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When Teddie stepped into the Hanamura residence for the first time, it was like a prelude to all the chaos he would eventually bring to the household.
He walked in with his shoes on. Yosuke reminded him to take them off, and he did so by kicking them into the wall.
Thud.
“Oops,” he said, a little nonchalantly for a guest who had very intentionally kicked his shoes off.
“You idiot. You’ve got hands that reach your feet, use them!”
“Huh? Okay…”
After Yosuke moved Teddie’s shoes neatly under the step, the young, wide-eyed boy looked around the entrance of their home like he was visiting Disneyland for the very first time.
He was also lugging around some sort of mascot suit that must have been cumbersome to carry on his person, but he did so with no qualms.
Seeing all this occur from the living room, Yosuke’s parents found it baffling more than anything else. His actions could have been mistaken for brazen disrespect, but…
Teddie lifted his head and seemed to have incidentally seen them.
“Oh, I didn’t know you have grown-ups living with you.” He sparkled with a big smile. “Hi, I’m Teddie, and you are?”
Yosuke facepalmed and watched as both his mom and dad struggled to find an appropriate response. “Ted, they’re my parents.”
“‘Parents’? What are ‘parents’?”
“Uh, they… they’re the ones who gave life to me and raised me. That’s what parents are. This is my mom, and this is my dad.”
“Gave life…?” Teddie turned towards them. “No way, both of you gave life to Yosuke? That’s amazing!”
Yosuke had a bad feeling about this.
“Sorry,” he apologised to his parents, even though he himself didn’t quite know what he was apologising for. “He means it literally, he doesn’t mean to be rude…”
He laughed awkwardly, desperately searching his mind for a way to save this conversation.
“Um… I have a question.” Teddie beat him to the punch. “Why would you do it though?”
A blink from his mom. “Pardon?”
“What made you want to give life to someone as disappointing as Yosuke?”
Yosuke’s parents looked at each other, searching for a sign that this was as insane as they thought it was.
“H-Hey, what gives?! And in front of my parents, too? Stupid bear!”
“But I really wanna know! Were all of you created by ‘parents’ as well? Oh, oh, and also, how do you create another person?”
They were now truly at a loss for words.
They could rationalise his rudeness as culture shock, seeing as the boy did not look local in the slightest. But… weren’t parents a universally human concept?
Yosuke looked like he was about to strangle him. “Don’t ask questions like that! How am I supposed to introduce you now? Argh…”
While the father was still reeling from shock, the mother had begun to recover and maintained a semblance of cordiality.
“You said your name was… Teddie, was it?”
“Yeap, that’s me!” Teddie shone in a way Yosuke recognised to be bad news. “May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, ma’am?”
Yosuke immediately grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. “Please don’t try to hit on my mom,” he hissed.
“Huh?”
Yosuke dropped him and looked at his parents with a hint of desperation. “I know this looks really bad, but can he move in for the time being? He doesn’t have a place to stay right now.”
“Ah?” Yosuke’s dad was finally responding. “He needs a place to stay?”
Yosuke and Teddie both nodded their heads. The dad pondered for a bit and sighed.
“Well, we certainly can’t leave a kid out there alone with what’s been happening lately. But we don’t have a spare room…”
“I can just stay in Yosuke’s room, right?”
Yosuke gave him the stink eye, but couldn’t disagree. “Yeah, of course.”
“Get a few extra blankets from storage,” said his mom. “Have you had dinner yet, Teddie?”
“Dinner? Ah, I did eat a whole bunch of food earlier.”
“Topiscles are barely considered food. Mom, you don’t have to—”
“Quiet, Yosuke. Let me see if I’m able to squeeze in an extra portion for Teddie. Hm… we should have enough rice, let me check. In any case, I’ll whip up something for you, alright?”
“Thank you very much!”
Teddie watched Yosuke pick up his utensils. Yosuke wielded them like weapons that attacked his food with swift accuracy. Teddie attempted to mimic him, though the chopsticks proved a more challenging tool than he expected.
Yosuke’s dad chuckled as he repeatedly dropped the piece of veggie over and over again with an unrelenting look of determination. “You weren’t taught how to use chopsticks?”
