A hotel. Korosensei had Aguri hand over Egg and looked at it closer. He heard a yelp when he touched it just right with his tentacle. The sound triggered a reaction from Aguri too.
Not a good loving one like reaching out to it like a normal mother would do, but she couldn't help it. She dropped to the ground and curled up, covering her head with her tentacles, before she became human. Still covering her head.
"Egg is okay," he promised her. "It's just in the center, a bit of freezerburn. Her tentacles are moving just fine now." That word made her look up toward him. "Yep, it's a she."
A she? Aguri got up off the ground, a little sheepishly, but didn't talk about why she did that. It wasn't the first time she did that, and he never asked either. It was better not to address it.
"I know how Yanagisawa treated you," he said, surprising her instead. "We need to work on this, Aguri. We will face him again in the future."
She didn't answer. Strength wasn't something she felt she had a lot of right now. Egg was hurt which made her feel nervous, like her stomach was full of butterflies. Emiko was a mysterious egg no one knew the connection to, and that filled her stomach with more butterflies.
The fact that someone that was Korosenpai's old student was now looking like her, and racing back to Yanagisawa so fast, made her feel a sense of shame. Guilt. What if he was treating Chou Chou the same way? "How is Egg?"
"She's getting better at staying uncurled," he pointed out to her. "You were right, she is getting bigger. Look, she's smiling."
"She's always smiling." Aguri moved up closer to her. "She's going to need some kind of clothes soon if she's going to start staying out in the open."
Still so small though. Korosenpai went and got one of the hotel's washrags. Nice and soft lavender. "How about this?" He picked her up and put the washrag down.
Aguri took the washrag and carefully placed it over Egg. The warmth made her uncurl more, and she watched it. Egg changed into a human shape, with the neon orange fading away into a bright tan color she recognized. Even though there was no proof, her whole body just felt-
Korosenpai caught her before she fell off balance. "Color change. Like fawns and their spots."
"That tan color. That beautiful tan color. We know that tan color." No. No, Aguri, Big girl, stop it. Stop it! She willed herself not to cry. To distract herself. To do something. But.
"Did your sister name her niece Emiko?"
Korosenpai didn't have to add anything to that statement. He got the gist as well, and the knowledge that he was starting to see the same thing? Not someone that had some smarts, but an IQ so grand he was probably one of the greatest minds on Earth. He was seeing the same thing. "I think so?"
"Pretty name." Korosenpai lifted Egg up and looked at her. "It's something I recognize. It's not your beautiful face, Aguri, I would recognize that right away. I think that's why I really thought Emiko was Chou Chou being reborn. I recognize this. The shape of the mouth. The eye shape. The nose even. It's all screaming at me, like I should know it."
"Photo." Aguri held out her hand as one of Koro's tentacles gave it back to her. Aguri stared at the cute pink soft hair on Emiko, and looked at the thin pink bits on Egg in her human form. The eyes too. Same dead-on straight color. "Maybe you recognize it because it's someone you once knew when you were too little to remember much. A subconscious thought. They don't have much of the Yukimura's appearance." Her voice squealed a tiny bit. "Maybe it's from yours?"
"Ah." He didn't say much else for a few seconds as he just stared at the little human Egg, sucking on her tiny thumb now. "I kind of tune that out . . . that face. I guess I'm psychologically even tuning it out, when it's right in front of me." His tentacles started to touch mucusy sweat on his head. "I'm sure Akari has Lola's number, so we can call, and, oh yeah, phone." Aguri handed him the phone. "Great, Lola's number will be right there. We can call and . . . get Egg's twin back that Sanctuary was clearly keeping without our consent."
The last words were firm and his whole being went pure black. Aguri understood that. Sanctuary had kept one egg back from them, so they could have a god that they would be able to mold into their own. "The leaders."
"They are going to pay." He was still pitch black and Egg was starting to cry so he put her back down. Still, he was so black. Darker than night. "Each and every one of those leaders are going to pay for that!"
