adoption

One of the kids is pointing at Natsu and asking, "Is he your brother? Is that why you act like him?"

Haru watches as the man turns his attention from his wife to Natsu and replies, "Yes. He is."

Another kid asks, "Are you friends? Are you gonna live with us too?"

At that question, the man turns to face the kids fully and says, "No. We're not going to live with you."

"Why?"

"Because your uncle asked us not to," the man explains.

The oldest boy questions, "What? Why?"

"He said he wanted to adopt someone and that he found a nice girl who is perfect for our family and he wants us to be happy with her instead of living together. We agreed to it, since we thought that' ll be better for everyone."

At that statement, all the kids suddenly become quiet and stand still with wide eyes.

Haru stares at them in confusion and feels confused as well because he doesn't understand why they would agree to that. If he's being honest, he's never seen such kids before and he's pretty sure he wouldn't like it either. They don't seem like normal kids.

He continues watching them and notices one of them step forward and say, "Can you adopt me, too?"

Haru blinks in surprise. That's the most words he's ever heard come out of his mouth since meeting them. He's not even sure that he's ever heard anyone speak like that before, except for Natsu.

"Huh?! Who are you?!" The man asks, looking shocked.

The little guy steps away and walks backwards towards his uncle.

He raises his chin proudly before giving the man a determined stare.

"My name is Kurata Masaru. Can you be my dad?" He states, almost making his uncle's jaw drop in shock.

He stares back at the child and asks hesitantly, "Y-You're serious? You want me to adopt you?"

Masaru nods firmly.

"Why?" His uncle asks cautiously.

"Because you're my dad, right?" Masaru answers. The man looks over to his wife, as if to ask for help and says, "Haru, he doesn't know that it's true, right? You can't be Kurata Masaru, right?"

The man looks at his wife nervously, wondering whether or not she's actually going to lie to him.

She shakes her head and says softly, "Of course I'm not lying to him, Hiroki."

Hiroki sighs in relief and gives a relieved smile to his son.

"Thank goodness," Hiroki says and smiles at the little boy, "You know that you can't be called Masaru, right? It's too hard for me to remember your last name. How am I supposed to remember it when you keep calling yourself Kurata?"

"Okay," Masaru replies.

"Good," Hiroki says and then adds, "Now tell me what you want for dinner."

"Meat and fried rice!" Masaru declares.

Hiroki raises an eyebrow.

He turns to look at his wife and asks, "Are you going to buy chicken strips?"

She nods in reply and he sighs heavily before turning back to the young boy.

"Alright, let's go home and we'll get started on dinner. You're staying home tonight because you missed school today."