Chapter 11

Lily froze in my arms at the sound of the doorbell.

"It's alright, Lily. Take Dai and go to your room", I told her trying to stay calm.

Lily quickly picked up Dai and ran to her room, shutting the door behind her.

I slowly walked to the front door, not sure of what to expect. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Shuichi was standing outside my door, looking unsure, but quickly trying to hide it. I invited him inside and led him to the kitchen table, where I sat down. He hesitated for a second before sitting down as well. He glanced at the half-finished puzzle and raised an eyebrow at me.

"It's my daughter's. We were working on it when Anokata called to tell me that you wanted to meet me", I explained.

Shuichi nodded: "So it's true what Kir said. You really have a daughter."

"Yes, I do", I confirmed.

"Kir said that it was a complicated story", continued Shuichi.

"It is", I confirmed, knowing that he would now of course want to know it.

"I would like to hear it", said Shuichi straightforward, though he did not sound demanding, instead he sounded almost curious.

I hesitated before explaining: "Her name is Lily. She was born into the organization, but her parents died when she was about a year and a half old. For some reason, she has always been Anokata's favorite. When her parents died, he placed her with a couple that he thought would take good care of her. However, they ended up abusing her. Anokata did not find out about it until recently. Lily is six now. She has not talked about her abuse yet, but it was very bad. Since I'm basically Anokata's right hand man, she trusts me. Anokata knows that, and he knows that I'll keep her safe, so he placed her with me."

"May I meet her?" asked Shuichi carefully.

I was surprised that he had phrased it as a question, and that there was no demanding tone on it. He had simply asked and looked like he would not try to make me take him to her.

I studied him carefully before answering: "Yes, but she is scared of everybody because of the abuse she has endured. So she'll be scared of you as well, and you need to be careful of how you act around her."

Shuichi nodded: "Okay."

I looked at him for a few more seconds before telling him to wait, while I stood up and walked to Lily's room.

I knocked on the door: "Lily, it's me."

Then I walked inside. Lily was sitting on her bed, hugging Dai tightly. When she saw me, she immediately got up and ran over to me. I picked her up and hugged her.

"I see that Dai is wearing a dress now. She looks very pretty", I commented trying to make Lily smile.

It worked; Lily smiled: "Thanks, dad. She wanted to look pretty when she met Akai-san because he used to call himself Dai."

I smiled: "Well, I'm sure he'll think that she's pretty. Now let's go and meet him."

Lily's smile disappeared, but she nodded slightly.

I carried her and Dai to the kitchen table, where I sat down with Lily on my lap. She was holding Dai tightly, and she was holding onto me tightly as well. However, she did not seem completely terrified.

"This is my daughter, Lily", I introduced. "Lily, this is Akai Shuichi-san."

"It's nice to meet you, Lily", Shuichi smiled. Then he looked at Dai: "What's her name?"

"Dai", answered Lily quietly.

Shuichi's eyes widened, but he smiled: "That's a pretty name. Is she a princess?"

Lily shook her head.

"Really? She looks like a princess in that beautiful dress", explained Shuichi.

Lily did not respond, but she smiled slightly.

"Do you like it here?" Shuichi asked Lily carefully.

Lily nodded.

"Can you tell me your favorite thing about your dad?" he questioned.

I looked at Shuichi and realized that he seemed genuinely curious.

Lily looked at Shuichi, hesitated, but then answered: "He's nice to me... He doesn't make me clean or cook... He doesn't hurt me... He bought me lots of toys and clothes... He let me play outside in the snow, and we built a snowman... Then he made me hot chocolate..."

I was watching Shuichi's reaction, while Lily was talking. His eyes flashed in anger, when she said that I did not make her clean or cook, and that I did not hurt her – anger that was directed at Lily's former guardians. I could also see some sadness, probably because Lily deserved a happy childhood like everyone else. Shuichi looked at me, and I saw some newfound respect in his eyes – respect that I would be able to handle Lily so well after all the abuse she had endured.

