“You sure do come here a lot. This may as well be your room.”

Watanabe muttered as such while we were inside the orphanage’s medical room. Though it’s a medical room, the appointed nurse has long since been laid off due to low funding. First aid equipment is kept away behind locked cabinets that only staff members have the keys to. When Watanabe spotted me walking over to the room with a crying Koko, he unlocked the cabinets.

“Maybe it should be then.”

“Really? You’re not opposed to it?”

Watanabe retrieves some cotton balls and dips them in a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He’s about to rub the cotton ball across Koko’s wound before I interrupt him.

“Rubbing alcohol can do more harm than good.”

He gives me a silent stare before discarding the cotton balls.

“What should I do then, all-knowing Dr. Sano Riku?”

“Just wash the wounds with cold water and soap.”

“Geez, not going to even retort to that?”

Watanabe then turns on the sink inside the room and motions for Koko to step forward. However, she only stares at him motionlessly with a look of fear.

“He’s not going to hurt you.”

“B, but…”

“Just follow him if you want to get better.”

With my insistence, she hesitantly trots forward and makes her way towards him. Watanabe grabs her right arm and runs it under the running tap, making sure to apply a light amount of soap as well. After finishing her right arm, he pats the area with a dry towel before repeating the process with her other arm, her knees, her shins, and so on. After finishing with Koko, he does the same to me. Watanabe then grabs some bandage wrap and covers our exposed wounds.

Koko and I each lay down on a separate bed, allowing us to rest for a bit as Watanabe puts everything away and relocks the cabinets. Koko finally stops crying as well.

“Well then, see ya later. Try not to get yourself killed, Riku.”

Done with the necessary procedures, Watanabe promptly exits the room, leaving Koko and I alone. Koko’s line of sight shifts towards me, seeming to have something she wants to say. However, she remains quiet and only continues to stare at me. Complete silence fills the room, where sometimes Koko would open her mouth for a brief moment before closing it back up, seeming to retract whatever she was about to say.

After a few minutes of Koko seeming hesitant about speaking her mind, I decide to initiate the conversation.

“Got something you want to say?”

Koko silently fidgets for a few brief seconds before answering.

“T, thank...you…”

That’s a lot of hesitance for a simple sentence. What happened to all that confidence she had when she was carrying that stick?
“For what?”

Koko tenses up, forcing out a few words.

“F, for...being with me.”

“Few people thank others for something like that.”

Koko averts her gaze for a brief moment before speaking with a tinge of shame.

“Nobody wants to...be with me.”
Come to think of it, nobody seemed to approach us as we were walking towards the medical room, not even the younger kids. I thought that was just because of our injuries, but perhaps it’s because of Koko.

Koko remains silent for a few seconds, hesitant on what to say, before asking me a question.

“...Promise not to hate me after what I will say.”

“I don’t make promises.”

Koko responds with a look of surprise before staring at the floor and continuing anyway.

“The other kids tell me that...my parents left me, they didn’t want me, and it’s because I’m worthless.”

This seems like a typical case of bullying. The ones in power single out an individual and treat them harshly. The others will go along with it and do the same in fear of them being targeted instead.

Koko begins to cry yet again, sobbing as tears begin to fall down to the sheet of her bed.

“Sano, am I worthless?”

“I just met you. How am I supposed to know?”

Obviously not comforted by my words, Koko’s sobs turn into wails. In response, I cover my ears, not wanting her bawling to reach me. After a few minutes, Koko quiets down and stops crying, though still saddened.

“My parents left me in a basket. They abandoned me. Sometimes I wonder why they did it. Sometimes...I wonder if I really am worthless…”

Being left to an orphanage doesn’t always mean that the parents didn’t want their child. In many cases, there are other factors at play like income, home environment safety, court orders, and so on. Anything can happen. After all, I ended up here by killing my own parents.

"Alright then, fine. You’re worthless. Whatever you say."

“Whatever...I say?”

I give Koko a quick glare before explaining what I mean.

“The ego is mostly defined and perpetuated by what one thinks of themselves as.”

