Tomioka pov:
I couldn't ever replace tsutako. She would want me to have friends, though.
I think.
Yeah, tsutako wouldn't want me being some hopeless loser who doesn't have any friends.
'Are you just going to stand in the doorway?' I heard gyutaro ask me.
I quickly looked at him, feeling my face growing hot from embarrassment.
'Sorry,' I mumbled, walking over to my bed.
I didn't really have anything to keep me entertained.
I didn't have any technology, I couldn't read, and we weren't allowed to use any board games after 8 pm.
'Why do you always sit there doing nothing at night?' I heard daki ask me.
I looked over to her and shrugged.
'There isn't anything to do,' I said to her, and she looked at me confused.
'Why won't you read? If you don't have any books, we can give you one of ours-' she said, reaching to grab a book from under her bed.
'It isn't that..' I mumbled, and now they both were looking at me confused.
'Huh? Do you not like reading?' Gyutaro asked me.
'Uh..uhm.. I-..' I mumbled, not knowing whether I should tell them or not.
Tell them that I was a broken child.
'I just can't,' I mumbled, pulling my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and letting my head rest on my kneecaps.
'Can't? Why can't you?' Daki asked, still leaning off the bed halfway.
'Ah!' She yelped as she fell off, making a huge bang.
I flinched and jumped a bit, not making any noise.
Gyutaro quickly went to her side.
'Are you okay?!' He asked her.
'Heh! Yeah! That was like really fun!' She said with a big grin.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and the headmaster came in, panicking.
He immediately relaxed when he saw no blood and no crying.
'What happened?' He asked calmly.
'I'm sorry, I fell off my bed,' daki said with a small smile.
'Are you okay? Did you hit your head at all?' He asked, feeling her head slightly.
'Of course I'm okay! You don't have to worry about me, Mr. Sir, person!' Daki said, her small smile turning into a big grin.
Maybe they weren't so bad, daki seemed friendly, and gyutaro seemed to care about her.
'Okay, be careful. We wouldn't want you hurt,' the headmaster said, heading out of the room and shutting it.
'Okay, so back to why you won't read a boo- are you okay?' She asked me.
'Huh?' I asked, then I noticed, and I pressed myself into the corner out of instinct.
'Are you scared? What scared you?' Gyutaro asked, walking over to my bed.
I tried to press myself deeper into the corner, seeing his slightly tall frame coming closer to me.
'Gyutaro! You're scaring him!' Daki said, also rushing over.
'Are you okay?' She asked, gently touching my cheek.
I flinched when her fingers made contact with my skin.
'I'm okay, please back up,' I said, moving my face to get her hand away.
'Oh, you got haphephobia?' She asked me, and I looked at her curiously.
'Fear of being touched,' she stated, falling back onto her and gyutaros shared bed.
'I just don't want your greasy hands on me,' I stated, and she looked at me.
I thought that she would be mad at me or even hurt, except she laughed.
'I didn't know you could be funny!' She said with a big smile.
I looked at her and then looked away, leaning against my pillow.
'So, why won't you just not be bored and read a book instead?' Daki asked me curiously.
'It doesn't matter,' I said, pointing out the fact it isn't really her business.
'Ohhhh, scary! I'm just curious, do you just choose to be bored?' She asked me with a big grin, kicking her legs in the air.
'I'm broken,' I stated, and she immediently stopped to look at me seriously.
Gyutaro did the same.
'Broken? How are you broken?' She asked me curiously.
'I can't read or write, so I'm broken,' I stated, and they both frowned.
'So all you have is dyslexia?' Gyutaro asked me.
'That's what somebody i knew called it.' I stated, and they looked at pitifully.
'Who said you were broken?' Daki asked me curiously.
'It doesn't matter to you, go to sleep,' I stated, and she looked at me weirdly.
'What if we share about our past?' Daki asked with a quiet squeal.
'No,' I stated, and she sighed, walking over to me slowly.
She sat at the end of my bed with a big grin.
'Okay, so the reason I like being called daki instead of ume is because ume is the disease that killed my mom! She named me after her disease,'
She said with a wavering smile.
