Work Text:
Days and nights at the Higashikata house were exceedingly quiet ever since the attacks on their family. Reflection, grieving, and reminiscing were carried out silently, siblings and parents coping both together and alone. A week afterward, somewhere past midnight, Norisuke slowly made his way into the kitchen. He recently got discharged from the hospital, and he had been walking with a cane to support him while his energy levels stabilized. Unable to sleep, he went to get some water.
As he stood silently in the kitchen, he noticed Mitsuba sitting on the couch in the dark, holding a full, lukewarm mug of tea. She looked spaced out and sullen.
Norisuke cleared his throat. “Mitsuba… I hope you know that you’re our family. You’ll always be part of our family.” He walked over to join her on the couch
“Thank you.” Her eyes welled up. “I’m just going to miss him… so much…”
He solemnly laid a hand on her shoulder. “I miss him, too.”
It had been only a few days since Jobin died at the hands of calamity, stricken down by his attempt at defying the attacks. His shady dealings with the locacaca trade and the rock humans led him down a path that brought pain upon the entire Higashikata family, so his fate was not a complete surprise, and nobody wanted to admit it was karmic. For Mitsuba, the circumstances didn’t make his loss any less tragic.
Mitsuba looked at the floor. “I’m pregnant again.”
“Oh my god… that’s…. How long have you known?”
“I learned just before everything happened…” She stopped her sentence short to try to keep tears from falling.
Norisuke had a pained look on his face. Another grandchild was wonderful news, but they would be born without a father.
“Is it a boy or girl?”
“It’s too early to tell. I just visited the gynecologist today.” She started seeing a private practice away from the hospital. Ever since the profound violations committed by Doctor Wu at TG University Hospital, she never wanted to risk getting less than completely trustworthy care ever again.
Norisuke began to tear up a little too. “I’m truly, deeply happy for you Mitsuba. You and your children will always be a part of our family as long as you would like to be here with us. You will always have a home with the Higashikatas.”
She hugged him. “Thank you, Norisuke.”
When they let go, he wished her goodnight and turned to amble back to his room.
“Wait a minute,” Mitsuba called out.
“Yeah Mitsuba?”
Her expression became somewhat dark. “The locacaca fruit… it could heal people’s grave wounds, couldn’t it?”
Norisuke’s face turned grave. “Mitsuba, no…”
“Do you think it could bring back someone who is—“
“No!” He cried out. He balled his fist and exhaled. “I mean, no, it can’t… it couldn’t… he’s gone, Mitsuba, I buried him!” Tears fell from his eyes. “I buried my son!”
“But how do you know if we don’t try?!”
“It is proven, Mitsuba.” Norisuke walked back over to her. “It happened to Yoshikage Kira. This, we have deduced from Josuke. It can only heal someone who is alive.”
“Josuke…” Mitsuba said wistfully. “Josuke! What about him?! He is here. A dying man became something alive!”
“Mitsuba, calm down! What are you getting at?”
She gripped the couch below her. “What im saying… is what if we found someone? Another body, that we could—“
“No!!” Norisuke raised his voice. “Not again, not ever. My family is done with equivalent exchange, done with this damned fruit… plus, there aren’t anymore. They were all destroyed. Every last one.” He sighed. “We broke the curse. It is done. I’m not going to let anymore harm come to my family. So consider this topic over.” He heaved to his feet and retired somewhat shakily to his bedroom.
Mitsuba laid on the couch and sobbed into a pillow. Her children would be growing up without a father. Even if Jobin could be brought to animation with another soul, she couldn’t admit that it wouldn’t purely be her husband. And he would have no memory. To upend another’s life for the selfish purpose of creating an amalgamated human… what was she thinking?
Come the next morning, the Higashikatas’ new housemaid was at work putting together breakfast. She set a hot cup of tea at the table where the family patriarch was waiting.
“Thank you, Sugimoto-san,” he said warmly.
“Norisuke-san,” Mitsuba meekly greeted, entering the room.
He looked up from his newspaper. “Good morning Mitsuba,” he said calmly.
She sat down next to him. “I wanted to apologize for my outburst last night,” Mitsuba said with a big sigh, as if it did not come easily to her.
He smiled at her and put down his paper. “It’s okay, Mitsuba. I understand where your feelings are coming from. Everybody handles grief differently. Imperfectly.”
