Part 4

"Of grave importance is the balance of happiness and sadness in the journey of life. And since that balance is verified by God, be assured, there is no discrepancy."

-Shiroyama Seniichi, The AoF storyteller

[9th of December, 1997; 7:00 hrs]

[Private Orphanage "Children's Hope", Taketomi, Okinawa Prefecture]

Winter mornings here in Taketomi are rather addictive. I can see the still powerless sun, up in the sky, trying to radiate itself to the extreme, but it's effect is not as effective as in summer. The sunlight is able to brighten up the place, but it is proving inefficient to counter this freezing breeze, which pierces through the entire village like a sole tiger walking through the woods, and striking all the identifiable targets that lie in its way. Though the clock ticks at seven, I can still not see the post box of our orphanage which is just beyond this garden. To think the fog is still so thick that such closely located things are blurred to figure out. Looks like the birds living on these trees are still holed up inside their nests, and I cannot see the squirrel that lives under the side wooden platform of the backyard. Do squirrels hibernate? I wonder if they do. Lucky them! I wish I could also hole myself up inside my warm kotatsu for these four months without any worry in the world. But, human life is not that carefree, you know?

"Shishio, have you woken up the kids or not? They will get late for school...."

.....

"Shishio....Oi.....honestly, this brat...."

What the heck is he doing? Did I not tell you to wake up the kids when they have to go to school? If they get late..........OH....WAIT......you can only wake up the kids when you first wake up your own fucking self, right? I seriously do not understand as to why he does not wake up on school days with the same vigor as he does on leave days. That goddamn band! As if that huge ass guitar was not enough to annoy me, now he even calls his friends over! All they do is prick those guitar strings and bang those drums into some "out of a horror movie" shriek, and call it MUSIC!!!! If the God of music was watching them, he would have descended down on them with a punishment! If "music" was an actual person instead of an abstract entity, they would have committed suicide by touching some random live wire. And don't even get me started on the name of their band – "Symphonies of Youth". MY ASS! That horrid howling is symphony?? They better change it to "Noise pollution by Brats" or something. I mean, my mind went literally blank when Shishio told me this name with that smug look on his face. That look on his face made me almost cry......where did I go wrong with my brother?? Well, the worst part of it is that they are not making any advances towards improvement either.

"Shishio!!! Get your ass up!"

I bang through the brown sliding door of his room, which has been adorned with a cute looking tiger drawing, and inside the mouth of the tiger are the words – "Entry of personnel with unhealthy intentions is strictly prohibited." What the heck is up with this clearly stupid sign?

Ah! There he is.....lying under his tiger blanket, with his face inside as well. How many times have I told him to not put his face inside the blanket? Shishio's room is a rather peculiar one. In a sense, it is quite different than a normal high school student's room. The thing is, this brother of mine, has an almost disgusting obsession with tigers. He rejected a person who confessed to him back in first year of high school because she said that an elephant can beat a tiger in a fight. I mean, isn't it obvious? And how much of morons do they need to be to lead the confession into discussions of an inter animal battle? And they even exchanged fists for that! Seriously!

Anyone can see his craziness by looking at the state of his room.....the walls are covered with black and yellow stripes, the floor mat with a similar pattern. On the floor, I can see the "Flying Tiger" manga, all the thirty four volumes lined up neatly in the right corner. His bed, he actually modified it to look like a tiger's paws put together, by adding those spike shaped cardboards representing the claws. The blanket is covered with cute tiger faces, heck, even the potato chips on the study table are the "bold tiger" flavor! Do they really sell that shit? Like, why? Who buys them? Oh....there is the buyer, dozing off in his pajamas printed with tiger paws.

"Hey! I said get up.....it's already seven! Don't you have school? And we also have to wake up the kids. They need to go to school too! Hurry up!!"

"......."

"SHISHIO!!!"

".....Ugh....wat?? Just five more minutes.....actually make them fifty....."

"Fufu...So you will not listen like this, huh?"

Ok. When you have to remove a tree, aim for the root. Let me see how will you sleep without that blanket!

"H-H-HEEEYYY!!! SIS!!!! STOOOOOOP! Don't take it away.........Uuuwaaaah..."

"Are you seriously crying over a blanket at this age?? Get up and ready yourself!!!"

