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That day when you first dropped off Tetsu at his aunt's place, you immediately went to the nearest store to buy all the product you need to assemble a four year old's ideal lunch. A handful of molds and different styled bentos was all you could purchase and you've done your research on what to make for each day.

It's been a few days since you started preparing Tetsu's lunch and you underestimate how much effort is needed to put together a simple bento. You've seen anime and TV shows, especially in romance ones, that they decorate their bento lunch with cute seaweed art on rice balls and octopus sausages.

Waking up early was one so he could have it fresh, and then delivering to him that morning before he goes to school. You have to admit, they were sloppy at first but each consecutive day they were starting to look more appealing. To Tetsu, he was just happy that you made him lunch overall and it didn't matter that it looked presentable or not - more amazed that you went above and beyond to satisfy his impression.

He never fails to congratulate you on your food every time you picked him up from school, and each day he makes a small request for his next lunch to which you also had to live up to, because seeing his beaming expression is always worth it to see. Even Tooru's sister happily invites you to eat dinner for doing such a task for him.

While you walked down the street to Tetsu's school, you began to wonder if he really liked the cheeseburger you made, the star-shaped carrots, or the spaceship rice ball you worked so hard on this morning. It is the last lunch you made before Tooru returns home from Miyagi so you made it extremely adorable for Tetsu to feast his eyes on.

Did Tooru knew that you were making lunch for his son? Perhaps, but you weren't going to announce your genuine act to him since it is merely for Tetsu and you only did it for Tetsu.

Arriving at your destination, your eyes searched for the boy behind the playground in a sea of children flocking around. There was very few of them today and you assumed their parents came to pick them up early, but somehow you still couldn't find Tetsu in the nearly vacant lot.

"Tetsu! I'm here," you called, hoping to see a head of brown hair sprout from the sandbox but unfortunately, no response.

Concern flickered upon your face, not yet worried until you searched the whole ground for him. Walking around the corner of the building, you began to hear a few faint voices from a far.

"Stop it!" It sounded like Tetsu and you instantly marched to the direction his voice is.

"What, are you going to cry to your mommy now?" Another voice followed, a bit louder when you walked to the scene and you felt a slight panic.

Just when you reached the other side of the wall, your head peeked and found three boys and one of them was the small Oikawa dropping onto the floor.

You gasped.

"Oh yeah, that's right! You don't have a mommy!" The other boy, who is much bigger than he is, laughed cynically and raised what looked like the bento lunch you made this morning in his hands. Only you can recognize the expensive star-printed cloth around it and you paid a good amount for it.

"I do have a mommy!" Tetsu screamed back as tears were beginning to swell in his eyes.

"Then where is she? My mom says you don't have one since you were born!"

Tetsu gotten up from his feet to grab the box lunch from his hand, but his small form can only reach so little at the boy's outstretched arm. He was then shoved again by the older boy as he fell onto his knees.

"She's a fake and you know it, Oikawa!"

"Hey!" Anger boiled within your blood by witnessing such a scene and the two boys froze your screeching voice nearing them as you stormed closer to Tetsu in attempt to help him on his feet. Your eyes averted back to them. "What the hell are you doing to him?!"

"W-We're not doing anything," one muttered as he put his hands behind his back.

"Don't act stupid," you scolded and stood in front of him. Your hand splayed out for him to hand you the bento box that he stole. "Give that to me."

"I don't have anything!"

"Give it. Now," you weren't shouting at this point since your voice growled deeply for him to hear the tension coming from you. "If you don't give it back, we're going to settle this with your parents and you'll be getting a real punishment from them."

You lied. When this is over, the first thing you will do is bring it to the teachers and then their parents, of course. You'll make sure they'll be getting the proper scolding.

"Just give it to her, Uotani," whispered the other boy who nudged his arm, trying to think smart of the situation.

You felt the boy's eyes shaking while you gave your most dreadful stare as he was trying to avoid your eyes. The pressure was on him and he threw the empty bento at your stomach in attempt to distract you. But you grabbed the boy's shirt from behind before he could take off, yanking him back to the spot he previously stood. "Oh, you're going to get it now."

