All meals were held outside the orphanage itself due to the lack of space. As such, there were 5 wooden tables with benches directly outside the orphanage prepared for the children to eat their breakfasts and dinners safely.
As there was a rather tight budget that the supervisors, Grandpa John included, are trying to stretch, only two meals are provided. This budget itself was provided by the older children, who took up odd jobs or adults who had once lived in this orphanage. Hence, though Grandpa John, Sister Maia and Brother Jake could not buy toys for all the children, they could at least put two hearty meals on the table every day.
At breakfast, Ray found herself munching on the first of her two sandwiches. Next to her sat, her recently made friend, Lily. Though Ray knew most of the 31 children's names she found that Lily was the friendliest.
" Hey, Lily, how many friends do you have?" She asked the girl. The girl in question smiled brightly and replied enthusiastically.
" Everyone is my friend! Seeeee... um... Jacob! Over there, at that table. He gave me a flower yesterday! He is my friend now!" Lily spoke with a smug smile plastered to her face.
" You are my friend too, Ray! I am going to be 10 moon cycles old tomorrow when the full moon comes. I will take care of you little Ray." Still with the big smug smile on her face, Lily patted Ray's head. Ray, however, was blushing fiercely. She had a strong urge to argue with Lily about who should take care of who but simply could not find it in herself to do so.
What Lily had gotten right was that Ray was indeed small for her age and had trouble opening doors. Lily on the other hand was very tall for her age, on top of that she was rather athletic and had great stamina. All in all, it was obvious that Lily would be able to take care of both herself and Ray with little trouble. It was not as if they were allowed to leave the orphanage area without an adult.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
" What about me Lily?! Am I your friend too?" The rather cute browned hair boy opposite Ray suddenly spoke up. The boy, Justin, seemed no older than Ray.
" Of course, Justin!" Lily proclaimed showing Justin a thumbs up. Ignoring her fellow orphan's antics, Ray focused on munching her sandwiches. It made her look like a squirrel which Lily had quickly taken notice of.
" RAYY!!! YOU ARE SO CUTE~" She exclaimed as she grabbed Ray's still stuffed cheeks.
" AAAARRRMMMMMM!!!" Of course, Ray tried her best to pull away from her overbearing friend. Justin watched the duo, seemingly interested in pulling poor Ray's cheeks too.
Moments later, Lily was still smiling ear to ear despite the obvious handprint on her left cheek and Ray was holding her own red cheeks sitting noticeably further from Lily.
" Was it really that bad, Ray?" Lily said as she tried to get closer to Ray. Ray, having already finished her food, just sat there pouting and staring at the table so as to not make eye contact with anyone. Tears glinted at the corners of her eyes.
" Hmmph!" Ray huffed and turned away from Lily while closing her eyes. Undeterred, Lily moved into Ray's personal space and hugged her.
" Sorry, little Ray..." She apologised while patting Ray on the head. Though Ray felt like throwing hands, she once again could not bring herself to do so. So, she opted to continue sulking allowing the older girl to continue patting her.
Justin continued staring at the duo, he seemed a little jealous at the attention Ray was getting from Lily. However, just watching the duo interact was interesting enough that he let that jealousy go. He watched Lily's relatively long blonde hair sway with the winds, reflecting sunlight as it did.
No longer pouting, Ray just sat still staring expressionlessly at the orphanage's forest background. Lily sat behind her, focused on styling Ray's jet-black hair. The building Ray was staring at was just a slightly larger house that was repurposed for the many orphans to sleep in.
Ray had once been told, before she remembered her past life, that the land the orphanage was built on was gifted personally gifted to Grandpa John by the former emperor. Grandpa John had once been the captain of the imperial knights. Though he had retired due to an injury he had still been physically fit enough to renovate the house that had come with the land gifted to him, turning it into the orphanage it was now.
Though running an orphanage was admirable and all, Ray's childish mind didn't really care too much about that. Even with her newly acquired 19 years of memories, her current mind and more recent memories suppressed the shame and embarrassment she should be feeling as a mentally 25-year-old person should feel when acting like a child.
All she could think about was whether she too would be able to be as cool as Grandpa John was in the past. Was being a knight greater than the university student she was in her past life? Ray sure thought so.