Haku-chan. It's hot, so please eat slowly.

　With that, Pricia hands Haku a bowl of hot porridge. Haku scoops up the porridge with a spoon, brings it to his mouth fearfully as Pricia says it's hot, and then crunches it down. She looks hot, but it looks like she can eat it.

'.........yummy.'

　When Haku said his thoughts, Pricia smiled like a flower blooming with a paaa. Then she went to get Haku a change of clothes and left the room. I'm sure she's probably sweating, so she wanted to be with something she could wipe herself off with.

　I meanwhile, I watch Haku eating porridge with a huff and a puff. His face is expressionless, but he seems to be eating well. And he hasn't stopped spooning since a while ago. And

'Ooh, you ate nicely. You were hungry?

"Hm.

　The bowl had been eaten up nicely. Pricia seemed to have made more than enough so that she could have some left over, but she ate it all up. How did she get into such a small body? When Pricia came back with a change of clothes, she looked terribly happy to see it.

　Then Haku said he was going to change his clothes, so I went outside. Pricia stayed in the room to help. I couldn't stay in there to help, so I decided to wait in the living room for the time being. If only Ekla was here, we could jostle each other.

　After about an hour of waiting, Pricia and Haku came down from the second floor. Haku is wearing a white dress, one of the ones that Caro bought yesterday.

''Oh, you look so cute!

... hmmm.

　When I say that, Haku turns his face down a bit and squeezes the hem of the dress in an embarrassed manner. Pricia is smiling at that. It's adorable. Then Haku takes a seat, while Pricia prepares our drinks.

Thank you for your help, honey.

　And he thanks me. But

There's no need to thank me for that. You're supposed to be helping your family.　From now on, don't hold back on Haku either.

Hmmm.

　That's what a family is all about in my opinion. A family is only as strong as the people who help and support each other.

How are you feeling?

I'm fine. It hurts. It's gone.

'Well. That's good to hear.

　I did some heeling while Haku was asleep, too. I'm glad it worked. My headache seems to be going away, not to mention my physical injuries.

　Then Pricia came back and handed out drinks to everyone, and we spent some time minding our own business while drinking them.

Hey ... guy ... listen, I need to talk to you ...

　Haku looks at me with a very serious look on his face.

'What's the big deal?'

　Haku nodded cockily.

My... thing.

　I say. Speaking of Haku, you mean when he was in the Empire?　But that should be Haku's trauma. In fact, even now, Haku's body is trembling slightly, and Pricia is holding him close.

'....Haku. You don't have to force yourself to talk about it. And if it's hard for you, we won't try to force you to listen.

　But Haku shook his head.

"....to talk. Family ... to become ... necessary... I think.

　And then she looks at me with determined eyes. ........it can't be helped. If you're that determined, you don't have anything to say to me.

I understand. But you can stop if it's too much for you.

　When I say that, Haku nods again. Beside me, Pricia is looking at Haku with great concern. In the midst of all this, Haku began to talk about himself in a whisper. It's an unbelievable story that we couldn't even imagine.

　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.

　I've been there since I can remember. The place is surrounded by walls and there is no sunlight. It was humid and bugs were everywhere. Such a place was everything to me.

　It was where hundreds of kids were gathered together and made to train every day to learn fighting and other skills. If they lost, they would be beaten by adults. If they failed the training, they would be beaten. Those days went on.

　Then one day, one by one, a few of those kids gathered us together.

'You will be the next to go into training. Bring it.

　As the adult said this, the others brought what looked like a basket from somewhere. And when I opened it up, there was an animal in it. I wondered how they would use such a cute animal for training.

"You will either kill them or do it without hesitation.

　And the next thing they gave me was a knife. I couldn't do that at the time. I still felt sorry for him. But the adults wouldn't let that happen.

　The kids who were able to kill the animals quickly went back to training and killed them, but the ones who took longer were beaten, and the ones like me who couldn't kill the animals were beaten and then beaten.

"Yikes!

　I was brought to a room. And.

"You're going to have a day of reflection here. You're going to be with this guy.

