Umi blinked, looking at Reina with a mix of surprise and curiosity. “Reina-chan, do you understand Algebra?”

Reina nodded. “A little bit. It’s not as fun as the fantasy books though.” She then displayed a quizzical expression, with a hint of worry. “Am I not supposed to understand it?”

Umi chuckled, patting Reina’s head. “Normally, no, but it’s not a bad thing. It just means that you’re much smarter than other kids your age.”

Reina smiled with a tinge of red on her cheeks, taking another bite of the food.

After thinking for a couple seconds, Umi spoke. “Reina-chan, this is important. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean that you need to force yourself to do it, okay? If you rather read fantasy books, then read those and enjoy yourself.”

Reina swallowed her food and licked her lips, nodding. “Okay.”

Umi smiled and patted Reina’s head once more.

As Asahi watched their interaction, he looked at Reina, then at Umi. ‘She’s great. She reminds me of how Fumiko’s parents seem to have handled the fact that she was gifted.’

Seeing that Reina was happily focused on thoroughly enjoying the food, and how Asahi was discreetly looking at her, she looked at Asahi and silently mouthed two words. “Thank you.”

Asahi simply replied with a nod and a smile.

During the rest of their lunch, they talked about the books that Reina liked to read, the anime that she liked to watch and etc.

As they closed the bento boxes, Umi spoke. “Did you like the food Reina-chan?”

Reina yawned, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, it was really yummy.”

Umi caressed Reina’s back. “Do you want to take a nap?”

Reina looked at Umi, then at Asahi, clearly conflicted. “No, I’m fine.”

Asahi patted Reina’s head. “It’s okay if you need a nap, I still have some work to do. How about you take a nap while I finish over there, and I tell you another story after? I promise that I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Reina smiled, visibly tired. “Okay.”

Asahi nodded, smiling, then looked at Umi. “You can go take her to bed, I’ll clean up.”

Umi muffled a giggle. “Thank you. Come, Reina-chan, I’ll tuck you in.”

She then picked Reina up, who was hugging Haruka with one arm and holding onto Umi with the other.

As they left, Asahi realized the reason for Umi’s muffled giggle. ‘Fuck, I just sounded like a husband talking to his wife about their daughter.’

He then shook his head, chuckling. ‘Maybe in ten years or so, who knows?’

With a smile, he cleaned everything and took the bento boxes and water bottles to the kitchen, not forgetting to compliment and thank the cooks for the food.

 

Outside the building, there were groups siting around foldable tables, who had just finished their meals.

Asahi’s group was sitting at one of the foldable tables, with one empty chair.

As he approached, Fumiko spoke. “Asahi, this is Chika, Keisuke’s friend.”

Asahi smiled, sitting beside Mayumi. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

Chika smiled brightly. “Nice to meet you too.”

Mayumi grabbed his arm, smiling mischievously. “We were told you were having lunch with the owner. When is your first date?”

Asahi chuckled. “Technically I was having lunch with a cute little girl who was feeling sad. I asked Murata-san to join us so they could bond a bit.”

Mayumi gave him a light kiss. “Aren’t you sweet.”

He smiled, brushing his nose against hers, before he initiated another light kiss.

However, the moment was interrupted by Tomoe as she looked at Asahi. “You know, you would make a fortune as a host.”

Asahi and Mayumi started chortling mid kiss.

While Chika and Keisuke were blushing from the display of affection, Fumiko raised her left eyebrow. “I don’t disagree, but that was really random. What prompted you to say that?”

Tomoe shrugged. “Nothing, just noticing how he treats you two. That combined with his looks and charisma, he’d make a killing.”

Asahi laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment, but I’m good. I earn more than enough already as a writer.”

Tomoe nodded. “Yeah, I figured as much when I saw your car. Still, it’s nice to have a backup plan.”

Meanwhile, Mayumi was closely looking at him, biting her lower lip, lost in thought.

Noticing that, Fumiko smirked, looking at Asahi, and nodded towards Mayumi.

When Asahi saw the look in Mayumi’s eyes, he lightly shoved her face. “Okay you little pervert, stop it.”

Mayumi laughed. “What? I didn’t even say anything.”

Chika, Keisuke and Tomoe, with no context whatsoever, had no idea what Mayumi was actually thinking.

Fumiko chuckled. “How about we all go to an arcade after we’re done here?” She then looked at Asahi and Mayumi. “I mentioned it a couple times, but there’s a really good one nearby. The fighting game scene is quite prominent here, so we’ll have actual competition there.”

Asahi nodded, smiling. “That would be awesome.”

Mayumi displayed an excited smile. “I’m in, let’s go kick some butt.”

Chika sighed. “Sorry, but I can’t go. I have a ton of schoolwork to do.”

Keisuke nodded. “Me too.”

Tomoe groaned. “Argh, don’t even remind me. I have two papers to write.”

Fumiko shrugged. “I always tell you to do the assignments the day they’re given, so things like this won’t happen.”

Asahi smiled warmly at the sight of that interaction. Although they weren’t anything special to most people, it was something that he never had in his life. Watching those moments between Fumiko and her family did make him a bit envious, but for the most part, he felt good for even being able to witness it.

