Chapter Text
When Harumasa woke up that morning, he’d expected several things out of his day—never-ending stacks of paperwork, a meeting with his doctor he’d been putting off for several weeks, and, of course, a particularly bothersome assignment in a Hollow.
What he had not expected—and could not have expected in any way, shape, or form—was to run into a lost little girl during said assignment.
Besides the crackling sound of Ethereal bodies crumbling, it was completely silent. Harumasa stared down at the kid, his bow hanging awkwardly at his side. The kid stared back at him from where she sat, crouched underneath a tilted slab of stone that at some point had probably been the wall of a building.
...I am not prepared for this, Harumasa thought.
He had imagined scenarios similar to this, every so often. Ones about saving kids from dangerous Ethereals, soothing them, quelling their tears, and returning them to their parents with a confident grin and an assurance that as long as he, Asaba Harumasa of Section 6 was around, no child would ever meet any sort of danger.
But those were just...well, for lack of a better term, daydreams. Fantasies, in the same way one might imagine impressing a crowd with a musical performance, or marrying their crush, or winning the lottery. None of which Harumasa had ever thought about. Nope. No siree.
In reality, Harumasa just wasn't that great with kids.
Was he bad with kids? Well, no, but it would be a stretch to say he was good with them, too. The other members of Section 6 could attest to that, having seen him get bitten after trying to comfort a crying child in the middle of Lumina Square.
Which, to be fair, had only been about sixty percent his fault. The biting had been totally unwarranted, if you asked him.
Thankfully, though, the kid in front of him wasn't crying. At least, not yet. In fact, given the harrowing circumstances she’d been in before he’d come along, she looked pretty calm, if a bit wary. Harumasa shuddered to think what would have happened to the kid if he hadn’t spotted her just as he finished off the last Ethereal.
Harumasa scanned her body, searching diligently for injuries. He couldn’t find any, at least any that were visible. And the kid didn’t seem to be exhibiting any signs of Ether corruption yet, either. Which was a good sign.
Now all he had to do was try and comfort her. Hopefully this kid wouldn’t bite him like the last one.
Harumasa crouched down to the girl’s level, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. “Hey there, kiddo," he said in what he hoped was a friendly enough tone. "You alright?"
The girl gave no indication that she’d heard him. Strands of curly brown hair fell across her face and partially obscured one of her deep chocolate-colored eyes, which stayed locked on him. Unreadable. Wary.
And, thankfully, still not filled with tears. Small mercies. "You must be pretty scared, huh? Don't worry. I'm here to help." Harumasa held a hand to his chest. "My name’s Harumasa. You?"
No response again. The girl just continued to stare at him, her expression closed off like a paranoid neighbor drawing the blinds shut over their windows.
"Alright, then. You don't have to talk. That's fine." Harumasa blew out a slow breath, considering his next words very carefully. “It’s dangerous out here, you know. Lots of scary Ethereals around. So, I’m going to get you out of here. That okay with you?”
Silence fell between them once more. Harumasa wondered briefly if maybe she actually couldn’t hear him—maybe she was deaf? He hoped not. That would complicate things.
That didn’t really matter, though. Right now, his priority was to get them out of the Hollow as quickly as possible. Nothing else. So, taking the girl’s silence as permission, Harumasa shifted forwards, making sure not to move too quickly.
But still the girl shrank back into the corner, squeezing her eyes shut in fear. And as her back pressed against the wall, Harumasa heard the rustling of little bits of stone and plaster spilling down the side of the slab, felt the wreckage shift slightly—
—and then the noise stopped as soon as it started, leaving Harumasa frozen in his position, his heart pounding madly. His eyes immediately flicked up, scanning the flat piece of stone above the girl, and he wondered briefly if his body would be enough to shield her should it collapse.
Harumasa’s eyes drifted down to the girl, and he flinched. The girl had opened her eyes again, and she was giving him a scared look through shimmering eyes the color of hazelnut.
He immediately withdrew, holding his hands up in surrender, lowering his voice into a soothing murmur again. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.”
The girl didn’t believe him. That much was clear, judging from the look on her face. And—was that normal, Harumasa found himself thinking. Was it normal for children to distrust their possible rescuer in a situation like this? Wouldn’t they rush into the arms of anyone who might promise them safety? Did he even know enough about kids to answer that question?
But again, that wasn’t the problem. Harumasa shook himself slightly. So, pushing the girl into coming out too soon clearly wasn’t an option.
