Eisuke placed a hand on Keisuke's forehead but Keisuke just shook the concern away.
"Enough already with worrying about me, Ace! I'm feeling fine!" he snapped before Keisuke set aside the cup he was drinking on a nearby table.
Eisuke immediately pouted at him as he kept jumping on the couch next to him. "But Oniichan! You've been feeling unwell earlier... and you DID go missing for a while! How could I not be worried about you?"
"What did you mean by that... Ace?"
The two boys turned around to see their mother walking up towards them and sat next to Keisuke. "What did you mean that your brother went missing today—"
"Mum! It's nothing to worry abou—" exclaimed Keisuke before Eisuke quickly cut him off.
"—it's not nothing! It was like Big Bro had been spirited away suddenly! I've been going around the streets looking for you but you're nowhere in sight! And you don't even remember anything about what happened to you either afterwards—"
"Really?" their mother exclaimed before Mitsuko started to inspect Keisuke's body all over. "Are you sure that you didn't get hurt, Kei?"
Keisuke tried to give his mother a convincing smile as he tried not to wince when his mother placed a slight pressure on his arm and he felt a slight pain from it, which was strange... since he didn't remember hurting himself over there. Instead, he tried to change the topic of their conversation...
"Anyway, mum—" Keisuke turned towards his mother. "—Are you feeling better now? You seemed a bit restless these past few weeks—"
Mitsuko pulled on her oldest twin before placing a soft kiss on Keisuke's forehead.
"I'll be fine, my dear..."
.
"But you know, Niichan... those two oldies that we met earlier were kinda weird..."
Keisuke slapped Eisuke on the side as he made a face at his younger twin.
"Don't call them old! Kurama-san and Azuma-san had been treating us nicely earlier!" scolded Keisuke as he turned to tell their mother how Neon had offered a ride home when he suddenly felt sick. Eisuke made a face at his brother.
"While I agree that Kurama-san was a nice lady, I can't handle that Azuma guy! I dunno why but that old guy seemed like he had something against me. That guy kept nitpicking on everything I did—"
"It must be your imagination!" exclaimed Keisuke in amusement. "We just met them today after all! Why would Azuma-san pick on you for no reason?"
Eisuke shrugged. "I dunno? Because I am a fox?"
.
Somewhere elsewhere, a certain buffalo rider let out an unexpected sneeze...
xxx
The former Geats supporter jumped up from his seat once Kyuun was done telling him about the things that had happened earlier...
"What—you've found Ace?" exclaimed Ziin as Kyuun hastily grabbed the other's arm to prevent the other from storming off to locate the Inugami residence.
"Don't be too hasty, Ziin," said Kyuun quickly. "The current DesiGra is still ongoing after all, what's the point of you going after Ukiyo Ace's new incarnation now?"
Ziin roughly pulled his arm away from Kyuun's grasp. "I'm preparing for the next season. Haven't you heard of the rumours of what Suel was planning in the next few future shows? Suel had planned to prepare for an even worse game setting to cater to some of the niche audience—" He frowned.
"We needed Ace's strength to fight against Suel. Ace had almost succeded in defeating Suel last time so we might win against them this time!" Ziin pursed his lips. "After all, Suel had already turned the other Tsumuri into a 'Goddess' to power up the whole show now, so they can no longer pull that same dirty trick to kill Ace again this time!"
"But those kids are still young! You can't seriously disturb the peace of that family now—!"
Ziin turned to face Kyuun again before taking something out of his pocket. He flashed the small object towards Kyuun. It was a very old golden coin. It was the same old coin that used to belong to a certain Desaity from an ancient time...
"Ace would've disagreed. If Ace was to find out that Suel's DesiGra was still ongoing, he would've wanted to stop it in any way possible!" He gritted his teeth. "I know that Ace wouldn't sit still doing nothing if he knew that Suel was up to no good again. He would want me to help him restore his past memories of his past lives!"
Ziin turned around to leave before he was stopped again by yet another person. Black and white skirt twirled idly as Zinn glanced up to see Tsumuri standing in front of him.
"Please calm down, Zinn-sama! I implore you to rethink this carefully..."
xxx
The door creaked loudly as the two occupants still sleeping inside the room remained undisturbed.
Mitsuko cautiously opened the door to her sons' bedroom before walking in to sit beside the bed where both of her sons were currently lying asleep together. She smiled weakly as she eyed her youngest clinging to his twin almost possessively. She picked up a blanket that had been kicked aside to cover her sleeping sons properly.
She sighed towards her oldest twin as Mitsuko placed a hand to caress Keisuke's cheek.
To think that she could one day be given a second chance to become this child's mother, who could've predicted that? For the past fifteen years, Mitsume had finally been able to have a taste of happiness that was robbed from her for two millennia... by being able to act as a mother for these two boys.
Just when she thought that this happiness of hers could last for a long time...
She had sensed it for a while... the revival of the Desire Grand Prix into this world. Even when she no longer wields the powers of Creation—or at least loses the ability to use the powers freely—she couldn't help but be overcome with worry. Because she couldn't be too sure if parts of her powers still flowed inside her two twin children. If Ace and Keiwa still inherited the powers of Creation from her, no doubt Suel would try to take her children away from her again. If that should happen, with her powers gone... how could she protect her children from Suel? She didn't want her children to be hurt by the DGP ever again.
Mitsume ran her fingers over Keiwa's hair...
When Ace had mentioned that his brother had been spirited away, she couldn't help being alarmed. What if Suel had noticed Keiwa's presence? And if Keiwa's existence was noticed... how long would it take for 'them' to find Ace as well?
How could she protect her children now...?
.
"Mum?"
Keisuke sat up from the bed sleepily as he turned his glance towards his mother. "Did you still have trouble falling asleep?" he asked as Mitsuko shook her head slowly.
Seeing his mother still looking so sad, Keisuke wanted to scoot over to comfort his mother—but then he found that he couldn't do that as Ace was still gripping his waist like a vice. Immediately amused at the antics of her children, Mitsuko climbed over the bed to cradle her eldest against her chest. And eventually, the family of three drifted back into restless sleep.