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The building is worn out but sustained with clear care. The sounds of children playing reach them even on the street. Mahiro gulps nervously and Kaoru reaches a hand out to calm him down. Haruta sighs heavily.
‘Sorry, Hiro-nii, you’re probably right to be nervous,’ he declares, before turning to them in front of the gate. ‘Welcome to my home also known as the permanent zoo.’
Before they can react, from inside the orphanage there’s a squeal of recognition.
‘HARU-NII!’
Within moments, their former unitmate and very much present friend is being rushed at by at least three kids just before puberty. Despite his declaration just now, Haruta smiles wildly even as he reaches out and lets himself get tackled.
‘Long time no see! Woah, you guys grew up! Stop growing finally, will you?!’
They all laugh and chatter with and over each other and Kaoru and Mahiro are smiling before they can even realize. Then, a much more adult voice speaks up, although it does nothing to diminish children’s excitement.
‘It’s nice you decided to come home for a bit, Haruta. Children, we have guests.’
The woman in front of them has almost completely white hair now, but they know from Haruta's stories that they were once quite dark. Still, everything else is as they were told by the youngest member: simple, practical dress with self-sewn pockets, apron with even more space to hold things in them, slim silhouette and proud tall posture that still looked quite open. Maybe the number of wrinkles on her face was a bit bigger, but then again.
Haruta was talking from the perspective of a fifteen-year old himself. It’s been literally years since he left the institute.
They exchange glances before coming closer and introducing themselves to the director of their former unit’s youngest member’s orphanage. She greets them with a watchful, if quite friendly look.
‘We’ve been waiting ever since someone reached out in Haruta’s name,’ she says, before leading them in.
They first get led to her office – that just turns out to be a repurposed classroom and Haruta seems to hum in disappointment.
‘I remembered it bigger...’
That makes the director chuckle.
‘I remembered you smaller, too,’ she teases before looking at the young man in front of her with pride and love.’And yet, look how much you’ve grown.’
‘Not enough.’ Haruta instantly deflects, though both Mahiro and Kaoru can tell he’s embarrassed and pleased at the same time. She probably realizes that too, because she drops the matter before offering them the tea. They exchange looks before Kaoru softly interrupts her mid-pulling out a jar from the shelf:
‘Actually, we’ve brought these.’ He puts the smaller box forward. ‘Ah, and these for the children- albeit, I wonder if it will be enough...’
‘Well, they will get them after a meal, so I definitely hope so,’ she answers, graciously accepting the offering. ‘Though I sometimes wonder if their stomachs have spare room just for sweets, honestly.’
‘Well, that’s not only in children,’ Mahiro muses and Kaoru nudges him, embarrassed.
When he looks back, he realizes the lady in front of them just saw the whole exchange, and gets even redder.
‘It’s good to have child-like parts,’ she notes stoically before preparing the tea and treats they offered, and setting them on her desk, ‘Do take the seat, gentlemen. If you don’t mind, I’d like to first ask about Haruta, though. How have you been?’
They obviously don’t mind, letting the other catch up with his caretaker and helping whenever he got too tangled in their story, exposing the parts he omitted or „forgot” that she could enjoy when necessary (much to Haruta’s chagrin). By the end of it, she smiles at all three of them.
‘I now understand why Haruta said to give it a shot despite all of you being still so young,’ she declares and Kaoru and Mahiro straighten in their seats. They were pretty sure their ages were the least worrying aspect, but…
The orphanage director smiles, before standing up.
‘Well, but you must forgive me; this institute policy is that nothing happens to children without children’s input. It helps them stand on their two legs in the future.’
She invites them on a tour of the whole facility while explaining all the procedures, expectations, demands, paperwork and rules.
Thankfully, they prepared beforehand, so with the exception of few clarifying questions, they follow her explanations without a problem while seeing the corridor with the doors leading to the children’s rooms, the classroom, workshop space, library equipped with donations, canteen looking more like a giant dining room and kitchen with laughing staff and few children on duty doing simple chores, learning how to cook for themselves.
It was a blend of institutionalized and homey they could have not expected from hearing just the word „orphanage”, and when they honestly share their praises, both the director and Haruta preen.
Then the director looked outside and hummed.
‘It seems we can conclude the tour and move you straight into the children meeting, too,’ she notes. ‘Everyone’s outside – Haruta sweetheart, be the big brother and do the introductions, okay?’
They are sure it was thanks to them being vouched for by a former orphanage protege that they get to go through such an unofficial route, but the effect is one.
