Trapped

11

Preface : Hiroshi considers Aika and Chuuya as his siblings and the Nakahara siblings also consider him as a sibling.

....
Warehouse, Yamaguchi
(2007)

The stars.

Aika always loved the stars, they brought a sense of comfort to her.

At the warehouse, when Hiroshi would bring Aika books about astronomy, she would read them, over and over again. Sometimes not even understanding what the words in the page ment.

Because she didn't know words.

She learnt words through hearing conversations. Obahoru's guards often had conversations about the outside world; she, Chuuya and Hiroshi listened but couldn't understand.

Then...

There was this one guard, that was posted inside their room for about a year. It was to monitor Aika's (Hiroshi and Chuuya's too, but mostly Aika's) reactions to certain tests.

Ren, the guard, was a kind man. He took this job because his brother also worked here and it was a good salary, but he did not approve of Obahoru's work.

When one of the kids would get back from testing, he'd try and comfort them, give them some water, clean their wounds.

At first, the kids were beyond afraid, it was understandable. Eventually though, through his acts of kindness, they became attached to him.

They couldn't really understand him sometimes, especially when he first arrived. They had never been spoken to with a calm, sweet voice. Using delicate words to express emotions or feelings. They had only ever heard orders yelled at them, always the same things.

Lie down! Don't move! Stop it! Sit! Orders an owner would give their dog when he was misbehaving.

But Ren, Ren wasn't like that.

In the beginning, he would gesture to the kids. If he needed to examine a wound, he'd say can I see motioning his eyes to the wound.

The kids wouldn't say or do anything, just let him since they were scared he would hit them or punish them if they shook their head or said no.

It's okay, he would say, I'm not going to hurt you. He would repeat that over and over, eventually they understood and let him help them.

Sometimes, when Hiroshi would steal books from Obahoru, Ren would help the kids read them, and bring them back so that nobody knew they stole them.

He knew that Aika loved the stars, so when he would get home, once a week or so, he'd go to the library and take a book on astronomy and bring it to her.

He realized she didn't know how to read, so he read to her, acting out the words.

She grew very attached to him, they all did. Even Chuuya who never let his guard down, ever, let Ren behind his wall.

During the days they wouldn't be tested on, Ren would talk to them, play with them, try to make them feel like normal kids instead of weapons and lab rats.

During the days they would get tested on or trained, Ren would wait in the room with the others whilst one or two of them were in the lab or arena. We would comfort them, tell them that their sibling would be okay.

Aika, although she wouldn't speak, at all at that age, would say a few words to Ren. A thank you here, a question there, a cry of despair.

Yes, she cried. She cried a lot. He held her in his arms, running his fingers in her hair, rubbing her back.

It's okay to cry, it's okay to be scared, he whispered to her, but you can't give up on hope.

The first time he said that to her, she looked up at him. Such pain showing in her glossy red eyes.
What's hope? She asked.

He smiled at her. Hope is when you wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel, you can't always see it but you want to find it anyways.

This made the poor girl even more confused, but when she grew to be older, she understood.

She never lost hope, from the day Ren told her that, to the day he left the warehouse, to the day she left the warehouse, to now when she's back.

Although, right now she cant think about hope...

__________________________
Hey! It's me, the author.

For those who are already attached to Ren, don't worry, he'll be back. :D

I actually really love him (I know more than y'all obviously AND he's my oc) so I will be bringing him back when I can.

Also! If you want you can follow my Tik Tok @bafoon_weeb, I make anime skits (mostly Bungou stray dogs) and ill start making skits about this story if y'all are interested!

Okay that's it.

Thanks for reading! Please vote if you can, it really helps me and my story :)

I appreciate you all! Bye bye 👋