But he couldn’t exactly just sit there and wait for the kid to come out on her own, either. It wasn’t like Ether corruption was a particularly speedy process, but he didn’t want to risk it, especially given his condition. Plus, he had no way of knowing how long the kid had been in the Hollow for.
Harumasa racked his brain, trying to think of any way he could coax her out of her hiding spot. For a moment, he considered just grabbing the kid out of her hiding spot and running—but that was a horrible idea, and probably the best way to get himself bit a second time. If worst came to worst, that was probably the option he’d have to go with, but Harumasa would love to come into work without a bite mark on his arm, thank you very much.
He bit back a sigh. He was pretty sure they’d taught stuff like this at the academy he'd attended—how to approach and comfort civilians in dangerous situations, or something like that. Unfortunately, he'd slept through or skipped most of those lectures, so none of that info would be coming in handy any time soon.
Harumasa glanced again at the girl's small figure, half-hidden by the shadow of the concrete. She really was small, wasn't she? Were most kids usually this...?
Wait. He squinted.
Something was off.
Harumasa didn't often interact with kids, so he didn’t really know how small they were supposed to be. He just sort of assumed all kids were roughly the same size.
But this kid wasn’t just small.
This kid was...unnaturally thin.
He hadn't really noticed at first, probably because she’d been hiding in the shadows, under a big slab of concrete. But now that he looked more closely, it was obvious that this girl definitely hadn't had a proper meal in a long time.
Harumasa’s fingers curled into fists. What were her parents doing? Starving her? In fact, how had they even let their daughter get into a situation like this in the first place? What the hell were they doing?
Did she...even have parents?
That last thought put a pit of dread and sorrow in his stomach.
Despite how terrible the girl’s state made him feel, though...it did give him an idea.
“Hey, kid. Are you hungry?”
She blinked at him, perhaps taken off-guard by the question. Harumasa continued. “I’ll tell you what. I was actually going to get some food after this.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “If you come out, I’ll let you come along, and you can get anything you like. That cool with you?”
The girl considered that. For a moment, her eyes lit up with a fragile sort of hope at the idea of eating. She swallowed, and seemed to lean a little towards him, her movement slow and tentative.
Only for the hope in her eyes to implode and crumple in on itself a moment later, making her withdraw from Harumasa once more. There was a familiar look in her eyes that Harumasa hated seeing on such a young kid—like she'd been lied to over and over and now knew to expect everything except the truth. He'd seen that look in the mirror a few times.
"Alright, fair. Stranger danger probably applies in this situation," Harumasa said, half to himself. She'd been on the verge of accepting, though. He could feel it. All she needed was the smallest push...
A lightbulb lit up above his head. He began to search his pockets, patting them down until he found what he was looking for. Grinning, he pulled out a granola bar, set it on the ground, and slid it over to the kid, who stared at it as if it was an alien object.
“There. All yours.” Harumasa stepped back and gestured to it. “No strings attached. Promise.”
The girl's composure seemed to waver. She looked down at the granola bar. Then up at him. Then back down to the granola bar.
And then, after a lengthy hesitation, she slowly inched her hand forwards to take the granola bar. Harumasa waited patiently, making sure to make no sudden movements nor sounds.
The girl took the granola bar, and when Harumasa continued to stay still, glanced at him one more time before slowly peeling off the wrapper. Cautiously, she took a bite. Then another. And another.
Soon, the little girl was tearing into the granola bar with an almost feral sort of enthusiasm that made Harumasa wonder when the last time she’d eaten had been. When she was finished with it, licking the last crumbs from her fingers, she glanced up at him with hesitant yet pleading eyes, a look that melted Harumasa's cold, dead heart.
“Good, right?” Harumasa smiled. “I’ve got more if you stick with me.”
She paused for a moment longer before slowly crawling out from under her hiding spot, her movement cautious and tentative. He was suddenly reminded of a stray cat he’d seen skulking around headquarters once—skittish. Jumpy. All it had needed was one loud noise, and it was off like there were demons on its tail.
Harumasa let her come out at her own pace, making no attempt to rush or pressure the girl. Eventually, she was standing in front of him, her head bowed and her hands anxiously fidgeting with the hem of her dirtied blue dress.
"Nice job." Harumasa made sure to stand slowly, so as not to scare her back into her hiding spot. "You good to go? Not hurt anywhere?"
The girl shook her head without speaking. Harumasa raised his hand with a grin, making to ruffle the kid's hair, then paused and thought better of it, dropping his hand. "Alright, then." He offered the kid his hand. “Then let’s get out of here."
She took his hand with a nod. The two turned and began to walk away, Harumasa thinking all the while: I'm definitely not getting home on time today.