Noblesse Oblige
After another day at Otonokizaka, Maki tagged along with the duo, Hanayo and Rin. Since middle school, she preferred to go her own way. Yet, ever since she was conscripted to µ's, she hanged more with others, particularly the girls who were her comrades.
This time, they were dining out in a popular fast food place. Their efforts were split between eating and chatting. Of course, their chats revolved around the dangerous realm of iDols and Avatars.
"I can't believe it!" Hanayo exclaimed, "We are all over the news since the False Eclipse Event! We are famous nationwide!"
"Kayo-chin is a hero nya~" Rin chimed in.
"M-me… no, it was Eli-sempai and Honoka-sempai who defeated Apep in the end." Hanayo asserted.
"Don't put yourself down, Hanayo. All of us played a part that fight." Maki pointed out, "It was a team effort."
"That's right! It is all nine of us who defeated that Avatar!" Rin shouted.
"Perhaps we should keep it down." Maki requested, "I was already pestered by two girls for pictures taken with me just now."
"Aw, Maki-chan is so modest…" Rin laughed.
"Hush." Maki whispered, placing her finger in front of the catlike girl, "I have been getting this feeling that I'm being watched. Do you notice it?"
"Huh? Nope…" Rin sheepishly answered.
"Watched? You mean, like, by the media…" Hanayo wondered, fidgeting.
"I don't know… but since I've entered µ's, I got this strange feeling…" Maki said, "I think we should be careful."
An adjacent table away, a man in trench coat sat with only an emptied cup of coffee. His appearance was obscured by his pair of sunglasses. His phone was laid down on that table, with a voice recorder app activated.
The man sat there motionlessly, with occasional glances at his target.
Later, the three first-years finished their meal and proceeded to exit the outlet. The mysterious man also got up at that moment, trailing behind the three girls leaving the outlet.
The sliding door opened for the first-years to leave the outlet, with the man distanced so that it would not open for him. Waiting for a second, he continued walking and the door slid open… only to find the three first-years facing him at the doors.
"You! You have been following us, right?" Maki yelled.
The man did not reply, simply dashing out of the shop and into the streets.
"Wait!" Rin cried, charging ahead to pursue the man.
Both Maki and Hanayo followed the two, wanting answers to this strange stalker of theirs.
"W-who could this guy be?" Hanayo panted, "The media?"
"He looks suspicious to me… A spy? Kidnapper?" Maki suggested, "But can Rin catch him?"
"Don't worry. Rin-chan's specialty is track," Hanayo said.
Rin continued her ruthless pursuit of the mysterious man, never losing sight of him across the streets of Tokyo. The man was slowly being worn out by Rin's sheer tenacity to get him.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" That was Rin's mantra as she chased the man.
"That girl… her stamina is comparable to… Wait!"
Noticing the flight of steps he was approaching, the man climbed them. Rin followed him, also climbing the stairs.
"I could take refuge at the shrine above. That girl will only be chased out by the monks…"
The man's movements were halted abruptly with him colliding into something soft. He fell back and knocked out by his fall. Rin managed to catch up at this point too.
"Huh? Nozomi-chan?" Rin blurted out.
"Hey there, Rin-chan!" Nozomi cheerfully waved, "Who is this strange man?"
Soon, both Maki and Hanayo were called in to meet up at the Kanda Shrine. After their rendezvous with Rin and Nozomi, attention was turned to the strange man kneeling in the open courtyard and tied down by ropes.
"Uh… w-what's with the ropes?" Hanayo asked.
"Shibari, the art of tying up people descended from the older tradition of Hojojutsu," Nozomi replied.
"Nozomi-sempai was worried he would escape," Rin added.
"Okay, let's interrogate him." Maki said, approaching the mysterious man.
The man in question was all tied, with his hands bound together behind him in a cross pattern. Both his legs had been tied as well, so movement was completely sealed. The rope tied around him elaborately, looping through his neck and entire body.
"I could scream for help, Nishikino-san…" he said.
"You can try; hardly anyone visits this sacred place nowadays." Nozomi said, "This temple housed the guardian of this city, yet with the city fallen to the Avatars… faith in its guardian was lost. No one really comes here nowadays."
"So start talking!" Maki demanded, kicking the man in his groin.
"Fine! If you must know…" the man confessed, "You can refer to me as Nero. I'm a private investigator from Yokohama."
