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"Are you really sure about it?" Josefumi's mother asked them probably the twentieth time this day. She was trying to do her best to redo the relationship Josefumi and her had before, but Kira still didn't find her trustworthy — as if he was going to be fooled by her motherly act when he knew she only wanted to impress some rich man that was fond of family relationships. It made Josefumi happy at least, and thus he allowed her to continue her false act. "A child is a great responsibility."
You're not the best to talk about it , Yoshikage wanted to say but decided to not do it.
"We're going to go to the orphanage to get to know the children there, mother. It isn't as if we're going to come back home with one."
"Exactly because taking care of another person is difficult we need to go," No, Kira decided he couldn't let her phrase pass without remarking again. "They make sure people who want to adopt are prepared to do so."
Now, even Josefumi could feel the obvious dangerous mood between them. Kira and Kiyomi never liked each other in the first place, but they tried to be cordial to each other because of Josefumi. It didn't work most of the time, like this one.
"So… ugh, let's go?" Asked Josefumi in an awkward manner.
"Yes, let's go."
Only by putting your foot inside the orphanage you could already hear children screaming and playing, as if it was a background sound rather than the usual silence both Kira and Josefumi had made themselves acquainted with. As soon as they stepped in, the caseworker came at them, visibly happy that they appeared even after having to hear her talking for almost two hours and shoving them documents they needed to just adopt one kid. Most people, seeing the obvious responsibility, would give a second thought to their decisions but Josefumi had already decided he wanted to take care of a child — and Kira needed only his decision to make his.
"Oh, it's so good to see you here." The caseworker gave them a smile, more happy than it should've been if she was only being professional. "Many people don't do that so soon."
They continued chatting while they walked through the building, aiming to go to the backyard where children played and stayed most of the time in the orphanage. Kira could feel a lot of pairs of eyes following them as they passed by the garden, all the kids obviously curious to know who they were — some, older and already understanding what they were doing there, even hoped the time for them to be adopted finally came.
The caseworker then stopped and called a kid, when she came the caseworker asked "You know where Gappy is?"
It was a nickname, as explained before by the caseworker, given to him by the other children around. "Gappy" was chosen as a good choice when Josefumi was passing by the children's information card, the choice made by Kira himself. Something about this kid seemed off… in a good way. Maybe it was his hair that resembled Yoshikage — or he only had a good feeling about him.
"He's playing with bugs" explained the kid, she couldn't stop looking around, as if she was trying to catch something or was just searching for someone.
"Alright, thank you."
"Playing with bugs?" Josefumi asked, you could tell by his voice he was a bit confused.
"Yep, Gappy is… really fond of nature as you'll see. He's a good kid, full of energy and it makes him have different habits, that's all."
In reality, Gappy's name was Josuke. His background history wasn't long, he was an orphan and after an accident (that killed both his parents) he forgot almost everything of his former life, which wasn't much if you think he was only seven when everything happened, but still — for a kid to lose memory and forget everything that happened… They didn't know what to think, if he was lucky or unlucky.
It was something that made him be avoided by most people who wanted to adopt, the caseworker explained to them. Kira felt she was letting something behind, her explanation way too vague… but he didn't think too much about it. A kid who wrote that liked to make bubbles and to sleep below his bed while most wrote plain things (like the type of animal they liked, their favourite food and other things) would be an interesting one to meet.
And it was, as Kira thought.
When they found him, Gappy was sitting on the floor, two bugs between his fingers. His clothes were a mess, but he somehow managed to not let his shoes get dirty — something almost impossible when the fact they were surrounded by soil was taken to mind. Gappy probably saw that they were coming, but instead of looking at them he just gazed a little and went back to his bugs.
"I'll let you two with him now. Gappy, show them your bugs, dear."
"No." Gappy said without caring. The caseworker seemed as if she was going to throw herself at the floor and start crying. Probably it wasn't the first time Gappy did it, what obviously made more difficult his process of adoption.
"Well, why not?" Kira asked him, finding the kid more funny than he expected.
"'Cause you must know them first." He moved from where he was, trying to cover the bugs. "Clementine and Tomato don't like people they don't know."
"I'm Josefumi Kujo and that beautiful man beside me is my husband." At the 'beautiful man', Josefumi blinked at Kira who pretended his words didn't make his heart stop beating for a moment. Apparently, Josefumi too wasn't shocked by the way Gappy acted at first. "It's a pleasure to meet Clementine and Tomato. Why are they named like this?"
Gappy then lifted himself, standing while holding the two bugs in his hands. "Clementine is orange and Tomato is red. Are you really married?"
"Yes, it has been for more than five years by now." Yoshikage was the one to answer the question, Josefumi was too occupied looking at one bug (Tomato) in his hand.
"Oh it's a long time." He showed Kira Clementine. "Wanna hold it?"
"Er… yes." He didn't in reality, Kira wasn't fond of this kind of animal however he couldn't say no to Gappy — somehow he had the same pleading eyes that Josefumi had when asking for things.
They talked more and more, at one point Gappy even wanted to show them the toy he used to make soap bubbles (Kira was terrible at doing that, but to see Josefumi so happy only by making those things were a payment to not being able to be part of the fun).
The caseworker was more than happy to guide them back to her office after so much progress had been achieved. Gappy was sad to see them go, but they needed and promised to see him again. At some point.
They couldn't just skip the protocols and go home with the boy as soon as they met him. Not yet at least. However now they knew their wish to finally have a family — and most importantly, give someone a family — was nearer than they thought.