“Huh…? What?”

Koko stares at me in confusion, seemingly unable to comprehend what I’m saying. Noticing that, I make a brief sigh before rephrasing it. I suppose I did make it a bit too wordy for a five year old.

“You are what you think you are.”

Upon hearing those words, Koko’s eyes widen. A minute of more silence passes with Koko seeming to contemplate something. Suddenly, she looks up with a face of determination and clenches her fist.

"No, I don't want to be worthless...I will be stronger. Stronger than anyone else so that nobody will bully me anymore. And then...I will be strong enough to make good appear in this world."

I let out another sigh in response to her naive thoughts.

"Well, good luck with that, Ms. Hero."

"Thank you, Sano."

“I didn't mean that as a compliment.”

This girl does not understand sarcasm.

After a couple minutes, Koko falls asleep. Seeing her silently napping, I check the time to find that lunch is almost ready. I promptly get off of my bed and head out the door so that I can grab some food while there’s still some left.

 

I begin to walk back to my room carrying a bowl of rice and some soup while ignoring my aching body. Along the way, I hear a passing conversation from two staff members talking amongst each other.

“Hey, can you fill out the usual forms?”

“What for?”

“Some newlyweds just called. The woman’s infertile or something like that. They decided to adopt one of the kids here.”

“Alright sure, send me the information.”

Hmm, it seems like a couple’s coming to visit at some point. Though, many people who visit return home empty-handed, so perhaps this means nothing.

Once in my room, I close the door, shut the curtains, and make sure that nobody’s around to spectate me. After confirming the lack of anyone present, I remove all of the bandages on my body and toss them into the trash. I then close my eyes to concentrate on sensing the surges of darkness around me. As a couple of seconds pass, I begin to feel a grasp, a slight tug on my palms.

I open my eyes to find floating obsidian-colored mists resting on both of my hands. The mists soon elongate themselves and wrap around my arms like vines. They reach my shoulders, then my torso, abdomen, legs, and finally my feet. The mists then sink into the open scuffs and tears on my body, disappearing entirely as if stuffing themselves into my open wounds. Within a few moments, the mist within my wounds rapidly transform into flesh until soon enough, there’s no longer any trace of an injury.

With the last of the wounds gone, I take a look in the mirror to reaffirm the condition of my body. I wipe away some of the dust and cobwebs covering the mirror surface to get a clearer view.

My short, black hair is accompanied by dark brown eyes to match them. I'm currently wearing a standard t-shirt and a pair of casual shorts. My height is above the median compared to other boys of the same age in the orphanage, but I suspect that's more to do with the others being underfed rather than me being naturally taller. Overall, my looks seem to be average, perhaps below-average, in relation to this world's beauty standards so far. On a superficial level, I amount to no more than a mere background character, an extra.

Though, that's actually a blessing for me. With an inconspicuous appearance like this, I won't stand out amongst a crowd. The last thing I need is to be confronted with something, or someone, that will drag me into some tedious situation. I'll leave such annoying affairs and whatnot to other people, the so-called heroes and villains of this world.

That being said, it seems that there's more to this world than meets the eye. The incident at the Yami Library gives me the suspicion that certain forces are lurking behind the scenes, perhaps related to that Vainglory person the cult mentioned. In other words, this Earth-like world may not be as peaceful as it seems. That being the case, I should keep a close eye on anything that seems off and stay away from trouble. For now, I’ll just eat my lunch though.

After taking a nap out of boredom, I wake up and check the time to find that it seems I overslept. It’s already half past seven. Dinner had begun about an hour and a half ago at this point, so I head down to the cafeteria to see if there’s any food available, though such a thing would be unlikely. As I walk over there, I pass by the medical room once more, only to find that it’s now empty. It seems that Koko woke up at some point and left the room to do whatever a five year old does.

Once reaching the cafeteria, I find that the entire place is quite barren, both in terms of food and people. It seems that I was too late to grab something to eat. Most of the kids who are there early will just take the food and scurry towards some secluded location so that they can eat in peace. In some cases, the rowdy ones, especially the older kids, will try to occupy the cafeteria to monopolize the meals, just like this morning. Watanabe will notice if they do it too often and shoo them away though.