'Intresting,' I said and contemplated whether I should tell them who called me broken and how I was treated.
'Uh- it was my dad who called me broken. He would say I was a broken child and that my mom needed to get me fixed and stuff,' I mumbled.
Daki gave me a hug, almost scaring me.
Even with her small body, she managed to knock me over and the bed and hug me tightly.
'I t-think your gonna sqeeze me t-to death' I mumbled, she was sqeezing me so hard it was hard to breath.
'Oh yeah, my bad,' daki said, sitting up and letting go of me.
'You know, we should become the bestest of bestest friends!' Daki said, holding my hands excitedly.
Her hands felt warm, kind of like how tsutakos felt.
'So what under the bandages?' Gyutaro asked me.
I looked at my arms, remembering that I've been wearing bandages since I've got here.
They were just to cover up my burn scars because I didn't really like how ugly they were.
'Eh- scars,' I mumbled, and he nodded.
'You self-harm? You do know self-harm is bad for you, right?' Daki asked me with a frown.
'Hah, no, I don't self-harm, I don't think I ever will. I'm just not into pain all that much,' I said with a small smile.
'So, where are the scars from?' Gyutaro asked me, walking over to the bed and sitting down.
'Hah- uh- they are burn scars, my house caught on fire killing everybody inside except I I outside at the time all I got were some burns' I mumbled really fast.
'Why were you outside?'daki asked me with a tilt of her head.
'Heh- uh- I was.. being a bad kid, so I was sent to sleep outside, I just slept under the porch and then woke up in time to get help.. the house just collapsed before my family could be saved,' I said with a small smile and a bead of sweat dripping down my head.
'Bad kid?' Gyutaro asked me, and I nodded.
'Were you rebellious?' Daki asked me with a small glint in her eyes.
'Can we not speak about this anymore? Why don't you go back to reading your book?' I asked them, and they looked at each other.
'What if gyutaro reads it outlook for the both of us?' Daki said with a big smile.
'Uh-' before I could finish, I was grabbed by my wrist and dragged to their shared bed.
It was slightly bigger than mine, just so it could accommodate both of them.
'I don't think your brother wants to read to m-'
'Of course I do! We are friends,' "gyutaro said with a smile.
'Oh.. we are..?' I asked, confused.
'Have you never had friends before?' Daki asked me, confused.
'Of course he's had friends before, daki,' gyutaro said with a playful eye roll.
'It might seem crazy what I'm about to say..'I replied with a small smile.
'YOUVE NEVER HAD FRIENDS BEFORE?!' they asked in shock.
I flinched at how loud they raised their voices.
'I wasn't aloud to,' I said, and they gasped in unison.
I am your first friend!' Gyutaro said with a glint in his eyes.
'No, you aren't! I am!' Daki argued.
'Nuh uh!'
'Yuh huh!'
'Nuh uh!'
'Yuh huh!'
'Nuh uh!'
'Nuh uh!'
'Yuh huh- DAKI YOU TRICKED ME' they argued for a bit.
I just smiled, finally glad that I had at least a few friends.
___________
(Gyutaro is 13, daki and giyuu are now 12)
'Kids! Please all come to the meeting room!' I heard the headmaster say through the intercom.
Daki was in the middle of braiding my hair.
'Ah jeez!' She groaned, quickly unbraiding it and grabbing my hand, leading me to the main area.
Gyutaro was already there, saving two spots beside him for us.
'Okay, kids! As you know, we only do this whenever we get some new people in the orphanage! So here we have... sabito and makomo!'
The headmaster announced.
Two kids appeared from behind him, looking quite scared.
'Hm, who wants to volunteer to show them around?' The headmaster asked, and daki immediently grabbed my hand, raising it in the air despite my protests.
'Giyuu? Do you want to show new people around?' The headmaster asked in shock.
'No! Daki let go,' I said, trying to pulley hand away from her.
'You should let me and my two boys show them around!' Daki said, jumping up and using my head as support.
'Daki! Give me my hand back!' I said, trying to pull it back, and she just smiled.
'You see, if you get this one talking, he just never stops.' she giggled with a wide grin.
'Very well, you three can show them around.. you know, since giyuu is so persistent' the headmaster chuckled, and I groaned.
