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“Hello.”
—stare—
So many thoughts crossed Tamaki ’s mind as he looked down at the young boy at the door of his new apartment, racking his mind regarding who the child may belong to. He quickly looked around and saw no adult was there.
—stare back—
There the child stared back, making Tamaki even more uneasy with the whole situation, his mind wondering what in the world was going on with the child in front of him, why the boy decided to—
He couldn ’t say anything, his hands going up while he continued looking around nervously while the child—
The child made him nervous.
“Welcome, neighbor,” the child said, holding out a welcome gift of tissues. “I am Sato Kotaro.”
“Hi,” Tamaki said, taking the box. He wished his friends were there to alleviate the discomfort he felt.
And the boy stared.
“Uh…”
“What shall I call you, mister?”
Tamaki frowned, then blurted out nervously. “Suneater.”
Then—
His face turned red, realizing he ’d blurted out his hero name instead of his actual name.
And the boy stared.
The staring, Tamaki felt, was unsettling.
“I don’t think so.”
Tamaki stared at the boy, jaw dropped.
“Though I do understand why you’d want to pretend to be the hero, Suneater,” Kotaro continued. “He is the bravest hero ever.”
“Uh.”
“But it’s nice to see he’s your favorite as well, mister.”
Awkwardly, Tamaki covered his eyes. “So, why is he your favorite?”
“Why?”
Tamaki peeked out.
“Because the tentacles are cool.”
Tamaki frowned.
“He took me away.”
“Huh. Hold on,” Tamaki said, finding himself confused. “Away from what?”
“My dad wasn’t being very nice that day,” the boy said.
Tamaki looked down, frowning, remembering.
There had been a child that he found under Fatgum ’s service, one that couldn’t look him in the eye as they cried so much, covering their eyes, that latched onto him as Fat Gum handled the situation and clung to him until they got the boy to the foster facility.
“I see,” Tamaki said. “I’m Amajiki Tamaki, by the way.”
“Tama-san then,” the boy said, as Tamaki looked around, looking for parents yet suspecting there was none, meaning—
“He’s taking care of himself.”
“One day, I’ll be his sidekick.”
“Oh?” Tamaki said nervously.
“And I’ll help kids like me.”
“I think you’ll do well,” Tamaki said, still feeling nervous, wondering what he should do since the boy didn’t think he was Suneater. “So, uh…”
“Kotaro,” another person said, coming up to them. He looked rather tired. “What are you doing?”
“Greeting the new neighbor. You should do so as well.”
“Ah. I’m…”
“He thinks he’s Suneater.”
The man who tried to introduce himself turned to Kotaro. “Isn’t that your favorite hero?”
“Yes. I shall ask him to play make-believe with me later so I can eventually become Suneater’s sidekick.”
“Uh. Yes.”
“I’ll be off now.”
Kotaro walked away, and when he ’d entered his own apartment, the man said, “Sorry about that.”
“Uh…”
“I’m Karino Shin, by the way.”
“Don’t need to…” Tamaki said, covering his eyes again and letting out a sigh. “Don’t need to apologize.”
“Uh, okay,” Shin said. “Since his favorite hero came up, did he say…”
“I remember that day,” Tamaki said, then groaned.
“Wait…” Shin stared. “You are Suneater?”
“I’m not exactly as brave as he thinks,” Tamaki said, covering his eyes. “Communicating with people…”
“Huh.” Shin turned to look at Kotaro’s apartment. “You were brave that day, though. And I think Kotaro will bring you out of your shell?”
“Huh?”
“He has that way of doing that to people,” Shin said. “And, he’s a lot more aware than people realize, so he may or may not have already figured you’re Suneater?”
“That…”
“Just go with the flow of things and help look out for him. That’s what everyone else in the apartment does.”
“I can, I think,” Tamaki said.
“See you later then.” And then Shin left.
Tamaki breathed a sigh of relief.