He got up and started to pile up the empty bento boxes and collect the empty water bottles. “I’ll take this to the kitchen and help with the cleaning. You all can go ahead and start painting; I’ll be there in a bit.”

As he was grabbing Fumiko’s empty bento box, she gently pulled him in for a light kiss. “Don’t force yourself to do too much, okay?”

He smiled. “I won’t.”

Once he left, the group started to fold the chairs and table to put them away.

 

Asahi offered to help the three cooks with the cleanup, which they gladly accepted. During the time he spent helping them, they made small talk asking things about him, which he had no problem answering.

He also noticed that the more talkative of the three, the one who had greeted him before, was visibly containing herself to not openly flirt with him. Fortunately, she maintained her professionalism.

Normally he wouldn’t mind it, but his mind wasn’t at the proper place for it.

Thanks to his help, the cleanup was finished quite quickly. As soon as it was done, he went to the storage room to grab one of the retractable paint rollers he had previously put away, alongside with more paint.

He then went to the back of the main building, where the playground was located, with sort of a small park surrounding it.

There were several children playing, with caretakers watching them.

Asahi started to help his friends, while matching their rhythm. During that time, Chika asked many questions about how it was to go to college in Tokyo and their experiences. She seemed very interested in going there, which visibly worried Keisuke, since he was a year younger.

Although Asahi noticed all sorts of things regarding Chika and Keisuke, he kept his mouth shut, because it was none of his business.

An hour passed since he started to paint with his friends.

Suddenly, a little girl holding a giraffe plushie entered the backyard. She looked nervous due to seeing grownups that she wasn’t used to.

Of course, Asahi felt when Reina woke up, and her nervousness as she walked around, shyly asking people if they had seen him.

He could have indeed just gone to her, but he thought that it would be good for her development if she faced her fears to a certain degree. Although he wasn’t a parent, he was basically an authority when it came to scared and lonely children.

When she saw him, she almost started running, but stopped herself.

Asahi retracted his paint roller. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked towards her, meeting her halfway, then crouched in front of her. “Did you have a good nap?”

Reina nodded, smiling.

“Would you like to meet my friends? They’re good people too.”

She furrowed her brow in a pensive expression.

He patted her head. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

Reina tightened her hug on Haruka. “Are they nice like you?”

Asahi smiled. “Yeah, they are.”

Reina bit her lower lip, then nodded. “Okay.”

He got up, extending his hand to her.

She smiled, grabbing his hand.

Together, they slowly walked to where Asahi’s group was.

The caretakers saw what was happened, but they were already told about Asahi, so they weren’t worried.

Asahi’s group stopped working as they approached.

When they got close, Asahi crouched, pointing at his friends. “Reina-chan, this is Fumiko, Mayumi, Tomoe, Keisuke and Chika.”

Reina nodded at each name, committing them to memory.

“Did you get all their names?”

Reina nodded. “Fumiko-san, Mayumi-san, Tomoe-san, Keisuke-san and Chika-san.”

Asahi patted her head. “That’s right, good job.”

Mayumi slowly approached Reina, crouching in front of her. “Hi Reina-chan, nice to meet you. Who’s your little friend?”

Reina lightly wiggled Haruka. “Her name is Haruka.”

Mayumi smiled. “You’re both so cute, can I give you a hug?”

Reina nodded, with a light tinge of red on her cheeks.

Mayumi gently hugged Reina, kissing her cheek as she let go. She then patted Haruka’s head. “Reina-chan, do you wanna go play with Asahi?”

Reina shyly nodded. “Yeah.”

Mayumi looked at Asahi, smiling. “Go play with her, we got everything covered here.”

Asahi smiled. “Thanks.” He then looked at Reina. “Reina-chan, wanna go to the living room, so I can tell you another story?”

Reina nodded, smiling. “Yeah.”

As he got up, Asahi gently picked Reina up. “Say bye to everyone.”

Reina shyly waved her little hand. “Bye-bye.”

They waved back at her, smiling.

Reina giggled, hiding her face behind Haruka.

Unbeknownst to her, Reina had more or less gained a little fan-club.

 

In the living room, Asahi gently put Reina on the couch, sitting beside her.

He patted her head. “Reina-chan, can we talk about something before I tell you another story?”

Reina looked at him with curiosity. “Yeah.”

“I know that you had problems with grownups, but what about the other kids?”

Reina furrowed her brow. “I don’t really like to play outside, and I’m not old enough to play video games. The other small ones don’t like reading, and the big ones think I’m too young to play with them.”

Asahi tilted his head. “What do you mean by being too young to play video games?”

Reina shrugged, pointing at the console below the TV. “Those cost a lot of money, and we have a lot of kids here. If they left the controllers lying around, they would probably break. The big kids have those small things where they can play video games, but we can’t have those either, because we’d probably break them. On Sundays we can all play games here in the living room, but the games in there didn’t interest me. Murata-san does her best, but it’s hard with so many kids.”

Asahi smiled, patting her head. “You’re a great child, and super smart as well.”

Reina smiled, blushing. “Thank you.”

