The Test Subject : A Detective Conan Fanfiction

85 The Tour

Ellie's POV

It took a while to unpack, but after a while the box was empty and all my things were put away. My shelf is overflowing with junk that I've collected during the past year. Maybe I should throw some of it out. I mean, the whole bookshelf looks almost empty compared to my small area and half the stuff in it I don't even use.

A few fanarts are taped to the walls around my bed, and my weeks worth of clothes are folded in the drawer. They didn't take up nearly as much space, so I was able to hide some snacks under to make is seem like I had more clothes then I did.

Plus, bonus on the mini "food storage". Maybe I'll save it for some midnight snacking.

Last but not least, there's now a small, blue waste basket by the window. Kind of clashes with the room's color scheme, but I don't care. It's too much pink anyways, in my opinion.

Maybe I could buy some different-colored paint if the other girls agree. Worth a shot, right?

I hear the door open, as Sakura enters. Has it been an hour already? "You ready to head out?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I shrug back.

And so my tour began.

To sum it up, the building is three stories - main floor, then boy's rooms, and girl's rooms on top. Boys aren't allowed on the girl's floor, and vise versa. Each floor has 4 bedrooms on each side of the hallway down the middle. That's 8 rooms per floor with 16 total. 6 kids per room means this building can hold 96 kids, 48 of each gender.

Why I care to do this math, I don't know.

Anyways, on the main floor is bathrooms, the cafeteria and kitchen, the Master bedroom, and another room for when parents come in looking to adopt. Sakura said they and one or two kids at a time will go in there and get to know each other. If the adults like what they see, then the kid may be adopted. If not, the next kid comes in until they find the one.

Out back they have a mini park, complete with swings, a slide, a few picnic tables, and sidewalk chalk to draw on the building's wall. There's even a tree house in one corner! I take a mental note to check that out later. The playground is littered with little kids, running around and laughing, as young as 2 years old all the way to 15. Either 15 is the maximum age here, or everyone older is in their room.

Sakura also explained how the bedrooms are set up - there's at least one teen in each, who's in charge of that group of kids. In my case, it's her. Her duties include introducing newbies, and look after the little ones. Basically be a "mom figure" to the group. They have one or two "older kids", like Ayano, who are supposed to help whenever Sakura is in over her head. Finally, the rest are the little kids who are being taken care of.

That's what category I fall in, despite technically being the oldest. I'm just glad I'm not responsible for any other kids besides myself.

Along with the tour, I was able to meet the other girls I'll be sharing a room with. Their names are Mirei, Yukino, and Yui.

Yukino and Yui are identical twins. They've been here longer than anyone else in our group, despite only being 6 years old. The poor kids don't even remember what's it like outside these walls. Though, it'd be easier to pity them if they didn't have their bright smiles and boundless energy. I guess they're the ones who make life worth living here. It's impossible not to be happy with these two around.

Mirei is an almost opposite compared to them. She's really quiet and has that "just pulled an all nighter" look. She's the kind of girl that would rather be alone with a book in the corner of the room. In fact, that's what she was doing when we found her. I couldn't read the title, but a peek at some of the pages filled with blueprints and overly complicated math equations makes me think it's something about robotics. Mirei must be incredibly smart to be able to understand all that gibberish.

I have a feeling she and Agasa would get along well.

After all that, Sakura stops by at Mr. Nishi's office and we get permission to leave the building for lunch.

We walk up the street, me following her, as she continues explaining some of the rules.

I'm not really listening as she blabs on and on and on. Instead, I try to figure out in what part of town we are. None of the shops are recognizable, and there's no landmarks as far as I can tell. It's just a very busy city bursting with life I've never seen. The sights, smells, people... It's all new.

I inwardly moan. If I don't know where I am, how can I run away? This is great, just perfect. Why must the orphanage be here of all places?

"We're here."

I snap back from my thoughts, and look over at Sakura. Here? Where is here? Oh right, we were going out to eat. "Here" must be the restaurant.

My eyes move from her face to the sign above. I don't know why I bother looking, I can't read it anyways, but whatev-

My jaw drops.

I know where we are.