Chapter 21: More Questions About Eren
Aqua was completely out of breath. He was panting heavily and covered in sweat from the run, already starting to get cold from the cool air. His thirty-minute trip to this location actually only took him fifteen or twenty minutes due to the police chasing him.
As it turns out, four-year-olds are not supposed to be walking around alone in the street. Such an easy thing to forget when you're reincarnated. The moment a police officer saw him, he immediately came over and started asking questions.
"Hey kid, where are your parents?" He asked.
"Eto..." Aqua had no lie prepared.
So, he just ran. Luckily, Japan was very crowded during this time of day, and since he was still a toddler, he could run through it much easier than the full-grown police. Next time, he'd need to have an excuse prepared if he ever intended to do these solo tasks again.
However, despite being chased by half a dozen cops and losing them in the crowd, he was able to get to his destination much faster.
That location was, Shuchi'in Academy, one of the most prestigious private schools in Japan and the workplace of her.
The academy itself was amazing, significantly better than his high school that he went to outside of Tokyo. He was always a bit jealous of such prestigious schools, but also figured he couldn't handle being surrounded by so many elite people.
This school was considered one of the best schools in Japan and was where much of the Japanese elite sent their children to study. These elite included politicians, business conglomerates, and other members of the wealthy class of Japan.
It was also famous for their corrupt entrance standards, which prioritized said elite individuals, and allegations that their study material was not as modern since it was such an old school. Not that Aqua cared too much, since he only ever heard about those things briefly when he watched the news.
The main gate was open and there were students coming in and out. There was a security guard, but he wasn't paying attention to the students and instead reading some kind of manga. It would give Aqua the perfect opprotunity to slip in.
Aqua took out Ai's phone and briefly checked her social media. Like many people, she had very relaxed security on her accounts, so even a stranger like Ai's profile could view everything on her feed. One post was a picture of her office which displayed the office number in the back. It would be easy to find, and he knew that she should be working today. She was the school's primary language teacher.
Aqua slipped by the gate in the crowd of students, trying hard not to get stepped on since he was so much shorter than these high school kids.
The inside of the academy was just as beautiful and well-made as the outside. Clearly inspired by western styles of architecture. He remembered taking an optional class on architecture in college, so he recognized some things, but that was so long ago that he barely remembered much of what he learned. His college was dominated by his medical studies and that's really all the information he could recount.
He followed the signs that lead to her office. It was partially opened and easy for him to get in. Aqua snuck his way inside and took a look around.
The office was clean for the most part. It had a smell of incense and candles, though he couldn't see any right now. This place looked way to perfect and clean for what he remembered of her.
Aqua went around her desk and opened a drawer, which of course, was unlocked. He looked inside and almost gagged at what he saw.
"You haven't changed at all Kuro." He said to himself.
Inside was a bunch of very adult oriented manga with the tags he could only describe as "Mind break", "Tentacles", and "BDSM". These are some of the reasons he just never could get along with her. He gets that every person has their own kinks of fetishes, but why on earth would you bring these materials to your work? He had to close the drawer to purge his memory of these mangas.
"Hello?" He heard a gentle feminine voice behind him.
Yup, there she was. Kuro, standing at the door. She looked at him and had her eyebrow raised as she addressed him.
Unlike most of the teachers he saw on his way here, that were dressed in nice formal wear, such as very expensive business suits, she was dressed very differently. She more a short business skirt that showed off her hose covered legs, a black dress shirt that was partially unbuttoned and showed a bit of her black bra, and high heels that were a bit higher than a teacher at a school should have.
Her black hair was unkempt and fell all the way down to her lower back, clearly only getting a quick brush with very little attempt to style it. Not only that, but she wore very dark eyeliner and purple lipstick.
While the look wasn't too insane, if maybe a little too sexy, what really caught his eye was a BDSM styled collar around her neck that had a bunch of small decorative chains and a rosary attached.
"Good to see you again Kuro." Aqua lied.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Kuro asked.
This was the big moment, the moment where he had to convince her of exactly who he was. If anyone would believe him, it would be this nutcase.
"I know you probably don't recognize me right now." Aqua said. "But I'm Goro, from university." He said with a serious voice.
