Chapter 71: Replica Life

Haru was successfully adopted. It didn't take long, considering how prepared and eager the couple were.

As soon as everything was official, the nuns, the workers, and the other children in the orphanage bid farewell to Haru. They were all happy for him just as he was.

"Take care of yourself, alright?" The nuns would say. "Live a happy life!" and "Don't cause trouble for your new family!" Most of them said.

Haru knew all of that and just accepted their sentiments and goodwill.

When the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi brought him home, Haru was overwhelmed.

He lived all his life within the walls of the dingy orphanage, so a well-built and huge house all for themselves with just a few persons sounded like a grand deal to him.

Not to mention, the attention and care that he was receiving from the couple made him uncomfortable. They were doting and giving him so much love and it bothered him.

No one treated him that way before, the unconditional and undivided attention.

The nuns and the workers back in the orphanage were always busy with their work and chores, taking care of other children beside him, so that was what he got used to.

Of course, he remembered his resolve and that mysterious old woman's advice, so he never said a word and just forced a smile.

For the first few days, as he was overwhelmed on his own inside, he wouldn't notice anything.

But a few weeks later, he felt something was wrong.

The Hayashi family is composed of the couple, their eldest child named Saito, and then him, the new member, Haru.

The four of them lives in the house with a seemingly ordinary routine. Eating breakfast, watching television shows until noon, going to parks and picnics, playing badminton, having lunch and dinner, and sleeping on separate, comfortable beds.

Soon, Haru figures out more about the family as he explores the picture frames and the mementos and scattered stuff in different empty rooms.

It was one afternoon that Haru found a portrait of himself.

To be exact, a portrait of someone else that looks exactly like him as if they were carbon copies. The Hayashi family had a child named Hiroto, their youngest, who seemed to have died from an accident.

Haru was never sure of that since he never heard it directly from anyone else and just speculated based on what he saw in the house.

Realizing that he has only been adopted as a replacement of that boy named Hiroto, somehow, Haru felt indifferent about it. He didn't care whether he was in that house as a replacement or a replica, a remembered scar memory or a ghost son.

What mattered to him was—he was in that house and he has his family now.

"I'll act like Hiroto, a good son, or whatever," He thought to himself. "I'll do everything to stay here. Nothing else matters."

Whether it's because he has emotionally invested in this dream for so long that he felt obligated to continue conforming to the family or it was exactly just as he wants, he never really gave it a thought anymore.