Chapter 5b

Parent's Day, The Labyrinth known as School (part 2 Electric Boogaloo)

As Fujiko looked at me with shocked eyes, she involuntarily took a step back. Was I right? I had to be right. The normal course of events have always dictated that I meet a new liminal for some event or another; first was Shuko and Ailuros during the interview. Second was Lucile and my-coworkers, and lastly Jhastlyn. It just comes to pass that I meet a new liminal, like I'm the protagonist of some- rom-com.

"So you figured me out."

Fujiko spoke with a devious smile on her face, before covering it with her hands.

It was only a gut feeling but I couldn't be wrong. I mean if I'm wrong I can just play it off as a bad joke, but If I'm right it would be nice to befriend a liminal who has experience with humans and I'm sure Shuko wouldn't mind being friends with another liminal without the boss label attached.

"So you are a liminal!"

I spoke in an exaggerated whisper, maybe after working with all the liminals I had gathered a sixth sense or something.

I was starting to feel good about the idea that I could spot a liminal in disguise, I was already about to throw one of those pointing finger moves that the detective does when he unveils the true culprit when a small chuckle of laughter came forth.

"It seems you aren't that great a detective, secret agent Gin."

Fujiko spoke as she brought her mouth to her hand as if to muffle her laughter.

"I just played along, but it seemed like you might have gotten a bit carried away and we can't disturb the other classes."

Fujiko spoke, bring her hand down from her mouth revealing a pleasant smile, contrary to me who felt like my face was plastered with yolk.

"Mission failed, seems my position was compromised."

I spoke simply laughing it off as a bad joke.

"Well of course Hon, there's no way a liminal could remain undetected with so many people close by."

Shuko spoke as she and Fujiko both began to chuckle at how silly the thought was.

"You're right Shuko, there's no way a liminal could be here."

I joined in on the light laughter while in the back of my head I was thinking something along the lines of, "awful lot of pots at this Kettle convention, wouldn't you say my spider wife who's being possessed by a ghost."

"Why would you think I was a liminal, an old acquaintance maybe but…"

Fujiko asked, trailing off near the end.

"Oh you see, I work around many types of liminals, so I just got a gut feeling that maybe you were one in disguise. Some of them like to play pranks with me being the butt of the joke, so I got in the habit of questioning the possibility that I was interacting with a disguised liminal."

I spoke, because I work with so many shapeshifter liminals… that was sarcasm. I don't know if any of my co-workers were shapeshifters, well maybe Lumin.

"Oh! You work with liminals, how exciting!"

Fujiko spoke, her face lit up in awe as she began to berate me in questions regarding my experience with working with people outside of my species. Though I didn't go in to much detail, Fujiko latched onto every word like I was the narrator of some grand epic.

"Toriyama Reina."

The teacher spoke, causing Fujiko's to turn her head and waving her hand, giving the teacher a signal that she was there.

"I'm up."

Fujiko spoke as she turned her head towards the teacher before facing us. I guess this would be our departure till we meet in the classroom.

"Say, would you like to go to a nearby diner after this for lunch. I mean we hit it off well and I'm sure Reina and Mitsuru would love to eat out. So if it's alright with you two, I was thinking that we could keep the good times going."

Fujiko spoke, though I did like the idea, there was one small problem with the whole idea.

"Of course we would love to join you two for lunch."

Shuko spoke, maybe it was just the thought that she was getting along rather well with another human and was invited to lunch with said person, but her face gave off such a happy expression that I couldn't help but smile, like watching a child take their first bite of cake and so I agreed to the lunch as well.

"Okay then, see you two in class. I'll tell Reina and Mitsuru the plan when I finish talking with the teacher."

Fujiko spoke before heading towards the teacher, before they both disappeared into the room. It was now Shuko and I out here alone (okay, not really alone but the other parents were pretty much background) and as such I guess it was time to discuss what we were going to do next. That was until I felt a sharp pain like a pinch on my side, before having my arm pulled quite roughly causing me to lower my head.

