Kaito stares at Zorua, a jubilant smile on his face.
"It's you, right? Do you remember me?"
He asks in excitement, but just before he can get an answer, his vision begins to spin. He wobbles slightly before collapsing — the lack of sleep and the activation of his Quirk knocking him unconscious.
Falling backward, Kaito is about to hit his head on the rock he was sitting on a short while ago. Zorua jumps from where she is standing and bites onto his shirt, making him fall forward instead, getting a mouth full of grass as a consequence.
She sighs in relief at her timely assistance. Watching him out cold, face-first on the ground, she decides to flip around onto his back. This ends up being quite a challenge, as the four-year-old Kaito is well above average in height at 110 cm (~43 inches), and Zorua is barely 60 cm (~24 inches) — if you don't include the tuft of hair on her head.
Sitting down next to him, she keeps guard while Kaito is passed out. Glancing at the missing forearm more than once, her thoughts are complicated.
Eventually, morning at the orphanage arrives, and the caretakers are quite panicked as it quickly becomes apparent that a child is missing. Splitting up to search the premises, the woman with constantly changing eye color makes her way into the patch of forest behind the building.
Approaching the small pond, she sees him lying on his back next to the water. But just before she starts rushing over, she spots a grey, fox-looking creature with white fur that ends in red on its head, neck, and tail, moving through the air unnaturally.
Running over, Zorua looks at her as she nears, standing up and growling slightly. Not knowing the situation, she considers it best to treat everyone as a threat.
Moving in between the sleeping Kaito and the newcomer, she stands her ground, trying to use Leer to intimidate — which doesn't activate. She keeps up her expression, but inwardly she is confused at the failure of one of the most basic of moves.
The caretaker stops. Seeing the defensive posture of the small animal, she considers her actions going forward.
'It doesn't seem to want to hurt him. Actually, it seems to be protecting him... Maybe I should call over some more people...?'
Before she can come to a conclusion, Kaito stirs awake at Zorua's loud growl.
Sitting up from his lying position, he starts talking to himself.
"I just had the strangest dream where Zorua came out of my eyes..."
Before he can continue, he starts spitting.
"Ptu! Why is there grass in my mouth? Ptu! And my back is killing me..."
Turning to the right, Kaito sees the caretaker from yesterday standing there, looking at him. Glancing down slightly, he sees the familiar small fox standing next to him.
Face lighting up in excitement, he forgets the spectator. Standing up, he goes to pick her up — only to freeze, realizing he can't really do it with one hand. Zorua puts on a guilty expression as he freezes.
Not wanting to pick her up by the scruff of the neck, Kaito crouches and rubs the tuft of white hair on her head as he proclaims in delight,
"I'm so happy, Zorua! It wasn't a dream, it really is you! I wonder when I can meet the others as well! Hahaha!"
He notices her guilty expression, but instead of focusing on it, he decides he'll gradually help her forgive herself.
Putting on a gentle smile, Kaito can't help but think, 'What a cute little fox.'
Ruffling her fur a bit more roughly at the end, he stands up and finally remembers the third presence.
Facing the caretaker, he once again notes her unique eyes before bowing his head slightly.
"Hello, Miss..." Realizing he doesn't know her last name, he continues anyway. "What seems to be the problem?"
Meanwhile, the woman stares at him incredulously. 'Ever since yesterday, he seems a little different...'
Putting on a stern expression, she starts her questioning. "Kaito, why weren't you in your room this morning?" Looking at his dirty clothes, she continues, "Did you stay outside the whole night?"
"Oh." He pauses slightly, his sleepy brain finally processing the reason for her presence. But he's not particularly nervous or scared of any punishment.
Seeing him not try to deny it, she angrily stomps over and starts dragging him by his arm toward the orphanage.
The situation is quite comedic to the 20-year-old Kaito.
'Getting scolded for misbehaving...'
Glancing back, he shouts at Zorua, who is still processing the scene.
"Come on! We're getting scolded together!" A cheeky grin plastered on his face.
She sprints after him as Kaito gets dragged away.
Director's Office
Sitting on a chair with Zorua on his lap, Kaito waits as the caretaker who found him retells the information to the director of the orphanage — who happens to be the same old lady with glasses and hair made of water he met in the library yesterday.
As he plays with Zorua's fur, he continues to look at the director's Quirk with sparkling eyes.
'I didn't get a good look at it last time, but it truly is fascinating.'
Water, being transparent, gives the unique appearance of having hair but being able to see the head through it anyway.
Having finished hearing the story, the director looks at the child sitting in front of her, as he doesn't seem nervous or scared at all. Sighing inwardly, she starts talking.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Kaito answers quickly.
"Uh... Sorry, I won't do it again... probably..." He whispers the last part, but in the quiet room, everyone hears it clearly.
Sighing openly this time, she looks at the fox-like creature on his lap and asks,
"What is that on your lap?"
With a bright expression, he informs, "This is Zorua! She is my Poké... Uh, I mean... Quirk!"
Raising an eyebrow at what he says, the director continues looking at Zorua.
