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If you told Iris 7 years ago that Naixatloz would launch a nuke filled with some virus that made you suicidal, crazy and dance around, and besides the first thing, it would have been the perfect contagion that the planet should have been dosed with, she would be beyond excited that not only was her theory right, but also that they weren’t an evil organisation like she thought them to be, but they were allies who wanted to make everyone dance… but she knew that sounded too silly.
And also, they really… weren’t that friendly. If Naix’s plans were to succeed, then she wouldn’t be reunited with Uncle, who was acting like an old man on his last sealegs!
When the news first broke that Kaname Date, a.k.a, her uncle, most definitely died at the rescue mission of retrieving Kizuna, Iris felt devastated. It had only been a few months since she finally had contact with an important figurehead in her life… and he disappeared yet again due to his duties. She appeared not to be bothered by it, because she already went through the process of losing someone beloved to her… but it can’t be said that it didn’t hurt the same way like last time, when Uncle suddenly vanished, and her Mom wound up in the hospital, due to getting shot in the crossfire in trying to save Uncle.
And also, many of her friends were hurt by that incident, like Shoma, Lien, Genny, Kizuna, Mizuki… and someone else who Iris didn’t know was hurting all this time ago, one of her best friends, Amame.
She didn’t know that she was threatened by Terror all those times ago. She didn’t know that she also saw her dad’s corpse in Studio Dvaita, like Shoma. She didn’t know how much her family was in debt, and how without Amame’s inhumane working condition, they wouldn’t have been able to make end’s meet.
She knew, however, that Amame was the one who murdered Tearer, and was being used by the same occult cult to do their bidding.
It has been a month since Amame’s arrest… but her complicated feelings of knowing that someone as dear as her best friend was prompted to murder was still hard to chew on. She paid many visits to her, but whenever she comes face to face with her, she only sees a sad reflection of her friend, of the image that she was hiding from everyone all these years ago.
Is this how her Mom felt when she learnt that Uncle was moonlighting as an assassin, punishing criminals who had no chance of rehabilitation?
No matter, Mizuki already told her that Amame is getting the treatment that she needed all this time ago, like therapy visits, and she even said that she might be let go as soon as next year, if her boss does her ‘voodoo’ magic, as her younger sister told her. From what she knew of the boss that Uncle and Mizuki were working under, she might have been talking about how she successfully blackmailed her superiors. She exuded that aura from herself, at least, that’s what she thinks the brunette is capable of.
And speaking of her younger sister… She and her big sister that Iris had no knowledge about all these years ago should be visiting soon, which is why her Mom has been busy working in the kitchen, while Uncle was getting some well deserved rest on the couch. Even though herself and Mom tried to convince her that it might be prudent for him to retire, seeing as this was the second time where he went out of their life due to his job, he just muttered something about that the third’s time the charm, and how he’s gonna keep himself low for a while, with Mizuki taking over more major cases with the other Psynchers in ABIS.
Why is it that people that she loves the most have such a bad case of workalcoholism? Even she knows when it’s time to call it quits, and she basically plays video games for a living, for Kami’s sake!
“Iris, could you please wake up Kaname with the spraying bottle? Mizuki might arrive soon, and we all know she would launch him to the moon as a way to wake him up.” Her mom started over from the kitchen, as Iris happily set herself towards the bathroom to get the prerequisite spraying bottle, giggling all the meanwhile, as she showed her Mom their prized possession which they used to annoy Kaname Date when he was being weird. Bibi was the one who came up with the idea, telling the three other woman on the day when Uncle acted like a clingy cat with her mom, that if he wanted to act like a cat, then he should be treated like one as well, which Iris and her mom approved without much counterarguments. Mizuki seemed bummed of the idea, since that would mean she would have less of a chance of kicking Date around if they can just spray the man with some water, which always made the man behave.
“Mom, isn’t it a bit too evil for us to do this? I know Uncle is weird as me, but you don’t wake me up with a spray bottle in my face.” Iris chirped, who will still splash Uncle’s face as soon as she’s done with this little chit-chat with her Mom.
“Iris, do you still remember last Monday when he tried cooking some pancakes for us?”
“Oh, I understand fully, Mom! Uncle isn’t ever going to see what hit him in the face!” And like that, Iris trooped towards the couch, fully intent on waking the jet-black haired grumpy man for the transgression of basically blowing up their kitchen, which is when Iris realised why her Mom never tried to do the Okonomiya war again between them again.
She kneeled in front of the crabby man, who was quietly snoring without a care, as she silently warned him by saying:
“Uncle, wakey wakey! Asmodeus has come to reap your soul!”
With a few clicks, the liquid in the bottle was sent towards the rugged man, making the man flinch irritatingly, opening up his mouth to complain, which is why she sprayed the man again, laughing all the meanwhile.
