Things looked up from there. Though recent events had taken their toll on the three, they just as quickly mended the gaps, brought back together in no small part by Hideharu. The akita inu became like one of them, the trusty pet of the trio, whom they made it routine to play with every evening after school. Since they were in agreement to hide him from the orphanage, they trained him rather easily to stay away from the building and keep to the woods where he had already made himself at home in, and they each fed him a small portion of their meals every day. Though this did wear on all of them, especially when the orphanage could not provide them with as much food as usual thanks to critically tight finances, they all had no qualms doing their part for the dog who had captured their hearts so wholly. He was gentle with Miki, walked with her if she liked, and let her ride him from time to time; Shinji and Akihiko loved to race him, and swam with him in the river when it was deep enough after a period of rainfall. He couldn't climb trees, but God knows he would if it was possible, because any time the children perched themselves there, he whimpered and walked circles underneath them, making the occasional impressive jump in his best efforts to be part of the group. Since most of the other kids in the orphanage kept out of the woods, they had little trouble keeping him secret from everyone else. Word did get out amongst a few of the other kids, but at the trio's pleading, they agreed not to tell the foster parents. How did it benefit them to send this dog to the pound and, ultimately, his death?

Months passed, and while school life was no less difficult for Shinji and Akihiko - who had become personal enemies with a few other kids in their class, who had decided to hate them for no reason other than they were of a 'lower social status' - Miki found herself enjoying it slightly more upon forging her newest friendship with Koume. She kept her rabbit doll with her at all times; sleeping with it, eating with it, she told Shinji and Akihiko that it meant a lot to her, and that it was given to her by a new friend. They were happy for her. And needless to say, Miki was thrilled, too. The only issue was Koume's friend, Yuna.

Yuna and Koume had been friends since kindergarten, she had been told. The two were inseparable, and so any time Miki spent with Koume was typically spent with Yuna, too. The thing was, Yuna disliked Miki. No matter how much Miki tried to befriend her, did everything she could think of to be kind and accepting of the younger female, Yuna turned her back on everything. Why? Miki hadn't understood at first. But the more time she spent with Koume, the more she understood that it was because Yuna was jealous of the way Miki was becoming close to the girl that she had already befriended. Such a thing puzzled Miki; she didn't want to take away Koume, she was only happy that she had found someone willing to accept her and treat her at least somewhat normal despite her being an orphan. But Yuna couldn't understand that, and saw her only as a threat to her relationship with Koume.

Despite that, the two were civil towards one another. Any arguments they had - which were next to none, as Miki avoided confrontation when she could - were always had when Koume wasn't around. They played together at recess, and Miki continued to reserve her lunches for Shinji and Akihiko, who always welcomed her company.

Things went rather well this way for some time. Akihiko's injury continued to heal over, and every day he would check it in the mirror before school, putting a new patch over it. The stitches that the doctors used to seal his skin eventually just fell off - Satoru told him that they were made to do that once the wound was healed - and left in its place what was still a rather gross-looking scar that snaked its way up into his scalp. Seeing as it was already routine to patch it every day, Akihiko just continued with it for the sake of covering the scar that remained. He'd gotten used to the appearance of the bandage on the corner of his forehead, and if nothing else, he thought it looked cool. Natsuo had said so, too!

But as winter continued to roll in and the year drew to a close, there were still difficult times that the three children had yet to endure.

Christmas - and, in turn, the New Year - passed without much event. The freezing temperatures meant that all three of them spent more time indoors, but Shinji always made sure to walk out every evening and check on Hideharu. The dog had a consistent flow of food, but sometimes the temperatures plunged low enough to where he needed extra warmth, and those were the times that Shinji would sacrifice his bed blanket to tuck in Hideharu in the clearing and make sure he didn't freeze or catch a cold. The only issue was that there were times Hideharu tried to follow Shinji back, and they were required to start leashing him to one of the trees in the clearing between their visits.

