Sorry for the really late update! I got sick which really hindered my progress. Anyways, here comes chapter 4!
3rd Person POV:
While sitting alone in a table in the food court, Hikigaya is starting to gather some gazes and he didn't even know it. Why? It's because out of boredom, he started doing some high detailed gundam origamis using the tissues provided with his and his children's meals. He even started voice acting his creations quietly!
"What should I do Olga?" said Hikigaya while voice acting a demon looking gundam origami he is holding in his right hand.
"All you can do now is to surrender!" said Hikigaya while voice acting an angel looking gundam origami he is holding in his left hand.
"Lets go, Barbatos!" said Hikigaya while voice acting a demon looking gundam origami he is holding in his right hand.
"Let's defeat him, Strike Freedom!" said Hikigaya while voice acting an angel looking gundam origami he is holding in his left hand.
Hikigaya made his creations to collide at each other, pretending that it's fighting while providing sound effects too
Meanwhile...
Irida's search:
"I need a Mama that is easy to manipula- easy to get along." that is the thought that is running in Irida's head while she walk towards the center of the mall.
"To manipula- get along with someone, you need to establish a relationship. But you must make sure that the one benefiting from it the most is you." Irida finally reached the middle of the mall where a fountain stood. She sat on the floor near the fountain and started crying! This kid is has already mastered the art of crying! "I'm gonna attract the most kindhearted woman in this mall and choose the one that I like! Then I'll make her think she is so dependable so that she'll just let me depend on her all the time!"
Hikigaya Irida doesn't think like a normal 8 year old kid but acts like it.
Irida started wiping her tears and began weeping quietly. Most of the passersby tries to approach the crying girl but failed to communicate with her, why? Because Irida ignores since they aren't to her liking or if they are a man, she wants a mama after all.
And so Irida would continue to cry, and ignore the people who approach her that isn't to her liking. It is her great plan, and she thinks it's flawless. It's not.
Someone called a security guard on her!
Irida panicked as she saw a female security guard approach her. If she run, there is a big possibility that the guard would give a chase, since she is a unsupervised crying kid and she will be caught. If the stay, she'll be caught too. Her only hope in this situation is that if someone would just approach her so that she could pretend she isn't alone anymore and make the security guard think she is ok.
Irida's frantically looked around her as the security guard approach her. She saw a group of adults, and in that group, a brown haired woman, she is wearing a white blouse topped by a blue bolero jacket, a denim skirt and a pair of Chelsea boots locked gazes at her and smiled at her, and then ran towards her. "Oiii!" said the woman while waving at Irida.
Irida is shocked by the woman's actions but an opportunity is an opportunity. She waved back. The security guard thought that Irida is finally found by her guardian and stopped walking toward Irida and returned to her post.
Now that the security guard is gone, Irida doesn't need the woman approaching her anymore. Irida has decided that she is going to just ignore this woman since she isn't to her liking.
The woman finally reached Irida. "You are lost aren't you?" asked the woman but is ignored by Irida. The woman smirked and then called out to the other adults she is with. "Hey! This kid is lost! Wanna help me find her parents?" she said. The adults nodded in agreement.
The other adults ran towards the Irida. They surrounded her and bombarded her questions.
"What's your name?" a woman asks.
"Can you describe what your parents look like?" a man asks.
"Do you know where you last saw your parents?" another woman asks.
"Are you with your mom? Dad? Or both?" another man asks.
"We are here to help you, is that ok?" and another man asks.
Irida started ignoring all of them to show that she isn't interested. She even stopped crying to prove she don't need help.
"Wow, you even stopped crying! What a brave kid!" the brown haired woman compliments Irida. This comment made Irida look at the brown haired woman. The woman is smiling and said cheerfully "Don't worry, Onee-san here is going to help you so don't worry ok?" To others, the brown haired woman's words are kind and charming, but to experienced deceiver like Irida, it is a threat. "Follow my lead if you want to have a good time." is what Irida heared. "I-I'm Hikigaya Irida... I'm in your care now..." timidly said Irida.
The other adults started stating their names but Irida couldn't care less, her focus is on the brown haired woman who is now smiling at her even more when she heared her full name. "Oh, and I'm Isshiki Iroha. Nice to meet you!"
And so, the group of adults and Irida started looking around for Irida's parent, or that's what it looks. The other adults could just ask Irida where she last saw her parents, and Irida is more than happy to tell them just to end this fiasco but somehow, Isshiki's conversational prowess is always diverting their conversations away from that topic!
"Whew... Finding your parents is kinda tiring right?" asks Isshiki. Irida could only nod in agreement.
Isshiki pointed at a donut shop near them. "Wanna donut? My treat! Just pick the cheapest one ok?" offered Isshiki to Irida.