She breathed away her tension and nodded. “I thought about it more. I don’t want a man who is only half my husband. My children deserve more than a jagged memory, marred by the horror of the equivalent exchange.”
Norisuke nodded. “I think we all may be better off without considering the locacaca. This can be a new chapter for our family. And I’m ready to make sure we stay safe and cared for. No need to rely on some freak-of-nature fruit. In fact, from here on out, we’ll be all about nutrition and physical fitness!” Mitsuba smiled.
He got up and started to stretch his arms across his chest. “I’m thinking of starting a weekly Saturday morning run. And you bet I’ll be dragging those kids along with me. Heaven knows how much that Joshu actually exercises…” He stopped himself and snapped back to the current moment. “Well, er, what I should say is, I’m going to be here for you. It will be alright.”
Mitsuba smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Mama,” said a tiny voice who walked in from the bathroom. Tsurugi approached the breakfast table, appearing to hold something delicate in his clasped hands. “I made this for you.” He handed it to her.
It was a little origami beetle. Mitsuba began to cry as she held it in her hands.
“It’s beautiful, darling.” She sobbed and hugged him, squeezing him tight. Tsurugi wordlessly buried his head in her shoulder. He said very little since his father’s death, mostly remaining heads down in his crafts.
“I agree,” said a warm, kind voice behind them. Mitsuba whipped around to the sight of her late husband, standing in the kitchen behind them.
“Jobin?!” Mitsuba gasped, holding Tsurugi to her chest.
“Tsurugi, cut that out,” Norisuke sighed deeply. “Please, don’t play mind games with your mother. Now is not the time.”
Mitsuba’s eyes widened as she looked down to see the origami in her hands, realizing what had happened. Tsurugi looked away with guilt. Mitsuba then looked up slowly at the illusion of her husband and sniffled.
“Oh, babe…” she cried. She lunged forward and gave the image of Jobin a hug, taking in the familiar woody smell of his hair, the feel of his crisply ironed, studded suit, and the gentle embrace of his big arms. It all felt so real; unbelievably so.
“I’m sorry things turned out this way… I just… wish we could go back to the way things were before…” Mitsuba breathed heavily.
“What do you mean by that, darling?” Jobin asked, concern filling his voice. He brushed his hand along her cheek. “You deserve to live every day with endless fun and laughter… what has you down all of a sudden?”
Mitsuba paused and looked into his lifelike eyes, pushing back from his shoulders. She stood silently for a moment. “Never mind… we can just forget about it.”
She laid her head back in his shoulder and held him even longer. Out of view, Norisuke looked at Tsurugi with mild disapproval as he observed Mitsuba with her hands wrapped around air.
Mitsuba looked up wistfully at her husband and smiled. “Jobin… I wanted to tell you…” she choked. “We’re going to have another baby.”
Jobin’s eyes shot open, smiling brightly. “What? Really?!”
Hot tears streamed down Mitsuba’s cheeks. “Yes, honey… it’s true. I just found out… Tsurugi’s gonna be a big brother.”
Jobin breathily laughed as he gazed at his wife in amazement and pride. “Babe… that’s incredible… I’m so happy you told me… this is truly amazing news!! Oh, I love you and Tsurugi so much… this is so exciting!”
Mitsuba nodded and held him tight again. “I’m excited too, dear…” Jobin peppered her face with kisses and praise and squeezed again. He placed his hand tenderly on her stomach, making her heart sear with pain.
After what felt like eternity, Mitsuba finally broke their embrace, stepped back, and gave a deep sigh.
“What’s the matter, honey? Are you feeling unwell? It must be your hormones or something… Say, why don’t we get sesame honey dumplings at the local cafe? In fact, my mother is in town again, perhaps we could invite her to catch up, and tell her the news—“
“Tsurugi…” Mitsuba said over his ramblings. “That’s enough.”
Tsurugi had been clinging tightly to his mom’s skirt. He nodded and took the paper beetle back from his mom’s hand.
“Goodbye, sweetheart…”
Jobin gave her a puzzled look. “Wait, what?”
She swallowed hard. “Goodbye, Jobin.”
Mitsuba waved to the illusion as it faded, and she stood stone still in the kitchen.