Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the twenty-sixth chapter of this story!

Just like with the previous one I owe sincere thanks to both my partner and NobodyInParticular123456 for doing awesome work with beta-reading this!
This chapter is much better thanks to you guys~!

But, without further ado...
Please enjoy and review!

The ceiling light in the Ekoda local convenience store flickered every so often, as if trying to rush the customer standing underneath it to finally make up their mind and move on. Kaito reached to rub his eyes, trying to alleviate the burning sensation in them. He was on his way home from the Blue Parrot when the sight of the store's welcoming neon reminded him of the lonely, half-emptied mayo bottle inside of his fridge. Despite the late hour, he decided that it would be cruel to not provide it with some company at last. Preferably some more substantial company at that.

As he made his way towards the dairy section, he couldn't help but notice a wide variety of instant ramens. While it obviously wasn't the most healthy option, it was quick and easy to prepare, and his stomach annoyingly reminded him that all he had during the day was a small bento at school. Besides, he figured that eating something like that wasn't that bad afterall, conveniently trying to ignore the nagging memory of just how many emptied cups of this stuff were stashed in a trash bag inside the KID room.

So maybe he was just a tad too busy to properly care for what he ate. Well, it's not like he could start changing it today. He had stayed at the Blue Parrot for a bit too long into the evening, as he didn't want to leave Jii in a sour mood, but now he was far too tired to trust himself with a kitchen knife.

Finally coming to a decision, he put away the cup with Hot Chicken flavored ramen and took Crab flavored instead. This counted as seafood, right? Well… close enough~ So that does it for his new and annoying diet. Happy with his decision, he took the cup without even glancing at the ingredients list and went on his merry way to add some eggs and yogurt to his cart before checking out and finally going home.

Since his place was barely a block away, it took him literally no time at all to finally reach it. For once, he didn't bother with the lockpicks and opened the door with a key (it's not a crime if you pick the lock in your own house, now is it?), like a normal person would. He slipped out of his shoes in the gekkan 1) but didn't bother arranging them neatly. It's not like anyone would notice anyway.

"Tadaima… 2)" he muttered out of a useless reflex, without expecting any reply, and made his way towards the kitchen.

Kaito dropped his schoolbag by the kitchen entrance and just moved to unload the groceries. When he opened the refrigerator and his eyes landed on the half-emptied mayo bottle, he instantly beamed at it.

"Hi there, Mayo-chan~! I got you some new friends, so play nice, ok~?" he chirped at it like a lunatic that he was acting as right now.

He chuckled to himself, wondering whether or not he should give this mayo a proper name, while he moved the bottle containing it to make room for the newly acquired package of chicken meat (yes, technically he knew that he should have picked some seafood, but this was on sale, ok? And chicken was less hassle to prepare anyway). He could also stick googly eyes onto the mayo bottle, so that it could look back at him. That was only proper given how much time it had spent inside of Kaito's fridge, right?

Or should he just go to bed before he actually acted on a way stupider idea… It really did sound tempting to just fling himself to bed and be done with the day. But he still had to call his mother, despite how much he didn't want to. He knew that if he allowed himself to push the call to the next day, he would most likely end up postponing it indefinitely. Which meant that he had to keep it together and couldn't allow himself to fall apart just yet. But it sure wasn't easy with all those thoughts plaguing his mind…

His eyes drifted to his school bag lying where had flung it - abandoned on the floor. It reminded him of the feeble promise he made on a whim to Yuzuki at the parlor. Another promise that he never meant to keep. And it wasn't even like he didn't care at all for learning. He simply had too many things that were of higher priority to him. Right now, he didn't even know if he would be able to continue safely attending school at all...

He sighed deeply to chase away those thoughts and closed the fridge, moving on to fill the electric kettle with water and turning it on. The appliance started slowly warming the liquid inside while Kaito just stood there, seemingly aimlessly staring at it. His mind was haunted by the look Aoko gave him at school after he had finished messing with their teacher. It reminded him of how her face looked on Friday, after he had succumbed to the panic. All bloodied, with her head inertly hanging over his white-scaled shoulder. It was sort of ironic that he had hurt her like that right after she had told him that he wasn't a monster.

The water came to a boil, so he numbly grabbed the kettle and poured it into the ramen cup. He couldn't help but continue wondering whether Aoko would ever trust him, even if he had managed to get a hold of his transformations.

Should she? Being around him could pose other dangers that he wasn't even aware of yet…

He set the kettle back on its stand and grabbed the cup and a spoon to carry it to his room. Once there, he set the poor excuse of a meal on his desk to cool down, and he turned to face his father's portrait. He walked over and traced his fingers over the frame, not for the first time, wishing that he could speak with his dad and ask him for advice. Right now, he felt more lost than ever, and it felt like everything around him was falling apart. How should he handle all of it? He should probably start by getting a handle on his transformations, but it wasn't something he could figure out alone.

