"Markus, why are we spending time with you and away from mama?" Ruby asked as she and Aqua followed Markus as they headed for the bus station.
"Because your mom is busy, and so are your usual caretakers, and your mother can only trust me to watch after you, since everyone else is not in the know and would bring up many questions." Markus said casually as he paid for the bus fare for not just him, but also Aqua and Ruby as well. "Besides, your mother has confidence in my ability to keep you safe." He added in as Ruby pouted at being away from Ai.
It's been almost two weeks since the people that tried to attack Ai happened, and during that time, Markus, Ai, Ruby, and Aqua have been bonding and just been enjoying the freedom of living at Markus's place. But sadly, reality had to come and Ichigo can no longer afford to delay Ai's return to the stage, and had to have her come to Ichigo Studios to practice and train with the Idols. However, there was an issue that currently plagued Ichigo Productions and that was the fact that neither Ichigo or Miyako could afford to watch over Aqua and Ruby as they normally do.
And the reason for that was that Miyako was handling marketing and finances that became important, the closer and closer that B-Komachi were making their way to the Tokyo Dome. As for Ichigo, he was trying to work out complaints from several sponsors due to the lack of knowledge on B-Komachi after Ai had to go into hiding for a bit. Normally this would have been an issue for Ai, had Markus not been there.
Markus had already been planning to go out, and when Ai made her request of him, he agreed to do so, since he was already heading for somewhere that would have been safe for the kids. Leading the current situation right now. "So where are we heading Markus?" Aqua asked curiously as he wondered where Markus intended to take them.
"We're heading for a school, got some acquittances there that I made friendly with, and there's also a student there with a younger sibling that requested my aid to watch over." Markus said to Aqua. "Figured a school would be the safest place for you two to be, as well as a new location for you to enjoy." He added in.
Aqua made a face at that, while Ruby looked confused at the idea of going to a school. "So, you're bringing us to the school to not only watch over us better and keeping us safe, in addition to watching over this third kid as well?" Aqua asked for clarification.
"Yep, and it will be easy for me to keep an eye on all of you." Markus said as Aqua went quiet at that and they took the bus and rode on it in silence, with both Aqua and Ruby holding onto Markus's hands. Naturally with Markus having similar hair color as the two of them, and both of them holding his hands. Many bus passengers were under the assumption that Ruby and Aqua were his kids.
It was an assumption that Markus, Aqua, and Ruby didn't bother to clarify for a variety of reasons. And as Markus noted the stop that was close to where they needed to go, they got off the bus and continued their way on foot. Though as Markus, Ruby, and Aqua walked along a certain way, Aqua had a strange feeling as he thought something about the place did not strike him as the conventional route for any public school that he knew about.
And then his eyes bulged in shock as he saw the school that Markus was heading to of all places.
Shuchi'in Academy.
Aqua was quickly trying to figure out why was Markus heading to Shuchi'in Academy, of all places, he didn't remember Markus mentioning this place or having some kind of connection here. As Aqua was panicking internally a bit, trying to figure things out, Markus stopped just before they could get close to the entrance and turned to Ruby and Aqua, forcing Aqua out of his thoughts.
"Oh yeah, by the way, just to let you kids know, this is kind of an exclusive and super expensive private school of some kind, so let's try not to make too much attention, so don't try to stare at everything okay?" Markus requested as both Ruby and Aqua nodded. "Excellent." He said as they continued on and by the entrance was a blonde student waiting for them. "Hey there Shirogane, how are you?" He asked.
"Not bad, thank you Markus." Shirogane nodded as he noticed Aqua and Ruby. "More kids for you to take care of at someone's request?" He asked.
"Yeah, you know how it is, prove yourself capable of handling one kid, and suddenly more come out to ask you for a favor, speaking of which, is Frill here already?" Markus asked as Shirogane nodded at that.
"Indeed, her sister dropped her off in the student council room already, she's having some fun interacting with Kaguya…or at least the closes approximation to interacting with Kaguya I think." Shirogane said as he rubbed his head sheepishly as Markus raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he meant by that.
