Disclaimer: this fic is rather dialogue-heavy. I hope you like it anyway.
Another disclaimer: it is probably best to read my Akuma no Riddle Prologue first, then come back to this. However, it isn't necessary to do so.
In any case, I do hope you enjoy this and please leave feedback.
Suzu affixed the last piece of the pot with the silver lacquer before putting it aside to set and checking the time. She grinned at the time, and then cleared her worktable and left her attic-floor workroom, locking the door. In under an hours' time, there were going to be eight children running around. It wouldn't do to have them within reach of pottery pieces.
Still, it's not like she minded. The pottery was more of a side job or a hobby than anything. Thanks to Shiena, she had been able to live like a 'normal' citizen for the past 9 years. The hacker had tracked her down via email soon after Black Class had officially finished, giving her details to a society that supported others with Highlander's syndrome, helping them with matters of money, jobs, education identity and the more unique problems those who remained forever young had. Suzu had wondered how Shiena had known of her affliction, given that she'd left the class before Suzu had revealed anything, but she was grateful for the freedom to finally live as herself, and so the two girls had become friends.
Sure enough, as she hung her apron and gloves in the bathroom, her phone buzzed in her jeans pocket, signalling a cheery text message from Shiena.
Hey, whatcha up to?
Off to pick up my charges for today, Suzu replied.
=P good luck wiv that!
Suzu chuckled at that, and put her phone back in her pocket before grabbing her grey jacket, locking up and leaving the house.
As she walked towards the first elementary school she was meant to go to, she found herself thinking of her family. She felt she had succeeded in not getting stuck in the past, but it was impossible to not think of the past at times. After all, it was the past that influenced who a person was in the present day, regardless of how they aged. And she had neglected her family. She had spent a lot of time checking upon Hiroshi's, but never her own.
And now, she was the only one left of her family. Well, the son she'd had so long ago was still somewhere. He might even had married and had a child or two of his own by now, but he had no idea that in reality, he was a Shuuto. She had considered tracking him down-she had the means to, after all, but she knew so little of him, she felt it would be a pointless exercise. That, and the topic of her son just stirred up regret that clouded her mind and prevented her from moving on and living as well as she could.
Suddenly, she bumped into a gaggle of middle school students.
"Suzu-Rin!" one of them exclaimed. Jolted out of her reverie, it took her a while to recognise them, but then she realised she had just bumped into the five youngest Sagae siblings, who lived with Haruki a few streets away from her own house.
"Shinichi-kun." She addressed the eldest, who was in the third year of middle school. "Why have you left early?"
"The school is doing something." Ruko-one of the first year triplets- informed her. Her sisters, Saki and Mika nodded to confirm this.
"They're using the school for some kind of conference, so they can't have children rushing around." Shinichi explained.
"It's that giant phone company. I can't remember the name, but they sponsor the school so it's a big thing." Ryou-who was in the second year-elaborated.
Suzu nodded.
"Okay then. Get home safely. Say hi to Haruki-Chan for me."
"We will! Bye-bye, Suzu-Rin." The triplets said in unison.
"Yeah, see you later, Suzu-Rin. Will you come over for dinner when you drop Kana-nee off?"
"I'll consider it." Suzu told them, as she always did. "I have to go now, so get home safely."
And then, she was on her own again. This time, as she walked, she reflected upon another lucky moment in her life after leaving Black Class.
About 6 years ago, she had decided to take an adult-learning course to learn the English language. There, she had bumped into Haruki Sagae, who had also taken the course in the hope it would be useful in supporting her large family. Being an easy-going person, Haruki had quickly enveloped Suzu into her group of siblings. It had been a revelation to find out that Haruki Sagae was indeed the daughter of Atsushi Sagae, and therefore the child whose name she had given to her before she had even been a foetus growing in her mother's belly. It had also been surprising to see that Haruki's mother, thinner and weaker than the last time they'd seen each other, had recognised Suzu immediately. At the time, she had known Suzu as 'Komori' and her appearance had been greatly altered.
