Chapter Text
Everyday at noon for the past few weeks, Shishio Mirai would climb up the mountain to the radio tower. There she would lean against the railing with her little telescope, the one Senku had given her for her birthday, and look out towards the East. Sometimes Miss Ruri or Mr. Kokuyo would be up there, listening in for voices over the radio. Sometimes Namari and Shovel would join the young blond, keeping her company with drawings and games. The tower walls were lined with their pictures at this point. But today Mirai was by herself, waiting and watching. Because today, she knew Tsu-niichan was coming home.
Miss Ruri had gotten the call yesterday: the Perseus was “returning to her port of origin”, or something like that. Then Senku had stepped away from the line for something else, and Mirai had all but burst into tears when she heard her big brother’s voice. All attempts at calming her down from both ends of the line went ignored because Tsu-niichan was okay! Senku had kept his promise and made him better and he was coming back to her!
And so today Mirai watched for that one little speck on the horizon that was bringing her brother home.
When she finally spotted white sails, the young girl couldn’t contain her excitement. Mirai darted over to the radio room’s megaphone, the one used to broadcast to the settlement below. “SHIP AHOY!” she shouted with all her might. “SHIP AHOY!” Then she raced down the tower, her little telescope clutched tightly in her hand, and made her way towards the beach. A crowd was starting to form at the makeshift port already, drawn in by the girl’s announcement. Mirai found Ruri at the edge of the mob and took her hand. “They’re almost home!”
“How exciting!” Ruri said, offering a squeeze of her hand in return. “It didn’t take nearly as long as they said it would! Only three weeks….”
That’s right. Ruri’s sister was on the ship too! She must’ve been missing Kohaku just as much as Mirai was missing her big brother. Well, maybe there was something she could do about that! “Come on, Miss Ruri!” Holding tightly to the priestess’s hand, Mirai led them through the crowd toward the front. Bobbing and weaving through a sea of butts and legs, there were some other familiar faces she came across. Miss Shirogane and Mister Tetsuken, waiting for their two sons; Namari and Shovel, taking turns holding Chalk while watching for Suika; Miss Minami was towards the front of the crowd already, hopping from foot to foot with a camera in hand. Mirai remembered how much the reporter lady seemed to like Tsu-niichan. Well, she was just going to have to wait her turn!
Finally there was nothing separating Mirai and Ruri from the beach’s edge… and the docking Perseus! The second the giant gangplank was set down with a thud, a blur of blue and blonde was racing down it. Ruri was no longer holding Mirai’s hand, but instead catching Kohaku as her own little sister barreled into her for a hug. Suika came bouncing down onto the beach next and embraced Chalk. Then down came Kinro and Ginro who reunited with their parents quite tearfully. Senku, Gen, Ukyo, so many faces passed by, but where was-?
There he was, in his big lion cape!
“TSU-NIICHAAAAAN!”
Taking a page out of Kohaku’s book, Mirai took a running start and leapt at her big brother, who was all too ready to catch her. They spun, they laughed and they cried in their embrace. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten,” said Tsu-niichan.
“I-I did my best!” Mirai stammered out through the happy tears. “I kept you safe while you were sleeping, and- and I stayed out of trouble and helped however I could-!”
“I know you did.” Her big brother pulled her into a tight, safe hug, and she burrowed her face into the collar of his cape. “And I’m so proud of you, Mirai.”
“Ahem.”
Mirai looked over Tsu-niichan’s shoulder. Standing there was a scary looking man with dark braids and tattoos on his forehead. “You gonna introduce me, Kasa?”
Kasa?
Tsu-niichan turned towards the scary man, Mirai still in his arms. The girl saw her brother’s eyes widen as he looked back and forth between her and the man. “Oh, um, right!” he stammered. But Tsu-niichan never stammered! “Moz, this is my sister, Mirai. Mirai, this is Moz. He’s your big brother’s… new friend.”
The scary man- Moz- raised an eyebrow. “Friend?”
“…Special friend.”
Special friend?
“That’s more like it.” Moz then invaded Tsu-niichan’s personal space, and by extension her personal space.
Mirai’s own eyes went wide when the scary man planted a kiss on her big brother’s cheek.
No. No, that wasn’t right. Tsu-niichan didn’t have “special friends”, she was his special friend! This was Mirai’s big reunion with her brother, and now it was supposed to just be the two of them against the world, just like it had been before her big sleep! There was no room for anymore “special friends”, especially not when they looked scary and ignored personal space bubbles!
