Solstice and Eclipse: Part I

Chapter VI: Shonien Children's Home

(L/N) rubbed at his eyes. The cotton fabric of the blindfold was itchy, and his eyes burned from behind his eyelids. The people at the police station told him it was a side effect of his quirk manifesting. They guaranteed it would stop after a few days. Until then, he had to keep his eyes closed and the blindfold on, otherwise he risked hurting someone else. Like he had his parents.

The news called it a tragedy and society looked upon him with pitiful eyes. A man he did not know assured him that what happened wasn't his fault. That he shouldn't blame himself. It didn't mean much. After a few days of observation, he was released into the custody of his mother's parents. As both his mother and father had been only children, they were the only family he had left.

The first few days were uncomfortable. His grandparents collected him from the scientists and offered him a somber smile he could not see. On the ride home, his grandmother, just like the man in the suit, said they didn't blame him for what happened. The rest of the trip was spent in silence. They gave him a room in their house and three meals a day, but other than that the time they spent together was limited. They didn't play games like they did when he visited with his parents. His grandmother didn't smother him in hugs and kisses and his grandfather watched none of their favorite shows with him. One night he asked them to read him a bedtime story, but they claimed they were too tired.

He asked them about it once. If they were mad at him.

"Of course we're not mad at you." They said. "You didn't have control of your quirk. It's not your fault."

As he lie in bed that night, he heard them arguing from the kitchen.

"He's our grandchild. We can't send him to live at some orphanage." His grandfather said.

"I know." His grandmother whispered back. "It's just, every time I look at him... I don't see my grandson anymore. I just see the thing that killed our baby girl."

"I understand, but it's our job to look after him. We love him... right?"

"I-I... I don't know."

A wisp of smoky light escaped from beneath (L/N)'s blindfold as his quirk evaporated his tears. He rubbed again at the burning pain in his eyes. All he wanted was for the feeling to go away and for his parents to come for him. But his parents would never come for him ever again.

Shonien Chilren's Home was established in 1899 by Shonien Jindokai after she had lost her son to the Global Cholera Pandemic earlier in the decade. Grief ridden and left with a sense of emptiness, Shonien bought an old warehouse in Musutafu and spent the next three years and most of her savings renovating the condemned building. Ten years after its doors first opened, Shonein Children's Home was amongst the most acclaimed and well-respected orphanages of the country. Its reputation brought it with more funding, which in turn lead to improved staffing and better living conditions for the children. The children loved Shonien, and she loved each of the children as if they were her own, seeing in their eyes the son she had lost years ago. Until they could find a family of their own, it was a good place for the orphaned to call home.

That was a long time ago. Before the wars. Before the collapse of the global economy. Staff was laid off, government funding cut, and upkeep injured. Shonien Children's Home suffered at the hands of the Great Depression and had been trying to recover ever sense. The once pearl white walls began to chip, leaks in the ceiling left unpatched, and with the emergence of quirks came more inevitable repair expenses, and the orphanage was unable to keep up. The once welcoming building was left in shambles, marching steadily towards the day Shonien Jindokai's legacy would come to an end.