"Are you sure?" Shinichiro asks you one last time as he stands behind Izana who's also looking at you with his pretty purple eyes.
What's with the Sano family having pretty eyes?
Discarding the random thought, you just opt to nod your head one last time at your boyfriend's concerned queries before giving them a smile. "Yes, I'm sure. I'll only be gone for a few minutes, maybe half an hour. I'm just going to buy dinner for us then pick up my little gift for 'Zana. After that, we can eat in your room, okay? Besides, the two of you have been helping me around for the past week, I think it's my time to do something for both of you, right?" You say, remembering the endless times that Izana had helped you out with mundane things such as helping you carry bags while walking around town with him.
Such a sweet boy.
You wish that you could take him back with you tomorrow once you finally go back to Shibuya, but alas, you don't have the qualifications to adopt him. And neither does Shinichiro.
It breaks your heart, knowing that you can only visit Izana every month, depending on your schedule and that you can't just go to the Sano household and see him playing with Mikey.
You feel like they'll get along well.
Letting out a sigh from your woeful thoughts, you make yourself feel better by running your hand through Izana's soft hair, giving him a brief kiss on the cheek before moving on to Shinichiro who preens at the attention given to him.
Giving one last wave, you turn around and start walking away.
But after only a few steps away from the two brothers, you almost bump into a kid who had his head bowed down as quick as you looked over at him. "I'm sorry, miss!" The kid continues to bow down, which leaves you with the sight of his fluffy black hair.
Shaking your head, you lightly tap his shoulder. "It's okay, sweetie, no harm done."
"Kakucho!" Turning around, you see Izana making his way to the kid who immediately looked up when his name was called.
It almost makes your eyes widen when you can finally see the scar on his face, running from the right side of his forehead to under his left eye. "You know him, 'Zana?" The white haired kid nods, a small smile on his face when Kakucho walks over to his side and gives him a little bow.
"Yeah, he's my servant!"
Choosing to ignore the servant part, you feel immense relief in your body when you realize that Kakucho must be his friend. You're glad that he has someone to spend time with while he's here by himself. But at the same time, you kinda feel guilty for potentially taking Izana away from him for a whole week after you had Izana stay with you and Shinichiro during your week stay in Yokohama.
"He's your friend?" Turning towards Kakucho, you offer him your hand, delighted at the way he politely shakes your hand. "Nice to meet you, Kakucho. Would you like to have dinner with us? Since you haven't seen Izana for a whole week, right?"
It feels like you're about to die from cuteness when Kakucho looks at Izana with big wide eyes, like he's asking for permission but Izana only nods his head towards you while shrugging his shoulders.
You watch as Kakucho trails his eyes to the floor, hands playing with the hem of his shirt. His ears are starting to turn red the more he thinks about what to say but all you can do is patiently wait for him, chest leaping in joy when he starts to nod. "I'd like that miss! Thank you so much!"
Cooing at the two kids, you can't help but tousle their hair, marveling at the softness. You enjoy the little flustered look on their faces when you whisper about how cute they look, but sure enough, your boyfriend is already on your case about it. Pouting at you as he crosses his arm while standing behind the two kids who made sure to walk away from your boyfriend.
"Shin, please don't be all dramatic on me again, the kids are gonna get creeped out." You try to talk him out of it but Izana chooses to make his older brother's mood worse.
"Don't worry, Y/N, he's always weird even without the dramatics."
You almost want to snort at Izana's words but choose not to when Shinchiro lets out a sigh. "I truly have no one in this world-"
"Shinichiro, please. I'll leave the kids to you while I buy our food, okay? No theatrics for now. You can continue this later." Leaning over, you cup his cheeks and give him a kiss on the lips. "Anyway, I gotta go, bye babies~"
On your way out, you can barely hear Shinichiro as he starts talking to the kids. But when you do hear what he's telling them, you can't help but roll your eyes, a grin making its way to your lips as you shake your head at his words.
"I'm her baby."
~~~~~
Trying your best to hold onto the big paper bags, you manage to open the glass door to the shop, a little winded after deciding on walking from the orphanage to the restaurant and lastly, to the tech store.
