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Daily needs are met. The food is given warm. Clothes on your back are free. Distractions are given, inside and outside.

The wall keeps them safe. Warm. Protective. The outside world is harsh. They, the world, will look for them, the faults, the reason why you are there, why you have been left. With no family ties, with no one at your back, you are alone in a world where these bonds place a foothold in your future. Bad blood, they whisper, not much is expected from you.

Soon you begin to believe them. There is nothing for you. You are nothing.

The caretakers, they care, they really do. You don't get attached to them, you shouldn't. Work too strenuous, tiresome, poorly paid. The lines beneath eyes grow the longer they stay. Their smiles, once warm, slowly fades out as time goes by. They rush to their homes once their shift is done. You are forgotten, until the next day. The daily cycles begin again.

Daily needs are met, food is given warm, distractions are given.

It is their duty to care. Of care, not to care.

They all leave one day. They will leave. And the cycle begins again, warm smiles slowly fading, exhaustion, tired, stressed, leave.

They are not your parents. They are here to provide you the materialistic needs.

It is their duty of care. Not to care, of care.

They care they really do. They really try.

No one has the time to coddle you. There is no time for those small gestures of affection. There is just not enough to give when there is not enough to share around.

One caretaker, thirteen children. Thirteen children, one caretaker.

They all leave, in the end. Everyone does.

Take what you get with a grain of salt.

Your physical daily needs are met. The cycle does not stop.

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The first buds from the plum trees have emerged. The bare winter trees will soon be engulfed in white, small delicate flowers heralding the first signs of spring, its sweet scent will overcome the city stench.

The icy winds have dropped, the temperatures warmer. The sun comes to greet everyone earlier every day, no longer hiding from the crisp winter cold.

The relief slowly washes over the elderly. Their joints will not be as sore, they will soon stroll down streets, baskets in hand, in the gardens, sitting with the neighbours.

They watch as Usagi slowly walks pass them. She greets them respectively, bowing low. They greet her back with gentle smiles. They don't know where she came from.

Take everything with a grain of salt.

Respect your elders, her caretakers say, the school, Yamahato-san. Do not take the seats on public transport when there are elders among you, that is disrespectful. Usagi always stands.

She barely reaches the handles. As the train sways and swerves causing her body to lean, causing the handle to angle and her toes to tip up. Warm bodies will hold her in place while the train moves forward, for now.

When the bodies leave, when there is no one behind her, Usagi reaches out for a pole and loops her arm around. More people come in. Someone taller takes her warm handle. The train moves again.

Someone reads the morning paper.

~Disaster in Taka District! Could the Two Sailor Warriors be Hoodlums?!~ page 3

~Shinzo District—Repairs Underway and On Time!~ page 10

A flick of the page.

~Earthquake Expert Prof. Watama Koichi is baffled by the unusual earthquake that struck Shinzo one month ago…~

The paper turns over.

~Are the Sailor Warriors No More Than Disguised Punks?~

The train stops. It was time to get off. Up the subway stairs and into the neighbourhood of Juuban. Usagi spots several students walking in the same direction, in groups or alone.

The slow march towards the school gates. Cars stop outside, students pop out smiling back towards the driver before they rush off.

Kino Makoto walks with a group of girls from her class opposite of Usagi. She towers over girls as she walks behind them. They smile and laugh. She's still not wearing the Juuban Junior High school uniform.

Usagi slows her pace, allows other students to walk past her. Her heart quickens. If Kino Makoto sees Usagi, she will smile at her.

Take everything with a grain of salt.

Her breath quickens. Kino Makoto will say hello if she sees her. She takes a slow deep breath, she stops and leans against the wall.

Take everything with a grain of salt.

Kino Makoto turns with her group into the school grounds. Slowly Usagi creeps forward to give Kino Makoto enough time to change her shoes.

But they meet anyway. By the stairs. Kino Makoto standing from the top looking down at Usagi.

"Good morning, Usagi-san." Kino Makoto smiles at her, it reaches her eyes, that warmth.

