There had been a flyer stuffed in the mailbox that morning.

That wasn't out of the ordinary. She got a lot of junk mail like that. She had never gotten junk mail at the old house…but that was then. This was now. There had been a bright orange flyer in her mailbox that morning. If not for the little boy's picture on the front, and the giant 'missing' in both Japanese and English, she would have mistook it for the usual ads that got delivered to the house. This wasn't an ad, this wasn't even a community announcement, though she had gotten plenty of those. They were planting more flowers in the park and needed volunteers….that one was on a pink flyer…

It was the orange flyer that had gotten her attention.

"Another missing dog?" asked Eiji as he walked into the kitchen. He leaned down and kissed his wife before he made his way over to the coffee maker…which was empty. He hit the on button…and nothing happened.

"No, a little boy this time." Said Masami. This wasn't a great picture. It was in black and white…and the orange didn't help…but she could see so much of Shigeko in that boy. The eyes, mostly, her eyes had been the same shape. The nose. The expression….that none expression. He looked so much like Shigeko….but she was just seeing her children where they weren't again. The ones she'd left behind, not the ones fighting in the living room, or the one resting on her bladder like it was a beanbag chair. No, her children…half of her children….were right where they were supposed to be.

She had no idea where her other children were….but Madoka, Juro, and untitled Hirai project were present and accounted for.

"Damn." Said Eiji as he checked the coffee maker. Empty….well Masami was pregnant. Her doctor had told her to cut out the caffeine…but the doctor hadn't said any such thing to him. No breakfast going yet either…well it looked like he was taking over this morning….he could do that. He wasn't the one growing a person inside of himself. He hoped that Masami wasn't expecting anything fancy, though, since he couldn't do much more than add water to the waffle mix or scramble an egg….and he had been wanting one of her omelets….

But she wasn't up to it and that was fine…she got like this sometimes.

She got into her moods sometimes…like now. She was staring down at the flyer and clutching it in her hands like it was one of their kids who had gone missing. None of their kids had gone missing, thank God, and he knew how tragic it could be to lose a child…in an abstract sense, anyway. He only had partial custody of the kids from his last marriage…and they were getting to that age where they'd rather spend their weekends and holidays with their friends and not their dad and new younger siblings….but that wasn't the same. The thought of any of his kids going missing…even untitled Hirai family project…was tragic…

Tragic enough to maybe send Masami into one of her moods.

"He's only ten years old…." Said Masami. She could hear her kids fighting in the other room. They were fighting over the toothpaste…why they were fighting over the toothpaste she did not know…but she was glad that they were fighting over the toothpaste. Madoka made an impassioned case for why she needed exclusive use of the toothpaste but Juro, as usual, could yell louder. Her unborn child was getting riled up it felt like…or maybe she had just had more than one sip of water that day. Everyone was fully accounted for…but they so easily could not have been…and…and not everyone was accounted for. Sho and Shigeko…well they wouldn't have been fighting over toothpaste. They would have been…eleven and twelve by now.

Almost teenagers.

They might have been at that stage where they lived in their rooms and only emerged to tell her that she was lame and could never understand what they were going through…or maybe they would go in the other direction. Maybe they'd be little joiners already up and about…going to clubs…hanging out with friends. Shigeko would probably have been making breakfast…the same breakfast that Masami was supposed to make…and Touichirou would have been…where the hell Touichirou went for most of the year….

She put the flyer down.

"Do we have any more of that hazelnut coffee?" asked Eiji as he went through the cabinets. They had plenty of instant left over from their family's last economic crisis…left over because it was terrible. Could this even be called coffee? Thank God that was over…mostly. Masami would be out of work again for a while after the new baby was born…granted she didn't get into one of her moods beforehand. She looked like she was on the verge of one…

He had no idea if he could do it again.

The last one had been when Juro had been born. She'd been tired, which made sense since she'd just given birth, but the fatigue didn't fade as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months….and then three months had passed and he'd just…it was hard. Chasing after a two year old and a caring for a newborn….and Masami had been so fatigued all the time…

He hoped that she was still taking her medicine.

"What?" asked Masami as she looked up. Eiji was going through the cabinets…and he'd gotten out that disgusting instant coffee he'd picked up back when work had been slow for them…she needed to throw that out. She had to go to the store today…and before that she had to make breakfast…and before that she had to investigate what that crash was…and what her children were running from….and before that she had to take her medicine….

She had a lot to do today. She had to take care of her family…of this family….of her new family.

"The hazelnut coffee, you know the fancy Starbucks stuff." Said Eiji

"We're out of that. We have some Starbucks dark roast left though." said Masami as she got up from the table and reached over her husband to get the good coffee. At least he had been making some kind of an effort…which was more than she could say for her last husband. No, Touichirou would have starved to death long before he tried to do so much as get the coffee maker going…

How that man thought that he could rule the world she would never know.

