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“I’m not a girl.”
Tsukasa doesn’t know what they are, of course. Not quite like Oya, either.
But. Definitely not a girl. But now that they said it out loud,they suppose they have to stand by it. Mama will understand, probably. She loves Oya, so it’ll be fine.
“Is that so?” Mama asks. “So are you like Kitty and ytheir hatchmates, then?”
Tsukasa shakes their head. No, not quite like them, either, but closer. They do like “hatchling” better than “girl” or “daughter”.
Mama nods.
“Well, I guess it could happen,” she says. “I’ll be sure to correct people in the future.”
Tsukasa nods.
Oya and their hatchmates just purr and pat Tsukasa’s head, when Tsukasa tells them.
Auncle Kumo even tells Tsukasa that they’re proud. And Kumochita always seems a bit intimidating.
Another egg. It’s yellow. Not like the pictures of Tsukasa’s egg. Theirs was magenta, like Oya’s fur. This one’s yellow like their eyes. Tsukasa stares at it in awe.
“This will be your little sibling,” Mama says. “What do you think of that?”
“I’m gonna be a big brother!” Tsukasa says, and then they blink.
They do like the sound of that. Big brother. But if they’re a brother, then… does that make him a boy?
That’s what that means, right?
Tsukasa looks down his little sibling in his Oya’s arms and he thinks being a boy doesn’t matter, but he will try his hardest to be a good big brother.
And Auncle Torachnid takes him out for ice cream, after, pride in their words.
“If you desire to take the responsibilities of being eldest,” they say. “With all the responsibilities therein, I believe you can do it.”
Tsukasa smiles, nodding.
Oka-San always offers to take Tsukasa to work with her. Sometimes Tsukasa says yes.
“Oka-San,” he says. “Why do you make monsters?”
“Because they’re incredible,” Ishi says. “Potential, origins, designs and natures… beautiful. Endless.”
“But monsters are for fighting.”
“Oh Tsukasa,” Oka-San says. “Most people say Kitty’s a monster.”
Tsukasa’s eyes widen.
“ Oya-San? ” He asks. Oka-San nods.
“Monsters do fight, yes,” she says. “But that’s not their only purpose. The purpose is they’re… more than human.”
But still Tsukasa wonders “who fights the monsters?”
(And the answer he comes to is “only other monsters can.”)
Tsukasa makes a grab for Oya-San’s camera, and they promptly lift him to eye level with the arm he was reaching with. He smiles, innocently.
“You’ve been interesting in this since you were a baby,” they say. “But you’re still a hatchling, Tsukasa.”
Tsukasa makes another attempt.
“But your photos are so pretty,” he says. “Wanna take them.”
“Cameras are delicate,” Oya-San says. “When you’re older, maybe I’ll even give you mine.”
Tsukasa nods. But he knows he wants to take photos. He wants to take them like Oya-San.
“Pink—”
“Magenta.”
“Tsukasa?”
Tsukasa looks at his mom seriously (or as seriously as a six year old is able). He’s learning as much as he can about photography, after all. And printing, that’s important.
Oka-San smiles at him. She’s helped him learn about the technical side of it. Seems very proud of his interest, says she was the same about monsters as a girl.
“And why magenta?”
“Pink has yellow in it,” Tsukasa replies. “But Oya-San’s fur is magenta and black - their eyes are yellow!”
Tsukasa isn’t a stupid child. He knows that when Mama and Oya-San and his auncles go to the secret meetings, they’re planning dangerous things. Which means that he’s okay watching his little sister.
She’s getting bigger, and she follows him around the house. It’s a lot of fun.
It’s a nice distraction, when he wants to worry. But he still believes their parents will win, whatever adult stuff they’re doing.
Sayo wants to learn the piano. Tsukasa decides he wants to understand, so he learns the violin. He’s good at it, like he’s good at everything.
He drops it, though. Oya-San finally got him a camera! And it looks just like Oya-San’s!
Tsukasa watches his parents go down, the out of control monster attacking them. His hands have Oka-San’s blood, and burns from reaching for Oya-San as they exploded. Shock, they’ll tell him later.
He’s just empty. Just standing there as Sayo sobs.
The next few days are a haze.
He doesn’t want Oya-San’s camera anymore.
(Who fights monsters? Other monsters.)
(Who mourns monsters? Lonely hatchlings.)