Kapitel 5: Chapter 5 — Confession

I think it's time to buy more books, I'll be done with this one soon and Mia also asked me to order more manga...

"Haa…"

Last year I was discussing with Irina about the future of Japan's booming entertainment industry and its possible dominance in this sector worldwide in a few years.

Although personally it doesn't really catch my attention, I must admit that if you have nothing else to do, watching anime or reading manga is a great distraction, even more so with the striking animations they offer.

If even I accept the appeal of anime and manga, the vast majority of young people and even adults will undoubtedly be recurring consumers of these products.

However… I couldn't have picked a worse time to talk about it...

At that time we were having a little snack in the library and of course Mia was with us. When she overheard our conversation, she was curious and I had to explain to her what we were talking about.

In order for her to better understand the impact she would have on people who don't know what to spend her free time on, I showed her some anime that were booming on the internet and she liked it right away.

At the time I hadn't realized what kind of mistake I had made.

"Haaa... let's forget it, there's no use crying over spilled milk."

After ordering more books and the next volume of some manga that Mia reads, I headed to my room because I want to take a bath and I don't have my change of clothes ready.

Thanks to the manga, Mia and I found out that what we've been doing in the bathroom for the past 4 years isn't just washing dirt off.

Irina was taking advantage of our naivete... not that I care. Even if it is something that should be done at an adult age, she is important to me and I don't mind sacrificing a bit of my body for her.

She felt very embarrassed at the moment we confronted her, I'm sure that if the floor wasn't tile, she would have buried her head without hesitation due to the humiliation she was going through when her impure acts were exposed by two children.

"I must admit, it's kind of funny to see her behave like that... haha."

I don't laugh very often but I can't maintain my usual indifference with memories like that.

"Eh? Leo, were you smiling? Maybe… you saw something you liked?"

I heard the voice of Lia, who had just passed in front of the stairs and was now smiling shyly.

She is 13 years old and goes to high school with the others. Over the past few years the behavior of others towards me has changed, especially girls'. I knew they weren't going to behave the same way forever, after all children grow up.

"Nn, I like the mint smell. did you just take a bath?"

I responded as I walked by her and asked a casual question to change the subject because I couldn't talk about what I was thinking about just now, right?

While I can accept Irina's perverted side, I also know that doing such things to a child isn't normal or legal, so talking about it with someone other than Mia was out of the question.

"Y-yeah, I like the mint smell too... that's why I bought a new shampoo, I guess I'll keep using this one"

"Nn, you should. See you later, Lia. I also want to take a bath."

"Sure…"

After saying goodbye to Lia, I continued on my way. Even though I said that I don't need to get along with other kids in this house, that doesn't mean I will reject them if they want to talk to me. They are no longer children and we can understand each other well.

I looked for clean clothes in my drawers and went back out, although now I am 10 and I usually take a bath alone, I have already got used to the bathroom on the second floor and sometimes Irina or Mia joins too, so the second floor is the best option.

As I went back up the stairs, I saw Mia heading to one of her friends' room. Even though we both don't go to school, she is more active than me so she made friends with no problem. Besides, she started with the spread of the otaku world in this house, now some girls get together to read some romance manga that Mia lends them.

I prefer crime and detective ones, the characters in Death Note were quite interesting. There was also that manga called Black Joke, it's a pity that I'm not allowed to continue reading it.

Wondering how we can read manga shipped directly from Japan? Well.. obviously, Irina taught us Japanese and saves us the trouble of having to search for websites that translate or subtitle anime or manga.

Mia is more interested in romance and fantasy manga, she sometimes says that I could build a huge harem with ease if I was sent to another world, it seems the isekai/harem genre is all the rage lately.

After taking a bath, I went to my room to study. Since I don't go to school and Irina doesn't know everything, I have to study on my own. Fortunately, they bought a tablet so that I doesn't have to go to the library every time I want to use the internet.

Today Irina has been very nervous and busy, she has been making many calls before leaving the house, I don't know if there is some kind of important meeting or something that has increased her anxiety, but I don't think I should worry too much, if she hasn't asked for help is because she can handle it alone.

"Well, let's finish these slides before dinner."

I started my studies hoping that Irina would have fixed what was bothering her by the end of the day.

…

"Hey, do you know why big sister wasn't at dinner?"

"I do not know either"

"Grandma has also been more serious than usual… do you think we have financial problems?"

"No, mom Lorenza wouldn't worry about something so simple"

After dinner, Mia followed me to my room worried about Irina's absence. At this point for her we are her family, she already understood that her parents are not on any trip and that they sent her here to protect her from some problem they were facing, and if they still haven't come back for her it's because it hasn't been solved yet.

