{COMPLETE} Should Have Realized Sooner [Miritama]

9. Himiwari Antiques Shoppe

In a small antiques shoppe about 6 blocks away from U.A, the business was always steady enough to keep them afloat. In the employee's room, there was a cellar door only four people knew about. Technically, everyone knew about it since it was an obvious door in the middle of the room but they didn't know was in there. Most would assume that's where they kept their storage but no one knew for sure since it was always locked, never opened, and there was only one key for it that no one had access to. No one accept a little boy that, if you went to this shoppe often enough, you'd see bursting out of the backroom and being chased around at least twice a day.

You would probably assume he was just disobedient and antsy being inside so it was him just wanting to expel some energy but if you really looked at his behaviour with a critical eye, you'd know better. He never tried to run away, so it's not too concerning that the boy way always running away from the two that seemed to be his caretakers but there's a reason he never fully ran away, no matter how easy it might've been.

He was determined not to leave alone.

The longing gaze he often glued to the door could easily be mistaken for the want to just to outside instead of staying inside a cooped up dusty building filled with antiques but all be really wanted was to leave and never come back. Nothing truly stopped him from running out the front door, the two men in charge of looking after him weren't very fast and had very little stamina, it's not hard to getaway.

This particular time of being tackled to the ground and dragged to the back room was one that almost discouraged him completely. He was thrown to the ground and didn't even bother to try and run again since it was practically pointless.

"Listen brat," the taller of the two men growled, grabbing the young boy by the front of his shirt. "If yer not gonna try an' actually book it outta here, save us da trouble an' stay put, woncha?"

The boy just glared up at him and even had half the mind to spit in his face and the other half begging him to do everything in his power to piss them off, so that's exactly what he did. He spat directly in the man's eye.

"Oh, that is it!" The second man, stationed by the door, yelled and started charging forward before halting when the first man held a hand up.

"Down, Jin," he barked behind him, wiping his face with his other hand. The man, Jin, grumbled slightly as he slowly backed up to resume his position in front of the door.

"Let us go," the boy growled darkly.

"You can very easily get out of here on your own, you choose not to,"

The boy simply glared at the man in front of him for a long while before having his shoulder grabbed harshly and pushed towards the 'forever locked' door. He knew what he was being told without having to hear it; "go be with him if you're so keen on not leaving without him"

He stealthily grabbed a bowl of fruit and hastily made his way down to the seller that was on the other side of the door. The boy carefully carried himself down the rickety wooden steps before jumping off the last step and smiling wide at the far corner. "I'm back~" he sang, feeling slightly guilty when he saw the figure sitting there jump in alarm.

"Oh, that was quick," the other boy remarked, stretching out slightly and a soft clinking could be heard. "What do you get up to up there, Cecil?"

Cecil almost didn't hear the question as he was busy staring hatefully at the chain around his companion's ankle, making noise at any slight movement and painfully reminding them both that they were trapped there. "Huh?" He blinked as he registered what the other said. "Oh, you know, just running around and disturbing customers like usual,"

"And you got caught?"

"I got bored," Cecil clarified. "I handed myself in, anyway, I brought you some fruit," he said happily, thrusting the bowl of slightly over-ripe fruit forward.

The other boy went from seeming particularly amused to looking at the bowl sadly in an instant. "But you've already given me your lunch today," he stated, cradling the fruit as it was shoved into his arms.

He waved him off. "It's fine, I'm fed more than you'll ever be, you need more then me," Cecil dismissed.

He watched eagerly as the other boy slowly picked up a peach and guiltily took a bite. He swallowed painfully and looked at Cecil oddly. "Why don't you get out of here? We both know you're fully capable of it,"

This wasn't the first, and most likely wouldn't be the last, time he was asked that question. He could technically leave whenever he wanted, go to the police, and get it all sorted out with breaking a sweat but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had no idea how Japanese law differed from that at home and he didn't want to leave his captive friend suffering alone and starving for any amount of time.

"I'm not leaving you," Cecil said simply, hating how embarrassed he felt by stating it.

"What?" The other boy asked incredulously. "B-b-but you barely know anything about me-"

"Then tell me!" Cecil argued back instantly. "I already care about you so nothing's going to change. What's your name? How long have you been here? Why don't they feed you? Why do they need to chain you to the wall?" He raced through, rattling off all the huge questions he'd been begging to know the answers to for forever.

The other boy practically cowered at Cecil's understandably boyish behaviour, despite obviously being older than him. He bowed his head so his bangs were falling down like drapes that covered his face and he whimpered something Cecil couldn't hear.

"Huh?"

"I said I don't know," he said again, still very meek but slightly louder and more forceful than before.

"Don't know what? Your own name?" Cecil asked, horrified. What on earth did those monstrous men do to him to forget something like that?

"Of course not," the boy rolled his eyes. "I know my name, I just don't know how long I've been here, what day is it?"

"Oh, well I don't know, all I know is that school started today," Cecil said thoughtfully, racking his brain to think of an actual date. He jumped and looked over as he heard the other start choking on air.

"I've been here for a whole year?" He wheezed incredulously to no one in particular. He looked at the wall through a glossy lens and Cecil felt his heart swell with pity that he knew nothing to do with.

"Miserable anniversary?" Cecil offered awkwardly, laughing nervously not knowing how to act in this situation.

The other boy huffed a weird kind of laugh, just looking at the wall in disbelief. "I think..." he started. "I'm gonna lay down for a while..." he trailed, slowly shuffling backwards to his makeshift bed on the ground, chain rattling along with his movement, and laying down with his back facing Cecil.

Cecil, nodding in agreement despite not being looked at, went over to rummage around in some bins on the other side of the room to occupy his now free, of any waking company, time. A few moments of his rake through the mountains of stuff kept down there, he heard soft mumbling from the other side of the room.

Cecil immediately straightened up and looked over at the other boy huddled on the ground. "Huh?" He questioned. "What was that?"

"Amajiki," the boy said, a little louder than before but still not facing anything but the wall. "My name is Tamaki Amajiki,"

Cecil felt a smile slowly creep across his face at the new level of trust he had gained in the other, almost unknown, boy. "Well, Amajiki, have a good nap," He said kindly, quietly going back to looking through the things kept in the cellar for the hundredth time.