"A private investigator?" Hanayo exclaimed.
"Who sent you?" Maki continued her interrogation, "What is their purpose?"
"I'm not entitled to betray my clients…" Nero said.
Nero's response was cut off by Nozomi pressing herself on his back, her hands gripping on his chest.
"Nero-san, I suggest you cooperate with us… or else your chest will never feel the same again… Hue-hue…" Nozomi threatened.
"Arg… your parents… they hired me to trail you…" Nero admitted.
"My parents!" Maki exclaimed.
"Maki-chan's parents!" the other exclaimed, as well.
By evening, the storm was brewing in the Nishikino estate. Maki stomped in her house, wanting to see either one of her parents for answers. Seeing her mother, she stomped towards her.
"Mama, what's the deal with the spy?" she demanded.
"So you've found out about Nero-san… He wasn't as good as the ads professed," her mother remarked.
"So you did send him!" Maki shouted.
"I can assure you that it is for your good. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known your dangerous activities," Mrs Nishikino justified, "Hanging out with those girls, doing such dangerous acts, they have to stop."
"Mama, it's not like I will stop being a doctor for this!" Maki yelled, her voice increasing in volume.
"Maki, it is time for you to fully focus on our wishes." Her mother highlighted, "The time to play games is over."
"I am not playing your game… I'm out of here…" Maki scoffed, turning back.
"… And that's how I ended up here." Maki recounted, now in Hanayo's room and speaking to her.
"Bu-but must you run away from home?" Hanayo asked.
"Didn't plan that ahead… but I needed a friend to stay with for the time being," Maki answered.
"But are you going to make amends with your parents?" Hanayo asked.
"They never respected my ability or choices. It's their fault this happened," Maki insisted.
"You're worrying the…" Hanayo pointed out.
The door opened and a woman appeared on the doorstep, with drinks on her tray. She looked almost like a more mature version of Hanayo with longer hair, not a surprise for her mother.
"Hello girls, I've brought you refreshments." Hanayo's mother announced, handing the two girls the drinks.
"Thank you, Mum."
"Thank you, Mrs Koizumi."
"So I've heard from Hanayo that you girls are iDol pilots." Mrs Koizumi said, "It was much different from my time. Avatars showed up at intervals of months, and only one iDol is needed to defeat a majority of them."
"Oh, is that the case?" Maki wondered, "So they are more frequent nowadays."
"I never kept track of them, but you can say that," Mrs Koizumi stated.
Much later into the night, Nozomi continued with her usual nightly activities – her Tarot cards. On her table, the Reversed Magician card was visible.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a new message. Upon inspection, the message was from Hanayo.
"We need to help Maki-chan reconcile with her parents." It read.
"What happened?"
"Maki-chan fell out with her parents because of the investigator. She's staying in my house for now."
"I see… you should get Maki-chan to talk to her parents."
"We can't get her to go home; she will never agree to it."
"Then you have to bring Maki-chan to them without her suspecting it. Here's the plan…"
The next day, the final school bell rang to signify the end of another school day. Everyone in the first-year class packed up their bags and proceeded to leave the room.
Just as Maki had finished packing her materials, Hanayo and Rin approached her.
"H-hey Maki-chan…" Hanayo stuttered.
"Maki-chan, we are going to drop flowers for Tsubasa-san of A-Rise. Wanna join us nya~" Rin invited, "Kayo-chin's such a fan girl of A-Rise."
"Aaa… but isn't she recuperating in…" Maki protested.
"C'mon Maki-chan! Please!" Rin pleaded.
With Rin's incessant pleading, Maki-s face turned redder and even their other classmates turned to look at the commotion.
"Fine!" she cried, "Let's go!"
At the same time, in the East China Sea, cargoes sailed across the tranquil seas. However, the waves soon were not so tranquil. The waves rocked back and forth, as a new structure formed in the middle of the sea.
Resembling an octahedron alternating between red and violet, the strange polygon was an oddity in the blue seas. Its top and bottom began to compress to impossibly thin lengths, morphing its shape to become a diamond-shaped shape… and zoomed across the seas.
A cargo vessel was in its way. The polygon rammed straight into the vessel and a great explosion crushed the tranquillity of the seas. That did not the stop the strange being one bit; it just charged ahead.