“Taught? I see, you must have taught Yosuke how to wield the chopsticks.”
“Uh…” He got glared at by his wife for a moment.
“If only I didn’t give away Yosuke’s old training chopsticks before we moved!” she exclaimed. “Let me get a fork for you.”
Yosuke chewed on his rice. Somehow, Teddie managed to make a usually slightly awkward dinner into a less awkward dinner. That was weird. Why didn’t his presence feel weird?
They were in the midst of their meals when Yosuke’s dad turned to his son and asked, “so, where is he from?”
“Oh,” Teddie replied from himself, “I came from the backside of the TV.”
“…uh…” That wasn’t the name of a country.
“It’s a long story,” Yosuke nervously interrupted. “We, uh, found Teddie in the electronics section. You know, with the TVs?”
“Hm…” his mom mused. “Is that why you and your friends have been hanging out there so often?”
“Y-Yeah, and apparently he used to live somewhere like that, with a bunch of TVs and all. I guess he found his way into Junes one day. Also, today the staff thought Teddie was a mascot for some kind of campaign.”
His dad peered at the pile of red and blue cloth nearby. “He was wearing that costume?”
Yosuke nodded. “We were thinking that he could work at Junes as a mascot in exchange for staying here. What do you think?”
“Hm?” He thought about it for a while. “It is fairly eye-catching, and it would be popular with children… I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try.”
Yosuke silently celebrated with a fist pump under the table.
His mom was curious. “Where did you get such a well-made costume?”
“Hehe, thank you, ma’am!” Teddie lit up again.
“He’s had that for a long time,” Yosuke answered. “Apparently.”
“Yeah! It’s part of me, it’s warm and I don’t have to wear clothes while inside!”
“PLEASE wear clothes while inside from now on.”
“Okay…”
Yosuke’s parents shared another look this time. This extremely bizarre child… If anything, he at least deserved some hospitality.
“Honey, why do you think Yosuke brought him home?”
“…I have no idea. Kid’s not the kind of person to do things out of the kindness of his heart, so…”
“But he and Teddie are getting along well, aren’t they?”
“‘Getting along’ is pushing it. …no, you’re right. Yosuke only acts that way with the people he trusts. But I’ve never seen him around before, and I’m sure someone like him is bound to stand out in Inaba, but—”
“Honey, I think he may be a drifter.”
“A drifter? But he’s so young… He’s not even Yosuke’s age.”
“I’m not sure myself, but there are stranger things in this world. That boy…”
She shook her head and said nothing more.
She went into her son’s room one night to find him alone in his room, slipping off his headphones to look at her, no Teddie to be found.
“Yeah?” asked Yosuke.
“Go get your laundry from downstairs,” she said. “More importantly, where’s Teddie?”
“Oh, he…”
“I’m here, ma’am!”
The closet door burst open, revealing a smiling Teddie lying down inside.
“Teddie?! What are you doing in there?!”
“Huh? Yosuke said I could use his closet as a room!”
Yosuke was immediately subjected to the wrath of his mom’s death stare.
“Yosuke.”
“Mom, wait, I can explain! He… He gets his own space this way!”
She narrowed her eyes even further.
“I like it better in here anyway,” said Teddie. “It’s nice and comfy. Plus, Yosuke’s clothes are sooo soft!”
To Yosuke’s relief, his mom’s attention was diverted back to Teddie.
She showed him a look of concern. “Are you sure? But it’s such a small space…”
“Huh? I think there’s plenty of space. I can stretch out my arms and legs like this!” He demonstrated it for her, and while they could stretch out lengthwise, it wasn’t even enough for him to flail around.
She couldn’t help but reveal a pained look within her reassuring smile.
“Teddie… by the way, have you… no, do you know where your parents are?”
“Hm? I’ve never had parents,” Teddie said a little sadly. “I think that maybe… maybe if I did, I could live in a big house like this, with lots of voices and lots of people around. But now I can, thanks to all of you! I’ve never been happier!”
“Technically, it’s not like they’ve let you live here yet,” Yosuke cut in. “And you are still on probation, so you’d better not slack off to chat with the older ladies.”
“Yes sir!” Teddie saluted.
