From A-Z, and Everything in Between

Special Snowflake

"You must be Soraru-kun! It's nice to finally meet you. Your mother has told me so much about you."

  Soraru merely gave a low, disinterested hum in response. His mother sent him a pointed look, obviously wanting to comment on Soraru's rude behavior. He couldn't help it, though. It was the weekend and he was stuck "volunteering" at some rec center instead of playing video games at home. It was all his mother's idea, insisting he needed to get out and do things in the community for once. Like he cared about that. He was a thirteen-year-old boy, he had better things to be doing than helping some councilor take care of little kids.

      "Soraru is a very responsible boy, he can just be a bit stubborn at times. If he causes you any trouble at all, don't hesitate to call me," his mother told the councilor with a smile.

  The councilor waved offhandedly. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be no trouble. Isn't that right, Soraru-kun?"

      "Yeah, sure," Soraru muttered. Once again, he made it very clear that he did not want to be here.

      "In that case, I'll leave you to it," Soraru's mother stated, before she turned to face her son. "Be good, okay, Soraru? I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up."

  Soraru gave a short "okay" in response. His mother sighed, but seemed to be willing to leave it at this. She waved to him and the councilor, before heading towards the exit of the rec center's main lobby. Looks like there really was no getting out of this.

      "Alright, how about I show you to the art room? That's where you'll be helping out today," the councilor said.

  Soraru merely shrugged, and the councilor took this as a sign of permission. The councilor turned and started walking down the hall, with Soraru reluctantly falling into step behind him. They passed by quite a few doors that were lining the hallway, before the councilor finally stopped in front of one of them. He pushed open the door, allowing Soraru to go in first, before stepping inside himself. The art room was currently empty, at least in regards to people. The room itself, though, was quite cramped with rows of foldable tables shoved together to fit in as many as possible. On the tables was an array of art supplies, ranging from stacks of paper to baskets of safety scissors. Soraru looked over it all and realized for the first time just how many kids he'd be dealing with.

      "The kids should be here soon. They're just getting back from the playground outside," the councilor stated.

  As if it was somehow planned, the door burst open at that exact moment, and a flood of kids came pouring in. Soraru jumped back to narrowly avoid being run over by an excited seven-year-old. He had never been in more danger than he was right now. This was insane. While Soraru tried to figure out how in the world he was going to survive spending a few hours with these kids, the councilor calmly rounded everyone up and sat them at the various tables. They all seemed to calm down a bit after this, finding the various art supplies somewhat fascinating. Watching them play with scissors made Soraru nervous, but at least they weren't running around like crazy anymore.

      "Okay, now that everyone... Oh, where's MafuMafu-kun?" the councilor asked with a small frown.

  One of the kids, a boy with messy brown hair, pointed over to a large shelf full of supplies on the other side of the room. "He's over there."

  Soraru followed where the boy was pointing and noticed a tuft of white hair poking out from behind the shelf. A pair of large red eyes that were nearly obscured by long bangs met Soraru's gaze, before quickly looking away.

  The councilor sighed. "Why is MafuMafu-kun hiding this time?"

      "Amatsuki-kun told him that the art room is haunted," a boy with red hair answered.