♫ Chezile_ Alone At Last

                          Sion's Perspective

                       My life was a little, no, a lot different from others. It was hard to explain with just the words 'bad luck'; unfortunate events never stopped happening in my life.

On a midwinter day when the world was covered in pure white, I was abandoned in a cardboard box in front of an orphanage as an infant. Thanks to that, I didn't know the faces of the people who were my parents, nor did I know what surname I had. By the time my hands and feet had turned bright red, the orphanage director found me, so I managed to avoid frostbite.

I can't say the orphanage director who picked me up was a good person. Was it when I was about six? I still vividly remember being hit harshly on the back of my hand just because I was late clearing the dinner table. My hand was so swollen and red that I couldn't even hold chopsticks, but that night, I was caught sneaking into the kitchen to find ice and got hit once more.

Although he gave me my name, that man committed abuse like that every day and even embezzled the orphanage subsidies. Every time bruises appeared on my body and I was mistreated, I reached a point where I missed the parents I never knew. Because as a child, the only adult I knew was the orphanage director who abused me. There was no place for me to lean on during my childhood.

As soon as I entered middle school, I looked for work wherever I could. I didn't shy away from illegal jobs. I worked myself to the bone from after school until dawn and slept through school. So, it was only natural that I had no friends.

There were plenty of adults trying to pay me less because of my young age, but every time that happened, all I could do was glare. Money was a universal value, and the jobs looking for me were limited.

When I had saved a certain amount of money behind the director's back and graduated from middle school, things got messed up like a dog again. The orphanage's name appeared in the news, and the director was arrested on charges of child abuse. Up until then, I thought the only happiness in my life was not getting frostbite as a baby.

But fortunately, I was later placed under the protection of the local government and began living in a small studio apartment. I was provided with monthly living expenses, and combined with the money I had saved, it was a significant amount. I couldn't help but smile even when doing nothing. I didn't have to earn money in secret anymore, and I was free from that devil-like orphanage director.

I thought luck was finally coming my way.

But that thought was shattered in less than a day. The moment my eyes met Guest's at the neighborhood playground, my heart began to race like crazy. The tips of my ears burned red, and I reflexively hid my rough hands behind my back. I turned around and left the place as if running away. Only then did I have a premonition.

I'm screwed.

Don't they say that the luck and misfortune a human can feel in a lifetime are set in a certain ratio?

Then all that's left in my life now is misfortune.