He wanted to run the world when, in the entirety of their marriage, he had never once learned how to run the coffee maker…or the tea kettle…or the rice maker…or the stove. It was amazing that he even know how to flick on a light switch. He had always been so ridiculous. She wondered, as she got the last of the good coffee out, if he'd managed to rope some other poor woman into marrying him. If he'd had any other children…he'd always wanted more children. He'd always talked about having a big family…of course he wasn't the one who would have to birth, care for, or raise the children in any capacity. Yes…single fatherhood would not have suited him. He'd probably replaced her almost immediately when it became clear that she wasn't coming back. After all it wasn't like she as a person had ever mattered to him…he just needed someone to fulfil the position of 'wife' in his life. She could have been anyone, he couldn't have made it any clearer…

Fukuda hadn't mentioned another woman in Touichirou's life but she knew Touichirou….he was helpless on his own.

"Dark roast?" said Eiji with a wrinkle of his nose.

"I'll go to the store later today, alright? After I start breakfast." Said Masami

"No, no, I'll go…and I'll make breakfast too. You just rest." Said Eiji

"I'm pregnant, not crippled." Said Masami. The truth of it was that she liked the help. She liked not having to shoulder the burden for the entire household on her back for once. Sure Eiji never came back with the right brands or quantities when he went to the store but it was nice to have someone who made an effort…but it was stressful, too, having to deal with whatever he brought home…and if he went shopping he would try and bring the kids with…and this was not the time to be taking the kids out of the house.

Especially Madoka.

Masami didn't know if this kid was an esper but…well Fukuda had told her what Touichirou's organization did. They kidnapped people, adults, and were not above doing the same to children. Esper children, ones that could use their powers, were rare. Incredibly rare…and Touichirou was morally bankrupt enough to rip children from their families. She had no idea how she could have married someone like that….

They weren't married anymore so it didn't bear contemplating.

"It's not about that. You just seem…tired…this morning. I mean the kids were carrying on last night…and you can't have coffee anymore…and…well….you picked up your medicine, right?" asked Eiji. There. That was a diplomatic way of asking her if she took them. She needed them. Without her pills she had…fatigue problems. It was no different than her taking insulin if she'd been a diabetic…or an inhaler if she'd been asthmatic. It was easier to think of it in terms like that…like she had a long term illness that she needed her medication to manage….

And to hell with what other people thought.

"I'll take them after breakfast. You know that I have to take them with food." Said Masami. She took a step away. She was a grown woman, she could take her medicine, and she didn't need them anyway. She wasn't sick. She only took them to get Eiji off her back. She wasn't sick with anything. She just…had a lot going on. A lot of things that Eiji couldn't know about. There was nothing wrong with reacting to the circumstances of her life…and those circumstances were often overwhelming…so there was nothing wrong with laying down for a little bit every now and again.

"I know, I know. I was just wondering….what do you want for breakfast? Eggs? I can scramble some eggs and bacon-" said Eiji

"I can make breakfast." Said Masami. She wasn't in the mood for eggs. Touichirou had eaten eggs. She just…the thought of having eggs again, for what must have been the thousandth time in her life, was just…exhausting. Completely and totally exhausting…and that was a normal reaction to have to this situation…not that Eiji could ever know why…

Secrets were so exhausting sometimes.

"You just rest. I know that you're tired…and I know that this missing kid shook you up. Hell, it shook me up. I mean not as badly as if one of our kids had gone missing but…well it's always a tragic thing." Said Eiji. He was on dangerous ground right now. He loved Masami, he always would love Masmai, but sometimes she could be…a little high strung. Like now. She had her arms crossed and she was standing with one of her shoulders towards him…she was defensive…and he didn't blame her. She was pregnant and of course seeing about a missing kid would have made her upset.

Thank God all of their kids were present and accounted for.

"Madoka, go and play with your brother. Breakfast is going to be late this morning." Said Masami as her daughter skidded into the kitchen. She caught herself on the table as she slid. She needed to wear her slippers in the house, not just her socks, but Masami wasn't in the mood to fight with her kids that morning.

"But I'm hungry now! And so is Juro! He's so hungry he tried to eat the toothpaste! I stopped him, I hid it! I hid it really good, too, I don't even remember where it is." Said Madoka

"Baby-" said Masami

"I'm not a baby, mom! I'm five!" said Madoka

"First born child of the Hirai family then. How does that sound?" asked Eiji as he patted his daughter on the head. Her hair was messy…Masami could handle that…if she was up to it. Even after five years of doing Madoka's hair he still had no clue what he was doing. He had at least learned not to brush it at this point…but anything beyond tying it up might as well have been rocket surgery to him.

