After another sleepless night, Tomoe once again got up two hours before sunrise. She had a few messages on her phone from the lab, but it was every just asking if she had gotten home alright. She typed out a couple quick responses and asked everyone to keep her updated if anything important happened. That said, she quickly set her phone to silent. Today was going to be about Kaede. She would check her messages at the end of the day, but until then...
It would be a while before Kaede would be awake, but Tomoe figured she could get some planning in for the day. Now, to start, maybe they could go ice skating? Kaede enjoyed ice skating. As a matter of fact, she had a competition coming up soon and Anju confided previously that Kaede looked to be a shoo-in for the local awards. Tomoe herself enjoyed skating even if she preferred regular skating over ice, so it seemed like a good idea.
After that, maybe they could go see a movie in the next town over? What was even playing right now? She opened up here laptop, forcing herself not to open her emails. Instead, she searched up current movies playing to see if there was anything good.
Anju was up some time later. Her quiet approach almost scared Tomoe off the couch when she finally spoke. "She might like that one," Anju offered, pointing to a teen romance title.
"Really?" Tomoe said doubtfully. "I doubt my baby girl is too interested in romance. This movie about horses seems promising though."
The older woman just shook her head but didn't bother to contradict her. "Would you like some tea?" she asked, moving towards the kitchen.
"Sure, thank you," Tomoe said, still examining the movie list for anything else for just a few more minutes.
Nothing really seemed to stand out, so Tomoe figured that she could discuss it with Kaede in a bit. The kettle started to whistle just as Tomoe stepped into the kitchen.
Anju poured the water into separate mugs and primly sat down at the table. Tomoe knew her mother-in-law well enough to know that the older woman had something to say.
"Is there something wrong?" Tomoe asked carefully, settling into a chair across from the older woman.
"Kaede was going to help me out with the garden today and tomorrow. Pretty soon it'll be time to harvest some of the veggies out there. Plus, I need to pull some weeds. I know you wanted to go out with her since you are home, but my back is hurting lately because of the cold and the plants are just about to reach their peak. Would you mind going out there instead?"
"Yeah, of course I don't mind," Tomoe said, surprised. She was expecting some sort of scolding, even if she couldn't imagine what for. She definitely was not expecting a seemingly innocent request. But Anju wasn't the type to just suggest these things out of nowhere. There had to be something more to it, something Anju wasn't giving away in her expression.
"So how are things in the city?" the older woman asked. "Make any progress?"
"We'll know in a few days; Miss Joubert is going to try and put me in contact with sponsors at this year's end-of-the-season party."
"That's good. Have you been doing anything else outside of research?"
"No, not really," Tomoe admitted.
The corners of Anju's mouth tugged down in disapproval, but she didn't comment further on the subject. After that, the women chatted casually for a while longer until their cups were empty.
"I suppose I better start putting breakfast together," Anju sighed, seeing that the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon.
"Oh, no! I can get it if your back is…"
"I can manage breakfast at least," Anju interrupted. She looked caught somewhere between amused and annoyed. "You just wake Kaede for me, will you?"
"Sure," Tomoe replied, doubtful. She felt bad to leave the cooking to the older woman when she was more than capable of making a meal, but Anju could be stubborn about these things. So instead, she wandered over to Kaede's room. Her knuckles paused before touching the wood. Kaede was so angry last night… She steeled herself. This was ridiculous. This was exactly why Kaede was mad at her in the first place.
Tomoe rapped on the door solidly three times. A groan came from inside the room and it took a few seconds for a sleepy Kaede to pull the door open.
"Good morning, baby girl," Tomoe greeted cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"
"Moooom," she whined, not fighting the hug that Tomoe drew her into. The girl didn't seem too angry now. Maybe her mood improved after a night of sleep? Or maybe she was too tired to remember to be mad right now? Either way, Tomoe would take it. Her little girl wasn't meant to be angry.
"Hey, c'mon. Grandma is making breakfast. We probably still have a few minutes before it's ready. Want to go help her out?"
