How To Be a Loser in Middle School: A Step-By-Step Guide

In Which a Chinese Boy Finds Validation

(Li is Hong Kong and Mei is Taiwan, just in case you don't already know ;p also here's a longer chappie woo! Also it's not nearly as fluffy as the other chapters...this one gets a little darker? I mean, not dark dark, but certainly not the happiest. Picture by hetalia223 on DeviantArt)

Yao wanted out. That was it. He wanted out of the cage that he had been trapped in all his life. His adopted brother, Kiku, had always been perfect brother, the perfect son, the perfect student...always perfect. More perfect than Yao, who was disabled, deformed; his arms stopped at half the length of a normal arm, and his hands were twisted permanently at an inhuman angle.

He made it work—he figured out at a young age how to write, carry things, do anything, really. He was often asked if his condition was painful. He always answered with a dismissive, "No." That was only partially true, though. On the physical side, it was never painful. It felt no different than a regular arm would. However, on a mental level, it was another story.

Yao understood at his earliest memory that he would never fit in. When he was thrown out of his original family and sent to an overcrowded orphanage, he knew exactly why. There were a few at the orphanage who were totally normal—perhaps they were accidents, forced to be given up because of the strict one-child policy in China. More often, though, there were people like him: deformed children, thrown out, unwanted. Worthless in the eyes of a culture in which perfection was key, and the honor of the family was everything. As for a deformity, well...the parents would always be ashamed of that. They only had one chance in this nation to bring up the most perfect, worthy, honorable child. Naturally, Yao would be thrown aside.

As soon as Yao was out of sight, his parents could try again for perfection. Twice, he suspected, they failed. Over the next several years, two more undesirables arrived at the orphanage. One had a cleft palate an obvious limp. He had to attach rocks to the bottom of his threadbare shoes to keep himself steady, and no one could understand him when he talked. The other was missing her right arm and her sleeve always dangled and snagged everywhere she went.

His name was Li. Hers was Mei. They felt a mutual connection to each other: the special bond shared by siblings. They made it a point to be there for each other every second of every day, and they held true to it. As fate would have it, it turned out, the three of them were adopted by a somewhat wealthy American couple.

And life got better. They no longer had to fight with the other children for food. They'd have plenty to eat, and it wasn't of the questionable quality that the food overseas had been. And, of course, they'd never forget their first thought when they reached America.

Mei had pointed at the sky and yelled in Cantonese, "Look there! We're in a different land. My, even the sky is different!" Then they all stared heavenward, dumbfounded. What magical land were they in, that even the sky was colorful, instead of the gray taint of smog that they had always known in China?

The best thing, however, was not the fresh water, the clean air, the abundance of food, or even the beautiful sky. It wasn't the soft beds or the stable roof over their heads. No, the best thing was Kiku.

Kiku was Japanese, the sworn enemy to the Chinese. He was everything they weren't, but at the same time, he was exactly like him. At first, the children were wary.

"He seems detached, emotionless, even..." mumbled Yao.

"What if he's like the other kids? What if he hurts us?" stumbled Li.

"I read a book about Nanking at the orphanage, and..." whispered a fidgeting Mei.

With time, though, they all grew very fond of Kiku. The boy was humble to a fault and quiet, only speaking when spoken to. He stayed out of other people's business for the most part, which they were all very thankful for. In the evenings after supper, the four of them would gather around Kiku and his laptop and watch cartoons with him. Anime, Kiku had called it.