No. Aguri tried to reach for him. Hold him. He couldn't go down this path again. "She was okay, Sanctuary didn't raise her. Akari did, and so did your faithful friend. Please. Don't." She held one of his tentacles, trying her best to calm him down. This form. This shape. It was so reminiscent of that night. "She's still very young, we can still be there for her."
It wasn't working though, she had to break in closer. She changed to her octopi form, the form she knew that he seemed to love best, and touched his front tentacle with her front tentacle.
He slowly swirled around hers as he calmed down. "Yanagisawa is going to try to turn her against me somehow in the future. Just like my student. Create the next 'God of Death' again." He was getting better, but his colors weren't changing back to yellow at all. Still so dark. "None of this, had any right to even happen! I am the last thing on Earth that should have multiplied!"
So much anger. She wrapped her tentacle around tighter. "Please."
"I hate my human form," he said bluntly. "I hate it so much." He leaned down over Egg, but Aguri didn't fear what he'd do. He was emotional, but not stupid. "I couldn't even recognize it staring back at me."
"I don't mind it. I don't mind either face," she said softly. "I see a friend in each." She wrapped another front tentacle toward his other front tentacle. "Not all of it is your face. Other parts, are just from a line of descendants between us. That's how it always is, so I wouldn't even think of it that way. This little Egg is a sum of both of us, but neither of us. So, this face is called Egg's face."
"Yeah. Egg's face." His colors were finally starting to subside into his yellow. "And Emiko. I didn't even think about it, Aguri, I'm sorry." Yep, he was back to normal as he really wrapped his tentacles onto hers. "At the time, I just wanted the cursed thing that was gonna make you crazy out of you. I didn't even expect it to survive, it was a wild experiment. I just wanted you safe." He tucked Egg in with the washcloth. "They probably thought I wouldn't even suspect a thing. Handed me one bouncy egg and a safe Aguri. Kept the other one hidden in the Little Miracles room."
"I kept my sanity, and I had the same thoughts," Aguri told him. "In the end, I guess I should have known better. You were brought back because your particles were excited. I'd already seen the impossible." She laid her head against him. "If it weren't for all this freezing for seven years, we never would have known. Funny."
"Yeah, a happy coincidence." He took his tentacles and scooted her closer. "I promise I'll get Emiko back. I don't care what Yanagisawa is up to, I'll take care of him and get my student back too." He looked so much better now. "You look so much better now."
Hm? "Do I? I just feel better because I can tell you feel better." She could see it in his face, as strange as it sounded. "But should we do that?" Yeah, he was perplexed. "Akari and Lola raised her. Akari kept talking like she would raise her with me."
"Completely taking her is like taking her from family." Yeah, he saw it. Akari kept pointing out how Aguri could help. She never seemed like she was ready to let go of her. Almost seven years. Akari is her family now.
That was truth, but also . . . it was mine. It was Aguri's! Lola would be ready to hand her over.
He took the phone and found Lola's number. "Lola, where are you? What? No, don't go that fast, Sanctuary will track that." He heard her pleas of sorrow for disappointing him. "I'm coming, stop where you are, Yanagisawa went the other way. He didn't want her yet. You and Aguri's sister hid the innocent little octopus so well, thank you." Yeah, there was that knowing sense of pride he wanted to hear again. She deserved her moment in the sun. "It would be a good idea to get someone Yanagisawa is after with us for a little while though, so we'd like to get her back." That would give them time to get to know her too. "I'll be moving slower. Backtrack some towards where you left. We'll meet in the middle." He hung up and handed her the phone. "I'll go get her. Don't leave the hotel. I'll be right back."
"So if we lost my cruel dad, then how come we can't stop by that huge donut place?" Emiko asked.
"We didn't lose your cruel dad," Aunt C. insisted. "We do not know who that is. Our mighty Lord Reaper wants you back he is worried for you."
"That guy was called Yanagisawa by the Reaper god guy, and Aunt Akari says he was my dad."
