The following day Ilya discovered that the other children at the orphanage used to bully Haruto because of his eye colour. Hearing they did this because of such an absurd reason Ilya decided she wanted nothing to do with them. Since she couldn't believe they would be so mean to someone so nice. This ended up resulting in Ilya spending all of her time with Haruto much to his joy.
For the next several months Haruto and Ilya were inseparable as they did everything together. Given that they were so close, they eventually came to view each other as brother and sister. Ilya also had Haruto completely wrapped around her finger. Haruto would do anything she would ask, and if he refused she would give him her adorable puppy dog look that caused him to instantly cave in.
Like giving her piggybacks and having tea parties with Ilya and her dolls, causing the other children to laugh at him until he gave them a cold look that would send them running.
One day Haruto and Ilya were sitting together in the nearby grove enjoying the weather and talking about different things until Ilya asked. "Haruto, how come you never asked what happened to my parents?"
"I figured it was an unpleasant topic for you, so I never brought it up," Haruto replied, moving his head to look at Ilya. This caused Ilya to smile knowing how much of a caring person Haruto is.
"Since you're my brother it's only right you know," Ilya said.
"Very well then if my cute little sister wants to tell me, who am I to deny her," Haruto said teasingly causing Ilya to blush in embarrassment.
"Stop teasing me," Ilya said, trying to calm down her blush which only made Haruto laugh harder. Seeing Haruto laughing at her, Ilya hit Haruto on the arm trying to get him to stop laughing. When Haruto didn't stop laughing, Ilya pouted at him.
"Sorry I'll stop now," Haruto said with a small chuckle seeing her cute face.
"I'll forgive you if you give me a piggyback ride to the orphanage," Ilya stated with a huff. She tilted her head up and was looking down at him trying to appear regal, but ended up looking cute instead.
"Of course anything to please you, Your Majesty," Haruto said playing along. This caused a smile to appear on Ilya's face. It soon disappeared as she got into a comfortable position to start explaining what happened to her parents.
"I never knew my Father. Apparently, he died shortly before I was born. Growing up it was just Mom and me," Ilya said sadly. Haruto seeing this gave her a hug to comfort her. "Mom was never around too busy working. Sometimes I think she didn't want me at all since I rarely saw her."
"I'm sure that's not true, who wouldn't love someone like you," Haruto said in a soothing tone to comfort her.
"Then why did I rarely see my Mother?" Ilya asked miserably.
Haruto smiled softly. "I don't know but any decent person would be proud to have you as their daughter, hell I'm proud to have you as my sister."
Ilya stared at him with a hopeful look. "You mean it?"
"Of course, I'll tell anyone that'll listen that I have the best sister in the entire world," Haruto said proudly, causing Ilya to feel embarrassed and happy. For a while, they just sat there enjoying each other's company.
"I take it you're curious about what happened to my Mom for me to end up here?" Ilya asked, breaking the silence.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Haruto said cautiously knowing how much of a sensitive topic this must be to her.
"It's fine you deserve to know, my Mom had dropped me off at preschool and was on her way to work when she got in a car accident killing her," Ilya said with tears coming down her face as Haruto gently rubs her back to soothe her. "After that, I was brought here since I had no other family."
Haruto smiled sadly. "I'm sorry that happened to you."
"You have nothing to be sorry about, and meeting you was the best moment of my life," Ilya said happily.
"Really why is that?" Haruto asked surprised.
"No one has ever shown as much care and affection as you have," Ilya said cheerfully, causing Haruto's entire face to turn red in embarrassment. Ilya couldn't help but giggle seeing the tables turned on him.
"Not so nice when it happens to you is it," Ilya said. Once Haruto's face had calmed down he playfully messed with her hair.
"Since you shared something so personal with me it's only fair I return the favour," Haruto said.
Ilya was about to say he didn't need to when Haruto waved his hand causing all the branches lying on the ground around them to float a few feet off the ground. Ilya opened her mouth in shock, flabbergasted by what she was witnessing. Haruto couldn't help but look nervously at Ilya to see what her reaction would be.
"That's awesome, it's just like magic," Ilya said excitedly.
"You don't fear me or find me some sort of freak?" Haruto asked cautiously as he was still unsure of her initial reaction.
"Of course not silly, I know you'll never hurt me, and this is so cool. What else can you do?" Ilya asked eagerly. Haruto was tremendously pleased to know Ilya didn't fear him or find him a freak because of his powers.
For the next hour, Haruto explained everything he knew about his powers to Ilya as he showed them off. Ilya was thrilled to learn her big brother was even more remarkable than she thought.
When Haruto had finished explaining all about his powers Ilya said. "You know I might have similar powers to yours."
"Really what makes you say that?" Haruto asked.
"One time when I was really angry I changed my teacher's hair to orange," Ilya said, making Haruto laugh.
"I bet your teacher wasn't too happy about that," Haruto responded, chuckling.
Ilya smiled widely. "No she wasn't, but she couldn't prove it was me, meaning I didn't get into trouble."
"And this makes you think we both have the same powers," Haruto said.
"I do, we've both had weird things happen around us, so what else could it be except for both of us having the same powers," Ilya said.
"You have a point," Haruto admitted. "In that case, I'll teach you how to use your powers then."
Ilya gave him a hug and beamed at him. She was that happy. "You're the coolest big brother in the world."
"I know, now can you let me go so I can start teaching you how to use your powers," Haruto said amused.
"Sure I'm ready," Ilya said playfully, saluting Haruto.
Haruto was so focused on teaching Ilya how to use her powers. He never noticed they were being watched from a distance away, with someone with fear and disgust in their eyes. Haruto and Ilya became even closer to each other, having found a kindred soul in each other. They were glad they weren't the only ones in the world with these powers, and they had someone to share their experiences with.