Rico

Rico is one of the smallest and youngest children locked up in the temple orphanage's basement at the time Myne becomes an apprentice shrine maiden. His days consist of just languishing on his pile of hay, looking out a window too high up for the children to reach, tracking time by the passage of the sun and waiting for divine gifts to arrive in the cellar.

Since the children are arranged by age, with the oldest staying closest to the main entrance door and the youngest the furthest away, Rico has a much harder time getting food than the older ones. By the time the divine gifts make it all the way to him, barely a few scraps are left, and even those are often stolen by the stronger children.

One day, before Myne first sneaks an extra basket of bread into the cellar, Rico is in such a weakened state that he is barely able to raise himself onto the chair. When his single piece of soup-soaked bread is knocked from his hand as an older, taller boy tries to steal it, he dives after it and eats it off the filthy floor, swallowing it down with all the grit, hay, and whatever else clung to it.