Chapter 2: Realization

When I woke up, Keiichi was hovering over me with concern on his face. "How do you feel?" he asked, trying not to sound worried about me too much. He helped me sit up and get comfortable. A blanket covered my legs as I curled myself under its warmth. "Where am I?" I replied groggily.

He handed me a cup full of hot tea. As soon as I tasted it, the room came into focus once more. We were in what looked like an apartment. Everything felt warm and inviting. I sat on one side of the bed while he took a seat on the other side next to me. Keiichi reached forward and began brushing the hair away from my face. I could hear him humming a little tune as his fingers stroked through my locks. 

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I finally asked. Keiichi stopped what he was doing and stared at me for a second or two before smiling wide. "'Cause we're family now." he told me firmly with a nod of his head. I thought about that for a minute—it wasn't something I ever really imagined myself being part of...but here I am. "Where's Seiji?" I asked nervously.

Keiichi shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as if he didn't know where their boss was either. "He left to do some stuff today, but said that he'll be back in a few days," Keiichi answered. Suddenly, Rin bursts into the room without knocking on the door first. He stands at the entrance and stares daggers at me. I begin shaking from fear all over again until he eventually smiles and walks toward my bedside. "Little miss crybaby finally woke up." he said, ruffling my hair while trying not to sound too mean about it.

"Get lost already." Keiichi tells him sternly. Rin just rolls his eyes and sits on the bed next to us with a smirk on his face. I glance away from both of them nervously. They look so cool—so handsome. "You can't keep hogging Himiko to yourself all day long, you know," Rin told Keiichi jokingly. For a moment or two, he stared at me intensely as if he wanted me for himself instead. He kept grinning every time Keiichi would laugh off his jokes like this.

"U-Um..I have to use the bathroom," I muttered quickly before slipping out of bed and running out the room. Both men stare after me with blank expressions on their faces. "She's cute, that's for sure." Rin said bluntly. Keiichi just nods in response. "She went the wrong way, you know." Rin added while smirking slightly. 

I crept through the halls trying my hardest not to make noise and draw any unwanted attention toward me. "This place is fancy..." I whispred under my breath as I explored it further. It looked so high class that I wasn't really used to being surrounded by this kind of lifestyle. There were portraits on the wall that made everything seem like a museum rather than anyone's home.

"What the hell are you doing?" a gruff voice came from behind me. I jumped slightly when I realized who was speaking. It was Kioshi—he had a glare in his eye and seemed angry as he looked down at me. My face grew hot with embarrassment while my heart raced inside my chest. "U-Um...well..." I stuttered for an answer. "I-I was just..looking for the bathroom." I said. 

Kioshi stared at me intently before letting out a heavy sigh. "Come on. I'll show you." He turned on his heel and began walking off. I followed him without saying anything back. No one really spoke to me unless it was something they wanted. Kioshi walked in silence next to me as we made our way down the hall until finally stopping outside of a door. "This is the bathroom." he muttered under his breath.

"Thanks...um," I started saying while opening the door. He looked at me sternly once more. "You don't need to thank me," he told me with a bit of attitude behind his words. Kioshi walked off as soon as he saw my face flush red. The inside of this place seemed almost like heaven—fancy tile work lined every single surface of the floor and walls around me.

A large tub sat in the corner next to an even larger sink, mirror, and vanity. All four surfaces were made out of marble or something similar to that—white, black, and gray colors combined together in what looked like artwork. I walked up to the sink to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. My reflection stared back at me from the mirror and all I could see was nothing but emptiness in my eyes. It's been so long since someone really paid attention to me. 

The sound of a knock came from the other side of the door. "Himiko? You okay?" Keiichi called out nervously. His voice seemed deeper than before for some reason. "I'm fine...um..yeah." I said without thinking. "There's food waiting for you in the dining room if you want it," he told me through the door. "Okay," I muttered softly. "You can come out when you feel ready to join everyone else." He spoke those words slowly and gently as if he was worried about hurting my feelings somehow.

After washing my hands, I opened up the door. He waited on the other side—just standing there with his arms folded across his chest. When we locked eyes together, he began smiling again. "Are you ready to eat yet?" he asked curiously. His smile made my stomach flutter in response. I nodded yes at him even though I wasn't really hungry right now.

Keiichi held out his hand toward me. Without hesitation, I took it without worrying that something might happen to me later. He led me down the hall once more until we reached a set of double doors. My mouth hung open as soon as I saw what was inside. It was almost like someone had taken their kitchen and built an entirely different house around it! "Whoa..." was all that escaped my lips as we stepped foot into the dining room.

