It was a rather gloomy and boring day. The school day was taking forever to end and right after I had these extra lessons with Kisaki, that were also passing by just as slowly and painfully. Kisaki was doing a great job at helping me understand things in math I never knew I could get, but that didn't make the lesson fun or enjoyable for me. I already knew that a lesson is not actually meant to be what you would call 'fun', let alone when it came to mathematics, but.. Kisaki was just an overly quiet and serious person. Not like I minded his personality or anything, but the day was already extemely boring and slow, I only felt the need to lay down and sleep.

It had been a few days after the sleepover at Yuzuha's house. The sleepover only left me feeling more drained and worried.

That night, after comforting Hakkai, who had not muttered a single word to me, I wished him goodnight and went back to Yuzuha's room and cuddled close to her and finally managed to sleep, thankfully not coming across Taiju again. The following morning it was rather silent and a bit awkward and the mood was down, after all, both Yuzuha woke up with tired, slightly puffy eyes from the crying of last night and the entire tension of the situation and it was not what you would call 'fun'.. But at least I managed to help Yuzuha lighten up a bit when she woke up and saw me next to her.

I stayed in their house for the next few hours during the morning and even ate breakfast together and... It was really silent and awkward. Hakkai was still silent as always and Taiju.... Well, whenever he did pass our way, he either glared at us -mostly me- or just kept his cold frown and ignored me completely. He barely spoke, and when he did, he would give some kind of 'commands' to his siblings, like tell Yuzuha or Hakkai to do some kind of laundry or run whatever kind of 'errant' for Taiju despite me being there... And of course when I had to leave, I told goodbye to Yuzuha and hugged her, promising to see her at school and spend more time together and gave Hakkai a small goodbye wave. Taiju did not even acknowledge me leaving.

Taiju seemed to not appreciate my presence much around the house, especially when I 'appeared in his way' before he could apparently... punish his siblings.

I was incredibly shocked how he had not kicked me out of the house despite everything. I had expected him to grab me and throw me outside at some point, or tell me to leave and never come back whatever, or even expected a sudden punch or hit from him... But nothing.

It was not even him who told me to leave their house, I had to take the initiative to leave and return home to continue my studies. So that was surprising to me..

Of course when I went back home, I was met with the usual questions 'How was your sleepover' 'Did you have fun with Yuzuha' and questions about her family.

I was incredibly close to telling my dads about Yuzuha's family situation... But after remembering her words and her begging me not to tell anyone, I couldn't bring myself to say anything and just bit my lower lip and lied, saying everything went well and threw whatever lie I could find to please them.

"Y/n, are you listening..?"

I blinked and looked at Kisaki next to me, pointing at my mistake with his pen and staring at me. "I-uh.... Yeah, yeah..." I stuttered, as if I was not daydreaming for the third time during our lesson that day.

"..." Kisaki stared at me before he let out an exhale and closed his eyes, adjusting his glasses as he clearly did not believe me and clearly knew that I was in fact, not listening to him.

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"Good thing I brought an umbrella with me," I muttered under my breath the same day, later at night.

I kept my big umbrella over my head as I exited the nearby supermarket, holding a small bag with my groceries with my other hand. It started raining for the tenth time that day, so even for a short trip to the supermarket I still grabbed my umbrella with me just in case, and it seemed like it came in handy.

While I was walking, being lost in my own thoughts, listening to the sound of the rain hit the ground and my umbrella and as I enjoyed the smell of the rain and petrichor, I felt someone appear next to me under my umbrella all of a sudden. I felt a strong, cold, bigger hand upon mine, forcing the umbrella to be raised a bit higher.

My eyes widened and I stopped walking to turn to look at the figure, but they pulled me forward, "Keep walking." A random guy whispered quietly in a low voice, hand still grasping the umbrella and my hand that was holding it firmly as he forced me to walk...

I turned my gaze to look at the hand and noticed a tattoo on it. Although I was intrigued by it -and terrified-, I heard the sounds of police cars running down the road woth the alarms going off and I counted at least three to four police cars passing.

The guy next to me grinned and I looked up at him... His eyes were yellow, making me shiver as they reminded me a lot of a certain someone... But it wasn't him.

This guy had dark brown or black hair, some specific front parts of his hair dyed blonde... I could see one golden earring dangling down one of his ears. He wore a black t-shirt and black pants... He was soaking wet from the rain, indicating that he had been outside for a while now. The guy was quite tall and thin and looked down at me, smirking.... He looked like a maniac.