Since the brunette's own bed lacked a blanket, then, he would bunk with Akihiko and Miki, who didn't mind - especially since his addition to the bed meant that there was more warmth, given that he shared his body heat with them - and come Christmas, Shinji and Akihiko had worked together to ensure Miki had something to wake up to. As usual, they requested that Satoru purchase something for her in exchange for whatever labor he needed done around the building. That year, their efforts saw to it that she got a silver necklace. It was a thin chain, and a cheap form of silver, but Miki couldn't have been happier. She flaunted her first piece of jewelry at every opportunity she had, treasuring it, and never let Akihiko or Shinji forget that they were her favorite, bestest big brothers in the whole world.

The New Year festivities were much more significant than those of Christmas, and the orphanage celebrated them the same as it did every year. However, in contrast to previous years, there were little to no treats, and the decorations were few and far between. Satoru told them it was because money was a little tighter now, but that they would make up for it by putting something extra special in for next New Year's. No one had much of a problem with that - they could be patient. For them, the few treats they got for New Year's was already being spoiled. 'Spoiled' and 'orphan' hardly belonged in the same sentence.

So January came and went, and February rolled in, tantalizingly close to ending the trio's third year of school. And given the circumstances, there was no telling how eager all three of them were for the school year to finally be over.

There came a time, which started when Shinji started asking for spare food when he was feeding Hideharu on his own, that the children in the boys' class decided that they were beneath them. Growing up, both of them had come to realize that the discrimination against the orphans in their school was bad because Kawatani had been there for generations before it, and the other children were often advised to stay away from the children that attended from there. That didn't make it any easier to deal with. When Shinji started to show desperation for extra food in that time, the other children jumped at the opportunity to use it as proof of their 'lower' character. They were beggars! Rather than buy their own food, they wanted to eat everyone else's, and didn't mind asking for more! The trash talk, while something that grated horribly on Akihiko's nerves, went mostly ignored. They had likewise been taught not to indulge the children who tried to pick fights with them. Shinji just didn't care - he was more interested in getting the food than whatever his classmates thought of him, trying to sustain himself when he had little to go by - and any time someone tried to bring up confrontation, a few cuss words and a threat to break their fingers usually sufficed to chase them off. That was perhaps a benefit to looking as mean as Shinji did. There had always been a sort of thuggish appearance to him, and that, coupled with his rather quiet nature and his foul language when provoked, made him frightening to most of the other children.

But Akihiko had a harder time brushing those things off. Teasing got to him more easily than it did to Shinji. Whereas Shinji could just scare them off, Akihiko had to be civil, treat them with politeness and dignity, and ignore their jabs. It didn't always work. Of course, no one tried to be physical with him; despite never having been in any actual fights, it was known that Akihiko and Shinji were not pushovers in the matter. But verbal abuse was good enough for them. They were perfectly content to parrot what their parents, no-doubt, had called them; 'savages', or 'dirty children'. Worst of all were their claims that they would grow up to become theives and criminals that were the bane of society. Put frankly - and rather lightly - all of it was irritating, and it made Akihiko wish he could break all their noses if only it didn't teach them that they were right.

He was tired of struggling with this identity. This label of 'orphan'. There were children who acted out much more than him and Shinji combined, and yet they were the ones who were shunned and blamed first in any situation of crisis.

Miki, meanwhile, had similar problems. Things had gotten better since the introduction of Koume into her life, but that wasn't to say the improvement lasted.

Since that first day, when Koume had given Miki that rabbit doll that meant so much to her, the girl had held onto it religiously. She dusted it off any time it got dirty, she cuddled it next to her when she slept, and it dried her tears when she cried. It became her most treasured artifact, given to her by someone who had it within themselves to share something so important with her. It was a symbol of trust, of friendship, that had been fostered between the two children regardless of the odds stacked against it.

But Miki had never thought that showing just how important the doll was only made it susceptible to harm. The school children had never been known for their generosity toward Miki, and the thought of pushing her down, whether literally or metaphorically speaking, had always delighted them. Naomi was a prime suspect in this case.