They leave the building to see that indeed children of all ages are already outside, taking advantage of the good weather to play in smaller or bigger groups, overseen by one or two adults that also took care of the youngest children, unable to move without help still.
Haruta does introduce them to the caretakers first, before Mahiro’s bright hair and Haruta’s own personality attract the attention of the children.
‘Go,’ Kaoru encourages softly when Mahiro looks at him, seeking help. ‘You’ve said you want to get to know them, right?’
Mahiro makes a face, but then turns to where Haruta was calling him over and Kaoru smiles.
In all honesty, he would not allow his partner to face a crowd of children alone, but. Haruta being close and already taking the lead among the children makes him reassured that, even as a stranger, Mahiro soon will find himself right at home in between all the boys and girls.
Especially since those didn’t know about the Hanadoll Project or idol ChiHero.
‘You should go explore as well, Kisaragi-kun,’ one of the youngest’s caretakers encourages, and Kaoru decides to heed her advice.
He’s so glad he did.
The children’s playground is the same as the orphanage- maybe a bit better preserved, to prevent any splinters or accidental injuries, but.
Worn down and loved, preserved for the practicality’s sake and not for show. No wonder Haruta saw money as a means to a goal rather than a goal itself, raised in such surroundings…
Kaoru blinks, as the picture of flurry of movement around the various carousels, ladders and slides is interrupted, shaking him out of his musings.
The girl has her black hair put into twintails, and pale face covered by a way too big for her notebook- no, not notebook. Children at that age didn’t write.
But drawing was a much different story. He knew something about it.
He makes his way to that corner – the girl sits on the ground, or rather, a blanket spread there, under a big tree that serves as her backrest. She is completely engrossed in her drawing, just as much as other children are obsessed with their games and toys. Kaoru knows it’s not really polite to look at work of another artist, but he cannot help but glance at the paper as he slowly lowers himself next to her. He didn’t want to startle her and make a mistake or smudge something...
It’s a justified worry because when he finally speaks up, she flinches:
‘Do you like to draw, too?’
She snaps her head to him, eyes wide, before looking down at the paper, face a bit red. She doesn’t answer for a long time, but Kaoru is fine with waiting for the tiny nod. He wasn’t much better at that age, if he remembered.
‘I see,’ he says softly. ‘I like it, too. Do you mind if I draw with you for a bit?’
She looks at him, shyness fighting with curiosity, before she nods again and Kaoru thanks her, before reaching into his bag, then raising his head and smiling.
Mahiro and Haruta were surrounded by a stampede of children, clearly leading some kind of make-believe game. It was definitely solving one of their worries.
There’s no way someone who manages not to freak out with this many children around him will be a bad parent to one. At least in Kaoru’s mind…
Without thinking, he pulls out the sketchbook and the pencil, then flips to a free page without looking.
Yeah, this scene deserved to be memorized, but he was still not sure he could even sketch this many human silhouettes in such a short time, so…
Moments later it was his turn to get startled.
‘Bunny?’
Because the girl next to him stood up to peek over his shoulder while clutching her own sketchbook. Kaoru collects himself, before nodding and smiling at her. He then leans the paper a bit more towards her.
‘Don’t you think they look a bit like so?’ he says, motioning between a crowd in front of them and his own drawing- well, for now just sketch of a big rabbit swarmed by the smaller rodents, some climbing its back, others snuggling to its sides. The girl frowns, following his gesture, then shakes her head.
‘They look like people.’ She hesitates, looking again. ‘Or flowers? But moving a lot.’
Kaoru hums, trying not to let his hand drift to his chest.
He wonders if they will ever be able to talk about things like flowers without remembering the past…
He shakes his head.
‘No?’ Small, defensive voice asks and Kaoru hums, flipping to the next free page.
‘More like a lot of unopened flowers.’ He chuckles. ‘But you’re right, they’re lively.’
‘You mean noisy.’
‘Noisy can be good, too, sometimes.’ Kaoru opposes gently. She scrunches her nose.
‘Too much of it, too?’
‘Okay, too much is too much,’ Kaoru agrees, before pausing his hand. ‘Would you like to draw those flowers together?’
She’s again defensive, but Kaoru knows the virtue of patience. And how interesting his „adult” sketchbook probably looked to her.
‘...Okay.’
He wordlessly offers her second pencil and in return she opens a slightly messy box with crayons, colorful pencils, some markers and in general probably a bit of everything that could serve as a way to paint in orphanage. Kaoru wonders if it’s just natural for all children raised in the institute to share so easily.
