Vol. 4
Ch. 8
To Smile With A Friend In This Empty Dollhouse
Back in the present, Mori wordlessly parked the car outside the apartment and turned off the engine. He glanced in his rearview mirror to see that Alu had been gazing at him. He felt himself jolt a little. He hadn't realized he'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't even realized she was gazing at him. But why was she staring at him? He wondered if she was trying to read his mind. Wait—could she read minds too? All of a sudden, Mori felt extra weary. This girl was someone to definitely keep at arm's length.
"Hey, you okay?" Alu asked, frowning at him.
Elise huffed. "Ignore him! He's just being dumb!" She eagerly got out of the car. Alu looked away from Mori and got out as well. Mori was actually glad for Elise's bubbly energy. It at least took the uncomfortable attention back off himself.
"Hey, we're back at the apartment," Alu commented, confused.
"Yes we are," Mori nodded. Then he realized his mistake. He felt a record scratch in his mind. He'd auto-piloted to his apartment?! He realized he'd completely missed the mall where he had meant to let Elise take the girl shopping. Not one to like broadcasting when he messed up due to a lack of paying attention—honestly a blue moon thing for someone as meticulous and detailed as Mori— he gestured to the apartment, as Elise silently judged him. The only reason she didn't say anything was because he was exerting his control of the situation and that included puppeteering her. "I thought perhaps Elise-Chan wanted to change first!"
Pleased with his own excuse, Mori just kept smiling.
"Oh," Alu blinked, glancing at Elise, who looked irritated. Elise finally spoke, turning to Alu—-though Alu noted that it seemed Elise had been holding back saying something else.
"Stupid Rintaro, I don't need to change!" Elise whined. Alu was thoughtful though. She didn't want to eat out and she wanted a chance to hang out a bit more with Elise. She just folded her arms across her chest, thoughtfully.
"Why don't we just order in?" She asked, helpfully.
Elise blinked at her. "What? I wanted to dress you up!" She looked upset and Alu hummed.
"I'll still let you do that!" She said, bemused. Elise frowned, confused.
"But I don't have any clothes that will fit you," Elise commented, puzzled. Mori was also a bit puzzled and comically—those two at least shared that one emotion. Alu glanced at them and she giggled. She couldn't help it. They did have their in sync moments and Alu did find that both intriguing and a bit funny.
"Maybe I'll wear some of Rintaro's," Alu teased, grinning mischeviously at Elise.
Mori wasn't used to anyone who wasn't Elise calling him Rintaro. Elise's eyes flickered as well and Alu caught that. She wondered what the meaning of Rintaro even was for these two. If Elise was an extension of Mori—then her calling him Rintaro must be something more personal. Now Alu was very curious.
Mori blinked, —ardently. That thought hadn't crossed his mind. Actually, he had never considered that anyone else would ever put on his clothes. The foreign concept showed the windows blue screen of death error noise on his face clearly because Alu began to laugh. Elise also turned to Mori to see that expression and she began to laugh too, mostly at Mori's expense.
"Rintaro dresses like a Pervy old man!" She giggled.
"He does, doesn't he!" Alu agreed, and they both smirked darkly at Mori. Mori was head of the Port Mafia—but oddly enough he felt very outnumbered right now in terms of strength. He sweated.
"Let's go on inside, girls," he said, quickly changing the subject and swiftly walking ahead of them both. Elise and Alu glanced to each other, and Alu just kept smiling, amused. She had a lot to think about, but for now, she felt that it was nice—-to not think about those more negative things weighing down on her mind. Elise was like a breath of fresh air—although Alu couldn't explain why Elise made her feel that way. Considering Elise was an extension of the head of the Port Mafia who happened to be quite involved in most of the drama surrounding Dazai, Alu couldn't help but feel like even Mori had moments when he just wasn't anything more than a bumbling older guy. And Although Elise should be a suspicious character by association, Alu just couldn't bring herself to see them as the same person.
Inside the fancy apartment, Alu was reminded that this guy really was rich and she felt very out of place like an ugly vase. She glanced to Elise who tilted her head at her. "So you said you wanted to dress up in Rintaro's clothes?" She said, redirecting back to their earlier conversation.
Alu blinked. "Oh that? I was seriously just joking," she said, with a giggle. Elise blushed, a bit warm in the cheeks.
