"Welcome to your new home... Well, sort of."
Little Tsukiro looked around, hugging his bag full of his stuff tightly, as Akari opened the door of her apartment and entered the place, removing her shoes and wore her indoor slippers. It was already night time, as Akari and Nagisa had to sign another non-disclosure agreements for Tsukiro's case, and other contracts regarding about the mission. They also contacted the rest of the E-Class and told them of the situation, and they are going to conduct a meeting at the Class E building the next day.
"Here," Akari grabbed her other slippers and gave it to Tsukiro, who received it. "Sorry it was too big, I don't have slippers your size, since I live alone. Maybe we'll buy for stuff this week, since you are going to stay with me."
Tsukiro nodded without a word, as he followed the brown-haired young adult and looked inside the apartment. The apartment was small for a huge actress like Yukimura Akari, but she preferred it minimal, since she lived alone. Now, she has Tsukiro to keep her company.
Akari smiled sheepishly, rubbing her nape, "Sorry about the place. It was small, but it was enough for me to live in."
Tsukiro smiled politely as he spoke softly, "It-it is fine, Yukimura-san. My o-old home was also small like this."
Akari stared at the boy softly, smiling gently as she put her shoulder bag on the countertop near the sofa, "Just call me Auntie Akari, since you are my nephew," she chuckled as she took a deep breath, "I just can't believe I am now an aunt. It's just so surreal."
She then looked at the boy and shrugged as she waved her hand dismissively, "Sorry, Tsukiro-kun, it's just that I never expected my sister to have a secret kid, since she died years ago. It was like a plot twist of a movie, you see, where a big revelation came in to slap the main character."
Suddenly, Akari's phone rang loudly, its sound was heard all over the place. Tsukiro winced, as his sensitive ears slightly hurt over the shrill sound of the ringtone.
Akari sent Tsukiro an apologetic look as she picked up her phone and saw the caller name, "It was my manager, probably calling about the party. I probably forgot to tell him about the emergency. Oh well, there's no helping it. Let me answer this call, you can look around the living room and the kitchen. When I finished this call, we can go outside to eat and hang out. How does it sound?"
Tsukiro nodded meekly, as his hands fidgeting with the collar in his neck in nervousness. Akari smiled, patted Tsukiro's head before going outside and answered the call.
The boy's head turned left and right, his dark orbs scanning the area around him. It was new to him, as for the majority of his life, he was sheltered in Katara's home to protect him. He fixed his skewering specs resting in his face, as he walked around the place.
He noticed a bunch of picture frames hanging in the wall near the TV, and stared at them. There is a huge picture of a class, taken in the building he'd been earlier. There were 27 children, smiling happily and doing wacky poses in the camera, while being handled by a huge yellow octopus wearing academic robes. Aimi's parents were also there in the back. Tsukiro raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"Why is there an octopus in the photo? Is he a mascot... Or is he like me, a tentacle creature?" Tsukiro thought, as he stared at the strange class photo infront of him.
He sighed, as his mind trying to wreck ideas on why is there an octopus, and proceeded to stare on some photos. He saw young Akari in some of the pictures, along with a short-haired woman, and they were smiling in the camera. Tsukiro saw this woman in the picture Katara had shown him before, the woman was his real mother Aguri.
Aguri was pretty, although a bit plain, with short dark hair that reached in her nape, onyx-light orange eyes that sparkles with happiness and hope, in which Tsukiro also had, and has fair skin. She was wearing a ridiculous t-shirt, which makes the young boy laugh. It seems like Tsukiro had inherited Aguri's terrible fashion sense.
His eyes scanned on some pictures with Aguri on it, but he had never seen any man with Aguri. It was her alone, or with her sister. It seems like Aguri never had pictures with Tsukiro's real father, and Tsukiro felt a little disappointed.
"Isn't she pretty?"
Tsukiro's eyes widened, as he turned his head quickly and saw Akari behind him, hazel eyes scanning the pictures. She has a serene and faraway look in her facr, probably reminiscing over the memories.
"Y-yeah..." Tsukiro slowly replied as he also looked on the pictures.
