Work Text:
6 Years Later
“I don't want to go!” A child's voice called out from the entrance hall of that large property you owned, a small girl stood there in a elementary school uniform, red backpack on her back but she did not seem pleased at all to be wearing any of it.
“Why don't you want to go?” asked Osomatsu as he looked down at his daughter, straightening the tie of his suit. At his feet was a briefcase filled to the brim with papers, some of them sticking out of the edges but otherwise it just looked really heavy.
“Because they'll make fun of me!” she frowned and lowered her head, hands gripping tightly onto the straps of her backpack. “They don't like my magic tricks when we go to the park, they call me weird. . .”
Osomatsu sighed a little and knelt down, placing his hands on her shoulders and gave her that trademark smile. “Little Bit, these are going to be all new people. You might see the kids from the park, but you'll probably make all sorts of friends and forget all about them!”
His daughter looked up at him, unsure of his words but she eventually sighed out, shoulders slumping and head tipping back down.
“Alright, alright. Cheer up, you silly.” he said, patting her arm and kissing the top of her head. “Dad will take you to your first day of school before work.”
“Where's Mom?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as Osomatsu moved to help her get on her shoes.
“She's still sleeping. Your little brother or sister was keeping her up all night with a bunch of kicking and punching!”
“HUH?! THAT'S MEAN!” Little Bit shouted out. Osomatsu couldn't help but laugh as he reached and took her hand.
“It's just really cramped in the place they live right now, Little Bit.” he snickered and started to lead her out the front door. “Don't worry, pretty soon they'll be here and they won't be kicking mommy anymore.”
---
Osomatsu stood with his daughter at the bus stop, still holding her hand while she looked around. She was keeping her eyes out for the kids that made fun of her, followed by the nervousness of leaving her parents for a whole day! A WHOLE DAY! Osomatsu could feel her hand shaking, and he gave her a reassuring squeeze with his own hand as he looked down at her.
“You okay?” he asked. She just nodded her head, looking down at the ground after a few moments. He just smiled, giving her head a few soft pats. Once the bus arrived, he swiped his pass and lead Little Bit up the steps, moving in to find a seat. He sat down and lifted her up so she could sit in the seat next to him.
“I'll be taking you to school for a little while since Mom can't right now, okay?” he said, brushing her hair back slightly with his hand. “And if there's ever a time where I can't, your Aunt Harumi will. Maybe your Uncle Choromatsu can too if we ask.”
“I don't wanna go with Uncle Choromatsu.” Little Bit groaned out dramaticly, feet kicking up in the air as she leaned against Osomatsu's side.
“Oh? Why not?”
“Because he always talks to me about someone called Nyaa-chan!”
Osomatsu just gave her a blank expression before sighing out, eyes squinted slightly.
It's been 3 years, Choromatsu. She hasn't been an idol for three years. Let it go.
“What about Aunt Harumi, would you want to go with her?”
Little Bit nodded her head quickly. Well at least that changed her tune.
“You know, I heard that she might be one of your teachers.” said Osomatsu pretty nonchalantly.
“Really?!” the child perked right up at that mention, leaning forward on the edge of her seat.
“Mmhm, I think she might be your homeroom teacher. Today is her first day too!”
“I think I'm going to become a teacher.” said Harumi one day, sitting across from Osomatsu and his wife.
“A teacher? Why's that?” Osomatsu asked, glancing over at a 2 year old Little Bit trying to eat her food in a high chair.
“Kids are pretty cool, if they're anything like Little Bit, I bet they'd be fun to teach. Heck, if I graduate in 4 years, I can probably teach your kid!”
“Don't teach her how to date, please.” Osomatsu's wife said with a sigh. “I'd rather she learn NOT to try dating 4 other people at once.”
“They don't teach sex education in elementary school, you dork!” Harumi snorted out, punching at her friend's shoulder and causing the witch to hiss out a little from the impact. “Maybe I'll start out as a homeroom teacher. . .”
Little Bit stared out the window as the bus drove, feeling a little more confident in going to school now that someone she knew was going to be there. Osomatsu looked over at her, smile on his face before he placed a hand on her shoulder when their bus came to their stop.
“Alright, come on. We gotta walk the rest of the way.”
Osomatsu held her hand once more, walking down the sidewalk as he headed towards her school. While he looked ahead, Little Bit's attention was focused on the other people that were walking the same direction they were. High school girls giggled as they made their way along the sidewalk in front of them, younger boys ran with school bag in hand. His daughter was starting to get nervous again, and tightly squeezed around his fingers. Osomatsu looked down at her with a soft smile, and gave her a squeeze back.