Setsuna, Eito, Rin, and Kioshi were already there waiting for us. They looked up when they saw me come inside. I smiled at them in response even though my stomach continued twisting in knots from anxiety. "Come sit next to me." Keiichi said softly while motioning toward a chair right next to where he wanted me to sit.

Everyone else kept on staring at me—it felt uncomfortable in here with all of their eyes watching my every move. Without hesitating, I sat down and began eating quietly. Setsuna sighed loudly when he saw me doing so. "How long are you going to keep on acting like that? You don't have anything to fear here." he muttered bluntly as his chopsticks dug into another plate of food. He looks over at me with an icy glare before continuing. "We aren't trying to hurt you."

"You could start being more welcoming too," Eito added in. Rin snickered loudly, covering up his laughter as he tried not to make it obvious to the others. Eito looked at Rin sternly—a silent command for him to shut his mouth. I chewed on my food slowly while glancing over at Keiichi next to me. He smiled warmly as if to tell me everything will be alright.

"So Himiko," Eito spoke again while breaking his gaze from everyone else and putting it toward me instead. "How old are you?" he asked curiously. Rin, Setsuna, and Kioshi all turned their heads to me. "Seventeen." I muttered back softly.

"Wow, you're younger than me." Keiichi said in surprise. "That makes me your senpai then!" he laughed happily before patting my back lightly. I nodded slightly as a response before eating once more. I finished my bowl pretty quickly. They seemed so shocked that I was able to eat so much food like this. I think they were expecting something else—like that I would be too nervous and scared to eat even though I'm not really used to having these kinds of meals.

"Are you full?" Keiichi asked with a smile on his face. I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "Want some more?" Rin said bluntly while looking at my empty plate. I looked around the table to see what everyone thought about it. Even though there was plenty left, none of them made an attempt to get more food themselves. "No thank you," I replied politely.

Setsuna let out another heavy sigh. He served me another bowl full of rice along with a bit more soup as well. "Oh, thanks." I told him gratefully. He just nodded silently in return before letting his chopsticks dig into more vegetables. We all soon finished eating and began chatting amongst ourselves after that.

"How do you know Boss?" Setsuna asked suddenly while wiping off his mouth. Eito raised an eyebrow at this question but didn't say anything back—he just kept on watching me from across the table instead. "Um...well..." I stuttered. "I met him by chance," I answered honestly. This seemed to intrigue everyone here and they all looked up at me with their undivided attention. Even Keiichi was staring at me as if he wanted to know everything about me.

Eito leaned forward in his chair, folding his hands together under his chin. "He just happened to knock on the wrong door." I said without hesitation. The others laughed loudly as soon as they heard my answer. "That's it? Nothing else?" Koishi asked. I looked down for a moment. "Well...I was alone. There wasn't anyone left who cared about me. After my parents died, I was left with my aunt and uncle. Turns out they weren't too happy to have me in their care. Not long after that, they'd taken the inheritance money left to me by parents and ran off with it."

No one spoke or made a sound while they listened to me talk about all this. It was such an odd feeling to share things like this with them. My heart ached so badly because no one ever listened when I tried explaining these kinds of things before. "I was put in foster care, but even then no one cared. When I was old enough, I emancipated myself. I took up a lot off odd jobs to get by." Eito nodded slowly at this information. Keiichi looked at me with sympathy in his eyes.

I laughed for a moment. "Even with all of that happening, I still went to school. But you know what? No matter how much I studied...how hard I worked—it never helped me get anywhere." I sighed heavily as I remembered all those years working my ass off only to feel alone in the end. "One day I thought 'I could just end it all right now'. Just take the easy way out and not have to deal with anything anymore," I continued, trying my best not to start crying.

"Yesterday was my birthday, you know?" Everyone froze when they heard this. They didn't expect such a sensitive topic to be brought up. "It was terrible. Like always." I said while chuckling. "I was scared when Seiji knocked on my door. I thought he was to kill me or something." The room was still quiet. Keiichi stared at me intently. "I ended up begging on my knees for him to take me away from that place, and now I'm here."

"Happy Birthday..." Kioshi muttered softly. A smile came over my face—I almost started crying again. It had been so long since someone told me happy birthday...but somehow it made things feel better inside. I took a deep breath. "Sorry for the sob story." I said jokingly while wiping away the tears in my eyes. "I'm sorry for being a little off around you all. I'm just...I don't know. I was still scared because I took a chance on someone I didn't know, hoping that my wish would be granted. If it weren't Seiji...it could've been...worse."

"Don't say such things," Eito spoke sternly as he glared at me. "Leave your past behind you. Your new life starts now." Everyone nodded in agreement with him after hearing this advice.

They smiled when they saw how happy I felt inside—knowing that everything would finally start working itself out.

I smiled, "Thank you, everyone."