Chapter Text
It was another mandatory meeting between all the invigilators, but this time there was no screaming or shouting in the conference room.
Instead, all of them silently stared.
There was a Head Invigilator A mini-me sitting in A's seat in the invigilator's meeting.
What.
"A-A-A?!" D shrieked, jolting out of his seat, nearly stumbling over the table, and pointing at the kid near-simultaneously, his whole body twitching in shock. He could do no better impression of a fish thrown out of water.
None of them could comment. Each of them had a similar reaction to D, so utterly thrown out of their depth by the sight of a kid looking like A in A's seat.
No, really. What?
Did A have a kid?!
But A's like the youngest of all of them. Barely even 20 years old! This kid was like 8, how could A have a kid who was like 8 years old- Why would his kid even be in the system-
Seemingly unaffected by their shock (that cold, unemotional expression! it was the same as A's!), the little boy, who could be no older than eight, quietly closed his book (was that an English dictionary?!) and then offered it to D. "Do you need to look up a word?" (It fucking was!! And he thought that D wanted to look up a word beginning with A!!)
D sputtered and flailed his hands, not knowing what to do or say. What. What. What? That word could not be emphasized any more times.
Which part could anyone comment on? An A mini-me? Son, brother, cousin, relative? In the system? Sitting in the invigilators' meeting? In A's seat? Reading a fucking dictionary like a picture book? A dictionary of a foreign language? How old was he?! What- What the fuck was going on?!
"Uh, um, kid, what's your name?" An invigilator asked, making all of them want to applaud them for even being able to get out a word in this situation but also shout, What was the point of knowing the kid's name? They didn't even know A's real name! Wasn't the more important question, What the kid was doing here? And where's A?
Ignorant to their thoughts and mental panic, the boy simply answered. "You Huo."
"...A?!" Z shouted, the name sounding strangled in her throat. Her hands twitched as if she wanted to shake the boy - and they all did because if Z, who was the closest to A, reacted like that, didn't that mean that A's real name was- and this kid was-
The boy turned his head to look at her, not really because his eyes were oddly lowered, even more so than A's gazes often were, and then blinked. It wasn't that big of a reaction, not even that noticeable of a blink, but for A, it was an expression equivalent to immense confusion and wonder in another.
"...Chu Yue?" The boy asked, finally completely looking up once he realized it was her. In full view, his face really was a replica of their male head invigilator's, only much younger and even softer.
Z stared even more and then seemed to swallow down a lot of her thoughts. "...Yes." She confirmed to the boy and then asked quite blandly for the unexplainably odd circumstance of seeing your colleague many years younger than he should be. Her voice was still concerned and gentle though. "What happened? Do you remember? Or do you at least know what... place you found yourself in in this... world? You are supposed to turn twenty this year, by the way."
Ah, yes, many of the invigilators understood by Z's wording. This must have been the aftermath of some kind of exam in the system. That there was an exam which could turn you into a kid and that A, their invincible head invigilator, got caught was, quite frankly, incredible (impossible to believe and yet), but yes, that must have been what happened. It was much more believable than their youngest invigilator having such an old little kid at least.
Their heartburn was cured a little bit.
Their minds were still pounding and racing with wild thoughts.
For a kid who was told that he was actually supposed to be an adult, You Huo's reaction was very weak. If there was any reaction besides a two second pause at all.
"It said that it was a History exam." The boy answered more like a stoic student getting called to answer or a soldier reporting a situation than an actual kid telling what should be an exciting story. "After I woke up, it also asked if I remembered anything and then sent two old men to bring me here when I said no."
Despite finally getting more of an understanding of the situation (if they know the problem, they can begin to fix it), all of them felt more alarm and shock and panic (wait, what did this- this little kid just say-).
