That next day started as usual. Miki packed her daily supplies in her backpack, waited for Akihiko and Shinji to do the same, and they boarded the bus. She left her sketchbook of stickers back at the orphanage. She hadn't been getting any stickers lately - as she got older, the teachers were less and less liberal about handing them out. She figured there was no point in bringing it if she never had any new stickers for it.

Akinii and Shinji were talking. "Did you eat breakfast this morning?"

"I only gave him half of it, all right?"

"Good. I gave him my whole bowl, so he should be well-fed now."

"What the hell, Aki! I told you that you had to eat some of it!"

"I'm just making up for lost time, okay?"

She reached up, pulling weakly on the boy's sleeve. "What's happening?"

Akihiko looked toward her, smiling and bringing one of his own hands atop her head. "It'll be a surprise!" His attentions went back to the brunette, "Can we show her tonight, after we get back from school? I bet she would love to see-"

Shinji scowled, "Shut up, before someone hears you."

The girl relaxed her fingers on her brother's uniform, lowering her line of sight back to the floor of the train as it rolled over the tracks underneath them. It's all right if you don't want to tell me, She bemoaned silently. You could have just said so.

Departing the train, she followed in the footsteps of her brother, sticking close to his side as was habit. They walked down the path leading to the school, up the stairwell, and walked through the glass doors, all the same as they did every day, and Miki bid the two boys farewell as they went in the opposite direction to their separate class.

That feeling of loneliness swept over her, making her cold to the point of shivering by the time she reached her classroom door. But she stopped there, poised herself, and stepped in, doing her best to act as though she hadn't a care in the world.

Her teacher greeted her. "Good morning, Miki-chan."

"Good morning, Amigawa-sensei," She returned, moving her way through the rows of desks to her assigned place. She set her backpack down beside her, fidgeting with her hands - a habit shared by her and her older brother - while she awaited class to start.

When it did, it, too, was routine. Her class reviewed the mathematical equations she had been taught in previous years, and they paired up to practice them. Miki was paired with a friendlier partner today. She was a girl named Koume, who she had yet to meet - which wasn't unusual, given her shyness, and overall reluctance to interact with her classmates. Lunch was mid-day, and she ate with Akihiko and Shinji, as usual. Both of them ate quicker than usual, something that had become normal for the brunette during the last week or so, but was a new development for her brother. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say they weren't getting as much food judging by their ravenous appetites.

Regardless, her class was released for recess after lunch. It was separate from her brother's, so she bid him and Shinji farewell and wandered off to the far-most swings, where she often found herself sitting and kicking her feet in the sand. She had nothing else to do, after all. The other children in her class refused any attempts she made at making friends, and quite frankly, she was too shy to approach most of them.

But today was different.

She was approached by the same girl, Koume, from earlier. "Hi, Miki-chan."

Miki was unable to hide the surprise in her tone. "Koume-chan?" She shrank down and averted her eyes to her left, away from the newcoming female. "H-Hi."

The raven-haired female plopped herself in the swing next to Miki's. She, too, was quiet, until she finally mustered, "Naomi-chan is mean, huh?"

Naomi-chan. That very name made Miki sting with anger.

"I was always told I shouldn't talk to the kids from Kawatani, but... after seeing how mean Naomi-chan and the rest of them have been to you... Momma said-" The girl gasped a little, interrupting herself mid-sentence, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot that you don't have-"

"It's okay," Miki clenched her fingers around the chain that suspended her swing. "I don't mind. I never knew my Momma. So it... it doesn't bother me too much."

"W-Well, um..." The girl hopped off of the swing again, walking the rest of the way up to her silver-haired counterpart. For the first time, Miki looked fully in her direction, and noticed the small rabbit doll that was being held out to her. "I wanted to give you this."

The girl locked up. "Y-You... you're giving me this?"

"It's my favorite bunny doll. It always makes me happy when I'm sad, so, I wanted to share it with you. I know you... must not have a lot of toys, so... I just thought you might like it," The girl smiled nervously, "until you get your own, you know?"

More than anything, she was stunned. She tried watching Koume's expression for a change, for it to fall to something more like mocking rather than this... genuine friendliness, but it never came. She reached out and touched her hand to the doll, slightly worn but still soft to the touch. When Miki took both hands to it, Koume released it, encouraging the silvery female to take it. She did, and with a smile so wide it made her cheeks burn; she cuddled the doll against her chest, struggling not to cry.

"...Thank you so much, Koume-chan."

"It's okay! I thought you might need a friend," The girl swayed on her feet, her face brightening at the genuine bittersweet happiness that came to form Miki's expression. "My best friend Yuna-chan isn't here today. But as soon as she gets back, I'll introduce you guys!"

Miki forced herself to speak, regardless of her quivering voice. "That'd be great!"

So that afternoon, when school let out and she met up with Akihiko and Shinji like she always did, she boarded the train with beaming cheer.

۞

Evening came quickly that day, stretching a vast sea of stars above the heads of the trio as they detoured on their walk back home from school. The sky was still slightly pink with the remaining sunlight that gradually reclined past the horizon, but it was dark enough that Miki asked if she could hold her brother's hand so as to ensure she was still with him. He gladly obliged to this. For now, they were leading her down the Kawatani riverbed, a place that she had visited many times, toward the wooded area nearby; both boys seemed excited about something - Shinji more subdued, but she could tell that even he was, too - but they wouldn't tell her what it was. All they told her is that she would love it.

