New Companions

Touma returned with Alice to his house, though very much damaged, it could pass as a living space. When entering the house, Alice looked around, though the exterior looked like in the brink of collapse, the interior was quite acceptable.

“It's getting late.” Said Touma, looking at the coming darkness, “Where should I put you?” Touma said to himself as he turned to Alice.

He walked with Alice to the bedroom.

“I guess she could sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the couch.” Said Touma as he looked at the single bed.

Suddenly, a growling noise could be heard. Touma looks at Alice, noticing the sound is coming from her stomach. She held on to her stomach, embarrassed.

“I see you must be hungry; it's been a long day,” said Touma as Alice nodded. He walked into the kitchen, which was very clean for a collapsing house. As he took out some packets from the closet, and turned on the stove. Alice's eyes glittered with expectancy. For the food that Toma was cooking.

“You could go wait at the table.” Said Touma as he glanced at Alice and looked back towards what he was preparing.

Alice started walking outside of the kitchen towards the living room, where she sat on the chair, resting her arms on the table, waiting excitedly for the meal. Not much time had passed for Touma to come out of the kitchen with two cups of noodles. He placed one in front of her as he also sat down and started eating. Alice took the cup of noodles and looked at it, and sighed. This caught Tomas's attention, and he glared at her and spoke.

“Look, it's not poison, and if you keep on eating it, you'll get used to it,” said Touma.

Alice brought the cup up to her mouth until Touma stopped her and picked up the fork, and handed it to her. She grabs the fork and stabs into the noodles, getting a chunk of noodles and putting it inside her mouth. Her eyes widened, surprised by the taste, and she continuously put huge chunks in her mouth.

“Hey, calm down, the food's not going anywhere.” Set Touma as he also continues eating.

As both of them finished their food, Touma grabbed the cups and threw them away, and both went into the bedroom. Touma lay Alice on the bed, tucking her in. After that, he headed towards the living room and slumped on the couch, throwing a blanket on top of him. As the night dies in, the morning awakens. Touma starts waking up to a heavy feeling on his chest, looking towards it, he sees a bump under the blanket. As he lifts the blanket, he sees Alice on top of him.

“What, when did she get here?” said Touma as he started moving carefully not to wake her. He placed her carefully on the couch as he left, toward the kitchen.

As a person who lived alone, he only had one plate, so he decided to get another one today while he showed Alice around. He poured some cereal and milk into the bowl and placed it on the table as he heard some movement from the couch. Touma walked over to the couch where Alice was.

“Hey, it's time to wake up. We've got many things to do.” Said Touma as Alice started opening her eyes and trying to sit up, and looked up at Toma with a blank stare.

“It's six of the morning, and as they say, the early bird gets the worm, so breakfast is on the table, and we should get going. There are many places that could be useful for you to know.” Said Touma

But as if there was a huge weight on Alice's eyelids, they kept on closing, and eventually she fell back into the couch's embrace.

“Hey, don't go back to sleep!” Said Touma.

As he sighed in defeat, he carried Alice's body in both of his arms towards the table and placed her in the chair in front of the bowl with cereal. As she started opening her eyes again, Touma gave her a spoon so she could eat the cereal. While Alice was eating, Touma was changing into a new outfit, which looked similar to the plain shirt and plain pants he wore yesterday, and on top of that, he put on his doctor's robe, which covered two knives he had strapped on as if he were prepared for anything. As he headed back to the table, he found that Alice had finished eating, but she was still sleeping. He carried her towards the bathroom and tried to gently splash some water on her face. This action surprised Alice as you tried to struggle free from Tomas' grasp because of the cold water. Touma put her down and gave her a towel to dry her face. As he did, he noticed that she still had on the ragged clothing from when he found her.

“I guess this clothing won't do for much longer.” Said Touma, inspecting the clothing she had.