"You followed two old men?!" D shouted in shock. Sure, his panicking mind still managed to figure out that the 'two old men' must have been NPCs sent by the 'it' the kid was talking about, the system, but a kid who suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place without recollection of anything just went up and followed two old men- "Didn't your mom ever tell you not to follow adults you don't know and suspicious old men with candy?!"
This time, the boy blinked and tilted his head a little. "...No? I think it was the opposite."
Everyone choked. WHAT?!
This time, their minds couldn't calm down. All of them began shouting something at the kid, their minds filled with panic, worry, immense worry and concern, lectures, and questions.
So, so many questions and concerns.
When the little boy looked overwhelmed but didn't cry like ordinary little kids would when faced by a bunch of strangers who were shouting at them (even if it was mostly worry), they only became even more concerned.
---
Of course, before they could get too overwhelming, someone with sense shouted and forced them all to back off and not yell at the kid.
That it was Gin who told them to shut up and not yell at A was shocking, but all of them, even the moderates, silenced, effectively scolded by his glare and protective position in front of the kid and the sight of Z having scooted over to mini A's side completely to hold his hand. She didn't quite count or say anything at all, but You Huo breathed in and out deeply, calmly as if he was just normally breathing, unaffected by anything, and yet breathing also in a manner so reminiscent of how people would do so to calm down when they were on the verge of a panic attack.
Kid You Huo behaved in a way so similar to his invincible, aloof, cold adult self that they almost forgot that he was really just that, a kid.
He was strong and abnormally mature, they could already tell that by how he behaved rather calmly surrounded by adults he didn't know in a room he wasn't familiar with (fuck, earlier, this kid was reading a dictionary like some magazine in a clinic's waiting room), but that didn't excuse their behavior.
"Sorry..." Many invigilators apologized, feeling very guilty. A never cared too much about their aggressive, loud debates and fights, much less being in the middle of them despite never really participating, but this was very different. Actually, now they all felt very guilty about all those invigilators' meetings that they fought in too. Their hearts thrummed with guilt.
When mini A gave a nod as if he didn't really care, but he accepted the apology said, they only felt more guilt.
This kid... acted so uncaring and tough and yet was so nice.
Was their adult A the same way and they never realized it?
"You really shouldn't follow old men you don't know though..." An invigilator commented quietly, weakly, but with great concern, fearful of this kid that might follow kidnappers and who knows what else. Sure, the kid seemed smart and tough and the 'real A' was an adult now so they didn't have to worry about this kid being outside, but still, his mind was shaking at the thought of such a little kid being out, unaware of the many dangers of the world and unsafe.
The kid quietly listened to his concern before shaking his head. "Mother said to." He informed.
All of them were agitated again. They hadn't forgotten that. What kind of mother said this?! Why?! When would it ever be a good idea?! Did his mother want him to be kidnapped by- by- by p- old men?!
Sensing their hysteria, Z coughed and said. "I think it'd be good if I say a few things." She turned to little You Huo and gave a very gentle, but apologetic look as she squeezed his hand. "I should be asking your older self for this, but can I?"
Little You Huo placed his other hand on top of their joined hands. "My older self wouldn't mind either." He'd always trust you, Chu Yue, went unsaid by little You Huo's gentle hand and eyes.
Chu Yue looked like she was overwhelmed for a moment before she smiled and ruffled little You Huo's head. "Same, kid." She'd always trust him too. Even if they switched places and she was the one who was younger, she'd always trust him too.
At Chu Yue's big smile and playful head pat, little You Huo couldn't help but smile a little too. It was a small thing, but all of them stared. Had they ever seen A smile?
It was beautiful.
Just as it was very ephemeral and disappeared into his default expression again.
All of them missed it, wanted to see adult A smile now, but they turned their attention to Z who seemed to contemplate on what to say for a few seconds before explaining.
"You Huo's mother... wasn't really around. He was always left in someone else's care or at a boarding school." Or with eye doctors and researchers, but Z couldn't really say 'little A was left with people who could technically be defined as mad scientists since he was five' now, could she. Or people who were fine with doing parental consented, but minor individual non-consensual body modification and experiments either.
