It's been two uneventful but fully eventful months since Menma left the hospital with Lady Biwako.
In those two months, he had been continuously taken back and forth between the hospital, the park, a small empty house, and finally, back to Lady Biwako's place, right next to that smoke-scented uncle.
He really didn't like him. Especially since he always reeked of pipe smoke. Menma even suspected that if it weren't for Lady Biwako, that house would be filled with smoke like a chimney.
But he deserves respect, honestly, he had a well-shaped body. One time they had to take a bath together, and that hateful uncle poked his belly again.
That time, Menma cried his eyes out. Hiruzen was caught red-handed and was punished by the mighty Lady Biwako. Long live powerful ladies.
Still, Menma mourned for his former abs. These days, he had turned into a chubby baby dumpling. His once finely sculpted gym body, built to withstand long shifts in surgery, was now but a soft memory.
Side note: He absolutely refuses to admit that the reason he remembers his abs but not his face is because he was way too proud of those six-packs and showed them off every time he changed in the locker room.
Physically, he'd grown a lot. Now he could sit on his own, though crawling was still a little ways off. That alone put him three months ahead of an average baby.
His body was also resilient, he could recover with just a little rest and was now fully adapted to this new form.
In fact, he had better control than in his past life. He could move his ears, play with his fingers, even write and draw with his feet. Yes, he tried when no one was around. For scientific reasons of course.
Thanks to daily conversations with Granny Biwako, who he forgave after some time and was especially requested to call Granny, his language skills had developed well.
Determined not to carry over an accent from his old world, he completely avoided speaking this new language carelessly and paid careful attention to how she pronounced each word. And because of it his progress was outstanding up until now. He was very satisfied with himself.
He also figured out how the energy in his belly worked. Whenever he got hurt, hungry, or emotionally unstable, the energy would seep into his body, healing and warming it and strengthening it in the process.
Half of his abnormal growth came from this energy source.
His sensory abilities had expanded a lot too. He could now sense around twenty meters if there were no large obstructions, subtracting two meters for each big object. As for what counted as "big": walls, tree trunks, deep water and anything like them.
He also began receiving mixed emotional input, especially strong ones like pure anger, hatred, anxiety, or sadness. It wasn't stable though. He suspected it only worked when the emotion was intense and focused.
On the other hand, he could sense warm feelings like kindness, love, and hope far better, but their range was much shorter, only about a tenth of the distance, meaning his only target was granny Biwako and her family.
He tried training it or strengthen it, but because of poor results, he eventually gave up for now, knowing that it would continue to grow with his age.
With his understanding of language steadily increasing, he picked up some key facts.
First thing was his name, little Menma. Not sure whatever the little was because of his size or it was part of his name.
Second being the name of his birthplace or so called. It was a place named " The Village Hidden in the Leaves."
It sounded familiar, but he couldn't exactly remember where he had heard it.
But when he heard it for the first time, he almost choked.
Village?! While touring outside with Granny Biwako, he had saw an small fraction of this so called village. It was the size of the city ranging at least two miles in radius, not counting the surrounding forests or the parts he couldn't see! That's a metro city! But no, apparently, this was called a "village"!
Okay, fine! Not important...
This country was also named the "Land of Fire," because people once prayed to a fire god.
Also, that uncle, lady Biwako'a husband was their leader, titled "Shadow" .
What kind of system names their leader Shadow? And instead of elections, people become leaders by sheer power?! Once on the throne, you're there until you die. Great. So that smoky uncle would be his boss? Unbelievable.
Oh, and they carved their leaders' faces into a cliff. Just, out in the open.
Menma had never seen such high-level self-flattery in his life. The last face was quite young though. They called him " The Fourth Shadow" and apparently had died recently. Rest in peace young man. You have my respect to grab this old man's place.
All that aside, Menma's diet has also changed. He could now eat small portions of boiled vegetables, rice soup, yogurt, and other soft foods.
Technically, babies weren't supposed to eat these until they were at least a year old, but he had no issues.
Honestly, he suspected if someone gave him a plate of barbeque, he'd be just fine.
He also kept a close eye on what that uncle ate, to study the stable food supply of this world.
Luckily, it seemed to be a fusion of East Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, completely livable for him, far better then some western food heritage.
Menma thought this was it. His life would continue peacefully until he is an adult or strong enough to live in an orphanage, but...
He was wrong.
"I'm sorry, Menma," Granny Biwako said gently.
"From now on, you'll live in this house on your own. Grandma won't be able to stay with you. But don't worry, there will be uncles and aunts to take care of you, so you won't be hungry or dirty. I'm sorry, my dear... but this is goodbye."
Menma sat on the bed of the same small house they had visited several times before, in an old neighborhood.
He'd assumed Granny was scouting the place for her younger son, that unpleasant guy who smoked too much and came home late like his father as they rarely crossed paths outside of the dinner table.
But he never imagined, never, that the house was meant for him.
His tiny body sat in silence, stunned.
Before he could protest, Granny stood up and left.
She didn't even look back.
Menma extended a trembling hand toward the door, hoping she'd turn around. She didn't.
Her presence faded.
The warmth vanished.
His heart clenched.
Tears began to fall, big and heavy, soaking the collar of his baby shirt. His breathing grew ragged. The world blurred. Sounds dulled. His senses withdrew inward, cutting off the outside.
He'd been abandoned, appeareantly. Again...
Just like at the funeral.
Just like in his past life, when—————
Just like his brother, whom he————
Just like thos————
Just like the day he died, alone on a rainy street when that guy came to him to———
Memories blend in together. Pain rushed in his body. Things began to appear in his head that he didn't remember and then, they began to blend together, waking up something from within. Something hidden deep, full of pain and sadness.
He was alone.
Always alone.
Truly alone.
He didn't deserve to be alone. He, Menma/Raymond didn't do anything wrong but he was left because he wasn't wanted! He hate being left alone!!!
---