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No .
Daiki feels sick and panicky and scared , like hands are all over him, and he can’t push them off properly, tied up and trapped and—
And he feels helpless and worthless and broken , disgust and hatred and my fault I know but I’d never tell you . He is the weakest link he would never—
And the egg.
It is still there. A deep purple, cracks of violent orange clear across its surface
Daiki holds it close. The timeline… Tsukasa… Great Leader…
He always said his kind was strange. Who was it? Tsukasa or…
A shaking. A sick feeling.
Tsukasa hates him. He blames him for killing his good pieces.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe Daiki will kill this too, whatever it is. Whoever it is, perhaps.
But…
“Hello, little treasure,” he says. “Sorry about the mess.”
A day ago, he trashed his own place, shaking and screaming in violent bitter rage. At his own weakness, at his own stupidity, but just as much at Tsukasa.
If there ever was someone I considered a friend…
He told Daiki he loved him. Held down with no fear in his eyes, that hopeful focus on him , and Daiki had hated him for it until he started crying, and suddenly he was held. And the touch was hesitant but clear, and…
And…
And then he went and wore Great Leader’s clothes and was surprised Daiki was angry?
…but the next day, the egg appeared.
Daiki takes them to a different house. He almost lets himself wander to the photo studio, but he knows he has no place there, even if he longs for another hollow home.
He sets the egg up all nice and warm and stares at it.
He puts the card by it.
“That’s your father,” he says softly. “Whatever you are.”
The egg does nothing, of course.
Daiki sighs.
“Alright, little treasure,” he says. “I can wait.”
It only takes a week for the egg to hatch, and the child that emerges enters the room screaming and kicking . Strong and loud and powerful. Daiki is glad he prepared clothes for the little one, but first he scoops… him up.
A long time ago…
Daiki used to want kids. He used to desperately want to help repopulate the world, send out more from the smaller settlement of his home. The same direction his textbooks and clothes came from.
God, what a fool he was.
Yuusuke had mentioned it a few times. Natsumi and Tsukasa seemed… amenable.
And Great Leader would sometimes croon over them having a kitten one day.
Wouldn’t that be fun, my Kaitou? Your color, too. Blue.
…Michinaga is not blue. He’s purple, and his magenta eyes feel wrong in his tiny face. He has that taste of destiny like Tsukasa, like Natsumi and Yuusuke.
Daiki wants to protect him from that. From that pull .
(It got Natsumi and Yuusuke killed. Tsukasa, too.)
Ironically, despite the loud start, Michinaga is an agreeable baby. Quiet and not too squirm-y. Content unless distressed, which wasn’t often.
Daiki watches him like a hawk, scared of ruining everything.
It goes on like this for weeks.
It goes on like this for two months.
Michinaga loves Tsukasa’s Rider Card. sucking on it whenever he can steal the thing. Truly, Daiki’s child.
Tsukasa takes two and a half months to find him, and it’s not until the morning after that Daiki realized he left Michinaga alone. He rushes back, and Michinaga is asleep. Signs of struggle.
Daiki sighs.
“Oh, little treasure,” he says. “I don’t know how to be a dad. I’m still too obsessed with your awful father. The one that took your favorite toy.”
He picks up the baby, changes him as Michinaga groggily yet calmly lets himself be cleaned up and cared for.
Prepare food.
Feed the baby.
Don’t think about Tsukasa.
(He fails.)
Maybe it’s inevitable that Daiki give up, that he sends Michinaga away. Just a name tag and a wish as Daiki slides Michinaga through a Veil.
To a world where his son can find happiness and safety. That is what he asked for.
He hopes it’s true.
Maybe, one day…