Saya POV

Lately, Homura has been acting quite weird.

He is always tired and sleeping.

Either it be during study lessons or clean-up duty.

To be fair, that is not very different from the usual.

Except, before it was more due to him being lazy but now... it seems that he is genuinely very tired.

Before, he used to wake up after a light hit to the head, but now he passes out.

I wonder what changed?

Also, he is almost always late for breakfast and somewhat stinky.

...He doesn't like to take showers.

He always says: "I will get dirty anyways, so why take one now? Seems to me, like a waste of time."

At least, that hasn't changed...although, I wish it did.

If I didn't know him better, I'd think he was training but that is unlikely.

-*sigh*

-Hm? What is wrong Saya-chan? (Saya's friend)

- N-nothing!

I wonder why things are changing so much these days.

Me and Homura used to do almost everything together.

I used to think he was dependable and smart, but as we aged I realized that he was mostly lazy and would look for any way possible, to find an easy way out...and totally unreliable.

So I had decided to look after him.

If I had to think as to why that is, it would be about... when I found out that I was the older 1, between the both of us.

Also, as we grew up I realized he was the shortest among the boys our age and had a girly face.

If it wasn't for his rude...everything about him, his short haircut and clothes, he could be mistaken for a girl.

I guess...in some way, I started to see him...as a naughty little sister? Brother?

And tried to watch out for him in anyway I could.

When he told me that he also wanted to study at the hospital in the future and would try to find an apprenticeship, I thought that maybe he'd given up on becoming a shinobi.

I was somewhat happy but unsure that it would last.

But it seems that I was wrong.

Being a shinobi is the only thing that he hasn't given up on.

I still remember a time that he said that he was going to become an artist, because he was praised for a drawing he drew. *giggle*

I wonder, if I should also apply for the academy too.

My mother was a kunoichi too.

They told me that she was a hero that died for the sake of the village and that I should be proud...but to be truthful, that just made me resent her a bit more for leaving me alone.

I know that it is selfish of me but...I just can't deny how I feel.

*sigh*

But I guess learning to be a kunoichi could be helpful, even if I don't want to become one in the future.

Learning how control chakra from the skilled teachers at the academy, would be good thing for me to have when I try to become a nurse or doctor.

Some of the girls and boys at the orphanage, are starting to put more effort into their training or more thought into what they want to do in the future.

That always seems to happen when the entry exams for the academy are about to be held.

Uryuu seems to have distanced himself from Homura and the others to train more on his own as of late.

And Toshio and Zenkichi appear to be training together, in order to pass the exam at the academy when they will try to apply.

I don't know why, but I feel this is all Homura's doing in some way.

He has this strange way to attract people to his side or follow in his footsteps.

...but perhaps I am reading too much into this...I guess I just wished things could remain the same a while longer.

chapter end