During the next five years, Karamatsu, after having collapsed on stage his very first evening to preach, the people of the town grew concerned for him. Nobody knew much about who he was, or where he was even from. (Karamatsu was careful to keep his past buried deep within his heart. Even he had forgotten some of the bad things he had done. Though, he never forgot his dear child.) All they knew was that he was a kind, humble man, who only wanted to please those around him. Thus, despite their concern for him, the townsfolk loved him dearly, entrusting their very lives to him.

Once a week, the children of the church would stop by after school, sometimes asking Karamatsu for help with their homework. It seemed quite the foolish thing to do, but the priest always accepted them, helping them to understand their studies. He couldn't help it.

At the end one day, Karamatsu tied a beautiful bow around the opposite wrist of which the child could write. These ribbons were reminders of just how much they were loved, appreciate, and wanted in their small town.

"Now remember," Karamatsu once said after having planted a soft kiss atop the ribbon he had just tied to the wrist of a young girl, "you would never be able to tie such a bow around your wrist alone. Let this be a reminder to you, that in this life, you are never ever going to be all alone. And that's that. Your family loves you, I love you, and most of all, our Father in Heaven loves you very very much."

Such words brought tears to the young girl's eyes as she flung her arms around the priest, sobbing into his black robe.

"Thank you..." she had spoken ever so softly. "Thank you so much..."

Todomatsu was utterly disgusted by such actions. Karamatsu never once seemed to dedicate his life to the child he was supposed to be raising.

The young, eight year old boy glared at Karamatsu every single moment he had the chance to. The priest never did him any good. Why would he? His goal in life was to appear "good" to all the people. He clearly didn't have to take care of an unwanted orphan.

Todomatsu knew what a filthy liar Karamatsu was. At least, he thought he did.

Uttering curses under his breath on his short walk home from school, Todomatsu kicked up dirt as he walked along. He was as angry as ever. He didn't even care if one of the nuns of the church noticed him. They had no power over him anyways.

"My teachers hate me," Todomatsu began to pity himself. "yet they call me 'genius'. My peers hate me, yet they always pick me to 'lead things'. I must be too good for them all! If I was a moron, like they all are, I'm sure things would be different! I should be proud of the mistreatment that is bestowed upon me daily!"

The little boy ripped off his bright, fire engine red backpack as he approached Karamatsu's church. Throwing it to the ground, the little boy heard papers crunching up on the inside.

"I don't see why I have to be raised by a priest," Todomatsu spat, grimacing as he climbed up the four stairs to the church, leaving his backpack somewhere near the graveyard. "He's too busy for me. He probably wouldn't even notice if I was gone."

And just like that, a brilliant idea came upon Todomatsu. Literally flying back down the steps, the little boy threw his backpack back on and began to run. At first, he didn't even know where he was running, but it felt good.

As Todomatsu ran, tears welled up in his eyes. Unsure why he felt such strange emotions, he buried his face in his arm, continuing to run.

There was a place a little ways away that led to a small beach. It was always blocked off, since there had been far too many deaths by children and adults drowning.

Todomatsu, of course, viewing himself as an intelligent, outstanding, genius child, which was to be cherished by all, decided to catch some quiet time. This has utterly nothing to do with him being smart. He simply wanted to test the police to see if they actually did monitor the beach.

Finally, upon his arrival to where the beach was blocked off, Todomatsu rubbed his eyes once more, then easily slipped under the barricade. It was too tall for him to climb over, but the townsfolk had been retarded enough to pick a gate that short children could crawl under.

The entrance to the beach itself was almost like that of a cave. At the beginning, there was nothing but old mountainous, moldy rocks on either side of the child. He could feel his shoes sinking into the sand as he walked along, the sky above the only source of light to guide his way.

The sound of crashing waves became louder and louder as he continued to walk along between the sky-high rocks.

At long last, the rocks came to an end, revealing a short little beach, perfect for a single family to enjoy a private summer day together.

"Who cares if I'm even missing..." Todomatsu sighed as he slumped down onto the hot, dry sand, carefully removing his formal knee socks and shoes. "They won't even notice! I'm just unwanted...I probably even get in the way of Karamatsu's work..."

"Father Karamatsu, huh?" a man spat icily from behind Todomatsu, gripping him by the shoulders. "You know the man?"

Todomatsu wasn't the least bit frightened by the sudden appearance of another human being. Perhaps it was a police officer. Perhaps it was someone wishing to drown themselves. Perhaps it was someone who was also simply curious as to why the beach had to be blocked off, because idiots ignored 'do not swim' signs.

As if he were in slow motion, Todomatsu turned around dramatically to face the man. A blank, irritated expression upon his face.

"What do you want?" Todomatsu snarled at the man, who was clearly around Karamatsu's age. In fact, the man's appearance strongly resembled that of the boy's 'father'.

With dark mischievous eyes , lightly tanned skin, and slick, dark black hair, the man smirked at Todomatsu. Dressed up as if he were about to attend a formal occasion, he was certainly the definition of handsome.

"I said..." Todomatsu inhaled slowly, already losing his temper. He hated to be ignored. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

The child kicked a pile of sand onto the handsome man's black, shiny shoes, as if that were going to anger him in some sort of way.

"I asked you a question first," the man smirked as he rubbed under his nose a little. "Shouldn't you have to answer first?"

"I don't want to know him. He's the priest here in this stupid town or village. Whatever this place even is...that I'm being forced to live in," Tosomatsu muttered.

"I've been watching you ever since Karamatsu began his church here," the man spoke, his voice sounding much less frightening than before. "It seems as if you're quite rejected."

"I-I'm just s-smarter than everyone else!" Todomatsu objected. He despised receiving the pity of others.

Ignoring what the boy said, the man pointed to the little boy's wrists. "So, where's yours?"

"My what?" Todomatsu hissed defensively, hiding his wrists a little.

"Every single child in this town has a ribbon around their wrist. Every blasted one of them. So why don't you? Karamatsu is your guardian, is he not?" the man sighed, slumping down next to Todomatsu on the beach. "You feel left out, don't you?"

"N-No I..." Todomatsu felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart.

Pulling the child closer to him, the man whispered softly into the boy's ear, "My name is Osomatsu, and I've come to bring you all the joy you've ever deserved."

And just like that, Todomatsu's entire life suddenly seemed to be filled with hope. He didn't have to be alone anymore.