“Alright, sleep early, you two.” She walked out of the room, frowning a little after she closed the door. It was hard to believe what she had heard, and yet…
He was an interesting fellow, Mr. Hanamura knew that. A fast learner, too.
As the owner of the Hanamura residence, Teddie was… a tenant. He could be messy at times, but he cleaned up well when Yosuke taught him how. He was a little loudmouthed, but never fussed over food or hogged the toilet. Though Teddie’s ‘bedroom’ arrangement was a little odd, Mr. Hanamura wasn’t one to make comments; it was Teddie’s choice, after all, and it worked for everyone.
As the Junes branch manager, Teddie was certainly… an employee. He showed up to his shifts on time, though he was late on occasion. He liked to slack off whenever he could, but worked hard during rush hours. He was like a slightly different flavour of Yosuke as an employee, though certainly not as experienced.
His mascot costume slowly became well-known through the town. He had a knack for interacting with kids, and older women too for some reason. When it came to conflict resolution, however, he sorely lacked the ability.
A shrill voice could be heard across the Junes food court.
“You shouldn’t even be near the food court! That costume of yours has so much fur, it’ll drop all over and into our food! What kind of hygiene code…”
Mr. Hanamura saw Teddie cowering behind a chair that barely blocked him at all.
“Bring me to your manager. I will speak to him about this obvious food safety violation.”
“How may I help you?”
It was at this point that he stepped in. The customer seemed to recognise him; not at all uncommon in this small town.
“Hanamura-san. Having a mascot walk around where food is being consumed is highly problematic. My son has allergies, what if he gets an allergic reaction? I demand compensation!”
Said son did not lift his eyes from the ground throughout the entire debacle.
“Ma’am, I hear your concerns. Rest assured, the costume materials are food-safe.”
“That doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t drop out! All fabrics shed. This is irresponsible management, and I will sue.”
Mr. Hanamura knew that she was one of those customers, and he wasn’t about to let her get her way.
“I understand your concern. But we have not had any complaints about any fur in the food, and he’s been here since July.”
“And my fur doesn’t shed,” Teddie added weakly.
“Are you stupid? All fabrics go through wear and tear!”
Teddie shrank back even more, and Mr. Hanamura’s face darkened instantly.
“Ma’am, please refrain from using such language towards our employees.”
In the end, he had to deal with the aftermath himself. When he went back to check on Teddie, the boy bowed a full 90 degrees towards him.
“I’m so sorry sir… I didn’t know what to say, a-and she was so scary… I’m… I’m no good as an employee…”
He regarded his pitiful appearance and sighed. “Don’t worry about it. We get unreasonable customers from time to time, they’ll get mad at you no matter what you do. When that happens, just reach out to someone else, okay? Or just bring them to me. I’ll deal with it.”
A tearful nod.
“Tch, some people… What does she even get out of being so nasty? And to a kid, no less. Don’t you pay her any mind. You’re doing good, keep it up.”
Teddie blinked back his tears and smiled with his eyes. “Thank you, sir!”
He nodded, leaving him with a pat on the back.
Teddie was an extremely odd boy. That was certain the moment Mrs. Hanamura met him, and it was still true to this day. He seemed to know nothing about the world, but perhaps it was only natural. It started to make sense as she started to learn about his background… or lack thereof.
He’d never been taught things. He never went to school. She remembered when Teddie went up to her asking if he could join Yosuke when he went to school. She had written the letter to the school, to have him there as a visiting foreign student.
He was almost certainly an orphan— no, he could have been abandoned, not that it made much of a difference. And it wasn’t just that, for there were many orphans who at least knew of their parents. He never even knew of parents.
How old was he now? “I don’t know,” he said, “Years, maybe?”
Did he remember anyone from he was younger? “I don’t think so, I was living by myself for a beary long time…”
All alone, by himself? “Yeah, it was tough. I always had to keep an eye and nose out for predators. I was good at hiding when they came out.”
That had to be incredibly tough for someone so young.
“I used to be so alone… but now, I have Sensei and Yosuke and everyone else! I’m not alone anymore!”
How?
How could a kid have lived like that for all his life and still hold so much optimism in his heart?