One day, Koume's mother came to visit her during lunch. This didn't much affect Miki, who still ate with her brothers anyway - but when it came time for recess, Koume had to stay behind a little later to finish chatting and eating with her Mom. So Miki approached Yuna, attempting once again to show her nothing short of friendliness in order to try breaking down that invisible barrier of jealousy that held the two apart. Yuna was still a bit cold, but despite that, the two walked around the playground together and shared something like light-hearted banter. They didn't have much else to do; swings already been taken today.

That was soon interrupted. To Miki and Yuna's surprise, Naomi approached them for the first time during recess. She apologized for every instance that she had teased Miki, put her down, stolen her homework or tripped her in class. And though she was hesitant to do so, Miki told her that she forgave her. To represent their new 'friend' status, Naomi wanted to see Miki's bunny; though she hesitated, and at first resisted, Naomi played on Miki's altruistic nature by pretending to cry. Afraid of pushing Naomi away if she really was trying to be nicer, Miki said that she would let Naomi hold the bunny until she cheered up.

But she should have known, the minute she handed the bunny to Naomi, the girl giggled and took off running toward the playground fence.

Miki was faster. She took after Naomi in a screaming fit of terror, begging her not to hurt the doll, that it wasn't hers, that it belonged to Koume and meant a lot to them both. But Naomi had gotten a head start. When she reached the fence, she tried to throw it over; it caught on the metal wires that composed the diamond-pattern mesh, and while crying angrily over her failed sabotage of the doll, she improvised just in time to stop Miki from getting it back. With it caught on the wire, Naomi pulled down on it as hard as she could, and ripped the fabric enough to completely tear the poor creature's head from its body.

Seeing the poor doll with its head spiked on the fence like a trophy of war, its body bleeding stuffing all over the cement playground floor, Miki could not help but cry. She bawled over the the broken toy, numbed to Naomi's teasing and the awkward presence of Yuna nearby. The commotion not only attracted other children, but Koume soon after. The sight of her doll in ruins was enough to make her start crying, too.

That only made the platinum girl angry. Why would Naomi do something so horrible, just to make her feel bad? Didn't she care about anyone's feelings except her own? While trying to explain to Koume what had happened, she finally turned on Naomi and shouted at her, too, only to see that she, too, had started to cry. But why was she crying? She was the one who tore up the doll! She was the one who took some kind of... sick joy from all of this!

But she was crying. More than that, she looked at Koume and told her, "Miki did it!"

Miki had never been so murderously angry in her life.

Koume, bless her, was better than that. She wasn't going to be fooled by whatever plight that Naomi had come up with. The girl only pretended to cry harder, insisting that Miki had done it to get back at Koume for liking Yuna more. Bringing Yuna into the picture was what brought about suspicion. Koume knew that the two girls had issues with one another due to her mutual friendship with the two of them; there were many times that Yuna had complained that Koume had never let her have the rabbit doll for as long as they were friends, and often accused Koume of liking Miki more. Miki, then, while harboring no resentment herself, was guilty by association. And when Koume turned to Yuna and asked her who had actually torn the rabbit doll, to clarify whether or not Naomi was a lying brat, Yuna took one look at Miki and said, "Miki did it. Miki tore the doll."

So that day, when they were released again from school, Miki ran to her brother, crying so hard that she could hardly sustain the will to breathe.

Akihiko practically jumped out of his skin at the sight of her. After she crashed into him, sobbing, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close in embrace, resting his head on her shoulder, permitting her as much time as she needed to run all the sobs dry from her body - all the while, he cleared the tears from her face when they fell, and did what he could to cheer her up. "Hey, Shimada-sensei gave me some chocolate today," He turned to retrieve a small packet from one of the pouches in his backpack, holding it out to her in the palm of his hand. "You can have it. I already ate the other one."

She swallowed, and made her best effort to talk. "I... I can have it?"

"Of course!" He beamed, "Anything for my little sister!"

