Chapter Text
Yuji was six when he realized just how strange he really was. It was about a month or so into his first real year at school when he figured it out. The other kids didn’t like to be around him, they wouldn’t play with him, because they thought he was weird. He was too strong for a six year old, too good at climbing what he shouldn’t, he could jump too high and was far too loud. His teachers didn’t dislike him, he could tell that much, but they didn’t particularly like him either. But the children were a different story. They kept their distance.
In theory, Yuji always knew he was odd, that he wasn’t like other children. Other children were completely human, didn’t have another form with claws, glowing eyes, and sharp teeth - even if he wasn’t in that form all that much anymore. Other children had parents - actual parents, not the ones he just decided to call that, he barely saw them anyway - instead of being taken care of primarily by his brother and Big Sis Laiha and Auntie REM. Other Children didn’t have so many people they considered direct family, didn’t choose to consider family so many people who weren’t. Other children watched cartoons instead of Don Shine, considered the characters of them their heroes instead of two giants who fought monsters - admittedly, those two giants were his Big Bro Riku and Uncle Zero.
The point was, as Yuji was currently telling himself as he climbed a tree in the park, Yuji was not like other children and they shunned him because of it. Even at the young age of six, he knew he was more lucky than his brother was at this age. Big Bro Riku just had Big Bro Pega and Big Sis Moa for friends and no family at all. But still, it didn’t change how much the other children’s actions hurt. They made Yuji sad and he could tell they made Big Bro Riku sad as well.
Yuji was sitting in the tree now, perched on a nice branch that he decided was plenty sturdy to hold all his six year old weight. His brother was off a ways, watching him. Unlike the adults at school, Big Bro Riku knew not to worry about Yuji climbing things. Well, most things.
Looking out from his perch in the tree, Yuji could see more of the park then before. All the children running around and playing with each other... It made something in him feel funny, but he wasn’t really sure what it was. It was kinda like being sad, but not exactly. He decided it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to let those other kids get him down anymore! He was getting to be a big kid, after all, he was a whole six years old! He was smart enough to know that what those kids thought didn’t matter.
With a huff, he pulled a little packet of fruit gummies out of his pocket. He’d managed to grab a few and hide them in his pockets before they left home. (Truthfully Riku had seen him, he’d known that. But Big Bro Riku didn’t say anything about it. He knew that Yuji didn’t enjoy the park as much as he used to, not since his efforts to be social and have friends were dismissed by his peers.) He tears the packet open, as gently as possible so that it the fruit gummies don’t go flying out of the packet. That had happened before, but he’d worked really hard to figure out how to open them without it happening. He grabs one and puts it in his mouth, idly chewing.
“Heya!” Yuji jumps, wrapping his legs tightly around the branch and grabbing it with one hand, his other hand holding his packet of fruit gummies tightly. Near him, perched on another branch of the tree, was a girl, with light brown hair and bright eyes that... didn’t quite seem right (They seemed just a slight bit inhuman. They were a bit of a weir color.). She was grinning, though her smile shrunk as she tilted her head and asked, “Did I startle you?”
After a moment of work, Yuji returned to his previous position. He gives the girl an odd look, “Yes!” Then he looks away, remembering that the branches they were on were rather high off the ground, at least for six year olds. “How did you get up here?”
She laughs, her smile returning in full force, “I climbed silly. Isn’t that how you got up here?”
“Well yeah but...” Yuji wasn’t really sure how to put it. He’d seen how the parents of other children where when they tried to climb trees. “Most of the time parents don’t like it when kids climb trees. I’ve seen adults lecturing my big bro for letting me climb the trees.”
The girl shrugged, laughing slightly, “Who cares what those adults think.” She moves from her position half sitting and half crouching on the branch to simply sit. “My parents don’t mind, so it’s okay. They know that I’ll be fine even if I did fall.”
Even if she did fall? That was an odd thing to say, though Yuji supposed he couldn’t talk. Probably the only reason Yuji was allowed to climb the trees is because he was a good climber and probably wouldn’t get hurt if he by some chance fell. Still, this girl is strange.
“So why are you up here?” He finally asked. If she was going to make fun of him or something, they might as well get it over with.
“Oh, I just thought you looked lonely.” She said, then leaned forward so she was closer to him, “So! Do you want to be friends?”
“Be friends?” Yuji echoed. For a moment, it seemed nice, the idea of having a friend like all the other kids. But... “You don’t want to be friends with me,” He lamented, “I’m weird.”
The girl tilted her head and frowned, for a moment, in thought. Then, her smile returned and she declared, “Well that’s alright! I’m weird too.”
Yuji was six, he just couldn’t help the flicker of hope that came with those words. “Really?”
“Yeah!” The girl cheered, “Oh! I’m Suzume.”