Her mind began to wander, grasping at any plausible reason that someone could have been heartless enough to leave an innocent child to fend for himself. Could he have been someone’s illegitimate son? After all, his appearance was too foreign to be purely Japanese. No, the reason didn’t matter. No matter the reason, her heart still ached for him. He was precocious and delightful and a rascal and a lively chorus in the harmony of their home.
He remembered the first time she held Yosuke; a squishy-looking baby wailing in her arms. She felt it then: a call from within her soul to protect her son with all that she had.
And if she started to feel the same instincts for Teddie… well, what was so wrong about that?
Eventually, Teddie being in the house with them became a perfectly natural thing. Not just for the parents, but for Yosuke as well.
They’d both noticed how Yosuke complained endlessly about the boy (when he was the one who brought him home in the first place), and yet constantly went out of his way to care for him.
They had arguments and fights over the smallest of things, which was to be expected from sharing a room. But he was always the first person to be there with him. He brought him around Inaba, they hung out with his friends and went back with him, too.
It was his parents, not himself, who were the first to realise that he was treating Teddie like a younger brother.
He looked up from his console and took a peek at the wall clock.
“Oi, Teddie, your next shift is starting real soon.”
No response.
“Teddie? You there?”
A muffled groan.
Yosuke rolled his eyes as he got up and walked over to the closet door. “Come on, you don’t get to slack off—”
When he opened the door, he stopped. Teddie looked… off.
“Urp… Yosuke, my whole body feels heavy…”
The older boy frowned and put a hand to his forehead.
“Yosuke? What are you doing?”
“Checking your temperature, dumbass. Then again, I don’t know what a fever is by nonhuman standards.”
“A fever… That’s what people get when they get sick, right? Ah… I don’t feel beary good…”
“Your forehead is a bit warm… Hold on a sec. Mom!” He paced quickly out of the room, and Teddie vaguely heard voices coming through the open door.
“Mom, where’s the thermometer?”
“Top drawer next to the TV. Why? Are you feeling ill?”
“Not me, Teddie…”
He heard some other noises from downstairs. Then, Yosuke and his mom burst back into the room, and he was suddenly asked to open his mouth and hold the thermometer under his tongue.
“Teddie, how are you feeling?” she asked.
“Not good… ah.” Speaking was a little difficult, but his words were still audible at least. “Am I… am I going to die…?”
“No you won’t.” Yosuke scoffed. “You just have to rest for a few days. You’ll be fine. Damn, I didn’t know you could get sick…”
His mom looked at him a little weirdly before bringing her full attention back to Teddie.
“I’ll make some soup for you,” she said kindly. “Yosuke, get him some cold medicine.”
“Got it.”
“Just make sure you get some rest, okay?”
“Okay…”
Beep, beep, beep. Yosuke checked the thermometer and frowned.
“38 point 3. That’s not good. Looks like you’re staying home today.”
“Huh? So I’m not going to work?”
“Do you think you can even work properly in this state, you idiot?”
“Noooo… but if I don’t go to work, I can’t pay rent and I’ll be kicked out…!”
“Since when did you pay rent?”
Mrs. Hanamura looked more than concerned. “Rent? Has my husband been asking you to pay him rent?”
“Huh? No, nothing like that. But I have to work to stay here, right? Isn’t that paying rent?”
“Is… is that really how you see it…?”
“Yeah. I mean, Yosuke has to do it too, right?”
Yosuke didn’t even bother to quip back. Instead, he started giving him that weird and even pitying look as well.
“Eh? What’s going on?”
Mrs. Hanamura shook her head. “Don’t worry about work. Rest until you feel better. I’ll prepare your soup now.”
Yosuke’s gaze followed his mom’s footsteps as they left the room and started down the stairs. Then, he turned back to Teddie.
“Um… okay, so… I don’t pay rent.”
“You don’t?”
Yosuke scratched the back of his head.
“See, I work because it’s extra pocket money, and also it’s sort of a family business thing…? But even if I didn’t, they wouldn’t kick me out.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is. But, why?”
“Because I’m their son.” Yosuke said it like it was a matter of fact, and struggled to elaborate further. “Well, it’s like, because we’re family, you know? They’d take care of me even if they didn’t get anything in return.”