Asahi knew that with that many children, it would be really hard to balance something like that, but he was quite surprised that Reina not only was aware of everything, but understood it so clearly.

Although he had some ideas regarding her playing with the children, it wasn’t his place to apply them. He would leave that for a future date, after properly talking to Umi about it.

He then lightly tapped his thigh. “Alright, what kind of story do you want me to tell you?”

Reina thought about for a second, then smiled brightly. “One about a dragon.”

Asahi smiled. “Okay. There was once this large forest, with tall trees and many different animals…”

Time passed quickly as Reina enjoyed Asahi’s story.

 

A couple hours later, Asahi finally finished the story, with Reina once again clapping.

When Reina finally calmed down from the many emotions she was feeling, Asahi got off the couch and crouched in front of her.

He then took her little hand and caressed with his thumb. “Reina-chan, I’m gonna have to leave soon, okay? But I’ll be back to see you next week.”

She started to tear up, but didn’t make a single crying noise. “Okay.”

He could clearly see in her face how sad she was about him leaving.

With a faint smile, he opened his arms. “Do you want another hug before I leave?”

Reina silently nodded, trying her best not to cry as she moved forward on the couch.

Asahi embraced her and caressed her back. “Reina-chan, it’s okay to cry when you’re sad if you feel like it. I’m sad that I have to leave too, but as I said, I’ll come back next week and will continue to do so for as long as you want to see me.”

Reina tightened her grip on Asahi’s shirt, and started to properly cry.

However, she wasn’t crying out of sadness. For the first time, she let her guard down and felt genuine affection.

Although she wasn’t even six years old, from her perspective, it was still having had spent her entire life without that.

Asahi immediately felt like a big brother to her, and it pained her to see him leave so soon.

But more than anything, she felt happy.

By the time she stopped crying and let go of the hug, Asahi was also teary eyed.

He pointed to his eyes. “See? I cry too.”

She sniffled, patting his head.

He smiled. “Let’s go find Murata-san so I can let her take care of you, okay?”

Reina nodded. “Okay.”

“But first…”

He made a fist, then pulled tissues from inside it as a magic trick, allowing Reina to dry her eyes and blow her nose. Afterwards, he made everything disappear with a sleight of hand.

That simple thing lifted Reina’s spirits once again.

He gently picked Reina up and went to the front of the building, where Umi was seen some of the volunteers out.

They waited as the volunteers left.

As Umi turned around, she saw both of them there, with Reina looking much more comfortable than before.

Asahi smiled. “I’m about to leave. She’s been through a lot of emotions today, so I didn’t want to leave her alone.”

Umi approached them, extending her arms and Asahi handed Reina to her.

She kissed Reina’s cheek. “Are you okay?”

Reina nodded. “Yeah. I’m sad that Asa-nii has to go, but he’ll come back. I’ll be a good girl and wait for him.”

Seeing Umi’s obvious and warranted concern about that sentence, Asahi interjected. “I’ll indeed come back to see her next week, there’s no need to worry about that. Also, Murata-san, may I have your number? There are somethings that I’d like to talk to you about, and somethings that I’d need your permission for.”

Umi sensed how serious he was, and that him asking for her number was purely for Reina’s sake.

With that, she smiled. “Sure. Just ask Fumiko-chan, she has my number.”

As they were talking, Asahi’s group were moving from the storage cue to go.” He then gave Reina one last head pat. “Be a good girl and listen to Murata-san, okay?”

Reina nodded, smiling. “Yeah.”

As his group passed, they said good-bye to Umi and Reina, who waved back to them.

Stepping outside, they divided into two groups, the ones who would go to the arcade and the ones who wouldn’t.

Asahi, Fumiko and Mayumi said good-bye to Chika, Keisuke and Tomoe, then left.

When they distanced themselves a bit from the orphanage, Mayumi held his hand. “How are you feeling?”

Asahi sighed. “Good, I think. I never had anything even remotely like a sibling, so I’m not sure what to do. All I know is that I want that little girl to be happy.”

Fumiko held his other hand. “Yup, that’s the main feeling alright, at least for me.”

Asahi took a deep breath. “Today was packed with so many emotions for me, but I’m really glad I came.” He then turned to Fumiko. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Fumiko smiled brightly. “You’re welcome.”

Asahi looked at her quizzically. “Did you plan this?”

Fumiko chortled. “Kind of? I thought it would be nice for you to personally see that there was better out there. But I didn’t imagine that you would get a little sister out of the deal.”

Mayumi nodded. “And an incredibly cute one at that.”

Asahi smiled. “She’s not just cute, but she’s really smart. Probably Fumiko’s type of really smart.”

Fumiko widened her eyes. “Really? Wow, then she might be a handful for the orphanage.”

Asahi shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think she’s kind and respectful, and the first thing Murata-san said to her after noticing it, was that she didn’t need to force herself to learn things quickly and should just enjoy herself.”

Fumiko nodded. “That’s good.”

Asahi lightly squeezed their hands. “On another note, ready to go kick some local FGC ass?”

Mayumi punched the air a couple times. “Hell yeah.”

Fumiko just smirked.