"Are you a liminal? Are you an idiot? What moron just asks a person that?"

Shuko exploded in my ear as she drove her heel into my foot, for having a pseudo body the pain is anything but

"I, uh, that is to say… I've got nothing."

I couldn't really think of any form of rebuttal.

"Just be glad Fuiko was called before she could ask any further."

Shuko spoke as she crossed her arms, before giving a sigh.

"So Shuko, I assume you have a plan?"

I questioned, causing Shuko to give me a blank stare, before tilting her head in lost on what I could be talking about.

"You do remember that-that body isn't real. You might give off a sense of touch and appear to have physical substance but it's all just an illusion and your real body is asleep at home. So how are you going to eat?"

I asked as Shuko bobbed her head side to side before coming to the realization that she had just gone along with the flow without thinking.

"Whoops!"

Shuko whispered aloud, not trying to over emote and attract any more unwanted attention.

"Seems you trapped yourself."

Jhastlyn joked, her voice more sing-song as if she were taunting Shuko. She had been quiet for the most part so I thought that maybe it was really taxing to keep up the body but I guess not.

"Why didn't you stop me, you stupid ghost? You knew that we had limitations but you didn't bother to speak up!"

Shuko angrily whispered, though her eyebrows furrowed and if I weren't here it would look like she were arguing with herself, I have to admit that I was enjoying the sight too much to try and stop.

"You were the one who told me to be quiet, so I just did what you said."

Jhastlyn retorted, causing Shuko's face to get red with anger now that her words were being used against her.

"Then why did you start talking now!"

Shuko demanded of her other half.

"Because the look on your face was too funny not to comment on."

Jhastlyn responded, causing me to think that maybe it's just Jhastlyn who enjoy being in conflict, or rather tormenting Shuko… they're just like siblings going back and forth.

"And you, why did you agree so easily!"

Shuko growled in a whisper at me. I guess with Jhastlyn she set herself up and couldn't say anything back, so it's my turn now.

"It was just that you looked so happy that I couldn't say no."

I tried to defend myself, a flimsy argument at best but it was the truth.

For a second, Shuko's expression lightened and she even looked embarrassed, maybe she didn't realize what expression she had on her face at the time, but one would have to have a heart of ice to say no to her then.

"So what you're saying is that you were so taken in by my appearance that you didn't think of the consequences…"

Shuko spoke, muttering at the end so I couldn't tell what she said but I get that she's not pleased. I guess compliments don't solve all your problems.

Though having an argument with human form Shuko was rather pleasing (no immediate threat of being webbed) but at the same time I missed the other legs and eyes.

"Tsumuri Mitsuru."

The teacher called, signaling our attention to her. She had once again had the clipboard to her face so I didn't get a glimpse of her face. Walking past the teacher was Fujiko who gave a light smile before headed back to the classroom. Seems she heard good things about Reina so I can only guess we'll hear the same.

Once we entered the room the first things we took notice of were the two seats facing a desk, it kind of reminded me of when I first met Shuko but more innocent with the walls being covered in either Sport's day pictures from past events, past graduating class photos or current student art projects.

We took our seats while the teacher was looking in a filing cabinet, probably getting the file on Suri. It was at this time that I took note of her characteristics such as her light brown hair that she wore in a ponytail. She wore a white shirt with a navy blue skirt and if the filing cabinet were of any help, I'd guess her height to be around five foot three, though far from my height, she and the current Shuko were only about inches or so apart.

"Mr. Saito, how's your morning been?"

The teacher asked as she continued going through the cabinet.

"It's been quite enjoyable. It's the first time I've seen Mitsuru personally in class."

I spoke with a friendly smile at my face, but as I looked at Shuko, her eyes were sharp and focused, like her hunter instincts had awakened.

As I gazed at Shuko's expression, I wondered what could have been bothering her.

…

…

.

Oh crap, she called me by my actual name! If this were a game, the mission failed prompt would have appeared asking me if I wanted to retry or go to the main menu.