Seeing the usual lack of food resources, I turn around and change my destination. As I continue walking, the hallways grow more vacant. I eventually stop at a locked door labeled “Staff Only”. I hold my ear to the door and listen for any sounds coming from within the room. After hearing nothing but silence for about a minute, I conjure a modest, unsolidified amount of darkness on the tip of my finger. I stick the moldable darkness into the door’s keyhole and then instantly solidify it, turning it into a makeshift key. As I turn my finger around clockwise, the doorknob makes a clicking sound. Now unlocked, I dispel the darkness, open the door, and enter the room.

As expected, the room is currently empty. Inside stands a few tables, chairs, a water dispenser, and a couple vending machines as well. This is the staff break room for the orphanage, a place normally locked away to keep the kids out.

I walk over to a vending machine with various goods on display and reach into the flap-door near the bottom. I then conjure darkness to form an elongated, claw-shaped extension on my arm to extend my reach. With this, I snag a granola bar and a pack of instant ramen.

After retrieving my loot, I walk over to an adjacent vending machine for beverages. I reach into this vending machine as well, but halt when I realize something.

“The cola’s sold out...”

While clicking my tongue, I decide to make do with a bottle of water instead and reach for that. Now with something to eat and drink, I munch and sip in silence before tossing away the remaining packaging. After I’m finished, I make sure to lock the door once more before exiting the break room.

As I walk back to my room, I meet Watanabe once more along the way. He greets me with his hands behind his back.

“Hey Riku, about that girl you were with this morning...”

“Ueda Koko?”

“Yeah, her.”

“What about her? And why are your hands behind your back?”

“If you see her again, give this to her. Make sure to do it before the end of the day. Time-sensitive stuff and whatnot.”

Watanabe brings forward his right hand to reveal that he’s holding a sealed letter with nothing but the name “Koko” written on the envelope.

“Isn’t this supposed to be your job?”

Watanabe shrugs before answering in a nonchalant manner.

“I tried looking around a bit, but I can’t find her. Besides, I’m a busy man with things to do, so I’ll leave it to you.”

“By things to do, you mean smoking a cigarette? I refuse.”

He chuckles for a bit, as if expecting me to respond in this way.

“I have some actual important business to take care of. Hear me out. If you agree, I’ll give you this...”

Watanabe then brings forward his left hand to reveal a bottle of cola.

“This here’s the last cola in the break room’s vending machine.”

“...Geez, the day’s almost over already."

"Is that a yes?"

I grab both the cola and letter from Watanabe, stuffing the latter object into my pocket.

"Consider it done."

"Perfect, I'll see you around then."

Watanabe turns around and exits the scene, not before leaving some parting words though.

“By the way, she’s probably nowhere near the orphanage.”

…That sly fox. He set me up. In that case, I may need to use some abnormal means to find Koko’s whereabouts.

I close my eyes and concentrate on the image of Koko’s shadow. After a few straining moments, I picked up a signal coming from afar. It seems that Koko has left the orphanage venue. Interesting.

This is an ability I managed to naturally acquire recently while my darkness is in the process of accustoming itself with my body. By focusing on a specific shadow, such as the shadow of Koko, I can trace where it is. However, this is limited to shadows I’ve come into contact with before. In the case of Koko, I came across her shadow this morning outside.

My current body’s grasp on darkness has been progressing smoothly. I can now perform a modest variety of tasks with them, including a form of self-healing. In addition, I can still conjure darkness to take the form of solid matter, just like I could before, but now I can create more complex shapes. The darkness still must remain affixed to some part of my body though. It shouldn’t be too long before the rest of my darkness-related abilities appear, probably no more than ten years.

