Finding an apartment had been the easy part.

She had money, she had documents of dubious legality, and she wasn't picky. The only thing she was really picky about was the number of bedroom. There had to be two. The woman who rented her this apartment had glanced at her ring hand and her stomach in that order. She had the tan line of a wedding ring, her stomach was…well not flat but normal…and the woman had looked almost disappointed. A woman her age, unmarried, and with no children was always something to be sad about. She was almost forty, well past Christmas cake age, and…and that was what she was now. An almost middle aged woman with no children, no husband, no prospects, and an uneven haircut.

Oh well.

This was what it was and what it was…it was her home. This was her home now. She had a futon, a TV, a charger for her phone, a few outfits in a suitcase on the floor of her room, a single dish and set of chopstick, and a single drinking glass. She had lived better in university. Hell, she had lived better in those years that she had spent away from home. Those years she had spent in the one bedroom, the few she had spent without being married to Touichirou, the ones she had spent when the economy started to look slightly better before it fell apart again….but those times were past. This was the worst that she had ever lived in her life but at least she had a home. At least she had a roof, and walls, and running water, and heat, and an air conditioner…no more central air…and a twin tub…no more laundry room…but at least she was safe here. She had no idea what the full extent of what it was that Touichirou did but at least she was safe.

The children….

Sho was coming. Sho was coming and Shigeko…Fukuda had promised that he would look after Shigeko. He had promised that he would keep her safe from whatever it was that Touichirou did. He had promised that he would make sure that she grew up right. He loved her. He loved both of the kids as if they were his own…and he would…he would never have let anything happen to them. She was their mother and she should have been there for them…for the both of them…but it was Sho who really needed her. Sho was the one who needed to be kept safe. Touichirou had never bonded with him…or had anything nice to say to him…and Sho needed her. The kids had been able to pick up on it. Shigeko, ever the daddy's girl, had chosen her father and Sho…well he had chosen her…so this was alright. The children had made their choice and…and it had taken much longer to make hers. Now she had made her choice and there was no going back, no hitting rewind, she could only go forward from here. She could only…she could only make this into a home for her and her son.

Masami had no idea if this would ever become their home.

This two bedroom, one bath, apartment. Two equally sized bedroom. Two bedrooms was a necessity. Sho would be joining her soon. Sho would be joining her and…and she had to make sure that there was enough space for him. Right now the apartment was nothing but space. She had always lived in very western houses, big places completely cluttered with furniture. A couch in the living room, a coffee table, a TV stand, an entertainment center back when she'd been a kid, a hi-fi center back then too…and at the old house…well there had been a couch and a loveseat…and in the kitchen there had been a dining table…and an actual dining room that they never ate in…and about a million other rooms that they had never even ended up using…

Sho would end up using this room.

She paced the length of Sho's room. Six tatami. That was this room. Six tatami. Only six. Not enough for two children…but enough for one. Enough space for one child to move around in. Enough space for a bed…or a futon…since this rom was so small. A futon. The Japanese thing to do. She had never slept on a futon in her life, not even on school trips, and Sho…well he would adjust. He would have an easier time adjusting than she would. He was only six and a half and he…he would understand.

She closed his blinds.

There was a window here. Maybe Sho would like to sleep under it. Sho and Shigeko slept with the window between them…and before Shigeko, when Sho had been a baby, he'd slept underneath the window. She'd woken up so many times to him trying to climb the bars of his crib to get up there. He had always been so active….and he was still so active…and this place didn't have a yard. She couldn't afford a place with a yard….and she had never lived in a place without a yard…and neither had Sho…

But they would both adjust.

She opened the blinds again. No point in closing them, it wasn't like anyone would recognize her. No, when it came to Japan most of Touichirou's business was either back home, in Tokyo, or in Seasoning City and other such southern places. Sure there was a manhunt but it would cool down. Touichirou was leaving the country again soon, Fukuda had said, something in China…and he would take the kids…and then that would be Fukdua's shot. His shot at getting Sho away and…and bringing him here…to this place…to this big…to this not so big…empty room…

He didn't even have any toys.

This room…this room was not his. His room had toys. He'd always had toys…ever since the day he had been born. Back when it had been getting closer and closer to getting time…back when Touichirou hadn't let her out of his sight…they'd gone shopping together. They so rarely went shopping together…it was a woman's game he had always said…but they had gone together to get some things for Sho. They'd gotten him all the things he would need, a crib and changing table and all of that…but his room had been bereft of toys….and Touichirou had even been the one to have brought it up.