“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Cub!”
A giant hand tried to touch her head. Mirai flinched back and buried her face in her brother’s neck. The fur of his cape that tickled her face wasn’t so comforting anymore. “I’m sorry, Moz,” she heard Tsu-niichan say. “Mirai can be a bit shy around new faces. She’ll warm up to you… eventually.”
No! Not eventually! Mirai didn’t want to warm up to Scary Moz!
“Fair enough,” said the scary man with a shrug. “I’ll leave you two to hug and shi- uh, stuff! Senku’s giving Kiri and I the “rundown” on how things work around here.” Mirai turned her head just a little, just in time to watch Moz kiss her brother on the lips this time. Her arms circled tighter around Tsu-niichan’s neck. “Later, babe.”
It wasn’t until Mirai heard the scary man’s steps fade away that she released her brother.
“I’m sorry about that, Mirai,” Tsu-niichan said while setting her down. “I didn’t actually think about how I was going to tell you about… this.”
“Is he really your “special friend”?” Mirai asked. Because that just couldn’t be right!
“Well, no.”
Phew.
“I suppose “boyfriend” would be a more accurate term.”
Boyfriend?!
“Since when do you have a “boyfriend”?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“I-I just did though?” Tsu-niichan was flushing pink now. “Things just sort of happened after I woke up, and this… “boyfriend” thing between me and Moz is still new. Less than a day old, in fact!”
“But still!” Mirai turned her back, crossed her arms, and harrumph’d.
She heard her brother sigh, then felt his hand on her shoulder. “Mirai? Can you look at me?” The girl spared him a sideways glare as he knelt down to the sand. “I’m sorry for thrusting all of this on you. I got so caught up in the moment that I didn’t realize that my being in a relationship wouldn’t just affect my life. Can you forgive me?”
…Well, he did say sorry.
“I suppose…,” Mirai said with a mischievous grin. “But only if you pay your… TICKLE TAX!” Before Tsu-niichan could even react, Mirai launched herself at him and tackled him to the sand. She aimed her fingers at his sides, where she knew her brother was the most ticklish.
“Haha no- hee! I surrehehehendur!” Tsu-niichan managed to squeal between laughs.
Mirai didn’t let up until she was good and satisfied. “Okay, tax paid!” She stood up and brushed the sand off her dress while her big brother slowly regained his breath.
“You… you got me,” he panted out, laughing breathlessly. He sat up with a great big sigh and a smile on his face. Mirai had missed this, missed her Tsu-niichan. “And Mirai?”
“Yes?”
“Moz can be a little… much at times, but he means well. In his own way. I do hope the two of you will get along.”
Hmmp. Mirai doubted she’d ever get along with that brother-thief.
At the end of the day, once Mirai had shown Tsu-niichan around the new Kingdom of Science, she brought him to their house. While it was mainly the friends that her brother had broken out of the stone that built it, she had helped design it and make everything juuuust right for when her brother would wake up. Mirai had even made sure that the house had been placed away from the town and just a stone’s throw away from the beach. She almost felt like Ariel whenever she woke up and looked out her bedroom window towards the sea!
“Welcome home, Tsu-niichan!” Mirai said as she opened the door for him.
Tsu-niichan looked around, and the girl smiled wide with pride. “This is really… all for us?”
“Yep!” Mirai stepped inside and trotted about, giving her brother the grand tour. “This is the kitchen over here, and the dining room! My room is over on this side, and yours is over there. Senku said we should have them on opposite sides of the house, but he never said why. Oh, over here! Eventually this spot is going to be the living room, once Senku reinvents the TV. But for now!” The girl crossed the floor to a bookshelf in the corner. Between all the textbooks she had for Ukyo’s and Senku’s classes, there was the one she had saved all her dragos to commission from Mr. Mangaka. It was meant for Tsu-niichan’s birthday last year. Sure it was almost time for his next birthday, but a late gift was better than no gift at all! “We can just read this together!”
Tsu-niichan took up the book titled “The Little Mermaid” with a smile. “This is lovely, Mirai. Thank you.”
Mirai beamed.
But then someone came knocking.
“Kasa? You in here?”
Of course it was Scary Man Moz.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” Moz said as he stepped inside, without being invited. “So where am I staying?”
You can stay outside, Mirai thought, but she was too polite to stoop so low as to say that out loud, unlike the Scary Man.
