Chapter Text
This world can be cruel. We don’t choose where we end up being born; some people are lucky enough to grow up in a palace, far away from any danger; others are forced to cut corners just to survive. Then, there are times when a seemingly unrelated event has a devastating impact on innocent people who didn’t deserve to lose everything.
There was a great fire that killed almost every resident of a poorly managed and rundown apartment. One of the few survivors was a baby that had been rescued by firemen, only after having been severely burned by the flames. The man who rescued him brought him to the hospital to recover. After learning that the boy’s parents had perished in the chaos, he decided to bring him to the city’s temple.
The head priest agreed to raise him as a temple servant. This head priest was rather old, but he still did all that he could to give the boy a stable upbringing. And he succeeded; for the first five years of his life, Y/N had a calm childhood.
Eventually, the head priest died, leaving instructions for his successor to continue raising the boy. This new mentor was a younger man who was married and had a daughter that was around the boy’s age. With great reluctance, the Kasuganos followed their instructions and took care of him
The parents were kind hearted but also very strict in their teaching of the children. Although they often came off as harsh and old fashioned, it soon became clear that they were just worried about their daughter, who has had extremely poor eyesight since birth.
That being said, the parents allowed their daughter, Tsubaki, to play and study with the boy. Although her father originally disliked the idea, he soon grew to like the kid, raising him as if he were his own son.
While in the care of the family, Y/N began speaking to the other servants and workers, getting to know all of them by name. Almost all of them took a liking to the boy, especially as he did chores and helped with their own tasks. He was a great addition to the temple, often making visitors and pilgrims feel at home.
Tsubaki Kasugano, on the other hand, was stuck inside her chamber for her own safety. She would busy herself by writing in her journal and playing with several of her toys. That being said, she had a good relationship with her parents; they would teach her, spend time with her, and do whatever they could to help her recover from her partial blindness.
Since she was not allowed to be around most of the other children, she cherished her time studying with the servant boy that had been around her since she had first moved into the building with her family. Tsubaki watched as he would always finish his work faster than she did; when their lessons were over, she would try talking with him.
He would often tell her about the outside, the traveling adults, and the latest news about the Omekata group and how many sick people were being cared for, and she would tell him about how she enacted her duties as the temple’s priestess, mainly recording important details and talking with officials. Their chats quickly became a regular thing.
It had seemed that Y/N had fully recovered from his injuries, both physical and mental. He had people who cared for him, he had a future, and he had a close friend; everything in life had been returned to him.
Unfortunately, this new, happy life wasn’t meant to be.