Now with an idea of where Koko is, I walk along the hallway until I reach a door labeled “Emergency exit, alarm will ring”. I grab the handle and open the door, upon which...nothing happens. Some of the emergency exits in the orphanage just don’t work, and the staff either doesn’t know or doesn’t care. Some of the kids have picked up on this and have been using these broken doors to sneak out of the orphanage for periods of time. Of course, there are countless other ways to sneak out, but this method is the most convenient. The staff won’t notice someone’s absence for quite a long time. I believe the record for the longest a kid’s been away without being noticed is a whole three days.

Now that I’m outside, I walk across a grassy path to reach the main road. Surveying my surroundings, it seems that there are no cars or pedestrians around. With the location of Koko’s shadow in my mind, I travel towards her location while holding the bottle of cola in my hand and keeping the letter in my pocket.

 

Following the direction of Koko's shadow leads me to a relatively close neighborhood. This particular section of town is quite familiar to me for some reason. It takes me a minute before realizing that this is the neighborhood where I spent my early infancy. In other words, the neighborhood where Haruka and Yuma Nakamura lived.

I soon enter a part of the block that's eerily quiet and vacant. Not a sound or sight of life could be found. Street lamps are on, but barely shining. It's almost as if I've entered a ghost town.

After a minute or so, I hear a rustling up ahead. I encase myself with some darkness aura in order to blend into the night and continue traversing on foot. Sneaking closer, I begin to make out the figure of something in the distance.

The figure is composed of a black mass, similar to my darkness aura. It stands on four "legs" and features a jagged head with a giant snout. It sort of resembles a wolf, a wolf without any fur, eyes, or a tail that is. Despite it only being about the size of a domestic cat, a sinister aura extrudes from the creature. Nonetheless, I sense a certain... familiarity with the thing. Perhaps this creature is a fellow being of the darkness.

Whatever it is, it isn't organic.

It’s walking in the same direction I need to follow to find Koko, effectively blocking the way. As I inch closer to observe it, it suddenly halts and turns around, shifting its attention to me as if it could sense my presence.

Now that’s strange. I’m concealing myself with darkness. It seems that this thing may have some means of detecting my darkness.

The creature opens its mouth as if to roar, only to reveal a tongue-like appendage with a solid, pointed tip jutting out from its mouth. This appendage is made up of dark matter, the same kind that I can conjure. Sensing danger, I jump out of the way in an attempt to dodge the attack. However, in the process, the creature’s appendage happens to make contact with something else and pierces through. As the creature retracts its spear-like “tongue”, I hear the splash of a liquid as it plummets to the floor. I raise my left hand to glance at the cola bottle, or rather the top-half of the bottle. The bottom-half is lying on the floor with a puddle of its contents.

I don't have time for this.

Noticing that the creature is readying for another attack, I toss the remains of the bottle aside and conjure darkness, gathering it to my right hand. The darkness hardens and takes the form of a spear. Unlike the bamboo spear-like shape I made as an infant, this one has an actual spearhead this time. In addition, I conjure darkness to my left hand, forming a shapeless, unsolidified aura for now.

The creature attempts to stab at me with its appendage once more, but I expect the attack this time and step aside, dodging with the narrowest margin possible. Before the creature can retract its tongue, I grab it with my left hand, making sure to avoid the pointed tip, and solidify the darkness accumulating in that hand. The creature's tongue, now encased with my left hand in a hunk of solid dark matter, attempts to retract its tongue, but cannot overcome my grasp of it.

This creature seems rather lightweight. I can take advantage of that though.

With the creature now in my clutches, I vigorously yank the tongue, forcing it closer to me as if it was a fish caught on a fishing line. As it approaches, I ready the spear in my right hand and thrust it through the neck area.

The creature lets out a silent hiss before dissolving away. In just a few moments, its entire body vanishes as if it had never existed.

Huh, no blood, guts, or anything.

Surprisingly, the spear sliced through as if the creature was made of butter. How odd. Perhaps that creature was just extremely frail.

And here I thought I would be the only one in this world who could utilize darkness. Just what was that thing anyways? It seems like this world is not as average as I thought.

Anyways, with the nuisance now gone, I decide to resume my walk and head towards Koko's location.

I didn’t even get one sip of that cola, and it was the last one.