“You don't have to worry, I'll stay through the entire ceremony, alright?” he reassured her, causing her to look up at him. She nodded her head slowly, turning her attention back towards the walk ahead of them. Once they finally arrived, she stared at the gate, eyes lighting up when she saw someone familiar. Harumi was standing at the gate, greeting new students, welcoming back senior ones, and when she caught sight of Osomatsu and Little Bit, she smiled brightly and rushed over to them.
“AH! LITTLE BIT! LOOK AT YOU! You look so cute with your backpack and uniform!” Harumi gushed over her, and Osomatsu grinned as he placed a hand on his daughter's head.
“She's a little nervous but I think she'll do fine. She's a Matsuno after all.” he said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Harumi had already picked the girl up, hugging her against her before blinking and peering over the child's shoulder. “Hey, where's her mom?”
“She couldn't make it.” he said with a light sigh. “Didn't get a lot of sleep last night cause the baby was keeping her up.”
“Ahh, I see, I see!” she nodded her head, setting Little Bit down on the ground and scratching a little at her chin. “I think I might have something that will help her--”
“NO NO!” Osomatsu suddenly shouted out. “S-She'll be okay! She has to take exactly what the doctors tell her to so. . .”
“Understandable!” said Harumi, like Osomatsu didn't just reject one of her home made remedies which she apparently still tried to make. Whenever Osomatsu suggested maybe getting into the medical field, Harumi just laughed and said her medicines would never be approved.
That scared him a little bit.
“Anyway! Are you ready for your first day of school? OH! WE NEED A PICTURE!” said Harumi. She grabbed at Osomatsu's arm and pulled him against her before kneeling down behind Little Bit, the child looking a bit bewildered at the sudden turn of events, so when her aunt had taken the selfie, it turned out great with her and Osomatsu smiling, while the child stared up at the phone with wide, confused eyes.
“There we go!” she said, standing up and releasing Osomatsu's arm while starting to tap away at the phone.
April 1st, 7:30 AM
Shintaro Harumi: AAAAAAA!! LOOK AT MY CUTE LITTLE NIECE! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, LET'S GO! (≧∀≦)
“We should print this out for your parents!” Harumi looked at Osomatsu once she posted the picture onto her social media account, then put her phone away.
“Yeah, I forgot to take a picture while we were at home, but she was feeling a littler nervous there too--” Osomatsu stopped mid sentence as he watched his daughter starting to walk off in the other direction, and he quickly turned himself to follow after her.
“Little Bit?” he called for her, quickly cutting her off and stopping her from walking anywhere else. “What's wrong?”
His daughter looked up, tears in her eyes as she held on tightly to the straps of her backpack. “I wanna go home.”
Osomatsu looked at her, then let out a small sigh as he brought her closer against him in a hug. Harumi made her way over, kneeling down and rubbing lightly at her back.
“She's worried people are gonna make fun of her if she shows any signs of knowing magic.” said Osomatsu. “She tried showing it to some kids at the park and they made fun of her, called her a freak.”
“Oh no.” said Harumi, closing her eyes and little out a small sigh before motioning for Osomatsu to turn his daughter around to face her. “Is that why you don't wanna come to school?”
Little Bit nodded.
Harumi grinned and pulled something from her pocket, reaching over and attaching it to Little Bit's backpack. It was a cluster of charms, all of them represented something about her uncles. There was a baseball bat for Jyushimatsu, who had moved to rekindle the love he had found with Homura, a pink bunny for Todomatsu, who was perusing an actual education at the local college, a small figurine of Nyaa-chan for Choromatsu, who had picked up working at his father's company again. There was a rose for Karamatsu, who was working as a salary man with a dream of becoming a musician, a cat charm for Ichimatsu, who was studying to become a vet, and finally, the pine symbol, which was the biggest, to represent her father. It seemed that without Osomatsu holding them back and having a life of his own, the rest of his brothers managed to start making something with their lives.
“Each one of these charms represents your uncles, so they're gonna be with you all the time, okay?” Harumi said with a smile, placing a hand on her niece's shoulder. “There's even one for your dad, I was going to give it to you after the assembly but I think now is a good time.”
Osomatsu blinked, looking at the charms and for a moment, he felt a twinge of sadness come over him. He missed his brothers, even if they did come together for holidays, but that was mostly it. His attention rose to Harumi once more as she started to speak again.
“And . . . this is a charm your mom said she used when she was little to keep herself from showing her magic, do you wanna see it?”