Coming into a narrow clearing, specifically absent of too many trees whilst still being encircled by them to create a sort of comforting, womb-like sanctuary, carpetted with the autumn hues of dead leaves and sprinkled with the sparing light that glowed through the tree branches, Akihiko stood still at her side and Shinji proceeded to wander forward, calling for someone. Something. "Here, boy! Hideharu! Come and meet Miki!"

Something moved in the undergrowth. Miki tensed and clutched at her brother's hand, squeezing the doll with her other - an object with which she refused to be parted since the moment it was given to her - and looked up to him, only to see that he looked much more ecstatic than worried. What was it they were showing her? Did they make a new friend outside of the orphanage? Her eyes lowered back to the place where she had first detected movement, only to feel her heart skip in her chest at the sight of a beautiful dog materializing from the mesh of browns, reds, oranges, that dominated the forest.

"Doggy!" She gasped in shock. "You got a doggy!"

"Shinji found him about a week ago," Akihiko was saying. "I ran into them yesterday. He's really friendly! But since Shinji was feeding him all of his food this whole time, we agreed to split up his meals between the two of us, and we're going to teach him how to do all kinds of stuff!" The boy was just as excited as she was. "Like how to high-five!"

The oldest of the three was holding out his hand for the canine to sniff. Once he had, the dog's tail began the usual routine of swatting back and forth, while he swatted at the ground and barked, bounding playfully in Akihiko's direction. "His name is Hideharu."

Miki welcomed the incoming dog with open arms. "Haruharu!"

The two siblings crouched over to meet their four-legged companion, who covered them in wet kisses with his tongue; Akihiko scratched him behind the ears, while Miki went all out in wrapping her arms around his fluffy-maned neck. "Aw, he's so cute, Shinii-chan!"

"He's looking better than he was, too. I think the regular meals are helping him gain his strength back. I just can't imagine where he came from..."

"Look, boy!" Akihiko was waving a wooden stick he had picked up in front of the canine. Miki stood back to her feet and backed away so as to give Hideharu plenty of room to run, and the male tossed the stick as far as he could, watching the akita inu flash past them to fetch it. "See how fast he goes, Shinji? He's amazing!"

"Think you can beat him in a race?"

"I don't know," He pondered with the thought as Hideharu came trotting back up with the stick in mouth. "I can definitely try! Here, Shinji, you throw it."

The brunette took the stick, which Hideharu bounced around him, snapping at the air to try and retrieve, his tail sailing about all the while. Shinji instructed the dog to stand next to Akihiko, however, who was presently readying himself to run; Miki attempted to help to this end by crawling atop the dog, trying to keep him still.

When they were both aligned, Shinji asked, "Ready?"

Akihiko grinned and tossed a hand forward. "Throw it!"

The next moment, that stick was flying over the wooded canopy, straight for the plains that surrounded the orphanage. The racers both shot off at lightning speed, their feet skidding in the leaves and throwing up dirt and debris as they grappled for a footing. Miki, meanwhile, squealed when Hideharu took off. From impulse more than conscious thought, she had clutched onto the dog when he jumped, and as he ran now, she was bouncing along his spine with the flow of his strides, riding atop his back as he raced on for the stick.

Every step taken, though, saw to it that Hideharu gained ground on his two-legged competitor. No matter how hard Akihiko strained himself to run faster, he could not outrun the canine who he was only now realizing had abducted his sister. Whining a protest after the dog, he watched as the autumn-colored beast soon caught up with the stick that Shinji tossed and jumped up, his feet clawing at the air as he snapped the twig into his mouth and landed with a huff, walking in a full circle after Miki careened off of his back into the ground.

"Miki!" Akihiko launched himself forward at the prospect of injury.

Hideharu dropped the stick he had caught and whimpered, his ears and tail drooping when he soon realized the harm he might have inflicted on the young girl. But she, while being slightly breathless, still clutching the doll at her side, just started giggling. The beast's tail started to wag again, and Akihiko's laughter joined her own, while Shinji came up seconds later to assess himself that she was okay. "My turn!" The brunette lifted the stick that Hideharu had abandoned, handing it to his male companion. "You throw this time."

"Well, there's no way you're beating Hideharu!"

"I bet I can beat you!"

Akihiko handed the stick to Miki. "You're on!"

They all stood themselves back up, aligning themselves just as they had before. Both boys stood on either side of the dog, holding him relatively still as they prepped themselves for the makeshift race. When they gave their consent to Miki, she reached back and threw the stick as far as she could, and the boys just started to run... when Akihiko felt something thump the back of his head. "Ow, what the-?"

"Oh, Akinii, I'm so sorry!" Shinji and Hideharu, both of whom had taken off - though the canine soon noticed the lack of a target, and was making semi-circles again, trying to locate where it had gone - stopped to look back and see Miki, holding her hand to her face. "I didn't mean to hit you! I'm no good at throwing, remember?"

Shinji snorted, and the rest of them fell under a wave of laughter.