Hinata Ema is seven years old. According to the little oba-san who lives across from her, she is too young to be left alone for several weeks at a time. Ema very politely disagrees with that assessment and let her know that she was very much adult enough to take care of herself. She could cook and finish her homework without reminders and everything.

Later, she tells Rintarou during one of his rare phone calls about why she can't understand why the little oba-san was so worried. He laughs and the tension she didn't realize was there seeps from her shoulders.

"Ema, I trust you to take care of yourself," Her daddy says with a smile she can feel the warmth of across her face, even from thousands of miles away.

She never does get a real explanation, because he starts teasing her to guess where in the world he is today. Ema's gotten good at this game. She narrows it down to the Americas before he breaks and laughingly tells her about the weather in Ecuador.

His voice fades in and out and Rintarou apologizes for the terrible connection. He is in the middle of telling her about some ancient ruins he visited before the connection cuts out completely. Ema signs and puts on a pot of tea.

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Hinata Ema is seven and three quarters when she turns left instead of right at the little shrine three blocks from her favorite grocery store for the first time. She looks at both sides of the road before crossing. Just like her daddy taught her. The road is empty and her breath comes out it quick, sharp puffs in the cool night air. Her heart beats against her rib cage and she feels like she's going to cry.

She clenches her hands together into fists and drops onto the middle of the road with a thud. Her legs are burning but they also feel like they're made of jelly and there's no way she'll be able to cross the road like this.

I can't tell daddy, she thinks. I'll disappoint him so much. I can't tell daddy.

Ema slides forward in a near crawl. She gradually makes her way across the road and takes in the area in front of her through tear-blurred eyes. The bright lights of several bars stand out in front of her. There's several groups of unsteady men and women wobbling down the sidewalk away from her. The street lamps cast ominous shadows everywhere her eyes turn.

Ema sits slumped on a dirty curb. Her cellphone is shattered and her favorite winter coat is ripped. Her legs don't look much better. Her keys are currently on a roof of a very tall building with a very sloped roof. She still doesn't know what to do.

The door of the bar directly behind her opens and several figures spill out. Three of them laughingly say their drunken farewells and wish the last remaining figure a happy birthday. The door shuts and Ema hears the man fuss with what she assumes is his care keys.

Lucky, she sniffs sadly, he has somewhere warm to go.

"Excuse me?" The man behind her says. Ema freezes, warnings of stranger danger warring with her natural instinct to help.

Answering him won't hurt, right? Daddy always taught me to be polite.

"Yes?" She pipes up, trying to hide her sniffling and red eyes. She turns around and comes face to face with he strange man for the first time. He peers at her in concern and Ema eyes his slightly flushed face, half hidden beneath the cowlicks in his dark hair and the depth in his warm eyes.

The stranger moves to sit next to her and Ema startles, almost falling to her side.

"I'm sorry to startle you, but are you alright? Your legs look very scratched up," He said. "Do you want me to help you disinfect them? I'm a pediatrician. Or, well, I'm in school to be one." He peered at her.

"Um, uh. I dont think - I can't really talk to you or go anywhere with you. Stranger danger," Ema eeked out shyly.

The man visibly startles in realization and his eyes widen in surprise. "I'm so sorry! I completely forgot. It's just - I acted on instinct, because I have a lot of younger brothers at home and.." He trailed off sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, but I can't just leave you here. How can I help you?"

Ema lifts her eyes from the lines she'd been tracing in the pavement and looked up at him in surprise.

"Well, um. I need to call someone. To pick me up."

"Of course! Here you go," The man flashes Ema a kind smile and she felt herself relax once again.

I think that maybe he really isn't bad. Ema smiles as the kind stranger searched his pockets while exaggeratedly trying to find his phone. She can tell he was trying to distract her from how dire her current situation was. The search successfully yields both a soft giggle from Ema and his lost phone.

"Hello? Oba-chan, this is Ema."

The man watches her wince and then heave a thankful sigh. She puts down the phone and beams at him in relief.

"Thank you so much for the help!" She bows deeply in an attemot to express her gratefulness.

"It's not a problem at all," He grins, "Let me at least wait with you to make sure nothing else happens. Oh! And I know you don't know me, but here's my company card, by the way. Just in case you get into any more scrapes, just contact me and I'll help you out. I'm only an intern, so just ask for Asahina Masaomi at the front entrance."

Ema nods thankfully and the duo sit in comfortable silence until a small black car stops in front of the bar. Ema slips into the backseat and waves goodbye to the man she now knows is called Asahina-san. He waves back with a smile until the car is out of sight.