This, as it usually did, was enough to make her smile. She kissed his cheek and took the packet, splitting it open with her fingers and popping the morsel of chocolate in her mouth; she pulled back from him a little, so that she was sitting evenly between him and Shinji, all of whom were perched on the same bench just outside of the school.

"What happened?" It was the brunette who finally asked. "Are you okay?"

She opened her mouth, but the words were caught in her throat. I want to be strong. The thought strengthened her conviction. I want to be like you guys...

"Your doll!" Akihiko blurted out, pointing to that empty space where her doll would often be tucked up against her. "Where'd your doll go?"

Miki sniffled, her voice whimpering until she summoned the words. "I... I lost it." That wasn't a complete lie. "A-And... and Koume-chan hates me now."

Both of the boys fell into silence. Akihiko shook his head and patted her on the shoulder, "Everyone makes mistakes, Miki. I bet we can find it if we look. Right, Shinji?"

"W-Well," The girl clenched, "I-I think I remember Amigawa-sensei telling me that they found a doll on the playground, and it was thrown away..." She sniffled again and wiped her eyes with her arm. "It's probably long gone by now..."

Akihiko tried to insist, for her sake, "We can still look."

"Forget it, Aki. What kid wants a doll that's been in the trash?" The brunette shook his head and stood back up, offering his hand to her. "Don't feel bad. Aki's right; everyone makes mistakes. If Koume doesn't get that, it's her loss." Bringing her palm to his, he held fast to her dainty hand and helped pick her back up to her feet. "I'll take care of the doll, okay?"

She blinked up at him with glassy eyes, a hue of silver almost identical to her hair - a hue more pure than her brother's, which were undertoned with brown. "You... you will?"

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "You bet."

۞

Back at the orphanage, the trio had arrived in the company of the usual crowd returning from school. For once, Natsuo was not among them. Satoru commented - whether to them or to himself - that he was probably with a girl he had recently been talking about.

All three of them had stopped by the sleeping room just after arriving home. Miki kicked her shoes off next to her bed and set her backpack off to the side, where Shinji and Akihiko soon placed their's as well. "It's a little warmer out today," Shinji was yawning, plopping himself on the edge of whatever bed happened to be behind him. "I'm going to go back outside. There's a few hours left before dinner."

Akihiko was fiddling with his shoe laces. "You're not going to help Riyeko today?"

"I've been helping her a lot, since it's been too cold to leave the building." He shrugged and rose back to a stand. "She'll be fine. You guys coming?"

Miki flopped onto the bed on her side, ruffling her own hair and slipping the two hairbands that maintained her typical pigtails out from within her many locks. "...I'm going to stay inside today," She decided. "You'll be back before dinner, right?"

"Yeah." Her brother bounced up from the mattress, tossing the end of his blankets over on top of her. She caught them in her hands and tugged them over herself, rolling over and puffing her pillow a few times before she let her head rest on it. "We'll wake you up."

She snuggled into the fabric, her face softening. "Thanks, Akinii."

The two males departed without another word, their steps quiet on the wooden floors. They both waved when they passed Satoru, who was just about to return to the room to read one of his books and take a breather; they told him that they were going to be out for a while, but they would be back in time for dinner, and he merely nodded after them and reminded them to be safe. That was the extent of it, though. No 'don't go too far', or 'try to avoid traffic' - Akihiko figured he must have felt like he was wasting his breath.

"So, Shinji," He struck up conversation just as they were landing off the front doorstep. "Where are we going? To check on Hideharu?"

The brunette looked absent-minded. He nodded, though. "Yeah. Then I need to go somewhere. You can stay here, though."

"Nah, I'll go with you. I don't have any homework tonight."

"I know that, dork. We have the same class."

"Well-!" Akihiko sighed. "...I-I knew that."

It was only minutes before they arrived to that place in the forest. They had grown so used to traveling the path that they hardly required a luxury like sight when navigating it; tonight, that was of no concern given it was still rather early in the evening, but Shinji mentioned that their footsteps were starting to form a path in the undergrowth. "Maybe we should start taking another path. We don't want anyone to find him by accident."