Mori was inwardly relieved, although outwardly he did actually wonder how silly this girl would look in his clothing considering she was a good bit shorter. The thought of Fukuzawa seeing this girl in his clothes honestly made Mori purse his lips together to stop from smirking. He knew Fukuzawa would equate that to something completely out of context and he was sorely tempted to allow it if only to see that silver-haired self righteous samurai choke on his own air.
"So, how about this. We'll figure out what we're going to eat, and then while waiting for the food, I'll let you play with me!" Alu said to Elise, completely ignoring Mori now that they were back.
"But how will you dress up?" Elise asked, again, frowning.
Alu grinned. "Food first! Questions after!" She looked at her phone, looking at the web. "Let's see…you wanted french food right, Miss Elise?"
Miss Elise pouted. "I want whatever you're in the mood for!"
Alu blinked, and she resisted the urge to snuggle Elise tightly. Elise was really cute. Alu could sense that there was something unique and individual about Elise. Even if she was tied to a distasteful perverted host. She just hummed, looking at her phone. "I'm honestly cool with whatever," she shrugged. "As long as it's food, I'm happy."
"What does my darling Elise-Chan want?" Mori asked, feeling a bit left out and pouty.
"Whatever you don't want," Elise retorted, sticking her nose up in the air. Alu couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Elise, even if he is an incredible waste of space," she said brightly, "…even someone like him needs to eat something that agrees with him!"
Mori felt very depressed that both girls—mostly Elise—openly expressed their dislike for him. Although, he rather enjoyed this girl's humorous and blunt attitude about him. He could tell she was not someone with a naturally dishonest nature—she had an opinion and she was very forward in her actions. He found that honestly more fascinating than anything. She reminded him wistfully of another younger nurse who he had under his thumb once upon a time… she was similar in some ways to Yosano Yosano. She would be a wonderful edition to the Port Mafia if he could just get Elise to ensnare her a bit further.
Mori wanted that powerful fox demon that apparently lived inside her. In some ways, she was very similar to another Port Mafia Executive—a certain redhead with the god Arahabaki inside himself. "I'll let you two be," he sighed, figuring his ability wanted to hog Alu's attention—besides what would he add to this anyways? If he tried to hang out with them, no doubt that was the last thing this girl wanted. Besides, Mori didn't really "hang" with people anyways.
"Actually I do think this is a good way to get to know you better," Alu said, cutting into Mori's train of thought—causing it to crash into a wall of internal confusion. He looked at her, his expression neutral but inwardly taken aback.
"You want to dine with me in the same room?" He asked, for clarification.
"Well, yeah," Alu blinked. "I mean," she frowned. "You're paying and although I don't like you or how you operate, I still want to get to know you."
Mori blinked. Ah, she wanted to assess him. That was very smart of her. Alu rolled her eyes, looking at Elise. "I take it he's not used to having people over—like ever, huh?"
Elise blinked and she giggled. "He's socially incompetent! That's why he likes to talk to kids so much."
Alu ruffled Elise's hair. "He really doesn't deserve a cute kid like you," she said, ruefully.
Elise hummed. "I tell him that constantly!" She nodded, sagely in agreement.
Alu giggled, and hugged Elise tightly. She really wanted to steal her from Mori. She was sad that she didn't have a way to sever Elise from Mori…but that was going to be a Work in Progress. Alu wanted to study a lot more about how abilities worked since her knowledge was still pretty limited. She still had trouble with the limits and rules for her own ability. "I thought he talked to kids because he's a creepy old man?" She asked, bemused.
"That too!" Elise added, thoughtfully.
Mori sighed, exasperated. "If you're going to just talk about me while I'm here I may as well leave you two girls to do so without me having to listen." He was disgruntled to say the least.
"Okay, okay, we'll stop tormenting you," Alu said, smirking at Mori. "Someone sure is sensitive," she teased.
Mori legit had a pouting expression. He was being tormented so indignfiably and he was seriously wondering how he was going to get this girl to take him as the serious head of a ruthless underground organization that he should be! "You're not exactly speaking praises," he pointed out, pouting.
"Huh," Alu tilted her head at him, lost in thought. "Do you normally expect praise?"
Mori blinked. It wasn't that he expected or cared for it, but it was certainly better than being thrown under the bus in such a way by involving his own ability! "I can't say I'm opposed to it," he said, deadpan. "I don't require it—my ego is right where I want it to be."
"I can tell," Alu nodded. "You have to be a pretty certain kind of person to wanna lead the entire Port Mafia," she raised her eyebrows before turning away from them, and looking at her phone again. "Oh! So Elise! I found this cute Italian place and they're still delivering! There's not a lot of foreign places to choose from it seems —considering it's Japan— but nice to see something!"
