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It was the middle of winter and Ann and Shiho were doing some Christmas shopping. If it were up to Ann, she would leave it to the last possible moment, much to Shiho’s dismay, she did so out of love.
Mainly, it happened when Ann told Shiho how Akira and Ryuji’s kids were doing, which reminded Shiho that they should probably get some presents for her soon-to-be nephew and nieces-in-law. Shiho had never bought christmas presents for kids before, so she wanted plenty of time to find something suitable.
They were looking into the window of a toy store, trying to decide if Lavenza would prefer a doll house or a toy truck (they would later decide to get her both), when Ann noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
A little boy in a gray raincoat, sitting in the snow.
Ann tugged on Shiho’s sleeve to get her attention and pointed to him. “Do you think he’s lost?”
“I can’t see his parents anywhere,” replied Shiho, glancing around the street. “We should check if he needs help.”
Ann nodded, and they approached the boy. “Hey, kiddo. You okay?”
The boy looked up at her, and Ann finally recognised him. “Jose?”
Jose’s yellow eyes were wide as he exclaimed. “Pretty Lady!”
“Pretty Lady?” repeated Shiho, giving Ann a look.
Ann shrugged. “He calls me that. Always has.” Shiho still didn’t look convinced. “Shiho, are you jealous of a child?”
“...No.”
“We’ll come back to this jealousy thing later,” said Ann, patting Shiho on the shoulder. “Jose, how did you get to Shibuya?”
“I don’t know,” chirped Jose. “I was in Mementos, picking some flowers, when everything went weird and bright, and I woke up here. I continued studying humans, but everyone here’s really mean. They won’t talk to me!”
Shiho curled an eyebrow. Had people really just let a small child - Jose didn’t look any older than five - wander around Shibuya alone without at least trying to stop him? Her question was answered when a passerby took a moment to stare at her and her fiance and looked right through Jose.
Was Jose invisible? If that was the case, it made sense for Ann to be able to see him, since she had some connection to the Metaverse, but why her?
Maybe it was just a stroke of fate.
“Well, we can’t leave him here,” said Ann, giving Shiho a begging look.
Shiho nodded. “It would be cruel,” she agreed. “He can stay with us for a night or two, while we figure things out.”
“Thank you so much!” exclaimed Ann, hugging Shiho. “You’re the best.”
She extended her hand to Jose, pulling him to his feet. “Come on, Jose, let’s get out of the cold.”
Without a moment's hesitation, Jose grabbed hold of Ann’s hand, following her and Shiho home. About halfway there, he reached for Shiho’s hand too, and Shiho found she couldn’t refuse.
***
Ann and Shiho’s home was warm and inviting, a far cry from the cold streets of Shibuya, and Jose settled right into it. Too warm, however. Jose felt uncomfortable in his raincoat, and Ann realized that she hadn’t seen him wear anything else. Fortunately, Ann had found a spare set of pajamas that Morgana had left and given them to Jose to change into (not without a minor hiccup with him struggling to find one of the armholes).
Once that was sorted, Shiho made some hot chocolate for everyone to warm them up. As she was bringing Jose his hot chocolate - in a small mug so he could hold it properly - she couldn’t help but think how cute he looked in Morgana’s paw print patterned pajamas, even if they had looked slightly big on him. They had been a joint gift from Ryuji and Futaba. Morgana had thrown a huge tantrum over them, even though they ended up becoming some of his favorite clothes.
Jose took a sip of the hot chocolate, scrunching up his face at the taste. “This tastes nothing like flowers,” he whined. “What is it?”
“It’s hot chocolate,” replied Ann, sitting down next to him. “It’s one of my favorite drinks.”
“...Then I guess it’s not that bad,” mumbled Jose, taking another sip of the drink, shuffling up so he could lean against Ann’s shoulder. “I missed people seeing me,” he said quietly. “It was lonely. Even in Mementos sometimes…”
Ann gave him one of the softest looks Shiho had ever seen from her fiance and said, “Oh, honey… Would a hug help?”
Jose put his hot chocolate down on the table and cocked his head to one side. “What’s a hug?”
Without another word, Ann scooped Jose up into her arms, holding him tightly, and Jose buried his head in her shoulder. “I like hugs,” he said softly. “You’re warm.”
Ann hummed. “I use fire magic, remember? It makes my body warmer than other people’s,” she explained, patting Jose on the head. It was smooth, yet firm, like a hard shell sitting above his face unnaturally where his hair would be.
Slowly, Jose’s eyes began to droop. “Are you sleepy?” Ann asked him.
“I don’t…know.” Jose replied, giving a tiny yawn in the middle of the sentence. “I never usually need to sleep.”
Shiho gave Ann a confused look and Ann shrugged. “Really? Well, do you want to try?”
“How do I do it?”
“First, you close your eyes,” prompted Ann. Jose stared at her for a moment, then closed his eyes. As he did, Ann couldn’t help but notice that they were beginning to darken into a rich brown. “...Now you just have to take some deep breaths and relax.”
Ann moved her hand to pat Jose on the head, and she was startled when a piece of it began to crack, and it came off in her hands only to disappear shortly afterwards, revealing a patch of fluffy blond hair underneath.
“Jose!” Ann whispered, loud enough that her concern was present. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah…” Jose said, seemingly not bothered by it, still snuggling up against her chest. Ann didn’t know what compelled her to do so, but she tapped the hair Jose had somehow sprouted. Jose giggled tiredly at the sudden feeling.
“That feels nice…”
“Do you… like it, Jose?” Shiho asked, somehow calmer about the situation than Ann was.