“Yeah!!”
“You gently poke your chest, like this, and say “Three presents, three octopuses.” Got it?”
Harumi smiled as she poked at her own chest, and Little Bit tried to repeat the phrase in the same fashion.
“Three presents . . .” the young girl said.
“Three octopuses!” Harumi said, helping her finish.
“Three presents, three octopuses!” the both of them said together. “Three presents, three octopuses!”
Osomatsu looked between the two of them, grinning a little and reaching up to rub his finger under his nose.
“You do that whenever you're scared about your powers coming out, alright?” said Harumi, coming to a stand. The child nodded quickly, poking at her chest and mumbling the phrase over and over as she calmed herself down.
“Okay! We better get inside so your dad can find a seat and you get into your class!” she smiled brightly as Little Bit looked up between the two of them before nodding even more and rushing through the gate to head into the school.
“Is that really a charm she taught you?” said Osomatsu as he walked beside Harumi.
“It's actually a charm my mother taught me.” she said, looking down at the ground a moment as she walked along to the building with him. “To be honest, I was a pretty nervous child, and so my mother taught me that charm and said that if I ever felt scared, the charm would help me calm down. I figured she'd rather think if was a spell from her own mother, rather than mine.”
Osomatsu stopped walking a moment as he looked at her, causing her to stop as well, looking over her shoulder at him. She didn't say anything, just held her hands together behind her back and smiled with her eyes closed before heading off once more. He couldn't possibly imagine her being nervous at all, with all the things she did in their past, he would have never seen it.
---
Osomatsu found a seat with the rest of the parents as he looked ahead to where the newest students sat in the front. It wasn't hard to pick out his child among them, she was once again muttering the charm to herself and tapping lightly at her chest. Then she lifted her head to look back among the sea of unfamiliar faces, spotting Osomatsu among them and reaching her hand up to wave at him. With a smile on his face, Osomatsu waved back at her to assure her he was here and wasn't going anywhere else at the moment.
She turned to face forward again, watching as new faculty was introduced along with a word of advice from some of the more senior members.
“Miss. Shintaro is our newest homeroom teacher. Let's all give her a warm welcome!” The principal stepped to the side as Harumi walked up to the podium, looking over the faces of students and parents alike, then with a small sigh, she closed her eyes and tapped at her chest, muttering the phrase she had taught to Little Bit to herself. The child's eyes lit up when she saw her aunt doing it in front of all these people.
“A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.” she said, opening her eyes to look over the audience. “A close friend of mine had recently became a father, and seeing him and his wife work together to raise a child, it made me realize that kids are amazing and one day I would like to help guide them through the first steps of their educational lives. I will, with all of my heart and soul, lead these children into fulfilling lives!”
The audience clapped as Harumi stepped down and took a seat once more, Osomatsu's grin couldn't have gotten any bigger. He clapped loudly before raising his hands in the air, smacking them together louder as he screamed from within the crowd of people.
“YEAH!! YOU TEACH THOSE KIDS HARUMI!!” he shouted as he stood, his voice filling the hall as people had long since stopped their clapping.
“. . . YOU BET I WILL!!” Harumi stood up as well, throwing a fist in the air.
“Miss. Shintaro, please sit down.”
---
Osomatsu requested to leave for his lunch break early so he could pick his daughter up from school, and once the permission was granted, he headed out to meet her outside the school's gate. Harumi was still inside, but another teacher was out standing with the younger students that were waiting for their parents to pick them up. Once his daughter spotted him though, she ran at full speed towards him. Osomatsu knelt down with open arms, and Little Bit crashed into him, her arms wrapping around his neck and holding onto him tight.
“How was your first day of school, Little Bit?” he said, lifting him up into his arms.
“IT WAS FUN!” she shouted, leaning back from his face. “Mom's charm worked! I did it and I didn't feel scared about my magic anymore!”
“That's great!” he said with a grin, leaning in and nuzzling his nose against hers before setting her back down on the ground. “You wanna show it to Mom when we get home?”
“Yeah!”
Osomatsu looked with a bit of pride at his daughter, his cheeks were starting to hurt from him smiling so much. He reached and took her hand, holding it in his own as he started to walk her down the street.
Matsuno Osomatsu . . . was a father. He had been a father for six years, and soon enough would be a father of two. His world had changed so much since the night he had come across a witch in a pachinko parlor. The night that had changed his life forever. And as he looked down at his daughter while she retold tales of her school day, he smiled down at her.
He wouldn't have his life any other way.