Walking down the busy street, Gurin quickly munched on a large parfait she held in her small hands. She still had on her older sister's hoodie. "I wish I could have seen Kagami mopping the floor with that jerk." She grumbled a bit before taking a large bite.
"But then you would have missed our anime meetup." Kuro gestured with a hand that held a strawberry crepe. "Why would you want to go watch a bunch of old men cook and just sit around while they do it?" He took a bite of his sweet treat. "Sitting around watching anime for a few hours is way better. And way more fun. Plus, mom would never let you watch the anime we watched there. She'd go on about it being too violent and blah blah blah." He rolled his eyes.
"I guess that's true." She huffed quietly. "And Sina has a really pretty house. And she can make my hair smell like flowers with her fancy brush."
"Oh tell me about it." He smiled at the thought of Sina. Who wouldn't honestly. She was perfect. And not into him or anyone else in their friend group. Shaking his head, he sighed and finished his crepe.
"Mom says I need to stop hanging around with you, Kyio and Ichiki you know." She glanced up at him before taking another bite of her parfait. "She says it's not good for my growth or something to hang out with older boys that don't do anything productive."
"Okay, one, ouch." He held up a hand as he walked up to their front door. "Two..." He trailed off and sighed. "I don't know." He pushed the door open. "We're hooome!" He announced while kicking off his shoes.
With Eleanor and Aero still out doing late night shopping, Kagami was helping Aza in the kitchen with making dinner. The two of them were making full portions of the ramen she made earlier in the day. Aza was still in his work clothes while Kagami kept her hair in the braid her father put it in. The bandana he had given her was tied around her left upper arm.
Still a bit nervous around his daughter, the blonde chef slowly breathed in before heavily exhaling as he stirred a pot of broth. "Um, I never said it but um," he glanced down at her. "Uh, thanks, you know." He paused for a moment. "Thanks for getting Grimm's Kitchen back for me."
"It's nothing." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm happy to help with anything you need."
"Yeah but..." He shook his head while exhaling. "You didn't have to but you did. And you risked everything too. I'm very grateful for how well Baren raised you. You're a very good kid."
"Well, you know," Kagami went back to cutting and slicing vegetables. "I don't know. I guess. I know I try really hard. Sometimes I just feel like trying to do good all the time brings trouble. We end up getting in a lot of trouble while trying to help others."
"That's why not everyone does it." He chuckled a little. "It's a hard life, the one you're choosing, but it's a very rewarding one." With a smile, he shook his head. "I could never do the things Huntsmen do. I'm proud of you for choosing this."
Stopping what she was doing, she looked up at him. "Really?" She quietly asked while lowering her shoulders.
Eyeing her, he nodded. "I am. You've exceeded all of my expectations, that's for sure. I can't wait to see how much you'll grow in a few more years." He reached out and patted her back.
Smiling more, she quickly looked away. "Well..." She pushed a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. Trailing her hand down, she moved it under the braid her father put in her hair. "I'm happy I've made you proud. Thanks."
Smiling at her, the chef nodded a few times. "So what else did you do before coming back here?" He asked. "How did you meet your friends anyway?"
"Oh, it's a long story." She laughed a little. "After initiations and our team was formed, we had a bit of a... disagreement. Kris wasn't happy since she was the only one who went to combat school and she wasn't our team leader. So we solved it by eating a lemon. Well I ate a lemon." She laughed a little more before continuing on with how their adventure began.
As Eleanor and Aero returned home from their shopping spree, the large group inside the Monomane household all began to eat dinner. This group included the very strange mailman, Hisato. While Midori and the others all treated his presence normally, Baren most definitely did not. She was utterly lost with every single one of his actions. He was constantly offering to help her do things and wouldn't even let her refuse. Even if she tried, he just blew her off and went on doing whatever with a smile. He was too easy going for her.
She wanted to kill him. But she resisted. Somehow.
Walking towards the living room, Midori eyed her youngest daughter who sat by her sister on the couch. Gesturing with her eyes, she silently told her to leave.
Gurin was resistant at first but eventually gave in and got up. Taking her bowl of ramen, she went to sit by Elise and Cheyenne. The two of them were both happy enough to talk to her while they ate.
Taking a deep breath, the woman held tightly onto her bowl of ramen. Stepping over, she sat down on the couch beside Kagami. "I heard you got something in the mail. Is that it?" She eyed the bracer she wore.
"Um, yeah." The leader of team MACE nodded. Setting her bowl in her lap, she brought her left arm up and grabbed onto the weapon with her right hand. "It's this hybrid of this retractable blade and a ballistic knife. Activating it is a bit weird but luckily there is a safety switch so I don't accidently trigger it. It works with the muscles in your wrist somehow."
"Strange." Her head tilted.
"It is." She agreed. "But I like it. I think it suits me. It will definitely mix with my fighting style better than a bow or a gun, that's for sure."
"Ah, I see. You're hitting that point." Midori let out a quiet laugh before slurping down a few noodles. "I remember when I felt like trading one of my katanas for a rifle. It's exhausting to always use hand to hand. Even more so when your opponent has a firearm."
"Exactly." She chuckled back. "My friends just don't get it. Baren tried to make me learn how to use a gun while in Atlas but uh," She nervously rubbed the back of her head. "It didn't go very well. But it was fine."
"'But it was fine'?" She laughed a little more. "I used to say that all the time about her." She softly smiled. Staring at her daughter, she slowly tilted her head. "You're a lot like how I used to be, you know. If we were the same age, we could have been twins."
