*Story contains brief sexual content*
-Faith, Love, and Forgiveness: Aiko and Kanae's Eighth Birthday Party-
Yuri's Bakery - One year later
"Kaeda! Your girl's are here!"
It had been just over a year since Kouta and Lucy took their twin daughters to Nogeyuki Zoo, and Yuri couldn't believe how much the twins had grown. Kanae's pink hair was almost to her waist, while Aiko preferred to keep her vibrant red hair short, much like her mother did at her age.
When Lucy made it to the front counter, the twins paused their conversation with Nana and ran to hug their mother. She knelt down and smiled as she warmly embraced her children.
The older Diclonius had once again forgotten her purse, and when she called home about it, her daughters eagerly volunteered to bring it to her. She refused, but relented when they said they'd bring Nana with them.
Watching Lucy and her little girls brought tears to Yuri's eyes. They were always so happy to see their mother, and even on their worst days, their mother was always happy to see them.
"You girls want some cookies?"
"Hell yes!"
The twins turned their attention to Nana. "You're supposed to say, "Yes, Miss Yuri." Kanae told her. "Aunt Nana's rude." Aiko said as she nodded in agreement. Yuri laughed hysterically at the sheepish expression on Nana's face. Lucy, meanwhile, fought back tears as she smiled proudly at her children.
Nana blushed a bit as she corrected herself. Yuri smiled at the Sipelit, and gave them nearly three dozen cookies, reminding them to share with everyone else.
"Have you girls decided what kind of cake you want?"
In two days, the twins were going to turn eight years old. Over Lucy's objections, Yuri insisted on providing a free birthday cake (as she had every birthday so far).
"Chocolate!" Aiko answered. Her sister objected, and reminded her they had chocolate last year. Kanae suggested vanilla, but the other twin didn't like vanilla, and it soon turned into an argument between the twins, which Lucy promptly ended with a single word.
"Girls..."
Knowing exactly what that tone meant, they ceased squabbling immediately.
"Sorry, Mom." they said in unison.
"Have they had spice cake yet?" Yuri asked. When they answered negatively, Yuri pointed out that spice cake with peanut butter frosting was that days "sold by the slice" cake, and gave each of the children a slice to try. One bite later, both girls changed their minds.
With that settled, the twins thanked Yuri again for the cookies and cake, hugged both her and Lucy goodbye, and walked out holding hands with Nana.
"What a fine mother you've turned out to be." Yuri smiled as they watched the children walk home. Lucy blushingly smiled back at the bakery owner.
As the old friends hugged, Yuri teasingly made a remark about how many new customers she'd gotten since hanging the framed poster of Lucy posing for Azidora Bridal next to the framed copy of her on the cover of Travel Tales.
"Did you really have to put that up?" Lucy groaned.
Yuri just laughed and kissed her employee on the cheek. "I think you should be proud, not embarrassed."
A few years ago, Sakura's mother met a man who adored her as much as he did her. He didn't care that Sakura wasn't human, or that Suzume wasn't well-off financially (probably because he was in about the same shape). When they decided to get married, Yuka asked her mother to babysit the twins so her and Lucy could take the bride-to-be to the same place where Lucy got her wedding dress.
Azidora Bridal - Hadano - Four years ago
When Lucy walked inside with Yuka and Sakura's mother, both the owner and Liza immediately came over to greet her. Like millions of people, they too had seen videos of the pink-haired girl in court, and had even called Kaeda House to congratulate her. Seeing her again years later, the very first words out of Liza's mouth weren't "Hi, nice to see you!" or "How are your children doing?" or "You look great!" or anything like that. Instead, the first thing Lucy heard was:
"Please tell me you don't need another wedding dress, you and Kouta looked so beautiful together!"
Lucy blushed slightly as she laughed and shook her head. "Me and Kouta are just fine. We're here because she (motioning to Mrs. Kiryu) is getting married, and needs a wedding dress."
"Well, let's get started on finding her one!" the owner replied with a smile.
Like Lucy, Suzume wanted an actual dress. She tried a couple of kimonos at Yuka's suggestion, and a few Western-styled ones at Lucy's. When she moved on to modern, Japanese-styled dresses, she found one so beautiful, she cried when she saw it...
...and when she saw herself in it... and again when she saw the ¥650,000 price tag. Even with financial help from her future husband and daughter, they could only afford ¥200,000.
This time, she refused to accept Yuka's family's assistance. The three of them had saved for months to scrape up enough money to buy her a nice wedding dress without having to ask for help, but ¥650,000 was a sum so far out of their reach, it might as well have cost ¥50,000,000,000.
It broke the women's hearts to hear Mrs. Kiryu tearfully tell them she'd just have to settle for something cheaper.
"You guys stay here, I'll be right back." Liza said. When she left the fitting room, the first thing she did was walk outside and cry. After that, she went to the owner and pleaded for him to help the heartbroken woman. Back in the fitting room, Lucy and Yuka were trying to convince Sakura's mother to let them help, but getting nowhere. Suddenly, the manager tapped on the door and asked Lucy to step out.
Ten minutes after she left, the door opened and Liza told Mrs. Kiryu to take the dress off and give it to her. After she changed clothes and left the fitting room, the two women were called to the register. Then, the store manager smiled compassionately, told Suzume it had been paid for, and handed her a bag containing the dress.
The woman actually looked a little angry, and told him she couldn't take it because she'd already made it clear she wasn't going to accept financial help from anyone.
"She didn't give you any."
Yuka and Mrs. Kiryu looked at each other in confusion. "Then, how is it paid for?"
"We made a deal with Miss Kaeda. She's going to appear in one of our advertisements in exchange for it." Liza smiled.