"I'm going to assume that Frill was acting all quiet and stoic until she got into some weird staring contest with Kaguya?" Markus said jokingly, only for his face to fell flat as Shirogane turned his head aside. "Oh, you got to be kidding me." He muttered. "How hard is it to interact with a kid?" He questioned.
"It's not what you think, it's just Frill is a bit different from what we're used to is all." Shirogane said to him.
"She didn't strike me as being that hard to interact with, just a bit stoic is all." Markus said in response.
"That's because she instantly imprinted on you." Shirogane retorted. "Well anyways, follow me. I will take you to the room, also have to send a notice on more people joining us." Shirogane muttered to the side. Markus nodded as he and the kids followed after Shirogane as several students that were coming out of school noticed them a bit before continuing their way for wherever that they need to go to.
And yet despite how fancy the school looked, Aqua couldn't help but give Markus his attention as he wondered exactly just what kind of connections did Markus have. Especially since he seems to be first name term with some of them. A question that would not be answered until they entered the Student Council Room.
"Hi everyone, I'm back!" Ai said cheerfully as she entered the changing room where the Idols of B-Komachi were gathering. And to her own quiet surprise and joy, all of the girls cheered at the sight of her and rushed up to hug her or talk to her, while many of them were saying many things. All of which warmed her heart, and made her realize that despite their issues, they all cared about her in their own way.
"Ai welcome back!"
"We heard that you got into some trouble, are you okay Ai?"
"Ai, it's good to see that you're doing okay now!"
"Ai, has everything been going okay for you now?"
"Alright, now we can sing and dance together again as B-Komachi!"
"It's great to have you back Ai!"
As Ai smiled politely as she was pulled into the happy joy of her Idols, she realized that none of them were upset to see her here. They were actually all genuinely happy to see her. It made her realize that Nino had a point about them caring about her. And to think she was going to miss out on these bonds had Nino not told her or if she remained unchanging.
"It's great to be back with all of you." Ai smiled as she saw Nino, Takamine, Watanabe smiled at her. "I know it's been a bit since we last practice, but I say let's show our fans and audience that we of B-Komachi are not going to let something stop us!" She said in excitement to get them all riled up as the girls cheered at those words, all of them pumped up and ready to sing with all they got.
Let's sing with all we got!"
"Go B-Komachi!"
"Let's reach Tokyo Dome and show all of Japan what we got!"
And as Ai smiled, she couldn't help but find that though the reasons for why she became an Idol was no longer the same as it was before. She still couldn't help but find that she did enjoying singing and dancing with her girls. And as they went through another one of their strenuous training sessions while being recorded, as she sang and dance. Ai couldn't help but think of a song that was beginning to form in her mind.
When they took a break, Ai scrambled to write down as much as she could, when they stopped dancing and singing, and went into one of the conference rooms to watch the footage of their training practice. Ai was not only paying attention to flaws or mistakes in their singing or dancing, she was also writing down some notes about the song that had had a muse in her mind. And as they went back into practice, Ai felt herself more invigorated as she not only sang and dance with everything she had, but also ideas about how this song was practically blossoming in her head.
Even when they took a lunch break, Ai was still writing down the song until she had a rough draft about what she was writing done. It was something that some of her fellow Idols noticed and turned to her for, with Takamine speaking up. "Hey Ai, I noticed that you were writing down a lot of stuff when we weren't practicing or training, are you trying to take as many notes as you can to improve yourself?" She asked curiously.
Ai shook her head at that. "No Takamine, just had some rather eventful moments that happened to me during the time I was not practicing." She said to her as several of her other idols noticed the talk and slowly leaned in to listen. "There were a lot of things that I had never really considered or thought about more thoroughly and I gained some fresh perspective on the matter, which became my muse to write this." Ai explained as Takamine took a look at the song.
"Oh, do you mind if I take a look as well?" Kyun asked.
"Oh, how about me!?" Meimei asked excitedly.
"You're writing a song? Do you think we can sing it if it's good enough?" Watanabe asked.
"Everyone let's give Ai some space and not crowd her a bit, she also hasn't answered if she's okay with any of us taking a look." Nino said.