"She is quite cute. I'll need to set up an appointment to get your Quirk information recorded. In the meanwhile, Miss Kirameki will monitor you as punishment."
"Miss Kirameki?" Kaito echoes.
And the director points with her chin at the caretaker who found him in the forest as an answer.
Some time later...
Having finished his late breakfast, Kaito is once again sitting off to the side as the other children play outside, Miss Kirameki sitting on the bench next to him.
The reality of his situation slowly sinks in.
'I'm bored...! And I'm stuck in this fenced-off area for 2 years until school starts! When was the last time I spent more than 2 months in one place?'
The quickest way out is being adopted, but that comes with its own challenges.
'I won't be able to connect with them, I'm a 20-year-old man for god's sake! And...'
Kaito's face sinks slightly as he finishes the thought.
'I don't want to be adopted either. I am Kaito Graves...'
The thought makes him raise an eyebrow in thought as he turns to the caretaker sitting beside him.
"Excuse me, Miss Kirameki. Do you know what my family name is?"
She turns to him and puts on a pondering expression.
"Your last name...? Hmmm. If I'm remembering correctly, it should be Graves. But you should ask the director just to be sure."
The unexpected answer makes him freeze as he whispers, "Seriously...?"
'I thought my name was just a coincidence, but my family name as well?'
A coincidence it may be, but he knows one thing for sure.
'No way I'm getting adopted and letting it be changed.'
As he finishes the thought, he feels Zorua's paw on his left hand and a childish voice flows into his head.
'Kaito...'
He looks at her in surprise.
'I kept my Psychic ability? Or is this something else?'
Focusing on Zorua, he asks,
"Yes? What is it, Zorua?"
She looks nervous as she tells him about how she wasn't able to use Leer — a basic move — back when he was unconscious in the forest.
Kaito rubs his chin with his left hand as he considers the reason.
'I guess I should start figuring out this "Quirk" of mine...'
Realizing he'll get nowhere just thinking about it, Kaito looks at Zorua and tells her,
"Use Leer on me."
She looks at him anxiously before putting on a leering expression, weakness overcoming his body as a result. Zorua goes wide-eyed as she quickly tells him,
'Kaito! I didn't mean to!'
Not particularly minding the feeling — as he has felt this move used against him before — Zorua's response makes him form a theory.
'Can she only use it when I command it?'
Getting off the bench, he motions for Zorua to do the same. Crouching down in front of her, he commands once again:
"Use Hone Claws, and then Scratch the ground."
Even if Zorua looks slightly unwilling, her claws shine slightly, appearing sharper, and she throws a scratch onto the ground in front of them. The action makes Kaito feel his stamina drain.
'It uses my stamina as well as hers?'
As he is about to voice his thoughts, dirt from the attack flies straight into his mouth.
"Ptu! Ptu! Damn dirt!"
'Sorry!' Zorua yells at him telepathically.
"Ptu! It's okay, it was my fault."
Just from this quick test, Kaito feels that something is wrong.
'Using both mine and her stamina is fine. But why does the action seem so forced?'
He grimaces slightly, not particularly liking the feeling. The thought makes him feel a strange sensation, like something has changed.
If Kaito were able to see his own face, he would see his irises make a few spins before stopping.
'I don't know what just happened... but,'
"Use Scratch on the ground again."
This time Zorua hesitates — her action not being forced — so he urges her a little.
"Come on, it's okay, Zorua. We need to test it."
She nods reluctantly and tries the move, succeeding as her claws flash slightly at the swipe.
Kaito nods. "That's bet—"
Dirt once again flies into his mouth.
"Ptu! Ptu!"
'Sorry!'
Miss Kirameki chuckles at their antics.
Their tests are interrupted as everyone is called in for lunch.
Taking his lunch — identical to his breakfast, consisting of a bowl of rice, miso soup, some pickled vegetables on the side, and a portion of tofu — Kaito also asks for a portion of fish to give to Zorua, not forcing his eating habits on his Pokémon.
Making his way over to the usual empty table, he sets down his tray, placing Zorua's portion on the table as she jumps up on it.
Just before he can place the food in his mouth, a tray is placed opposite of him.
Raising an eyebrow, both he and Zorua look at the newcomer, finding it is a cheerful-looking girl with fiery orange hair and turquoise-colored eyes.
"Hi Kaito! My name is Itsuka. Do you want to be friends?"
He stares at her enthusiasm in confusion.
'What? Of course not.'
(AN: Just some of my thoughts, you can skip if you don't care.
Ok some people might make the connection so I'll just spoil it a little. This is Itsuka Kendo from class 1-B, I'm just using some creative liberty and make her an orphan originally. The reason for this decision is that when originally thinking of writing this story, I had the idea of making the mc part of class 1-B, but quickly scrapped the idea, as I know my limits, I definitely can't make anything interesting about a class we kind of know nothing about apart from the students and when most of the action happening is with 1-A. So this is a compromise. The mc will be part of 1-A, but I will try to increase interaction with 1-B. If you oppose this decision, leave it in the comments. And thank you for reading so far.)