Chapter Text
Kenji didn't think Emi would become a responsibility that meant a lot to him.
Raising a kaiju was a whole new thing for Kenji Sato. When he first met her, seeing her cradled in his silvery hands as the clouds cleared filled him with warmth in the cold Pacific Ocean. The realization hit him like a train seeing the little thing. He felt love and joy, seeing life in his palms. He softly wiped off a piece of its shell to prevent it from bothering the kaiju. The urge to protect came over him. It cooed in his hands before it began to open her eyes and stared at him excitedly. He was in awe before he snapped out of it when he heard helicopters in the distance. Kenji glanced at the mother’s body, Gigantron, now seemingly lifeless as it had begun to sink into the ocean. Conflicted on whether to leave the kaiju in the hands of the KDF, Kenji made a choice. He held the baby kaiju close to him as he slowly swam underwater, submerging the both of them.
The chain of events that led after that was a whole journey for Kenji emotionally. What he did conflicted with his duties as a famous baseball player and celebrity. Now having another responsibility that he did to himself but it wasn’t the end of the world. Emi is another joy in his life besides baseball. As a parent, there were some good days and bad days.
Today was not going to be a relaxing day. Emi woke up not in a good mood, he assumed. Kenji’s whole home rattled as Emi wailed in her tube in the morning. Kenji had a rough baseball practice and a total beat up from a stray kaiju the night before so he wasn’t having it either. Mina, as respectful as she is not coming inside his bedroom, Kenji hopes she’ll stop sending him alerts through his watch of what Emi is doing as he is well aware of what is happening. He took his sleep-deprived self out of his bed, begrudgingly grabbed the nearest shirt, and put on his watch to see what was happening. He grabbed the closest cup that hopefully had liquid in it.
Mina comes up to greet him, “Good morning, Ken."
He nodded, "Mornin', Mina. What's up with Emi?"
"I believe she is frustrated with her arm."
Kenji pinched his eyes to get rid of the crust, “That’s not good.”
“No, it is not,” Mina affirmed his blatant remark. The coffee Kenji grabbed on the way here was not doing its job. Including that the limited sleep he got didn't make it better. In his slippers, he walked up to the tube Emi was in, arms outstretched. Trying to be assuring, he tries to get her attention, “Emi! Daddy’s here!”
Emi saw him with a pained expression and tears in her eyes. She was scratching at her arm.
“Emi, honey, don’t pick at your arm!” He fretted. Emi, not wanting to make her dad any sadder, sniffled in response before she stopped poking at it. Kenji’s eyebrows furrowed, and he turned to Mina. “Where’s Dad? He should be up at this point.” Kenji speculated that he could help manage Emi’s pain.
Mina responded quickly, “I believe he left for errands.”
“This early?” Kenji asked.
“It’s 11 am.”
It’s almost noon and I’m still tired, Kenji sighed. Luckily he had a sort of day off today. Out of all the times he needed his father here, he wasn’t. Kenji didn’t mean this harshly but he would have preferred for her crying to stop. He can’t stand the amount of guilt he gets from it. As a baby kaiju, she hopefully doesn’t remember when Kenji caught her as he accidentally snapped her arm; Kenji does though. It was so incredibly vivid at that moment. He bit his lip as the stress and worry began to build up as he stared at the ground. Mina turned to him. She was concerned about how long Kenji was taking to think. As Mina’s responsibility on behalf of Kenji, she projected clips of Kenji playing baseball as a distraction for Emi to prevent her from crying anymore. Kenji looked back up seeing himself on the screen, realizing he was spiraling about it again. Mina flew near him, concerned, “Are you alright, Ken? Scans show that your heart rate is high.”
Kenji waved her off, avoiding the question. He glanced at Emi, who was enjoying the clips of the hits Kenji was doing on screen, chirping every time he made an impressive hit. He has a small smile as he asks quietly, “Do I need to do anything for her?”
Mina noticed how he was avoiding the question but she didn’t push it. Mina stated, “She is immersed in the clips I provided as a distraction from her pain.”
Kenji’s shoulders sagged in response to hearing that. To which an idea sparked, “I should get her some fish. We’re running low.”
Mina replied, “She is not hungry yet as of now, and she already took her pain medication only a while ago.”
He just wanted an excuse for a distraction to avoid seeing Emi like this.
“How do we go about her pain issue, then?”
“I do not have the information on that,” informed Mina. Kenji pushed his hair back, he would have liked to try but didn’t want any accidents to happen under his watch, again. As he watched Emi who was chirping for Kenji, he sighed, “That’s something that my dad needs to be here for.”
He eventually said goodbye to Mina and Emi, a bit concerned whether this amount of watch time was good for her. He decided to go fishing in the meantime, forgetting that he needed to eat breakfast.
The thought of fishing around in his Ultraman form to catch fish seemed that it was the least practical reason to use this ability. Not that he complained about his use of the power, it was easier for Kenji to feed his daughter. After a while, he spotted a school of large fish in the distance and propelled himself towards him. As he swam, he passed by his home, with hopes to say hello to them. Emi, now at the window, saw him and waved with her good arm and a happy little grin. He waved back, with a fondness for the little Kaiju radiating off him. He then turns back to terrorizing the local fish in the area. After he grabbed more than several fish, Kenji wondered if Emi had a favorite fish.
A little while later, he arrived in the room where the two were, hands full of fish. Mina hovered around him, surprised by the quantity. “You were gone longer than it would take for you to fish,” Mina observed.
“Uh, well, I just thought she might need a lot for her arm to get better,” Kenji claimed as he struggled to not drop any fish on the ground. Emi, now free-roaming, ran around the two chittering excitedly as she sensed food nearby.
“Is that so?” Mina said with doubt in her tone. Kenji eyed her suspiciously. “Yes…?”