Wait if she knew my name that would mean that I at the least know her, but nothing clicked in my head about a woman with light brown hair and that short height, or that is to say one too many people have that hair color and the names keep jumping around for me to single anyone out.

"Do we know each other? You seem to know me but I can't seem to remember who you are exactly."

I spoke, trying to figure out who the teacher was, luckily it seemed she had gotten what she needed in the cabinet and had turned around revealing that she had dark brown eyes, fair skin and freckles that went from cheek to cheek. Though her eyes didn't help much, there was only one person that I knew whose cheeks looked like chocolate chip cookie dough.

"Yui? Is that you?"

"Well of course! How could you not it was me?"

"Lots a reasons but I didn't know you were teaching at this school. I had heard you were taking a job teaching but you were assisting."

"I was originally assisting the teacher I would replace at the end of this year, but Yamada sensei, the teacher for this class is out on maternity leave and since I was already here, they just used me to replace her."

"Is that so, well that's good to hear."

I spoke, as we began catching up with one another. Without realizing, we had spent five minutes or so just catching up since the last time we had met in person, which was until I felt a tapping on my foot.

"I had no idea you two knew each other."

Shuko spoke, though it sounded like a simple observation to others, to me it felt like she was implying something entirely off-base.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we were in our own world. Yui, I mean Yukinoshita sensei, this is my wife Shuko. Shuko this is one of friends from college, Yui Yukinoshita."

Rather late then not but at least I introuduced her.

"Wait, she's real? I mean you really got married and she's a real person!?"

Yui asked as she sized up Shuko in disbelief. Though calling her a real person in the particular situation is subjective but she is real.

"What did you think? I posted a picture of her saying she was my wife (actually Ailuros was the one who posted it but tomato-tomatoh.)"

"I thought that was just a waifu or something else 2d. If memory served you were single and not even looking to date starting from our sophomore year, so your announcement just seem to just come out of nowhere."

Yui spoke, remarking how strange it seemed for someone to get married without mentioning dating once.

"The reason Hon here never mention it was my idea. Would you like to hear how we met?"

Shuko spoke as she put hand on my leg, was she going to admit that she was a spider-woman who was in disguise thanks to the works of a ghost, because that's, though not implausible, I doubt anyone who hasn't worked with liminals would easily believe it.

"Sure, Mrs. Saito."

Yui responded as she put all her attention onto Shuko.

"Please call me Shuko."

Shuko spoke before she began telling her story,

"We met after a failed omiai about two years ago. I had decided to go drink to forget about the experience and I got a little too drunk and I tried to walk home late at night. Luckily the person I bumped into was Gin and seeing my state, he asked if I would like for him to call a taxi. Though being heart-broken and drunk, I begged him to stay with me, that was when he took me to a nearby hotel but not before I covered him with everything I had consumed that night and to make matters even more embarrassing I vented until I passed out. Sometime before I had awoken, Gin had left leaving only a note telling me not to worry about the room cost. It just so happened that he had to give identification for the room which led me to finding his residence and after some talking we decided to date without telling anyone, since at the time we didn't want to say we met because half of us were drunk and the other half was topped in my dinner. After a year and a half of dating eventually marriage came up and here we are today."

Shuko spoke, though it was an interesting tale, I couldn't help but feel like I had heard it from somewhere.

"That was such a novel way of meeting, it's nice that you met someone, you were such a mess after Haruka…I mean those spring time allergies were horrible for you, now about Mitsuru."

Yui spoke changing the subject, I don't know what face I was making but after mentioning Haruka, Yui's face looked as though she had stepped on a landmine for a instance.

"Aren't you going to question our relationship with Mitsuru?"

I question, it just seemed that-that would be the logical thing to do.

"That is to say, we have a note from Ms. Tsukimori if you need to see them."

I spoke but Yui waved her hands to show that it wasn't needed.

"There's no need, Ms. Tsukimori sent a message telling me that you and your wife were her acting guardians."