He tested you and now you were going to make sure he'll be getting an ass beat from the authorities. When you turned, you dragged both boys out of the secluded area behind the building. "Let's go, Tetsu!"

The cowering boy stiffened at your firm command, grabbing the lonesome bento from the ground and then following you out of the shaded area to the school inside. The second you entered, the daycare workers gawked at your haughty form with the two boys and spun them in front of you.

"You! What are you doing to my son?!" A lady approached. Irritation filled her eyes when she glanced at your hand releasing the boy's shirt.

The boy named Uotani started to wail suddenly and immediately ran to her side. "Mommy, she hit me!"

That bratty kid....!

You knew he was trying to save his ass by spewing up a lie but you didn't take no affect from it, but you were more surprised when his mother easily fell into his stage act.

"How dare you!" she hissed, patting the boy's head to console him.

"Well, your son was picking on Tetsu before I got here! I saw it with my own eyes!" You corrected while pointing your finger dangerously at the kid behind her leg who is pretending to sob.

"He would never do such a thing! Your child would most likely start a fight!"

The nerves within your body were starting to snap at her ignorant words. With your fists wrapped tightly against your sides, you did your best not to raise your voice at the woman in front of these people.

"'Would'?" you caught the key words. "What do you mean that he 'would'''? If you have a problem with Tetsu, then say it to me! Don't press it onto your innocent kids and make it their duty to make him feel different out of everyone!"

"We can settle this, we can settle this!" one of the daycare workers cut in the tension between you two before the woman can throw another insult at you. She beckoned the three kids to a separate room but signaled their parents to stay behind. "You boys, come with me."

Tetsu gave you an anxious face but you assured him to follow his teacher before he parted.

With your arms folded over your chest, you steered clear from the boys' parents - careful not to start another scene and you didn't care if other parents were sending you skeptical looks. One with short hair, however, approached you with her son, eyes filled with genuine concern.

"Don't worry. Uotani has a case of picking on other kids as well. He tried with my son," she began to converse which made the little boy next to her flexed his arm, polling up his sleeve to show his small bump on his scrawny bicep.

You blew a sigh in relief but baffled at the scenario. "Wait, and he's still doing what he's doing? Doesn't the mom say or do anything about it?"

"Well, his parents aren't mostly around when he's at home so they don't really see how he is besides picking him up from school. They like to think he's a good child," she quickly explained, making sure she wasn't heard from them. You realized, it just shows that it all leads to parenting on how a child behaves. A gentle smile curled upwards on her pretty face while folding her arms behind her back. "Just wanted you know that any good person, especially a good parent, would know that Tetsu is a good kid."

She managed to ease your worrisome self a bit. Before, you had presumptions - maybe even have doubts that Tetsu doesn't shine as bright to others like you always think of him, considering how parents were gossiping about him the other day. But this person made sure that you knew it was evident to everyone that he is a promising kid.

Your shoulders eased, "Thank you. I was subconscious about everything."

"Like what?"

"I don't know... I'm a new face when it comes these things," you admitted nervously which it is true. You weren't used to taking care of a child and you were challenged at that fact.

"You shouldn't be worried about that. I'm sure that not only Oikawa-san but everyone had troubles like that when they become a parent. There is always something new everyday."

She sounded like she knew Tooru which it grew curious to you.

"You must be [Name]. My name is Tanaka Kiyoko, but you can call me Kiyoko," she smiled warmly and then placed her hand at the boy's shoulder. "This is my son, Aomine. He always plays with Tetsu at school."

"Hi!" the dark haired boy greeted with his small hand waving. "Tetsu is my friend and I'm going to protect him from Uotani!"

Chuckling at the boy, you were happy to say the least that there are helpful kids like him would want to befriend Tetsu.

While you waited for Tetsu to return, the door finally opened as the daycare worker permitted only Tetsu to leave the room. As for Uotani and his friend, they stayed by the lady's side with eyes squinting at the ground sourly.