Shishio clings to the blanket from the other side as we engage in a usual game of tug-of-war with it, eventually this will lead him getting dragged by me all the way to the front corridor. Honestly, every winter day is like this!

"Shiori-san. Any problem?"

In front of me is a woman in her late twenties, in a housemaid uniform, with a white one piece extending up to her shins, and a red apron on top. She has a rather cute face, but if you look at closely, you can feel a certain aura of diligence and a sense of responsibility. This person here, is Tomoe Marika-san, and has been with us since she was a toddler. She is, unfortunately, an orphan our father found when she was out to a trip in some village. She was raised at the orphanage, and after she reached adulthood, she stayed with us as a helper to the Kogasaki family, owing to her affection towards my parents. I remember her locking herself up in her room when my mom died. She did not eat for two days straight, and did not respond to any conversation either. In a sense, her grief was no less that Shishio or me. She was in a similar situation at my dad's demise, where she bawled her eyes out the funeral ceremony. Now that I think about it, her way of reacting at my father's demise was quite contrary to her way of reacting to my mother's demise. I wonder why.

"Marika-chaaaan!!!!!!!"

"Shishio-san!! W-wait a second please!! Don't just hug me out of the blue!"

"Sis is being mean to me, and that too, right in the morning!"

" 'Sis is being mean' my ass! And don't cling to her like a leech! Go and prepare yourself for school! I will go wake up the kids meanwhile...."

"Oh, Shiori-san, I already woke them up......"

"Heyyy!!!! That is my pencil, give it back this instant!"

"As if! This is mine! Don't lie!"

What the heck? I rush to the resting hall, followed by Marika-san, located towards the far end of the corridor, where the kids sleep for the night. Have they started fighting again??

"Hey-hey, stop it right now!!"

I separated the two twerps, dressed in their pajamas with polka dots, with a little force as they were tugging on each other's collars. And the other kids, as usual, are cheering for either side. I give a look at the object that was in the centre of this brawl, a rather cute looking pencil which I gave as a present to them, lying on the floor like some abandoned dog. Did you guys get so absorbed in your fighting that you actually forgot about it or something? Though it is partly my fault in the first place that I gave them similar looking pencils as presents, but still.....

"Kakeru, Misaki, you guys ever heard of PEACE?"

"Sensei!!!! It is Misaki's fault! She took my pencil that you gifted me, and now claims it as her own! How wrong is that!"

I see this young man raging rather intensely at Misaki. Woah, are you that angry? Sato Kakeru is a six year old and a rather bold kid. His orange coloured natural hair is rather symbolic of his short temperament. Never letting any loopholes open, huh? You sure are the type that wants it all, right?

"He's lying!! He is the one who took the pencil as his own when it is actually mine!!!!"

That said, it's not like Yuuki Misaki is any different. This young woman of six, yes, the same age as Kakeru, suffers with temperature issues too. Other than her silky black hair, her and Kakeru are so similar, that it almost scares me when I think about it.

"Okay, okay ~ let us ask the others......one by one, all right? Then, Tomoya!"

The oldest kid in the orphanage, Tomozaki Tomoya, is a boy of eight, with brown shining hair, as if it is some shiny accessory gifted from God, and is a potential popularity among the ladies in the future. I don't know why, but all the girls and young ladies visiting us, including mine and Shishio's friends, all take a common interest in Tomoya. I mean, I know he is adorable, but to have such popularity at this age, he can make even older people jealous. And I admit, I am one of those "older people". Yeah, laugh all you want, but not everyone is blessed with popularity.

"I think the pencil belongs to Misaki, because she was the one holding onto it while sleeping, you know...."

"Oi Tomoya!! Don't lie so shamefully, you traitor!!"

"Shut up!! You are the one who stole my pencil. Now that Tomoya has justified it, it is all the more clear......"

"Haah?? Are you sleep-talking or something?? Tomoya supports you because you play with him, that's all....Yui, you tell them!"

This makes everyone direct our eyes to the most shy kid in our family, Okinawa Yuika, or 'Yui' for short. She is a seven year old girl with blond hair, which almost looks like a foreigner's, despite the fact that she was raised and brought up in Japan. I have been teaching her to talk to other people with confidence, but she has a habit of holding back too much. Apart from the people at the orphanage, she cannot really talk to anyone for a considerable period of time. Her longest measured record of holding a conversation was two minutes and 24 seconds, with our postman.

"I.....I think....I think it belongs to Ka – Eek!"