"I like that better than baby." Said Madoka

"Then we'll have to get you a nametag. Now what do you need, first born child of the Hirai family?" asked Eiji

"Don't call her that….it's a mouthful." Said Masami. She turned around and got the waffle iron out of the cabinet. She had a first born…his name was Sho…and she had an oldest…her name was Shigeko. She felt unnamed Hirai family project turning around…or maybe kicking…or maybe just reacting to her mother reaching up to the top shelf. That was her…she didn't even know how to categorize this child. Shigeko was the oldest….and then Sho…and then Madoka…and then Juro…and then this baby…and the birth order…it was….

She got the waffle mix out of the cabinet.

They were having waffles this morning. Touichirou had always hated waffles. He hated most sweet things. He hated everything but grapefruit, unsweetened cheesecake, and lemon slices with salt on them. She only made waffles for the kids when Touichirou was away…but they had always preferred pancakes…she wondered if they still preferred pancakes…

It wasn't like she could ask….

"Um…" Said Madoka as mom started making breakfast. She and dad were fighting. Not the kind of fighting that she and Juro did, mom and dad didn't fight like that, they were fighting like grownups did. Without words. With looks and stuff…it made everything weird. She wanted to get out of there and find where she hid the toothpaste…but then Juro would just try and eat it again…but then again…

Oh! Orange!

"Mom, can I have that orange paper? I need it." Said Madoka pointing to the orange paper on the kitchen table. She didn't know what it said but it looked like someone was selling a kid. She wondered if that family took trades. Juro was really starting to bug her.

"For what, baby?" asked Masami

"I just said that I wasn't a baby!" said Madoka

"What do you need it for, first born child of the Hirai family?" asked Eiji. Masami tensed when he said that…it was a pregnancy thing. She just got kind of emotional when she was pregnant…and before she took her medicine…but she'd take her medicine during breakfast. So it went without commenting on…not that he ever would in front of the kids.

"I want to make a paper airplane out of it…for school. It's for a grade." Said Madoka

"Ah, so they're teaching aerodynamic design in kindergarten now?" asked Eiji with a laugh. He wished that he'd had his phone in his hands. Madoka's face was adorable there. Masami might have had her phone on her…but he didn't want to ask her. She seemed like she was on the edge of…something. Something that he didn't need her to end up going over the side of.

"Uh….yeah?" asked Madoka

"Well it's nice to see that we're getting out money's worth." Said Eiji

"Here, take this." said Masami as she handed her daughter another piece of junk mail, an ad for cheap appliances with financing. They did need a new rice cooker…but she handed her daughter the ad anyway.

"Mom, this is white. I don't want to make a white paper airplane." Said Madoka

"Mommy needs this right now, alright? Why don't you go and fold that plane." Said Masami. She knew that Madoka couldn't do it on her own. She mostly just wanted to get her out of the kitchen…at least until breakfast was done. At least until Masami had cleared her head a bit. She just….needed to clear her head and get breakfast on the table…and take her medicine during breakfast too so Eiji would get off her back about it….and then she needed to go to the store and…and about a million other things.

"Fine…" said Madoka as she left the kitchen with the white, and much more boring, piece of paper. She could always color it…but that was boring. She didn't get mom sometimes…most of the times. Maybe that was what happened when you grew up. You got weird and stuff. Well if that was the case then she was going to be five forever. Maybe if she made a bunch of paper cranes she could wish for that…but she didn't know how to make paper canes. Maybe dad could show her. Not mom, though, because it looked like she might have been getting sick again. She always fought with dad right before she got sick. She took medicine but she never seemed to get better.

Adults were weird like that.

"You're really going to hold onto that?" asked Eiji. Masami could behave so strangely sometimes. He had no idea why she wanted to hold onto that paper. What were the odds that they were going to remember the kid on it and know him if they ever spotted him out in the world? It was a god damned tragedy, really, when kids went missing but there was no need to get so…worked up…over it? God, he sounded terrible. He needed to be better for her…not that he was being cruel or anything like that. No, her last husband, Madoka's father had been cruel to her…and she had left him…

He didn't want to give Masami any reason at all to leave.

"Yeah, maybe I'll see the kid or something. I mean if one of our kids went missing and we were so desperate that we stuffed everyone's mailboxes with flyers…well….I would have liked it if people held onto them….anyway. Can you…can you see what Madoka did with the toothpaste? Before we forget and end up turning the house upside down before bedtime?" asked Masami. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve quickly. She truly didn't know why she was holding onto that piece of paper…maybe because she truly would have wished that if she had lost one of her own kids…maybe she would have wanted other people to save the flyers…or maybe she just…maybe she just….maybe she just was happy that it wasn't one of her kids…or maybe she was just happy…happy to have proof that other people, people besides her lost kids….

No, not lost.

She hadn't lost her kids. It felt like she had lost her kids but…but Sho and Shigeko…they weren't lost. They had been left behind but they weren't lost. They…had their own lives. She had no idea what those lives entailed but she was sure that they were happy…as happy as Fukuda could make them. She loved…she loved her kids so much and she knew that if they had been truly lost, not left behind, she would have walked across the entire country handing out flyers…

But she wouldn't have used orange paper.