He woke up to the sound of loud talking and laughter. He quickly sat up in bed and immediately regretted it when the room spun. Akira brought a hand up to wipe the sleep from his eyes. What time was it? Had they planned a meeting today or had he just forgotten? He pried his eyes open, only to be met with bare white walls, and instead of his friends, there was a group of children he'd never met before all scurrying around the room.

'Wha- Where the hell am I?' Akira's eyes darted around the room. One of the kids stopped in their tracks when they noticed Akira. A look of pure annoyance ran over his face as he sighed loudly. He walked over, stopped right in front of Akira, and jabbed a finger at him.

"Hey, new kid! Let's get something straight," he hissed out, and Akira was suddenly very aware of the fact that every other kid in the room had stopped to stare at them, "we've got some rules here. The adults might treat you real special, but you're the youngest one in this house, so you listen to what the rest of us say, got it?" The kid glared.

"Y-yes," Akira quickly spat out, not wanting to have his face beaten in on his first actual day here. After all, while he may have the mind of a seventeen-year-old, he still had the body of a little kid.

"Hmph. Go get dressed, loser! The director wants to see you," the boy sneered before turning away. Before he left, he looked back at Akira with a malicious smirk. "Oh, and you're on laundry duty for the rest of the week! We had to move all of our clothes for you, so it's only fair, right?" With that, the kid left, laughing all the while. Slowly, Akira climbed out of bed with a long sigh and crossed the room to change his clothes. Kids were cruel.


"Ah, good to see you, Kurusu-kun. Please, come in," the woman smiled and motioned him in. She was a small, thin woman with long grey hair tied back in a bun. Her skin was wrinkled but her eyes were warm and kind, and she reminded Akira of someone. The office was small but rather welcoming in comparison to the rest of the place. A single painting of a field hung on the wall behind her. Akira sat down in front of the desk (which made Akira feel really tiny), the chair creaking slightly under the weight. The woman gave him a small smile.

"My name is Kazue Hayashi, but just call me Ms. Hayashi. Now," she cleared her throat, clasping her hands on top of the desk, "I know things have been pretty tough for you the past couple of months, but we're going to do our best to make sure you'll feel at home here, okay?" The woman spoke with a kind voice.

"First things first, we're trying to get you a school uniform. We're hoping to get it tomorrow, so you should be able to start on Monday." Akira nodded, smiling for the first time since he found himself in the car on the way here.

"I heard you've already met Mr. Maruki, yes? After you have breakfast, he'll properly show you around. Ah, but before you go, I wanted to ask you for a favor," Ms. Hayashi stood up and made her way around the desk to kneel beside Akira so that the two were eye-to-eye. "There's another boy just about your age; you two are in the same room, I believe. Maybe this is asking a lot, but… Could you talk to him? He hasn't made any friends since he came here last spring. I think you two could get along really well," she placed a hand over his tiny one. Akira stared back at her, his large, round eyes filled with a sort of maturity, a sort of experience that children his age shouldn't have, and she was taken aback.

"Who is he?" Akira asked. Ms. Hayashi smiled at the messy-haired child. "His name is Goro. Goro Akechi." Those words alone shook Akira to his core. Goro? Goro was here? His shock must have shown on his face, because Ms. Hayashi quickly pulled back, a confused frown pulling at her lips. "Do you… know him?" Akira shook his head. 'Don't act surprised. We haven't met yet. We have not met yet.' He repeated this mantra in his head.

"No. I thought it sounded kinda familiar." Akira slowly responded. After a long moment, Ms. Hayashi finally gave him one last hesitant smile. "Okay. Do you think you could talk to him, at the very least?" she asked. Akira nodded again. She reached out and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Thank you. Now, Taku- I mean, Mr. Maruki, should be out in the back yard. Do you know where that is?"