"..... um." I said, staring at him weirdly. ".... Do I.... know you?"

"Nah." The guy replied, his voice low yet his tone playful as he grinned at me, before looking around frantically. His eyes narrowed when he noticed two police officers on our front, walking our way, one of them speaking on her radio.

".... cover me." The guy suddenly said and grabbed my hand tighter, making me wince a bit and look at him with narrowed eyes. "... did you do something?" I questioned suspiciously, after he clearly showed me that he was probably running away and hiding from the police.

"... I stole snacks." The guy said, looking down at me. "..... and cigarettes." He finished saying, keeping his hand inside his slightly full pocket of his pants that I took notice of. I narrowed my gaze at him. "Now act normal-" He spoke quickly as the proceeded to cut himself from speaking further the moment the police woman on the radio and the policeman started getting closer.

He just held my hand tighter and I instinctively acted natural as I walked with him, ignoring his tight grip on my hand and the umbrella forcing it a bit higher so he didn't have to bend down, but still in a way that obscured his face from anyone else. I felt myself getting anxious all of a sudden, as if I was becoming part of a crime I never meant to entangle myself in....

I did not support theft or any crimes and this guy looked like a complete weirdo... But I could not find it in my heart to snitch on him. After all, he was soaking completely wet, he looked cold and he had just stolen a few snacks and cigarettes like he had said. I didn't know anything about this guy, but the situation not giving me a long time to process and think the situation through, I ended up keeping silent and not snitching on this guy to the police.

Well, maybe if he had told me that theft was not the only crime he had actually commited, but he had also beaten up a few people in the streets, I would have probably snitched on him already.

I kept my gaze in the front, not making eye contact with the police. The tall stranger kept walking next to me casually, holding my umbrella in a way that not only protected himself from the heavy rain -that had already done its damage on him-, but also as a way of hiding his face from the police. The policewoman and man after a few seconds walked past us, eyeing us for a second as they did not pay attention to us, probably looking like a pair of two people walking casually outside in the rain, going somewhere.

"Heehee~" The guy next to me smirked, "Idiots." He looked at me. "Thanks for the cover."

"Yeah..." I muttered, looking at him, taking every characteristic about him in... He was a rather handsome boy, I had to admit. ".... So, are you wanted by the police or something...?" My stupid curiosity got the better of me, making me ask instead of keeping my mouth shut.

The guy finally let go of my hand and umbrella now as he kept walking, hands in pockets lazily as he grinned, staring in the front as he walked alongside me under the umbrella. "You could say that... They're not entirely happy I've escaped multiple times and gotten away with theft.." And street violence and other stuff you don't necessarily need to know and rat me out.

I stared at him. "... You steal often?" "Yeah~" the guy grinned, rubbing his arms as in an attempt to warm himself up. "The homelessness has to survive somehow, too. How else can I do that?"

My eyes softened a bit seeing his state.. Him completely soaking wet from the rain from head to toe in this cold weather, being homeless and stealing for snacks, calling it 'surviving'... It made me sad.

"What's your name?" I asked him. He looked at me with a side grin. "Hanma Shuji."

"... Nice to meet you. Y/n, by the way." I replied as I kept walking. "... For how long have you been homeless?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, a long time. Kinda been abandoned by my parents. Don't worry 'bout me though," He grinned and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and a lighter as he lit it up and placed it between his lips. "We street kids are used to that stuff. It's exciting - running away and hiding from the police and all that."

I looked at him. "Don't you have a place to stay?" I asked. He puffed smoke from his cigarette as he walked with me. "Well, I change places often, but I do have a good 'hiding spots' where I hide with a few buddies every once in a while." He said and his stomach suddenly growled. He rolled his eyes and pulled a snack bar out of his same pocket and started unwrapping it.

"...." I remained silent and stared down at my feet as we walked.. I was confused on why he had been following me in the first place, before I realized. "... Do you need the umbrella?" I questioned, making him tilt his head at me, his golden eating dangling. "I mean.. My house is nearby. I can go home quickly.. You can take the umbrella with you and go... Well, wherever you need to anyways. You can keep it." I offered to give him the umbrella. And then, I looked at my bag of groceries and slowly pulled some of the food I bought to him. "And you can have that, too." I said. I felt incredibly bad and pity for him. It must be so difficult being homeless at this age for years... Did he really survive in such weathers like that? Running around, escaping from the police and stealing whatever he could find for survival?