Kuro, expectedly, raised her eyebrow at him. It would take some convincing he knew.
"Well, "Goro"." She put her fingers up in quotations. "You've gotten shorter since we've last seen each other. Is it true men get shorter as they age? But the skin care routine is amazing." She laughed.
"Look Kuro, I know this will sound crazy, but I am Goro. I've been reincarnated." He said.
"Oh?" She asked. "Is that why you went missing? Decided a reset was in order?" She laughed. "Can you tell everyone where your body is, people are very curious."
She was mocking him, thinking this was some dumb prank one of her colleagues made. She seemed very amused at it.
"I actually don't know where my body is, I was murdered, and it was hidden." He said, realizing that this was the first time he said that.
"Very convenient excuse." She laughed. "Ok kid, funs over. Tell mama and papa that the joke was great." She laughed.
"Do you still have that mole on your inner thigh, or did you get it removed yet because I know you always hated it." Aqua said.
"What?" Kuro asked. "How do you know about that?" She blushed.
"Because you always complained about it when we were dating, and I've seen it a lot of times while we were." Aqua said.
She was freaked out now, which was fair since a four-year-old apparently knew such intimate details about her. She grabbed a bottle with a cross on her desk and splashed aqua in the face. He stood there for a moment and spit out the water that got in his mouth.
"Holy water?" He asked. "You do know that demons aren't real." He said.
"Oh, and how does a kid know about my intimate life?" She asked skeptically.
"I told you; I was reincarnated." He said.
"Tell me something else only Goro would know." She said.
"Remember that time you wanted to go to a temple and roleplay with me as a god who came to... you know..." Aqua blushed at the memory. "It was that request that made me break up with you." He said.
There was no way she would have told anyone else that story, and it was something only he knew.
"Goro?" She asked. "You're really reincarnated?" She asked.
"Yes, I am." He said.
"This proves everything!" She said in excitement. "All these years they said I was crazy for being in the occult, yet this just proves it." She said.
"I still think you're crazy." Aqua said.
"Yet here you are, four-years-old again." She laughed.
The only reason he even considered telling her, is because she was always into the occult. If anyone would believe his crazy situation, it would be her. For once, he was glad to finally talk about it.
"So, you were murdered then?" She asked.
"Yea, by a crazed stalker one of my patients had." He said.
"And you didn't let anyone know where your body is?" she asked.
"Even if I did know, which I don't, what am I going to say? How would a toddler know where a murder victim is buried in a region he's never been to?" Well, sort of. He was born there but that doesn't count.
"You could say you had a vision from your past life." She said.
"Right, because normal people would just believe that." He face palmed.
"So, you have all your old memories?" She asked.
"Yes." Aqua said.
"And you breast fed, right?" She asked.
Trust her to focus on that subject.
"At first it was kind of forced on me, but the moment my new mother let me use a bottle I only used that." He said.
"Oh, so you didn't want to enjoy a bit of bonding?" She winked.
"She's my mother, and she was sixteen at the time." He narrowed his eyes.
"But when you think about it, she's not your mother technically." She said. "Do you have any cute sisters who you would go after when you're older?"
Aqua sighed. Seriously, this girl was crazy and couldn't distinguish porn from reality half the time. This was why he broke up with her. When he was in university, he wasn't opposed to experimenting with a bit of kinky fun. Adding some fluffy handcuffs to a night of romance was fun. But the extent this woman takes it makes him want to gag.
"Taboo relationships aside, I needed to see you because I need help." Aqua said.
"Well, maybe in a few years-"
"Get you mind out of the gutter." He said in an annoyed tone. "I need your language expertise." He said.
"Really? For what?" She asked.
"There's a situation I'm in." Aqua said. "Basically, my new father is trying to kill my new mother, and probably me and my sister too." He explained simply.
"Wow, that is messed up." She said. "And you can't tell anyone because you somehow supernaturally know he's trying to." She deduced.
"Yes." Aqua said. "He's actually responsible for murdering me as Goro since I was collateral to protect my patient."
"Wait..." She cut off.
"What?" Aqua asked.
"Is your patient your new mother?" She asked.
"... Yes..." Aqua crossed his arms and blankly stared at her.