"You are just like her, you know. Your eyes reminds me of her, sparkling with joy and happiness, and your smile... It makes others happy, just like how she did. Aguri-neechan was a very kind and optimistic girl, she never let her problems get in her way," Akari gently said, as Tsukiro listened.
Akari's smile became a sad one, as her eyes scanned her sister's features, "She is a great teacher too. She is patient and optimistic towards her students, and wanted to see her students succeed. Just like Koro-sensei did."
"Koro-sensei? Who's Koro-sensei?" Tsukiro asked the petite woman, confused over what she had said. He may be a little slow on kanji, since he was homeschooled, but Tsukiro was sure that the name his aunt had mentioned means "unkillable teacher", which confuses him.
Akari as she stared at the curious boy with widened eyes before looking at the picture in front of them, thinking thoroughly if Tsukiro should know about the identity of his biological father.
"Um... He's...my homeroom teacher who died 7 years ago. He's that octopus over there," she pointed at the picture of her class, hesitant to look at Tsukiro's curious orbs, "He was the one who made us who we are now. Like Aguri-neechan, he wanted to bring out the best in us. Too bad that he had died, he could be teaching another set of children today. He could even have a family, or have a son to carry his legacy."
"He must be amazing," Tsukiro piped up, as he looked at the octopus in the picture with a curious look in his eyes, never noticing the tone in Akari's voice, "Is he like me?"
Akari nodded as she touched Tsukiro's hair and twirled it on her dainty fingers, smiling gently, "Yes, he was like you."
Tsukiro stared at Akari's hazel orbs with widened eyes, before he looked down, his slithering hands twirling, "Auntie Akari?"
"Yes, Tsuki-kun?" Akari spoke softly, as she patted the boy's head gently. She loved the silky strands of hair twirling in her fingers, and she could also feel the tendrils of small tentacles slithering and twirling around her fingers, hidden on Tsukiro's dark silky hair.
"Do you know about my daddy? Karasuma-san said earlier he was also a teacher like Koro-sensei..." Tsukiro's little voice spoke, as Akari flinch a little as she kind of dreaded this conversation, removing her hand on his head like she was burned. Thankfully, Tsukiro never noticed her flinching, if he did, it would be more questions. The young actress decided to use her acting prowess to distract Tsukiro from the topic of his father.
"Um... I think it should be a story for another day, Tsuki-kun! I presumed you must be hungry! Come on, we will eat outside, ne?" Akari laughed sheepishly, as she tried to distract Tsukiro, who was looking at her with confused eyes.
As gods would hear her prayers, Tsukiro's stomach growled loudly, signifying he was hungry. The boy blushed crimson as he was embarrassed as hell, his little tentacles slowly unfurled in his dark hair.
Akari laughed at her nephew's antics, as she grabbed her keys, grabbed a green wig she left in her countertop, and led Tsukiro outside, so they could eat and for him to forget the topic of his father.
She decided not to spill the truth about Koro-sensei to him yet, for she is certain that he is not ready to handle the truth.
Akari was having fun strolling around with the little boy beside her.
She found out that Tsukirō loves to eat sweets in excessive amounts, ranging from ice cream to huge slices of cakes. She chuckled as she wiped the frosting on Tsukiro's face, as she knew from experience that tentacle users have a huge tendency to be obssessed with sweets.
She tightly held Tsukiro's hand, while she had to be alert from any of her fans. She had to put a long green wig whenever she had to go out buying something or strolling because if she never been careful, she would be mobbed by her fans and she doesn't want the shy boy beside her to feel uncomfortable.
She sighed wistfully, as she smiled at the memories, as her fake green hair flows to the wind. She remembered her time as Kayano Kaede, a short and bubbly girl with green hair tied in pigtails. She missed those days where the E-Class were having fun assassinating their target, Koro-sensei.
While she was busy reminiscing the past, she felt a tug on her clothes. Snapped out of her daze, she turned around at the source of the tug and saw Tsukiro looking at her with huge curious eyes. Akari wanted to tear up suddenly, when she saw his doe eyes, his glasses was reflecting the light around them.
Although the shape of eyes were kind of slanted, probably inherited from Koro-sensei's human form, the spark in Tsukiro's eyes resemble her older sister, Aguri. He also inherited her facial shape, her button nose and her pouty lips. Tsukiro has milky skin, with little freckles sprinkled in his nose, although it was not noticeable without proper lighting. Akari could see some pinkish veins in his cute cheeks if she had squinted enough, as a result of his mutation as a tentacle creature.