Both Yuka and Sakura's mother were completely lost for words, so Lucy clarified the arrangement. "It's not a video ad, it's just for a poster."
"Basically, we're going to take her picture and put "Azidora Bridal" on it." the owner added. "It's only a one-time thing, she's not going to start modeling for us... as much as I wish she would, because oh my GOD she's beautiful!"
"Remember, nothing skimpy, and no posing with another man." Lucy reminded him.
Sakura's mother looked at the Diclonius with tears running down her face. "You did that for me...? As much as you hate being the center of attention, you still did that just so I could have the dress I wanted...?"
When Lucy nodded, Mrs. Kiryu threw her arms around the pink-haired girl and sobbed as she thanked her repeatedly.
That weekend, Lucy and her family returned to Azidora Bridal to fulfill her part of the deal.
To Nana's great amusement, the team of fashion designers and makeup artists took one look at Lucy and had their jaws drop to the floor. She had worn a pale pink, knee-length skirt, and a simple, mid-sleeve white button-up top. She was completely devoid of makeup, and wore no jewelry except for her wedding and engagement rings.
"Everyone, this is Miss Kaeda Kurosawa, and she's going to be on next month's ad poster." the owner said as he introduced them to Lucy. The very first thing they said was, "Whatever your agency is paying you, we'll double it if you'll come work for us."
"I don't have an agency. I'm not a model, and I'm not interested in becoming one. I'm not even getting paid for this, I'm doing it to help a friend of the family." Lucy answered.
The two women, one man team looked at her like she was crazy. "Do you have any idea at all how BEAUTIFUL you are?! Why would you NOT be interested?!"
"My husband thinks I'm pretty. That's good enough for me."
The three of them looked at each other in disbelief. Shaking their heads, they led Lucy and the others to a small area in the back of the store where ad models are photographed. "Alright, let's get started." one of the women smiled. "You ready, Miss Kaeda?"
What followed was three hours of changing clothes, applying makeup, removing makeup, and then doing it all over again.
Hilariously, Lucy didn't bother to use the large privacy curtain to change clothes. Instead, she just stripped nude on the spot in between dresses. When one of the women blushingly asked if they could "take a really good look" at her body, Lucy agreed, and patiently stood there while the three of them examined literally every centimeter of her naked body.
"God, I want to cry so bad right now..." the woman who asked about looking told the group. "I have never seen anyone have such a beautiful body! She's pale, but doesn't look sickly, her skin is so soft and smooth, and her breasts, hips, and butt are just absolutely perfect!"
Everyone laughed at the flustered smile on the blushing girl's face.
After almost twenty pictures were taken, they had a meeting with their marketing firm and Lucy herself to decide which one to use. The one they decided to go with was of Lucy in a strapless white dress that came all the way to the floor, smiling over her bare shoulder at the camera with a bouquet in her hand. Her hair was left down, and after trying numerous makeup combinations, the one they picked combined light pink eyeshadow, red lipstick and a little bit of blush. It was almost identical to the makeup she'd worn to Akia's wedding.
Even to Lucy, it was a beautiful picture.
About three weeks later, Mr. Owa called and told her there was such a tremendous surge of business after the ad was run, he wanted to pay her for the picture anyway despite it not being part of their deal.
She declined, because... of course she did.
Yuri's Bakery - Present day
"You know, that's the second time you've modeled for free." Yuri teased. "Maybe next time you should consider charging."
"I wasn't "modeling", I was just letting them take a picture of me, that's all."
"That's what modeling IS honey, letting someone take a picture of you."
Lucy just gave her a dirty look and got back to work. Yuri smiled fondly as she watched her go. The Diclonius was as stubborn as ever about her looks. Even eight years after giving birth, she didn't look a day older than she did when she got pregnant. After leaving the hospital, her body recovered incredibly fast, and within three weeks, the weight she gained was gone, and she was back to her old, slender self.
It took less than half that time for her sex drive to return, and her and Kouta went right back to acting like horny teenagers towards each other. A few months after having the twins, Kouta brought her lunch (as he always did if she was opening the bakery), and what started as simple kissing turned into making out, then touching, then Lucy bending over the bathroom sink as Kouta took her from behind.
This time, they didn't hear Yuri come in, and didn't realize she was there until she walked in on them just in time to hear Lucy begging her husband to fuck her harder. Incredibly, as soon as she got over the shock of having caught them in the middle of what appeared to be some rather passionate sex, she reminded them to lock the door next time, smiled, and left them alone so they could finish (which they did).
Lucy got teased about that one for years.
As they were closing shop for the day, Yuri asked how many people were coming to the twins' birthday.
"Sakura, her mom and stepfather, maybe Moriyama and Mr. Saito, Kenji, possibly the cheerleaders, and whoever they invited from school."
When Yuri jokingly asked her pink-haired assistant why she wasn't included in that list, Lucy just smiled and told her, "Family doesn't need to be on a list, they're already expected to be there."
The bakery owner smiled back, and hugged the girl she'd come to think of as a daughter.
"Bless you, Kaeda."
Keiroku Supermarket - Ebina - The next afternoon
With the birthday party the following day, Lucy, Yuka, and the twins took the train to the nearby city of Ebina to visit a new grocery store that had recently opened.
"Did you forget what happened the last time we went to a new supermarket?" Lucy teased as they walked in. Yuka just laughed and reminded her that she had been six months pregnant last time.
'And it was damn well worth it!' Lucy thought as she smiled at her daughters.
This store had much lower prices than the one from last time, so the two adults decided to just do their shopping here. After nearly an hour, they were down to the last few items on the list when the realized they had forgotten ice-cream.