"I don't think anyone'll hurt him, Shinji. Especially since you've got him tied up now."

"I know, I just..." The brunette sighed, moving underneath another low-hanging tree-branch. "I don't want to risk it or anything, you know?"

"You just don't want to share if he becomes the orphanage pet."

Shinji scoffed, denying Akihiko's claims. This only warranted further playful teasing, which was eventually silenced with a punch to the chest, just around the time they were walking into the clearing where Hideharu stayed. He must have been able to catch their scent on the wind, because he was already up and wagging his tail when they arrived.

The older of the two greeted the dog warmly, crouching down and accepting the barrage of licks that Hideharu never failed to shower down on him. Patting him a few times, scratching him behind the ears, Shinji took to the rope he had tied around that dusty collar that was buried back in the orphanage's storage room and unfastened it. Akihiko, who had been standing a foot or so behind Shinji, was no longer safe then and huffed in surprise when the canine bounded past the brunette and tackled his younger companion to the ground.

Shinji took on a dramatic stance. "A wise man never lets down his guard."

"Oh, shut up!" Akihiko laughed and pulled a stick from the foliage underneath him, tossing it at his friend. Shinji caught the flimsy object before it had a chance to strike him, though, and jabbed the younger of them with the opposite end.

They spent some time playing in the woods, then. The time flew past as they practiced running, this time trying to decide who could jump the farthest over the river. Hideharu, as usual, beat them by a longshot. Then they climbed up onto a low-hanging branch to catch their breaths and make themselves feel better; tree-climbing was the only thing that Hideharu couldn't do better than them.

Akihiko wiped his forehead, making sure his bandage was still in place, and started to pick leaves out from under his shirt. How they always managed to get in his clothes was beyond him. "So where are we going from here?"

Shinji paused wistfully. "Paulownia mall, I think."

"You never wanna go there." He took off his shoe and shook some water out of it.

"What's your point? I want to go today."

Akihiko popped his shoe back on. Then he shrugged. "Okay. What for?"

"Just check stuff out." That was a flimsy reason, and Akihiko knew it. There was some reason he wanted to go - he just didn't want to say. Ah, well. He didn't care much either way. His only concern is that they would kick them out again. They didn't usually go, so it wasn't like the people in the area recognized them... if they fixed their clothes a little before they went, he was sure they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Except, uh, the fact that they were two little kids wandering around on their own. Akihiko kept forgetting that was a pretty good indication that they didn't have any parents.

After agreeing to go, Shinji tied Hideharu back into the clearing - while commenting that since it wasn't winter anymore, they might be able to let him roam freely again - and the two of them stopped inside of the orphanage and cleaned any dirt or moisture that had gotten on them from playing near the river. That only took a few minutes, and they were back off on the way to the train station in the nearby Iwatodai. One boring train ride later, something that had long lost its awe-inspiring appeal after the first twenty rides to and from school, they got back off at Port Island and leisurely walked their way to the mall.

First, they stopped near the water fountain. That was one of Akihiko's favorite parts of the mall square, was the fountain. Natsuo told him that it was bad to drink after he tried one time, which he readily agreed on after realizing that fountain water tasted disgusting, but he still enjoyed watching it run endlessly over the sculpted ripples of the marble structure. They poked their head into several places, such as the cafe and the night club, most of which they had never seen before, before Shinji gestured to a toy shop across the square. "Hey, why don't we check that place out? I've never been in a toy store before."

Akihiko looked at him frankly. "That's because we don't have any money."

The brunette agreed with his point, but headed off toward it anyway. "We can still look. Come on." Akihiko figured, 'why not?' and walked after him.

Before they went in, Shinji tucked in the ends of his uniform shirt into his pants. That was odd, because more often than not, he had to be pestered by the school staff to do it - it was part of dress code, they had been told - but Akihiko really didn't think to question it, and they walked in as nonchalantly as two unattended children in a mall could.