Smiling up at her, Kagami glanced away for a moment before looking back at her. "Um, I have a question. About our uh," She pointed towards her eyes. "Our gift."
"Oh?" She lowered her ramen bowl. "What is it?"
"When we were in Mistral, we were in the middle of this really intense fight." She took a deep breath and leaned back. "Bassically, I think I got overwhelmed. I needed to make a choice on who's semblance to copy, but I somehow..." She paused. "Somehow I used two. At the same time."
"Two?" Her eyebrows rose.
"Yeah." She nodded back. "It completely shot my aura and I passed out, but I used two at once."
"Interesting." Midori placed a hand on her chin. "I've never heard of that before. From the stories I've been told, the most skilled of our clans could mimic a semblance without looking into someone's eyes if they could remember what they looked like. But never have I heard it mentioned of mimicking two at once..." She trailed off in thought.
"Wait. What?" Her daughter looked over. "I can copy a semblance WITHOUT looking into someone's eyes?"
Nodding, she glanced at her. "It takes years to master it. You have to spend a long time with the person you want to mimic. Some say you have to have a deep connection with them along with knowing what their eyes look like. Well, it's more than just knowing or being able to recognize their eyes. You have to remember every detail. Every small speck. The differences in their eyes during different emotions. It's hard." She took a deep breath. "I can only do it with a few people." She eyed Aero and Eleanor for a moment.
"Your grandfather's was my favorite to use when I was younger." She continued. "It felt like a part of him was always with me when I did. And it gave me the power and strength of more than twenty men. The Legendary Dragon of Mistral..." She trailed off. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head and looked back at her daughter. "What is your semblance anyway?"
"Oh, um," Kagami quickly sat upright. "I'm not fully sure, but my friends and I call it purity. I uh, well," She rubbed the back of her head. "I can purify certain things. Like mind control, I can remove that from a person. Or if there is something else inside someone that is dark and corrupt, I can remove that from them too. I guess I could maybe cure sick people too by removing the virus inside them?"
"That's interesting." She chuckled a little. "It's definitely unique. Mine is quite boring and simple. I have photographic reflexes. It's always there. I'm always picking up on everyone's movements." She smiled. "Kuro hates it. I can easily beat him in fighting games because of it. I just have to find a video of a professional playing."
"So you do play games then?" She smiled back at her.
Lightly scoffing, the older woman waved her hand at her. "Not in my free time. Only when I need him to do something. He can't resist a bet. Especially if it's in Squash Sisters."
"That's a game?" She tilted her head while raising an eyebrow.
"Yep." She softly shook her head. "He has some really weird ones. I don't really get why but, you know..." She eyed her dark haired son. He was trying to eat his dinner while Kris kept moving closer and closer to him. "His video games and little figures and fancy cards make him happy. And he keeps them neat and organized so who am I to complain. Even if he does spend way too much time goofing off with it all."
Glancing at her brother, she softly smiled. "He seems like a really nice guy." She glared over at her redhead friend before looking back at her mother. "He's into technology, right?"
"Yep." Midori nodded. "He used to talk all about when he was on the streets and he'd see something the people here were building. He loved it and would do all he could to learn about it. I know he thinks about going to school in Atlas, but I don't think he wants to leave this place. It's his home after all. So he just tinkers in his room in his free time."
Thinking to herself, she nodded a little. "Maybe he'll be able to find something to do around here then. This place is full of so many... this place is just so much different than I remember. It went from rice farms and hand built homes to skyscrapers and neon lights. It's almost like a different world."
"It has changed a lot, hasn't it?" She tilted her head while staring out the front window. "I came here for a peaceful life of farming. Now I'm running a restaurant in the busiest part of a huge city. I guess you never really know what fate has planned for you until it happens."
As a silence fell between them, Kagami brought her ramen close to herself once again. She went to eat a few noodles only to stop and blink a few times. Biting her lip, she leaned forward and placed the bowl down on the coffee table. "I'll be right back." She mumbled as she got up.
Furrowing her brow, her mother watched closely. Part of her worried she said something wrong and she was relieved when she saw her daughter return. "What did you get?" She asked.
"I um, kept this the whole time." Moving back around to sit on the couch, she took a deep breath and held out her book of poems.
Staring for a moment, Midori eventually smiled and set her bowl down on the coffee table as well. "You actually kept that old thing?" She reached out to carefully take the book. "I just wanted you to have something from me personally when I had you leave. Not just our family heirlooms."
"Yeah, well..." She nervously reached up to rub the back of her head. With a small smile, she closed her eyes and awkwardly chuckled. "Baren found it hard to get me to open up and talk to her about my feelings a lot. So she had me start writing in it. I've been doing it for a long time now."
Smiling more, the former Huntress eyed the book. The piece of fabric that was used as a bookmark was a little over three fourths of the way through the pages. "May I?" She asked while glancing over. Seeing her daughter nod, she nodded back. Sliding her finger between the pages. She carefully opened it up to the last page that was written on. The date was from team MACE and Baren's first night in Vytal.
In the distance there is home
A place that I hardly know
It changed in the blink of an eye
With endless buildings built so high
And lights that shine like the night sky
The forgotten lands
And forgotten hands
That calmed my soul
And made me whole
Now felt distant
Gone in an instant
Lost in the world that is new
Leaving me wondering about you
This night feels longer
The sounds roar louder
It's all so frustrating
As I lay here waiting
Waiting for the sun to rise
Thinking of how I'm going to say hi