She suddenly let out a shriek as she notices Misaki glaring at her with killing intent.

"Misaki!! Why are you glaring at her when she is speaking the truth!! Learn to face the truth........"

'Learn to face the truth'......hohoho....since when was Kakeru this mature with words? I will have to look into the kinds of anime and books he interacts with. That line is straight out of some psychological plot, from the scene where a character looses someone precious to them and is still unable to accept their death, right?

"I-I am glaring because she is lying!"

"Huh! As if! How do you know she is lying??? The only liar here is you and Tomoya!"

"W-we are not liars! And she is lying because.....because she likes you!!!"

Ok. Stop. Please do not confuse this 'like' with romance.

"I-I like you too, Misaki...."

"Haaahh?? You-you like me?? T-that is so creepy!! I don't have interest in girls, you know......"

HMM?

HMM???

HMM?????

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND. WAS SHE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT ROMANCE?? How the fuck does this brat who came into the world just six fucking years ago know about romance and the types of 'likes'? Now I seriously have to look into their interactions and interests. What the heck is happening behind my back??

"No....i-i-i-i-i-i-i-it-it-it-it is not t-t-t-t-t-that k-k-k-k-kind of l-l-l-l-l-like!!!!!!!!"

Oh, Yui's face right now is a one that can be used to earn money just by putting up an exhibition.....I can see her cheeks beet red up till her ears, as she is trying to look down, with her head tilted a bit sideways. That.....is really cute. Too much for us to handle. But seriously, you also know about romance?? Are kids these days too advanced? At this age, I was still thinking why I can't pee standing up.....and here they are, getting all romantic and disgusted in the same discussion. Isn't this the age where you trade pokemon with each other? Okay, time to put a stop to this brawl.....

"Sensei, sensei - ", I see two cuties, one of them tugging at my skirt. They are the twins of our orphanage, both five year olds – Yokikawa Aoi and Yokikawa Makoto. With their shiny brownish hair, it seems as if they are shadows of each other. They are a rather close pair of siblings, but often they are divided in opinions.

"I think Kakeru is saying the truth...."

"No, Misaki is saying the truth......"

All right, so Aoi is with Misaki, Makoto being with Kakeru. Woah, the match has become 3-3.

"W-we were sleeping so we don't know....."

The voice belongs to Shinohara Kirika, the second youngest member of the orphanage, four years in age, and probably the second cutest too. She is an eye candy, with her long hair up to the waist, neatly done and left to hang, and I have to agree, it goes very well with her dark brown eyes. Seriously, kids this cute are of SS rarity. Hiding behind her is our mascot, Satoshi Kazuya, the youngest creature in the family, and the winner of any cuteness contest held in the minds of the people who visit us. There is some unusual attraction between Kirika and Kazuya, which at first glance, is heartwarming, but a bit suspicious. Just kidding....

"Okay, so none of you actually knows as to who does that pencil belong to, right?"

"It belongs to me!!!", Kakeru shouts with confidence.

"As if!! Sensei, don't trust him, he is lying, it belongs to me!!" Misaki is not backing off either.

"Okay, okay ~ Let us resolve this issue tonight. For now, you all need to go to pre-school....Oh! And when you come back home, I have a big surprise for all of you!!!"

"SURPRISE???!!!" Woah, all in unison. You all sure get united when it comes to interesting things.

"Are you buying ush toysh??" Apparently, Kazuya can only think of toys. And he still has not learnt to speak fluently, though that is as cute as it can get.

"Are you taking us out somewhere??" Aoi and Makoto speak up almost simultaneously. Seriously, how much the two of you love to go out?

"No, I think she is going to give us a party.....an all you can eat ice cream party..." Kakeru sure is a fan of ice cream. But do you really think you will get an ice cream party from me in this month of December? HELL NO.

"Okay okay....now stop.....all of you get ready for school....surprise is scheduled after you all come back."

That said, let us now look forward to Tatsuya and company.

[9th of December, 1997; 12:54 hrs]

DIIING......

I rush to the door as I hear the bell, leaving my sewing kit behind. I will have to attend the door, as everyone, including Marika-san, is out. Honestly, I cannot wait to see Tatsuya....

"TATSUYA!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome!!!!!!" I wrap my arms around my old friend with plenty of excitement. He sure has grown pale, huh? I did not think that he would become this skinny in just a span of few years. Though he is looking good in his yellow jacket and trousers, as if resembling the sun.