Of course, the time they had to catch up was limited, as Haruki's mother had been dying. So Suzu had assisted Haruki in the day-to-day care of her siblings, especially the younger ones, so that she and Fuyuka (the next eldest, two years younger than Haruki.) could earn money for the family. When Haruki's mother had eventually passed away, she continued doing this until the siblings were all old enough to come home by themselves. Well, all apart from sweet, gentle Kana. Suzu suspected that that girl would always need someone to look after her. But in any case, the result of her impromptu child-minding had resulted in other parents requesting the same. And so, a job opportunity had been born, and it had ended up being the best decision ever. The children were exhausting at the best of the times, but they were lovely.
Eventually, she arrived at the school. There were a few other parents around, but they fell into one of three categories: those whose children were at the youngest end of the school, those with children that had a disability of some sort, and those who would have to take some mode of transport home. A few of them waved to her-they recognised her as the child-minder who was older than she looked. Not that they knew her actual age.
Suzu checked the time again.
Any minute now…
Sure enough, she heard the school bell, and children streamed out of the school doors and through the gates. She kept an eye out for the five children she was meant to get from this school, checking them off in her head. When all five of them were in front of her, she made a quick roll call.
"Okay. Jiro-kun, Matsuda-kun, Yusuke-kun, Airi-Chan and Yuu-kun, you're all here?"
"Yes!" they chorused.
They began walking. All five children had something to say about their day, and weren't afraid to tell her about it. As a result, Suzu had become very adept at carrying multiple conversations at once. The number of conversations she juggled increased when she picked up the three little girls from the other elementary school.
When they reached Suzu's street, Kana was waiting, as she had become accustomed to doing. The children, well used to her by now, recognised her and left Suzu's side to rush at her.
"Kana-tan!" Airi and Etsuko cried, using the nickname they'd dubbed the dark haired high-schooler with. Kana giggled at them, and bent down to hug them.
"Hello, Kana-Chan." Suzu said, struggling to be heard over the happy noises of the children. "You ready to come help with the troubles today?"
Kana's eyes lit up, the same way they did every time Suzu asked her this, and she nodded, smiling. Etsuko and Yuu reached for Kana's hands, and Jiro and Matsuda held Suzu's and they finally began walking again when another voice stopped them all in their tracks.
"Shuuto?"
Suzu's first thought was Hiroshi. But then her mind cleared, and she saw a tall, stern woman with piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a short dress with tights underneath, all in black. The only colour in her outfit came from a blue belt at her waist and a silver cross on a chain round her neck. She was also carrying an oversized black handbag.
"Kouko-Chan?!" Suzu managed to splutter. The woman in front of her was wearing contact lenses, and her hair was cut to shoulder length, but there was no doubt about it-she was Kouko. The girl who was related to Hiroshi, the one she had not heard from since Black Class.
"Suzu-Rin, who's the scary lady?" Matsuda asked anxiously.
"She's not scary, Matsuda-kun, I promise. That's Kouko-Chan; she's a school friend of mine." Then, she turned to Kouko.
"Why not come with us?" she asked." Many years have elapsed, so I am sure there'll be plenty to talk about."
"But aren't you busy?" Kouko asked doubtfully.
"Of course I can. But I can always make time for a friend! Besides, you can help." Suzu said, leaving no room for argument. Kouko followed doubtfully, and Suzu stifled a laugh. Shiena often made fun of her attitude, calling it her 'Grandma Mode', but neither of them could deny it worked. And today, it had allowed her to bring back an old friend.
…
After settling Kana and some of the children at her dining room table to do their homework and letting the others go and play, Suzu and Kouko went into the living room.
"What's wrong with the older girl?" Kouko asked.
"Oh, you mean Kana-Chan? Nobody is really sure, but she seems to have some sort of developmental disability. She's been mainstreamed since first grade though, and is doing really well, and Haruki-Chan is proud of her, as am I. "
"Haruki-Chan…you mean Sagae?"