'Won't the Baby need plaything?'

He had always been bad about using the kids' names…even back when they'd just had the one child on the way. Sho had been Baby…and then Boy…and then later on Son. Masami had thought, back then, that it had been cute…and it had taken her too long to realize that it wasn't. It showed, if anything, a distinct lack of care for their child…but then…well it had been cute. It had been so cute…everything about him had been cute…he had been cute and quirky and loving in his own way. She had seen the best in him back then…or the best that she wanted to see in him at least….but she knew better now. Now she could see him for who he was…she could maybe have even seen him for who he had been back then…

He had gotten Sho nothing but space toys.

The sorts that he'd played with when he'd been a child. He had spoken about his childhood then, a rare thing, and he had told her that when he had been small his entire bedroom had been space themed…and it had been that way until he moved out. His first memory had been of his space mobile, he had said, wanting it to go around and around and then making it happen…and that was why Sho's bedroom had been space themed. The theme hadn't lasted long, he had eventually gravitated more towards animals, and then Shigeko had moved into his room and the theme had been changed to 'please just keep it clean' but…well back then, in that afternoon, they had come together and done something as a couple for the human being that they had made together.

Now she was alone.

Finding a store that sold toys had been easy. She hadn't even had to consult her phone…and that was for the best. This was a cheap phone, a prepaid burner with barely any data, and she…well she had been a bit spoiled. She had always had the nicest of everything. She'd had a nice home and a nice phone and just…things had been nice. Sho was used to nice things too. She hoped that he didn't mind too much the discount store toys. A one hundred yen shop. She hadn't set foot in one of these since…she didn't even know when. When she'd been in school? No, a hundred yen had been able to get you more back then…and even so her mother would never have let her step foot in a place like this. Mother never approved of these economy store…but then again her mother had never really approved of anything. In fact she had made it her business to look for things to disapprove of.

Mom would have had a heart attack.

If mom had been there beside her she would have collapsed onto the floor and died. Her daughter had not only run away from home and abandoned her own children but she'd destroyed her beautiful hair and now she was shopping in, horror of all horrors, a hundred yen shop. Hayes Masami, she would have said, or Masami Hayes if she'd been criticizing her in front of dad, what do you think that you're doing? Mom…well her mother had never approved of Touichirou. She had never approved of the series of events that had led to their marriage…and she had never approved of Sho…and that was what she had never met Sho. You can't have a child with a man you just met, she had said, and you can't just go to bed with a man like that just because he's handsome and rich and sweeps you off your feet, she had said. Life is not one of your dramas, mom had said, and she had been right.

There were no hundred yen stores in costume dramas.

But there were hundred yen stores in real life and this was real life and she was really in a hundred yen store so her mother could roll over in her grave…if she had died…and Masami didn't even know if…well it was what it was. Dead or alive she had gone no contact with mom and dad years ago…more like they had gone no contact with her…and it was what it was. She was here, now, and she was…she was getting toys for her son. She was doing the best that she could. She was turning her house into a home for her son and…

And that meant getting him toys.

The toy aisle was much bigger than she had thought that it would have been. She had been expecting a shelf, maybe, of cheap plastic junk…and, yes, there was a lot of plastic junk but also some nice things. Little metal trucks…super balls….a bucket of animals…some wooden blocks with English letters…some little fun activity books…crayons…coloring books….guns…and Sho did not need guns. No, he was going to grow up to be a gentle boy…so no plastic guns or plastic knives or plastic swords or plastic throwing stars or plastic bats or…

Why did the boy's section have to be so violent?

The boy's section seemed to be mostly different kinds of squirt guns and dart guns and swords and knifes and bats and other such implements of violence…and she didn't understand it. Boys were violent enough on their own…or at least Sho had been. He was constantly getting into fight sat school and with his sister…but…well she wouldn't have to worry about that once she...once she got him back. He wouldn't ever…ever fight with his sister again and…

And she didn't look at the girls' section.

She knew that, behind her, she wouldn't find any guns or knives or bats or any other kinds of weapons. She would find a sea of ink. Dolls and doll clothes and princesses and kittens and puppies and all of that other stuff that Shigeko...that she played with. She knew that…that maybe…maybe there was some hope that she could get Shigeko back but…no. it was either or, and her place was with Touichirou anyway. He understood her in ways that…that Masami never could. He understood her because…because in a lot of ways they were the same and that….that was why she wouldn't be getting anything for her daughter…

Only for her son.