"Girls, what kind of ice-cream do you want with your cake?" Yuka asked. Aiko wanted chocolate, but Kanae wanted strawberry. Naturally, the children argued about it a little, but stopped when Lucy suggested they just get both.
"You don't mind?" Kanae asked. When Lucy said she didn't, the girls looked at each other, then turned to their mother and apologized for arguing. The older Diclonius smiled in approval and told them to go get it. Most parents would never let their children walk off alone in a crowded store, but the pink-haired girl wasn't worried. She could easily sense exactly where they were, and anyone who decided to try to kidnap them was in for a nasty surprise.
"You really are an excellent mother, you know that?" Yuka smiled. Lucy blushed as she thanked her for the compliment.
As expected, it took them a few minutes to find the right aisle. When they discovered the ice-cream was too high to reach, they decided to ask a nearby employee for help rather than risk getting in trouble for using their vectors. The children had almost made it back when a rather large woman blabbering away on her smartphone walked right into them, and knocked both of them down. Rather than apologize, or even ignore them and continue on her way, she began loudly berating the twins for not paying attention.
"We didn't run into you, you ran into us." Aiko respectfully pointed out.
"No I didn't! The nerve of you little brats! You need to watch where you're going! I almost dropped my brand new cell phone because of you two!"
Even nine years later, Japanese-Karen was still nothing but a super entitled mega-bitch.
It only took a few seconds for her yelling to start drawing attention. As she continued belittling the girls for her own lack of attention, the twins got up and brushed each other off. As the screaming and ranting continued, the sisters looked at each other, silently agreeing to just apologize anyway so they could hurry up and get back to the two adults.
"We're sorry." they said together as they politely bowed, picked up their dropped ice-cream, and walked away. The older woman, unsatisfied with merely bullying a couple of children into apologizing for something that wasn't their fault, came after them.
"Get back here! Children these days have no respect for their elders! When an adult is talking to you, you stay put until they're finished!"
The twins stopped and turned around to face their harasser. "We're sorry, but we have to go now." Kanae said. "Our mom's waiting for us." added Aiko. By now, the altercation had drawn a crowd, and they didn't appreciate Japanese-Karen's treatment of the two young girls. When the twins again apologized and turned to leave, the irate bitch grabbed Kanae by the back of her school uniform.
Aiko, trying to protect her sister, immediately released a vector and struck the mega-bitch, sending her crashing into a display of cereal the store had set up.
The bystanders broke out into loud applause. Lucy heard the angry ranting, but didn't go investigate until Japanese-Karen crashed into the display. She pushed through the crowd and ran to her children. "Are you ok?! What happened?!" she asked as she knelt down on one knee.
"They kicked that bitch's ass!" a bystander spoke up, leading to more laughing and applause. Lucy looked over at the display, instantly realizing what happened as soon as she saw FatBitch-chan.
"Don't get mad at them, they didn't do anything wrong!" a woman spoke up. The other bystanders agreed, and told the Diclonius that FatBitch ran into them, knocked them down, then physically grabbed Kanae by the back of her uniform even after the children had apologized and were trying to leave.
"I... I know we're not supposed to use our vectors in public, but I was scared she was gonna hurt Kanae." Aiko timidly explained. "A-Are you mad at me?"
Lucy just smiled and shook her head, hugging her children as she thanked Aiko for defending her sister.
The twins smiled in relief, and happily returned their mother's embrace.
Thirty minutes later
Once the police arrived, Japanese-Karen immediately started claiming she'd been attacked unprovoked. One look at the security footage promptly flushed that load of shit down the toilet. Even without it, twenty-seven bystanders gave written statements to the police that the twins never touched her until she got aggressive and grabbed them.
When the entitled crybaby found out who the girls' mother was, she had an absolute meltdown, and called Lucy every insult in the book. The Diclonius Queen calmly stood there and let Japanese-Karen dig her own grave. After she had done an impressive job of completely screwing herself, Lucy informed the police she wanted to press charges for battery on a child under the age of twelve, and menacing. The supermarket's manager wanted to press charges for willful destruction of property, and criminal mischief. The police themselves also pressed charges for creating a public disturbance, making false accusations, lying to a law enforcement officer, obstruction, and resisting arrest without violence.
Then, they told her she was looking at an actual prison sentence because this was the third time she'd been arrested on charges stemming from prior encounters with either Lucy, Nana, or both.
"You don't seem to understand that you can't just act however you want to in public, so we're going to help you understand." he told her. "Your going to jail today, your vehicle is going to be impounded, and since it's Friday, you're definitely going to be there until at least Monday."
"What?! I'm not going anywhere until I talk to the policeman manager!" she ranted. "No human should ever be taken to jail on account of one of those little science-experiment freaks! Monster's like them don't belong arounds humans in the first pl-"
Before she finished her sentence, the arresting officer's partner pulled out his tazer and gave her a two-second "dry stun" right on the ass. Japanese-Karen screamed bloody murder and started demanding to go to a hospital. Then, of course, she announced everyone was getting sued, and the cops were all going to be fired.
"Sorry about that, partner." the tazing cop apologized before getting in the driver's seat. The other cop quietly told them his partner had a Diclonius daughter about the twins' age that died two months ago after a drunk driver hit her as she was riding her bicycle home from school.
"We're so sorry to hear that..." Yuka quietly replied. Lucy squeezed her daughters' hands a little tighter as she tried to imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. Having something like that happen would leave a wound that never healed. Yes, she'd still have the other daughter, but that wouldn't bring back the one she lost. She didn't even realize a silent tear had escaped her eyes until Aiko reached up with a vector and gently wiped it away.