"Hi, welcome to-?" The woman at the front desk turned to greet them, only to realize the faces of her new patrons were about a foot lower than she was used to. "Oh, hello! How are you two tonight? ...Where are your parents?"

Shinji gestured an elbow to the door, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "They're just outside," He told her, beckoning Akihiko after him.

"Oh, all right. Feel free to look around!"

A few long strides from the door, and they were swallowed up by the rows and rows of aisles, filled with nothing but toys from top to bottom. Akihiko hardly imagined a store like this was real. He had heard of the toy store, of course, but having never been in one himself, he was completely amazed by how much merchandise was here. "Hey, Shinji, look!"

The brunette, who had been walking ahead of him, glanced back to watch as Akihiko pulled a large plastic device from off one of the shelves; puzzled, he turned and took a step back, only to realize the overly large 'machine' was, in fact, a giant gun.

The silver boy smiled and whipped it toward his friend. "Freeze!"

Shinji's lips curved into a smirk. "You think you can catch me?"

"Hey!" When the tan boy raced off, Akihiko gave chase, nearly tripping over himself when trying to carry the sizeable water gun with him. "I said freeze!" His feet skid on the slick surface when he turned a sharp corner, his eyes fleeting about everywhere, and yet catching no sight of Shinji. Where'd he go? This store was surprisingly maze-like...

Akihiko looked back down at the gun in his hands, feeling another smile pull at his cheeks. Well, fine! If Shinji wanted to be that way, he'd just have to sneak around until he found him. Skittering into one of the many aisles, he held up the gun vertically against himself, leaving one hand on the trigger while using the other to hold it in place. "I've got the target cornered. He's somewhere in this facility. I didn't see any weapons on him, but he might be armed. You can never be too careful..." He snuck around another corner and looked both ways. "He's crafty, I'll give him that. He's already slipped through my fingers once, but-"

The platinum boy squeaked when he felt something punch his back. "Boo!"

"Wha- hey!" The boy tried to regain his breath, flushing pink with embarrassment. Grappling for some kind of argument was useless, so he went with, "You... you scared me!"

"It's getting late. We should be going back," The brunette took the gun from his younger, slightly shorter companion, and set it back on the closest shelf. "Besides, we wouldn't want you hurting yourself, officer Aki."

"Pff! We just got here! If you'd given me five more minutes, I'd-!"

Shinji didn't stick around for his half-assed defense, instead grabbing his wrist and dragging him off back toward the front of the store. They didn't leave right off the bat, though; the boy had them wait until a man from outside walked into the store, calling out, "Hey, Tsutomu, Aito! It's time to go, your mother is waiting!"

Then Shinji ushered Akihiko forward, and the two of them departed the store.

The behavior struck Akihiko as odd. "Why didn't we just walk out?"

He could only see his friend's back; Shinji wouldn't face him. "What do you mean? We did." After skirting around the edge of the mall, the brunette started to lead them out of the mall square, but the pace he was going at made it difficult to assume that he wasn't trying to get out of there. For what reason did he suddenly want to leave so bad?

Akihiko stopped, narrowing his eyes. "Shinji, what're you doing?"

"What's your deal? I just noticed it was late. We need to go."

"Since when do you care how long it takes us to get back home?"

The brunette was starting to get short with him. "Let's just go, Aki. We said we'd be back in time for dinner, remember? Do you want to worry Miki?"

He faltered a little at mention of his sister. Shinji was right, after all. She would start to worry if they weren't back when they promised they would be. But something was up with Shinji, and if he didn't tell him, he wasn't going to move from this spot!

"Shinji, something is going on. Tell me the truth."

The look his friend gave him was begrudging, but after pulling him into the closest alleyway, he untucked his shirt and pulled something out from under it - a rabbit doll, no doubt from the toy store. The sight of it made Akihiko panic and yet angered him both at once; did he steal that toy from the store? Is that the whole reason they went inside? ...This had been his plan from the beginning! He actually planned to steal it!

