A/N:

The real author of this work gave me permission to translate her work, and can be found in pixiv with the id 9582444.

She said she will most likely not be updating this story any longer, but I will post what she has written. Things to note are that Rikuo and the Nurarihyon that exists in the GeGeGe world are separate beings. The characters are not really in character either.

Work is cross posted on ao3.

I don't own this work, GeGeGe no Kitaro, or Nurarihyon no Mago.

After five years of marriage, my wife suddenly experienced a strong pain in her lower stomach. She was taken to the hospital, and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had always bled abnormally, and she had noticed that it had gotten worse these days. But working as a teacher, she was unable to find time to go see a doctor in a while.

We didn't have any children. As this was our fifth year together, we were just talking about getting one. After being diagnosed, my wife desperately tried to find a way to retain her ability to become pregnant. She visited many different clinics, but they all told her it was too late. She would need to go through with the surgery, or she will die. She cried the day before her operation, apologizing for being unable to bare my child.

I would never blame my wife. This was my responsibility as well. If I had paid more attention, I would have been able to notice that she was unwell. I never forced her to go to a hospital. She always smiled and told me that she was fine, and I valued her opinion. If only I had forced her to go see a doctor. Maybe something would have changed? Maybe I would have been able to spare her the sorrow?

But thinking about what if situations wouldn't give her back what she considered to be important. Talking about it would only hurt her more.

The only thing I could do was to try and comfort my grieving wife.

Time passed by, and she was able to go back to work. She had started to show some of the bright smiles that I saw, back when we first decided to marry.

But she would sometimes look down at her stomach, now baring a scar, with saddened eyes. I knew she would heal with time, but she would most likely continue to be saddened at the sight in the future.

But then one night, as I was thinking about ways to cheer her up and not be trapped in her sadness, something happened.

That day, I was later than the usual time I get out of work, which was usually past 10 P.M. A thunderstorm had started, even though the weather forecast predicted no such thing. I had tried to grab a taxi, but there were none on the usually busy streets, and I had tried to phone someone for a ride, but none of them would go through.

With no other choice, I took out my fold-able umbrella from my work bag, and started walking home. But on the way, the strong wind broke the umbrella, and ripped it out of my hands.

The umbrella was blown into a dense forest.

...Huh?

I had taken a short cut to get home as fast as possible, but I didn't remember any forest like this near my house. I don't know who owned the land, but it seemed like it had not been touched by human hands in many years. Even in the day when the sun shined brightly, this forest would have felt creepy. I could hear the thunder from far away, and it seemed to loom over me, like an opening to a different world.

Under normal circumstances, I would go to pick up my broken umbrella because it would be considered illegal littering to leave it there. But even I would have hesitated, considering the danger of going into such an eerie forest without a light. I would have left the umbrella and walked home, putting as much distance as possible between us.

But. I heard a faint noise among the heavy rain.

"... A baby?"

I thought my ears were deceiving me. The rain was pouring down so much that it sounded like a bucket being dumped upside down. I would not have been able to hear my own voice clearly, much less a crying baby. But I could definitely hear the faint cries. I knew it was not possible, but my feet were moving into the forest before I even registered the action.

I used the flash light mode of my newly bought waterproof phone, a system that I have never used before.

The forest was darker, and damper than I had anticipated. The eeriness increased, and I kept moving forward, trying not to slip on the muddy grass. The sight of me intently moving through the forest would have seemed like I was being possessed from another's perspective.

It was after a few minutes of walking, and I started to think that my bag was getting to be a hindrance.

"Wha-!?"

Right as my attention went from the rough animal trails to the bag I was holding, my leg slipped. Through the tall grass, I hadn't realized that trail stopped abruptly and formed a small cliff. As it was dark, and I was not even paying attention, I fell straight down.

I woke up with a dull pain throughout my body. The rain was still falling, soaking me with no reservation. I remembered falling off of the cliff before losing consciousness. My body felt bruised, but I hadn't hit my head, nor had I broken anything. I was lucky it hadn't been worse.

I could tell that my phone, the only source of light, was near my head and still shining. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and got up slowly. In order to get my phone and take a look around to assess the situation, I opened my eyes and-

"!?"

I almost screamed.

There, sitting in front of me, was a naked baby boy. The infant didn't look to be any older than one.

I froze with surprise, unable to make a sound or movement, and just stared at him. Large brown eyes, the same shade as his short, wet hair, stared up at me. What is it with this child? But before I became suspicious about what a naked infant was doing in the middle of the forest, I remembered the reason why I ventured in in the first place.

"... Were you the one who called me?"

The baby tilted his head, and made little babbling noises, as if to answer me. Maybe it was a coincidence?

"Come here. You're going to catch a cold and die if you stay like this."

While it was the end of September, and the warmth was still there, even an adult would catch a cold if they were out in such a rainy weather. Being covered with mud all over was bad enough for my hygiene, it would be worse for infants, with their softer skin and weaker body.

Placing my phone in my breast pocket so that only the light will stick out, I took my wallet out of the bag and stuck it into my pants pocket. The bag was a hindrance, and I was leaving it behind. Maybe I'll come pick it up when I get the chance to come back.

Walking closer to the child still staring up at me, I carefully knelt down, making sure to not drop my phone. I hesitated picking up the infant while he was still naked, but there was no dry cloth to wrap him with, and a wet one will only get him sick. So, I awkwardly picked him up, and stood up. While I was unsure if this was a dream or not, picking the infant up allowed me to feel the fragility and warmth of his body. Most of all, I could feel his steady heartbeat.

It sunk into me, that he was really alive.

"...Hey, what's your name? Do you have a name?"

I have never picked up a baby before, and it must have felt awkward for the infant as well. But he didn't cry and he let himself be picked up. Being encouraged by this, I let my question slip out, and felt embarrassed about it later. What am I doing asking the infant his name? He is probably not even one, he wouldn't be able to speak.

"Ri~Kyo~"

As if to deny common sense, and what little sanity I had left, the tiny infant in my arms spoke something close to a name.

"...Rikuo? Is that your name?"

"Da~!"

I never expected him to answer me, and I felt like fainting. I actually thought about fainting and denying reality, but I was able to pull myself together.

Oh god, this is one heck of a find. What am I going to tell my wife? Right now, I just want to go home, take off my muddy cloths, and take a hot bath.

After talking it over carefully, my wife and I decided to adopt the he child I picked up in the woods, and named him "Mizuki Rikuo". After things calmed down, I went to go and find the bag I left in the forest back then. But when I followed road I remembered, instead of a forest, I found an empty land. Thinking back on it, there were no forests as large as that in my neighborhood. Or in this city.

But then, on that stormy night, where was I?