Well then, looks like Mori was on top of it, despite only learning about it last night.

"Now let's actually start the discussion portion. Now I must say that Mitsuru is a rather diligent student and she's quite friendly."

Yui spoke as she looked at a portifolio with the label Tsukimori M.

"Grade wise, she's recently improved, like she were getting some extra help with her studies."

Yui continued as I glanced towards Shuko who had that prideful smile on her face, seeing as she was the main one helping her with her studies, hearing that it paid off would cause anyone to be prideful.

"Though she does come up with wild stories like how papa got wrapped in rope and forced to the ceiling, might I suggest locking the door."

Yui spoke, not understanding what really happened but it was better like this, I think… so long as Yui doesn't put too much thought into it.

"Mitsuru is a model student and quite mature, I don't know if it's from her environment or what but tell Ms. Tsukimori that her daughter is a delight to teach."

Yui finished as she stood up, closing the vanilla folder.

"Alright, that concludes the parent-teacher portion for you two, the both of you may head to the classroom."

With that being said, Yui showed us to the door before looking at her clipboard abdcalling the next child's parent(s), leaving us to walk to the room.

Instead of just waltzing in the room, Shuko pulled me to the side for a little one-on-one.

"How did you not notice a person who was a part of your life for just about the past six years of your life!?"

Shuko demand, while it was true that I wasn't able to recognize her, there were circumstances that made it kind of hard to match her to memory.

"Did you two have a falling out?"

"We talk online, so we can't have had a falling out."

"Did you have a thing for her?"

"No! Besides she dating my best friend."

"So you did have a thing for her, but when you learned that your best friend had feelings for her you stepped down, how cowardly."

"Look, it's better to show you!"

I spoke as I grabbed my phone and showed Shuko the various images of women such as; one with jet black hair and black mascara with an overly morbid appearance. Then I pulled up an image of a woman with light pink hair with green eyes and a beauty mark near her eyes. Then I moved on to an image of a woman with silver hair and red eyes similar to Shuko but without to proportions, followed on by other images of women with different appearances giving off different body languages until Shuko had enough.

"Look, I don't need to see all the women you had relations with. Though it's strange that Ailuros never brought up the fact that you were so, popular."

Shuko spoke, allowing me to correct her.

"All of those women were Yui."

I spoke, leading Shuko to a confused look, maybe she was trying to compare the current Yui to the images of past Yui.

"Are you sure, you can lie and say it was a joke and these were past lovers."

Jhastlyn spoke looking at the images through Shuko.

"Now imagine her changing her look almost every month or so. Truth be told, if her hair today was its natural hair color, then it would make the first time I had seen it."

"Well I guess I could see how you'd not be able notice her, with my current appearance, I'm sure even my parents wouldn't be able to notice me at a glance."

Shuko concluded as she handed back my phone and headed to the classroom.

"Whoa wait. What was up with that backstory you told Yui?"

I asked, seeing as I felt like I had heard it before but couldn't place where.

"Oh that, it was from some web-novel I heard some of the workers talking about. I got curious and decided to read it. If you want to read it, it's called "Intoxicated Love."

Shuko spoke, if she heard it from the people at work then that was probably where I heard it from as well, or so I thought as we headed towards the class.

Once we had entered the classroom, we saw that Fujiko had gathered Suri and Reina. Reina had short black hair and light brown eyes and stood barely taller then Suri.

"Good job Suri, we heard nothing but good things about you."

Shuko spoke as she gave her a smile, well as opposed to earlier, it seemed Suri had gotten used to Shuko's appearance.

With our one on one conference with the teacher being over, the girls began their conversations leaving me to my lonesome until Yui returned to the classroom.

"Okay parents, that concludes today's Parents day. You may take your child home."

Yui spoke, causing the classroom full of people to begin heading towards the doors.

"I guess it's off to lunch then."

Fujiko spoke as she and Reina turned to us.

With a bow to the teacher, we concluded Parent's Day to be a success with not being found out and Shuko getting a friend and now onto the next mission.