《Cosmic Spirits》Where the ways part
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"Your... ring?... You really want to give me something this valuable to you?" Fudo asked, looking up from the tiny piece of jewelry in his hand and to Isamu. "It's my grandma's last wish, so I have to do this, also... it's a nice parting gift, right?"
"It... yeah, of course, it is... makes me look bad for just giving you my jacket, but why your ring? Wasn't this meant for your future wife or something? Your special someone?"
"That's also what I thought, but you made me think. If she meant me to use it as a wedding ring too, then she would've given me two rings, and as I thought about what she could've meant, I remembered something. She never told me to give this to my special someone. She told me to give it to a special someone that changed my life, just as grandpa did for her."
Kaiyo came back up from the staircase and looked over Fudo's shoulder, as he was the only one that stopped while the other three already went down the stairs. "Your granny gave you that? Did she tell you where she got it?"
"She said my grandpa made that himself. He was an architect, but he liked making jewelry and those in his free time. I never met him, though. He died before I was born." Isamu said while he put on the large white jacket over his hoodie, which looked even more oversized on him than on Fudo.
"I don't know what's with your grandpa, but the guy who made that ring is Hephaistos, and he still works with us. You can meet him if you want." She said, carefully picking the ring out of Fudo's palm and inspecting the little gem inside the jewelry. "This is definitely his. He always used at least one rare material in his works, but this is really valuable. This is a vessel gem. The same gem that'S used in the wonderlamp."
"You mean, the man who made that ring is really still alive? Does that mean my grandpa could've faked his death?" Isamu came closer to her while staring straight at her face, but his tone didn't change. It may be because he isn't as eager to meet a man that has even hidden from his own wife.
"I'm saying, your grandpa could've lied to your granny's face, or your granny knew about him and his esper and told you he died to keep you away from this. You mentioned that your grandma said that old man changed her life, right? If he introduced her to espers and maybe even led her to become an esper host, then that would very well count as changing one's life, I dare say... is that ring special in any way that is not emotional connection?"
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Isamu held his chin and then pointed at the ring with his ring finger held up. "The ring changes its size depending on the finger it sits on. Grandma said that came from a special forging technique he used, but even I was a little skeptical there, but as I wanted to ask her about that, it was already too late... and not quite the right moment anyway."
"Yeah, that changing is because of the vessel gem he used, an easy way to do it but a very hard-to-find gem. It's used in the wonderlamp that's used as a vessel for an esper we call genie." She put the ring back in Fudo's hand before she turned around and took a few steps down the stairs again.
"If you want to meet him, you can, as I said. You can talk to Aruna about that or wait for him to come and visit. The house in which you'll live was designed and built by him. He comes to inspect the house every now and then." She didn't look back, but she talked loud enough so everyone on the terrace could still hear it before she got too low to see from their point.
"To be honest... I don't really need to meet him, but if the possibility's there, then I'll take it. It can wait, though." He held his head since all the information that kept coming seemed to give him a headache. His grandpa isn't dead, his grandpa was an esper user, and he could even meet him as soon as he wanted to.
"You don't even know if he's your grandpa, maybe this Hephaistos made the ring for your grandpa, but if I were you, then I'd try to meet him. He's still your family... well, maybe." Fudo said as he slid the ring onto his middle finger, and as Isamu said, he could feel the ring fit itself into size. "...Did you really think this was natural...? Damn."
"As I said, I was skeptical." He pouted and turned around with his arms crossed before his chest. "Yeah, yeah, of course, you were." Fudo laughed, patting Isamu on his shoulder. "I'll keep that ring as safe as you did! Nothing and no one is gonna damage this, even if I still feel a little weird taking it. I mean, didn't you say this is the last thing you have from your grandma?"
"And giving it to someone that changed my life is her last wish with it. I respect her wishes, and basically, you helping me with the robbers was the trigger that led to all this... so in some way, you're the reason this happened to me. If that's something good or not depends on what happens with the demons I'm being sent to."