"Your father is unknown, so is your mother," Aunt C. said again. "Keep up, but do not go faster, and do not drift toward the road."
Emiko rolled her eyes. Nobody knew anything about her real family, and she didn't care. "We should have stopped for donuts instead."
"We are almost there, Emiko. The Lord Reaper will be meeting with us soon," Aunt C. said once again.
Why now? Nothing was going to really change. Aunt Akari was still Aunt Akari. Aunt C. would always be her crazy Aunt Lola. Those two that visited Aunt Akari seemed to only attract bad attention, so she doubted they'd be around too long. Probably come and go with some explosions in between, but people with that kind of life didn't exactly drag kids around with them.
So this just felt really stupid. She watched as her Aunt C. soared lower and waved to her god again. Emiko just landed next to her, then turned humanoid again.
The god looked at her a little different this time. "Hey, Emiko."
She gestured with her head for a hello. "Is my Aunt Akari fine?"
"You bet, yep, your Aunt Akari is just fine." Strange, for being the one worshipped, he looked nervous. "Hey, sorry for the mishap. We are going to a safe spot now, just stay close."
Emiko flipped back into her octopus form. He gave her an odd look. What was that about?
"Your color changed in your octopus form?" He cared about that?
"I always flip my colors in my monster form. See?" She flipped to her side. "Human." She flipped again with a scary look. "Monster of the week in yellow." She flipped again. "Sweet human." She flipped again with a scary look and her tongue hanging out. "Monster of the week in red! With purple stripes." She added purple stripes to her edges.
Huh. Now he looked very confused. "What's your original coloring and expression? I'm yellow with a smile." He gestured to him being yellow. "You're?"
Original coloring and expression? "I don't know." She watched him cover his mouth with his tentacles.
"F-f-f-freaky little number out here for weather," he said strangely. "Aye. Your human colors. You don't choose those, do you?" he asked. "Complete control of that too?"
Human colors? Emiko changed back to a human and turned her pink hair into a blue and her skin into a lavender. "You mean like this?"
"Yeah, you can change colors, but you still got those same . . . traits."
Traits? Mister God of Death came over closer and tried to touch her with his tentacle again. "Hey, you aren't my God, just crazy Aunt Lola's, don't touch." She batted his tentacle away.
"Goddess Emiko!" Aunt C. cried out. "Be decent to the lord!"
Ah, that guy didn't listen. His tentacle even grabbed her by the chin. He'll pay for that. He was just staring at her as she smiled. Be cute. Be adorable. Get him back later.
"Yeah," he said as he let go of her chin. "Nice smile. With bad intent hiding behind it. You're an unemotional piece of trash."
What? Her smile changed slightly. Calling her trash when she dutifully smiled?
He then looked caught off guard again. "Oh, I didn't mean you! I was thinking about the person that was from. I don't even know if that's fair to say."
"Lord Reaper? Perhaps we should get going and talk about this later?"
"Right. This way, we are heading to a nice hotel."
Guy was weird. Fit in with the freakiness of Aunt C. Emiko followed closer to her Aunt C. as they arrived in a hotel. Emiko changed into a human again along with her Aunt. This god guy still didn't change though. Bold. He just hid his tentacles and wore a silly wig.
Emiko watched the birds soaring in the sky and land in the grass as they went in. Was her Aunt Akari here?
"You can call me whatever you want," the god guy said to her. "I am usually Korosensei. It's preferred."
Anything she wanted? Korosensei?
"Uh, Lord? Having years of experience with Emiko, I must warn you that idea might not be the most sound?"
"I refuse to force any word from her." He seemed pretty confident.
"Luna." She watched him stop.
"Luna?" He didn't reject it, but probably wasn't crazy about it. He never said he had to like it. "What made you come up with that?"
"I like Luna. She's a pretty cat with a moon on her head," she said.
"You are naming me after Usagi's cat?"