"Oh let me see!" Elise said brightly.
Mori watched as the two girls looked at Alu's phone. He went quiet again. He himself was lost in thought. Seeing those two interact so naturally despite all the drama he himself was enshrouded in intrigued him. He knew that Alu had stated that whatever he was involved in she didn't equate that to Elise's involvement. He did have to wonder though why Alu was so quick to magnetize to his ability. Even Elise didn't know why and he was using her to try to feel out this girl more in depthly. He needed something on her at least if he ever did run into a situation where they would be on opposing sides. That was always a possibility—as proven a few days ago when she had almost strangled him before he even had a chance to have Elise react. Honestly, he knew his neck hadn't been snapped for two reasons— her apparent rule of no killing, and secondly, she knew if his life was at risk so would Elise's life be. It was proving very useful to have Elise as a shield, and Mori planned to utilize that to the fullest extent.
"Oi! Rintaro! Are you even listening?" Elise kicked Mori in the shin, causing him to nearly fall over in pain.
"Ack! D-Dear!" Mori simpered, rubbing his poor leg. "I am listening!"
"We want to order from here! Hurry up and put in your credit card information!" Elise shoved Alu's purple phone practically up his face, and Mori had to comically lean backwards to avoid having the phone shoved up his nose.
"Yes—of course, I'll do that now," he said, taking the phone.
Alu meanwhile, grinned at Elise. "Hey, so do you mind if I see your clothes?"
Elise blinked. "Eh, I guess?" She followed Alu to her room—leaving Mori alone in the open space dining living area. Mori blinked, a bit curious himself but he actually had a small hunch what Alu was going to do—although he was still wrapping his mind around it as it was not something that would have initially even crossed his mind as being possible. Oh, what an interesting little specimen this girl was indeed turning out to be. As Mori plotted as Mori does tend to do, Alu looked at Elise's clothes in her closet.
"Oh!" Alu brightened up, finding a cute blue and white dress. It was simple with a white collar, white lace on the hem and short sleeved with puffy little sleeves. "This is cute! Like Alice in Wonderland!"
Elise blinked at her. "But it's too small for you," she repeated.
Alu smirked. She stood back and took a deep breath. "Behold!" She held her arms out like she was doing a magical girl transformation.
Elise knew what that pose looked like because she'd force Rintaro to watch Saturday morning cartoons sometimes. While Elise didn't see a point to cartoons—it was apparently something a normal "little girl" would have interest in and therefore Mori had insisted she adopt that habit of watching cartoons. Elise felt a small twist in her stomach. She didn't have organs or anything—but it was a feeling she got from Rintaro. She looked human but she wasn't. Whatever she felt were just ghostly manifestations of what her host felt and she'd adopted those behaviors on some level. Which is why all these emotions she was having that genuinely were clashing with Mori at the moment were confusing behaviors even for her. Elise's eyes widened, though, as she watched, with awe and bewilderment as Alu's form glowed blue. She watched as Alu merged with the dress! Not only that, but Alu didn't just fit into the dress—she'd become the same age as Elise!
Elise gazed at Alu, transfixed. Alu now stood before her, long hair flowing past her shoulders, wearing that blue dress— her hair tied up into a ponytail with a darker blue ribbon—wearing cute black leggings and little white Mary Jane shoes—looking like a child—just like herself! "You're…You're a kid again!" She said, for lack of anything better to say at this time.
Alu beamed. "Yeah! It's kinda a demon fox thing actually, its kinda like illusion magic? Anyways, they always have this ability to age up or even change gender, but I figure here, it would give me a chance to be your age!"
"You…what can't you do with that fox?" Elise asked, genuinely in awe.
"Eh, probably quite a few things actually," Alu giggled, thoughtful. "But hey! Look! The dress fits!" She twirled in it. Due to Juubi's ability her clothes from before were still technically there but in some magical space while she wore this outfit. For the sake of logic—yes, she was in fact still wearing appropriate undergarments that just sized down with the rest of her. Yay, magical girl transformation logic!
"Elise-Chan, I ordered the food—" Mori said, knocking and opening the door to Elise's room. His eyes fell on the child with Elise. He nearly did a spit take—mentally. "You're…!?"
"Yep!" Alu knew that Mori could see everything through Elise on some level, but she was still amused at their reactions none-the-less. She grinned, a fanged smirk at him. "Don't go getting any ideas though! I only look like this for Miss Elise!"
