[Jaykobell]

Tsuneo was at a bit of a loss, seeing the two being unable to even engage in some kind of petty conversation. He could forgive Aya, being that she was only a young child, and one whose life had been turned around on its head only a few weeks prior. A topic came to Tsuneo at that point, but he refrained from mentioning it. While having Takumi explain how he'd met Aya's mother sounded good in theory, the problem was that their meeting hadn't been anything pleasant, together with the fact Aya was still sensitive when her mother was mentioned.

With the child being timid and Takumi being naturally reserved, even Tsuneo was getting uncomfortable. Nothing wrong was happening, but nothing productive was being doing, either. He crossed his arms and tilted his head, trying to find something, anything, that might stir some kind of conversation. "Well..." he mused, pausing shortly after to gather his thoughts further. "Aya, are you happy to meet your father?" With the child's mother and the Illusion family now deceased, Takumi was her only remaining family member.

Even though she'd been referred to as his daughter, Takumi's mind was still unable to process the fact that this child was his own. At its core, he understood what it meant, but emotionally and psychologically, it felt as if his mind was doing everything in its power not to understand the situation. He considered the child next to him like any other, but the fact of the matter was that she was his, and not just anyone else's child.

When presented with the question, Aya's eyes nervously looked back towards Tsuneo, and then she finally turned to take a look at Takumi. The black outfit was different from her creamy one, and the toxic green markings of his coat were frightening. Her mother had never been a talkative one, but if there was one thing she'd always said... She turned away from Takumi and looked away nervously. "Mommy always said the Chemist family were the worst," the child whispered, and she flinched when she heard Takumi scoff at her words.

"Can't imagine why," he said with spite, rolling his eyes as he shifted positions and let his head rest in the palm of his hand. How could he ever make things "right" if even the child knew his family and bloodline were despicable? The reputation didn't extend only to him, but to the entire clan itself. Even a child as young as Aya knew of it.

[Jaykobell]

There was an awkward period of silence between the three after Aya's response. She'd initially been afraid of Takumi snapping at her or hurting her, but aside from passing a comment, the Chemist hadn't done anything. It was a little frightening to meet her father, especially since her mother had never really talked about him. Her mother had never really talked about herself, either. She'd once wondered why her parents weren't together like all the others in the family.

Being raised in a small, endangered family of ninjas to a mother who had to raise her child all on her own, however, had ruined Aya's childhood fairly quickly. She'd been told from a very young age that her father was a disgusting human being, and someone she should never, ever meet or talk to. Her mother had used some specific words that she didn't quite remember anymore, but Aya remembered that her mother had never wanted to meet her father ever again.

From Aya's point of view, however, it was hard to understand. What had her father done for her mother to hate him? She had only ever known her own family until very recently, and so the child herself didn't know what to expect from the other clans. All she'd heard from her mother was that all the other families were evil, and that Aya shouldn't interact with them.

Her mother used to say that, but now her mother was gone. Her grandparents were gone, and the few friends she had in the family were also gone. Everyone was gone, leaving her as the only survivor. She had no one else to call her family aside from the Chemist sitting next to her. "I-I want my daddy," Aya eventually added, awkwardly breaking the silence as she rubbed one of her arms nervously. She didn't know why her mother had always hated her father, and she didn't know if her father was a nice person: being a Chemist, she was scared of him. On the other hand, he hadn't hurt her yet, and she had no one else. She liked the two Archivists that had kept her company here, but they weren't her family.

"Takumi will take care of you from now on," Tsuneo replied after the child had spoken. "You can have a daddy from now on." Those words should've been spoken by Takumi himself, but the Chemist was seemingly lost in thought; the Archivist was determined Takumi hadn't even heard Aya's words.

Much to his surprise, however, Takumi did end up speaking, although the question didn't have much to do with the topic at hand. "What was it like, living with your mom?" he asked the child, turning his head slightly towards her, and asking a question that surprised Tsuneo.

[Jaykobell]

From what Takumi could tell, Aya was a nervous, reserved child who didn't speak unless spoken to. She seemed to be easily frightened, and she was hard to talk to. Admittedly, it reminded him back when he was a child, himself. Since no one talked to him or asked him anything, he just didn't talk. Even when he was rarely spoken to, it was hard to coax anything out of him. He was always afraid of the consequences, and seeing the child flinch earlier, he could see his younger self in the small girl next to him.

Aya turned to Takumi and stared at him for a bit, and as expected, the reply didn't come right away. The child started fiddling with the rim of her shirt as she struggled to answer the question. "Lonely," she answered simply, and she paused there. The answered surprised Tsuneo, but Takumi was unfazed by the word. When neither adult spoke after her, Aya felt their stares onto her and quickly moved on. "Th-the other kids didn't play with me a lot," she added, her eyes flickering this way and that as she moved on to rub her arm again. "I was alone a lot. I... played with bugs a lot," she continued, but she was quickly running out of things to say. The more they stared at her, the harder it was to think and to speak.

"Bugs?" Takumi echoed, and that was one of the words that stood out the most, along with "lonely" and "alone". That brought him back to his own lonely days when bugs and other little critters were all he really had to pass the time.

