Yune and Eli were great friends by the time Mizu came in their lives. But she was a welcome addition to their family. She was short statured and had short pink hair that was dyed.
Yune and Eli were just beginning middle school when they had heard news of another kid going to be transferred to this orphanage. Apparently, there were rumors she was a problem child.
Mizuchi Yang was angsty and hard to handle. She was abandoned as a child. One day, her mother just left her on the side of the amusement park. When the authorities couldn't find the mother, they put Mizuchi into the system. She became extremely agitated whenever anybody got close like a wild animal. She was hard to put up with in one of the other orphanages. She constantly ran away looking for her mother, but was always met with no luck. By the end of the week, she would be found somewhere in an alley eating leftovers from the trash, or, if she was lucky, something that she pocketed. She would get caught and put back into the orphanage, but none of them would pay attention to her. They would just think that there was no point in holding her since she would just run away again.
Eventually, she ended up transferring to many other orphanages, but each time, she would run away. But then, miraculously, she was transferred to one place where she found purpose. The orphanage in Janken City. A small place, but it was there she would meet Eli and Yune, and her life would forever be changed.
Mizuchi was escorted to the orphanage with some resistance. She did scratch one of the escorts drawing blood.
When she was at the orphanage, she met with the headmaster first.
"Looks like you'll be staying with us," the headmaster said with a gentle smile, "I'm Ms. Singh. What's your name?"
"You already have my name in your papers. Let's just get this over," Mizuchi replied.
"I do, but I want to hear it in your voice. I wouldn't want to get it wrong," she replied. She was patient and wanted to get to know the girl.
"Ugh. My name is Mizuchi Yang. I'm seven years old. Can I go now?" she quickly replied back.
"Sure. I'll take you around the place and show you around."
Ms. Singh could tell that Mizuchi was small because of malnourishment. Like so many unwanted children , she had many troubles and aggression towards the outside world.
She first gave her a warm meal full of meat. Mizuchi chowed it down and enjoyed every single piece of it. She wouldn't let such good food go to waste. And the headmaster wanted Mizuchi to feel at home.
Yune and Eli came out to meet their new guest. They usually came out to greet new orphans. The headmaster left the three alone so that they could talk and hopefully be friends.
"Hello, Mizuchi. I'm Eli. It's nice to meet you."
Yune waved her hand and attempted a smile. She was fine interacting with others, but still had much to learn. And Eli was much easier to talk to in general.
Mizuchi ignored the two and continued to eat.
Yune and Eli both just sat down with their new friend and watched quietly. They didn't want to disturb her. She seemed to be very hungry.
Once Mizuchi was finished, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was pretty good. Much better than what the other places feed," she said.
"So, your Mizuchi, huh?" Eli said.
"Yeah. What's it to ya?" she replied with angst.
Eli and Yune chuckled.
Eli began to pat Mizuchi's head.
"What are you doing? What's so funny?" Mizuchi asked.
"How you talk? You talk so tough, but you're voice is so small and cute." Yune said.
"What? I am tough. Tougher than you punks," she replied as she pushed away Eli's hand.
Eli tried to defuse the situation. "Alright. Alright. I believe you. You must have had a hard time. Mind if I call you Mizu for short? My name is Elizabeth, but people call me Eli. And this here is Yune."
"No," she quickly retorted without giving any reason as to why, "Don't call me Mizu."
Eli and Yune continued to be polite, but Mizuchi just kept shutting them down.
Mizuchi said as she sipped some orange juice, "You shouldn't try to be so friendly with me. It's not like we'll be friends."
"Oh. And why's that?" Yune asked curious.
"I won't be staying long. My mom is gonna pick me up soon. And even if she doesn't find me here, I'll just go to her," she replied.
Yune and Eli were aware of the rumors. They were worried for Mizuchi, but wanted to make her feel at home. Eli used her fake smile, but Yune was no good at it, so she didn't even try. But Mizuchi could see the look on their faces.
She scoffed, "I don't want or need your pity. Just leave me alone."
Then, Mizuchi left the two to wander the halls. She didn't attempt to talk to anybody nor did she want to. She was planning on running away from this orphanage just like any of the others.
Yune and Eli followed her around to make sure she didn't try that, but it looked like she was just scouting the area first. She walked by each and every window looking outside into their playground. Then, she walked around outside ignoring the other kids. She looked at the fence thoroughly. Eli and Yune were watching from the windows trying not to be noticed.
Once night came and the other children went to sleep, Yune and Eli were pretending to sleep. They were expecting Mizuchi to attempt to run. They kept one eye open to keep watch on their new guest. They didn't want her to leave. They felt an obligation to protect her like any of the other children. Yune and Eli felt like they were all a family.
They kept watch on her bed, but it looked like she never moved. They continued to watch, but suspiciously it was like she was frozen. Yune and Eli both got up at the same time to check up on her. They pulled away the sheets to find it was just a pile of pillows with a face drawn on with strings taped as hair.
"Not good," Yune exclaimed. The two ran off to look for her. They didn't want to bother the headmaster or any of the other children, so while they slept, they ran off to find Mizuchi. They quickly put on their shoes and looked for any signs of where she might have gone. Yune saw one of the windows on the ground floor left open and saw that it led outside. They both jumped out to see that a piece of Mizuchi's clothing had been torn from the gate. It looked as though she had climbed the fence.
Yune and Eli both found themselves in a bind. They tried to climb up, but they were slow. Once they actually did manage to do it, they were both breathing heavily.
"How could such a small child be so agile?" Yune asked aloud.
They looked to side to side and wondered where she may have gone. They had no idea which way she would go.
Then, suddenly, as both Yune and Eli looked at the open window that they came from, they saw Mizuchi standing inside the orphanage. It was a ruse. She had opened the window earlier and planted a piece of cloth by the fence. She gave a sly smile and wave holding the keys to the house. She then closed the windows and appeared to have run off. Eli started to climb back up the fence.
"Wait, Mizuchi!" she cried.
Yune tapped Eli and said, "She had the door keys. I think she is going to get out from the front. Let's go."
"Okay," Eli said as she dropped back down. They ran ahead to the front. Mizuchi peeked through the window carefully to see if those two were still there.
She sighed and opened the same window. She snuck out and landed on her feet. She, then walked over to the fence and looked at it. It was high even for her. But she had noticed on the corner that there was a sight opening underneath. All she had to do was dig a bit. She began to dig with her hands quickly. It didn't take too much time, but it was a small opening. Luckily for her, she was quite small enough to get through.
She crawled underneath and got out of the orphanage.
During this time, Yune and Eli had already made it to the front entrance, but didn't see anybody try to leave. It was still locked. If Mizuchi had went this way, then she wouldn't have took the time to lock behind her. Eli was perplexed, but Yune realized what Mizu was planning.
"We got to get back to that fence. Hurry, Eli," Yune said as she began to run back.
Eli followed right behind. Both of them were tired, but still felt the need to keep going.
When they got back to the fence, they noticed Mizuchi just got past the fence.
"Which way was the subway from here?" Mizuchi muttered to herself trying to remember which way to go. But then she eyed the two girls out of breath. Then, Mizu began running away from them.
"Wait!" Eli yelled as they gave chase.