Soon, he learns it’s just his drawing partner’s though.
‘You draw, I fill in.’
‘Okay.’ He agrees easily, starting from the very middle of the paper. He knows very well what kind of flower he wants to draw Mahiro as. ‘What’s your name? We might need to sign the picture. I’m Kaoru.’
She hesitates for a moment, but he’s more than content to just continue sketching. He knew what it meant to be awkward at communication better than anyone, probably.
‘Hinata,’ she says quietly only when he’s almost done with the anemone in the middle. Kaoru feels a bit of the weight on his arm. ‘You’re good.’
‘Thank you, Hinata-chan,’ he answers, leaning the sketchbook a bit more towards her. ‘Do you want to fill it in now?’
She shakes her head before pointing to the top of the anemone.
‘This bud,’ she declares, pointing at empty space. ‘Make it round.’
Kaoru blinks before looking up. Mahiro was indeed piggybacking a rather chubby child not looking much older than his partner in drawing.
‘You’re right. Round and cute.’ He notes and she wrinkles his nose.
‘Kai’s not cute. He’s round,’ she declares with a confidence only a child can have and Kaoru smiles, humming in agreement. ‘How old are you?’
‘Me?’ he pauses for a bit, hesitating. ‘I should be...twenty six, I believe.’
‘You don’t know?’ Hinata asks with way too much understanding and Kaoru unconsciously exhales.
Right, those children were…
‘I just forget, sometimes,’ he answers honestly. ‘Hinata-chan, how old are you?’
‘I’ll be four this year,’ she declares that proudly and confidently and Kaoru smiles.
‘I see.’
‘You think I’m not?’ she asks before pointing him to another place. ‘Make this one’s spiky. Suzu scratched me once when we argued. We made up, though.’
‘Okay.’ For a moment, Kaoru focuses on coming up with a right bud shape. ‘I believe you when you say you are four, Hinata-chan. No, actually I think you’re-’
He pauses. What was the feeling when he heard those sentiments directed at him?
„You’re very mature for your age, Kisaragi-kun!”
I wished I didn’t have to be.
She would probably be the same… she seemed to realize much more of the situation than a four year old should.
‘I’m what?’ Hinata demands, impatient with his sudden pause and Kaoru hums, restarting work on another bud.
‘You talk very well, Hinata-chan.’ He settles on saying. ‘I don’t think I could speak like that at your age.’
At least not with the mask on...
She hums, but it’s a pleased hum, her curiosity sated, and for a moment, they focus on drawing, her pointing and describing the people and Kaoru translating it to various shapes.
It’s fun.
They are interrupted only with the sound of tiny footsteps when almost all of the strange bouquet is done, and Kaoru steals a glance at his co-artist. Hinata is engrossed in the drawing creation, though, judging what else needs to be added.
‘Hina, who’s that?’
‘Ho-chi,’ she greets the new child calmly and Kaoru looks up at the other girl curiously.
She also has twin tails and kind brown eyes, hair just a few tones darker than Haruta and- oh, she had freckles, albeit very delicate ones, still. She also wore the worn out, slightly dirty dress, which clearly did nothing to her mood and curiosity.
Cute.
‘This is Kaoru.’ Hinata finally looks up at the other girl. ‘You should go to sleep.’
‘That’s why I came!’
Kaoru blinks, before looking to the side, and- oh.
There was indeed a blanket next to Hinata, one she didn’t use.
‘Am I taking up your place, perhaps?’ he asks softly, and Ho-chi – that was probably a nickname, huh – looks at him with a frown, but Hinata just shakes her head.
‘Stay,’ she demands before reaching for the blanket.
Kaoru hesitates but in the time it took him to decide, Hinata with ease opens the blanket and other girl instantly snuggles into it before more or less flopping down, putting her head onto the little artist’s lap.
‘What do you draw?’ She still asks, looking curiously at the sketchbook. ‘Wow, that’s big.’
‘Just flowers.’ Hinata answers. ‘Go sleep.’
‘You’re no fun...’ the other complains but Kaoru realizes he hears a sleepy tone in her voice anyway. ‘Show me when you finish?’
Here, Hinata hesitates, stealing a glance at Kaoru.
‘If you wake up in time? Goodnight.’
Kaoru slowly closes his sketchbook, and Hinata looks at him.
‘You’re done already?’ She clearly tries to hide disappointment, Kaoru realizes. He shakes his head.
‘I’m not, but don’t you need to go to sleep soon, too?’ He asks gently, and Hinata blinks before shaking head in visible relief.
