Though Mikazuki keeps pace, his body language steady and amicable, there's a certain stillness to him as he listens. His gaze stays trained forward but his attention is a wild, tangible thing, reigned in an subdued by what Atsushi is describing to him. Or sharing with him, rather.

"Orphanages were sought after at home," he starts in, still obviously gathering his thoughts. "Since it meant you didn't have to be on the street. But it was more just a place for little ones to go, if someone could afford to send them." Mikazuki separates orphanages and schooling into two separate entities, though the principle was mostly the same. Only those who had the means to buy that kind of safety and education could have it. Several boys he worked with, even those much younger, had siblings they were keeping in orphanages, or planning to send to school with what meager salaries they had. Biscuit had been that way. Takaki, too.

"If you couldn't do that, finding work was the easiest way to live."

But it's not like he had to have an education for that, either.