"Sure, sure, but I really do want to see what you wrote down." Ari said as Ai hummed thoughtfully about letting the rest of her girls see it. She honestly didn't see any potential downsides for it.
Soon all of the girls stopped caring about lunch and looked over the song that Ai had written so far, to Ai, it was just the rough draft of something greater that she had in mind, but the important thing to her was that she managed to get her feelings out about it.
And getting some help from some of her fellow Idols to provide constructive criticisms or notes about the song also helped her out as well.
"I think you should rephrase the first song line a bit; it won't be an easy thing to match the song words in a consistent manner depending on the temp you're going with." Takamine said.
"Dear Miss Genuis Idol? I suppose there is that ego of yours playing around a bit." Nino said jokingly.
"This part seems kind of dark does it not?" Watanabe noted. "It sounds like the song is supposed to transition into someone else who's at odds with the singer."
"Is it supposed to be a duet, of some kind? Or is it one of those old Greek styled chorus singer type of thing?" Meimei asked and showing a bit of fun knowledge on Greek entertainment arts.
"This song doesn't have a proper end…no it's more like you haven't envisioned a proper end to this song yet, I believe." Ari commented.
"It looks like it has plenty of potential but I think you're going to have to work on it for some time before it's properly presented." Kyun, offering her perspective as Ai nodded and took back the song sheet she was working on so far.
Thankfully for Ai, she took those criticisms in stride as they did point out a number of issues. "Thanks for the advices, I just started writing it today, and my hope is that it is fully refined and cleaned up, all of you will be willing to sing this with me." Ai said with a smile.
The B-Komachi girls all smirked cheekily at that and as one spoke. "Well then Ai, guess you have to get good with that song you're writing~!" They all trilled out as Ai started giggling uncontrollably with the rest of her girls joining in on the giggles as they enjoyed this talk.
'Ah yes.' Ai thought to herself. 'I really was missing out on a lot of time with these girls with my own goals and desires.' She thought happily as even though she missed a chance to bond with them early on. That didn't mean she couldn't start bonding with them now.
Aqua couldn't help but enjoy the rather luxurious room that he and Ruby were staying in, with Markus looking after them, and they were also joined by another kid, a girl by the name of Frill Shiranui, a girl that had apparently bonded or imprinted on Markus according to some of the student council here. And that brought up another topic, and apparently the main reason for why Markus was even here in this place to begin with.
Apparently while out on a walk, Markus saved two students from being ran over by a car. And those two students were not only students of Shuchi'in Academy. But two of them were actually heirs to some bigshot companies or were well connected families of some kind. The male student that Markus saved was a kid of a toy company, and the female student being a daughter and scion of the freaking Shinomiya Zaibatsu of all things!
Just how insane was Markus's luck for all of that to happen and fall into his lap?! Was Markus being watched over by some kind of guardian angel or something? Or was he just blessed in comparison to most people due to his origin? Aqua didn't know for sure before he flinched as he felt someone poking his right cheek.
Then he turned to see if it was Frill poking at him, staring at him inquisitively with those cat-like eyes of hers. "Are you okay?" She asked curiously. "You were deep down looking at your hands in heavy thought." She noted as her eyes brimmed with curiosity and intellect unlike most other kids their age.
"Ah nothing really to it." Aqua answered quickly. "Was wondering how Markus knew these people, and it surprises me to know that Markus gets into so many misadventures when we're not hanging out with him." Aqua answered as Frill tilted her head cutely at that, and as Aqua noticed the cute motion, he could also see into her eyes that she had her doubts about his words.
"Is that really so?" Frill said with doubt in her voice. "I think that you're just bewildered by the kind of insanity that befalls Markus a lot and wonders if fate is playing some kind of game with him." She said as Aqua's eyes went wide at that. "It's not that hard to think about, Markus's luck is pretty weird when I have to think about it myself." She said to him.
"You…seem pretty okay with this though." Aqua said as he turned his attention to Frill. "I'm still having trouble trying to think about what Markus goes through, and he's kind of a weird guy as well to throw it into the mix." He pointed out as Frill nodded at that.