You think you need to start working out more after this.
"Good morning miss, what can I get for you?" One of the workers from inside the shop asked you, the usual smile on their faces as they watch you walk over to the cashier.
Setting the paper bags by your feet, you straighten your clothes before answering, a nervous smile on your face. "Hello, I'm actually here to pick up an order from 2 days ago? It's under the name Sano." You fidget with your fingers as you watch the lady from behind the desk nod before going to the back room.
It only takes a few minutes for her to come back, the white box firmly placed between her hands as she gently lays it on the counter.
Intently, you watch as she opens the box and shows you the accessories along with how it works.
Nodding at each of her instructions, you can't help but feel giddy at the sight.
After packing it up once more, she hands you the box, already wrapped up in a cute gift wrap. Taking it from her, you safely put it inside your box. But before you can go, you decide to ask one last question.
"Sorry but, this is something that a kid can operate easily, right? Since they'll mostly use it for texts and calls?"
Your worry dies down when the worker assures you that the device is very user friendly. Thankful for the assistance, you flash them another smile before exiting the store, doing your best to get back to your boys as soon as possible.
~~~~~
Knocking on the door, you wait for them to open up since you can't open it up yourself, arms filled with the paper bags and drinks that you bought.
The door swings open, revealing an exhausted Shinichiro who's eyes immediately widen at the numerous paper bags in your arms.
Taking most of the from you, he clicks his tongue as he lets you walk past him into the room that Izana uses in the orphanage.
"Sweetie, I told you that I'd go with you. You didn't have to bring all of this by yourself, y'know? I would've been perfectly fine with carrying all of these." Shinichiro scolds you while putting the bags down on the small study table by the wall, already sorting through the food that you bought.
Kissing him on the cheek, you mumble your apology, already helping him with unpacking the food. "I'm sorry, Shin. Just wanted you to spend more time with Izana since we'll be leaving tomorrow. Just some brotherly bonding time." You're made aware of the kids' absence after a few more seconds of talking to Shinichiro. "By the way, where are the kids? Did they need to go somewhere?"
Shinichiro shakes his head, already plopping down on the floor so that he can be ready to eat. "No, they said they'll just look for something in Kakucho's room. But they'll be back soon." And as if summoned by Shinichiro's words, you can hear the loud thuds of the kids' footsteps getting neared before the door swings open, revealing Izana pulling Kakucho inside the room, the younger kid giving you a small smile while holding onto what looks like a notebook.
Waving at the two, you pat the empty space beside you, Shinichiro already handing out plates to the two kids. "Well, mind telling me what that notebook is all about after eating lunch?"
You feel your chest warming up at the sight of the two kids excitedly nodding their heads, giggles leaving their lips as kakucho sets the notebook on Izana's bed, eyes sparkling at the different dishes that you brought.
"Let's eat!"
Lunch passes by without a hitch, the room filled with satisfied humming from the two kids everytime they taste one of the side dishes.
It makes you want to always cook for them, to always be able to be with them. And one look from Shinichiro and you're sure that he's thinking the same thing. With his eyes fondly looking over at Izana before moving over to Kakucho.
You wish that you can just take them home with you tomorrow even though you had just met Kakucho earlier, you can;t help but get attached to the two kids.
Biting your lip at the returning thoughts in your head, you try your best to forget about it while cleaning up the mess that was left after lunch. It's not a good thing for you to longer on the thought of adopting Izana and Kakucho right now since you don't even have the requirements of actually adopting them.
You don't want to tell them your thoughts now which will lead to you possibly giving them false hope.
That will just be too cruel for them.
So, you keep your mouth shut as you clean up with Shinichiro.
Though it seems that Shinichiro is still as perceptive when it comes to you since he gives you a concerned look from across the room right after hearing you let out a small sigh. Giving him a small smile, you shake your head, indicating that it's nothing to worry about but it seems as if he doesn't believe you for he immediately heads over to you, hand making its way to your cheeks in order to squeeze them.
"What's wrong, pretty girl? You tired?"