Kaito sighed heavily, mentally preparing himself for the conversation, and walked over to sit on a chair beside his desk. With little hope, he turned the computer on and realized that he really didn't have to tell his mother much. It's not like it would be safe to disclose many details through the internet, so all he had to do was to get her to return home, giving him plenty of time to prepare for anything she might want to throw at him.

Feeling somewhat reassured, it was easier for him to put on a pleasant smile at the camera as he pressed the call button on the application he always used to communicate with her. It didn't take long for the call to go through and Chikage's face to show up on the screen.

"Kaito~! What a pleasant surprise to have you call!" she spoke with a bright smile, the unasked question hanging in there between her words.

"Hi mom~ It's nice to see you too. How's your trip going?" he asked with a casual smile, as if he was really interested in that.

"Oh, it's just wonderful. I'm actually on my way to a magic show. I got an invitation a few days ago after bumping into one of your dad's old friends~! What are the odds, right?"

Kaito mirrored her bright smile, knowing with near certainty that it was no coincidence and wondering briefly what she was plotting but decided to set it aside for now. "Wow, that's great, I hope you'll have fun! So, I'm guessing that you're not coming home anytime soon?" he asked with a curious tilt to his head.

She hummed for a moment, as if she was considering it before answering slowly, "I could arrange that, if you need me. Did something happen?"

"Nothing much, don't worry about it. I just, kind of, found out about my… legacy, and wanted to talk about it with you in person," he purposefully hung his voice as he spoke, hoping that she would somehow understand the hidden meaning behind his words.

It took her longer to reply than he had ever seen from her, but finally, after the agonizing moments that felt like a small eternity, she whispered softly. "How did you..? No, sorry…" She huffed, regaining her composure, features easing into a small smile before she continued. "I didn't really think that you would find out about it. I should have known my genius son better, no?" She laughed cheerfully, and then for a rare moment her small smile seemed actually genuine. "I'm really sorry for never telling you myself."

Struggling to keep his casual act, Kaito shrugged and smiled back at her. "It's ok Mom, I guess that it's not something easy to talk about."

She huffed a bitter laugh. "No, it's not. But even so, you really deserved to be told. You're being a real sweetheart right now, you know? Even if I don't deserve it…" She looked up at him with the softest expression he'd seen her make in years. As if it was real. "Thank you for still calling me your 'mom' despite it."

Kaito did his best to keep up his poker face, despite feeling how it strained his expression, as he doubled down in confusion and chuckled to try and cover it up. "What are you talking about? You'll always be my mom~" Why would he not want to call her his..? His eyes widened a little as the realization hit him.

He could barely breathe. This couldn't be real.

There was no way that she didn't notice his realization, but despite that, or maybe actually because of it, she kept her expression soft as she continued talking with a gentle tone. "Really, it was such a shock for me when your father returned after one of his late night shows with you in his arms and only said that you were his son. I had no idea what to think of it, or how to react. But you were so tiny and so sweet that I couldn't help but to eventually fall in love with you as well."

Kaito stared blankly into the camera, unable to keep anything he would be willing to call a poker face. The small smile stretching his lips felt more fake than ever. "Did you ever— I mean…" his voice was hoarse and tone flat but he couldn't really care about it right now, more preoccupied with what he actually wanted to ask her and how. There were just so many questions he had, and for most, he didn't want to know the answers. "Was he my real..?"

Chikage on her part waited patiently for him to finally come up with what he wanted to ask, and he saw a flicker of pain in her eyes before she replied. "I'm sorry Kaito, but I don't really know…"

"You never asked him?" he demanded, his tone coming out harsher than expected, but he didn't care right now. He just wanted some real answers for once in his life.

Her lips twitched into what felt like a mocking smile. "You need to understand Kaito, I always had a few things that I didn't want to talk about. How could I not respect his secret in return? All he told me when I asked him is that he had once promised me that I would be the only gem in his jewelry box and that it had not changed. I can't say that I didn't doubt his words for a while, but…" she huffed and smiled with nostalgia. "You might call me naive, but eventually I did believe him. I can't imagine that he ever betrayed my trust."

Kaito swallowed thickly, taking in what the woman he had thought of as his mother had said. What her words meant. His fists had clenched unconsciously under the desk, the nails digging into his flesh. What was he supposed to think now? How should he react? What should he do?

"But Kaito?" Ripped out of the spiral of his thoughts, he focused his gaze back at the screen, from which she smiled at him. "For what it's worth, you were his son. For him at least. About that I have no doubt. You were his whole world, Kaito. So much so that I could have been jealous~" she chuckled softly. "It was really so cute. He would always make sure you were near him and if he lost sight of you, he would just start calling you and searching, only calming down once you were in his arms again~ He would even go so far as to sleep with you in his arms for the first few months until I managed to talk him out of it. Eventually you started crawling after him everywhere like a cute little duckling. It was so precious!"