"Even so, Markus's unique personality is a thing I do like about him." Frill said as Aqua raised an eyebrow at her. "Despite being an adult, he treats me and takes everything I said seriously, most adults don't do that for kids like us. And yet he does it without hesitation or issue." She started off as Aqua nodded at that, as he did have to concede that every time he did talked with Markus, Markus always took what he said seriously.
"I know what you mean." Aqua said as Frill raised an eyebrow. "He treats me seriously as well and takes my words seriously. It's a nice feeling all things considered." Aqua said with a smile. "Even if he does treat me like a typical kid from time to time." He then added in as he remembered the more recent events that happened in Markus's block of the woods.
"Markus is also kind too." Frill commented as Aqua looked curious at that. "The first time we met, he was just sitting around and doing nothing as my sister talked to them." She motioned to the Student Council. "But he noticed me being bored and offered to play some games with me and I enjoyed it." She said to Aqua.
"I suppose that's a mark of being kind." Aqua conceded as Frill continued on.
"And that's not even accounting for when he decided to watch after me when I asked." She said as Aqua paused in surprise at that. "He didn't have to do it, and it already would have waste some of his time, but when I asked, and desired it so. He accepted it." Frill finished.
"…That checks out with what I know about Markus." Aqua said as he found himself relaxing with Frill, it was weird to most people that she is so oddly mature, but to Aqua who was a reincarnated adult, it was actually kind of a very pleasant feeling for him to deal with. To be talking to a sort of intellectual peer.
"Markus is a good kind of weird." Frill said to Aqua as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I think life would be more fun if people were more like him instead of trying to play out the roles that life gives us." She said to him.
"Oh?" Aqua hummed in curiosity.
Frill nodded. "People just need to be free to do their own thing." She said before her eyes shined brightly. "That's why I'm going to become an actress, I'm going to play so many roles, play so many parts, and get into the shoes of so many people." She passionately said to him.
"You seem pretty invested into it?" Aqua said in surprise as he blinked at that. "Why do you want to become an actress so much?" He then asked, as he remembered the one and only time he did play a role in a movie, mainly so Ai could get a role. Said role in the movie became for moot though when studio decided to cut out Ai's role in the movie, apparently it wouldn't do well for an Extra to outshine the actual cast of the movie.
"At first?" Frill said as she paused before she continued. "It was because my family was involved in the entertainment industry, from my mom and dad, including my older sister. Which is why I am here because she has roles to be and places to go to." She said as Aqua nodded at that as he could understand the sentiment a bit, after all Ruby did want to become an Idol just Ai.
"But something changed right?" Aqua then asked as Frill nodded.
"A few life-changing encounters here and there and then I met someone who once said. I could bring life to roles that people never consider before. I could use my opportunity as an actress to change people's minds and perspectives." She said as she recounted the encounter she had. "And by expanding my ability to act so many different roles, I can understand the kind of background a number of these characters come from." She then finished.
Aqua blinked at that. "That…sounds pretty amazing." He admitted as Frill nodded proudly at that. "I guess you already know what you want to do huh? Must be pretty nice having a goal that you can devote yourself to, with all you got." Aqua commented.
"I'm sure you will find what you want to do as well in the future." Frill assured Aqua as she patted him on the shoulder. "Sometimes it takes some time." She said as Aqua nodded.
"I suppose so." Aqua acknowledged as he looked around a bit curiously and then looked confused. "Where's Markus?" He wondered as he didn't see Markus anywhere in the room with them right now.
"That is because right now, Markus is discussing some personal matters with Chika." Ai…a different Ai from the Ai that is his mother spoke up as she brought forth a tray of sweets and juices for them, as Ruby, Frill, and Aqua all took some as Aqua nodded at that. Though he wondered what Markus and Chika were talking about right now.
"Chika." Markus started off with annoyance in his voice as Chika winced at hearing the annoyance in his words. As they ended up in another room to have a more private chat without anyone overhearing them.
"Yes Markus?" Chika said a bit softly as Markus sounded a bit annoyed with her.
"When last we met, I ask that you kept my involvement in saving you a secret and that I did not want anyone to be in the know about me, yes?" Markus said to her as Chika nodded.