"That's correct. We've been friendly for a while. She works long hours, so I help with Kana-Chan, and I used to look after her other siblings when they were younger. Now the youngest of them is in the first year of middle school, so I don't need to do so much for them."
"That'll explain the child-minding thing you've got going on here.I must say, I didn't expect you to be pursuing this kind of life."
"Oh, I do some pottery pieces as a hobby and side-job. Mostly kintsukuroi." Being a brainiac, Kouko didn't need Suzu to explain this term, so she went on to say "Besides, I'm going to be around for a while longer, so I figured I may as well fill my life as much as possible. In any case, I want to find out about you, Kouko-Chan. What have you been doing for the past 9 years? You're the only one I've not been able to keep in touch with in some way or another. "
Kouko regarded her carefully.
"You know, Shuuto, even though you told me about your affliction, it's still surprising to see you virtually unchanged."
"Please, call me Suzu. If not for this affliction, I could have been your ancestor, so indulge me about your life."
Kouko thought, carefully formulating her words. Suzu could tell she was doing this-some traits never change in a person.
Then, Kouko spoke.
"I managed to leave the orphanage. I got the other children out too, and arranged better homes for them."
Suzu sensed that there was more to the story, and waited.
"I…had to kill a lot of people." Kouko said eventually in a low voice. At that moment, Airi came in to the living room.
"Suzu-Rin, can I have a drink please?"
"Of course. You'll have to stay for a while, Kouko-Chan. I hope you haven't got anywhere to go soon."
"No…I don't."
"Good, good. Then, are you interested in hearing about what the rest of our class is up to?"
"I might as well. I do admit to being curious as to whether Ichinose and Azuma managed to survive."
"Oh, they did." Suzu laughed. "They moved to America a while back. They're married now."
"Well, that's not too surprising." In contrast to her words, Kouko did indeed look surprised, making Suzu laugh as she handed Kouko her juice. Then, in between dealing with the children, Suzu proceeded to tell her about what everyone in Black Class was up to.
She had just finished telling her about the letters she got from Otoya Takechi, and had just begun regaling Kouko with Black Class's version of Romeo and Juliet when the doorbell rang.
"Hold on." Suzu told Kouko as she went to the door. Kouko settled herself at the kitchen table.
"Saya-Chan, Airi-Chan, Jiro-kun, your mothers are here!" Suzu called from the hallway. Kana got up, and located the three kids' bags, and handed them out.
"Bye guys!" she said "See you tomorrow!"
"Bye-bye Kana-tan and scary lady!" The three rushed out, and Kouko heard them say goodbye to Suzu before the door closed and Suzu came back.
"Sorry about that, Kouko-Chan. Now, where was I?"
"Kenmochi got poisoned, and everyone thought it was Azuma who was responsible."
Suzu blinked before realising that Kouko had memorised her last sentence, rather than just the general topic.
"Ah, right. But it actually wasn't her. I don't think that type of thing was within her capabilities at the time. But guess who it was?"
"Erm…"
"Kirigaya." Suzu said. Sure enough, Kouko went bug-eyed.
"You cannot be serious. That little girl with the teddy bear? The one always holding Namatame's hand?"
"Yes. Well, she's not so little now. She's always going to be a petite thing, but nobody mistakes her for an 8-year-old anymore."
"Hey, what's wrong with being 8?!" Yusuke demanded, looking up from the board game he was playing with Kana, Etsuko and Yuu.
"Nothing, if you're actually 8. If you're 15 on the other hand….you don't want people assuming you're a kid." Suzu told him. "In any case, why are you listening to our conversation?"
"Because, you never bring home scary ladies!"
"Yusuke-kun!" Suzu scolded.
"It's OK, Suzu-san." Kouko told her. "I guess it's a kid thing to give everyone nicknames, right?"
"Hmm, I suppose. But Yusuke-kun, please don't listen in."