"Sure," Kaede yawned, tugging her bangs back into her usual ponytail and shuffling sleepily towards the kitchen. It was cute, but Tomoe couldn't help but feel a sharp stab of sadness.
Kotetsu often had issues getting up in the morning. It was at moments like these when Kaede really was just like her father, and it hurt. Even though Kaede started to sass poor Kotetsu during the last couple years before he died, Tomoe knew that she was always a daddy's girl.
A horrible scream ripped Tomoe right out of her peaceful thoughts. She scrambled into the kitchen to find Anju desperately gripping onto a pot, burning water splashing onto the floor and the older woman's hands while the heated metal tugged insistently towards a frozen Kaede's face. Forks and other utensils clung to her teddy bear pajamas.
Tomoe herself didn't know how to react for a moment. She had somehow managed to forget that this was the whole reason she came home as opposed to Kaede coming out to visit. It just hadn't been important compared to Kaede's misconduct at school.
"Get her outside!" the older woman barked, readjusting her grip on the handle as it dragged her a few centimeters closer to Tomoe's daughter.
Thankfully, that snapped Tomoe into action. She leapt into the kitchen and dragged Kaede back, away from the dangerous pot still trying to reach her. One of the forks attached to the girl dug into Tomoe's palm, but she hardly even noticed as she tugged Kaede out of the house. A couple of small things managed to stick to Kaede on the way out, but Tomoe was luckily able to pull her outside with anything too large trying to follow her out the door.
Tears were shining in Kaede's eyes when Tomoe finally got her to the middle of the yard. She tried to wrangle herself out of Tomoe's grasp. "Grandma! You have to go check and see if Grandma is okay!"
"Okay, okay," Tomoe said. "Calm down so I can go check on her." Kaede didn't manage to catch a word of that, still struggling. She instinctively wanted to go back inside to help Anju and didn't even seem to realize that her magnetism would only cause more issues.
Sighing, Tomoe took both of Kaede's shoulders. "Kaede!"
The girl paused, panicked brown eyes darting up to Tomoe's.
"Kaede, I need you to stay here. I'm going to go back in, alright? Grandma will be fine. I promise. But I need you to wait out here until the magnetism stops, okay? And then we're going to need to talk about this."
Her daughter bit down on whatever she wanted to say and started half-heartedly tugging at silverware. "Okay" was the almost inaudible reply.
Now that Kaede was out of the way, Tomoe ran back into the house.
"Anju, are you okay?" she yelled.
"Fine, fine. Just a little burnt is all. Nothing I haven't dealt with before."
The older woman was standing at the sink, running water over her red hands. "We should probably call a doctor out," Tomoe suggested. "Just to make sure it isn't anything more serious than it looks."
"No, no. All it needs is some ointment," Anju insisted. The woman was usually so practical that Tomoe sometimes forgot where Kotetsu got his stubbornness from.
"Alright. I'll go grab the first aide kit. You just keep your hands under that cool water." Anju just grunted in response.
Tomoe left the kitchen and quietly slipped into her room to snag her phone from the nightstand. She called the doctor over just to be safe, then called Muramasa to let him know what happened. He sounded worried, but she assured him that there was nothing to worry about and no, he doesn't need to stop his deliveries. The danger was already over and the injuries were minor. Muramasa could drop by later. He reluctantly agreed, and Tomoe knew that he would probably close up the shop early in order to swing by.
Well, that was fine, she supposed.
"Did you find that first aide kit?" Anju called.
"Just a second!" Tomoe replied quickly, dropping the phone as if Anju had caught her in the act.
Once Anju was settled into a chair with ointment applied and carefully wrapped, Tomoe ducked back outside to see how Kaede was doing.
By now, the blue glow had faded away and Kaede was stooped over the ground, picking up each piece of stray metal. Tomoe was alarmed but not surprised to realize that her daughter was crying.
"Oh sweetie, come here," Tomoe crooned as she swept the girl up into another hug. "It's okay; you're alright."
