"In the end, I could only spend the night on that soaking-wet bed. The next day, naturally, I came down with a fever, so I never saw that couple again. Later, a teacher at the orphanage asked why my bed was wet. They said I'd done it myself. When the teacher asked me to confirm it, I looked at the children standing behind her and nodded... After that, everyone at the orphanage thought I'd done it on purpose because I didn't want to be adopted. Even the director personally spoke to me once, telling me that it was already hard enough for children like us to get adopted, and that we had to treasure the love offered by every kind person willing to walk into the orphanage... I knew she was telling me that I had no right to choose. My only fate was to be chosen."
"Why didn't you expose them?"
"...I don't know. I don't know why I just endured it, or why I ended up being the one in the wrong. I wanted to—so many times, when those children were all smiles as they accepted the teachers' praise, I wanted to step forward and shout out what they'd done... But I still couldn't do it."
"After that, you chose to leave the orphanage, right?"
"More or less... Supporting myself all on my own while going to school wasn't easy, but it also helped me discover that not everyone was like those children. My high school classmates, for example—haha, every one of them was a character, and they were so much fun to listen to. I really loved being around them..."
"Really? What fun things happened? Why don't you tell Mom about them?"
"Sure. I remember it must have been about a month into my first year of