Thus, the three first-years went to the Nishikino Hospital. Beyond Maki's expectations, she found herself in her father's office. Rin, Hanayo and her mother were all there as well.
"You tricked me…" Maki berated her friends.
"N-no! It was all Nozomi-sempai's idea!" Rin revealed.
"We only want you to get along with your parents!" Hanayo justified herself.
"Maki, we were so worried for you. If not for Nero-san's help, we would've thought you were kidnapped or worse!" Mrs Nishikino cried, "Come back home, Maki."
"No! Since young, you have forced the idea of being a doctor down my throat! I simply nodded to that! What more are you demanding from me?" Maki shouted.
"Maki…" her father spoke.
Maki turned to face her father directly, her eyes meeting the spectated stern eyes she inherited from. The silence raised tension in the office.
And then, an all-familiar statement finally broke the short silence.
"All residents of Tokyo, please cease all current activity. Avatar sighting has been determined nearing the city. All civilians are to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter for safety purposes. Self-Defence Force units are to mobilise for defence of national territory."
"We should be going. There's another fight we have to tend to," Maki said, turning away to the door.
At this point, Rin's phone rang and she took the call.
"Rin-chan, are you guys in the hospital right now?"
"Yeah, Nozomi-sempai… why?"
"Go underground. An Avatar has appeared. It's set on a direct path towards the hospital. It'll destroy the whole place if we couldn't stop it in time."
As Nozomi ended her call, she looked at the screens from the Central Command. Hideko and the others were gathering data on this newly emergent Avatar, with the map displaying the Avatar moving into the city.
"Hundun moving at around 702.1 kilometres per hour!"
"Site of emergence in the East China Sea. People's Liberation Army – Navy has reported inability to halt the threat. It has entered the home Islands."
"Terpsichore and Melpomene have been dispatched to intercept Hundun."
The Avatar, identified as Hundun, charged its way into Tokyo, simply smashing into any obstacle standing in its way. Two iDols, Terpsichore and Melpomene, had been sent down and pursuing the ceaseless Avatar.
"Eli, that thing is just smashing through buildings like they're nothing. How can we stop it?" Nico asked.
"Like this!" Eli replied.
With her words, Terpsichore charged right ahead of Hundun and placed its arms out in front. It grappled onto the pointed tip of the Avatar, stopping it in its tracks.
And then, a loud screech bellowed from Hundun. The glass windows around them shattered into pieces. The two ends of Hundun melted away into its core, changing itself into four-bladed shuriken. It rotated itself towards Terpsichore, to be caught by the iDol and thrown backwards.
However, Hundun altered its trajectory and flew back towards its original path.
In light of the Avatar attack, the Nishikino Hospital was caught in a difficult situation. Many of its patients, staff and unfortunate visitors were forced to remain there as sitting ducks.
Indeed, there were efforts to move everyone to the safety of underground shelters. However, there were simply too many of the injured and those deathly frightened by Hundun's alien screeches. Everyone in the hospital was to help out with the evacuation.
Maki was among those helping out with the evacuation. She was treating a woman whose leg was injured by broken glass shards caused by Hundun's screech, wrapping the wound with a piece of cloth.
"There, this will hold out for the time being." Maki explained, while turning to Hanayo, "Hanayo, take this woman down to the shelters. She's injured, so be careful on the stairs."
With Hanayo escorting the woman out of danger, Maki and Rin continued with aiding evacuation efforts. No matter what they did, they were simply too many people to bring out in such short a time.
"Why're there so many people here?" Rin protested.
"There are few hospitals in Tokyo nowadays with most of them moved out." Maki explained, "Ours is one of the few left in this district, so many flock towards here. There's also the matter with Avatar attacks and the damage and loss of lives associated with them."
"Youngster, are you okay?" someone cried.
Maki's attention turned to an elderly man holding onto a younger man; the younger man was grasping for breath and on the ground.
"He's having an asthma attack!" Maki realised, "Where's his inhaler?"
"I think we've dropped it…" the elderly man admitted, frantically searching his pockets and bags.
"Sir," Maki said to the asthmatic man, "I need you to sit upright. You need air circulation right now. Don't lie down. Don't slouch. Don't even lower your neck one bit."
Following Maki's instructions and assisted by Rin and the elderly man, the man slowly sat up and lifted his head up.
