“I have…”
And there are many…
The child tried to argue, but before that, the boy firmly stated,
“No, you don’t! You shouldn’t consider everything people call you as your name. What you mentioned earlier aren’t names.”
Upon hearing this, the child fell silent.
Indeed, the ‘names’ the child had listed moments ago were just a collection of words he heard from others while wandering through the alley.
If they were not names, then the child had no name.
As the child looked disheartened, the boy hastily added, “Hey, it’s okay! You can choose a name you like later.”
“…….”
“Wanna hear a secret? I actually named myself, Cassion. What do you think? Isn’t that cool?”
“Cassion…….”
“Oh, when you call me, just say ‘Big Brother.'”
“Cassion.”
“……I’ll let you off the hook for now. It takes time to memorize a name.”
The boy, Cassion, crossed his arms and looked the child up and down.
“Well, until you come up with a name, you need a temporary one for others to call you…”
Cassion’s gaze suddenly fell on the child’s bright blonde hair. Cassion unclasped his arms and flicked his fingers.
“How about Sunshine?”
“Ewww!”
Suddenly, a retching sound intruded between Cassion and the child.
Cassion turned his head, and in age order, he locked eyes with Adele, the second oldest in the orphanage.
“……When did you get here, Adele? And what’s wrong? Are you sick?”
“Cassion, are you serious? Are you really going to call this kid ‘Sunshine’?”
“Is there a problem?”
“A problem?”
Adele, with a sly grin, called out to the third child passing by.
“Asilli! Come here!”
“Why did you call me?”
“Look here. This is the kid who’s going to stay with us in our home from today onwards.”
Everyone at the orphanage called the orphanage “home,” including the couple who ran it.
Asilli clapped with a bright expression.
“Oh, the one who’s coming today! Nice to meet you!”
“But Cassion wants to call this one ‘Sunshine.'”
“What?”
“He says it’s a temporary name. What do you think?”
Asilli’s face was momentarily clouded with displeasure.
“Horrible…”
“It is, isn’t it? Oh, there goes Mike. Mike!”
Mike, the fourth child, came out of the room and was naturally called over.
“What’s going on?”
“This kid is going to stay with us from today, and Cassion gave this kid a temporary name…”
“What?”
“What do you think?”
“Are you insane?”
As Mike’s face turned pale, conveniently, the fifth child, Ray, also emerged from the room.
“What’s all the noise?”
“Ray, welcome! Cassion is suggesting this kid…”
“What’s going on? Cassion, are you out of your mind?”
Behind Ray, the sixth and youngest in the orphanage, Cecile, also appeared.
“This is the worst!”
“Cecile, what does a seven-year-old know…”
Cassion seemed momentarily flustered by the torrent of criticism. Then, as if he had a thought, he turned to the child, who had been standing quietly.
“Okay, if your opinions are like that, I’ll ask Sunshine directly. Sunshine, how do you feel about the temporary name Sunshine? It’s good, right?”
“How many times have you been sneakily calling him sunshine?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“……!”
“Sunshine likes it.”
“Cough.”
“Adele! Snap out of it!”
Adele, clutching her throat, fell backward. Cassion laughed, and the rest around Adele felt frustrated.
The child still stood there, observing them with curiosity.
One spring, a new member named Sunshine joined the small orphanage.
One year had passed since Sunshine had been called Sunshine and stayed at the orphanage.
“Sunshine, come and sit here.”
Cassion called Sunshine separately, sat him in the room, and began to speak.
“I think it’s about time for you to choose your own name.”
“…….”
“Have you come up with any names you like in the meantime?”
“Cassion.”
“What?”
“I like Cassion.”
“Hey! That’s my name!”
“So what?”
The last response didn’t come from Sunshine.
Adele, who had secretly followed them while hiding near the door, revealed herself.
“Adele?”
“I’m giving you a serious suggestion. Cassion, your name suits Sunshine much better than you…”
“What? Why?”
“The name Cassion is beautiful.”
“Are you complimenting my name? Why would you? No, so what does that have to do with your argument?”
“People should have a name that suits them. A beautiful name fits a beautiful person.”
“Ah, so Adele, you mean… Hey!”
At that moment, unexpectedly, another person appeared in the room.
It was Cecile, the former youngest member of the orphanage, who had followed Adele, following Cassion and the child.
“From now on, Sunshine will be Cassion!”
“Cecile, you!”
“Cassion, give your name to Sunshine and step back!”
“Did you hear that?”
Empowered by the unexpected support, Adele proudly looked at Cassion.
“You should change your name to Ugly! Ugly!”
“These guys…!”
Dumbfounded by the joint attack, Cassion, as he did a year ago, turned his gaze to the child.
“Did our Sunshine really say he likes the name Cassion?”
“…….”
“I mean, do you really like the name Cassion?”
“…….”
“You traitor! How could our Sunshine do this to me? How did I raise you…?”
“Hey, when did you raise Sunshine? He was already this big when he first came to our house.”
As Adele was pointing out Cassion’s words in disbelief, the child spoke up.
“I want to go by the name Sion. That’s my name.”
“……!”
“Sion? Not Cassion, but Sion?”
“Yeah.”
The child nodded.
In fact, he never intended to have the name Cassion from the beginning.
To be honest, it was just a playful prank.
Cassion sighed as if relieved immediately, and Adele clicked her tongue, expressing disappointment.
“I thought I’d finally get my revenge from a year ago…….”
“What? Revenge?”
“Yes! The back of my head still hurts in my sleep from the blow I took when I fell down that time, and every time I think about that day…”
“But you fell down on your own.”
Cassion and Adele ended up grabbing each other’s collars and bickering.
Meanwhile, Cecile approached the child.
“Sion?”
“Yeah?”
“Now it’s Sion, not Sunshine?”
In response to Cecile’s question, the child blinked his big eyes and smiled slightly.
“Yes.”
The child added.
“My name is Sion.”
Sion.
Six years old.
The child now knows not only his age, but also his name.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
“Sion!”
Without a knock, the door in the room shared by Sion and Mike swung open.
It was a familiar occurrence, so Sion remained unruffled and calmly looked at the door.
“What’s going on, Cecile?”
Approaching Sion, who was seated at the desk, Cecile whispered urgently.
“Tomorrow is my twelfth birthday.”
Cecile was turning twelve years old. She was in that age range, somewhere between a child and a lady.
However, due to her slightly smaller stature than her age, she still appeared closer to a child.
It wasn’t just Cecile; most of the orphans in the orphanage looked younger than their actual age.
Due to the insufficient nutrition in their meals, they couldn’t help but appear underdeveloped for their age.
The orphanage, run by a compassionate couple, always struggled with limited finances.
With nine people, including the couple, sharing one home, they constantly had to save and scrimp to make ends meet.
However, this year, things have improved slightly.
Cassion, who turned into an adult last winter, started working as soon as spring arrived.
Cecile mentioned this fact and pulled something out of her arms.
“And Cassion, who became a worker, gave me this.”
“…… It’s money, right?”
It wasn’t a substantial amount, but it was money that young Cecile usually didn’t get to touch.
Smiling, Cecile held the sparkling coins in her hand.
“I want to go to the market tomorrow morning.”
“The market?”
“Yep. I’m going to buy a present with this money.”
“Your own present?”
“No!”
Cecile lowered her voice a bit.
“A present for Mom and Dad.”
For the children living at the orphanage, the orphanage is their home.
And the couple running the orphanage were like their ‘parents.’