"Look, I just wanted to get this. If we get home, no one will notice-"

Akihiko cut him off, clenching a fist and pointing the other at the offending object. He couldn't believe it! He just... couldn't believe it! "What the hell is that?"

"...Are you mad? Just, after what Miki told us, I-"

"Of course I'm mad! What the hell is wrong with you? You stole that!"

"Chill out, Aki! Why are you so pissed off?"

"Are you stupid?" He was shaking. He was so utterly shocked by what had just happened, right under his nose, that he could not stop the quaking of his body. Why did it... sting? His eyes were stinging. He had just never felt so angry before, so disappointed, so... betrayed. "You're stealing! Thieves steal, Shinji! Criminals!"

The brunette, in contrast, was frightened. The look on his friend's face was so alien to him that his own warped into a guilt like that of a scolded puppy. "I-It's just a doll...!"

No. He had never been so angry. He had never felt so angry! Why didn't Shinji understand? The frustration that welled in him, unexpressed, made Akihiko's fists clench to the point of hurting. He didn't know what to do. What could he do?

He didn't know the answer to that. But whatever he should have done, he found himself reaching back with one of those fists, and punching it right across Shinji's cheek.

The brunette was so shocked that he actually staggered behind the force of the impact. He tripped over his own two feet, careening backwards and landing in a sit; Akihiko followed him down, grabbing the collar of his shirt, and punched him again. "How could you do this?" He screamed between punches, oblivious to the hot moisture that ran off of his cheeks, tears that dripped from his face onto the brunette under him. "How could you...? You're better than that, Shinji!" Every shout was enunciated by another punch. Each one weakened in strength, each one fell less and less heavy on his friend, who he could not face for all the emotion the sight of him brought. "You're not a criminal! You're... you're not going to grow up and be like the scum they think we are!"

Every jab those children made... every taunt, every word that claimed they would grow up to live in the same poverty they were born into... every time Akihiko wondered if they were right, and every time he resolved to prove them wrong, to grow up and be successful, to be someone, just so he could look back and say, 'look at what I've become...'

He let go of the boy's collar. He stood up, let out another wail of anguish, and collapsed onto his knees no more than a foot away, covering his face to hide the tears that streamed so freely past them. How could he? How could he...?

Shinji was grimacing, bracing himself for another hit, but it never came. Akihiko had stopped. He sat up, stared for a single blank and horrified moment, and then walked on his knees to his sobbing friend and wrapped his arms around him. He felt something warm drip onto his hand. When he looked down, he saw... blood.

"A-Aki, I'm sorry-" Why was he apologizing? He didn't know. He was so confused. Everything had just happened so fast, he... "I didn't know... I didn't think about it..." His throat started to tighten. "J-Just stop crying, okay? I'll take it back! I... I don't wanna be a thief..."

Akihiko clutched back onto the brunette, burying his face against the boy's shoulder and wailing again. He saw the doll, dropped, its face half covered in dirt as it had been abandoned there upon his attacking Shinji. It was only amidst his own sobbing that he acknowledged he had brought Shinji to start crying, too. Why was Shinji crying? Why was... he crying? Still shaking, he let his arms fall back down to his sides, and when the older boy let him go just after, he sniffled and staggered back up to his feet.

Shinji stayed on his knees. His eyes were downcast, blank, and he held his hands out so that he could see them, almost mystified by the blood that dripped into his palm.

"Y-You're bleeding," Akihiko stammered. "...Are you okay?"

There was a throbbing silence that followed. Shinji shook again, then started to laugh. "You beat the crap out of me, and then ask me if I'm okay?" He pushed himself back up. It was hard, though. For some reason, his body suddenly felt like it was made of lead. "You're... you're such a dork, Aki. Why the hell..."

"I'm sorry." He fumbled out. "Just, everything those kids said..."

"I'm the one who should be sorry."

Akihiko couldn't much argue with that.