‘Hoshi needs more than even us- other children,’ she explains, using the full name of the girl, before pointing. ‘Look, sensei hasn't called us yet.’
It was true, the children ahead of them were still playing, now their target Haruta while Mahiro watched in amazement, and Kaoru smiles against himself.
‘I see.’ He opens his sketchbook. ‘Then, do you want to continue?’
She nods and Kaoru is almost sure the emotion he senses from her is happiness.
*
It seems Hoshi is the one Mahiro remembered the best, too.
‘I mean, she was a little firecracker, even Haru struggled with keeping up,’ Mahiro says when the children are called back – older for indoor activities, younger for the nap time. It seemed the choice was free, because they saw some older children sneak into the sleep room with a blanket, too…
Kaoru hums.
‘Hinata-chan was definitely familiar with her, too.’ He hesitates. ‘Albeit… I’m not sure about that energy. She slept through most of our drawing time.’
Because Hinata only started coloring the flowers Kaoru drew by the time the orphanage workers called children inside, Kaoru without hesitation offered to leave the sketchbook with the girl. It was one of the newer ones, so it had very little works of his own, and besides, he was quite sure the girl would be more interested in the empty pages that came after his sketches. He still got a promise that she will show him their finished bouquet, which was the single most endearing promise he made in his life.
And he made a lot of those with Mahiro too, so she had a tough competition.
Now the two of them once more sit in the principal’s office, discussing with her and Haruta their impressions of various children. Albeit, while friendly through all of their visit, the older woman now shakes her head.
‘While I’m sure either of the girls would steal your hearts like they did with us at home,’ she smiles gently, sadly, ‘I don’t believe your situation is fitting for their needs, from what you’ve told me. You want to try and help only one child grow, right?’
Haruta frowns, taking over the conversation temporarily while they try to get their slightly distraught expressions in check.
‘There’s a problem with solo adoption-’
'Those two are bonded, much more than even you and Toki-kun were,' the caretaker says with a shake of her head at Haruta. 'And…after what happened to the two of you, we agreed to prioritize those bonds to the best of our abilities. As such, even if we had a sponsor willing to take Hoshi-chan with all the medical demands her heart would cause, she would not leave Hinata-chan behind-'
'Did you say her heart?' Kaoru straightens in his chair and the other two former idols look at him, slightly alarmed. The old director seems not to notice anything strange with that reaction, and she readily explains:
'Ah, it's not extremely serious just yet,' she assures. 'Her body just outgrew the pace at which her heart grew, so she needs a bit more monitoring and breaks. The problem will only happen if it doesn't catch up, once puberty hits. Periods are not a joke- well, not that you're comfortable with this topic-'
'I have an older sister, ma'am,' Kaoru interrupts with a faint smile. 'And believe me, I was not in a position to be embarrassed about going to the shop to pick up pads for her. But that condition...'
He looks towards the window, thoughtfully, but Mahiro knows that expression. That's why, when his partner turns to him, expression a mix of pleading and apology, he just smiles.
'You think you can give her what your parents gave you?' he asks and Kaoru blinks before his eyes widen and he smiles.
'Maybe not exactly what they did,' he says softly and Mahiro's expression freezes while mentally cursing himself. Right, the reason they even met was- 'But just enough to make her heart not be a problem...'
'And Hinata also liked your flower,' Mahiro adds thoughtfully, grateful for a chance to erase the memory of the bomb he stepped on. 'She told me.'
'She did?' The director blinks, obviously surprised. 'That's quite amazing… even some of our alumni don't make her comfortable enough to speak.’
She explains but both Mahiro and Kaoru blink.
'Really?'
'You two can make anybody talk to you,' Haruta sighs, before addressing the director. 'Sensei, can you put pending adoption in those two's files? I'm pretty sure that's what it will end up in.'
'It's- not that easy of a decision!' Mahiro protests. 'We'd need to figure out the furniture and colors of the room- wait, we'd have to confirm they are comfortable with one, or find a screen to split it- then there's also clothes and learning the foods they like- or even if they'd like to see us again!'
'That being said,' Kaoru gently speaks up, addressing the director looking at the two of them with widening eyes slowly filling with hope. 'Would it be… possible? For us to try and gain custody of those two, ma’am.'
*
The process is quick probably thanks to the residue contacts, a leftover of the project the government didn’t dispose of. They don't mind it, returning to the orphanage again. And again.
And again.
It's probably also because of their status as people with no criminal record, yet under supervision to the end of their lives that, three months after the visit, they get to leave the orphanage in quartet instead of a pair.