"Now breathe slowly," she instructed… but the man was still choking, "It can't be helped then… Follow my lead."
She took the man's right hand and tapped a rhythm on it.
"I, 2, breathe in." Maki chanted, "3,4, breathe out. Do it!"
The asthmatic man followed Maki's words and mouthed them out; slowly he began to feel more comfortable. His words went from silent mouthing to more coherent words.
"Sirs, avoid all windows as you proceed to the shelters." Maki directed, "Take it slowly, and make sure you do not exhaust yourselves before reaching there."
"Thank you, young lady," thanked both men.
"I-it's not like I want to help, I am the heir to this place after all…" Maki blurted out.
"Oh! But didn't Maki-chan deny herself as a doctor just nya?" Rin teased.
"Rin, this is no time for teasing. We have more people to save," Maki said, "We may not be in the iDol today, but we are saving people all the same."
Meanwhile, the fight against Hundun was dragging on… primarily due to its unique property. Melpomene went on to slash it with its scythes, only to miss the Avatar completely. It bent itself to become a three-dimensioned curve that bypassed Melpomene.
"Take this!" Eli cried.
The Terpsichore leapt in the air and spun around, descending as though it were an unstoppable drill. Once again, Hundun changed form again and Terpsichore collided with a block of warping colours. Hundun flipped itself and hurled the iDol to ground, hovering high above Terpsichore. It changed into its diamond shape, dropped onto Terpsichore.
Thankfully, it was saved from impalement by a timely arrival of Melpomene's intervention. It clashed with Hundun as it fell, swatting it away. The Avatar regained its bearings easily in mid-air and reformed into its octahedron form.
While the battle progressed, evacuation of the Nishikino Hospital was going on rather well. The critically injured had been brought to emergency underground wards by this time, while most of the people were holding out underground.
Despite this, Maki and Rin were still out in the hallways, looking for anyone left behind. With the hospital in ruins and the Avatar and iDols fighting outside, the overall picture was something out of an apocalyptic film.
"Waaaa…"
"Hmm…" Maki turned her attention to the corridors, where a little girl hid herself, "What are you doing here?"
"Mummy? Where is Mummy?" the girl murmured.
"Calm down, she must be at the…" Maki attempted reasoning with the girl, but to no avail.
The girl just kept on crying, shedding tears and rendering her eyes red.
"Okay, I need to calm her down… how… how…" Maki thought.
"Nya nya nya!" Rin tried cheering her up, but that did not work.
The catlike girl assumed a variety of catlike poses and sounds, but nothing changed other than Rin's face.
"Calm her down… calm her… Wait!" Maki thought through, finally obtaining some idea.
Maki coughed a bit to clear her throat, looking intently at the girl.
Aishiteru banzai!
Koko de yokatta watashitachi no ima ga koko ni aru
The girl stopped her crying and shrivelling, finally bothering to look at the redhead crouching right before her. Rin just looked at Maki's masterful singing; the redhead songstress undistracted by the world around her.
Aishiteru banzai!
Hajimatta bakari ashita mo yoroshiku ne mada gooru janai
"Okay, little one. If you want to hear the full song, come down with us. We will find Mummy for you," Maki said.
"Maki-chan, I didn't know you sing also." Rin remarked.
"I did mention I play the piano once." Maki said, "But I do make a few songs when I was a child… Look, they were for recitals! They want something origina…"
Maki's ranting was interrupted by Hundun's maddening screeches. The girl resumed crying. Both iDol pilots looked out and saw the fight not making an inch of progress.
"But Rin wants to fight nya…" Rin admitted.
"That thing keeps changing its form, countering all and any attacks made against it." Maki remarked.
Outside, Maki witnessed Melpomene sparring with Hundun that was converted all its edges into razor-sharp spikes. Terpsichore tried to launch a sneak attack with a propelled punch, but the Avatar warped into a shield that blocked the attack.
That last attack was probably launched with much momentum that even Hundun and Terpsichore were pushed back slightly. There, Maki noticed it – the Avatar's core staring directly at them in the hospital.
"Ahh!" Rin cried in sheer terror, "Rin don't want to die!"
"The core! That's it!" Maki thought.
"Rin, take the girl to the shelter by yourself?" Maki instructed, "I need to do something."
"Huh?" Rin questioned.
"Just do it!" Maki repeated.