"I'm the one who stole this. I feel like an idiot. You're right... if I had taken this back to the orphanage, I'd... I'd be no better than what those kids said we'd be, huh..." Still, his companion was lost for words. He laughed again, self-depreciatingly, and picked up the doll, dusting the dirt off of it to return it to pristine condition. "I, uh... I should take this back."

"...I'll go with you," The younger finally managed to say.

Shinji's voice quivered as much as his smile. "...Thanks."

۞

Thirty minutes later, they were back on the train.

After he stopped his lip from bleeding, Shinji and Akihiko both mustered the courage to head back through the mall square and walk into the store. Both of them were shaking, and oddly cold; two steps inside and the woman at the desk could tell something was wrong by their vast change in demeanor. She took one glance at the toy that was in Shinji's hand and realized then that he had stolen it. Rather than thank them for bringing it back, they both fell under a harsh blow to the cheek each, and fled from the store with the woman's hand printed on the left side of their faces. They didn't stop until they reached the station. They got on, found the most secluded corner of the train they could, and huddled there in silence.

It rolled to life a few minutes later. Sitting there, it felt like an eternity. Akihiko had never taken such an explicit interest in the floor, in the patterns drawn there... he had never kept his eyes on the ground for so long. But his head felt heavy, like he couldn't look up even if he wanted to. Had all of that really happened? It felt like... a blur, now.

He brought a hand up to his cheek. It would have been easy to believe it hadn't happened if his cheek wasn't still stinging. "...She didn't have to hit me."

To his surprise, that made Shinji laugh. He looked up, trying to meet his friend's eyes. "You hit me enough for the two of us, without her adding to it."

Akihiko tried to laugh, too. ...It was hard. "You deserved it."

Silence befell them again. But Shinji shook his head, nursing his swollen lip in his mouth. In the end, all he could say was, "...I know."

Only ten minutes before they got back to Iwatodai. It was probably past dinner.

"Hey, um... I know this probably sounds weird, but... thanks."

Akihiko managed to sit himself up straight, his eyes curious.

"For keeping an eye on me, you know? Sticking me back in line." He forced another one of those humorless laughs. "That's my job, you know. Can't have you doing it for me."

The younger of them felt those tears press at his eyes again. "You're welcome."

"Just don't hit so hard next time, okay?"

"If you do it again, I'll hit you even harder."

"...Well, I guess I'd deserve that, too." He held a finger up to his lip and winced. The bleeding had died down, but it was still sore. "I won't like it, though."

Words failed between them after that. Neither of them could think of what to say to the other. They hopped off the train without any words, and walked all the way back to the orphanage, too. It was only when they walked through the front door that either one of them opened their mouth again, and it was Shinji, greeting Satoru as he left the eating room.

Concern came to his voice. "You two look exhausted. Something happen?"

"Nothing I feel like talkin' about," the brunette exhaled. He turned, beelining for the wash room where he could find something to help soothe his injury. "Sorry we're back a little late. We got back as soon as we could. Did you wake up Miki for dinner?"

"Yeah. She was worried about you guys."

"I'll go tell her we're here," Akihiko dragged himself into the next room. All things considered, he didn't have much of an appetite. He would be going to bed early that night. Just before he passed into the next room, he stopped, caught in mental limbo between whether to speak or not. He decided to. "Um... th-thanks, Sato-san."

"Hm?" The adult turned around from his direction to the sleeping room. "For what?"

"For... looking after Miki. A-And us," He wasn't sure what he was saying. Tonight had been weird. Maybe he needed that sleep more than he realized. "Thanks... for everything."

Maybe the first time in months, a wide and genuine smile came to the man's face.

"You're welcome, Aki. You're a pain in the ass sometimes," He paused and held his arms out, something that Akihiko hesitated at, but soon after walked over to accept, "but what kid isn't? ...I know I'm not your real Dad or nothin', but... you're my kid, whether you like it or not. I raised all of you, and you're all important to me. Don't you forget that."

Akihiko buried his face in Satoru's shirt, squeezing his eyes shut and resisting the urge to cry again. "...I won't. I'll never forget you, Sato-san."