Out of pure instinct he smiled back at her and nodded along as she spoke, without actually being able to process the words. It's not like he cared to fool her. She most likely already saw how shocked he was anyway. But he didn't care. Couldn't. His mind was a complete mess. Nothing in the world made sense anymore. Some genius he was that he didn't apparently know anything about himself…

As the silence stretched and it didn't look like Kaito was going to say anything, Chikage finally cleared her throat and asked carefully. "Kaito? Do you still want me to come?"

The smile on his lips stretched a little. "No. Thanks. You told me all I need to know, I think. I'll need to…" he spoke with a numb tone, as he desperately tried to keep himself from breaking down, but found that he didn't know what to tell her.

Thankfully, somehow that was apparently enough as she smiled again at him softly and nodded. "It's alright Kaito, I understand. Call me if you change your mind, or want to speak some more, ok?"

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks."

"I love you… son?"

He felt like screaming. Such a big fat lie. But that was how his life had apparently always been, wasn't it? Nothing was ever real.

"Love you too, Mom. Bye," the lie that slipped so easily from his tongue never felt as bitter and he ended the call.

After the app had closed, Kaito let out a slow breath. Never in his life had he felt this overwhelmed, confused, angry, and desperate. But at the same time, he was just too exhausted to even try and do anything about it. It felt like all he could do now was just sit and stare with hollow eyes at the void of his mind.

He lost his appetite as well, he realized when he finally noticed the now lukewarm cup of instant ramen standing right before him, beside the keyboard.

His hand twitched to reach for the cup, but he shook his head, aborting the motion. He doubted that he could hold down anything anyway. Instead, he closed his eyes and rubbed his face, taking another deep breath to help himself focus a little. Kind of failing at that, he turned around in his chair, simply intending to go to bed, but then froze. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed the huge portrait. Looking down on him, haunting him all the same as back then when he was a small, lonely, and confused child. When he first had to face living without a father and with an absent mother.

Turns out he had never stopped being that tiny child. He was just a fool for not knowing it.

The realization made him feel sick, so he let out a shaky breath in an attempt to calm himself down. Hastily, he got up from his seat, nearly falling over as his legs felt too numb to hold him upright. On top of that, he could barely see through the fog that covered his gaze, but he still forced himself to to start walking and leave the room. No matter how wobbly his legs felt.

He let out a painful grunt as he bumped into the doorframe on his way out. He leaned over the frame and pressed his face into it, hoping to ward off the dizziness. The pain allowed him to sober up a little and realize that he should just lie down.

But he didn't want to stay in his room. Not tonight. His mothe... Chikage's room wasn't an option either, and he doubted that he would manage to walk down the stairs to the couch in the living room without breaking his neck.

He didn't want to be alone either... Which left him with only one option. Bracing himself to avoid bumping into anything else, he made his way to the aviary. The air inside was heavy with dust and bird scent. Despite his efforts, it wasn't the cleanest of spaces, with fresh bird waste and scattered bits of feed always present on all surfaces, but at this point he didn't really care about that.

The only thing that he cared about and what brought him comfort were the tiny sounds filling the space. The quiet rustle of feathers rubbing against each other as the birds moved, the sweet whiz of their tiny breaths, and the occasional coos.

With a relieved sigh, Kaito leaned to the ground, quietly lying down on the floor, curled up in a fetal position. It was too bad that he didn't even have a blanket for comfort, but honestly, he'd slept in worse places... Slowly, he closed his eyes, desperately trying to clear his mind of anything and everything and focusing only on the peaceful atmosphere, hoping that it would lull him to sleep.

1) Gekkan - a small space right after the entrance. It is usually a little lower than the main part of the house. It is the only place in the house where you can wear your shoes and where you leave them.

2) Tadaima - roughly translates to "I'm home" and is a typical greeting when you return home, it should be responded with "Okaeri" (welcome back).

Well, suffice to say that Kaito is not a happy camper at the moment. And unfortunatelly I will leave you guys on this note for a little bit longer this time around.
As a few of you might know - I'm going to have surgery next week and until I recover enough to be able to get to my computer, I won't be able to post another chapter (I will try to write at least a rough sketch of it on my phone to not keep you guys waiting for too long!). I'm pretty sure that I should be able to come back to you guys at the end of the month but I can't make any promises.

So yeah, I'm truly sorry and hope that you won't hold it against me!

Anyway, as alwyas, if you liked the chapter or have anything to say about it please do consider leaving a comment - reading them makes my day, so I would greatly appreciate it! :D

Hope to see you next chapter *bows*