The four of them said goodnight to the officer and returned to the train station to go home.
Kaeda House - Six hours later
"Oh, fuck... God, I love it when you do this..."
Lucy was on her back with her legs pulled up and spread, holding her lower lips open as Kouta slowly licked her clit. Up until just a few minutes ago, she had been on her knees giving him oral. After swallowing, she ran to rinse her mouth out, but when she returned to their bedroom, Kouta pushed her down on the bed, opened her legs, and started "returning the favor".
They had just started when Moriyama called to see how the twins were doing, and give her an update on the incident from earlier.
"I thought you'd like to know Miss Karesu is probably looking at three to five years. It's going to be Monday before she sees a Judge, so I can't say what her bail's gonna look like, but it'll probably only be around ¥300,000." the Prosecutor said. "On the bright side, when police impounded her car, they found controlled substances inside, so that's another charge. Plus, she was arrested during working hours, so now she's fired as well."
"I almost feel-" she tried to say but stopped and muted her phone long enough to let out a gentle moan "I almost feel bad for her..."
"I don't know what that bitch's problem is. Why is it so hard to just act like an adult?"
"Who kn-OH'S!" Lucy moaned. Kouta grinned like a Cheshire cat, intentionally backing off until his wife was mid-sentence before slipping a finger inside her. "Her husband said she's always been like that."
"Ex-husband." Moriyama corrected. "It looks like they divorced two years ago."
"What a surprise... Who'd have saw that... Oh, fuck..." she moaned as Kouta pulled his finger out and pushed his tongue in.
"Who'd have saw what?"
"Who'd have saw that... "cumming"...?" she grinned as she watched Kouta try not to laugh at her word pun.
There was a pause, then "Kaeda, are you and Kouta having sex on the phone again?"
"Maybe!" he said in as high-pitched, feminine a tone as he could. Lucy started laughing and sat up, leaving the Prosecutor sighing. She wanted to be irritated, but couldn't. Kouta and Lucy were past their ten-year anniversary, but were still just as crazy for each other as ever. Love like that was rare, and she wasn't about to say a single word against it, especially not with everything they'd been through.
"Alright, sex fiends, you two have fun, and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight!" the couple said simultaneously.
After hanging up, she just smiled and shook her head.
Kaeda House - The following day
When the twins said "a few friends" nobody expected the entire class (and their families) to show up.
Lucy took one look at the crowd and was so happy that Yuri ignored her protests about making more than one cake.
"Popular little devils, aren't they?" the bakery owner teased. "Next time, listen to your elders."
Though common in many cultures, the guests were explicitly told not to bring birthday gifts. In Kouta's family, children's party guests didn't bring gifts, as gift-giving was seen as a "family" activity. The twins were just fine with this, and knew there'd be plenty of gift giving at a later time. For now, they were just happy their parents didn't mind how many friends showed up.
Nana volunteered to help Yuri distribute cake and cookies, likely because doing so made it easy for her to "skim off the top" as they say. Lucy and Aiko were on the sidewalk by the door leading into the front yard, welcoming guests in from the street. Aiko was so glad her parents didn't try to stick her and Kanae into some sort of "cute" outfit, and likewise, Lucy was glad Yuka didn't try pestering her into dressing up and playing hostess. Despite the brunette's "friendly suggestion" that she "pretty-up" a little, the Diclonius Queen skipped makeup entirely, and threw on her old knee-length, dark red jumper dress with a plain, light pink shirt underneath.
There was a time and place for dressing up, and your children's eighth birthday party wasn't it.
Of course, that didn't stop several of the guests (mostly non-parental members of the children's families) from instantly recognizing her, both from the bridal advertisement, and the sentencing hearing. It might have been eight years ago, but to this day, she was still considered somewhat of a celebrity, and not just in Kamakura.
"I'm so glad I finally got to meet you!"
"Even after having twins, you're still just as beautiful as before!"
"I hope Azidora paid you what you deserve for that advertisement!"
"They didn't pay me." Lucy explained. "I did it in exchange for a free wedding dress for a friend of the family."
"Are you serious?! As beautiful as you are, you could have gotten MILLIONS of yen for that picture!"
"Mom doesn't really care about money. She just wants us to be happy." Aiko spoke up, earning a bright smile and motherly kiss from Lucy. After a few more questions and a lot more compliments, the group entered the front yard and went inside. A few minutes later, Lucy heard her name being called, and smiled as Reina, Mikuru, and Asana (Kei had a family emergency and couldn't come, though she had planned to) hurried over and group-hugged the pink-haired girl. Then, they turned to Aiko, and took turns hugging the happy young Diclonius. They hadn't seen the little girl in over a year, and were so happy to see how much she'd grown.
"When she grows up, she's going to be just as beautiful as you are!" Reina teased. "Have fun with the fifty-thousand boys trying to ask her out!"
As everyone laughed, they heard someone whistling at them, and all of them turned around at once to see Sakura, her mom, and her stepfather walking their way. The three former cheerleaders excitedly smiled and ran over to her, swarming the young Sipelit in an emotional group-hug as the two adults watched. Suzume had told her husband all about how greatly life had improved since meeting the cheerleaders and residents of Kaeda House, and that she would always be grateful for them giving her lonely daughter a reason to smile again.
When they reached the front yard, Mayu came out to meet her. The girls' hugged for a few seconds and gently pressed their lips together. The kiss was short, but that was alright with them. It didn't need to be long and drawn out to feel like a "real" kiss.