"You're free to go, [Name]. I'll take care of everything from here." And you were relieved to hear those words, kneeling down to the floor to give Tetsu a comforting hug. She then aimed her eyes at the adults. "I would like to speak to both Uotani and Kazume's parents."

They froze at the announcement and slowly stepped into the room with their kids looking shameful. The door closed again and you brought your attention on Tetsu who had a blank stare, eying down at his feet cowardly to avoid your eye contact.

"Are you okay?" You murmured quietly to him and he gave a slow nod, still not looking at you.

You couldn't help but to feel pitiful for him, knowing that today's turn of events would make any small kid feel inferior, so you decided not to pester him about it and stood in your feet with your hand gently tugging on his for him to walk out of the school.

"I'll see you again, [Name]," called Kiyoko and your turned to see her grinning at you hopefully, and you returned the smile and faced the road ahead of you.

>>>

The walk was unbearably quiet, usually Tetsu would fill the silence with his random singing or rambling about the fixed lunch you made. Nothing but a few cars passing by and people meandering through the streets. This is the quietest Tetsu has been since you've met him so your eyes kept on falling onto his brown head - hair hiding his unknown eyes. Frowning at the boy, you were worried for him and how you were going to notify Tooru about what happened today.

Telling him bad news about his son being bullied would be an unwelcoming gift when he comes home.

Your legs abruptly stopped pacing just for him to bring his gaze at you. "Do you want some taiyaki on the way home?"

He hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. "I'm okay."

Your attempt to cheer him up failed, hoping to see his brightly lit expression again. A long breath escaped from your lips as you can sense the dullness in his aura.

"Hey," you said shortly. "You can tell me what's wrong, Tetsu. Is it about today?"

Then slowly, very slowly, Tetsu began to drift behind you with his hand unraveling yours and stood where he is. Eyes tracing back to him, you waited for him to answer but his squinted eyes only narrowed even more and suddenly his tiny lips began to squiggle. His heaving breath seethed through teeth gritted to hold back his sobs while tears blurring his vision.

You panicked, crouching yourself to meet his eye level and empathized. "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"I'm...," he hiccuped as the tears started to fall from his puffy, red cheeks and wailed uncontrollably. "I'm sorryyyy!"

The cry he erupted almost sounded like the same cry when you first met him and you thought that would be the last time you would hear that kind of cry. Because now, you felt the pain in them.

Brow arching, your faces stirred sadly at him. "Tetsu, it's okay. Why are you sorry for?"

It took him a couple of minutes to find his voice choking through his wiggling tongue. You tried to rub his back encouragingly but he only cried harder with fists rubbing at his shut-tight eyes.

"It's- It's my fault! [Name] is hurt!" The penny-sized tears kept rolling as they caught you in a trance. "Because- Because I wanted bento from [Name]... and- and I wanted [Name] to pick me up from school... They hurt [Name] because of me! I'm sorry, [Name]! I don't want you hurt!"

He kept wailing, wailing, and wailing that his voice box was starting shiver through his throat. His reason was beyond your assumptions that you'd never thought that there would be a day he'd cry for you - about you. Unable to find the words to comfort him, you remained silent instead, you felt your own tears starting to swell up in your eyes.

Out of all things he could've cried about today, he was more worried about you, guilty about dragging you into his life. The thought about his innocent mind being tainted deeply upsets you. No good kid should be feeling sorry for someone else's problem.

"Tetsu," you blurted while hugging him dear to your chest and carrying him in your arms. His cries muffled against your shoulder as he clung desperately to your shirt. "My sweet boy... It's not your fault."

Bouncing him against your chest, you hid your crestfallen face above his head as you cradled him close to your neck. All of a sudden, the doubt you had was starting to form in your head. Although you already knew it had nothing to do with you, but the idea of Tetsu's situation happened only because you were involved.

For the first time in your life, from here on forward, you decided to keep a close eye on Tetsu and devote your life to protect him from anything that harms him - anything that could shatter the good heart of his, even if that is you.

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Posted: 05-05-21