"That is correct." Chika admitted Markus as she ended up being unable to look him in the eye.
"So, tell why in the name of all that is sacred, are your parents here, and they know exactly about my involvement in rescuing you from those kidnappers?" Markus nearly snapped at her but the frustration was heard as he gave Chika a pointed look as he pointed to Chika's parents, simply just smiling at him as if there was nothing wrong at all.
Early on when Chika asked to talk to him in private, Markus assumed that she wanted to talk to him about the case involving the kidnappers. But to his own dismay, when he got to the room to talk to Chika, not only was she there, but both of her parents were as well. And even worse, in Markus's personal opinion, they knew about his involvement in saving Chika; something that he absolutely did not need to deal with right now as he was trying to stay under the radar.
Chika giggled a bit sheepishly as Markus continued to stare at her flatly as Chika's parents were on the side watching this talk in amusement. "Well Markus, you know that I have a younger sister, right?" She pointed out to him.
"Yes?" Markus said in confusion." What does that have to do with…" Markus was about to ask before he trailed off getting at what she was hinting. "Your sister told your parents about what actually happened, after I assumed you had to tell your sister or something relating to the incident and since she didn't owe me anything or was under any promise, she told your parents didn't she?" Markus sighed out as Chika nodded at that, as that was exactly how it went.
"Pretty much Markus, and my parents, in the interest of helping maintain your cover of staying under the radar wanted to meet you in person." Chika explained as she then continued on. "They also kind of want to hear your perspective about the whole kidnapping affair and get an idea of what can learn from you to prepare for possible future occurrences." She added in as both of Chika's parents nodded at that.
Markus sighed at that, well the deck hand didn't favor him here, but he might as well deal with the hand that he was dealt with. Wouldn't be the first time he was in a disadvantageous position before, and this was still nothing compared to what Elijah did to him in the events of the Sierra Madre Heist. Then he turned to Chika's parents. "Well, I assume you have plenty to say, so go for it." He said as Chika's father spoke up first.
"Well, the first thing I wish to say, is that I am truly thankful for your aid in not only protecting my daughter but also liberating her out of trouble. So, for that alone, I owe you a great deal of thanks that I do not think I will be able to repay back anytime soon, so thank you Redgrave." Chika's father said as her mother nodded and both bowed to him.
"You know, you both really don't have to bow to me." Markus said as he felt kind of uncomfortable with it. "I was there and I simply had the power to help, that is all. Nothing to it and no other reason I needed is all." Markus said, trying to convince Chika's parents to stop as they then give him a curious look. The same kind of look that Kaguya and co gave to him when he refused a reward from them.
"As a Politician, this is the kind of thing that would make me doubtful as everyone has agendas." Chika's father spoke up and stated directly to Markus as he stared him down as Markus held his gaze. "But as a father I am relieved beyond measure, and Chika's own validation for you, mention that this is not the first time that you rejected a reward, so I will place my faith in my daughter's ability to see through people and believe in the best of you." He said to Markus.
"You don't exactly have to if you don't want to." Markus said to him. "Besides rather than a reward there is something that I did wish to ask of you." He said as Chika's parents paid close attention to what Markus was going to ask. "I heard from Chika that a fire took place in the warehouse we were being held in, I think I am rather curious as to what the current investigations found so far." He said to them.
"Oh?" Chika's mother spoke up now. "You want to get involved even though it would cause you potential no end of trouble? Even as Chika herself stated, that you wanted to keep yourself on the downlow for reasons unknown to us?" She said as Markus was silent as she continued on. "I must question why would you want to involve yourself further in this affair, is it a need for revenge against those that victimized you? Or is it for some other reason?" She questioned sharply at Markus.
Markus was silent for a moment, which made Chika give him worried looks, but to everyone's surprise Markus simply just sighed. "As a parent you do have every right to be suspicious and I certainly don't hold it against you." He started off. "But as many of my old traveling buddies would say, I have, as they said, a certain habit of putting my nose where it doesn't belong." He said to them.
