Notes:
I hope you like this new fic, forgive the mistakes, English is not my original language.
02. 🌱Stems🌱
🌻Spring🌻
"The Stems engender and sustain the fruits of the following generations."
"I'm pregnant."
The man sitting in front of Maki, spat out almost all the coffee he drank at that moment of revelation.
Instead, Maki smiled slightly as her face was leaning against her hand with her elbow on the table.
Those gestures added a touch of grace to the situation, Maki did not expect that all that revelation would cause such a reaction in her guest.
"You must be kidding!" Megumi said as he cleaned the caffeine mess on the tablecloth and on his clothes with a cloth napkin "Tell me you're kidding Maki san!" he asked, recovering his breath and dignity as he sipped his glass of water.
Maki sighed as she crossed her legs under the table and leaned back in the chair.
"It's no joke Megumi, yesterday I took a pregnancy test and it came out positive and before I got here I took a blood test" she took a page from her bag "I asked Shoko by message to interpret the results for me, obviously lying that they were from a friend and they also came out positive...so it's no joke"
She gave those results to her relative "I'M PREGNANT!"a big smile appeared on her lips.
Megumi was surprised as she reviewed the results. "This is quite a surprise coming from you..."
"Don't even tell me, I haven't finished assimilating it yet... it's been two days full of uncertainty" Maki said sighing and playing lightly with the straw of her glass.
"And how much gestation are you supposed to have?" Megumi questioned, still surprised.
"I calculate that hmm" Maki pouted before drinking her soda — "I estimate that I must be about six weeks or maybe I'm almost two months or a little more... I really don't know"
"Do you calculate?" Megumi raised an eyebrow. Those words of hers made him suspect that something was not right.
"Ugh!" Maki made a small noise of annoyance "I confess, I haven't gone to have an ultrasound yet, or rather, I haven't dared to do it yet and see the being that germinates inside of me" Maki commented, crossing her arms.
Megumi analyzed him senpai's words as well as her gestures.
At that moment, a waiter arrived with their respective orders.
Maki ordered a big burger with everything and French fries and before the waiter left, she ordered one more burger, instead Megumi just ordered something simpler like a baguette.
Maki couldn't take it anymore and started eating that hamburger as if there was no tomorrow.
"This is delicious... lately my appetite was the most acute and now I understand why..." Maki commented almost with her mouth full.
"And does Okktosu senpai already know?" Megumi asked directly, since he felt that Maki was acting 'strange', as if something was bothering her.
The Megumi's instinct did not fail him at all.
She sighed at such a question and wiped her lips with a napkin "Actually, you're the first to know..." she tilted her head slightly back in annoyance as she left her half-eaten hamburger.
She lightly rubbed the bridge of her nose with she eyes closed as continued speaking "Yuta still doesn't know, let alone how to tell him when he returns... because I really still don't know what I'm going to do with..." She put a hand on her belly "This!" Maki stare at Megumi.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Megumi keeping his firm posture. "There must be one more reason why I am the first person to whom you give this news first and not your husband or the others…"
"I mean, this has to do with our bloody… our clan... Megumi!" —Maki put her elbows on the table and again, her chin went into the middle of her hands as she spoke with a bit of anger. — "I" —she blurted out a slight grunt — "Agh! I thought that our damn bloodline would end with you and me... I came to think that neither of us would reproduce"—
"And what does that have to do with me?" Megumi asked, raising an eyebrow again at that statement.
"Because you don't look like you're a very social person, Megumi!" She cross her arms over her chest "You don't look like a person who has a very active sex life either! You know? You always gave me the impression that you are a person who would prefer to die without leaving any descendants" said Maki with a slight smile.
Megumi rolled him eyes at such a statement to which he did not intend to respond, so he just drank from him glass of water while continuing to listen.
"And on the other hand, I don't know..." Maki's voice began to have hints of sadness as it faded slightly.
The green-haired girl lightly bit her lower lip and after a minute of silence, she continued talking about everything she felt.
"And the truth is, I came to believe at some point in my life that the best thing I could do was never have children or that perhaps it was possible that I was sterile because of all the blows I received inside that infernal residence. ... or that I would never have a baby due to some question of fate and" She paused and swallowed saliva "and now it happened... in the way I least expected but with the person I love the most..."She rubbed her belly a moment, thinking about that baby she was expecting and about Yuta.
Maki continued to look seriously at Megumi, while her voice cracked and she began to unburden herself of everything that had been afflicting her. —"But right now I feel like a traitor to both my ideals and Mai, for whom I could never create a safe space within this detestable family where she could feel protected and accepted, besides I had sworn from the bottom of my heart to destroy all that damned clan from the inside... I thought that the Zenin clan would never be reborn but now..."