With Rin escorting the girl into the underground shelters, Maki stared outside and was perhaps the only human to witness such a clash of titanic proportions.
She took out her phone and began searching for a certain contact.
Meanwhile, in the Central Command of Phoebus Apollo, Hideko and her fellow technicians continued overseeing the battle with Hundun. Nozomi was on the higher platform, along with Captain Minami.
"The fight's a complete stalemate!" Captain Minami raged, "The damage may escalate beyond our control if this keeps up!"
"Hundun changes its form to specifically counter any attack launched towards it. That was even noted by the Chinese in their report."
"We can force it out of Tokyo at least."
While the technicians were deciding on the course of action, Nozomi's phone rang and the spiritual girl immediately answered it.
"Hey Maki-chan!" she beamed, "Are you guys safe in the shelters?"
"No, I happen to have a front-row seat to a live battle currently." Maki commented, "Listen, I have vital information for Nico-chan and Eli-sempai. Please get me through to them."
"Will they end the stalemate fighting with this Avatar here?" Nozomi asked.
"Yes. It may look invulnerable, but it has its limits." Maki confirmed.
"Please hold," Nozomi said.
Nozomi turned to the three technicians and called out to them.
"Maki-chan has information about the Avatar. I need her line to be connected with Eli-chi and Nico-chi ASAP!" she declared.
"Ah, what a capable and skilled Magician-chan… Maki-chan…" she thought.
The fight against Hundun was going nowhere, despite it being a two-on-one. Whatever Terpsichore and Melpomene did, the Avatar merely changed its form to counter their specific attacks.
As of now, Hundun was in a double club form and swinging itself about. While Melpomene fended off its attacks, Terpsichore tried to wrestle it away from its ally.
"This thing is pure stupid! It can't give up!" Nico protested.
"Nico-chan! Eli-sempai!" Maki's voice called out in the communications system.
"Maki?" exclaimed Eli.
"I'm also a sempai too!" Nico yelled, "And we are busy here!"
"And I can see you guys being busy getting your butts handed to you by a shapeshifting rainbow block." Maki commented.
"You are seeing this!" Nico cried, "If you're in Urania, help us!"
"If help is first aid and painkillers, then yes." Maki replied, "But I have information for you to defeat that Avatar, if you hadn't already notice it by now."
"O-of course we notice it…" Nico boasted.
"Nico, shut up!" Eli said, "Any help is good at this point."
"Notice how the Avatar's body melts away to expose its core every time it changes shape..." Maki explained, "That moment is the best time to strike."
"And what, Princess? Get poked by those spikes!" Nico cried.
"Not if Eli kicks or punches it," Maki continued, "By attacking it with a focused attack, it will divert all its surface area for defence and leave its core open on the other side."
"I get it… but the second attack must be made swiftly, or else it will counter that," Eli added, "Nico, stay put there and ready to attack at first moment. For now, keep fighting it."
"…Just do it…" Nico curtly replied.
Terpsichore backed away from both Melpomene and Hundun, distancing itself by a few hundred kilometres. The iDol crouched, as if it were ready for a track event.
"Here. I. GO!" Eli yelled.
Boosted by rocket thrusters, Terpsichore suddenly made a mad dash straight towards the spot it just departed from. It backed away in such short time, so its charge made the distance virtually nothing.
With Hundun still distracted by Melpomene's attacks, Terpsichore reached out to punch into the amorphous Avatar. Hundun, as always, morphed into a massive square pyramid to block out Terpsichore's assault.
While Terpsichore's attack was stopped, it continued punching through Hundun in a seemingly futile attempt. At this moment of invulnerability, Nico from her Melpomene could see – the exposed core at the top of the pyramidal structure. Melpomene stabbed into the exposed core at the chance, hitting it.
Hundun's colours shifted more rapidly with that final attack, until it became clear as white light. A deafening crack of shattered glass resonated and the Avatar's ichor oozed out from the remnants of the bizarre entity.
In the Central Command, Hideko and her fellow technicians had satellites scanned over the area to watch over the battle. They have seen Melpomene's final strike against Hundun, the strike that defeated it.
"Kill confirmed. Avatar has been neutralised."
"Very clever eh… The Magician…" Nozomi thought, a Tarot card in hand.
The Magician. Upright.