After them came Kenji, then more classmates, then one of the twins' teachers, Mrs. Miota. Unlike the parents of classmates, not all of the teachers had actually met Kouta and Lucy, but the pink-haired girl could tell just from the way her expression changed that she recognized her.
"Oh my God! Aiko, is this seriously your mother?!"
The little girl nodded, giving her mom an adoring smile. The teacher spent the next five minutes acting more like a fangirl than an educator. Lucy didn't really like the attention, but it made her happy to know that people hadn't forgotten about Dr. Einsetz and the atrocities he perpetrated.
After she went in, Moriyama's black SUV pulled up and parked across the street. Surprisingly, she was wearing an actual dress instead of pants. It was a pale, light cream colored knee-length "spaghetti strap" sundress, and sported a rose pattern design.
Even more surprising was that she wasn't alone.
Out of the passenger seat stepped, of all people, Bando. The Diclonius Queen later learned that when she invited him to come with her, he agreed to it on the first try. Even more surprising than THAT, they actually held hands as they crossed the street. She knew they were in a more-or-less relationship, but never imagined he'd actually show her any kind of affection in public. Moriyama hugged Lucy, then Aiko, who was giving Bando a surprised, but happy smile.
"I didn't know Miss Moriya... Moryata... Moriyabo..." Aiko paused for a moment before finally getting it right. "MORIYAMA... was your girlfriend!"
"She... uhh... s-she's not my girlfriend, kid. She's... she's just a fuck-buddy, that's all!" the flustered mercenary answered.
Without missing a beat, Aiko turned to her mother with a confused expression on her face. "Mom, what's a fuck-buddy?"
Thirty minutes later
With the arrival of Mr. Saito, Chief Dojima, and Officer Itsuki (none of which were able to stay long, but wanted to at least wish the twins a Happy Birthday) the total guest count came to fifty-two. The Kaeda House residents were expecting twenty, thirty at the absolute most. Still, it wasn't the chaotic mess one would expect. Unlike a typical Western birthday party, there were no obnoxious children running around screeching and making excessive noise, nobody tracking dirt or mud in and out of the house, no pile-ups of pushy kids at the cake, cookie, and pastry tables, nobody spilling their drinks all over the place or dropping food on the floor.
Sure, there was a lot of talking and laughing going on, but not to the point of being unbearable to listen to. Kids were laughing, their families were getting to know the other families, people were standing around eating and drinking, some of the children were playing games like Hanafuda, Karuta, or Shogi, while some of the adults were partaking of the only alcohol at the party (which was wine, bought at the suggestion of Yuka's parents).
Lucy was sitting with a group of other moms enjoying a slice of cake when Kouta came over to her and said he needed to talk to her. Uneasy about the serious look on his face, she excused herself and followed him to their bedroom. Once inside, she nervously asked, "Is everything ok?"
Suddenly, he dropped the act, and pulled out a small jewelry box.
"Of course." he smiled. "I just wanted to give you this."
Lucy, now curious, opened the box and saw it contained a stunningly beautiful pair of earrings. They were shaped like triangles, with the three points being a ruby, a peridot, and a sapphire (which were the birthday gemstones for the twins, Lucy, and Kouta). Connecting the points was a line of square-cut diamonds set in a white gold setting.
"Kouta..." she near-whispered as her eyes began to glisten. "Why?"
"Because I love you." he smiled. Lucy sat the box down and threw her arms around his neck, hugging her loving husband tightly against her. "They're beautiful... thank you so much."
"You are so very welcome, honey."
The couple pulled back and gently pressed their lips together for several seconds. It was only supposed to be once or twice, but after the fifth kiss, they both knew where things were headed. Seconds later, Lucy was pulling her dress up and lying on her back. Kouta hurriedly unbuttoned and pulled down his pants and boxers as Lucy was taking off her panties.
Moving on top of her, he leaned his head down and kissed her gently on her soft lips as he slowly pushed his erection inside of her. Lucy softly moaned his name as he started slowly thrusting in and out of her. As they made love, her thoughts drifted to her and Kouta's beautiful life together. It was happiness beyond description to wake up each day with the man and children she so deeply loved.
When he abruptly pulled out and began touching her little pink flower, she shook her head no.
"Don't worry about me, Kouta..." she smiled. "Just enjoy it."
Though he felt a little guilty about it, he removed his hand and resumed thrusting
As much as he wanted to drag it out as long as possible, they kinda had a birthday party to supervise. When he felt himself approaching climax, he sped up and began thrusting harder. Giving into his beautiful wife's pleading for him to cum inside of her, Kouta gently kissed her soft lips as he started ejaculating. Lucy moaned and blushed as he deposited several squirts of semen deep into her womanhood. When he pulled out, she used a tissue to wipe off the semen leaking out of her, and (after putting her panties back on) the two of them spent several minutes just lying in bed cuddling.
"I really enjoyed that." Kouta smiled. "Thank you."
"Why're you thanking me? You did all the work, all I did was lie down and open my legs." Lucy smiled back.
"That's what I'm thanking you for."
Lucy giggled and kissed him. "You're welcome."
It was so tempting to just stay where they were. Sex was still a daily occurance, but if it happened during the day, they didn't always have time to cuddle for more than a couple of minutes. As much as they wanted to just ask Yuka to handle it so they could nap together, they eventually forced themselves to get up and go back to the party.
Twenty minutes later
After Lucy rejoined the group of women she'd been sitting with until Kouta walked over, the teacher she'd been talking to asked a bizarre question.
"What do vectors look like?"
"You want me to show you?"
When the other women all said yes, Lucy visibly materialized her vectors for them. Noticing the other parents looked frightened, she tried to lighten the mood a little by using them to hold her plate and fork, feeding herself cake without even moving her actual hands.