As both Touma and Alice exited the house, Alice held onto Touma's white coat. Touma’s stopped and remembered that he was walking with a child, so he had to go at her same pace. In that moment, Touma grabbed Alice's hand gently. As they both walked together, Alice smiled. As they got closer to what looked like a small store far in the distance, an older woman greeted them, and when they got closer, she spoke.

“Oh, Hello Doctor Hidayashi, I got news from the chief that you might be coming here for some clothing.” Said the older woman before glancing at Alice.

“Oh, the chief already told you. Well, who better to make clothing than you, Mrs. Barry?” Said Toma, complimenting.

“Oh, how nice of you. Please come in,” said Mrs. Berry as she directed the way to the entrance.

Mrs. Barry, Touma, and Alice entered the small shop. As they entered, there were many clothes around them, and at the counter, a younger woman with long blonde hair with her head buried between her arms can be seen.

“Lucy, we have guessed come and help me attend them.” Said Mrs. Barry.

“Who is the clothing for? What are the measurements?” Said Lucy, still with her head down.

“The clothing is for a new member of the Hidayashi family, the daughter of Dr. Hidayashi.” Said Mrs. Barry.

By this, Lucy stood up immediately, wide awake.

“Touma has what?” Said Lucy out loud as her eyes searched the room, looking for Alice.

Lucy walked at a fast pace toward them

“How? When did you get married? Why?” Question Lucy agitated as she looked at Touma and Alice.

“What? No, I'm not married. This is a girl I found in my expedition, and I was tasked with taking care of her.” Said Touma, confused by Lucy's interrogation.

“I am so sorry for my daughter; she has a lot on her mind these days.” Said Mrs. Barry.

“Well, we're all going through something.” Responded Touma.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Muttered Lucy,

“Did you say something?” Said Touma as he thought, he heard something from Lucy.

“Oh no, nothing, don't worry.” Spoke Lucy, a bit embarrassed, with her face turning red she looked away.

“Well, never mind me, so you want clothing for?” Lucy stopped mid-sentence as she didn't know the girl's name.

“Oh, This is Alice.” Said Touma.

“Oh, right, you want clothing for Alice. Well then, let's take her measurements.” Said Lucy.

As Lucy walks with Alice to a stand in front of a mirror, she starts measuring Alice with the measuring tape she has around her neck, writing down each measurement in detail. when Lucy was done, she stood up and walked towards Toma and her mother.

“I think we have some clothing in her size, they just need a bit of adjusting.” Said Lucy as she walked away to the back of the store with the measurements.

“Well, Dr. Hidayashi, I couldn't help but notice Alice needs a bit of help with her hair.” Said Mrs. Barry.

Touma looked at Alice's hair, which was quite a mess.

“I guess you're right, I'll see if I get a brush.” Answered Toma.

“What do you mean, get a brush? A girl's hair is not simply just get a brush. It's more important than that.” Said Mrs. Barry, getting louder.

As Mrs. Barry says this, she walks over to Alice and brings her into a room, and Touma follows.

“But before we do her hair, when was the last time this girl took a bath?” Asked Mrs. Barry

At that moment, Touma meditated and remembered that he had not told her to take a bath in the morning.

“I have no clue.” Answered Touma sincerely.

“What do you mean you have no clue? You're supposed to take care of this girl, and her hygiene was not your first priority.” Mrs. Barry said disciplining Touma.

Mrs. Barry let out a sigh.

“Never mind, we will take care of her here, you can go take care of other errands.” Said Mrs. Barry.

“Alright, thank you.” Said Touma.

With this, Touma was about to leave, but he felt something grabbing onto him. He looked back, and it was Alice; her eyes were about to swell. As he looked back at Mrs. Barry, she stared at him as if she was threatening him to do something before Alice cried. So, he kneeled to the level of Alice and spoke.

“Hey, don't cry, I'm not going to be too far from here, I will come back, I promise.” Said Touma with a comforting voice.

“You promise?” Said Alice in a low voice.

“Yes, I promise. Now, stay here and be good with Mrs. Barry.” Said Touma.

Alice nodded, and Touma stood up and left.