Here we go. Now that Lily's a little older and starting to question things, it going to get little bit angsty. :')

This chapter is brought to you by Angerawr, Senem, VineTabris, and Jaiden. Thanks for supporting me on Patre0n. (∗∕ ∕•̥̥̥̥∕ω∕•̥̥̥̥∕)

Thanks for reading.

The First Worst Day

Shiemi was wearing a calm quiet smile, enjoying the sun as she waited patiently outside the school. The bell rang and students started pouring out of the building, fleeing the tedium of school in favor of freedom, but she knew something was wrong the moment she picked Lily out of the crowd.

She had only picked her up from school a handful of times so far, but Lily had been bright and cheerful every time, eager to tell Aunty Shiemi about her day at school. Today however, Lily walked with her head down and her shoulder slumped, clutching at the straps of her backpack like she was carrying the weight of the world inside of it.

"Lily-chan?"

The girl flinched, looking up at Shiemi like she hadn't even noticed who had come to pick her up, but after the initial surprise passed Lily sighed, her shoulders relaxing ever so slightly as she threw her arms around Shiemi in a tight hug, pressing her face against her side.

"Lily, Sweety, what's the matter?" Shiemi knelt down so she could talk to Lily, face-to-face, as soon as the little girl released her from the hug.

Lily frowned, her lips pursed tightly as she looked down at her feet.

"I'm not a liar," she said softly, her voice quavering.

Shiemi blinked.

"O-Of course you're not, Sweetheart," Shiemi said as she took Lily's hand, "Did someone say you were?"

Lily just shook her head, clinging to Shiemi's hand silently. Shiemi didn't want to pressure her if she didn't want to talk, so they simply started walking home—home in this case being Shiemi's house.

"Are my dads at work?" Lily asked, and Shiemi nodded.

"They'll be home in an hour or two."

Lily thought about this for a moment, her lips pursed.

"Is Uncle Yukio at your house?"

"No, he's at work too."

"Good."

"Lily! That's not very nice."

"But he doesn't like me," Lily protested.

"That's not true. He just… That's just how he is with everyone," Shiemi said softly. She couldn't argue. She'd seen the distance Yukio tried to put between himself and Lily. He'd gotten better about distancing himself from people over the years, but it had resurfaced the moment he heard Shiemi was going to carry Rin and Ryuuji's child. She'd chalked it up to awkward jealousy, but Yukio's relationship with both Rin and Lily remained strained. She thought things would get better when he asked her out, but… If even a child could notice, it was probably about time she had a talk with him about it. Lily and Rin were both important parts of her life. They were a package deal he'd have to get used to, and it wasn't something he should have held against any of them.

"So, did you do anything fun today?" she asked as they walked, trying both to change the subject as well as engage Lily mentally and attempt to cheer her up.

"I played tagged during recess."

Shiemi giggled. "That does sound fun, but what about during class?"

Lily thought about it for a moment and then said, "Sachiko Sensei read us a book about animals and their babies."

"Oh! That sounds very cute. What kind of animals were in the book?"

"All kinds!" Lily said, spreading her arms out dramatically. "Giraffes, and wolfs, and pandas, and oh- oran- Oranitans!"

"Orangutans?" Shiemi correctly softly.

"Yeah!" Lily shouted, "Oran- Oranitans!"

"And which animals was your favorite?" Shiemi asked.

"Possums," Lily said without skipping a beat, and Shiemi sputtered, covering her mouth before she could laugh.

"Why possums?"

"Because they're cute, and they carry their babies around with them, and they have long tails they can grab stuff with like… like..." she trailed off, her previous enthusiasm draining out of her. A single sniffle was Shiemi's only warning as Lily started to quietly sob, her tiny shoulders shaking.

"L-Lily, Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Shiemi asked, stopping to kneel in front of Lily and take her in to her arms. The little girl continued to cry, showing no signs of stopping, so Shiemi scooped her up, gently patting her back and letting her cry against her shoulder as she carried her the rest of the way home.

By the time they arrived at Shiemi's family shop Lily had pretty much cried herself out. She hiccupped occasionally, sniffing back fresh tears, but it didn't seem like Shiemi had to expect a repeat performance. Not for a while at least.

She set Lily down and dried her tears, wiping her face clean of salt and snotty noses before sending her in to the garden to play while Shiemi prepared her after school snack. She couldn't suppress a smile as Lily grimaced—she was not fond of Shiemi's cooking—because it meant for the time being at least, Lily was back to normal. Perhaps she was simply distracted, but that gave Shiemi time to get to the bottom of things.

There was a really easy way to accomplish that too, if Shiemi was lucky. Lily and her classmates all had a journal they wrote in daily on various topics, writing simple little stories or drawing pictures about their day to day lives in which their teacher would often leave notes marking the progress or problems they faced, in and outside of the classroom. Shiemi retrieved Lily's backpack and took it to the kitchen table before removing Lily's journal, and there, on the latest page was a crayon drawing of Lily with Rin and Ryuuji.

Beneath the drawing, in shaky crayon lettering, it read:

My dad is really big.
My daddy has a tail.

Attached to the page was a sticky note with neat handwriting which read "Lily might need some help distinguishing reality from fiction."

Shiemi glanced out her kitchen window to where Lily knelt, digging happily in the dirt of a flowerbed with a child's plastic pail and shovel. A large greenman spirit stood nearby protectively, watching her play like a silent guardian. Shiemi's garden was crawling with them—her little helpers, on and off the battlefield—but Lily was oblivious to their presence. Rin and Ryuuji had very carefully seen to the fact that Lily had never received a mashou.

Shiemi bit her lip as she watched the little girl play. Lily's comment about not being a liar suddenly made sense. She might not have been able to see the greenmen or other spirits or demons, but she could still see Rin's tail and strange things happened around her with what was probably an alarming frequency.

Quietly, Shiemi went to the fridge and began to prepare Lily's snack. She might have been Lily's birth mother, but Rin and Ryuuji were her parents. That was a conversation for them to have with her. In the meantime she could make sure Lily was happy and healthy, and then pass along what she'd learned.

It was going to be a hard enough conversation no matter what Lily's mood was.