It worked perfectly, and the other mom's broke out laughing, forgetting all about the fear they had felt just moments ago.
"That is the craziest thing I've ever seen!" the teacher laughed.
Lucy took her plate and fork back, her vectors shimmering as they disappeared and retracted. "You wouldn't believe how much easier they make hectic days at the bakery." she grinned.
A couple of minutes later, the pink-haired girl excused herself to go check on her family. Nana, unsurprisingly, was still near the cookies with Yuri. Yuka was sitting with the Prosecutor, Bando and Sakura's parents, while Mayu, the cheerleaders, and Sakura herself were all crowded together on the couch watching cartoons with some of the kids. She found both of her daughters happily eating cake and ice-cream with a large group of children in the dining room, and Kouta, Kenji, and Yuka's parents were all sitting on the porch with several of the other parents, having wine and "finger foods" (in this case it was cheeses, crackers, fruits, and various sandwiches cut into fourths).
As they were talking, Lucy plopped down next to her husband, reached over, and stole a swallow of his wine, along with a few of his crackers. As Yuka's parents and the other couples laughed, Kouta uncrossed his legs, and the pink-haired girl accepted the unspoken invitation and sat on his lap. The other parents watched as the two of them laughed and playfully fed each other.
"I can't believe you two still act like this!" one of the women said. "My husband would have thrown a damn hissy fit if I'd done that to him!"
"Mine too. He'd start bitching about how I need to go get my own, and how much I embarrassed him in front of everyone, and how disrespectful it was for me to take his food and drink without asking." a different woman added. "Kaeda, you're lucky as hell to be married to a man like him."
Lucy blushed, smiling at her husband as she nodded in agreement. "I know... and thank you."
"Kouta and Kaeda are one of the rarest couples you'll ever meet." Yuka's father spoke up. "They've been through so much together, but even after ten years, they still haven't lost their passion for each other."
"How would you know? Have you been spying on us in bed?" Kouta teasingly asked.
As everyone broke out laughing, the older man smiled and shook his head. Taking over for her husband, Yuka's mother replied, "What he meant is, you two still act like you just got home from your honeymoon. You haven't let everything that happened rob you of the joy, happiness, and love you have for each other."
"I still think she should have killed that bastard." one of the men said.
"If she had, those other Diclonii would all be dead."
Everyone turned to see the Prosecutor had just joined them. At the moment, the mercenary was over at the finger-food table having what appeared to be a surprisingly civil conversation with Yuri and Nana. As expected, he had a plate full of sandwiches, pastries, and crackers, leaving the couple to seriously wonder what exactly happened to the older man to give him such a ferocious appetite.
"If Kaeda had killed him, we never would have known about the Aomori lab. As I understand it, you can't see the memories of a dead person, and those memories are what saved the Diclonii he had locked up in his lab." the Prosecutor said.
After hearing this, a couple who had just moved to the area gave the pink-haired girl a skeptical look. "No offense, but viewing memories? Kaeda, are you sure you're not exaggerating just a bit?"
"I know it sounds kinda iffy, but she really can. It was all over the news a few years ago." one of the other dads said.
"It seems kind of farfetched to us." the woman's husband replied. "Memories don't work like that."
"Would you like me to prove it?"
The new arrivals decided to call Lucy's bluff. After thinking it over a minute, the couple asked her, "Since we were just talking about honeymoons, why don't you tell us about ours?"
"If you get it right, we'll be honest about it." the husband added.
Lucy nodded her head and visibly materialized her vectors for the second time in the last twenty minutes. The other parents watched excitedly as her vector made contact with the Hippocampus Region of the wife's brain. A few moments later, her vectors withdrew and disappeared.
"Your honeymoon was miserable. The hotel in Kyoto you were supposed to stay at couldn't find your reservation, so you ended up having to pay for the room twice. There was no sex the first night due to an argument over your husband flirting with the desk clerk. The next day, you both got food poisoning, and there was no sex that night either because you had to run to the bathroom every five minutes. Then, you clogged the toilet so badly you had to use the bathtu-"
"Stop! Ok, we were wrong! Just... please don't go any further!" the wife sheepishly said. Half of the other parents were laughing, the other half were staring at Lucy in wide-eyed wonder. They heard that the Diclonius race could (according to the news reporters and experts on TV) view memories with their vectors, but were bowled over to actually see it demonstrated in person.
"I feel so sorry for your children. They're never going to get away with ANYTHING!"
Thirty-five minutes later
Despite their family tradition of giving birthday spankings to children, Yuka was planning on skipping it this year to avoid potentially embarrassing the twins with so many people watching. So, when the girls asked about it, it came as something of a surprise.
"I thought we'd skip it this year since so many of your classmates are around." she told them. When they insisted it wouldn't embarrass them, Yuka went to discuss it with Lucy, who was outright opposed to any spanking that was more than one or two slaps over their clothes. The traditional over the knee type of spanking Yuka, Nana, and Mayu were familiar with was an absolute no-go, and the one time Yuka spanked one of the girls in such a manner led to her spending the night with her parents after Lucy violently attacked her, and had to be talked down by Kouta.
To make it even worse, Yuka's mother severely criticized her for taking it upon herself to discipline someone else's child without her consent, or even knowledge.
To make it even worse than THAT, the older woman asked her husband to watch Yuka's baby, then took her thirty-one year old daughter upstairs, put her over the maternal knee, and spanked her bare bottom until she cried. The only saving grace was her mother's promise to keep quiet about it as long as it never happened again.
"If it does, not only are you going back over my lap, I'm going to use the hairbrush, and let everyone watch!"