Yep. She'd give him some credit though, at least he knew her show. She pointed to his funny moon tie with a hole in it. He didn't suddenly flip on his deal or anything, just continued into the hotel. The carpet was soft and white. It'd be nicer to rub with her tentacles. Still, she could feel it at the top of her feet. She bounced on it. She started to hop on it instead of walking.
"Emiko, please do not jump on the carpet."
"I'm performing, not playing." She saw a stain on the carpet further ahead and jumped for it. She saw another stain and jumped to that one.
"Emiko," she got called out again. "Dear, please."
"I'm a bunny dodging predators. It's best to stretch your artist sickness." As she hopped again, she noticed Luna looking straight at her. He was too close to let her hop anymore. "What is it, Luna?"
"Kharma would make sure you'd be a handful," he said to her, but probably meant for himself. Her aunts did talk to themselves sometimes when dealing with her. Since he was blocking her way, she looked at the designs on the wall. It was wood. She started to trace it. "It's a repeating wizard throwing up."
"It's a common design of wood patterns," Aunt C. said.
"A repeating wizard throwing up is a common design?" She traced it again since Luna seemed interested. "Here's the hat. Here's the beard. Here's the funny eyes. Here's the vomit coming out of the beard." Huh. Luna didn't seem to be upset at all at her discovery.
"Don't lose that imagination, it can be helpful in hard times." He turned away and headed back down the halls. "We are here." He walked a few feet and using some kind of card unlocked the door. "I have her and Lola with me."
Emiko walked straight in and looked at the carpet. It was different and multi-colored. Not seeing Aunt Akari, she went ahead and turned the colors of the floor like a chameleon and rubbed her tentacles across it. Ooh, soft.
She noticed a super tiny human in the middle of a small table that had a small towel over her. That was strange.
"Emiko." The Aguri lady came closer to her. "Hello. It's nice to see you again."
"Yeah." A simple greeting, if she ignored it, her Aunts would come down on her. "Where's Aunt Akari?"
"She's not here," Aguri said to her. "You can sit down if you want?"
Eh. She'd rather play with the carpet. She looked at the wall. They didn't have the same pattern of a vomitting wizard.
"We have a story we'd like to tell you," Aguri said to her. "I guess you can play, if you promise to listen to us?"
Who was us? She noticed Luna moved closer to Aguri. "You and Luna?"
"Luna?" Aguri looked at Luna.
"I said she could call me whatever she wanted." He just held up his tie toward Aguri, and instead of being mad, they both just laughed. Aguri had a friendly normal laugh, but Luna had this upbeat kind of laugh that she did every once in awhile on accident.
She moved down to the carpet and ran it through her tentacles while they told her about them being frozen like popsicles almost seven years ago. They told her about how her Aunt C. had taken her to safety.
Then they said that the guy that Aunt Akari had always said was her dad and bad, might try to come after her to turn her into some kind of killing machine. Now, they wanted her to retirat it back. "Retirat?"
"Tell us back, in your own words, what you understand from that," Aguri said to her.
Emiko got up from the ground and moved back toward being human. She cleared her throat. "Sanctuary sucks."
"Emiko," Aunt C. warned her.
"Sanctuary sucks is definitely an important part," Luna agreed with her. "So is the 'there is a madman after you who plans on brainwashing you and turning you against me'." She was listening, but she became much sharper as she watched him pull out a piece of candy from his pocket. "Could you reiterate that? Tell it back to us."
"The not dad madman wants to wash my brains and make me bad." Ooh, a sucker. He tossed it toward her.
"Brainwashing is lying to others about reality," Aguri warned her.
"Everyone's brainwashed me then." She opened her sucker and shoved it in her mouth.
"Emiko," Aunt C. said again. She just wouldn't say much more in front of her god guy.
Which was the point. "It's true. Aunt Akari swore Yanakisawee was my dad and bad, but Aunt C. said it was the God of Death, and now it's no one?" She shoved her sucker back in her mouth.
