youichi didn't understand. But he didn't think about that any more. It had been a long time.
He thought about his new big brother Natsume, who took him to the noisy happy place and gave him sweet pink cotton wool when he pointed at it. The other people who the masked man talked to like he did to Natsume and himself, they didn't really talk to Youichi. Natsume wouldn't let them. He said that they were not nice people. And Natsume was a nice person because he taught Youichi words and gave him nice food, so he must be telling the truth.
He thought about those loud girls who seemed to always be with Natsume nowadays, the green-haired one and the brown-haired one. Natsume said he didn't like them very much either, but Youichi didn't think he sounded very convincing.
He rather liked those girls now. The happy brown-haired one especially, Mikan. Youichi liked her smile and her laugh and her friendly voice and the way that she was friends with the whole world and more. She gave him more to love than Natsume had ever given, and Natsume had given a lot. But whereas Natsume was cold and hard, even when shielding Youichi from the masked man Persona's punishments and even when hugging him tightly as they walked out into the world, Mikan was warm and passionate and Youichi loved her. True, she had been silly and annoying and tried to steal his candy once, but that was also a long time ago.
Youichi wondered if his mother had been like that. Mikan said that everyone had a mother. Even she couldn't remember her own mother, but she said that that was no reason to say that she didn't exist. Then she had hugged Youichi and started crying, which made Youichi get confused and sad at the same time.
He was too young; it had been too long. He couldn't remember.
xox
I always feel sorry for these DA kids...
