𝑺𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒅

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙 - 𝔸 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕝

The slums. Where children prowl for food and shelter to survive. Children who no longer have a place to stay or parents to be with. It is very pitiful to see children without proper food or shelter to live in. Instead, they sleep on the cold concrete using old and unused boxes as blankets. Those boxes, however, cannot provide much protection or warmth from the coldness of the breeze that blows every night.

She was one of them. As far as she can remember, she lived in the slums along with other children for months. Before living there, she didn't have an ounce of memory to remember them. Like it was trapped in a bottle, it still has not yet awakened unless something fortunate or unfortunate event might happen in the future.

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She was strolling down the streets of Yokohama when she saw a child, thin and filthy, begging the people who passed through them to give them even a bit of food or money. He was pushed, ignored, and cursed by the people who didn't have the slightest remorse for the poor child. The girl watched him from the other side of the street, silently biting the sandwich she bought in a department store nearby. Work was already finished, so she took the liberty to adore the city's beauty.

She couldn't stand it. She knew the exact feeling as an orphan who had lived in the slums. Before she knew it, she was running towards the other side of the road, where she was almost hit by a truck. The girl apologized to the driver. He was pissed off and gave her a glare of discontentment and disgust. She just smiled at him, an apologetic one, and then ran off to the child sitting near a cafe who was crouching down and hugging his knees due to the cold evening breeze.

"Hello little one, do you want one?" handing over a wrapped and untouched meal to the child. As she peered into his features, he was incredibly thin. Thin enough to see a clear picture of his ribs under his ragged shirt. He looked at her for a few minutes in silence and then abruptly took the food from her hands. It was another sandwich that she had brought from the same store for herself to eat at a later time.

"Do you have a name?" She asked, wanting to befriend the child.

Expecting him to utter his name, he only shook his head no as he continued to munch down his food.

"You know, I was once like you because I was an orphan myself," she said, reminiscing those moments when a certain someone took her in. She then silently chuckled at the memory, looking at the boy munching the food with a slight aggressiveness. An idea had crossed her mind, an idea that could give her responsibility and a burden. Having this responsibility doesn't bother her. She will be delighted to give the child a chance to have a healthy and happy life instead, just like someone else did for her.

"Hey little one, do you wish to come with me?"

"Where to?"

"Home"

The boy stopped munching his food and looked at the girl in shock. No one has offered him a place to stay in someone else's home. The undeniable fact is that it is quite rare to find people who pity their situation and lifestyle. He started to imagine the feeling of a comfortable warmth when sleeping under the thick sheets of cloth, eating scrumptious food every day and night. His imagination caused him to escape reality for a while. Though he didn't think for a moment that the one he imagined right now would be his reality starting from now on.

The boy just stared at her glistening (e/c) eyes as the city lights illuminated her features while still stuck in his fantasies. Well, not a fantasy. From where she stood, the city lights didn't brighten the child's features that much because the girl sheltered him from the lights, blinding his big yet adorable oceanic blue eyes.