Chapter Text
Akira was stoic most of the time, she always had a very serious look for her age, but a while ago it wasn't so difficult to make her let go, laugh, cry, get angry.
But after her mother's death, she held back more, partly because people treated her as if she was going to break at any moment, partly because for her own father, in time she realized how much it hurt him to see her hurt.
Still, she can barely hide her clear expression of annoyance when her father asks her for a favor.
"Akira dear, Mikito, Kuroiwa and I have a mission in the countryside, it will probably take a few days, Iwao's wife is sick, so they don't have anyone to leave the kids with, can you take care of Kuki-kun and Takeomi-kun for a few days?"
She stopped cooking, not that she didn't like children, but it seemed to be an annoyance, still, Dad didn't usually ask her for favors.
"Fine." She said, shrugging her shoulders "And Kuki's mother?"
Her father's silence is torturous, Akira continues stirring the soup, internally regretting the question.
"She got divorced a while ago, I hear she's abroad."
"Oh." Akira said simply.
There were mothers who were taken from their children.
There were mothers who left their children behind.
At least his mother is alive. She was too young to understand that everyone's pain didn't compare.
Upon seeing the boys Akira wonders if being stoic was a trait of the children of investigators, both ten-year-old boys bow to her when their parents leave the house.
"Thank you for taking care of us, Akira-nee-san."
Akira sighed, nodding.
"Just call me Akira, you can take your shoes off and come in."
They obey, Akira felt a little lost, they were polite, calm, but they also seemed to expect a lot of instructions from her.
"Have you been to school yet?" She asked, they nodded "Ok so you can do your homework, I'll make dinner."
"Can you cook?"
Kuki asked, his eyes came alive a little.
"Yea." Akira replied, leading them into the kitchen and quickly arranging the table for them to be seated. "I cook well until."
"Really? Do you know how to make homemade cookies?"
"Kuki-kun! You can't ask for that."
Kuki's animation dimmed a bit when Takeomi elbowed him, Akira continued watching the interaction, Iwao junior bowed and apologized on Urie's behalf as he continued to look hopefully at her.
"I don't know how to make cookies." She said, a little uncomfortable, "I don't like sweets."
Both boys look outraged.
"How can anyone not like sweets?"
"Did you happen to have a lot of cavities Akira-nee-san?"
Akira shook her head, shrugging and thinking of a strategy to stop being the center of attention.
"You can play if you finish the chores before I finish dinner."
The two seem inspired, Akira internally thanks them, they sit down and grab the notebooks from their backpacks while starting to study.
She thought she would have moments of peace, but before she could get all the ingredients for dinner, Takeomi called her.
"I don't know what that kanji means, can you read it for me?"
Akira nodded, going quickly and looking at the kanji Takeomi indicated.
"It means 'honor'." She replied, preparing to head back to the kitchen.
"Can you write the furigana for me?"
Akira held back a sigh, turning back to Takeomi and taking the pencil from his hand, writing the kanji pronunciation next to the word.
"Thank you, Akira-nee-san."
"Only Akira." She remembered, handing over the pencil and heading back to the kitchen counter.
She was just finishing cutting the carrots for the stew, they were very calm indeed, she could barely hear them reading the text in a low voice, but Takeomi called out to her again.
"Can you help me again?"
Akira almost cut his finger, but went to him, repeating the process from before, explaining the meaning of the kanji and noting the pronunciation on the side.
The situation repeated itself three more times, each time Takeomi called her, the fifth time Akira looked at Urie he was concentrating on his own task, he hadn't asked for her help even once.
"Listen, Takeomi…-kun." She knows it sounds rude when she doesn't use the honorifics, it was one of the reasons she did that, Akira made her voice as smooth as possible. "Kuki-kun seems to be pretty smart, why don't you ask him for help?"
The two fell silent and then exchanged glances with each other and then looked at her again.
"Actually…" Takeomi started "Urie doesn't know the kanji either, he's copying it from me."
Ah so that's what they whispered when she turned her back, Akira felt her pride being scratched but decided to be merciful to the boys.
"You can ask me for help too." She looked at Kuki "I'll write the pronunciation for you too."
Urie stared at her for a few moments, he looked a little surprised, but before Akira could write he broke into a big smile.
"Thanks!"
Okay, for a moment, he looks adorable.
Maybe, due to the numerous interruptions, Akira took a little longer with dinner and they finished their homework and as promised she let them play.
The quiet, polite and calm boys were apparently replaced by demonic pests while she was making a passion fruit juice.
"Let's play investigator and ghoul!"
"I'll be the investigator!" Takeomi yelled, Akira thanks for living in a house and not an apartment.
"No! I want to be the investigator!"
"You're gone last time!"
The discussion continues, Akira counts the seconds mentally.
"Akira-nee-san!"
"Solve this with jankenpon." She complained, but maybe because of her innate control her voice didn't come out as annoyed. "Only Akira." She remembered once more.
Takeomi wins, Urie is the ghoul, Akira overhears the joke, hoping none of them will destroy the house.
It is a magpie mixed with hide and seek and also an imitation of CCG jargon.
"It's a koukaku ghoul, probably an A to S, we should proceed with caution."
"Aha!" She hears Urie jump out of his hiding place "You're too weak human! I'm going to devour you!"
"Don't underestimate me, ghoul! Me and my brother Arima will defeat you!"
Akira laughed unexpectedly, Arima-nii-san? Seriously? She really wanted to tell him that, he was getting more and more famous.
"I also have an ally!"
