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come down from a tree, he was never able to win the  love of his grandmother or parents.
    --He didn't have parents. He didn't know exactly why, but he didn't have real parents.
    These thoughts didn't seem illogical to him, so he believed them without a shadow of doubt. This way  of thinking was very reasonable to him and had no trouble spots for him. However, it also made him feel  bad.
    "What's the matter?"
    When he suddenly heard Youka ask him this, he hurriedly closed his mouth and shook his head  vigorously. Sanshi pulled him closer, as if to comfort him, so he leaned his whole body onto her.
    --Now he knew.
    (I wasn't originally born to my parents.)
    Several memories floated into his head.
    He remembered his grandmother's looks of contempt and his father's reprimands. No matter how hard  he tried, he could never meet their expectations. And whenever his mother argued with his father or  grandmother over him, which was often, she would always end up hiding in the bathroom alone and secretly  weep. His brother was also often lectured, but he always accused him for making him do it.
    "I don't know what to do with him," his young teacher had said. "He doesn't get along with any of his  classmates, so I don't know what would be the best thing for me to do."
    She had looked at him with concern. "For a child his age not to have any friends at school is a pretty  serious problem."
    His grandmother had pursed her wrinkled lips in dissatisfaction. "Why doesn't anyone want to be your  friend?"
    "Mother, don't be like this. It's the other kids who are purposefully excluding him."
    "Well, that's just because there's a problem with his personality. Why can't he just get along with his  classmates?"
    "Because he's a scaredy-cat! That's why no one plays with him!"
    "Don't interrupt! You only know how to bully people. It's all because your mother didn't teach you  guys right that both of you have let us down. Is our family not going to have any children who make  anything of themselves?"
    "Mother..."
    After his grandmother's nagging, in the end she would always come to the conclusion that it was his  mother's fault. That's why his mother would always hide in the bathroom and cry.
    "Why are you this way?" His father would look at him and sigh, but he didn't know how to respond to  that.
    "Isn't it possible for you to behave yourself so that your grandmother doesn't get angry?"
    "I'm sorry." He could only say this.
    "All because of you that I get lectured as well! Every time you get grandmother angry, she lectures me  too!"
    "I'm sorry." He was always apologizing.
    Regardless of how hard he tried, the situation never took a turn for the better.
    He hadn't understood why it was like this. He could only think that his presence itself made his family  unhappy. He had often felt that were he not to exist, his family would be able to live together happily.
    (So it really is like this.)
    He really wasn't like them.
    (I'm not originally a part of their family.)
    When he thought back to his family at that moment, he still felt its warmth. He missed his father and  his mother, and his grandmother and his brother.
    Perhaps if he put more effort into it, everything would change. No one would have to get mad or cry  because of him.
    (But I can't go back again.)
    At this thought, he couldn't hold back the tears any longer.
    Yet those weren't homesick tears; they were tears of goodbye.
    He knew that he would never again return to that family.

Chapter 3
    "Are you awake?"
    Hearing Sanshi's voice, Taiki rubbed his eyes, and then suddenly opened them up and stared at the  ceiling for a moment.
    The white ceiling was made of a milky stone with a design carved upon its entire surface. A bird was  cut into each corner, matching intricate flower and grass patterns that surrounded a circular design engraved  in the center. Though the ceiling wasn't painted, it had been set with a multitude of different colored stones.
    "What bird is that?"