“Well, I suppose you’ll be rooming with me,” Tsu-niichan offered.
No!
“Mmm, don’t mind if I do.” The scary man sauntered up to Tsu-niichan. “I’m sure you can keep me warm at night, right babe?”
He reached out his arm, and before he could even think about touching her big brother, Mirai wrapped her own arms tightly around Tsu-niichan’s waist. “Dinner first before bedtime!” She declared.
Moz looked utterly shocked at first, but put his hand down. “Alright then,” he said with a smirk. “Dinner first.”
Tsu-niichan looked between his sister and his “boyfriend”, trying to assess the situation. “I’m… not sure what we have to eat. Moz and I could always go hunting-.”
“I HAVE RAMEN CUPS!” Mirai shouted quickly, because no way in heck was she leaving her big brother alone with the scary man.
“… Ramen it is then,” Tsu-niichan agreed.
Mirai spent the entirety of dinner going between smiling at her brother and glaring daggers at the intruder that called himself Tsu-niichan’s “boyfriend”. Though Moz seemed to be more interested in the ramen than the scowling girl. She watched him slurp down the noodles with a smile that made him look like a puppy dog, but Mirai knew it was all an act. There was small talk, but the younger Shishio gave only one word answers here and there and continued to frown.
Eventually the ramen was finished and the table cleared. “Alright, bedtime!” Moz tried pulling Tsu-niichan close, and Mirai scrambled to find another way to stall him.
“B-but Tsu-niichan needs to tuck me in!” she stammered. “And read me a story!”
The scary man squinted at her sceptically. “…How old are you again?”
“Moz,” Tsu-niichan snipped, pulling away from Moz (yes!). “Don’t judge.”
“But-.”
Her brother cupped the scary man’s cheek (no!) “We haven’t seen each other for a year and a half. And it’s just one story. I’ll be back with you before you know it.”
“…Fine.”
“Thank you, Birdy.” Mirai tried not to cringe when Tsu-niichan pecked Moz on the cheek. Then her big brother’s attention was on her again. “Lead the way, Mirai.”
So Mirai, one hand holding her book and the other holding Tsu-niichan’s hand, set off for bed. Just like when they were little, the Shishio siblings curled up against the headboard and the girl made herself comfy against her big brother’s shoulder. She let herself get lost in the storybook’s pictures and Tsu-niichan’s voice, and soon enough her eyes grew heavy with sleep. Soon enough her head was lowered gently onto the pillow and her brother was pulling the blankets up and tucking the edges under her shoulders. “Goodnight Mirai,” he whispered as he kissed her forehead.
“Goodnight… Tsu-niichan,” she replied sleepily, and soon she was fast asleep.
A noise in the night woke her up.
It was one of those low, barely there noises, but still Mirai yawned and sat up. It was still dark out, and the lights from the main room were still on. She must not have been asleep for that long, and she was debating whether or not to just go back to sleep.
Then Mirai heard the noise again.
Was that… Tsu-niichan?
Slowly the girl climbed out of her bed, crept across the floor of her bedroom and opened the door. No one was out in the common room, but the noise was definitely louder in this direction. In fact, it was coming from the other side of the room, from behind the door to Tsu-niichan’s room. Mirai tip-toed across the floor, and the closer she got to the door, the more sounds she heard. There was a squeaking, and a dull thudding, but mostly she heard… groaning in a voice that sounded like her brother’s. Was something wrong? Was Tsu-niichan sick? Or hurt? Or was Scary Man Moz doing something to him?
“Ngh… ah!”
“Shh, you’re alright. You’re doing so well for me, Kasa.”
Mirai barely managed to muffle her gasp in time.
Were these… the special snuggles?!
Gen had told her and the other village kids about them once, after they thought they had seen Ukyo wrestling with Ryusui. Apparently when two (or more, Gen had emphasized) people really really really loved each other, they would cuddle in a way that was different from the way someone cuddled their friends or family. Were Tsu-niichan and Moz cuddling in that unique way? But… Tsu-niichan sounded like he was hurt. Why would snuggles hurt?!
Unless… Scary Moz was forcing her big brother to snuggle him! He wasn’t just scary and rude! He was an evil and wicked sea witch!
And just like Prince Eric saved Ariel from the big bad Ursula, Mira would have to save Tsu-niichan from Moz!
But how? Her Tsu-niichan was so much bigger and stronger than she was, and if he couldn’t get away from Moz, how could she-?