He remained silent for a while and grinned, slowly taking them. His laughs and chuckles sounded almost psychotic in a way, but... I could tell they were genuine. He was smiling geniuenly. "You're too precious for your own good~" He happily took what I offered to him in his hands, yet still kept the umbrella over both our heads. "Well, at least let me escourt you home with the umbrella before I take it and leave, if you really are so kind to give these all to me." He said happily.

"... Okay, sure." I nodded. He even cared to escourt me home and not let me get any wet from the rain, despite how he could just immediately leave.

We started walking towards my house where I was leading him, and he wouldn't stop grinning and happily observing the goods I gave to him. He was extremely happy to be given these. "Are you sure you want to give these to me, though?" "Yeah, of course... It's no problem! Keep them." I told him. Poor Hanma, he probably had not been given anything for free by someone like that and I could tell by the happiness on his face.

"Okay, so this is my stop..." I finally said, making both of us stop near my house. I looked at him. "How far is your.... hideout?" I asked after thinking of a better word than 'home' in his case.

He looked round the empty dad streets, smoking his cigarette. ".... The nearest abandoned building's door was jammed today, so I gotta go to the further one around... thirty minutes away from here." He spoke as he thought to himself, before he sneezed a bit.

I stared at him with frowned eyes, feeling worried. "... Wait." I spoke all of a sudden, not thinking much, interrupting him from doing or saying anything. He stared at me in slight confusion.

".... Okay, listen-" I sighed. "... I don't.... exactly do that and neither can I do this for a long time, buuuut-" I said awkwardly, thinking of whether this was a good idea, but looking at him I finally decided.

"If you want to... You could stay over at my house for the night." I offered, making him stare at me. "... I cannot keep you for long or for even a day, because I live with people and my parents would kill me if they found out I brought a stranger to my house like that, but..." I sighed. "It's a cold night and you might get sick. If you want... You could stay over for the night. You look like you could need some warm food and a clean set of clothes. I could... I could give you a warm and comfortable place for the night." I said in a questioning an unsure tone.

His eyes widened a bit and he stared at me in pure shock, as if I was offering him gold. He seemed to be in disbelief.

"Listen, unfortunately this is the most I can do for you. I can't let you stay for longer than a night... But I could help you out for at least now and prevent you from getting sick and sleeping somewhere outside... " I started rambling. "I would not let any strangers in my house normally, but tonight is not a good night for anyone to be outside like that.. Plus, you're hungry and at the verge of getting sick. I can help you get comfortable and warm for at least one night. That's the most I can do..."

I noticed a happy grin appear on his face. He looked extremely excited. "And here I thought this day wouldn't get any better...!" He grinned. "Must be my lucky day!" Well, night.

I felt myself feel a bit happy to see him like this.. Yes, he looked weird and, well, sketchy... But the happiness in his eyes and smile was genuine. He was a homeless person being offered one night of sleeping in a warm room, with food and warm clothes and a warm place to sleep in. This was luxury for someone like him. "This is more than enough." Hanma said happily and threw his finished cigarette away.

"Okay... But you have to promise a few things!" I began sternly. "Do NOT cause ANY trouble, don't make ANY noise or go anywhere besides the room I'll hide you in! Because if my parents or brother find out I'm hiding a stranger in my room we are both dead!" I warned, feeling a bit anxious of something going wrong... How could I explain to my parents hiding a random homeless dude in my room? They would obviously freak out! Even if rightfully so on their part.. But I felt terrible to just tell this guy 'bye' and leave him outside like that. Although he was used to dealing with these situations, that didn't mean it was normal or good for him to suffer from the cold, hunger, thirst like that and sleep in cold, uncomfortable and dangerous places. My heart just ached to imagine this guy walking thirty minutes in the cold rain to an abandoned place, sleep in a very uncomfortable and dangerous environment with a plain thin clothes drenched in water and filth, stomach hungry an thirsty and feasting on a few cheap snacks and cigarettes to quieten down his hunger.

"Don't do anything stupid in my house or try to hurt anyone during the night or you'll regret it." I said, trying to appear threatening, although I was anxious.

Obviously, not knowing who this guy actually was and only knowing him as a homeless thief did not mean he could not be dangerous in any way, so I was also a bit scared about that. "Just... Just keep quiet, listening to EVERYTHING I'm gonna say and you have to promise me to leave early in the morning before my parents wake up and see you in the house!" I said and kept rambling and making sure that he understood all the rules crystal clear. But at this point, I was mostly talking to myself, trying to figure out how to successfully sneak this guy in my house and accomodate him for the night, without my parents or brother finding out.