As soon as Akira was released from the director's office, he immediately ran to the back yard. The entire area was fenced off, but there were swings, there were toys, there was even a bicycle (which a few kids appeared to have been fighting over). Kids ranging from what appeared to be two or three-year-olds to teenagers were running wild throughout the back yard. Leaning up against the metal fence was Takuto, looking rather amused with the children's banter. Ignoring him, Akira stood with his face against the fence, looking out over the yard at the other children through the gaps, hoping to spot a certain brunette.

After a few moments, when he didn't see him, he thought that maybe he wasn't here after all. 'Maybe he's... somewhere else?' Then a group of kids parted and sure enough, there was Goro sitting all by himself, a book grasped tightly in his tiny hands. Akira's lit up. This must be why he was brought here! Just then, Takuto seemed to have noticed him, his head turning to look down at him.

"Ah, there you are, Akira-kun," he called with a smile. Akira jumped, and oh, Takuto was headed his way. "Are you just going to watch," Takuto asked, looking increasingly amused. He wasn't sure why, but he found his face flushing hotly. He must have looked really silly just standing there watching everyone else. He stared up at the older man, shrugging his shoulders meekly, earning him a hearty chuckle.

"You should go try to make some friends. You'll need them, you know? Especially in a place like this." Takuto stated, eyes narrowing for a moment. He quickly shook his head, a smile on his face once more. "Don't worry, I can show you around later," Takuto tilted his head towards the yard, "now go ahead." Akira looked back towards Goro once again. He could see a cast of sorts on his leg, and there were several bandages peppered all over his arms and legs. He looked so… lonely. Having already made his choice, Akira pushed through the gate. "Yeah."


With his back against the tree, Goro sat on the grass, his legs pulled up so he could lean his book against them. He winced as a jolt of pain ran through his left leg. It hurt keeping it in this position, but that was okay. He was used to pain, after all.

While the other kids would rather play and were just fine leaving Goro well enough alone, Goro preferred to read. His favorites were fantasy stories; books about people going on fantastical adventures to foreign lands, meeting strangers and defeating ferocious dragons. Even graphic novels and manga were fun to read—the suspense he felt while following his favorite superhero duo during battles gave him a rush of excitement. Yes, these types of stories were Goro's favorites. They were a welcome escape from the harsh truth of reality.

Unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end. This disruption came in the form of another kid. He hadn't even noticed the other's approach until he was standing right over him. Anxiety already welling up inside him, he peeked up at the stranger from behind the safety of his book. He looked about as lost as Goro felt, his mouth hanging open dumbly for a long moment before he finally asked, "Um… What are you reading?"

Goro looked down at the book cover before holding it up a bit for the other to see. "It's one of the Featherman comics," he replied softly. The boy beamed, a twinkle in his deep grey eyes. "You like Neo Featherman, too?"

Goro lowered his book, gaping at the other in shock. He half expected the other boy to break out in laughter, to rip the book out of his hands and call him a nerd, anything. Instead, he grinned at Goro with such sincerity and asked, "can I read it with you?"

Out of everything that he could have said, this was somehow what Goro had least expected. Still, the boy was grinning down at Goro, a hopeful look in his eyes. This boy practically radiated energy, and it was seeming to be infectious.

"...Okay."


Goro spent a long while reading and talking with the new boy (who had introduced himself as Kurusu Akira). At first, they talked about the volume they were reading, which then turned into a conversation about the series in general, and then somehow, somewhere along the line, they'd started talking about their favorite superheroes, the comic discarded altogether.

Eventually, Mr. Maruki, the counselor on yard duty today, took him away. Akira had smiled brightly at him, had said, "I'll see you later!" before he left, making a warmth swell in Goro's chest. He couldn't remember the last time someone had smiled so genuinely at him, and he couldn't deny that he did have a lot of fun talking to him. Now sitting alone under the tree, Goro allowed himself a small smile. "See you later, Akira-kun."


