The next day, the morning routine was the same. The children woke up, but this time in those water cups the got milk and cereal for breakfast.

Tom went outside with all the kids and saw that all of them were playing or sitting around just like yesterday.

Tom:”Poor souls. I bet most of them don’t even know that life is more than eating, sleeping and playing. When they will be kicked out most of them will be hit by life like a truck and will probably die of starvation or whatever. I too have my problems. In this world I am still an introvert that gets worked up if he is in a group of more than 3 people. I guess I should try and play with the others and see if I can create some kind of bond.”

And so Tom goes to another boy that was just sitting around, watching other kids play tag.

When Tom is about 3 meters away he waves at the boy and he waves back. Tom realizes that he did not think this thru and his social anxiety starts to kick and he just stays there and tries to think of something to say.

The boy seeing him says:”New here?” and Tom nods “yes”. They start to talk and Tom even thou he didn’t understand much of this language he was able to piece together that here they shower once every month and that the meals were served randomly. For example sometimes they had only one meal in a day, other times they had two random meals, like dinner and breakfast or lunch and dinner and so on.

Tom is surprised that someone that is this young is this smart as to recognize patterns so he asks for his age a few times and at some point the boy understands the message and responds that he is 6 years old.

Tom:”Well I over estimated him. He is older than he looks. mutters to himself. Thank you anyway!”

And Tom walks away in a sprint.

That evening they had dinner and then they all went to sleep.

The next day he saw a bunch of Hawker Hurricanes (a British single-seat fighter plane used mostly between 1930–1940) flying in formation. Tom was amazed to see that kind of planes, since he only saw them black and white videos or photos on the internet.

A few days after that, while Tom was sitting outside thinking of how to get more information about this world one middle age woman enters the court yard of the orphanage and is escorted by one of the caretakers inside.

Some time later another caretaker comes outside heading straight to Tom.

Tom is now scared by what fate has in store for him now since all of his experiences in this world were not pleasant. The caretaker calls for him inside, in a bureau where the middle aged woman is and some orphanage staff starts to talk. They talk for a while and Tom was sitting there not understanding anything that was happening.

He stays there for a while and is sent off with the woman.

The woman looks at him and starts to talk in a language that did not sound nothing like the one the other people were talking so Tom was even more confued.

After that the woman starts tries something that sounded like german and then she starts to speak russian.

Woman:”So I saw that your name is Tom. Right?”

Tom is still scared to show that he is that he is isekay’d so he just look around like he didn’t hear what she just said.

Woman:”I know you understand me, so respond. said the woman on an bossy tone.”

Tom looks at her with a forced expression of “I do not understand” but now he is just more intimidated by their height difference.

Tom:”You got me. But how? sais Tom with a trembling voice.”

Woman:”Well you try too hard to act like a little kid that you give yourself out.”

Tom:”Oh…. So…. The discussion with the orphanage staff…. What was it about?”

Woman:”Well I was adopting you.”

Tom:”Oh.... So… What’s your name?”

Woman:”Maria Lupu.”

Tom:”And by which one should I call you?”

Maria:”You can just call me Maria.”

They both walk past the big building with flags where Hans brought Tom after finding him next to that lake.

Tom:”How did you find me? I don’t remember seeing you before.”

Maria:”Well you came with a soldier at that big building right? I work there and I saw you and realized that you got transported from another world like me so I decided to help you.”

Hearing that, Tom’s dreams of being a protagonist are crushed and realize that there are multiple people in his situation.

They keep walking till Maria stops at a block of flats where they go up a few sets of stairs. She opens a door that reveals a 2 room apartment.

This apartment had a cramped hallway that was connecting the kitchen, the bathroom and the two rooms.

Maria offers Tom some shoes that he was supposed to use around the apartment, then Maria invites Tom in one of the rooms that had 2 couches and a book shelf.

There he is sat down and Tom sees that there is another boy sitting on one of the couches looking slightly depressed, resting his face in his palm.

This boy looked about the same age as Tom and had blue eyes and short blonde hair.

Maria:”Hello Iuustin! Are you doing well?”

Iuustin:”Good I guess… So you actually managed to adopt him? Was it worth the trouble? said Iuustin in an aggressive tone” ”

Maria:”So you are doing well. Alright then, Iuustin, this is Tom and he is also transported from another world too.”

Tom:”Wait he is also like us?”

Maria:”Yeah, he is like us and he is also adopted ,by me, like you.”

Tom:”Ugh…I thought that being transported to a new world is gonna be with me saving some girl and having a harem and have all sorts of magic powers and so on, but I guess I should be thankfull for what I have…”

Maria:”Well there only a few people in total that have been thru this kind of experience in this world from what I know. You two may be wondering why I have adopted you. Well, it’s because I wasted my previous life and this one and helping you two would bring me some peace of mind, but as I said to Iuustin I will not hesitate to send both of you back to the orphanage if you make my life a living hell.”

Iuustin now stares right at Tom like he was looking at some garbage and sais: “So you brang this kid that looks like he didn’t take a shower in weeks, (Tom actually did not get a chance to clean himself in quite a while) uh…,Iuustin gets an intense glare from Maria and so he changes his tone from an angry one to a calm one. Look, I know that I depend on you, but I am not giving up my monthly ice-cream because you want to have peace of mind! Are you even gonna be financially stable with another mouth to feed?”

Maria:”If I had that kind of problems I wouldn’t o such a thing, so rest assured, all of us will not starve and live a decent life for the moment.”

After this reply Iuustin quiets down and looks away from Maria and Iuustin.

Maria:”Well, Tom, Iuustin did have a point about you not being clean. We have a tub and all that, so you can go have a bath.”

The bathroom had a sink with two faucets, one marked with a blue dot and the other one with a red dot.

In one of the corners of the room there was a chair with a box with a red cross on it that somewhat looked like a first aid kit and a tub with a mark near the bottom of it. The strange thing about this bathroom is that it had no toilet.

The room had white floor tiles on the floor and around the sink and tub, in rest the walls were painted with a lime green paint.

Tom:”What is the deal with that line inside the tub?”

Maria:”Well, since gas is expensive around here we have to restrain ourselves from using too much hot water. That line is supposed to represent how much hot water we should put in so we can clean ourselves and not waste a lot of money.”

Tom:”Oh..”

Maria:”Well as you see there are two knobs one for hot water, one for cold water, but we don’t have running hot water so there is only cold water. I will go heat up some water on the stove you stay on that chair and wait. Alright?”

Tom:”Alright.”

Maria walks back into the bathroom and pours hot water from a pot into the tub. Then she turns the faucet on till the tub was about a quarter filled up.”

Maria:”I will let you do your thing now. The soap is on the sink, use it. Don’t waste any water or soap and don’t splash around or I will send you back where you came from.”

Maria exits the bathroom, leaving a speechless Tom behind.

He washes himself as fast as he could, so he will not make Maria mad and exits the bathroom.

Maria is in the room with the couches and is setting putting a pillow and sheet of fabric on the sofa that was visible from the hallway.

Maria:”You will sleep here. Sais Maria while pointing at the couch.”

Tom enters the room and sees Iuustin arranging another sheet on the other sofa.

Tom starts to do the same and goes to sleep, under the excuse that the sun was setting anyway.