"Wow, so you basically you were your own doctor." She laughed.
"It's weird, I know." He said. "But that's not the point."
"So you know he's responsible because Goro knew, but you can't tell anyone and no one would believe you."
"Exactly." He said. "However, there's a guy who my mother likes that I'm using to basically protect us. Thing is, he's suspicious but a good fighter."
"Who is he?" She asked.
"He's apparently a Ukrainian refugee, but he's fluent in English yet doesn't know written English."
"That is odd." She said.
"I have pictures from his journal, which are written in a language I'm unfamiliar with." He said.
"So, you came to the best language teacher in Japan for help." She smiled. "I'm touched."
"Here's my mother's phone, it has the pictures in the hidden category." He handed Kuro the phone that was now unlocked. "Only look at her hidden photo's."
Kuro however, ignored that and was now curious. She opened the photo's app and instantly went over to the regular albums.
Aqua knew it was a risk giving her the phone, but he had no choice. The gamble did not pay off.
"Wait, she's familiar." Kuro said as she browsed the photos.
"Don't look at her photos!" Aqua yelled but it was too late.
"You mother is the idol, Ai?" She asked.
"Damn it." He face palmed.
"And she was sixteen when nursing, that explains her medical break a few years ago." She said out loud.
"Yes, it was a teen pregnancy. Please don't say anything." Aqua requested.
"I'm not a huge fan of idols at all, too innocent for me." She shrugged. "But that is interesting, so she's your mother and your father is trying to kill her. This just got dramatic."
"Just read the language." He said.
Kuro sat down at her desk and plugged the phone into her computer. She transferred the pictures from the hidden category to her own file and printed it out to make it easier to read. After returning to her seat with the new pictures, she started to go over them.
"Want to sit on my lap?" She laughed.
"I'll take the table." He said.
Aqua climbed onto her table and watched as she worked. She took a pen, clicked it, and started making notes on the pages. She worked faster than he expected.
"I see, so I can confirm it is a language." She said.
"Really?" Aqua said sarcastically.
"What I mean, is that it is not random. It has a good sentence structure and uses repeating words where you expect to find them." She said. "In English, words like "or", "and", or "the" repeat all the time. That's how you can spot real languages as opposed to fake ones that movies often times doodle."
"If it was in a journal, I guessed that it was real." Aqua said.
"However, even though words repeat, letters do not." She said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Aside from matching words, there are no symbols that repeat often. This implies that the number of letters in this language is a lot more than, let's say English with their 26 letters." She explained.
"So what does that mean?" Aqua asked.
"It could be more similar to something like hieroglyphs, where letters mean things instead of sounds. As an example, "Grape", and "Ape" are two vastly different things, but sound similar, so the words look similar. "Chimp" and "Gorilla" sound different, but in a language like this the words would look similar since they're similar things."
"So that means that there are more letters." Aqua said.
"Exactly." She said. "The first page, which translates numbers, also shows that this numbering system uses repeats of twelve instead of ten."
"Meaning?" Aqua asked.
"There are only ten symbols in English numbers, starting from zero and going to nine. Every ten numbers, the pattern repeats. However, most older languages use repeats at twelve instead of ten. A hold over from this system is the imperial system of measurements. Where twelve inches makes one foot."
"So whatever language this is, it's older?" He asked.
"Exactly." Kuro said.
Amazing that she's able to figure all that out from a few minutes of looking at a language she's unfamiliar with. Maybe that's why this school employed someone as weird as her. Despite her oddities, they might look past that since she is one of the best in the field.
"You said he was Ukrainian?" Kuro asked.
"Yea, from crimea." He said.
"I'm more familiar with Middle Eastern and East Asian languages, but I do know Eastern European languages do not use this family of languages. Come to think of it, I can't identify what family of language this is from." She said.
"Family?" He asked.
"Languages all have families, romantic languages like French, Spanish, and Italian that share a common origin. German and English are from Germanic based families, though English has a lot of Latin inspired roots." She explained. "However, I know very little of African or South American languages, so it's possible it's from there. But I have no idea what this can be classified as."
"So, it's not Eastern European?" Aqua asked.