Then, one of the man they are with started talking. "Oh, I can buy something for the both you." he offers in hope that he could impress Isshiki. Isshiki smiled at the guy and said "Thank you!" with a smile. The guy smiled and lead the group inside the donut shop.
Isshiki and Irida both picked the most expensive ones. They both looked at each other and thought. "Whoa, this girl is really taking advantage of that guy's wallet."
And that's when it clicked to Irida. This woman is using her to get free stuff from her peers!
Isshiki smiled at Irida. A smile that says "You only got in now? Well you're just a kid..."
Now that she have a solid grasp of Isshiki's personality, Irida isn't scared of her anymore but she isn't about to fight her... Since her Papa is strict with money and allowances, she never got to buy most of the things she want so... She just gonna do what she is doing! She'll get free stuff from these guys too!
"Ah! That's Papa!" Isshiki stood up and ran outside the donut shop. Iroha and her peers followed her.
They ended up in front of a bakery. "Aww... I thought I saw Papa." of course she didn't, she just want to lead them into a bakery and coerce them to buy her a cupcake. Isshiki already caught what Irida is planning and is on board of it!
"I know we are gonna find him! Why don't we eat some cupcakes to lift your spirits?" Iroha offered to Isshiki.
The guys in their group took the bait and started buying cupcakes for them. They picked the most expensive of course. The other women in their group couldn't care less to as long as they can get free stuff too.
They hopped from one shop to another around the mall and Irida is enjoying every moment of it until they finally depleted the wallets of the 3 guys they are with. Seeing that she has no use to the group anymore, Isshiki said "I'll stay here and look for Irida-chan's Papa, you guys can go home now if you want." this isn't a request and the group knew it.
The group disbanded, leaving only Irida and Isshiki.
"My, my, what a bad girl you are, taking advantage of the kindness of those guys..." said Isshiki. Irida looked back at her and said "You are too."
The two just stood there, in front of cafe, eating the brownies the guys brought for them.
Irida's POV:
This woman is kind of comfortable to be with, I can't easily coerce her with words, she can voice, and force her opinions on me, in easier words, I can't manipulate her like Papa, and my siblings... She already treats me like a family.
...
That's it! If she were to become my Mama, she could teach me more of her ways!
3rd Person POV:
Irida suddenly took 2 steps forward. This took Isshiki's attention.
Irida turned back to face Isshiki. "I'm going back to Papa now... Wanna come with me? I'm sure he's gonna give you something if you said I was lost and you found me." Irida offers.
Isshiki finished her brownie and then said. "It depends on what your Papa looks, if he's really good looking I'll definitely coming."
"Aww..." Irida got disheartened. She knew that looks isn't really one of her father's strong points.
"Is his eyes striking and captivating?" asks Isshiki.
"Maybe if I use the right sets of words I can make Papa sound decent at the least!" is what Irida thought.
"My Papa's eyes were like of a dead fish but it gets better once you get use to it!" Irida immediately fails to make his Papa sound good!
"Is his hair slick, or smooth?" Isshiki fires another question.
"His hair is always messy... But it does look good if given the effort!" another miss for Irida!
"Is he tall?" Isshiki asks another question.
"Yes! Papa is tall... If he stops slouching." when it comes to her father, Irida can't seem to lie or manipulate the truth. She loves her Papa just the way he is after all.
"There's no way she would want to meet my Papa now!" that's what Irida thought.
Isshiki asks her last question. "Is his name Hachiman?"
Irida is shocked to hear her Papa's name come out of a stranger's mouth. "How did you know?" she asks.
"Well, I've got a suspicion when you said earlier that your family name was Hikigaya, but I was skeptical since you don't have any traits resembling Senpai so I asked you those question." Isshiki explains.
"Senpai?" asks Irida.
"Oh , Senpai never talks about his favorite kouhai from high school? The one he confessed his love to multiple times?" Isshiki likes to reminisce those days.
"You don't look like the kind of woman Papa likes so it's hard to believe that my Papa confessed to you but anyways, are you gonna come with me and meet him or not?" asks Irida.
"I don't think your Mama would like it if you bring me to your Papa, I might steal him you know?" Isshiki teases.
"Don't worry, I don't have a Mama so steal Papa all you want, steal me and my 6 siblings too along the way." Irida offers.
Isshiki responded Irida's offers. "First of all, it's sad that you don't have a Mama anymore, second is don't mind if I do, and lastly, YOU HAVE 6 SIBLINGS? SENPAI REALLY DOES GO BEYOND SOMETIMES HUH?"
"It seems like you've got the wrong impression, I didn't lost my Mama, there is no Mama to begin with, we are all adopted you know." Irida informs Isshiki.