"Your Aunt Lola was telling the truth, but she's also half-crazy and believes I am a god, along with a bunch of Sanctuary," Luna told her. "Your Aunt Akari assumed since Yanagisawa wasn't nice to your mom, that he was the father. These lies weren't brainwashing, they just didn't know the truth."
"Brainwashing is lying and using psychology against you," Aguri said. "That's like saying playing mind tricks in a mean way against you."
"Not brainwashing me, but still being mean to me." She didn't trust it. The sucker tasted good, was that a honey flavor? Lemon honey? Caramel honey? "Is this caramel honey?"
"Honey," Luna said to her. "Although there is a taste of something else, they keep the label simple. You're right, everything was mean to you. There's been a lot of lies to you, and whether others were right or wrong, that still hurt you."
Luna was always drawn to her face. Strange. He didn't use real comforting words, but he was honest. She liked that. She looked toward her Aunt Lola.
"Your Aunt Akari knows you will be with them." Her Aunt C. held out her arms and hugged her briefly. "You will be well taken care of, God of Death is a merciful and just god."
Okay. Sure she was crazy, and she held onto the belief even after Luna explained he wasn't a god and Sanctuary was just nuts. Whoever washed her brains scrubbed really well. Still? Her Aunt Akari and Aunt Lola was all she knew. Their apartments was all she knew.
She felt compelled to do something she didn't do often. She hugged back. "Aunt C. Are you really leaving me here?"
"You are safe and sound now. I must leave you to the grace of Lord Reaper, my duty over you is over now, Emiko." She bowed to her, and then bowed to her parents. "God of Death. Lady Aguri. I hope good things for Sanctuary are around the corner!"
Then she left. She just up and left out the door, leaving her with Luna, a tiny baby, and her Aunt Akari's sister.
"I don't mind that face."
Emiko turned and looked at Luna, still staring at her face.
"Emotions are a friend," he said to her strangely. "Don't hide behind fake expressions."
Emiko just sat back on the ground, crossing her arms. For the first time, she didn't really know what to do.
Aguri approached her again. This time, she got on the ground with her. "Hey, you'll see your Aunt Akari one day again. Right now though, we need to be careful. So? Is there anything you like to do?"
Trapped in a hotel room. "Wouldn't it be safer for me to stay with my Aunts instead?" That might get her out of there.
"Your Aunt Akari's apartment already got wrecked. I'm sure the news is going to be covering that one soon," Luna said as he turned on the TV. When he did that though, there was a lot more on it than just the apartment being demolished.
Much more.
"Oh no." Couldn't he get even a few seconds to rest before Yanagisawa had to be up to something?
"The name of the game is the waiting game, and it's something the world has been doing for an hour now," a reporter said on the TV. "The military and the government, not just in Japan, but around the world, are trying to get a handle on the situation. What we have so far are pictures of what they had seen in the past." Pictures of Luna had shown up on the screen with different skin tones and different hats and wigs. "These are just a sample. If you see someone who you think has a deformity, you do not need to overreact, you could be hurting someone innocent. However, you should check for a wig, a hat, or an overcoat that is hiding tentacles."
"Something must have happened," Aguri said. "They are releasing top secret information on you?"
"There are many of these aliens out there, so everyone must be cautious," the reporter warned. "Thousands of aliens who have the power to destroy the Earth, and it only takes one. If you see one, please do not take it on. Call the police and get away. Do not corner it or even talk to it. If it is demanding something from you, just give it what it wants, it could save your life."
Emiko just sort of tipped to the ground. "Great, human shape 24/7 now."
Koro grabbed the remote. This was bad. The whole destroying Earth gimmick, but Sanctuary must have been involved. All of Sanctuary. Not only that, but his shape? He stopped when he found a video of it.
The leaders of Sanctuary, in their cephalopod forms and official rooms, were with him? No. "That's why she gave me them." He pulled out the shells Chou Chou had lent him. Yanagisawa was still using a shell, but not his human one.
He looked just like Korosensei, octopus form, complete with hat and a replica tie of the moon.