"I don't want to say absolutely since I don't know much of their dialects. It's possible some ethnic minorities in rural areas can develop their own variations, especially in melting pots like Europe. But as far as I know, it's not associated with any major language in that part of the world."
"This adds to the puzzle." Aqua said.
"Why not get rid of him?" She asked.
"Because he's a good fighter and at least seems to care about Ai. Which is important since right now this kids father is trying to kill her." He said, referring to himself as if he was a different person.
"I don't envy your position honestly." She said sincerely.
"I'm actually glad to talk about all this supernatural crap with someone other than my sister." He admitted.
"You think it's a good idea to tell a toddler, or is she also reincarnated?" She wondered.
"The second one." Aqua said. "She refuses to tell me about her life beforehand, but I assume she's either a kid before she died or at least a young teenager."
"Do you think Eren could be supernatural in origin?" She asked.
"That's crazy." Aqua dismissed.
"I'm talking to my ex boyfriend, who is now a four-year-old and son of a teenage idol, yet that's weird?" She asked.
"Eto..." Aqua thought.
"What else is weird about him?" She asked.
"He has no concept of modern technology or cultures. He's also vague, but I'm not sure if he's hiding his past or just doesn't know about the world. He didn't even know what a smart phone was." He said.
"Sounds like he may have been reincarnated." She said.
"He's an adult, he should have been reborn as a child." Aqua said.
"So you know the rules of how this works?" She asked. "Did your sister die the same time she was born?"
"I don't think so." Aqua wondered. "There was a gap, at least, I think. She didn't know a lot of very recent events. Like she died a few years prior to being reborn."
"So, is it possible that Eren follows different rules as well? Maybe the gap between his rebirth is a lot longer than a few years." Kuro suggested.
"Why do these theories make sense?" He wondered out loud.
"I'm a scholar, that's why." She smiled.
"I can't ask him though. If I'm wrong, that could cause issues." He said.
"You're wrong?" She asked. "I came up with the theory." She crossed her arms in annoyance.
"Fine, if you're wrong." He sighed. "Can we stay focused?" He asked.
"For now, I'll send this to a few friends of mine and see if they can see something I missed. There are a lot of languages in the world, and I'll need to get a diversity of expertise. Even I don't know every language." She said.
"I'll also need to contact Ai and make sure she's not going to kill me for sneaking away." Aqua said.
"You snuck away?" Kuro asked.
"Yea, it's kind of hard to go places and meet people alone as a four-year-old. So, I used a visit to the hospital to sneak away to see you." He said.
"Awww." She said. "Do you still have feelings for me?" She laughed.
"Feelings of disgust." He said.
"Well, I'll have to get in contact with her and let her know you're here, as well as speak with the faculty so as to avoid any potential allegations of kidnapping." She said.
"You can call the contact in her phone labeled Miyako or Meimei." He said.
"Until then, we need to put you somewhere else. I can't have a child in my office." She said.
"Worried about your porn stash?" He asked.
"What?" She asked nervously. "I don't have a stash like-"
Aqua opened the drawer, showing the pornographic manga in her drawer.
"Fine, yes. I can't have you seeing that." She said.
"Believe me, I don't want to." He said.
"I'll drop you off at the Student Council Room. The Student Council President, Shirogane Miyuki, will be able to watch over you." She said.
"Great, so I have to spend time with a bunch of self centered brats?" He asked.
"Didn't you say you tried to run for student council in your old school?" She asked.
"And I got kicked out of the running." He said.
"You were going through a delinquent phase." She said. "At least this time your hair is naturally blonde instead of dyed." She laughed.
"That was one year Kuro." He said. "I grew out of that dumb phase."
"Either way, they'll need to watch you while we're busy. They're good kids too, a bit dense sometimes, but good." She said.
"Dense?" He asked.
"We have a bet in the faculty lounge on whether the President of Vice President will confess their love first. It's a bet that's been going on for a while." She laughed.
"Isn't that a bit creepy?" Aqua asked.
"It's cute." She laughed.
"I wouldn't imagine you are the kind of person who likes cute." He said in a deadpanned voice.
"Let's just go so I can call your mother." She said. "I like this job and don't want to get in trouble for keeping a child in my office who might get reported missing."