“Family…” Teddie was pensive. “I see. So they let you stay for free because you’re family.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“But I’m different, right? They didn’t create me. So there’s no reason they’d let me stay for free.”
“That’s true, I guess.”
“But then why did your mom look so sad?”
Yosuke didn’t answer that question.
“Ah, you know what?” He stretched his arms out. “Don’t think too much about it. Your body needs rest as it is, don’t tire yourself out thinking about these things either. We can play a video game or something once you feel a bit better.”
“I get to play video games? Woooo!! Being sick is awesome!”
He was immediately struck down by a coughing fit. He quickly changed his mind.
“Feeling better?”
Teddie turned to see Yosuke’s dad looking over at him with concern.
“Mhm.” Teddie smiled. “The soup made me all warm inside and I got to play video games with Yosuke. And everyone wished me ‘get well soon’.”
“That’s good. Now, what’s this I hear about paying rent…?”
Yosuke chuckled. “Teddie thought that if he didn’t show up for work today, you’d kick him out.”
He shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. Besides, even employees have sick leave.”
“Sick leave?”
“It means you get the day off if you’re sick,” Yosuke explained. “And you still get paid as if you did show up.”
Teddie’s eyes sparkled. “Really?”
“Only for a few days in the year,” Mr. Hanamura clarified. “But yes, that’s sick leave. Naturally, you are entitled to that.”
“I get paid even if I don’t go to work? Being sick is awesome!”
Instant karma struck again, this time with a couple rounds of non-stop sneezing.
“I take that back,” he said with a stuffed nose.
The other two laughed.
“Rest well for the next couple of days,” said Mr. Hanamura as he walked towards the door.
He paused right as he was about to leave.
“And don’t go around telling people that I only let you stay because you’re my employee, okay?”
“Okay…”
“‘Fact, you get to stay regardless. You just won’t get extra allowance.”
“Oh… huh? W—Wait!”
Mr. Hanamura stopped again. “Yes?”
“Does that mean… does that mean I get to be family too?!”
There was a stunned silence.
Yosuke broke it with a laugh. “Teddie, what are you going on about?”
“Huh? He said I could stay here even if I don’t work, just like you, Yosuke… right? D—Did I get it wrong?”
“Idiot, he’s just saying that it would look bad if you told everyone that my dad only let you stay in exchange for child labour. Right, dad?”
There was no answer. Yosuke looked towards the door and realised his dad had left while he was still talking.
“Teddie looks a lot better than he did this afternoon,” said Mrs. Hanamura as she climbed into bed. “He should be alright. I can’t help but worry, though.”
“Mm.”
She turned around to look at him. “Honey?”
Her husband had a strangely resolute expression on his face as he sat up next to her.
“We should adopt him,” he declared. “Don’t you think?”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to be the one to say it first — not that she was complaining. In fact, she was smiling.
“Yes,” she replied. “Yes, that would be nice.”
“A-dop-tion?” Teddie repeated, seeming puzzled. “What’s that?”
“It means you’d officially join our family,” Mrs. Hanamura explained patiently. “And with that, we’ll help you get official documents, too.”
Yosuke stood at the side, looking a little hesitant. “Mom, dad, are you sure about this?”
“Of course, why else would we bring it up?” said his dad. “Didn’t you always go on and on about wanting a younger brother?”
“C-Come on, that was ages ago! I was a kid who didn’t know any better!”
“Younger brother… So that means you’ll be my older brother, Yosuke.” Teddie slowly smiled. “I’ll be just like Nana-chan. Wait, does that mean I have to call you big bro…?”
Yosuke smirked. “I dare you.”
“That sounds like a trap. No thank you!”
“Aw, come on. It would have been nice to hear it once…”
“So, what do you say, Teddie?” asked Mrs. Hanamura. “Would you be okay with that?”
“Um, so…” He started to fidget. “If I say yes, does that mean I can really be a part of your family?”
They nodded.
Teddie beamed and leaped into the air.
“Woohooo!!! Of course, of course!!!”
And from that day on, he was Teddie Hanamura, a member of the Hanamura family like any other.
Just with a little extra something…
A bear mascot costume, of course!