Akira raised her eyebrows.
"This is the ghoul-cat! She's already devoured over a thousand investigators!"
Maris Stella? Akira was sure he'd left her in the room, but even weirder was that her cat wasn't growling and attacking Urie.
Still, it was better to keep those boys from disturbing Maris Stella.
"Well, how about you guys leave my cat alone and come over for dinner?"
They look upset that the game was over so quickly, but Urie put Maris Stella down and Takeomi put away the toy sword.
"Can we play more later?"
Akira served dinner, shaking his head.
"You have to shower and go to sleep at nine." She said more to herself than to them and hearing the moans of lamentation she prefers to negotiate "If we are organized, we will have free time this week, you can play a lot if you behave yourself."
She doesn't know if they fully understand her, but the idea of playing a lot bought them instantly.
"It's delicious!" Urie exclaimed when he tasted the food.
"You cook very well, Akira-nee-san."
"Only Akira." She insisted, tasting her own food and holding back a smile.
They talk about their parents over dinner, Urie insists that Mikito is stronger, while Takeomi defends Iwao.
"My father has caught over a thousand ghouls." Kuki lied, stuffing her mouth with rice and vegetable stew.
"My father already took twice that."
Akira feels a bit bitter, investigators Iwao and Mikito had already won promotions while her father stayed behind.
Sometimes she felt guilty, her father had to abandon missions to take care of her, but looking at Urie, shouldn't Investigator Mikito be having a hard time too? He was also a single father
"My father can fight for three days straight."
"My father can fight for ten days with his eyes closed!"
"Akira-nee-san, who do you think is stronger?"
Akira stared at the two for a moment, chopsticks in her mouth, she didn't expect to be included in the discussion.
"My father has more quinques than your parents." She said shrugging her shoulders and going back to eating.
The boys looked at each other without arguments, they left for a discussion about pokémon.
Akira chose Charmander when they went back to asking her opinion and finally, they finished eating.
The bath wasn't that difficult, they were already ten years old, they made sure they could do it themselves, so Akira left them alone, taking the opportunity to pack their uniform and material for the next day.
She spread their uniforms along with hers behind the door, packing their bags and putting food in for Maris Stella.
After half an hour she knocked on the bathroom door.
"Boys, are you okay?"
The door opened, a wave of steam nearly blinded her, Akira blinked, looking down and seeing the two of them wrapped in towels.
Urie was pretty dry even, but Takeomi, he was a wreck.
"You have to dry your hair properly, come here." With a sigh, Akira bent down, using another towel to dry Kuroiwa's hair, then she dried his ears.
She was about to get up, but something made her look at Urie, he was much more independent than Takeomi, she quickly noticed why, unlike her and Urie, he had a mother to help him every step of the way.
"You look wet too, come here."
She did the same process she did with Kuroiwa, Urie complained a little but let her do it, looking away when Akira dried his ears.
When they were changed and cleaned, Akira prepared for her own bath, Urie asked if they could play with the cat.
Akira would normally say no, but Maris Stella was already in the room with them, which was pretty unusual for her extremely apathetic cat.
"I'm going to shower now, I didn't introduce her properly, but she's Maris Stella, I'll entrust her to you. Don't stress her out."
They obeyed her, Akira didn't take long, pulling her hair into a bun and changing her clothes in the bathroom..
With the futon on the floor and them sleepy, Akira figured it would be pretty simple to sleep, but apparently they didn't have the same plans as her..
"We only sleep after drinking milk and cookies." Takeomi told.
"Serious?"
Akira was a little skeptical considering how sleepy they were, but Urie seemed to get energetic from the moment she seemed to be in doubt.
She didn't like cookies, but luckily her father did.
"You're going to sleep after this, right?"
Both promise yes, drinking hot milk and eating the cookies, Urie complains that they don't have chocolate chips, Takeomi elbowed him.
When they finished, Urie was still fighting sleep.
"Can we watch…" he yawned, "Naruto?"
"No, but you can dream about it." Akira responded by taking the glasses of milk and getting up, Takeomi lay down.
"Akira-nee-san, won't you cover for us?"
She thought for a few moments, a no almost popping in her mouth.
"You can do it yourself, you're already big."
Both look disappointed, but don't argue with her, Akira went to the kitchen, yawning, she washed the dishes and then prepared the lunchboxes.
It was nine past ten in the evening when her father called.
"They've gone to bed, I'm setting up the lunchboxes and I'm going too." She replied calmly "Are you ok?"
"I am, didn't they give you much trouble?"
It was less worse than she'd imagined.
"It is not so difficult."
"That's good dear, please be nice to Urie-kun, he's going through a hard time."
Akira hates that for a moment, but nods.
"He is well." As much as she hates it, she will also do her best to fulfill her father's request. "Dad, how do I make a really cat-shaped onigiri?"
Her father was silent on the other end of the line, he had stopped making her lunch box some time ago, she signed that task so he wouldn't waste so much time.
With a laugh he patiently instructed her, Akira even made two cute lunch boxes.
Her father hung up shortly after teaching her, when she actually finished it was almost ten o'clock, Akira yawned, heading back to the bedroom.
The boys were sleeping, she thanked him for that, Urie had some crumbs in his mouth, Takeomi was taking up most of the futon, sighing Akira went to her own bed, Maris Stella jumped out of the way and ran to go to bed with her owner.
"Your sold." Akira insulted the cat, covering up and feeling Maris Stella headbutt her.
She fell asleep almost immediately, funny, it didn't feel like such a tiring day