Takuto showed Akira around the orphanage; where the library and multi-purpose room was, where the bathrooms and shower rooms were, and where the infirmary was.

"That last building over there is the nursery, y'know, where the younger kids live. The kitchen's there, too, but unless you have to talk to one of the cooks for something, you probably won't be in there too much." Takuto clapped his hands together. "And that's pretty much it. Any questions?" Takuto grinned down at Akira, who shook his head in turn. "Right. Well, if you need anything, you'll probably find me either on duty or in the infirmary. For now, though, you should probably head back to your room; it's almost curfew."

With that, Takuto left. Akira sighed to himself. He couldn't quite tell if that guy was really carefree or if he was just lazy. Either way, he headed back to his room to get dressed for the night. Ms. Hayashi had said that Goro was in the same room, so they should run into one another again, right? After he changed into his pajamas, he trudged into the bathroom to brush his teeth. The cabinet in the corner of the room was shared with each of the rooms in that building, so everyone had to keep their toiletries separate. Akira found a clear plastic bag with his name written on it, and inside was a new toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. Each of the kids are given a monthly allowance—kids 6 to 10 years old receive 1000¥, and a couple of the orphanage's staff take them into town on the weekends if they want to buy something. The kids 11 to 14 receive 2000¥ (once you're 14, you're expected to get a part-time job if you want more money, although you're only allowed to have a weekend job working during the day) and can go into town on their own, granted they make it back before the curfew.

Even before Akira had finished, he could hear a bell ringing outside, and no more than a minute later, a group of kids started filtering into the building, their loud chatter echoing off the walls. He quickly rinsed his mouth out and put his toothbrush away, scurrying to get out of the bathroom before someone could yell at him for hogging it.

He snuck back into the room and buried himself under his bed covers and waited for everyone else to hurry in and go to sleep. A few moments passed and the door opened. Quiet feet padded across the room to the bed next to his, the one against the wall. Akira briefly poked his head out from underneath his cocoon to see none other than Goro crawling into his bed. A plain black t-shirt that looked about five sizes too big hung over his tiny shoulders. A sudden draft blew through the room and Akira's heart panged in his chest as Goro visibly shuddered even from underneath the sheets. Akira propped himself up on his elbows.

"Aren't you cold," he whispered. Goro's head snapped back to look at him, his eyes wide. "Akira-kun," he shifted so that he was facing Akira, "you're in here, too?"

"Yup. Don't you have a sweater you could wear?" Akira asked. Goro shook his head after a moment, eyes dropping to the thin mattress underneath him. "You can borrow one of mine."

"Huh?" Goro spluttered, and Akira was already sitting up. Goro scrambled to sit up as well. "I-it's fine! I'm not even cold—" another draft blew through the room and Goro wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. Akira stared back, face blank. Then he threw his covers back and made to get up.

"No, you can't!" Goro cried, hand shooting out to grasp his wrist. "You can't… You'll definitely freeze to death!" Akira gently pried him off and held a hand to his heart, closing his eyes with feigned seriousness. "But I must! If I don't make it back… tell my cat I love him."

And with that, Akira made a mad dash for the wardrobe, yelling like a lunatic all the while. A few curious heads peeked into the room, but neither boy paid them any mind. Akira fished one of his sweatshirts out of the drawer and practically hopped back across the room, yelping as the cold wooden floor nipped at his bare feet. He tossed Goro the sweatshirt and leaped back into bed, immediately pulling his legs up and thrusting them back under the sheets. He looked back at Goro, breath coming in gasps. "The floor is cold," Akira panted. They both stared at each other wordlessly for a long moment before breaking out into laughter.

Needless to say, Goro didn't fall asleep shivering that night, and if Akira stayed awake long after everyone settled in and went to sleep themselves just to grin stupidly at the way the brunette's lips curved upward in a soft smile in his sleep, or how he snuggled into his sweatshirt as though it were a fluffy cloud… Well, that was nobody's business but his own.