A thought struck her.
He would do it for me.
Quickly and quietly as a mouse, Mirai tip-toed across the floor, closed her door, and clambered back into bed. “C’mon, Mirai,” she told herself, working herself up with all the scariest memories she had. “C’mon!” Tsu-niichan getting hurt by the white-haired man; Mommy shouting from the other room; hiding in the closet after Daddy came home from the juice house and he was grumpy-!
Once she was good and ready, Mirai screamed her head off.
“MIRAI?!”
Tears began to stream down her face when she heard scrambling from the other side of the house. It worked! Tsu-niichan had broken free and was coming to her!
Heavy footsteps grew closer and her door swung open so fast it slammed into the wall.
“Mirai!” Tsu-niichan was at her bedside in an instant. “Are you okay?! What happened?!”
Mirai sniffled. Now that the tears had started, she couldn’t get them to stop. “I- I had a bad dream,” Mirai lied.
“Oh, Mirai.” A hand combed through her hair, and Tsu-niichan leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” Mirai pulled her brother closer for a hug, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Meanwhile Tsu-niichan was humming and rubbing circles into her back, thinking his sister still needed comforting.
A shadow fell from the doorway and the girl looked up to see Moz poking his head in.
Right. She couldn’t forget about the sea witch just yet. Now, to make sure Tsu-niichan wouldn’t go back with Moz.
“Tsu-niichan?” Mirai made her voice as small and meek as possible, just like Gen would. “Could you sleep with me tonight?”
“Of course,” he hummed without hesitation.
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Mirai stuck her tongue out at Moz; he grimaced, but left without a word. Yes! She did it! She saved her brother from the sea witch!
But tonight was only the first battle. Tomorrow morning, Mirai will prepare for war.
For this conflict, Mirai recruited the best allies anyone could ask for: Namari, the village artist and its most creative mind (according to Namari); Shovel, the town’s gossip, whose memory and story-telling skills couldn’t be beat; and no team was complete without the Great Detective Suika! The melon-headed girl’s help in particular would be invaluable, seeing as how she had the most info on Moz. The girls gathered in one of the storage huts that they typically used for games, and Mirai called the meeting to order. “You’re probably wondering why I called you all here today,” the Shishio girl said, channeling her inner Tsu-niichan.
“Um… hide and seek?” Chalk suggested.
“Or maybe Senku has a new project for us kids!” Suika said excitedly.
Namari simply held up a chalkboard that read “Seashell necklaces?”.
“I’m afraid it’s much more serious than crafts. Namari, may I borrow your board?” The silent girl nodded and handed her board and chalk to Mirai. Once it was in her hands she erased her friend’s question and sketched a rough stick figure of the culprit. “This… is Moz!” Mirai revealed the drawing to her friends in rather dramatic fashion. “Yesterday he came home with the rest of the Perseus crew from a place called “Treasure Island”. And apparently he’s dating my Tsu-niichan!” Suika and Shovel gasped. Namari’s hands flew to her mouth in silent shock. “Oh, but it gets worse than that! He’s rude, loud, doesn’t respect anyone’s personal space, gives smooches in public!” Each revelation caused her friends to reel back in suspense. “And worst of all… last night, Moz tried to give special snuggles to Tsu-niichan!”
“NO!” Squealed Shovel.
“YES! But Tsu-niichan didn’t even want the snuggles! Moz was making him cuddle!”
“They were Struggle Snuggles!” Suika declared.
“YES! STRUGGLE SNUGGLES! Fortunately I was able to help Tsu-niichan break free last night, but that won’t stop Sea Witch Moz from trying to snuggle him again!” Mirai handed back the chalkboard to Namari. “And that is why we need to do something. Tsu-niichan is too far under his spell, so he needs our help to rescue him!”
Namari scratched the question out on her board: “How do we do that?”
Mirai grinned. She pulled out the giant parchment she had been saving for emergencies such as this and unrolled it on the ground. “We’re gonna make our own roadmap, just like the ones Senku makes for his projects.” While her friends watched on, Mirai took up a pencil and titled the map:
Operation: DOWN WITH THE SEA WITCH!
Unlike how Senku made his roadmaps, the girls would have to start with the end result and plan their way backwards. Namari had added the goal at the bottom of the page: a doodle of Tsu-niichan hugging Mirai while a crude Moz sketch was running away while crying. Mirai, of course, approved. “Now let’s get planning!”
“YEAH!”