After discussing it, Lucy decided that if the twins were fine with it, so was she. So, right in front of everyone, Yuka took the girls one at a time over her knee and gave them eight light slaps over their clothes. After they were done, the guests laughed and applauded as the twins hugged the brunette and returned to playing with their friends.
In the back of her mind, she had to wonder if they'd been hanging around Nana too long.
"Those little brats never stop smiling, do they?" Bando asked Lucy.
"Only when they run out of their favorite cereal." she answered, actually succeeding in getting a laugh out of him.
"They always seem so happy." Moriyama remarked. "I assume that's you and Kouta's doing."
"It's everyone's doing, not just ours." the pink-haired girl replied. "We all know how it feels to have a shitty childhood, so we all try our best to make sure they don't have to."
"I'd say you're doing great so far." one of the other moms spoke up. "Especially after everything you guys have went through."
After Lucy gave birth to Kanae and Aiko, the media attention got even worse. Now, not only was she the near-victim of a heinous murderer/rapist/kidnapper, and the one directly responsible for saving all sixteen of his current prisoners, AND the reason Diclonii memories are now admissible in court, she was ALSO the first Diclonius in history to ever give birth. The media ran special after special after special about her (none of which she was consulted about), and soon, the entire world knew about her childhood at the orphanage, the death of Aiko, her time as a lab specimen, the escape from the Institute's custody, the abduction and rescue of Kouta, her time in Cohabitation, their wedding, her employment at the bakery (which resulted in a short but massive increase in sales), her unusual pregnancy, Officer Mitsuo, the false shoplifting allegation, her obtaining her GED, and the deranged Nurse Ochi who tried to kill her AND her newborns.
They also reported on all the murders she committed, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Now, she no longer had to worry about that coming to light at a bad time (such as when her children started public school) because every set of parents her and Kouta met already knew about it.
Lucy smiled and thanked her for the compliment.
A few minutes later, Nana came over and warned her some strange man had wandered in and was trying to talk to the twins. She and Nana made it to the front yard just in time to hear him say, "Alright, which one of you rude children wouldn't stop kicking the Pregnant Pink-Haired Sugar Goddess?"
The older Diclonius broke into a surprised, but happy smile. The last time she saw FatSo-San was years ago when he came in to tell them he was moving away for a while, but wanted to order one more cake before he did.
"Let's just wait here..." Lucy instructed. The two Diclonii waited around the corner, staying out of sight, but listening to the conversation going on between the pudgy, eccentric man and her young, twin daughters.
"The Pregnant Pink-Haired Sugar Goddess?" Aiko asked in confusion.
"Your mother." he clarified.
"We've never kicked our mom." Kanae replied.
"Yes, you did! Right before you were born!"
The twins looked at each other, finally realizing what the hell he was going on about.
"That was probably Aiko. I wouldn't do something like that to mom." Kanae said, leading to protests from her sister. As much as Lucy wanted to just keep listening to see how far the conversation went, she quietly asked Nana to go get Yuri, then left their hiding spot and approached the twins.
FatSo broke out into an enormous smile when he saw Lucy waving to him, and tried to hurry over to her. He tripped, and would have hit the ground if Aiko hadn't caught him with her vectors. The rotund man turned and thanked her before turning back to the Sugar Goddess and bursting into tears as he hugged her.
"Ohhhhh! Even after all this time, you're still the most beautiful girl evvveeeeerrrrrrr!"
The twins just watched in stunned confusion. They had never seen the guy before, but since their mother hadn't immediately brutalized the man when he grabbed her, they concluded he must be a friend of hers.
"Oh! Mr. Koizumi!"
"Hello, Boss of the Pink-Haired Sugar Goddess!" the man said as he let go of Lucy and hugged Yuri.
"Have you moved back to Japan yet?"
"No, I'm still in Hong Kong. I'm just visiting family, friends, and the Sugar Goddess." he cheerfully replied. Then, he surprised everyone by turning to the twins and continuing his interrupted scolding for their kicking Lucy while she was still pregnant.
"I don't know which one of you did it, but it was extremely rude to keep interrupting the Sugar Goddess like that! How's she supposed to make pastries if she has to stop every five minutes because one of you wouldn't stop kicking her?"
The twins just looked at their mother, then FatSo, and finally, at each other. Like their mother, the two young girls had no problem saying what was on their mind.
"This guys kinda weird." Aiko bluntly remarked.
Her sister nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but I like him. I think he's nice."
Turning to the strange man, the young Diclonii asked if he wanted to come meet their friends and have some cake and ice-cream with everyone. "Sure!" he cheerfully answered. The twins grabbed his hand and proceeded to lead him into the house. As soon as the door closed, Yuri and Nana started laughing their asses off.
"Lucy, your twins are the funniest kids I've ever seen!" Nana laughed.
Thirty minutes later
You'd think the man's odd mannerisms and age would deter children from wanting to be around him, but you'd be wrong. Their parents were understandably a bit concerned about a grown man they'd never met holding hands and playing with children, but Lucy and Yuri assured them he wasn't a threat, which they accepted. When he finally bid them goodbye, every child at the party walked him to the door and waved bye as he left.
And, less than a minute later, he was back.
"I'm sorry, I kinda forgot something." he sheepishly admitted to the child that opened the door. At his request, Kouta, Lucy, and Yuri came out to the sidewalk. Though none of them had any idea why he had asked them to, they soon figured it out once the man waddled over to his car and returned with one of the posters from Azidora Bridal.
"It would make me really happy if you'd sign this for me." he smiled adoringly at Lucy.
"You're not going to ask me to write something crazy on it, are you?"
The man laughed and shook his head. "I only do that for cakes."