Isshiki was surprised by this information, but she is even more surprised on how an 8 year old girl is dropping this kinds of information like it was nothing!
Isshiki looked at Irida in amusement. "Wow, you're really something else aren't cha?" she compliments the kid but Irida doesn't need compliments as much as she needs results! "So are you gonna meet my Papa?" she asks.
"Yeah, it's been a long time since I saw Senpai, it wouldn't hurt to catch up." answers Isshiki.
The two started walking with Irida leading the way to the food court where her father is.
"Do you have marriage in mind?" asks Irida while walking.
"Sorry but 7 kids is just too much for me." states Isshiki as she follow Irida.
Irida stopped walking and faced Isshiki, Isshiki to halted and looked at the kid.
"Oh? So you're afraid of mere children?" asks Irida with a smug and provokes Isshiki.
Isshiki Iroha is indeed afraid, not of the children but of the responsibilities they bring. Yes she still likes her Senpai and this time seems to be the right moment to strike now that there are no rivals in sight, but she is afraid that she'll just be deadweight and too dependant. She isn't sure if she could take the responsibility of taking care of 7 children and alleviate some burden off her Senpai's shoulders. But then she remembered that she also didn't knew she could take the mantle of being a student council president and it's responsibilities until her Senpai forced her into it!
Once again, Isshiki Iroha is being forced to take responsibility of something she really didn't need to do, but this time it's her Senpai's daughter.
Isshiki looks at Irida. The kid is still wearing her smug face. A rotten smile and scheming eyes.
"Heh" Isshiki let out a small laugh. "I take back what I said earlier. You do have similar traits with your Papa." she said.
"Thank you for the compliment." replies Irida.
Isshiki then used her hand to gesture Irida to continue to lead the way to her Papa.
"Come on, continue leading the way." Isshiki demanded.
And once again Irida asks. "Do you have marriage in mind now?" and the answer she got is a smile.
Midori's search:
Midori's in a bind!
With a tight grip at her sling bag, she traverses the mall while looking down.
"What have I gotten myself into?" she asked herself.
Unlike her siblings, Midori isn't good with people and doesn't have brimming confidence to just talk or say something unusual to strangers.
She needs a place where she can feel safe! And that place is a bookstore. She already memorized the whole mall that she could go to the bookstore while looking down.
After some time, she finally arrived in front of the bookstore, she finally arrived at her safe haven, or that's what she thought. She finally looked up, and saw a crowd inside the bookstore.
"Right! Today is the local release of "That time I got reincarnated in an alternate world and died there and got reincarnated back to the real world with a lot of powers because god want to make it up to me because he accidentally gave me a shitty life but I pretend to be weak and live a simple life but for some reason, girls who really love me always appear out of no where and the demon king who is my rival followed me in the real world is actually a girl! Vol. 7"
And so, Midori is forced to pick. Will she stay in the crowd or will she stay in the crowd inside a bookstore?
"I'd rather be in a bookstore." she muttered to herself before entering the bookstore.
And so she entered the crowded bookstore, of course the 1st aisle where the popular manga is, is really crowded. With her small structure, Midori easily maneuvered her way between the other customers and got past the crowdy 1st aisle.
Midori walked to the further back aisle. Most people won't even go there because all the books there were the unpopular ones.
Finally! A safe space for Midori! "But how can I find a mother candidate here? It's not like there would be one here!" thought Midori.
"So crowded here today huh?" a feminine voice said.
Shocked by someone's presence, Midori quickly turned to source of the voice.
A woman with a shoulder length green hair. She wears a black framed eye glasses, a checkered brown long skirt, white blouse topped by a brown jacket, a pair of white socks and brown leather shoes. She has a brown sling bag hanging from her right shoulder.
Midori who has weak socialization skills when it comes to stranger adults cannot reply to what the woman said.
"Come on Midori, she's being nice, you've got to respond!" she thought to herself.
She can't respond. She slowly turns her head down again, that is until she saw something in the woman's hand.
"That's "YOUTH is YOU but with a TH, but what's a TH?" that's my father's book!"
Midori immediately pointed at the book in the woman's hand. "Hey, that's "YOU-TH" right? A really good light novel, it has its flaws but it's still good." When it comes to literature, Midori's confidence can rival Kizuna's.
(YOU-TH is the shortened name of Hikigaya's light novel.)
The woman is surprised." Wow, I didn't expect that a grade student would find Mochi-8 sensei's light novel interesting, what made you like it?" Midori suddenly gained the woman's interest. (Mochi-8 is Hikigaya's pen name)
"I really like the casting. Each character has important roles to fill and actually delivers!" Midori happily replies and then asked the woman. "How about you? What did you like about that light novel?"