"I didn't mean to hurt Grandma!" Kaede cried, burying her face in Tomoe's nightshirt.
"I know you didn't, baby. It's okay. Grandma is fine, alright?"
"It's my fault!"
"No, no, honey. It was an accident. Accidents happen, especially when you don't know how to control your NEXT powers yet. But this is why we need to know right away when you get them, so we can be better prepared. Understand?"
Kaede buried her face further but nodded. "Good. Now, just to be safe, I've called a doctor over to have a look at your grandmother's hands. But it's just to be safe. Your grandma is a tough one, after all. After he leaves, I think we need to talk about your ability, alright?"
This time there was a headshake.
"Kaede…" Tomoe warned. "This is non-negotiable."
"I don't want this ability," Kaede sobbed. "I never wanted this ability."
"Baby girl, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Tomoe told her firmly. "As a matter of fact, I'm proud of you. With enough practice, you can use your ability to help others just like your daddy did. Even if you don't, it's still just a special skill that makes you, you. Your grandma will tell you the same thing, and so will Uncle Muramasa."
"But grandma got burned because of me," Kaede sniffled, finally pulling her face away to look up at Tomoe.
"That isn't your fault. It was just an accident. You remember trying to ride your bike and you kept falling down?" A small nod. "Having a NEXT ability is just like that. When you don't know how to use something, there's a chance of injuring yourself or others. That doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault; it just means that you need to be very careful and practice so that you can control it and make sure the accident won't happen ever again."
"What if someone got really hurt because of me?" Kaede demanded. "It might be an accident, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt people!"
"Kaede…" Tomoe was about to continue, but a car rolled up and she filed the discussion away for a little later. She made Kaede go back inside to get cleaned up and then led the physician to the kitchen, where a very unamused Anju shot her a look.
She could be indignant all she wished; Tomoe wasn't about to risk it. If Anju got any lasting injuries from this incident, Kaede would never forgive herself.
Thankfully, the doctor just confirmed what Anju apparently already knew. They were just light burns and they should go away within the month. He told her to keep using ointment and if she developed any sudden issues to come to the clinic.
Tomoe thanked him as she saw him out, then turned to go back inside and have a serious talk with Kaede. She didn't see her daughter anywhere inside, though. Anju wasn't sure of where she was either when Tomoe asked.
They both worriedly checked the house again, then the backyard. When they saw Kaede digging weeds out of the ground, both women gave a sigh of relief. Kaede was a smart girl; it was probably for the best if she stayed outside for as long as she could just in case the magnetism came back. Still, she should've told Anju if she was going out to the back to take care of the garden. But given Kaede's miserable expression, Tomoe decided not to pile anything else onto the girl's shoulders. They had a hard enough talk coming up as it was.
Maybe she should make breakfast first, though. The conversation might be easier on a full stomach. Tomoe left Anju to supervise as she went back inside to make the food. The kitchen was still a mess, with water all over the floor.
The pot of miso soup that Anju had so desperately wrangled was tossed haphazardly into the sink, scallions and pieces of crumbling tofu sliding into the drain. The rice, however, had survived in its cooker. Tomoe quickly set the machine to 'keep warm' and grabbed a pan out of the cabinet.
It was actually kind of nice, cooking. Tomoe hadn't particularly enjoyed it before, and once Kotetsu died, she didn't ever really cook for herself. This felt nostalgic, a reminder of a simpler time when things were easy. Kaede would be happily kicking her feet at the table out of impatience for her breakfast. Kotetsu was even worse, stealing bits of food or batter when he thought Tomoe wasn't looking (she always was).
Tears prickled at the corners of Tomoe's eyes, but she didn't cry. She couldn't. If she started, she wouldn't stop for the rest of the day.
By the time she was done, Tomoe was rather proud of her work. Only one of the omelets didn't fold right, leaving the plate a mess of shredded egg and rice. The second was only slightly burned, and the last turned out pretty decent, if a bit lopsided.
She brought the plates outside for everyone to eat on the back porch (though she did have to send Kaede in to wash her hands again).
