Chapter Eleven: The River Must Flow:

Kuga-sensei got him set-up in a student dormitory near the school. She explained to the principal about Daisuke’s living situation. At first, they rejected the idea.

“There must be something we can do for him,” his homeroom teacher pressed.

“Why not call child services?” her boss offered.

“It’s the Kimoto family,” the teacher whispered. The principal drew his mouth closed.

“Oh,” he murmured.

“Can’t you help him?” Kuga-sensei asked.

“I’ll see what I can do,” the principal replied. Hours later, Kuga-sensei greeted Daisuke in the hallway.

“Well?” he asked. The homeroom teacher bowed her head at him.

“Come out with me,” she said. Daisuke watched as she walked ahead of him down the hall.

“Sensei?” he asked in a small voice. The boy followed behind rather curious. She led him out to her car and they drove about five miles from the school. Kuga-sensei pulled up to an old-looking building covered in vines. Daisuke looked out the window and tilted his head.

“What is this place?” he asked. “Why are we here?”

“This is a student dormitory,” she said. “You will stay here for the time being.” Daisuke looked at her with big eyes.

“You mean…” he began to ask. The teacher calmly nodded at her.

“This is only temporary,” she said. “We are still trying to figure out what to do with you.” Daisuke tried to keep himself down as he nodded.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You will stay in room 318. I will send the paperwork to you in morning,” Kuga-sensei told him as she handed him the key to said dorm, “You have a good night now.”

“You too,” Daisuke said. The boy bowed and climbed out of the car. His teacher drove off and left the boy standing at his new home. Daisuke and Jin looked up at the tall building in front of them.

“It’s okay,” the kitsune told him. His master walked up to the glass doors and walked inside. They took the stairs up to the third floor. Daisuke unlocked the door to 318 and went in. The room itself was pretty much vacant with two twin beds, desk, and a dresser. The boy didn’t really care at this point. He set down his backpack by the bed near the cubby-sized bathroom and dropped onto the bare mattress. It didn’t take him long to into a rhythmic snoozing.

By morning, Daisuke awoke to someone shaking him on the shoulder. At first, he rolled over on his other side mumbling.

“Go away,” he murmured. “I had a long night last night.”

“Hey,” a voice whispered as the shaking continued. “Get up. Get up!” The other rolled upwards and slowly drew open his eyes. A boy about his age looked down at him. Daisuke blinked and gave him a rather odd look.

“Uh… who are you?” he asked.

“Are you Kimoto Daisuke?” the boy asked. Daisuke slowly nodded at him rather confused.

“Yes…” he answered. “Why do you ask?” The other boy handed him a small stack of forms.

“Kuga-sensei stopped by and asked me to give you these,” he said, “You can just turn them into the front desk when you’re finished. I’ll be in the mess hall having breakfast if you need anything.” Daisuke nodded at him.

“Okay…” he mumbled. “Where is that?”

“It’s on the first floor at the main entrance,” the other boy answered, “Go down the stairs, turn to your right, and just hand them in when you’re finished.” Daisuke nodded in understanding.

“Okay, thank you,” he replied. The other boy turned and walked out of the room. Daisuke sat up and read over the form in his hand. It donned on him what exactly he was looking at.

These are my residential sign-up forms. Daisuke looked around the room and spotted a pen sitting on the desk. Without another thought in his head, the boy rushed over to the desk and got to work reading and filling out the papers. One minute later, he headed out the door and down the stairs. A man in his early-forties waited in the office to give help and advice to the students living in the dormitory at the time.

“Yes, can I help you, young man?” he asked. Daisuke shoved his papers forward on the desk.

“I was told to give these to you once I finished filling them out,” he said. The old man took them and read over the paperwork. He glanced up at the soon-to-be new resident staring at him with a smile.

“No problem,” he said. “We will have your data entered by this evening.”

“Thank you, sir,” Daisuke said with a bow.

“You better hurry,” the manager of the dormitory told him. “Breakfast will be over in thirty minutes.” Daisuke looked over at the clock when he said that.

“Oh crap!” he muttered. “Uh… bye!” The boy turned and ran to find the mess hall. By that afternoon, Daisuke became new resident at Gin Hoshi Dormitory. He hoped for a fresh start and peace from the hell he ran away from. However, fate will not be so kind to this boy.