I also consider her my family, she is the second closest person to me after Irina. Shortly after her arrival in this house, there was a sudden power problem in the city and no one was prepared, at that time I was reading and Mia was drinking a glass of soda next to me.

When the room went dark without warning, she got scared and dropped the glass, which broke into many pieces when it hit the floor and even though my feet did not reach the floor, some of those pieces reached my bare feet causing me a lot of pain.

While I was able to endure the pain so as not to scream, the change of expression on my face was inevitable. Without realizing it, I was looking fiercely and resentfully at Mia, which would scare the other people in this house, but to my surprise, she just hugged me and apologized.

She was scared, but not from my eyes. She was afraid that she had hurt me too much.

If I had to say when I began to open my heart to her, it would certainly have to be that moment. My anger dissipated and I returned her hug so she wouldn't worry. I couldn't be mad at someone who completely accepted me.

I know my eyes are not scary, you could even call them bewitching for the female gender but that is affected by my emotions. If I get carried away too much my eyes can cause those who see them to feel many times the effect that the angry look of a normal person would cause.

Perhaps an adult can look at them and maintain their composure, as mom Lorenza did in the past, but there are only children here and it is impossible for them to do the same.

That's why having one more person who can be by my side without worrying about harming them is very valuable to me.

"Mia, go to your room and put on clothes that keep you warm in the cold, we are going out"

Mia and I startled when we suddenly heard Irina's voice, we didn't realize at what moment she opened the door.

"Huh? Where we go?"

"I'll tell you on the way, go and don't take too long, I have something to tell Leo"

Irina was more serious than I had ever seen, Mia could only agree and head to her room, leaving me curious as to what caused her to behave this way and what she wants to tell me.

Once we were alone the room was silent for a few seconds until Irina tried to say something. She opened her mouth and closed it again, probably not knowing how to say what was on her mind.

Every time she closed her mouth, her face showed a more pitiful expression than before. I couldn't bear to see her in that situation so I went over and hugged her. I didn't know what to say either, it's the first time I've seen her like this and I don't like it, hugging her is all I could think of.

…

—Irina POV—

I wanted to tell Leo everything. I didn't have much time so I didn't know where to start, I wanted him to know everything about me even though it might make him hate me because something inside me tells me I wouldn't get another chance. Every time I tried to tell him the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. I was so afraid to tell him everything that has been going on and what is going to happen, I was afraid that he would reject me when he found out the truth.

I was so nervous I could feel the heat building up in my eyes forming small tears.

When I saw Leo approaching me, my anxiety only increased. I didn't want him to see me like this either, he mustn't know I'm scared, I don't want him to worry about me right now. They must go.

"Ahh~"

I couldn't hold back the cry of surprise when I felt Leo's arms around my waist, they were thin as a child's should be, but I felt that in his arms no matter what happened in the world he wouldn't let me go.

I don't know why I have these feelings for a child but I can only feel this way with him. Thanks to the warmth that Leo's infant body gave me, I was able to muster up the courage to tell him everything he should know, there is no turning back.

"Thanks Leo, I'm fine now"

"Listen well Leo, I'm..."

I started by telling him everything about me, I told him my real last name, until now I had used a false one to avoid problems, I also told him how I was trained as an assassin and killed the man who caused the death of my parents, the other assassination tasks that I accepted and how we got into this situation.

Leo was still listening carefully, I didn't feel any look of annoyance or fear towards me so I was extremely happy inside, I wanted to hug him and tell him that I love him but it's not the time and he still needs to grow a little more, however, now I was much more confident to keep telling him everything related to Mia.

"Now I have to talk about Mia, you must already guess that she did not come here because she was abandoned and that the financial changes are related to her, right?"

"Nn, I knew it"

Leo hadn't let me go of his arms at any time, I was able to tell him everything I had been hiding for so long thanks to the care he showed for me.

"6 years ago some people came under orders from her parents to tell us about Mia and ask us to take care of her, we didn't want to get involved in her family's problems but we had to accept"

"At that moment I felt that one of those men was not behaving like the others, so I asked an acquaintance to investigate him, years later they informed me that that man was a spy infiltrated in Mia's family, they had already disposed of him so I couldn't do anything without the orphanage getting involved."

"From that moment I was looking for ways to protect everyone, I didn't want to hurt Mia either now that she is like a little sister to me"

"With the help of some friends of Mrs. Lorenza and my contacts, we formed a plan to get out of this problem without giving up Mia and not hurting any other children, we will no longer be able to live in the orphanage but everyone will be in a safe place with their own family"

"Now you…"

After telling him everything he needed to know and do, I felt like I released a huge weight that I have been carrying for the past few years.

I leaned in and gave him a long kiss on the forehead, it's still too early to kiss him on the lips, I can completely trust that everything will work out if Leo does it.