A Hero I Look Up To

What's Your Dream?

One year has passed and Tobio is now in Kindergarten. The school he goes to is Perkins Elementary School, which is the home of the cougars. The school building was painted in mostly beige with a hint of their school colors, teal and indigo. Tobio is spotted with Mia, who is Tobio's classmate again, which made Tobio feel comfortable. It was on the third day of September and Tobio hasn't made any new friends besides Mia. The time is after school at 2:10 p.m., where it was time to leave. Tobio looked at all the happy children who's having fun with their friends. A group of kids were playing on the playground, one sliding down the slide with happiness, one on the monkey bars, about to fall off, and two kids were talking to each other. Chris told Tobio he could stay after school for a while to make new friends. As Tobio walked around to find someone to talk to, he saw a child all alone like him. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. He also wore a blue shirt and basketball shorts. He had a blank expression on his face like how he was looking at the other kids similarly to Tobio. Tobio was unsure if he should just go and befriend him or find something else he could do to distance himself from other kids. Mia then came and touched Tobio's right shoulder while she told Tobio something about the lonely child.

"Let's befriend him Tobio, he must be lonely!" Mia excitedly suggested with a smile. Tobio nodded and followed Mia from behind. The child looked up at the two, while Mia introduces herself.

"Hello, I'm Mia, and this is my friend, Tobio! What's your name?"

"Loid... nice to meet you..." he introduced himself while looking at Mia.

Loid Augustin is a shy kid like Tobio. Although he can talk to people, he's afraid of stepping in the wrong time and interrupting other people. Loid looked at Mia and Tobio with a terrified look, as if he did something wrong, but Tobio also felt the exact same way. Mia looked at them with a worried look, something as if they both found out something dark about each other's life. Mia tries to explain the situation to the both of them, calming them down.

"All of us here are now familiar, right? What do you guys like to do?" Mia starts off the conversation on a positive note. "I like to watch TV with my mommy!"

"I... like to read," Loid answered Mia as he looked down in embarrassment, unsure on what to say after. "I... I know it's a little weird for someone like me to read, I'm sorry!"

"Don't be shy about it." Tobio comments. "My babysitter... Chris... he also likes to read, so you're not the only one."

This made Loid surprised. Of course Tobio had to mention Chris with his mystery novel obsession, but he's not always glued to reading the book. Loid looked up, thinking on what to ask Tobio next. Maybe ask about what Tobio's babysitter likes to read?

"I want to ask... what does he read?" Loid went with the question and asked Tobio. Tobio thought of an answer that could best answer Lois's question. After thinking for a while, Tobio realized something that Chris would always read.

"He likes mystery novels. It's like he's absorbed into it the moment he first starts to read... I think," Tobio replied.

"I have that feeling too!" Loid shouted as he slightly leaned towards Tobio. "When time passes by, it's already time to eat or sleep..."

Tobio got a little confused. Do people really read books until its time for them to sleep? Does Chris do the same thing with his mustert novels? All of those questions made Tobio think about it for a while and spaced out when Mia and Loid continued talking about books. Tobio also wondered about the story Chris told him when he was three years old... the happy family that turned into a sad story, where the sister disappeared and no one knew where she went. That was a mystery story only Chris came up with. Maybe she's trying her best to find out the truth. Maybe she gave up and stopped finding answers. Tobio was in deep thought, that a voice couldn't be heard. Well... until...