It was a quiet morning, only the chirping of a few birds and the scraping of forks against plates broke the calm. Tomoe did miss how peaceful it could be out here; Stern Bild was always moving and full of noise. It could get tiring after a while.
Despite the fact that Kaede still looked pretty down, Tomoe felt proud of herself for coaxing her daughter into a conversation about school. They discussed how Kaede was doing with her skating and how classes were going. (According to Anju, she was struggling a bit with her English homework but otherwise acing her subjects like Tomoe knew she would.)
Once the last pieces of rice were being chased down by juice, Tomoe put her foot down. Now was the time to discuss whatever happened yesterday.
"Speaking of classes, what exactly happened yesterday?"
"Skylar went to pass up his homework and tapped my shoulder to get my attention."
"Did he annoy you?" A shake of the head. "He hasn't been rude to you, has he?" Another no. "Then why exactly did you yell at that poor boy? I know that you said it was because he was a NEXT, but you aren't the type of girl to be prejudiced like that."
"I didn't want him to touch me because…" the rest of the sentence was mumbled incomprehensively.
"What was that?"
"Because of my NEXT ability," Kaede admitted quietly.
"Was your magnetism about to flare up?" Tomoe asked, utterly confused as to what one had to do with the other.
Kaede shook her head. "The magnetism isn't mine. It's Skylar's. I can copy other NEXT abilities."
A copy ability? This was the first that Tomoe had heard of one. Does that mean that her body undergoes a change each time she gains a power? Can she copy more than one at once? It came with a dizzying amount of implications, but Tomoe forced herself to focus. She was not working right now and her daughter needed her.
"When did you find out about this?" Tomoe asked, running her fingers soothingly through Kaede's hair.
"About a week ago, maybe. I accidentally copied a friend's ability during gym class. I held down her feet while she did sit-ups. Her power allowed her to communicate with birds. So when I came out of school and realized that I could tell that all the birds were commenting on how cold the weather had gotten for those past few days, I freaked out."
"Did you assume just from that instance that it was a copy ability because of how unique your friend's power was?"
"I wasn't too sure, but I figured it was more likely than the two of us having the same exact ability. Yesterday just proved me right."
Tomoe nodded thoughtfully. All of this was very interesting information, and she struggled to keep herself in line.
"Well, on Monday, I think you need to apologize to Skylar. As for your abilities, you're an incredibly smart girl. I have no doubt that you'll be able to harness it quickly, especially now that you have me and Grandma to help you out," Tomoe commented. "Remember, Grandma had to raise your father, and his ability was a lot more destructive."
"It's true," Anju broke in. "I thought that boy was going to tear down the whole house! I wish I'd had someone to help me out back then. But at least I can help you now, even if it is only a little bit. I have a better idea of what I'm in for." The woman sipped her tea with a pinched expression, likely remembering all of the furniture and appliances that had to be replaced or repaired whenever Kotetsu came in contact with them.
Kaede gave them a shaky smile, still looking as if she might burst into tears again. Tomoe tugged her into a side hug.
"Do you know if the powers leave after a certain amount of time?"
"No. I think the bird ability went away when Skylar touched me, but I'm not sure. It kept fading in and out."
"Alright then. I think our first order of business will be to figure that little detail out, but we're not going to worry about that right now. What we are going to worry about right now…is what flavor of ice cream you want."
The ice cream shop and convenience store weren't too far away, so Tomoe and Kaede took the short walk over with a cooler in tow. (Anju wanted to go with, but Tomoe managed to convince her to stay home and rest by offering to bring back a carton of matcha ice cream.)
They ended up staying out way longer than Tomoe had intended; the sun was high in the sky by the time she and Kaede began to head back. Still, it was time well-spent. She had missed out on a lot while she was away, and it was nice to feel like a mother again as her daughter caught her up on everything that's happened. Tomoe was especially glad that Kaede seemed to be in better spirits than before. She resolved at that moment to stop hiding from her daughter and come home more often.