'I suppose you wouldn't mind sharing a room with them until we get their situation sorted, would you?' The headmaster asked with a small grin.
'N-'
'YES!' daki cut me off.
'Okay, come up here and collect these kids,' the headmaster said, dismissing everybody and heading to his office.
'Daki- give me my hand back! They are all gone now,' I said, trying to pull my hand away.
'Hm, say please?' She asked with a small smile.
'Gyutaro control your sister'. I turned to gyutaro, except he was already showing the kids around.
'Gyutaro! Wait for me!' Daki said, rushing after him, pulling me along with her.
We quickly caught up, catching the attention of the boy, sabito.
'You guys sure are.. lively,' "he stated with no expression.
I looked at him without any expression, either.
I just tilted my head.
'Those two seem to get along..' daki laughed nervously.
'Why don't you both put on a smile? You know, you're never fully dressed without one!' Daki said, using her fingers to make a smile on my face.
'Daki, I'm going to feed you to the rats in the basement,' I stated, and she looked at me, feigning shock and hurt.
'How could you? I've been so nice!' She said, moving her fingers with a grin.
I just rolled my eyes and gave up.
_________
We showed them around, and now we had to figure out the sleeping situation.
'Can I just go sleep under the orphanages porch?' I asked, and daki snapped her head at me.
'And re-live that again? Nuh, uh!' She said with her usual small and plain smile.
'Can't the girls just sleep on one bed while the boys sleep on the other?' Gyutaro asked.
'Can't I just sleep on the floor?' I asked with my arms crossed.
'Haha- no,' daki said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
'Fuck' I said, earning myself a smack on the back of my head.
'Seriously?' I asked daki who just shrugged.
'Heya makomo! Do you wanna share a bed with me?' Daki asked the kid who had just looked at her before smiling.
'Uh of course!' Makomo stated, going over to daki and jumping with her while holding hands.
'Haha, funny,' sabito stated.
'The girls can take the smaller bed,' gyutaro said and the girls immediently hopped onto MY bed.
'Why doesn't giyuu just sleep with us? I'm positive he is an ace in the hole,' "daki said with a smirk.
'A what now?' I asked her curiously.
'Can I sleep in the rat filled basement?' I asked and daki shook her head.
'Nuh uh bucko,' she said.
'I'm not sleeping with two girls,' I stated.
'Then sleep with two boys' daki smirked.
'Fine, fuck you' I said and earned myself another smack.
'Seriously?! You too?!' I asked gyutaro and he just shrugged.
'That's my sister bro,' he stated and I rolled my eyes.
Gyutaro dragged me onto the bed, pushing me down.
________
I stayed awake, noticing that almost everybody was asleep.
Almost everybody.
The sabito was still awake, seeing as he sat up.
I sat up slowly so he wouldn't realize.
'Boo,' I said in his ear, making him jump.
I started laughing when he whipped his head around to see me out of all people.
'Heya dude,' I said, now sitting beside him.
'Hi,' he replied nonchalantly.
'Why are you up? It's almost 4 am,' I stated and to him, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.
'I can't ever sleep at night, my mom says I'm broken,' sabito stated and I nodded.
That sounds oddly familiar.
'That makes two of us,' I said and he looked at me confused.
'Huh?' He asked me.
'I'm broken too, don't worry,' I said with a small smile.
'How would you be broken?' He asked me.
'I have dyslexia, my father always told me that I was the broken one out of my family,' I stated and he nodded.
'You must have insomnia, except that doesn't make you broken, don't worry,' I stated and I could hear him start to cry.
'Ard you okay?' I asked, and I saw him wiping his tears through the dark.
'I-I just.. I'm just glad that somebody thinks of me as normal..' He said while still sobbing.
I fought with my inner demons for a second and then hugged him.
He tensed up for a second except gave in and hugged me back, crying into my shoulder.
'It's okay, you are normal. I can stay up all night with you so you aren't alone, I promise,' I stated, and I felt him nod.
'Thank you..' He muttered.
'That's... that's what friends are for'
A/N two chapters in one night!
Yay! Anyway next chapter will be back in present timeline!