"Mommy?" Tetsuya tried to say, as he sat in the basin of hot water. Hitomi hummed, scrubbing his hair with shampoo. "I-Is it okay if I sleep alone tonight?"
"Of course~ this must all be really new to you," she stopped scrubbing his hair and made him lean back, so the soap was all washed away. Tetsuya nodded at this, before closing his eyes, savoring the moments he was in the boiling water. "And before you settle down, I just want to tell you, your new dad..."
"Wakatoshi?" Tetsuya asked, and Hitomi nodded.
"He's not one to show too many emotions and keeps quiet a lot, so please don't feel bad if he doesn't talk to you often." Tetsuya nodded slowly, his expression remaining the same as Hitomi took him out of the bath and wrapped him in a towel. "Okay~! I'll see if your clothes have finished drying downstairs yet, stay here, all right?" Again, he nodded and waited, the towel around his waist, as he looked around.
It was his first time in a house since five years ago, when he was two.
His elder brother had been with him, before he had died three years ago. Frowning at the memory, Tetsuya dipped his hand in the still-warm, soapy water and waded it around a bit before his adopted mother opened the door again, with his ripped, but now clean, clothes in hand.
"You'll have to keep wearing these until we get some new ones for you, okay?" Hitomi said, and Tetsuya nodded, gladly taking his clothes and changing into them.
"Do I have a room?" He asked, and his new mother smiled.
"For now, you're going to sleep in the guest room. But, it'll be your room soon enough!" She chirped, and Tetsuya let out a smile.
"Thank you...thank you for everything you've done for me." He bowed. "I'm forever grateful."
Hitomi giggled, straightening him up before taking his small hand in hers. "Don't worry, it's the least we could do. If anything, thank Wakatoshi for bringing you home."
Home.
The sound was still foreign to him, but it was starting to gain more and more meaning by the second.
"Come on, we have to have dinner now, don't we? You're probably really hungry from being out there, huh?" On cue, his stomach grumbled and he blushed in embarrassment. His mother laughed, tugging him along. "Let's go!"
Tetsuya did his best to keep up with Hitomi, occasionally stumbling. They walked down the stairs, to a large room with a round dining table, six cushions on the ground to sit down on. Taking his seat between his new mother and father, his gaze locked onto the boiling stainless steel container before him. "It smells good," he whispered.
Wakatoshi opened the lid, and the smell wafted out, filling the room. Tetsuya was in awe of the hot food until his father placed a small plate of shiitake mushrooms and some other foods before him. "Wait for a bit, it's hot," Wakatoshi stated, before serving himself.
Tetsuya nodded, staring his food down, as if his gaze would turn it ice cold. Hitomi smiled at this, blowing on her own mushroom and eating it. Trying to follow her example, he attempted at picking up his chopsticks but to no avail.
Wakatoshi suddenly grabbed his right hand (his dominant hand), and fixed its posture before placing the chopsticks in them. Tetsuya made sure to hold his hand perfectly still as he stared at the two pieces of wood, making his father chuckle softly.
The boy was truly an alien to all this.
Tetsuya turned to Wakatoshi.
"Thank you, daddy!"
