July 17th 200X.
The day Sunny went missing.
A teenage boy was walking back home in this post-apocalyptic setting of a town. He was wearing a red hair band, a black sleeveless t-shirt and red shorts. On one hand, he had a plastic bag filled with curry mixes he bought from the convenience store. Despite how Nowhere looked like, it still had a convenience store. On the other hand, quite literally, was a lit cigarette.
A breeze brushed his face. He tried to enjoy the breeze, but the cigarette just heated the once cold breeze.
"... I really should stop smoking," Hiko said.
He sighed, as he threw the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. Then…
"... oh, shoot…" Hiko heard something in the distance.
It wasn't too far. Curious, he followed the direction of where he heard the voice. He walked into a small gap between two buildings as the voices were getting louder and louder. The alleyway he went in was shaped in an L shape. After hitting the turning point, Hiko looked left. There, he saw a couple of men and… a boy?
Hiko's eyes grew larger in shock, when he saw the blood trail leading to the boy and the garden shear in the distance from the boy. Thinking the men there tried to kill the boy, he ran up to one of them, grabbed a man by the collar and punched him in the face, knocking him out.
"STAY AWAY FROM THAT BOY!" said Hiko angrily.
The group of bandits flinched in shock due to Hiko's shout, and looked back.
"Shoot…!"
"We gotta run! …Darn it! Things were never meant to be like this!" But first, the bandits decided they should dispose of any witnesses.
The bandits ran towards Hiko's direction, one of them tried to hit Hiko, but he dodged and threw a punch straight into his stomach, following it up with a left jab on the head. Another bandit tried to punch him, which Hiko blocked by grabbing the previous bandit and putting him in front as a meat shield. He ran and pushed said bandit back by a considerable distance with the bandit he was grabbing, also hitting another bandit behind the one he was targeting. One bandit grabbed him from behind with a headlock, which Hiko struggled to get out. He headbutted the bandit, and threw him forward. Hiko punched his head, hoping he would become unconscious.
Deciding that the boy who confronted them was stronger than all of them combined, the rest of the bandits decided to run away; they didn't want to be sent to jail because of murder. Because Hiko was already behind them after all that he did, they took their chance to run away.
Hiko saw this and immediately tended to the boy in front of him, who laid in a fetal position. He had bled a considerable amount, which made him unconscious. Hiko ripped his t-shirt off and bandaged the wounded eye. Then, Hiko carried the boy in a princess carry and instantly ran as fast as he could.
Hiko ran from alley to alley, until he reached a back door which led into a building. He opened it, revealing a badly lit room with a surgery table. The walls were pure cement, with a metal shelf next to the surgery table. It had several medicines in there. On the other side of the surgery table was a black coated man wearing a plague doctor's mask.
"DAN! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! HURRY!" Apparently, the plague doctor's name was Dan.
Hiko put down the boy on the surgery table as Dan inspected the boy.
"He has lost too much blood. I need a blood transplant if you want him to survive."
"What blood type is he!?"
"Hold on a minute, I need to check…"
Dan took a blood sample, dropped two drops of blood on a white glossy paper, and gave the two drops two different chemicals.
"... He's an O."
"Good, my blood type is O!"
"Alright, sit down right here. I'll prepare for the blood transplant."
Hiko sat down, and looked at the unconscious boy.
"Don't worry, kid. I won't let you die. You're too young to die, and… nobody should die that way."
After the blood transplant, Hiko waited on the other side of a curtain. He was eating a cup of noodles to replenish strength after the blood transplant. Hiko was still worried about the boy.
The curtain was opened, with the plague doctor coming out.
"H-how is he!?"
"He's fine and stable. It will be a while until he wakes up."
"I… see…"
"Just saying, he's a pirate now."
"His eye is lost?"
"Yeah, even if I left it there, that eye can no longer see."
"..."
"It's fine, he still has one good eye."
"..."
"..."
"How… much?"
"Hm… since you're a good friend, I'll let you go with a week's worth of your curry." Hiko's acquaintances and friends in Nowhere knew very well that Hiko's curry was the best.
"You got yourself a deal, friend."
"Aye."
They shook hands like gentlemen.
…
Hiko opened the door, and looked back at Dan.
"I'll be back tomorrow. See ya."
"Goodbye."
Hiko closed the door behind him and walked back home. He stumbled a bit, feeling lightheaded.
The next day, Hiko came back to the plague doctor's lair, along with another familiar face. Hiko knocked the door, which was opened by Dan.
"Good morning, Dan." Hiko was wearing his favorite white t-shirt and black shorts.
"G'night, it's always night here."
"Right… By the way, I brought Abbi, too."
"Hey, Dan~" Abbi showed up, waving her hand towards Dan. Her hair was made into her usual twin bun style. She was wearing a black t-shirt which exposed her right forearm and jeans.
"H-hi…" Dan has little to no experience with women, which made him a nervous wreck around women, even more so around Abbi. You could see the blushes on his mask.
"So Hiko, the boy you saw…" said Abbi while looking at Hiko.
"Yeah… he's inside," Hiko looked at Abbi.
They looked at the inside of the door, with Dan signaling them to come in, opening the door even further. They slowly walked inside the room.
It was the same badly lit room, except on the surgery table laid a black haired boy with fair yellow-white skin. His left eye was bandaged. He was sleeping peacefully.
"Oh dear, poor thing…" Abbi walked up to the boy, brushing his hair. She had tears in her eyes. Abbi was pretty sensitive emotionally.
"... Did you find anything to identify the boy?" Hiko whispered towards Dan.
