Kuro was a monster.

There are more than fifty orphans in the Delia Orphanage, but I don't think any of them would disagree with such a statement.

After all, it was very clear. A violent person who could not accept the fact others could have fun as well, that was a simple way to explain his personality.

One of the most wicked between the lost children, he'd hit boys and girls alike just to see them kneel on the ground and cry. No one in the orphanage really knew what was up with him, they only knew one thing -- everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, even the teenagers, were scared of this thirteen years old boy, and waited patiently for the day he'd be eighteen and leave this place. 

Nobody would care to adopt him, anyway.

The ones working at the orphanage itself talked about how he had never received love or attention in his life and craved it so much that he'd hurt whoever refused to give it to him, but those explanations were immediately translated to: "he's an attention-seeking bully" in the minds of the orphans.

For what regards me, Leya Santese, fourteen years old, I was constantly afraid of this kid, watching behind my back to see if he was coming or even staying in my room so he could not come.

His dark eyes were like the Devil's to me. Whenever he gazed at anybody, the person looking back would see a smug face, a wicked smile and that expressionless facade, able to make anyone cry theirselves to sleep. Many times we tried to get him sent to a reformatory, but those attempts were always futile.

Until one day. The day he disappeared.

At breakfast, when every orphan came down the stairs to the giant dining room to eat their meal, he wasn't there. That was the first sign of something big happening; after all, he'd always be the earliest to come down as the clock hit 7:00 am, since that was the time when his playground started. Yet he wasn't there.

That same day nobody really gave any attention to it. Everybody hoped something bad had happened to the young bully -- even me, I'm sorry for having such dark thoughts but you'd understand if you were me -- but nobody really thought that we'd never see him again. But nobody saw him the day after either.

And as time was piling up, everybody realized that they were just better off without him. The staff at the orphanage, focused with dealing with so many children, barely even noticed and thought that he had escaped the place and left, while suddenly a much happier expression could be seen in everyone.

"Kuro was eradicated!" That was what I'd scream when I came back to my room, every single time. It made me feel free and happy.

But he eventually returned.

When he was least expected, two years later, the dark-haired and dark-eyed boy was back in the lives of everyone in the orphanage, but nobody even recognized him.

The staff of the orphanage said that he had come back and said he regretted his decision of running away, so he was allowed back in. His once slightly overweight body had turned to an extremely fit one and several muscles could be seen through the shirt he was wearing. His hair, which was very short, had become fairly long and covered his chiseled face.

Maybe it was just an illusion, but his eyes were no longer very dark. I could see the pupils now, I could see the expression he had.

In short, it was like he had worked on relieving his stress by going to the gym fourty hours a day and suddenly calmed down.

Of course, things weren't so easy, his personality had also changed completely.

He no longer talked unless it was strictly necessary. He used to keep eye contact with everyone with a taunting expression, but the smirk had been washed off his face and was replaced with a calm expression, maybe even tired. He used to violate boundaries left and right but now he didn't touch anyone, much less hit them. The most surprising thing, though, was that before he loved the noise, now he hated it and went to his room after every meal.

He was fifteen but to us, who had never seen the outside world, he now seemed way more similar to the staff of the orphanage rather than to its inhabitants.

The lump in my throat never really stopped existing, though. I, like many in the orphanage, was scared to death that this could all be a facade and he was just waiting to use his newly found muscles to beat me to a pulp.

He didn't even need them to make me feel pain, so I had nightmares just thinking about how much he'd hurt now.

Yet, as the months passed, nothing really made me believe he wanted to hurt me.

Nothing he did was like before.

I, of course, could never dare myself to talk to him, but neither did anyone in the orphanage. Left on an island, Kuro didn't seem to mind; it felt like he was better off alone.

Of course, after all those uneventful days of me silently gazing at the alien that had come to take possess of the body of the bully I once knew, something eventful just had to happen.

Maybe the biggest change of my entire life.

The day I was summoned to another world.