Yusuke pulled a face.
"Maybe we could go to the living room?" Kana asked hopefully.
"That's a good idea. Thank You, Kana-Chan." Kana beamed at Suzu, and gathered the game and the kids and went to the living room.
"in any case, it was Kirigaya, and in addition to this, it turns out she was Angel Trumpet."
"As in…"
"Yup, that one. Of course, she stopped after Black Class. Almost everyone left behind the assassin life after that. Anyway, Namatame had actually come to the class to search for Angel Trumpet, rather than for killing Ichinose…and one thing led to another, and Namatame eventually found out about Kirigaya…"
"Wow. That must have gone down well." Kouko commented, sarcastically.
"Too right. They ended up dying together on stage. Well, I say dying. They didn't actually, but it was a close call for both of them. Namatame stabbed Kirigaya- although Kirigaya herself aided the process, as I don't think she'd have been able to go through with it-then Namatame drunk Kirigaya's poison."
"Oh wow. What did the audience think?"
"They just thought it was part of the show."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
A silence invaded the space, until the doorbell rang again. Suzu went to deal with it, and soon Yuu left.
The other parents arrived in quick succession after that, so Suzu shared light anecdotes in-between shepherding the kids to the door and chatting to their parents. Soon, only Kana was left.
"Kana-Chan, you ready to go home?"
"Yep! Is Kouko-Rin coming?" Kana enquired.
Suzu gave Kouko a look.
"You're not going to let me refuse, are you?"
"Never!" Kana said dramatically, bursting into laughter. Kouko sighed.
"In that case, fine."
"Yay!" Kana picked up her school bag, put her shoes on, and they were soon ready to go.
As they walked, Kana linked arms with Suzu and regarded Kouko quizzically. Suzu had to stifle a laugh at how they seemed to be having a staring competition. Eventually, Kouko broke the silence by asking
"Why do you call Suzu-san as 'Suzu-Rin'?"
Kana took the question very seriously, scrunching her face up thoughtfully as she answered.
"Well…Aki-nii and Natsuki-nii started it when Suzu-Rin and Haruki-Nee-Chan became friends, then Haruki-Nee-Chan picked it up, and soon we all started calling Suzu-Rin Suzu-Rin. But I don't know why."
"Okay. Okay. That sound fair enough."
"Suzu-Rin said you were her school friend. Didn't you give her any nicknames?"
"I'm not really one for nicknames." Kouko said, almost apologetically. She seemed deep in thought.
"Boooring!" Kana drawled, bursting into giggles immediately after. Suzu couldn't help but laugh along, and after a moment, Kouko managed to smile.
"Oh!" Suzu realised. "We are here!" she rang the door-bell, and almost immediately, Haruki opened the door.
"Oh, Suzu-Rin! Hey there."
"Hello, Haruki-Chan. How was work?"
"Ah, same as usual, same as usual. Kana, I hope you didn't trouble Suzu-Rin too much."
Kana pulled a face.
"No, no, she was good, as usual." Suzu told her. Kana let go of her arm, and slipped past Haruki into the house. Suzu soon heard the happy noises of Kana's younger siblings playfully interrogating her.
"Oh, so who's this person? You've started dating again?" Haruki teased.
"No, no." Suzu didn't explain any more, and waited for Haruki to guess.
Sure enough, about five seconds later, she did.
"WOAH! No way, it's Kaminaga! Right, right? You are Kaminaga, aren't you? Where'd you go?"
"Yes, it is me, Sagae." Kouko said, somewhat bemused "I've been busy. In any case, you seem well."
"Hmm, yeah. It's easier that most of my sibs are all grown up now. You know I'm an aunty now, as well? Izumi's 3 months old now. Fuyuka's always happy when mothering someone, and even though she's super busy, she's still wonderful."
"Congratulations." Kouko and Haruki regarded each other for a moment, not sure what to say to each other. Then, Haruki spoke again.