“Mhm…”
So Shiho sat down next to Ann, purposefully taking another piece off. “Here, let me help you get that off.”
Though Ann flinched, when Shiho patted Jose’s hair, she saw the boy smile at the two of them. So Ann helped her break off parts of the eggshell-like structure that occupied his head.
Eventually, Ann had broken off the final piece, and Jose was left with a full head of bright fluffy blond hair.
“That must feel a lot better,” Shiho said softly once they were done, but Jose didn’t reply. “Jose?”
Jose blinked, looking up at Shiho with hazy eyes. “Huh?”
“Is there something wrong?”
“I feel funny…” Jose mumbled. “Can you two stay with me?”
“Aww, are you sleepy?” chirped Ann, tapping Jose on his tiny wooden nose. “You’re so cute!”
As she tapped him on the nose, it began to magically change shape, turning into a cute button nose, and Jose sneezed. “That tickled!” he whined.
Shiho covered her mouth in shock at the display, but this time, it was the way Ann looked at her that told her this was a good thing, and nothing to worry about. Sitting down next to her fiance, Shiho watched Ann run her fingers through Jose’s fluffy hair.
“It almost looks like feathers,” she said with a chuckle. “Like a cute little duckling…”
Jose mumbled something that Shiho couldn’t quite hear, then said, “I love you, Mama…”
“Jose, what did you just-”
But the kid was already fast asleep against Ann’s chest, and Shiho didn’t have the heart to wake him. Looks like they were sleeping on the couch tonight…
***
Ann and Shiho were quite rudely awakened from their peaceful slumber by Akira and Ryuji all but kicking down the door to be let in. Moving a still sleeping Jose to Shiho’s lap, she went to let them in, grumbling, “You two both have keys. Let yourself in next time.”
Akira grinned; clearly he didn’t mind being told off. “Is Jose okay?” he asked.
“Mister!” exclaimed Jose, climbing off Shiho’s lap to hug Akira’s knees. “Can you see me too?”
Akira petted him on the head, doing a good job of hiding his surprise at Jose’s brown eyes and blonde hair. “Of course we can see you.”
Jose hugged Akira tighter. “I’m so happy!”
“Yeah?” said Akira with a chuckle.
Jose nodded. “I tried something called sleeping last night. I didn’t get it at first, but Pretty Lady helped me. It’s strange, I usually don’t need to sleep. Humans have to sleep a lot though, right?”
Ryuji gave Akira a look. “So, are we going to tell him, or…?”
“We should,” mumbled Akira, crouching down to Jose’s level. “Jose, do you feel any different today?”
Jose nodded. “Mhmm! I feel more floaty and happy!”
“How do I say this…?” mumbled Akira. “I think that’s because you became human.”
Jose cocked his head in confusion. “I’m… human?”
“Sure seems like it,” said Ryuji. “You’re a spitting image of Ann and Shiho. Got her hair and her eyes.”
“So, who’s he going to stay with?” asked Akira. “I would offer to let him stay with me and Sumi, but between us, Morgana and Lavenza, the apartment is starting to get a bit crowded.”
Ryuji hummed in agreement. “Ditto with me, Haru and Sophia.”
“Surely it should be Jose’s choice,” interjected Shiho.
Akira clicked his tongue, looking over at the small boy. “I suppose you’re right. So, Jose, who do you want to stay with?” asked Akira.
“I get to pick?” he said, looking up at Ann.
Ann ruffled his hair. “Yep. It's all up to you, duckling.”
Without a moment's hesitation, Jose wrapped his arms around Shiho’s knees. “I wanna stay with you and Mama!”
Shiho’s eyes widened, and she gingerly reached down to pat Jose on the head. Was this really a good idea? She didn’t know the first thing about kids, outside of the handful of times she babysat her soon to be nieces and nephew.
“Shiho, I know how hard life has been on you. I can take care of him myself, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s ok.” Shiho refused. “I want Jose to be a part of our lives. Besides…” She and Ann looked down to see Jose nestled up against Shiho’s leg. “I think he’s grown attached to me.”
“I guess it’s settled then.” Ryuji shrugged, nudging Ann in the shoulder. “Congratulations on becoming a mom, sis.”
Akira smirked. “It was bound to happen eventually, considering how things have been going recently. First Morgana and Lavenza, then Sophia, and now Jose… Us Sakura-Sakamoto kids really do have a talent for attracting magic children, huh?”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Ann with a smile on her face. “I wonder how the others are going to react?”
“Let’s find out,” replied Ryuji with a grin, taking out his phone and snapping a picture of Shiho holding Jose. “And send!”
Almost immediately, the group chat was flooded with replies.
Haru : Aww, he’s just the cutest.
Futaba: It seriously happened again?
Makoto: He has your eyes, Shiho.
Sumire: Congratulations!
Yusuke: It appears I’ve become an uncle once more…
Yusuke: I should create a painting to commemorate the occasion.
Haru: You know you’re not allowed to paint until you recover from last time.
Yusuke: Surely an exception can be made, on this the most auspicious of occasions?
Makoto: No. Go to bed.
Yusuke: You wound me, Queen.
The last person to reply to the message was Morgana, who had been given one of Futaba’s own phones (which she had installed some extra safety features on, especially for her nephew) a few weeks prior.
Morgana: Does this mean I’m not the littlest anymore. :(
Ann: Yep. Jose’s about two years younger than you.
Morgana: That’s not fair!
Morgana: I’ve always been the littlest!
Akira: You’ll always be my baby, Momo.
That seemingly cheered Morgana up a little.
Morgana: Okay! If I can’t be the littlest, then I’ll be the best big cousin ever instead!
With that, Jose had officially been welcomed into the family.