Some people breathed out in relief. Okay. This was better. Much better. Slightly?
"You go to boarding school?" An invigilator asked in disbelief. "How old are you? Five? Eight?"
"Seven." You Huo answered.
"And you go to boarding school?" The invigilator repeated in a little bit of hysteria as he thought of the heavy foreign dictionary the kid was reading earlier. Was this kid already reading high level academic texts and taking tests? "There's boarding school for kindergarteners? No, wait, seven. There's boarding school for elementary schoolers?" The invigilator asked before muttering to himself. "That does not sound much better."
You Hou nodded. "There is. Both. Mother registered me as soon as she could."
Although he said it unemotionally without a hint of bitterness or resentment or anything, just as if it was a normal fact found in a textbook, all of them heard it as 'my mom got rid of me as soon as she could' and looked to Z in disbelief.
Z shrugged. "She... wasn't really around." She repeated helplessly.
But You Huo looked like such a good kid!, all of them wanted to protest on A's behalf. You Huo looked like he didn't care, but surely any kid would. Gin, who was an orphan and has always thought of having a family when growing up, was even more bewildered, wondering which was better: having no parents or having one which didn't care much for your existence, even seemed to want to get rid of you.
"His father?" Another invigilator asked. No one commented on how she was a hardliner, all of them feeling their heartstrings getting tugged by their male head invigilator's younger self and hidden backstory. If this went on, all of them felt destined to turn into moderates, no, A's supporters by the end of the day.
Z gave an even more helpless shrug. "Not sure. A had never met him before and no one mentioned him either."
"What about his relatives?"
It was the wrong question to ask.
Z's eyes darkened. Although little You Huo didn't slump or anything from his perfect posture, his eyes also returned to their lowered position. In his older self, the lowered gaze looked like he was looking down on them or didn't care much about them, but now, in little You Huo, the lowered gaze looked like he didn't want them to see his eyes.
"It's okay." He suddenly said to Z, though he still looked at the table instead of her. "It's not their fault." He murmured quietly.
Z's eyes softened in an instant, her grip on A's hand relaxing as she covered his hand that still held their other two hands with her other hand and turned to look at him. "It's not your fault either." She said, firmly, earnestly, wanting him to hear and know. That his relatives were scared of him and, some, even treated him very badly wasn't his fault. He wasn't a monster. Never.
Little You Huo didn't say anything, but a very quiet "mm" and they all stared, curious to know what all this was about. Their curiosity wasn't stronger than their worry and concern though and they quickly backtracked, not wanting to push the kid too hard, especially on what seemed to be very bad memories (which made them even more worried because he was a literal kid who shouldn't have bad memories and yet- what they heard- none of it sounded healthy or good).
"Did the system say anything about how long... this would all last?" An invigilator hesitantly asked in the slightly heavy, slightly awkward, slightly off atmosphere.
You Huo looked up, and yet not quite with how his gaze was always a little lower than actual eye contact, and answered as if nothing had happened earlier and he wasn't affected at all by the mood or circumstances. "28 hours. 24 hours now."
So they'd still see little You Huo in tomorrow's invigilator meeting?
All of them felt odd about the thought of going to sleep tonight and then waking up to a new day and still seeing this odd sight, but also relieved that it wasn't permanent or something difficult to fix. As much as it was... interesting to see their head invigilator's younger self, they all liked the thought of having A back, safe and sound. Oddly enough, this was the case for the hardliner faction though they inwardly excused it with how they needed the adult A back because only the adult A and Z knew where the system core was...
"..."
"Wait, you know about the system?" An invigilator asked, catching onto how the kid hadn't asked what the other invigilator meant by 'the system'.
Now that they thought about it... how were A and Z related to the system? How long had they known each other and the system? Could it be... since they were kids?!
All of them gaped.