"So, I guess that you won't be coming to dinner, Suzu-Rin? Shinichi and the others were pestering me about it today."
"Not today, Haruki-Chan. Sorry.2
"Nah, nah, I get it. Roommate gossip and all, right? Tomorrow, maybe."
"I'll consider it."
"Okay then. See ya later, Suzu-Rin. Bye for now, Kaminaga. Good to see you, I guess."
"You too, Sagae." Kouko said. Then. Haruki closed the door, and they walked back to Suzu's house.
"So." Suzu said, desperate to get back to business. "Tell me about what you've been doing."
"My orphanage is no more, thank goodness. Not that it was easy. I wanted to leave the place so badly, stop being an assassin. But to do that, I had to put everything that place taught me into practise."
"Ah." During the time they had spent as roommates, Suzu had learnt just how much Kouko hated being an assassin. How she hadn't seen a way out from it.
"I've spent the last nine years killing, and organising escape operations, and then tying up loose ends, which of course required more killing. I don't understand it. You told me that all of you, all of you, managed to escape the life after Black Class."
"You forget. Hashiri and Isuke-Chan are both assassins. Out of choice, true, but still. There were other ways, I'm sure, but you didn't have them open to you. You didn't have anyone to show you them. I'm sorry, Kouko-Chan."
"Sorry? What for?"
Suzu sighed, a sound that carried secrets. Like with Yukiko, Suzu had told Kouko everything about her past. Everything save two things. The first was that she'd had a son so long ago. The second was the fact she had actually tracked down Kouko's orphanage, but left her there. Even though she couldn't have known what the place was like, she still felt regret. No child should have been in a place like that.
"I knew. The place you grew up. When I found out you were orphaned, I looked for you. I saw the place, but I had no idea what it was like for real, and I assumed it was a good place."
Kouko stared at her.
"I should have realised that, considering that your beloved was my grandfather's grandfather. But you spent time homeless, and what orphanage trying to look legit would release a child to some vagrant? Besides, apologising for that is like apologising for the fact that Inukai became a spoilt brat."
Suzu laughed at that. She mostly saw Isuke via Haruki, and the girl hadn't remembered the woman who'd served her ice-cream as a little girl. Suzu hadn't pushed it, however. She didn't expect Isuke to turn out the way she did, and it had been a shock, that first time in Black Class, seeing her bored face and skimpy clothes. But the main thing was that she was happy. Isuke had tried to get Suzu to call her 'Isuke-sama' the same way Haruki did, but it hadn't worked, and Isuke remained none the wiser as to why.
"In any case, as far as I could tell, I'm finished for now. The thing is, I really don't know what to do now?"
Suzu thought about this, and then had a great idea.
"Where were you planning to stay?"
"When I ran into you, I was heading to the hotels in the shopping district."
"Well then, stay with me." Suzu told her.
"What?"
"I have plenty of rooms, and you've got nowhere better to go, right? So rest a while, figure out where you want to go. I could help-being on the earth for more than a century doesn't count for nothing, you know?"
"Erm…won't that interfere with your jobs?"
"Of course not, silly! None of the kids are overnight stayers, haven't been for a while."
"But I'm not good with children. Even while closing the orphanage, I didn't interact with them that much."
Suzu stopped, and turned to face Kouko, hands on hips.
"Kouko Kaminaga, as your elder, I can tell you that you are not going to win this argument." As she said the words, she felt a wave of nostalgia for the banter that went back and forth between her and Hiroshi.
"Well…I do admit to feeling very happy when I did run into you. You were always so nice. And I guess, asides from Irena-Senpai, you're the only real friend I've had. So if it isn't too much trouble..."
They started walking again, and Suzu beamed at Kouko.
"Of course it isn't. So then, that's settled."
"Yes it is…you know, it was rather fun. This evening, I mean. I didn't expect that. "
Suzu smiled at Kouko.
"Well, of course. Don't you know? The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones. Always."
That last line was derived from a book called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It is very good. I recommend it.