"Fair enough." Aqua replied. "However, we'll need a wat to continue talking, and no offense, I doubt my mother would actually let me spend any time with you." He said.
"You know, most men say that about me." She winked.
"Just stop." Aqua face palmed again.
"I'll come up with some kind of excuse, or just visit you late at night." She said.
"If you get arrested, that's on you." Aqua said.
"Oh, such little faith."
Ai was running around outside with Eren right on her tail. Miyako and Meimei used the car to do a search around the roads of the hospital, while Ai and Eren ran around the sidewalks and parks to find Aqua.
Eren insisted on getting out of the wheelchair to help her find him, which she didn't complain about since right now, Aqua's safety took priority over Eren's in her mind. As much as she cares about Eren, Aqua comes first.
Ruby stayed with Miyako since she was too small to keep up with the two adults, though she did look worred since she didn't know where Aqua was either.
"It'll be ok Ai." Eren said reassuredly.
"But he's alone somewhere!" She almost yelled.
"He's a tough kid." Eren said.
"No he's not, he's tiny and vulnerable!" She panicked. "What if he got taken by kidnappers, or maybe someone knows who I am and will use him against me. What if he just got lost and now he's completely unprotected!?"
"Ai, listen to me." Eren said as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him.
Her eyes widened at the sudden action, in the back of her mind she felt like she was a leaf compared to his strength, even when he was hurt.
"You need to calm down." He said as he pat her shoulder. "You can't let fear or panic overpower you right now. You need to think clearly and remain calm, otherwise you'll miss obvious things."
"Y-you're right." She said as she looked down. "I-I'm just so scared. I don't know w-what I would do i-if." Her eye's started to tear up.
"You'll be ok, and he will too." Eren said. "You said yourself that he showed little fear with that stalker guy. He's clearly strong and brave and he will be fine." Eren said.
"Y-yea, you're right." Ai said as she wiped her tears under her sunglasses. "I just need to stay calm."
"We'll go look for one of those police officer and they can probably help."
"O-ok." Ai said.
Ai and Eren walked up to a cop, who was walking along the busy street. Ai went up to him, hoping that he wouldn't get suspicious of her disguise, and got his attention.
"Can I help you miss?" The officer said.
"I-I'm looking for my son." She said as she held up a picture from her wallet of Aqua. "He's gone missing and I can't find him."
"Yea, I know that kid." He said.
"You do!?" Ai yelled. "Where is he? Is he ok? Did he look hurt? Did he-"
"Ma'am, please calm down." He said. "You're asking too many questions. I saw him alone walking down that way. When I confronted him, he ran. I think he ran over there, but we're looking for him."
"Please, let us help. I need to find him." She said. "Was he running from someone?" She asked.
"No, just me." The officer laughed. "I think he's just being a little trouble maker. Don't worry, we'll get him back to you soon. You can help look, but please don't get in the way."
"Of course." Ai said as she turned to Eren. "Aqua-Chan went this way. We'll go follow the road and see if we can find him."
"No problem." Eren said.
Ai ran up the street, her years of dancing making the jog easy for her. Eren was able to easily keep up, not at all slowed down by his injuries. Even if she was tired, her maternal instincts forced her to push on in order to find her precious baby.
Ai was terrified and didn't know what to do. She just wanted to find Aqua and make sure he was ok. She might have to give him a stern talking to, but she needed to make sure that he was ok. Any thoughts of punishments can wait until after he was safe.
Despite the injuries Eren had, the jog was easy. He was just as worried for the kid as Ai was. Aqua seemed like a good kid and he didn't want to see Ai hurt. She seemed so worried about her child and Eren wondered if he often made his own mother this worried as a kid when he would get in fights or be brought back to the house by the MPs.
"Excuse me." Ai called to a random woman.
"Can I help you?" The young woman asked.
The young woman was wearing what looked like a high school uniform with the jacket tied around her waist. She had long blonde hair that was tied into a side pony tail.
"Please, I'm looking for my son. Have you seen him?" Ai held up the picture again.
"Hmmm." The girl thought to herself.
She looked at the picture carefully, wondering where she saw him before.
"Oh, that must be the child my lady was talking about." She said.
"You've seen him?" Ai asked.