　He stabbed a knife into the animal I couldn't kill in front of me and left it in the room. The animal was still alive and making a thin cry. As I was looking at the animal, the adult went out and closed the room. At that moment, the whole area was enveloped in darkness.

　I couldn't see anything, and all I could hear was the animal's little cries. I knocked on the door over and over again, calling for help, but no one came. It was pitch black and I was crying out.

　........The next day. When I left the room, the animal didn't move at all.

　After repeating such things over and over again, I had no hesitation in killing the animal. Because I didn't want to go back to that room anymore.

　Then it didn't take long for the subject to change from an animal to a demon and then to a person.

　I don't know where he brought them from, but he killed the goblins, he killed the children he had trained with, and he killed many other things every day.

　Because if you don't kill the goblins, you're just going to get caught and raped or eaten, and if you don't kill them, you're going to get killed.

　And then one day when we were doing this, one of the kids gathered us together and said, let's get out of that place. We can get out of here. He said so.

　All the kids agreed with him. We didn't want to live like this anymore.

　And the plan was carried out. The children who tried to escape showed what they had been trained for, and they killed adults one by one. The children were happy and pushed forward. When they get out of here, they will be free. They believed that they would be free.

　But it was not so easy. And that's when they appeared.

No, no, no. I was trying to get away.

　He was a young man who would kill the children while laughing at them. Even though the children were crying and begging, he ignored them and killed them with laughter. We were pinned down, unable to do anything about it.

''I'm sorry for bothering you, Gargante-sama. But as expected of an S-rank.''

Ha, that's fine. I'm getting paid. It's just that I have to go on another commission soon, so today is the last day.

'That's it. Well, have fun at the end.

　Then the man smiled and started stabbing the child in front of us with his sword, who had thought of this plan. The kid didn't stop crying and screaming for help again and again, but on the contrary, he healed his wounds and stabbed him over and over again. He didn't want him to die, but he wanted him to suffer.

　It continued until finally the child begged me to kill him. It was at this point that I felt the last of my heart break.

　Then the adults got tougher. If I acted in any suspicious way, they would beat me up, and every time I failed to do something, they would lock me in a dark room.

　And at one point, they put drugs in me that I didn't understand, and a number of kids died. It was put in me too. It hurt all over my body, and I was in so much pain, spurting blood, and I was in so much pain. But there was a part of me that thought, "Oh, now I can die too. But

'Oh!　I survived on that drug!

　I survived. Maybe it was the medication, but my body movements were better than before, and my senses were sharper than before. I can now use magic that I couldn't use before, and my growth rate has increased considerably. I'm sure you'll find that the color of my brown hair has fallen out and my eyes have turned white and red.

　After that, I was the only one who was let out. I wasn't thrilled or impressed by the first time I saw outside..... Because everything looked black and white. Nothing like the room I'd been in before. My heart was already broken and I didn't feel anything.

　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.

And then ... how many people I have killed. But... it didn't work out here. And then I'm... caught, and now I'm here.

....

....

　Neither I nor Pricia could speak. During the fight, I knew from Haku's mutterings that he was doing terrible things to me. But this is just too much. Pricia also hugs Haku with tears streaming down her face.

'Back then ... it was painful, painful, I cried a lot ... the meaning of life ... I didn't know ...'

Haku-chan.

Many times I have wanted to ... die....

....

But....

Haku?

"I'm glad I'm not dead... I'm glad I'm alive... because I'm going to meet my... ...from.

　The next thing I know, I'm crying too. Haku comes looking at me with tears streaming down his face as well.

"When I woke up earlier ... the landscape ... had ... color ... on it. It's beautiful... I thought. I want to see a lot of it.......I thought!

Then we'll see everything together!　We, as a family, will see a lot of things and make a lot of memories, and we'll go on living together!

　Pricia and I hug Haku as hard as we can. We can't really understand the hurt in Haku's heart. Haku wouldn't want that either.

　That's why we have to support him so that he can heal his wounds, so that he can enjoy the rest of his life, so that his life can become more colorful.

　Even if Haku says he doesn't want to, we won't let him go.