Thankfully, both my parents were out for work until later at night and H/n was at one of his friends' house, which meant that for a few hours the house would empty.

Hanma just kept nodding and grinning. "I'll be a good boy, I promise~" he said. "I won't cause a single issue. It's ready enough that I'll finally eat a while free meal and sleep somewhere warm." He said, definitely thankful for this opportunity.

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Hanma was laying down on the ground of my bedroom under a soft mattress I gave to him, along with a clean pillow and cover. He was sitting cross legged, dressed in completely clean and warm clothes I stole from my brother's closet, a dark gray hoodie and black pants and happily feasting on son delicious food I had prepared for him, not minding getting a bit messy. His hair was now all dried up and he felt so much happier and more comfortable to finally be dressed in clean clothes.

"That was the best meal I've ever had in a while..." Hanma grinned. "You should become a chef."

"Oh, it's nothing..." I blushed a bit, sitting on my bed and staring down at him. He looked like a happy puppy that was just adopted and given amazon food and a great, warm place to stay. "... Are you sure you're be comfortable down there?" I asked. "Oh, it's lovely here~ Couldn't ask for a better place." He said happily as he watched me take away the bowls of food from him, to take them back to the kitchen and out them in the washing machine. After eating a lot of food, and by that, I mean a LOT, his hunger was finally satisfied.

He kept staring all over the place and my room, observing everything... But he didn't dare touch anything. He would occasionally just ask about a few things, objects, posters and stuff that I showed him, and he even happened to notice one of the pictures in my room.

"... You have a twin brother?" He asked me. "Yeah." I replied, getting my bed all set and comfortable after I made sure that Hanma was also comfortable enough to sleep, I had also done my nightly routine and gotten ready for bed in my pajamas. "You're wearing his clothes right now. He doesn't know I borrowed his clothes for you and probably won't know... He'll probably stay over at one of his friends' houses for the night." I said. "You two are so similar." He commented as he kept staring at the two of us in the photo.

Hanma slowly laid down on the mattress and immediately hugged the covers around him, smiling to himself at the fuzzy feeling... It filled me with so much happiness to see someone deprived of this luxury to finally enjoy it after years... But also felt terrible that by tomorrow he would most likely go back to sleeping in concrete places, benches, trees and whatnot. So, I wanted to make sure that for at least that night, he would feel as happy and comfortable as he could, because I knew for sure that my parents would not agree by any means to take in a random person in our house like that.

.... Would they?

"Are you sure nobody will open the door at any time and find me here?" Hanma questioned. "Don't worry about it, they never do." I said and laid down after I turned off the lights. "They always knock before anything anyways." I said. "Do you need anything else before I go to sleep?"

"Nope~" Hanma said, popping the 'p'. "... Okay. If you need anything wake up me." I said and turned my back. "Goodnight, Y/n~" He said, calling me by my name for the first time. "Goodnight, Hanma." I said before the room was filled with silence.

"...."

"...."

"...."

.... Well, it was not exactly comfortable to sleep in the same room with a stranger in any circumstance for various reasons.

As if Hanma sensed my worries and thoughts almost immediately after five seconds of pure silence, he took the initiative to speak. "... Don't worry. I'm not gonna do anything to you or your family during the night." He said with a yawn. "You can sleep in peace... I'll even most likely already be gone by the time you even wake up tomorrow morning."

"... okay," I muttered quietly. "Hanma?"

"Mhm?~"

"... Will you be okay out there?" I asked quietly. "... Isn't it... difficult, living outside for so many years... running away, stealing and ... all of that? Not having warm places to hide or shower or...."

Hanma remained silent for a few seconds, processing my thoughts. "Heh, someone's worried about me already ~" He grinned. "Don't worry about me. I'm used to life out there. It's not a struggle. I basically rule the streets out there... It's not as bad for someone like me who has gotten the hang of it." And for a deliquent like me who can beat the shit out of people and steal their money and clothes at some points... and credit cards and all that... "But what you've offered me today was really amazing for a change, you know?" He said. ".... Thanks. I appreciate it." He replied.

".. Yeah." I smiled warmly to myself, "You're welcome."

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NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE PUBLISHED ON: April 2th