And here's where Musaki and Ichi get to share Musaki's room and become roomies.

Chapter 3: Roomies

"So...how long have you been here?" I asked him.

Ichi stared at me and he replied, "I've been here since I was eight years old...so three years, I think."

I widened my eyes at that because I had no idea that he was there that long, but I guess that I was sulking for so long that I never really noticed that he was here nor have I met him before. I asked, "Why didn't I see you then?"

"I don't get out much. I've been in my room for three years, hiding from everyone else." Ichi replied.

It's like he's doing the same thing I've done, only much longer than that and I asked, "Why?"

Ichi lets out a huge sigh and his ears dropped lower and he told me, "Because I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Myself. You wouldn't understand." Ichi told me.

I put my hand on his shoulder and I stared at him with a pleading look that says 'Please tell me why' and that it'll be our little secret and I said, "How bad can it be?"

I read Ichi's face and it was a look that just replied, 'bad enough' and he took a deep breath and he said, "The reason why I hid myself away from everyone here is that I'm terrified that I might set the whole orphanage on fire one day and that I would be the cause for all of this. I've been through that kind of guilt when I killed my parents and set our house on fire. I can't risk doing that again. Can you imagine what might happen if it did? I wouldn't live with that."

I could finally see the reason why and I felt guilty for pressing too much of it and I said, "I'm sorry if I brought it up."

"It's okay. It wouldn't matter anyway. But that's why I'm hiding so it wouldn't happen again. I might as well just live here for the rest of my life." Ichi said, sadly.

That shocked me to hear that because as long as I've been here, no one stays at the orphanage forever. I then asked, "But...what would happen if someone wanted to adopt you?"

Ichi turned away for a second and walked towards the edge of the darkness and told me, "You might get adopted, Musaki. Who would want a monster like me? I'd probably do the same thing that I did to my parents."

"But where will you go when you turn 18? You know the orphanage wouldn't let you stay that long by the time you're an adult." I added.

"Then...I'll find a job."

"Where will you work?"

Ichi sighed heavily and replied, "I don't know, somewhere near from where you are. I'd rather just work for someone close to your home."

I felt completely sorry for him and I wish there was something I can do to help him out. Then, an idea struck in my head and I turned to him and said, "Hey, Ichi? You...wanna share a room with me?"

Ichi stuck his face out of the darkness and looked at me with a little bit of hopefulness in his eyes and asked, "What?"

"You can share a room with me so you wouldn't feel alone again." I said.

Ichi sees this as something that he's never done before and he asked me, "Would you really want me to share a room with you?"

"Yeah, why not? That way we'd be around each other all the time." I added, with a cracked smile.

Ichi thought about it for a minute and then, there was fear seeping into his head and he asked, "What if...what if I accidently...?"

"You won't hurt me, Ich. And I know I won't hurt you."

He was unsure about it at first, but then he saw that I really meant it and that we'd be by each other's side all the time so that neither of us would feel alone again and he said, "I'll give it a shot."

I smiled at this and I was glad that he was gonna share a room with me and I can see that Ichi was happy about the same thing too and I said, "My room's next door to yours, so..."

5 minutes later...

Ichi got most of his stuff as he headed towards my room and after he got settled in, we were determined to make sure that both of us would need each other whenever possible. He looked at me and asked, "Hey, Musaki. How long have you been at the orphanage?"

I sighed at that and that question was completely personal for me to even bring it up for questioning. Ichi saw how sad I felt after that question was being thrown and he felt guilty for mentioning that and quickly apologized, but I was able to shake it off and I replied, "Nearly eight years ago."

Ichi widened his eyes after I gave him my answer and said, "That's a long time."

"Yeah, I know. Just like you, I never go out much but I leave the room a little bit when I get hungry, use the bathroom or just to have some air. But mostly the first two."

"Sometimes I do the same thing, but I exercise a little while everyone's sleeping." Ichi replied.

"That's cool."

I stuck out my paw towards Ichi in hopes that we receive a handshake and he looked at my paw and he wasn't sure what I was gonna do, but I assured him that it's a sign that we'll be friends forever and that we'll have each other's backs no matter how tough it will be. He slowly stuck out his paw and when he grabbed it, we shook hands.

"We're orphan duos...stuck together like glue." I said.

Ichi smiled at that and he said, "Forever."

A great friendship has begun. And the next chapter, you'll see how their friendship will become more stronger through everything.