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He looked over his shoulder with a wide smile before Fudo suddenly wrapped his elbow around Isamu's neck and pulled him closer to himself. Also smirking widely, he rubbed Isamu's head with his knuckles. "This is what I always do with the new kids coming to us. You were never with us in the orphanage, but you're like them now. You're my Lil bro too from now on, so you better don't bite the dust."
"I'll try my best... big bro...?" He looked up to him from his position, clenched under Fudo's arm. "Don't look so hesitant to say that! Call me how you want to! We'll go both out ways now, but we're connected still. So, until we meet again!"
"Isa, we better go now. Miyo gave Zen the permission to put our things in the bag for Fudo's group, and I'd like to stop him before he puts my toothbrush in there. Oh, and Fudo, you watch out for yourself, ok? I don't want any of you to die." Aruna moved over to them, also putting her hand on Isamu's shoulder before she pointed over her shoulder to the open door in the corner.
"I think I should also get going. Miyo and Aishi already ran out the gate, and Kaiyo is pretty near it. I better run now. Until we meet again!" He yelled as he already ran down the stair towards the gate. Isamu silently watched him running down before he turned around and followed Aruna to the door while taking slight glances at the sleeves of the white jacket he wore.
"You're gonna lead us to the orphanage, right, Aishi? Because I have absolutely no clue where we need to go!" "Shouldn't we wait for the other two?" Already out of the library, Miyo and Aiko waited outside the alley. Well, Aiko tried getting Miyo to wait while she tried to run off without the others.
"Kaiyo has Fufu, so they'll find us! We can go!" Miyo spoke with a bright smile on her face as she put her hands on Aiko's waist and picked her up. "Now, before she comes ou-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence. As she saw Aiko glance over her head and saw a pair of hands on her waist, she realized it was too late. "Before WHO comes out?"
She felt her feet being lifted off the ground and heard Kaiyo's voice directly next to her ear. "I asked you something, Miyo. Did you try to run off without me?"
"N-no, of course not! I tried to have some fun with little Aishi. I didn't want to leave you alone." Miyo said while slowly letting Aiko down. Looking over her shoulder and up to Kaiyo's face, which had a dark expression on it.
"That's what I hoped to hear. By the way, we found out that Hephaistos may be Isamu's grandpa, so we gotta look into that later." Upon hearing that, the scared look on Miyo's face immediately turned into a surprised one. Wide eyes but still smirking widely.
"Oho~so that brat could have relatives in our company? And even someone with a high standing like Happy... I knew he would be interesting!" She said before starting to shake and struggle to free herself from Kaiyo's grasp.
"I'm here too! Please don't throw me against a... wall...? What kinda grabber party is this?" As Fudo also exited the wall, and the waves now stopped entirely, the first thing he saw was the three, who all held each other. "Should I... grab Kaiyo now? Or what's the order?"
"There ain't no order! We can go now!" Kaiyo said, quickly letting Miyo down. "Zen is gonna find us when he finishes packing, and we'll go forth to officially adopt you two... even though... I don't know how that works."
"Our orphanage works kinda different than others... I think. I've read that it normally should take some time, but here you can adopt children as long as you can prove you're able to take care of a child and seem trustworthy to our mama. She takes this very seriously." Aiko looked over at them while walking backward.
"Your mama? You mean one of the personnel that's taking care of you?" Kaiyo asked, looking around the small town while they were all following Aiko. "No, she's the owner of the orphanage and the only one that works there. She's taking care of us all like a mother takes care of her own children, so we call her mama." Fudo answered, stretching his arms above his head.
"That means you have three mamas as soon as we adopt you!" Miyo expressed loud and proud with a bright smile on her lips. "Four actually, my biological mother is still alive, and I'm still in touch with her. She just can't take care of me, so I live here."
"Your mom's still alive? Now it feels kind of weird to adopt you..." Kaiyo held her chin with her index finger and her thumb. "Yeah, she is, her name is Enatsu Suzaku... and she can't expect me to stay here forever, so adopting me shouldn't really be a problem."
"Suzaku?" Miyo asked. Not taking a single step anymore. Her eyes widened in shock. Kaiyo did the same. Yet her eyes only showed a brisk of disbelief.
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