"But for your next trick…"
Nozomi shifted her fingers and revealed a second Taro card.
The Sun. Reverse.
With the Avatar defeated, those who took cover underneath the hospital returned home at last. Patients were moved back to their wards, while the staff proceeded to at least make the hospital liveable for the time being.
Among the crowd of people, Maki walked about in search of the others. Leaving the hospital grounds, she easily found the splitting mirror image that was her mother. Tagging along with her were Rin and Hanayo.
"Rin! Hanayo! …Mama…" Maki called out, while running towards them.
"Maki, you're safe!" her mother first responded.
"Maki-chan!" Rin and Hanayo chimed in unison.
As Maki was face to face with the rest, Rin clamped Maki's face almost immediately.
"W-wha…" she mumbled.
"That was for leaving yourself all alone out there nya!" Rin chided, "You scared Rin and the rest, especially your parents nya!"
"L-let g-go…" Maki mumbled, releasing herself from Rin's grip, "I was telling Nico-chan about the Avatar's vulnerability."
"So they defeated the Avatar because you guided them along," Hanayo beamed, "Amazing!"
"Maki, you had us all worried," her mother added, "You should have gone down to the shelters immediately, my little princess."
"Mama, I am an almost adult and I have my responsibilities too," Maki answered, "When they told me about the Avatar approaching the hospital, I… I just couldn't leave these people to their fate…"
She looked out at the many injured that definitely some form of medical attention.
"Isn't that what Papa taught me, that the strong are to protect and help the weak," she continued, "I may be a princess in name, but I will prove my worth to help everyone. Medicine, music, iDol – all of them are parts of me that can help and will heal everyone's wounds. That is the path that I choose."
A lonesome clapping sound accompanied Maki's exposition.
"Well said, my daughter…"
"Papa?" Maki turned about and saw her father, face bruised by fallen concrete.
"Maki, I have always been concerned over you fooling about in games and music – that I admit." Dr Nishikino confessed, "But just now, I heard from many of this redhead who wandered the hospital despite it reduced to rubble and helping everyone. She healed and cheered and calmed them, bringing them to safety."
The Hospital Dean pointed at the many people behind him, all who looked at Maki with gratefulness in their eyes.
"Any path in life will have its troubles, but at least you have the correct mind-set." The doctor continued, "I acknowledge your path, wherever you take."
"Uh… Papa…" Maki whispered, her face turning red.
"But darling, what about the hospital? What about our legacy?" his wife asked.
"We'll have to relocate our patients to the other branches for the time being." Dr Nishikino replied, "And darling, the hospital is our legacy indeed. But does Maki want to forge her own legacy instead?"
"Papa! It's not like I don't want to be a doctor!" Maki exclaimed, "I mean… if the hospital's rebuilt and all… uh maybe…"
To Maki's awkward reply, everyone in the vicinity laughed with her.
One of the temporary wards in Nishikino Hospital was where the members of A-Rise recuperated. Among them, only the leader Kira Tsubasa regained consciousness. The other two, Toudou Erena and Yuuki Anju, remained in coma.
Their ward was full of flowers brought over by various fans, after news of Tsubasa's awakening was made. Visiting the ward was a girl of similar age, dressed in a white school uniform identified as the high school UTX.
"Student Council President-san, you don't need to visit us in person." Tsubasa insisted, "You got your uniform dirty from the Avatar emergence."
"The school can't thank you and A-Rise enough for your actions. You girls are true idols to everyone," the UTX President said.
"But say, I see there are new iDols out there to fight the good fight," Tsubasa continued.
"Yes… they're from that run-down school Ayase-san hailed from… What's its name? Otonokizaka, I think…" the President believed.
"Student Council President-san, I ask you a favour…" Tsubasa spoke, "I would like a leader-to-leader talk with this girl; her name is Kousaka Honoka."
A way longer chapter than expected; while I would call it Maki's chapter, it involves her exercising her many skills and abilities and showcasing her perfection.
Nero is an allusion to Milky Holmes' Nero Yuzurizaki (also voiced by Nico's VA, Soramaru) although this Nero is a guy. In fact, the case scene was inspired by the many instances of chasing Nico in the series.
While in my anime head canon the father opposes Maki's choices while the mother subtly supports them, I reverse them for this fanfic with a mother worried over a child tackling dangers and the father quietly rooting for the child deciding her path.