Take everything with a grain of salt.

Snickers behind the larger girl. Their eyes are cold. Their smiles crooked.

Usagi's heart clenches. Her lips quivers but no sound comes out. Her eyes prickle.

Take everything with a grain of salt.

In the end she bows and runs. She passes the girl with short blue hair; her body turns to follow her with her own blue eyes.

The bell rings. The class captains stand, the others follow. "REI!" spoke the male class captain today. Their home-room teacher, Haruna-sensei, arrives. The day begins. Another school cycle.

Haruna-sensei leaves.

"Hey have you heard?" Umino croons towards his group of girls.

"What?" They smile at him.,

"That giant girl in 2-C." He brings a chair to sit beside Osaka Naru.

"Yeah…"

"I heard she was kick out of her last school because she beat up some of students there."

Suzuki gasps. "Ehh! Really!"

"How scary..." whispered Yuuki.

"To think our school would accept someone like that." Umino Gurio lived and thrived on gossip. He puffed out his chest, beaming with pride among the girls.

"Umino how did you find this out?" Naru asked, her tone sharp, eyes narrowing.

He flinches, "Ehh." He faces her, Naru. "Takahashi-san told me! And Hitachi-san! They know her from there friends who attends the school where she used to go."

"Has she caused any trouble here." Naru asks.

"Not that I've heard of."

School ends. Another cycle finished. Time to return to the safe walls of her home.

Usagi spots Kino Makoto and the blue haired girl. Ami-san? Their frowning, they run off together. A black cat catches her gaze. They look at each other seconds before the cat runs off after the two girls.

Warm bodies embrace her as Usagi clings to pole on the train. Her gaze turned towards the window, an unknown world rushes past her and when she gets off she walks a familiar road back home.

Usagi stops before white two-story building, she pushes open the creaky metal gate. The front of the building is bare, a simple bench is placed beside the brown wooden door.

"I'm home." Usagi says as she removes her boots and changes into her slipper. She could hear murmurs behind Yamahato's office. Usagi rushes up the stairs to place her briefcase against her metal bed.

A new futon is laid out opposite of Usagi's bed. Someone else is in her room. Another girl sits cross-legged and crying.

The new girl gasps when Usagi drops her briefcase. Their eyes don't meet.

"H-hello?" the new girl sniffles.

Usagi strips out of uniform and into more homely clothes.

"Hello." And she walks out.

A new caretaker has taken over from Chio-san. Her name is Anego. The smaller children have already carolled around this new caretaker. She gave her smiles freely and without restraint. Matsu was one and few that clung to her body, eagerly calling out for her embrace.

Some children played outside, they swung from the swings and slid down the slides. They laughed uncontrollably. Hamato lounge lazily on a bench, his arm cushioning his head as he read a book from the other.

Some watched the colourful pictures on the television screen, ignoring everything around them. The metal hero saving the day again. Shou was one of them, he sat so close to the screen, secretly clinging to a toy beneath his shirt.

You find your own simple pleasures here.

Usagi's was her hands. So long as she kept them occupied she forgot the world around her. She sat by the table with neatly stacked pencils and pens. A piece of paper in front of her, a black felt pen in her right hand, Usagi's eyes travelled with her hand. Spring was coming and Usagi beat mother nature in drawing the first plum flower.

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A new scene appeared in front of Usagi the next morning. She stopped and waited by the wall again. Kino Makoto was walking alone to school, she stood out with her different uniform. Her head was faced down as other students gave the giant a wide berth without looking her way.

Usagi did not see her anywhere in the corridors, she received no warm greeting that day. Usagi did not see her among the girls of 2-C during lunch, she could not spot her anywhere. Usagi spotted Kino Makoto at the end of the school day, standing beside the blue-haired girl...Ami-san, the black cat resting on her shoulders. The cat looks back at her.

They left together, turning right.

Usagi left for home, turning left.

The school cycle is finished for the day. Now to complete the days cycle.

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No Beta.

Short and... ah... sweet...

Thanks for everyone's enthusiasm!