The woman took out her phone and showed a recent text message she received.
Sorry, can you get me from school? We'll be a little late because of this kid that ran away from home.
Are you sure Fujiwara wasn't involved?
Not this time, no.
There was a picture of a bunch of teenagers in school uniforms that were posing with a young boy. That young boy was Aqua, who looked completely uncomfortable being there.
"That's him!" Ai yelled out.
"I'll send a message that we found his mother. I can escort you to the Student Council Room if you would like." The woman said.
"Yes, please. Thank you so much." Ai said. "Is he ok?"
"Aside from probably being pestered he Student Council, I'm sure he's fine." She said.
"Thank you, I'm sorry, what's your name?" Ai asked.
"It's Hayasaka Ai." She said.
"Ai, huh?" Ai thought that was funny. "Thank's for the help Hayasaka-San."
"Of course." She said.
Ai calmed down a bit, knowing that not only was Aqua safe, but she would have him in her arms again. It made her feel so much better. Since her phone was missing, she borrowed Eren's phone and sent a text to Miyako in order to let her know that Aqua was safe.
"Hey Ai." Eren called to her.
"Yes?" Ai asked.
"What's wrong?" Ai asked.
Both women looked at each other briefly, Hayasaka had a raised eyebrow.
"Your name is Ai too?" Hayasaka asked.
"Yea, and I guess you know English." Ai laughed.
"I was going to ask, what's going on." Eren said.
"Oh right, I keep forgetting." She said.
Ai explained the conversation that she had with Hayasaka, as well as that Aqua was safe and sound. Eren felt glad at that, happy that the kid was safe and that Ai wasn't so worried anymore.
"So, are you Ai from B-Komachi?" Hayasaka asked.
Her eyes widened as the young schoolgirl instantly found out who she was. Even worse, Hayasaka knew that she had a son. How much worse can today get? Eren got hurt, Aqua decided to run away like a little delinquent, and now a second person today knows that she has a kid. This stupid disguise didn't work at all today.
"Well..." She tried to say.
"Don't worry, I can understand if you want to keep it secret." Hayasaka said. "Especially that you have a child. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Thank you." Ai said in a low voice, the excitement of today making her feel weak and tired.
"My lady who is with your son, she is Shinomiya Kaguya, the heir to the Shinomiya conglomerate." Hayasaka explained.
"Really?" Ai asked.
"I figured that I should tell you since you're going to meet her. But you have nothing to fear. I keep her secrets as well since she is often a target. So, she and I will completely understand your situation to wanting to remain entirely hidden." Hayasaka explained.
"Thank you." Ai said.
"However, I hope you won't mind giving some of the Student Council members autographs, they are actually big fans." Hayasaka said. "I-I kind of am too." She said with a blush and turned her head away from Ai.
"Well, of course." Ai smiled. "I would love to give you all autographs. Especially after you guys kept my son safe."
Ai felt more relaxed. The cat was out of the bag, but thankfully, this Shinomiya girl was just as popular as she was, maybe more so. That meant she at least has an understanding of personal privacy and why it's important that no one knows about her son.
Ai realized that she shouldn't have looked for Aqua if she wanted to keep her identity a secret, but her rational mind was completely overtaken by panic. Besides, who cares about a career when their child is in danger.
One thing was for sure though, Aqua was going to be in huge trouble. Now that her rational mind was back, she would make sure he never hears the end of it. She swore that she would show him no mercy in this punishment, especially for running away.
"So, is he the father? He's kind of attractive." Hayasaka whispered to Ai.
Ai blushed furiously and denied that question instantly.
Yea, the "her" was an OC, but there's a lot of references in this one. I figured it would be fun since Love is War is written by the same guy that did Oshi No Ko, and Kaguya even has a cameo with Ruby lol.
Next chapter will also have some humor too, specifically a bit of that Love is War humor. Or at least, I'll attempt to. Let's see if it actually works lol.
Though now, Aqua is playing with the idea that maybe Eren has a similar problem to him. However, he won't address it yet.
As for Kuro, I wanted to experiment with a character that's kind of like Darkness from Konosuba. So, she's very weird and odd lol. Hope she was interesting if nothing else lol.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one.