"Sh-Shiori!! H-hey calm down!! And get off me!!"

I can feel a sharp, piercing glare, filled with rage and jealousy, directed at me, coming from behind of Tatsuya. A beautiful woman, seemingly in her twenties, with long hair upto her waist, almost similar to that of Kirika, is staring daggers at me. She is in a normal attire, with a pink sweater and a blue, long skirt up to her ankle. Though she is beautiful, but just like Tatsuya, she looks pale to a fault. Woah, who is she? Could it be, Hitomi-san??? Way to go, dude! You scored yourself a beauty, didn't you? But it is not that surprising, as Tatsuya is no less in the beauty department compared to her. Anyways, they look compatible.

Just behind her, there is a little girl, almost same age as Kazuya, who is hiding behind her mother. She has rather short hair, which are well kept, and is wearing a red cardigan and a short skirt with leggings. Is that Haruka? Kyaa! So cute.....

Now I take a look at the creature in Hitomi-san's hands, a cuddled up being, covered in a thin blanket, just enough to protect him from cold. I cannot make out his face, but his body is so small that Hitomi-san's arm lap is a space enough for him to take turns and crawl on his back. The light from the sun, as it falls on his body, and reaches my eyes, gives me a view of his figure, which I am trying my best to describe. The creature is staring at the sky, as if it is a toy within his reach, as if he will just be able to reach it by extending his hands, as if he knows his own purpose in life. He constantly looks around, probably to make an assessment of his surroundings, and to accept every entity that lies in his field of vision. Because this assessment and this desire of acceptance is what will enable him to live through, what lies ahead of him in life. Truly, it is a confusing state to have a look at him! Which emotion should I let myself get dominated by right now? Should it be pity? Should it be surprise? Should it be appreciation? Or should it be grief? My mind is not working, my heart is ignoring my question as to what I should feel on seeing him like this.

"W-Welcome, all of you!" as I direct them inside the orphanage towards the guest room.

***

Chapter 1, Part 4 extra(A): Kadenokoji Tatsuya's PoV

[9th of December, 1997; 13:04 hrs]

I am currently sitting in Shiori's house-cum-orphanage, sipping on the tea she brought for us just now. Hitomi-san and Haruka have gotten rather close to her, huh? And him too. Shiori has got a talent for socializing, I have to agree. She has always been like that, being able to talk to anyone and please them with her charming personality. It is as if she has a personality like fireflies, radiating brightness.

But those same fireflies who radiate light, are also the ones to die after they have exhausted themselves of their brightness, right? I am rather worried about Shiori, you know.

"Okay then, we will take our leave now" Hitomi-san says with an intent to escape.

Well, I can relate to her. To try the route of 'escape from complexities' is what makes us living beings, after all. That said, Shiori is a bit different. She got close with that boy quickly, and now, he has readily exchanged his arm laps from ours to that of Shiori's. We talked all about the details, and as expected, I did not have to go through any legal questioning, Shiori being my friend after all. It is rightly said – Sometimes even friendship with a rodent can save yourself. Isn't friendship a convenient tool? All we need is to do it with apparent passion, and exercise it with extreme caution.

"Huh? You all will leave so early? I wanted to play with Haruka-chan a bit more....."

"Don't act spoiled, Shiori......We have to catch the train back, so allow us to take our leave."

"Boo-boo......so stingy.....okay.....but visit again, all right?"

Pfft. "Visit again"???? Good one. It has been a long since I laughed inside my mind. Why would a criminal visit a jail? Why would a rabbit visit a lion's den? Visiting you again means certain harm to me and my family.

As we moved out of the orphanage, I GOT A THUNDERBOLT ON MY HEAD. Though it was expected when I think about it calmly now, though how I figured it out is a story for another time. Want to know what happened as we were moving out of the gate?

Well, as Hitomi-san and Haruka moved out of the main gate, leaving me inside to say farewell to my dear Shiori, she said something to me as I turned my back towards her to leave.

"Tatsuya...."

"Hmm?"

"Love you."

"Likewise."

"That boy is your son, right?"

!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

AS I TURNED AROUND WITH A HORRIFIED JOLT, ALL SHE SAID WAS – "I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIM. BE HAPPY WITH YOUR FAMILY."

*********