Mori had so many ideas and none of them wouldn't land him in a cold hard cell but what could he do about this situation? He pursed his lips, drawing them into a tight thin line so he wouldn't squeal at how damn adorable this girl now looked that she downsized. He was even more enthralled now. This girl could adjust her age! She was like a fantasy come true! How the hell could he ensure she wouldn't go to that damn Fukuzawa?! No, no, calm down, Mori thought to himself, reigning in his excitement. But if this meant he would have two little girls he could control and dress up as he pleased….
"Someone arrest him," Elise huffed, rolling her eyes. "Alu, can you punch him?"
"Eh, won't you have to defend him?" Alu asked, worried about Elise being activated for self-defense since technically that would be instinctive on Mori's end and she couldn't blame him for that kind of reaction.
"It'd still be worth it," Elise said, cross.
Alu had no doubts there but she just hugged Elise tightly. Elise squeaked in surprise. Alu sensed something from Elise that had sort of been present before but became even more present now. Jealousy? Alu blinked. Why was Elise jealous of her younger form? The reason had to do with Mori—and that young woman Yosano…but Alu couldn't quite figure out how the pieces went together. She pulled back from Elise and Elise just looked at her blankly, apparently unaware that Alu had sensed this from her. Alu glanced to Mori.
Oh yeah, unlike Elise who was blank-faced when gazing at her, she could tell the expression on Mori's face was definitely a face to call the FBI for. She took Elise's hand and rolled her eyes, pushing past Mori and back to the living room area with Elise. "Let's play, Miss Elise!"
Elise blinked and then nodded. "Yeah! I have lots of crayons and coloring paper!" She said, eagerly.
Mori realized he didn't want to be rejected but now he was inwardly thinking of all the ways to be appealing somehow to Alu. It was comical and also very creepy for any sane person to realize what was going on in his sad 36 year old— and still single for obvious reasons— creeper mind.
Alu watched Elise coloring, sitting next to her. Elise was lost in her drawings—which looked a little disturbing on some level. Picking a few up, Alu realized some had port mafia members being killed in interesting ways. One that looked like Akutagawa was the most fervently drawn. Huh, as an extension of Mori, Alu wondered if this was his own personal dissatisfaction with his subordinate shining through. She pursed her lips, the thought of Mori angrily drawing the demise of his subordinates in crayola oddly amusing to her. He could be childish—but it seemed he preferred to exude those behaviors on some level at least, through Elise.
Alu's eyes flickered. She could sense that there was something going on with Elise—some sort of emotional knot. It was all twisted and hard to make out. Alu knew that Elise resented Yosano. She didn't like how Mori thought about her apparently. Alu didn't know much—but she had seen something small from Elise's memory. A younger Yosano in a nurse outfit, yelling at Mori and Mori enjoying it. Ah, Alu wondered if Elise's disdain for having to act like that younger Yosano was the reason she felt so disgusted by herself and her existence—or rather what Mori was limiting her existence to.
Alu sighed. Elise was a substitute it seemed for this younger Yosano that no longer existed. Alu's eyes wandered, to Mori who had slunk to the kitchen to grab himself something to drink. "Hey, Mister Mori!" She called out to him. Mori wasn't expecting her to bluntly address him and she enjoyed watching his adult frame jolt a little as he nearly hit his hand into the fridge, when shutting the door. Alu bit back a snicker. This guy was oddly jumpy when he wasn't at work.
"Yes?" He asked, straightening up, eyeing her and Elise—mostly her at the moment. Ogling was the proper term and Alu actually didn't feel grossed out. Mostly she just found it amusing how obviously pervy this hopeless guy could come off as. Although, when it came to Elise, Alu still felt strongly it wasn't some weird actual attraction—still, she could deal without having this guy ogling her like he was. Although, at least it meant he would be easier to try to mold to become someone of use to her. Especially since she had questions regarding the French Organization Mimic.
She tilted her head. "What do you know about The Order of the Clocktower?" She asked, casually.
Mori nearly dropped his drink. Even Elise, paused, coloring. She looked with wide eyes at Alu. Alu was patient. It was clear to her though—neither Mori or Elise had been expecting to be asked about the British Organization responsible for driving out Mimic from their home country France—-at least not from Alu. This meant this girl knew more than either of them even realized. This made Mori feel strongly that he needed to know just what this girl was actually knowledgeable about.