"Are you alright? You cried... Did I do wrong?" The boy spoke softly, as he was staring at her with concern in his eyes. His tentacled hand that held Akari's hand was moving and twitching, clinging to her hand. Akari widened her hazel orbs, realizing that tears started to flow from her eyes and started to wipe them.
"You did not do anything wrong. Just thinking of the memories," Akari smiled as she patted the boy's head, "We could still stroll to the park, you know, watching the sakura blooming, how does it sound?"
Tsukiro nodded excitedly. Ever since he was isolated in the room after the incident of him losing control, he wanted to see the sakura bloom and touch the falling petals. He could only see them in the picture books Yanagisawa Katara gave him, and it was one of his dreams to see them bloom in spring.
Akari ruffled Tsukiro's hair as she smiled at the little boy's excitement. She held his hand tight, as they walked to the nearest park.
"Wow," Tsukiro's dark orbs stared at the falling sakura, his hands trying to catch the falling pink petals. Akari was just nearby, sitting in a bench, sipping hot chocolate she had bought before they came here. His dark orbs sparkled in wonder, as tendrils of glowing tentacles started to sprout on his dark silky hair and trying to catch the falling blossoms.
Akari was just nearby, sitting in a bench, sipping hot chocolate she had bought before they came here. She specifically choose a spot where there is little people passing by so Tsukiro can freely release his tentacles, and the same time has a beautiful view of the sakura trees that blooms on spring. It was a good spot.
Akari noticed the young boy in front of her laughing over the falling sakura petals, as he ran around a tree, trying to catch up a falling sakura petal. She smiled, as she sipped the chocolate again, while Tsukiro was still running around, little tendrils of glowing tentacles was still slithering from his hair and floating around him, casting a soft glow. The young actress remembered those kind of tentacles, they were the same tentacles that Koro-sensei used to revive her 7 years ago, when she became an idiot and risk her life to fight Yanagisawa Kotarou and Reaper 2.0.
A sakura fell down and landed on Tsukiro's button nose, as the boy crossed his eyes to see the petal infront of him and suddenly sneezed. Akari chuckled at the sight, it was not everyday you could see a boy sneezing adorably.
She stared at the happy boy in front of her, and she could see Aguri in him. His smile and enthusiasm touched Akari's heart, as it remindeds her of the sister and the teacher she had lost all over the years.
She stared above and to the sakura trees that blooms beautifully under them, the bright lights gleaming a beautiful glow upon the trees, then at the small glowing moon in the sky.
The moon was beautiful, but it was never crescent anymore, unlike it was 7 years ago. The young actress stared at the moon with a wistful look on her hazel eyes, as she remembered the two people that she had loved and lost.
"I will promise, Neechan and Koro-sensei... I will do everything I can to keep your son safe and sound, to take care and love him like you both do to me many years ago."
A/N: And that concludes Chapter 7 of The Slithery Child of the Crescent Moon!
I apologize for the long wait for the update, this chapter was actually written right after Chapter 6 was posted (last October), but I only posted this months later because of multiple reasons: writer's block, busy schedule, and other matters.
In this chapter, we could see the interaction of Akari Yukimura/Kaede Kayano. She was just adjusting to the life of being an aunt, and she tried what she can to make Tsukiro comfortable around her. I made this chapter to write some familial fluff about Kayano and the little Tsukiro, and I hope it was not bad as it looks. Tee-hee.
There is Kayano's decision that Tsukiro's not ready to hear about Koro-sensei. Well, sooner or later, he will found out the truth, since many people were involved in the mission to raise the little tentacle creature and some of them are a talkative bunch.
The next chapter will be the reunion of the E-Class! Unfortunately, there is a possibility that Nagisa and Karma would not join the reunion in this story, as they were busy in their respective fields, but I will try to put them...but I could not assure that.
And I think I want more Tsukiro x Aimi fluff, and maybe some canon OTP fluff. But maybe on the next chapters.
Oh well, how the former E-Class react to the news of Tsukiro's existence and their mission? Will they survive raising him?