"Oh? So, you like to find yourself getting involved in other people's affairs all the time before you met our daughter?" Chika's father spoke up as Markus nodded at that. "I see." He muttered.
"I consider myself to be a weird kind of fella, but I reckon it would leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth if I get involved in something and I don't see it all the way to the end." Markus said to them. "It's just not in my nature to get involved and leave it as a number of people would say halfheartedly done." He spoke. "Besides, I don't see any trouble with lending out a hand from time to time, it's never wrong to want to help someone out just because you want to, right?"
Again, both of Chika's parents gave him the same odd look they had before, before Chika's mom sighed. "I guess it's hard to believe but I suppose there are people out there that are actually altruistic." She hummed as Markus raised an eyebrow at that as Chika's father nodded at that as she turned her attention to Markus. "Alright then, we will accept your request, but if you happen to note or spot anything that can help us find out who set up the kidnapping on our daughter, you will tell us, is that understood?" Chika's mother said firmly as Markus nodded at that.
"Fair enough, your daughter's life is at risk, and as an adult, who learned to develop some form of protective instincts for the youngsters, after babysitting several kids, I can see where you're all coming from." Markus conceded.
"Right then, I believe there is one more thing that we forgot to do, introductions." Chika's father said to Markus. "While we know your name since we heard of it from our daughter, let's us introduce you to our names." Chika's father said before he pointed to himself. "My name is Daichi Fujiwara." Daichi said as he offered a hand to Markus and Markus shook on it.
"Pleased to meet you." He said as he then turned to Chika's mother.
"My name is Maho Fujiwara." Maho said to Markus as she then shook Markus's hand as well.
"Well nice to meet you all." Markus said with a nod as Chika smiled at the sight of her parents getting along with Markus. "Feels like we're all in for the long haul." Markus commented as both Daichi and Maho smiled at that.
Hikaru raised an eyebrow as he was out walking for a bit and found his phone ringing. As he checked the number, his eyes widened a bit as who was calling him, and soon quickly found himself hidden and away where nobody could see him before answering the call. "What are you doing you fool? You know the rules, there is to be no direct contact among us unless it's a genuine emergency, and considering our current situation calling me is foolish." He hissed coldly into the phone.
"My apologies." The voice answered back. "But to answer your question for why I called, I believe I did come across an issue while on our operation, one that could potentially cause us an actual trouble." The voice said as Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
"And what issue would that be, that you would break the rules as is?" Hikaru questioned and the voice's words gave him pause to widened his eyes in surprise.
"I believe we are not the only natives here, and in fact I believe that we may have an outsider that could pose a threat to our secrecy." The Voice said. "He had tested positive for FEV." He said coldly.
"That's impossible!" Hikaru hissed. "The FEV was never made here and there is no such research or foundation that would lead to FEV being made, how sure are you?!"
"100% sure Hikaru." The Voice answered back. "I took samples of his blood and found traces of FEV, Radiation, and a few other hints that told me that he was no normal human." The Voice said to him. "He was even able to tank those prototypical shots from those Tasers that we set to work on Super Mutants back home." He added as Hikaru's eyes widened and then narrowed.
"So, an enhanced Human here from the old world then, why come to me?" He questioned the Voice.
"Because this same interloper is also connected to that Idol that you were working on dealing with." The Voice said as Hikaru's eyes widened at that. "Strange that a defenseless Idol could survive your proxy assassins, but if someone of the old world was here, that would change context would it not?" The Voice pointed out o Hikaru.
"So, you want me to do your work for you." Hikaru hissed as his eyes narrowed as the Voice simply laughed back at him.
"Perish the thought Hikaru, taking on celebrities, Idols, and defenseless civilians are one thing, taking on an actual combat capable being is another, no Hikaru. What I need you to do is to learn what you can, his current name that he's going by is Markus Redgrave, if you happen to have a chance, and the situation favors you, take him out, but aside from that? Keep yourself cautious around him." The Voice warned before the phone call suddenly ended.
Hikaru stared at his phone his distaste as another problem was dropped, but he slipped it back it into his pockets and walked like nothing was wrong. And now another name besides Ai Hoshino occupied his mind.
Markus Redgrave must be removed!