Shigeko…she was…she was going to be fine with Touichirou. He had a soft spot for her…she was just about the only person that he cared about. She had been handpicked by him after all. Out of all of the orphans in Japan he had picked her. Masami should have known that he hadn't just wanted to open up their home to a poor little orphan girl. No, she was there because that was what he did. He collected people like himself, according to Fukuda, and he was building up his organization to take over the world…and other suck insane things…and she hadn't even known…and ow she did know and…and she didn't want to leave Shigeko in that but…

But she had no other choice.

She had…she had a wall of choices in front of her…and she chose…animals. Sho liked animals and…and he would need something to play with once he came home to her. Once she got him back. She didn't even turn around to look at the girls toys. There was no point. Shigeko had plenty of playthings already. She had Touichirou and that was the closest way he had of showing love. He got you things. He left you for weeks if not months on end and then came back with expensive gifts from far away and that was supposed to substitute for the fact that he had been gone. The fact that he had been no kind of husband or father…and he honestly saw nothing wrong with that he never saw anything wrong with the things that he did. She should have seen that…she should have seen him for what he had been back when…back before Sho had been born. Back before he had just been this cute and quirky guy she had known….and then he had been her husband and now….

She felt her ring finger.

Now he was just…somebody that she used to know. Now he was just the man who was raising her children…her daughter…Shigeko was her daughter. She was her daughter and…and she was better off with her father. Sho was better off with her. She could…she could take good care of him. She would take good care of him. She was his mother and that was what mothers did. They took good care of their children…and they bought them things to play with…and he would need things to play with. When he came back to her. When Fukuda showed up at her doorstep with her son in tow…and he would be upset but…but he would adjust…they would both adjust. It would be a big adjustment for the two of them but they would do their best…and their best…her best…would be good enough.

This was her life now.

In her life, her current life, spending a few hundred yen on toys…it was kind of a lot of money right now. She had taken some money with her but it wouldn't last forever…she would have to get a job…and she would have to save like crazy after this. She had always been a housewife…and her mother had always been a housewife…and her mother's mother had always been a housewife…and Shigeko would probably end up a housewife too….but Masami couldn't be a housewife anymore. Being a housewife was contingent upon having a husband…and she…she didn't have one of those anymore…and someone would have to watch Sho. Sho wasn't old enough o be left home alone and she would have to work…she would have to work her ass off…she was a single mother now. She would have to work her ass off and someone would have to watch him during the day…and then there were school fees to consider…if it was even safe to send him to school…Suzuki Sho was a very common name…but still…but she couldn't homeschool him. She just…she didn't know…

She would stick to toys for now.

She knew toys. She knew that he would need toys and she knew how to get hi toys and…and that was it. She knew that her son would need more than toys…but right now….this was the best that she could do for him. A couple of buckets of plastic animals from the hundred yen store. That was it. When he came back she would…she would get him all the things that he needed. A futon…a dresser….clothes…art supplies…another Zootopia plate…all the things that he needed.

All the things that would fill her empty apartment.

There was an echo as she came through the door and kicked off her shoes. Gym shoes. Good for making an escape but not for much else…she'd had such the shoe collection…but that wasn't important now. Sho…he was what was important now. Sho and…and getting this place ready for him. She would get this place ready and then he…he would have a place to live and…and everything would be alright and…and she was a good mother. She was doing the best that she could. She was doing what was right. She was doing her best and…and her best had to be good enough.

There was an echo in his room.

There was an echo when she put his toys down. She put them down on the tatami floor and just…stood there. This room may have looked big but…but it was smaller. It was smaller than Sho's room at the house…the old house…the castle…and it was smaller than even her room growing up when she'd been a kid…it was small and…and he deserved so much better…than what she could be…and being in the room…it was enough to make her want to just…sleep…

A little nap might do her some good.

She'd take a little nap and then…and then all the other insurmountable things that she would have to do. The job hunt…buying food…cooking…getting maybe another plate to eat off of…getting Sho a futon…answering Fukuda's latest email…all of it…there was so much to do and….and she would have to do it all herself….all by herself…for the first time in her life and…and at least…at least she had done this much. At least she had found a place to live…even though it wasn't much of anything at all really….just a space to live…nothing close to what she was used to…but at least she had found a home…

If this place could ever end up feeling like a home.