Mina did not say anymore. Kenji dropped the fish near the middle for Emi to feast upon. She chirped at him before hesitating a bit. This has him concerned, “Is there something wrong?”
Emi looks at him and at the pile, anxiously.
“Oh. Did you decide that you want red meat?” Kenji jokes. Emi didn’t indicate anything else afterward besides leaning into the large pile of fish and shuffling a bit. She walked over to Kenji, dropping the largest fish from that pile. He looked at her questioningly until Emi nudged it closer to him before heading back to her pile. Kenji then realized what she was trying to do. Mina behind him commented, “She left you a gift.”
Kenji chuckled at the offer. “That was nice of her.”
Mina, out of the blue, “She noticed how depressed you are.”
Kenji jerked his head at Mina. “What!?” He shouted as he stood up, banging his head on the roof causing the whole house to rumble. It was remarkable how it was still intact. Rubbing his head he went quiet for a bit, realizing that he startled Emi. He looked back to check on her, seeing she looked upset. Worried, Kenji bent down to her level and patted her head, “I’m sorry, Emi, I didn’t mean you. I like the fish you gave me.”
Emi’s mood was easily lifted as she chirped with a small smile and proceeded to eat more fish.
Comfortable with how Emi's doing, he grabbed the fish that was gifted to him and left it somewhere in a corner. He moved away as he transformed into ‘Kenji’ with Mina following along. He turned around to the floating robot, whispering angrily, “I am not depressed!” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Just stressed.”
“Emi has taken notice. What you are doing isn’t healthy for you,” Mina said bluntly. “What happened to Emi was not your fault.”
“You’re just an AI, how would you know?” Kenji muttered.
“I don’t but your father does,” Mina blankly responded. “You should call Professor Sato to see where he is.” She then goes to monitor Emi, leaving Kenji there speechless.
Kenji with his ass handed to him, left to do a phone call. He hesitantly pulled out his phone and dialed in his dad’s contact. It rings, once, twice, and thrice. It repeats; Kenji stood there wondering if his dad forgot his phone at his house before he left, not before it picked up. There were loud voices in the background which led Kenji to be puzzled as to where he was.
“Dad?” He called out.
“Oh, hello, Kenji! Has something happened to Emi?” His dad yelled through the phone. Kenji pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing, and turned on the speaker.
“Where exactly are you at?”
“At a seafood market!”
His dad is aware that Kenji is capable of fishing for Emi. He looked at the phone.
“Why are you at a seafood market?”
“So Emi could try all kinds of seafood, I feel that she should do other things for more nutrition besides fish,” He responded excitedly.
“Didn’t you try giving her a mochi donut?” Kenji pointed out. He clearly didn’t understand his father as well as he thought. Changing the subject, his dad huffed, “Never mind that, is Emi alright?”
Kenji then remembered why he was calling in the first place, “Oh, yeah- well no, she’s in pain and I’m not sure what to do.”
“Oh, is she? I'm sure I gave her pain medication before I left.”
“Well, uh, it wasn’t enough, and I got her fish to distract and feed her with-.” Kenji stammered, expressing concern for his pink daughter.
“Does seeing her in pain bother you?” His dad interrupted wistfully, as the background noises on his end became quieter.
“No, it doesn’t. I just feel guilty that she is in the first place.” Kenji placed the phone on a coffee table as he sat on the couch.
“You think it's your fault.” His dad, with his straightforwardness, sometimes bothered Kenji.
“She got loose because I left for an interview. And got acid reflux. And that her arm is broken-” Kenji sat back up as he fretted about the events that happened only a few days ago.
“Kenji. No one could’ve predicted that. I am aware she is your responsibility but she is alright. I’ve checked.”
Kenji began, “I know that-”
“To which she looks like she blames you for what happened?”
He rubbed his eyes, frustrated. “She’s a kaiju. I don’t think she would know.”
Somewhat exasperated his father said, "Go look."
Kenji goes quiet and looks over where Emi is as she is almost finished with her food.
“Does she look like she hates your guts?” His father spoke. Emi noticed Kenji staring at her and she looked back at him with her mouth full as Mina tried to get her to finish her food. The sight of her being satisfied with herself filled Kenji’s heart with fondness for her. She doesn’t hate him for what happened, even if she did, she clearly isn’t showing that.
“No, not really. She gave me some of her fish because she saw how stressed I was.”
“See? I know what it’s like to raise a difficult child,” Kenji’s father joked. Kenji scoffed in response, humored. His father said, “I’ll be home soon to handle her pain. Don’t push yourself too much.”
“Alright, bye.” Kenji taps on his screen to end the call, feeling slightly better about himself. He impulsively decided to do something he hadn’t done as ‘Kenji’. He got off the couch and headed towards Emi, who was finished eating. She tilts her head, looking down at Kenji with curiosity. Mina questioned Kenji, “Where’s your father?”
Kenji yawned, he said, “Seafood market.” He came up near Emi and gave her a big hug. She chirps in happiness and tries to replicate the motion back, sitting down to reciprocate the hug.
Later his dad eventually came back from his trip with large bags of seafood and things for Emi, he walked into the large room, calling out, “Kenji! I was wondering if-”
He walked into the sight of Emi curled up sleeping while Kenji was leaning against her, eyes closed. Mina hovered over to him, “Good afternoon, Professor Sato. Ken fell asleep soon after your call with him.”
“He must be tired,” He noted.
“Taking care of Emi has had a toll on him, “ Mina replied, “His sleep schedule is not proficient and neither is his eating schedule.”
His dad looked at the two with sympathy in his eyes. He had a warm smile on his face. “We should let them sleep. We'll worry about that when he wakes up.” He grabbed his bags before walking away with Mina.