He turned back to Lily: "That sounds very nice of him."

Suddenly Shuichi's phone rang. He looked at it and scowled, before rejecting the call.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's nothing", he replied quietly. "Well, I should probably go back and talk to James-san."

We stood up, and I walked Shuichi to the front door, still carrying Lily and Dai.

Shuichi smiled at Lily: "It was nice meeting you, Lily, Dai." Then he looked at me: "It was nice seeing you as well, Takeo-san."

I nodded a little surprised: "It was nice seeing you too, Shuichi-san."

Shuichi turned around and left. I closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, where I sat down on the couch with Lily.

"He wasn't as scary as I thought he'd be", confessed Lily.

"I'm glad you think so", I replied quietly.

"I think he likes you", whispered Lily.

"Lily, he might have seemed somewhat nice, but that doesn't mean that he likes me, especially the way I want him to", I replied softly.

Yes, Shuichi had seemed a lot nicer than I expected him to, but I knew that he still did not like me.

"Let's go work on that puzzle", I suggested before Lily could reply anything.

Lily nodded happily, and I carried her back to the kitchen table, where we quickly finished the Hello Kitty puzzle.

"It's finished!" exclaimed Lily excited.

I nodded: "Yes, it is."

The puzzle showed Hello Kitty standing in front of the school with her friends. I looked back at Lily and noticed that she was frowning.

"What's wrong, Lily?" I ask.

Lily hesitated before whispering: "I don't like going to school."

"Why not?" I questioned surprised. I had thought that she would like going to school, since she would be able to learn new things, which I knew she liked to do.

"It's boring. I already know everything they teach us, and the teachers spend way too much time on everything", answered Lily quietly. "And the other kids make fun of me, but I don't like them anyway. They're all stupid."

I hugged Lily and promised: "Lily, I will make sure that no one will make fun of you or be mean to you at your new school."

"Thank you, dad, but it's still boring", replied Lily.

I was not sure what to say to that. Lily was very bright, and I assumed that she just naturally picked up new things quickly. Or maybe she had to because of the abuse she endured. It did not matter. What mattered was that she would not gain anything from going to school, and I would not send her there just to have other kids make fun of her. Having Lily skip a grade might not end well either. Maybe I should just homeschool her. I knew I needed to talk to Anokata about this before I could make a choice.

"We'll figure something out", I told Lily and smiled encouraging.

Lily nodded: "Okay, dad."

"Well, it's pretty late, so it's time for you to go to bed", I said.

Lily pouted, but she walked to her room to change before brushing her teeth. When she was done, I read her a bedtime story during which she ended up falling asleep. I carefully laid her down on her bed and tucked her in before turning off the light and silently leaving the room.

I went into my room and decided to call Anokata. I took out my phone and dialed his number.

"Takeo-kun?" (-Anokata in Japanese)

"Yes, I need to talk to you. It's about Lily."

"What is it? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Don't worry. It's about her going to school. Lily told me that she doesn't learn anything in school because they move to slowly, and she already knows everything that they teach. She also said that the other kids at school always make fun of her. I wanted to ask you if it would be alright for me to homeschool her instead."

There was a brief silence before Anokata responded: "Okay. Lily is very bright, so it's no surprise that she would be bored at school. I had hoped that she would make some friends at school, but seeing as that will probably not be the case, I have no problem with you homeschooling her."

"Okay, thank you."

"How did the meeting with Akai-san go?"

"It went very well. Shuichi-san met Lily, and he seemed okay with her living with me. He said he would talk to Black-san, but I don't think that there are any problems."

"Okay. Good. You'll need someone to watch Lily then whenever you have to work."

"Yes. I don't know who to ask though."

"Chianti and Korn are in America right now, so I'll have them look after Lily, whenever you need it."

"Okay. I'll call them tomorrow and make sure that they come over soon to meet Lily."

"Okay. Good. I will call them now as well."

"Alright. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Goodbye, Takeo-kun."

"Goodbye."

I hung up the phone and decided to go to bed.