Shaking your head once more, you finish up the last of the mess before throwing it in the trash. "It's nothing, just thinking about something."
"Wanna talk about it? Maybe later when we're alone?"
You nod your head at that, wanting to finally tell him your thoughts just to be able to get it off your chest. "Yeah, that will be nice, I think you'll be able to help with my con-"
"Y/N! Look at our notebook! I wanna tell you about my Tenjiku!" You're pulled away from Shinichiro by the two kids leading you to the bed, preoccupying your thoughts as you're now bombarded by the details of their future kingdom called Tenjiku.
Unfortunately for you, time quickly flies by as you listen in on the stories that Izana and Kakucho excitedly told you, their eyes sparkling so brightly that you can only intently listen in on their stories, not at all noticing Shinichiro who's silently watching the scene in front of him, heart beating so fast at the sight of you easily interacting with his brother and his friend.
It just makes the feeling in his chest grow bigger.
Looking at you feels like home.
He wants to be able to share this feeling with his siblings.
He wants you to be a part of his family.
He wants you to be his family.
That's why, it brings tears to his eyes when he sees you giving such heartwarming goodbyes to Izana and Kakucho. The latter is already silently crying on your shoulder as you give him a hug, whispering promises of coming back to visit them as soon as you can.
As much as he wants to say that his tears have disappeared after your tearful moment with Kakucho who had left after a few more minutes of hugging you, the tears only came on heavier when he sees his usually stoic younger brother looking up at you with such glazed over eyes that he can't even believe that Izana is about to cry due to the two of you leaving Yokohama.
"You don't have to cry 'Zana, we'll be back soon, okay? I'll make sure to visit you as much as I can. And we can always keep in contact y'know?" You whisper against Izana's hair as you hug him, arms tightly wounding around his small body which is also clinging onto you, his face buried on your neck as he starts to hiccup.
Your chest hurts.
You don't know how you'll be able to leave tomorrow knowing how much Izana is gonna be missing his older brother.
You're so ready to just start begging the caretakers to let you adopt Izana right here, right now. But you know that it will never work.
You can't just take care of a child just because you want to. You need to have the right lifestyle, and right now, being a college student who only works part time here and there is not the likely lifestyle to be raising a child.
So, with a heavy sigh, you slowly hold Izana at arms length. Pressing a kiss to his forehead, you open up your bag, taking out the box that you've been hiding for a few hours now.
"Here, Shin and I bought this for you as a little present before we go back to Shibuya for a while."
Still sniffling, Izana opens up the box, tearing the gift wrap away before he's met with the picture on the box. Looking at you and Shinichiro with disbelief in his eyes, he can't help but cry more as he takes out the phone from the box.
"I know that it's not the best of the best right now, but we just wanted to make sure that we can keep in contact easier than sending letters, y'know? I'm sure that you'd like to be able to talk to Shinichiro more easily."
With another sob, Izana wraps his arms around you and your boyfriend's neck, pulling the two of you into a hug.
The group hug gets broken up by one of the caretakers. "As much as I hate to break it up, I'm afraid that visiting hours are over."
Slowly, you pull away from Izana even though you badly want to just take him with you back to Shibuya.
Giving him one final kiss on the forehead, you wave at him as you wait for Shinichiro to finish his farewells with his brother.
It makes you think how ridiculous you must look right now, looking like you're the actual sibling of Izana and that Shinichiro is just a random visitor when it's the other way around with how hard you're crying.
Finally, after another excruciating few minutes of hearing Izana cry for the two of you to come back, the two of you are on your way back to the hotel, a heavy feeling in your chest as you remember Izana tightly gripping on your shirt as you leave.
The two of you are silent on your way back to the hotel. The silence only breaks once the two of you are in your bed, all cozied up next to each other as he wraps you up in his ars.
Looking up at him, you lightly nuzzle his neck, finally deciding on voicing out your earlier concerns after lunch.
"Shin, I want to be able to help you complete your family. I don't think I can handle leaving Izana out by himself like this."
Pressing a kiss on your forehead, he tightens his hold on you. "I know, I want to be able to complete our family soon too."