Seeing the kid's enthusiasm, the woman happily answers. "What I like about it is how the protagonist always have his Monologues at the beginning of each chapter and how these monologues are always related to what's about to happen in that chapter! Then the character's interaction with each other is really good! Almost reminds me of my high school life!"
This information lit a fire in Midori's eyes. "Wow! Your high school life resembles YOU-TH? You've got to tell me!" Midori took a step forward and asks out of curiosity but then immediately takes a step back and bowed her head. "Sorry for suddenly asking personal informations!" she said.
The woman giggles. "You're to polite, but don't sweat it!" said the woman.
Midori is still embarrassed. "Umm, s-sorry again for s-suddenly asking about your p-past, I haven't even introduced myself! I'm M-midori!" and because of embarrassment, Midori failed to fluently introduce herself. "Ahhh... I even forgot to say my family name!"
"And I'm Ebina Hina! But you can just call me Hina-chan!" the woman introduced herself.
Ebina bended her knees to lower herself to the level of Midori's height. "Hey, wanna hear my high school life that resembles YOU-TH?" Ebina offers.
"Yes please!" Midori gladly accepts the woman's offer.
Ebina stood up and then looked up, she started taping her chin with her pointing finger. "Hmm, it was in my 2nd year in high school. I've got this classmate who acts like the protagonist in YOU-TH, he is really negative on things and always alone. The only difference between my classmate and the protagonist of YOU-TH is that the protagonist actually tries to have friends while my classmate is actively pushing anyone away."
"This classmate of yours sounds interesting, what's his name?" asks Midori.
"His name is Hikigaya Hachiman but I call him Hikitani-kun all the time." said Ebina.
After hearing the name of Ebina's classmate, Midori's eyes were widened in shock. "Otou-san? And what a weird nickname for him!" Midori is about to ask about her father but. "It would be rude to interrupt her when she is telling her story." thought Midori.
Ebina continues her story. "Just like in the volume 3 of YOU-TH, my classmate Hikitani-kun is helping a boy confess his feelings to a certain girl."
Midori's eyes sparkled in anticipation. "Otou-san helped someone confess?" she thought.
"But, the girl isn't interested in being in a relationship that time but she also doesn't want to directly reject the boy so she requested Hikitani-kun to help her too."
Midori's interest to Ebina deepens. "Just like what happened in YOU-TH vol. 3!" thought Midori.
Ebina smiled and asked Midori. "Based on the 3rd volume of YOU-TH, what to you think happened next to Hikitani-kun?"
Midori answers. "The protagonist confessed to the girl and got rejected in front of the boy who is about to confess to the girl right? Did that happen to Hikitani-kun too?"
"Right answer! The only difference is that the girl in YOU-TH actually liked the protagonist and confessed her love to the protagonist in the later volume while Hikitani-kun didn't got any confession afterwards." said Ebina.
Midori got slightly disappointed and asked. "So this girl in your high school doesn't really like Hikitani-kun?"
This question got Ebina thinking thoughts that she would never say out loud. "I kinda liked Hikitani-kun that time.."
"No, the girl didn't like Hikitani-kun that time." Ebina lied.
"Mochi-8 sensei has other works too right? Do you like them too?" asks Midori.
"Oh, I liked his collaboration with Momotaro-sensei with the manga Men's Ragnarok." said Ebina as she took out a BL magazine from her brown sling bag. "Look at this artwork!" said Ebina as she eagerly presented a sensual scene in the manga at a kid while wearing a perverted face.
"Right, Otou-san has worked on that too... Wait isn't Hina-chan a perfect candidate to be my Okaa-san?" Thought Midori.
Midori took a step forward. "Mochi-8 sensei is actually my Otou-san! It seems like you really like him, and he needs assistance in life so would you consider marrying my Otou-san?" is what Midori wants to say but cannot say it out loud because of its absurdity. "Eh? Didy you say something Midori-chan?" asks Ebina.
"Come on! Speak up! Don't be shy for Otou-san's sake!" Midori forces herself to speak up.
"Mochi-8 sensei is actually my Otou-san! It seems like, he needs assistants, would you consider?" Out of embarrassment, Midori has butchered her sentence!
Ebina smiled in delight and asked "Eh? Really?" Midori can sense genuine happiness from the older woman that she feels bad to take back what she said. "Y-Yes... My Otou-san, Mochi-8 is hiring an assistant."
"Wow! What I good timing! I just got fired as an assistant 2 days ago!" said the relived Ebina.
"Eh... I was about to ask her to be my Okaa-san but I guess an author assistant is a good start." throught Midori.
"W-Wanna meet Mochi-8 sensei now?" offers Midori.
"Lead the way Midori-chan!" cheerfully said Ebina.
CHAPTER END-