Taking the marker from him, she signed it "Kaeda K." and right underneath that, "Pink-Haired Sugar Goddess".
The fanboy burst into tears and tightly hugged Lucy, thanking her again for always being nice to him. He then apologized for getting cake and ice-cream residue on her. Lucy just laughed and told him not to worry about it.
"I can always just wash it. Besides, it's an old dress anyway."
Mr. Koizumi hugged Yuri, then Lucy (again) and bowed to Kouta before he shuffled over to his car. Lucy waved as he drove off, and he was so distracted with waving back, he ran over the sidewalk and clipped a street sign. Hilariously, he got out and straightened the bent sign as much as he could, then waved again, got back in his car, and left.
The sign fell over a few seconds later.
"That guy has to be autistic or something." Kouta remarked. Yuri shook her head, "I thought he was a bit "slow" at first, but it turns out he's just really, REALLY weird."
"Speaking of weird, who invited him?" Kouta asked.
"I thought you did." Yuri replied.
"We thought YOU did." Lucy said.
For a long moment, the three of them shared expressions of confusion before ultimately deciding it didn't matter.
One and a half hours later
The sun was beginning to set when the first guests started leaving. As they did, the twins thanked them for coming, while Yuri offered cookies and pastries for them to take home. Naturally, all the mothers wanted a hug from Lucy, and the pink-haired girl patiently obliged, then tolerated another thirty-six thousand compliments.
"Our school's "Mother/Student" day is coming up next week. Would you be interested in coming?" the teacher asked. Lucy turned to her daughters, both of whom nodded and asked her to do it.
"Alright."
The twins along with the teacher thanked her for agreeing. After she left, Sakura's family and the cheerleaders left at the same time, followed by the rest of the students, Yuka's parents, and finally Yuri. Now, only Bando and Moriyama remained, and they both looked a bit uncomfortable about something. When they asked Kouta and Lucy to step outside with them, the couple complied, unaware that they were about to get the shock of their lives.
"There's something I need to know. It's important, so don't fuckin' lie to me, ok?"
Lucy nodded her head, and Bando then asked her if she remembered the first fight they had.
"Of course. Why?"
"Did you infect me?"
Lucy blinked in surprise, looking at Kouta, then the Prosecutor, and finally, back to Bando. "You mean with the Diclonius virus? Why are you asking about that now?"
"Don't worry about it, just answer the question. Did you infect me or not?"
The Diclonius hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded her head. "Yes, I did."
Bando and the Prosecutor looked at each other, then turned back to Lucy. Moriyama then asked her to clarify something. "If an infected male has sex that results in pregnancy, the child will be born a Diclonius, or more accurately, a Sipelit... correct?"
"Yes." she answered. "But the Anti-Diclonius Birth vaccine killed the virus years ago."
"I... I never got it. I didn't get the sterilization surgery either." the mercenary admitted. "Does that mean if I knock some bitch up, my kid's gonna be like Nana?"
"Yeah, but I don't understand... why are you bringing this up now?"
Bando and the Prosecutor fell silent and looked away. Then, the pink-haired girl's expression changed dramatically as it finally hit her why they were asking.
"A-Are you trying to tell me your... well..."
"Seven weeks..." Moriyama blushed. "My OB/GYN confirmed it this morning."
Lucy looked at the taller woman in shock. A few seconds later, she burst into tears and hugged her.
"Oh my God! I'm so happy for you!"
Moriyama started crying as she happily embraced the Diclonius Queen. The two women became so emotional, it prompted Nana, Yuka, and Mayu to come check on them. When they learned the reason for the sudden emotional outburst, all three of them broke down in tears.
Mayu threw her arms around Bando's neck and cried on him as she told him how happy she was for them. For perhaps the first time in his life, the gruff mercenary didn't try using machismo to disguise his emotions. Instead, he hugged the young girl back and thanked her. He even did the the same for Nana, Yuka, and Lucy. Then, the twins finally took notice of the absence of all the adults, and came outside looking for them. When they found them, the children looked at their parents in concern.
"Why's everyone crying, Mom? Did something bad happen?" Aiko asked.
Lucy shook her head and hugged her children tightly. "We're crying because Miss Moriyama's going to have a baby, and we're so happy for her."
The twins looked skeptical. "She doesn't look like she's having a baby to us." Aiko said. Kanae shook her head in agreement, adding that Bando's food-stuffed stomach made him look more pregnant than Moriyama.
"What the hell did you just say, you little brats?!"
As everyone broke out laughing, the twins bowed and apologized, but exchanged mischievous winks at each other. Lucy held Kouta's hand with a teary smile as they watched their daughters ask her former enemy for a hug. When he refused, the twins looked at each other and started to sniffle, which immediately ceased when the mercenary finally sighed and gave in.
As he knelt down so Lucy's daughters could hug him, he wondered what his own daughter was going to be like. Would she look like Lucy? Nana? One of the twins? Would she be cold like Lucy once was, or soft-spoken like Sakura? Would she be a wise-ass like Nana? Caring and compassionate like Mayu? Would she be smart like her mother? Tough like her father? Both? What would happen when she got interested in boys? What would happen if she DIDN'T?
As scary as the thought of fatherhood was, he was strangely comforted by Lucy's promise to help them through the first couple of years. She WAS raising two Diclonii children of her own, after all, and though he'd never admit it, she'd done an amazing job so far.
"Hey, mom? You still haven't told me what a fuck-buddy is." Aiko innocently reminded.
Well... almost.
The End
See profile for images of the twins and Lucy's AB poster. Note: Images were made with an AI image tool. This is why there are no horns.