“Susu... Zuzu... Zusu...” As a six year old, Yuji struggled with Suzume’s name. It had two sounds that sounded very similar, along with as a whole sounding like another word Yuji already knew. “Susume?”
“Suzume.” She corrected with a giggled, “Su-zu-me.”
“Su-su-me.” She let out a dramatic sigh, one that Yuji knew wasn’t serious.
“Okay,” She said, “We can work on that later. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Yeah, what’s your name?”
Oh, yeah, Yuji hadn’t introduced himself. With an excitement he hadn’t felt since last night when he got Big Bro Riku to tell him about one of his fights against a monster, he says, “I’m Yuji!”
There’s a sparkle in Suzume’s eyes when she hears that, “Yeah! Yuji’s a cool name.”
“So is yours, Susume!” Yuji nodded, his new friends enthusiasm catching up with him. He knew he had messed up her name again - it was so hard! - but she just smiled.
“Suzume.” She corrected, though she didn’t seem very annoyed at how he kept messing it up.
“Susume.” Yuji frowned again, “I’ll get it. Eventually.”
“Of course you will.!” Suzume shifts to a crouch again, a huge grin on her face, “Now let’s go play!”
And so the did. Yuji and Suzume played until she had to go home. After, Yuji runs to Big Bro Riku, who he knew was watching the whole thing. Still, he felt the need to tell him all about his new friend. He was just so excited.
“Big Bro! Big Bro!” He cheered as he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him towards his brother. “Guess what! Guess what!”
“Oh? What is it, Yuji?” Big Bro Riku asked, squatting down to hug Yuji and pick him up.
Yuji response with a huff, “No, you have to guess.”
Big Bro Riku laughed and gave what must have been a half hearted guess, “Uh... You found a new bug friend?”
Giggling, Yuji shook his head, “No! But I did get a new friend!”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah! Her name’s Susu - Zuzu - Suzu... Susume! And she’s really cool!” Riku listened with a smile as Yuji began to talk and talk about his new friend, “She likes to climb trees and plays with me! We played Ultras and Kaijus and then we played the floor is lava and then we played tag and hide’n’seek! She’s really fun!”
“Well,” Big Bro Riku began, “I guess going to the park today was good.”
“Yeah!”
---
Yuji was seven when he learned why Suzume was so strange. They were sitting in a tree, just like when they first met, watching the children run around below them. They were both munching on some fruit gummies, keeping them both occupied.
“Hey, Yuji?” Suzume called out, though it was quiet. Yuji looked over, confused. It was unusual for her to be so quiet. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Really?” Yuji asked, “What is it?”
She frowned for a moment, “Well, the thing is...” She took a deep breath, “You gotta keep it a secret, alright?”
Yuji tilted his head. Whatever it was, he would keep it a secret, but it was odd that she was telling him he had to. Did she do something she wasn’t supposed to and didn’t want to get in trouble? “Okay, I can keep it a secret.”
Suzume nods, very serious, “Alright so here’s my big secret, “She said, then in a low voice, continued, “I’m not human.”
“Huh? You’re not?”
She shook her head, “No,” She seemed very serious, almost too serious for being her age. “I’m an alien.”
“Oh,” That made sense, at least it did to Yuji’s seven year old brain. “Okay.”
“O-Okay?” Suzume echoed, bewildered, “Just okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve got plenty of family that aren’t human. Like Big Bro Kurow and Uncle Zena are aliens, so’s Uncle Zero and a whole bunch of other people, and Auntie REM’s a computer.” Yuji explained. Really, Suzume not being human just made her fit in with Yuji’s world all the better. “Big Bro and I aren’t even entirely human!”
“Well I guess that’s good...” She noted, then stopped. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“Uh... Which part?”
She leans closer, a small frown on her face, “What do you mean you and brother aren’t human? You two are aliens too?”
Yuji rubs the back of his head, “Well... Kinda?” He says, “It’s a bit complicated. But like we’re both human and alien?”
Suzume stopped leaning and crossed her arms, “Both human and alien?” She echoes, “How?”
“Uh, well, we’re like, kinda clones of this one guy and - actually,” There was probably a better way to explain this, “You know Ultraman Geed?”
“Of course, who hasn’t seen him before?” She responds, “But what does that have to do with any of this?”
In a loud whisper, a pointless gesture as no one would be able to hear them unless they got very close to the tree, “He’s Big Bro Riku.”
There was a surprised look on Suzume’s face at that, “Your brother is Ultraman Geed?” She gasped, “That’s so cool!”
“I know!” He gushed, then smiled, “But see! It doesn’t matter that neither of us are human, or completely human.”
“Yeah!” She nods, “Either way we’re best friends!”
Yuji was a lot happier that day.