"... Nope. His wallet was empty. No ID," Dan whispered back, the both of them looked back towards the boy and Abbi.
…
The boy started to open his eye.
"He's waking up…!" Hiko pointed out.
The three of them surrounded the boy.
"What number is this?" Dan showed a peace sign over the boy.
"Kid, you okay?" Hiko asked.
Abbi just kept brushing his hair, while looking concerned towards the boy.
The boy jolted in surprise, getting up quickly, and ran back towards a corner of the room. He was panicking.
"H-hey, kid… We're not here to hurt you," Hiko slowly approached him, trying to calm him down.
"Easy, boy. You're safe," Dan joined in on comforting the boy.
The boy was still panicking, when suddenly, he started to crouch and moan in pain. Apparently, the sedative had worn out. The boy had tears in his eye.
Abbi approached the boy slowly.
"Shhh… It's okay… I'm not going to hurt you, dear."
Abbi slowly wrapped the boy in her arms, with one hand on his head. She started stroking his head. The boy was still in pain, but he was finally calming down.
After some time…
The boy was now on the surgery table again, sitting. He was given some painkillers after being given something to eat (it was regular bread, by the way). The plague doctor was in front of the boy, while Abbi and Hiko were on one side of the surgery table.
"Alright now, boy," the plague doctor handed him two plastic zipper bags with tablets and pills in it, "You eat these twice a day, after eating. It's okay to not eat this one if you're a masochist, but you have to eat this one, no matter what. You should not need anymore pills or tablets after you finish these." The tablets and pills were painkillers and antibiotics respectively.
The boy took the plastic zippers, and slid down the surgery table. He walked towards the exit. Hiko and Abbi then stopped him on his tracks.
Hiko crouched down to the boy's eye level.
"Hey, kid. I'm Hiko, what's your name?"
The boy stayed silent, and whispered, "... Sunny."
"Sunny, huh? Where are you from?"
"... Faraway."
"... Do you want to go back home? I can take you there."
Sunny, who was looking down, twitched and looked Hiko straight in the eye. Sunny's eyes were tinted in fear, as he shook his head quickly.
"... Do you want to tell me why?"
Sunny just went silent, looking down.
"... Alright, then."
"Where will you be staying?"
Sunny just shook his head.
Hiko and Abbi looked at each other, and nodded.
"Kid, if you have nowhere to go, do you want to stay with us?"
Sunny looked at them, but looked down again.
"... What's wrong, dear?"
Sunny looked at them again after a while, and whispered, "Won't I be burdening you?"
"No, no, you won't," Hiko smiled nervously, "Well, one thing's for sure…" Hiko patted Sunny's shoulder, "... you'll need to help out… or find work, too. Are you okay with that?"
Sunny looked at Hiko, his one eye shining with a light of life. Sunny nodded without hesitation.
"... That settles it, then! Well, let's get back home!"
Abbi held Sunny's hand and crouched to his level, "Let's go, okay?"
Sunny felt warm, as he nodded in response towards Abbi.
They walked out of the room.
"Hey, Hiko! My curry-"
"I'll bring it by afternoon!"
Hiko closed the door behind him.
"Here, we are. Home, sweet home!" Hiko opened the door of their apartment, revealing a small corridor and a room after. The room had green walls, a long table with makeup, a portable stove, and a fan, two mattresses, and a rope hanging on both ends with their laundry on it. There were no windows, which means without the light the room would be pitch black. The corridor had a door and a wardrobe.
"... It's not much, but it's home," Hiko patted Sunny's head again, "I hope you wouldn't mind."
Sunny shook his head to indicate he doesn't mind and looked at Hiko with a smile. It was the first time Hiko and Abbi saw him smile.
Abbi crouched down and pinched Sunny's cheeks.
"...You're so cute when you smile… Hehehe…," Abbi had a stupid smile on her face. Sunny was frowning, half enjoying the pinch and half annoyed by the pinch, "... I wish I had a little brother as cute as you. Smile more, okay? I really like your smile."
Sunny stared at her for a while before nodding innocently. The three of them entered the apartment.
That night, after Sunny had slept, the two of them stepped out of the room. Hiko took out a cigarette and lit up one end. He took a whiff out of it.
Hiko was wearing a black sleeveless t-shirt and white shorts, while Abbi wore a black tank top and green-colored hotpants.
"... The kid doesn't want to go home, right?" Hiko started.
"... Yeah…" Abbi agreed with Hiko's statement.
"But no matter how I look at it, there will be people finding him, and people who will recognize him if he goes to town for work and… anything," while it is true Hiko wanted Sunny to help out and work at some point, he also agreed that living a life in hiding wasn't a very nice way to live. He wanted Sunny to also live normally.
"... You know, maybe I could dye his hair!" Abbi looked at Hiko with a smile.
"... I guess you could do that," Hiko took another whiff, "what about his eyes, then?" Having less similar characteristics would mean Sunny would become less recognizable, which would work in his favor.
"Hm… I'll give him one of mine! Let's see… what if we go with my silver lenses?"
Hiko thought a little bit, imagining Sunny with silver eyes, "... that looks good. Maybe to go with it, we'll dye his hair silver, too?"
"Oh! I like that!"
Hiko looked at the dark blue sky that was populated with stars and unfinished and bareboned buildings.
"... you know, we're talking as if Sunny was our kid."
"Huh…?" Abbi looked at Hiko, her face beetroot red.
Realizing what he said, Hiko blushed and looked away while hiding his face, "... forget what I said."
The both of them went silent, looking away from each other, as the breeze flew in the direction of Abbi to Hiko.