“I’m awake I’m awake cease fire immediately!” Uncle shouted out, crawling upward with his soggy face and hair, putting his hand up as a barrier, while Iris grinned like a Cheshire cat.
“Uncle, you need to get more z’s in your body when it’s nighttime, not when it’s only late afternoon! Do you know what would have happened if you didn’t wake up, and Mizuki got to you first?” She chastised the man, who was sheepishly getting back into the realm of living, as he twirled his head around like a dog would when they are wet.
“Can’t a man take a nap when he needs it, jeez…”
“Not today, I’m afraid, Kaname. Mizuki and Bibi messaged me a bit ago that they’re going to be here soon. Maybe the napping can wait a bit?” Her mother pronounced, beaming a great smile on her face, as Iris took this as her cue on returning the spray bottle back from whence it came from.
As soon as she returned, she spotted her Uncle in the kitchen, looking intently at her Mom’s cooking, with her getting a feeling of familiarity once in her life, of when she was still a young little kid. She yearned for domestic moments like this one, and she couldn’t be happier that she finally had it in her life again, even after she had to wait a couple dozen years for it.
“Muffins? I just hope Mizuki isn’t going to weaponize them against me like last time…”
“Ah, you don’t have to be so rude about Mizuki! She still was a kid when that incident occurred, wasn’t she?” Her mom voiced, as Uncle just gave her a shrug, and said:
“From my observations, that childish part of her is still intact with her, as much as she grew up to be a fine woman. It really makes me question whether she genuinely hates me or not.”
“Uncle, it’s just Mizuki’s way of showing that she cares!” Iris butted in, making both of her parents turn their heads towards her. “And you know that saying there’s a fine line between hate and love!”
“So what you’re saying is that she hate-loves me.”
“Yeah, basically! She did have to find you again after you got lost in the winds again!”
Uncle naturally sighed afterwards, while the two women just giggled. They knew Mizuki loved Date as her dad, as much as she’s evasive to say that to anyone else. In a sense, Iris could understand why that would be the case, cuz it is kind of hard to think of Kaname Date as her dad, when she remembers her fondly as her ‘Uncle’. Maybe that issue can be resolved in the future, when her Uncle finally asks her Mom’s hand in marriage.
And in that moment, the three of them heard someone knock at the entrance door, making the three people in the kitchen avert their attention to it, as she could see Uncle gulp.
“Speak of the devil, it seems the person of interest has arrived at the scene. Iris, could you let them in?” Her mom stated, as she gave her mom a short nod and launched herself to the front door.
After a few seconds of Iris unlocking the door, she was greeted with the familiar sight of her sister/best friend and her sister/best friend's sister/clone.
“Welcome home, Mizuki! Hi, Bibi! Come in, come in!” She said, as the two sisters give her a wave, but as soon as Mizuki spotted her adoptive-father, she stopped in her motion, pointing at him, as she yelled:
“Found you, you perp! As soon as we’re done here, I’m gonna smack some sense into you, as per Boss’s orders!”
While the two Sagans looked confused from how sudden Mizuki acted like she found a criminal, she noticed just how on-edge her Uncle seemed to be, looking like he was contemplating whether he could jump out of the window to escape.
“Uh… pardon?” Her mom asked, as the other blue haired woman, who now sat on the opposite sofa from where Uncle was snoring a short while ago, said:
“The perverted man standing around sent my Mama an erotic book through email, instead of case files, and as much as she isn’t bothered by it, she kind of needs it, which is why we even came here.”
Upon hearing that, her Uncle’s mouth opened up wide, very much surprised by it, while her Mom and Iris weren’t that shocked by it. It kinda sounded like something that Uncle would do as a mistake, since he really wasn’t good at using computers, since he got too used to having Aiba do it for him.
“I…I wouldn’t commit such a rookie mistake! You think I’m so senile that I would send the wrong file over?”
“How about we let Aiba show your mistake to Iris and Hitomi, then? I’m sure they are as excited to see what kind of perverted thing you’re into.” Mizuki stated, making her Uncle turn her head around from embarrassment, as her mother said:
“I’m sure I’d be able to name it. Maybe there is a reason as to why I received weird documents from Kaname a few hours ago…”
Now it was Mizuki’s and Bibi’s turn to act shocked, and for Uncle to hide his head around in an attempt to camouflage himself, even though he stood out pretty harshly.
She wishes that she’s never going to lose hilarious moments in her life, now that she got her Uncle back. Even though it’s only been a few days, she knew things could change in an instant.
But in the moment, she was appreciating the present moment in front of her, where Mizuki was grimacing in disgust, while Bibi just looked disappointed at the situation, with her Mom and Uncle looking pleased and embarrassed respectively.