She swallowed saliva to get rid of the lump in her throat, while her hands held the cloth napkin tightly " But now see me here... pregnant... carrying a seed that will also be part of the damn Zenin clan in one way or another..." Her eyes watered, letting several tears fall.
Silence was present between those two.
Megumi listened attentively and in silence to everything Maki said and by the way, he let her cry a little.
It was not the first time that Megumi had seen Maki cry, and even less for something related to the Zenin family, he knew that she was a girl who always appeared to be strong, but that from time to time she needed to be listened to and that was the best he could do. do at that time.
Megumi just extended another of the cloth napkins they had on hand and Maki just took it to wipe her tears...
After a few minutes of letting Maki channel all that feeling, letting her cry all she needed and letting her eat all she wanted, Megumi sighed and drank some water to clear his throat.
It was his moment to speak. —"You're right Maki... you alone exterminated all the members of that great family, it's also true that you couldn't protect Mai as you would have wanted, as well as all the events of a few years ago, did that the Zenin clan was expelled from the status of the three great families...and there is no turning back from that, just as there is no turning back from all the crimes committed by them...all those things are irreversible."
Maki rolled her eyes at those words and commented angrily "I know, you don't have to remind me!...Don't make the pregnant woman angry, Megumi!" comment she is taking a bite of her third burger.
But Megumi continued speaking. "However... you don't need to believe that you're still part of that clan if that's the main problem that doesn't let you decide about your motherhood"
Those words surprised Maki, who stopped eating. "What do you mean?" she ask.
Megumi rubbed him temples when he saw the confusion on him familiar's face. "What I'm trying to say is that it's not mandatory that you still feel part of the Zenin clan to make the decision to be a mother or not"
"But you, like me, are supposed to carry the same blood! We will never stop being Zenin's!" Maki answered, raising her voice slightly.
"I know and I know that this will remain in the records of the history of sorcery, but I really never considered myself a Zenin... I still consider myself a Fushiguro." Megumi said, keeping him serious position.
Maki opened her mouth slightly but the words did not come out.
Megumi kept talking "What I'm trying to say, Maki san, is that you can now choose how to live your life without depending on the Zenin clan... or its stupid rules or traditions"— he put him right hand on him chest — "Yes, through my veins Zenin blood runs but I never considered myself one of them because I have chosen which path to follow and the same goes for you."
Maki swallowed as Megumi continued speaking.
"You fulfilled Mai's will and by the way, you fulfilled your own objective... in theory both are now 'free'" Megumi kept looking at Maki while she had her hands on her belly.
"Now, the two of us are the only remaining stems of that stupid family tree that survived the cruel Winter" Megumi's voice was serious and solemn
"You already took care of eliminating all the remaining rotten stems and fruits and now only us two of decided whether to continue bearing fruit or let the clan really die…" Megumi looked towards one of the trees that were outside the place where they were eating.
"Maybe you couldn't give Mai the place she deserved within the clan... but maybe you can give it to that child you carry inside your womb, because there's no one else to stop your or deny your it ... You have a free way, if you decide to have that baby, so perhaps you could start building this 'new clan' from scratch and with your own ideals if you wish..." Megumi commented, sipping him drink.
Maki made a face. All those words seemed to make sense. "Tsk! Sometimes I hate that you're right..."
"Rather, what you should ask yourself is whether or not you really want to be a mother... if you're really ready for that" — He look at her seriously — "both I and Okkotsu senpai, we wouldn't mess with your decision because at the end of it all, it will be yours, not ours... only you decide if you bear fruit or let the stem wither as autumn approaches or let it die with Winter" Megumi commented before taking the last bite of him baguette.
Maki breathed loudly as her hand went back down to her belly, which she caressed slowly, she had a thousand conflicting emotions, but after hearing all that, she felt that she already knew what to do.
After a few minutes of silence, Maki finally spoke once she finished her third hamburger. "Thanks Megumi... I think it was a good idea to talk to you... now I know what I should really think about"
Maki's conscience was partly clearer thanks to Megumi's words.
But now she had to concentrate on another dilemma...
🌸To be continue...
Notes:
Lately I've been somewhat inspired by this story and maybe I'll fast forward it
What do you think of this story?
As a note, when Megumi says about "Who survived the cruel winter" and "you let the stem wither as autumn approaches or let it die with the winter" I am referring to the game of death, which is interestingly taking place during the autumn months (in the manga they go in the month of November) and perhaps the strongest events for said arc in the manga come in the winter between December to March (according to the three months that Tengen mentions).
Also to comment that I will continue to use terms such as "seed" "germinate" "flower" "wither" throughout this work.
Anyway, maybe in the next chapter more characters will appear.
We keep reading.