At the mention of bugs, Tsuneo suddenly thought of something. "Oh! Yes, Aya, how about showing your father what you can do?" he suggested to the child, and that idea shocked her. She started to fidget even more, but the Archivist was certain that would lead to something. "Show him what you were practicing earlier this morning."

Takumi gave Tsuneo a perplexed look, and then he turned to the child. Aya literally refused to answer Tsuneo's suggestion, getting even more nervous and tense. "What was she doing?" he asked Tsuneo, turning back to the Archivist so he could fill Takumi in on this conversation.

Seeing as Aya was too nervous to answer, Tsuneo figured maybe having Takumi ask the child might be enough to motivate her to show him. "Takahiro has been teaching her Chemistry," Tsuneo explained first before adding, "and fortunately, her mother taught her some Illusion techniques. This child's creativity is amazing when she applies it to either art," he complimented, and it looked like the child was embarrassed to get praised. She continued to fidget, but her reaction seemed to be mostly from embarrassment rather than stress.

[Jaykobell]

The first thing that came to mind was the question of how in the world his child didn't know Chemistry. The answer came as quickly as the question had been asked: he hadn't been there to teach her. Not only that, but if Aya's mother despised him, it wasn't surprising the child had never been exposed to the art. "So what did she show you?" he asked, relatively curious as to what it had been. The child being a hybrid, it sounded like she could learn and do techniques from both families. What was that about the child's creativity?

"It has to be seen," Tsuneo insisted, and at that point, he turned to Aya again. "Won't you do it again, Aya?" he asked again, hoping Takumi's mild curiosity had been enough to urge the child forward. He was determined that once Aya got around to showing Takumi her skills, as unpolished and limited as they were, the Chemist would be sold on the child's potential.

Aya continued to rub her arm nervously, but with both Tsuneo and Takumi asking about what she could do — specifically what she'd done earlier in the morning — the child found it increasingly hard to ignore their request. She was reluctant to show what she could do, mostly because her mother had always told her that wasn't what their Illusion techniques were for. When she'd showed her skills to the two Archivists, however, both of them had appreciated it. Her father didn't seem to know about the art of illusions, so he probably wouldn't reprimand her over it.

After a few more minutes of silence, Aya agreed to do the trick Tsuneo wanted her to do. "Okay," she said simply before focusing on doing the technique. She took a deep, nervous breath as she cupped her hands over her mouth. She breathed out into her hands, as if she were warming herself up. After breathing out, she cupped her hands together and pulled them away from her mouth before slowly releasing her hold. It was confusing to watch at first, but it all made sense after Aya spread out her hands.

A light glowed from between her hands, and a thick, colorful smoke emerged. Little swirls and sparkles burst from her hands as a butterfly flew out from the cocoon, fluttering about exactly how a real butterfly would move. It was made of colorful smoke — although the tint was dark and slightly desaturated — that was glowed as it moved and flapped its wings. Aya guided the butterfly with her hands, and the insect had seemingly been given a personality of its own as it fluttered close to her, and then away, and then back again. The wings even fluttered at different speeds, from slowly to quickly depending on the situation.

Tsuneo smiled as he watched the butterfly move and flutter about, enjoying the sight. Takumi, on the other hand, hadn't seen the butterfly before, and so the display had surprised him. He could imagine illusion powers to be about creating distractions and other such things, but he hadn't expected the child to use them this way.

[Jaykobell]

The butterfly itself was unusually unique, sporting markings and shapes that weren't natural. Even as it flew about and around Aya, it changed shapes, going from rounded wings to blocky shapes. The antennae would grow longer, grow thinner, change colors; the wings would grow bigger, would get another set, or the tails of the hindwings would grow longer. As the child continued to play with the butterfly, it continued to morph. In a way, it was almost entrancing.

Eventually, Aya cupped her hands again, and she let the butterfly settle down in the palm of her hands. Its wings lowered slowly, and much like a real butterfly, it seemed to fall asleep in her hands as it stopped moving entirely, save for the occasional flicking of its wings. A little powder seemed to scatter about whenever the butterfly flicked its wings, and it was fascinating to see the bug display more and more things the longer it stayed.

"I'm amazed at how many shapes and things it can do," Tsuneo voiced after the butterfly had settled down, resting his head in the palm of his hand as he kept his eyes on the butterfly. "I had no idea Illusionists could do things like this."

Takumi kept his eyes on the butterfly, but after the initial display, the butterfly failed to really hold his interest completely. "It's nice and all," he admitted, but his voice made it obvious that he wasn't really all that impressed, "but is that it? She can make a butterfly?"

The comment made Aya's self-confidence falter, and when the child looked away, the butterfly seemingly traced her feelings. Its colors started to fade, literally leaking off it like tiny waterfalls, eventually disappearing into thin air. It slowed down even more, and the bug seemed to shrink in size.

Hearing that comment from Takumi got Tsuneo to realize that the Chemist had completely missed the point of the technique. "Don't you see it?" he asked his friend, and the Chemist simply shrugged as he waited for Tsuneo to tell him what he'd missed. "It isn't just a technique: the way you can create concoctions, Aya can use this power to create things right out of her imagination," the Archivist explained, and if only to prove his point, he wiggled a finger gently over the butterfly. The bug shivered before flying away to sit on Aya's arm, instead. "It moves and changes shapes because Aya created this butterfly from her imagination. Ultimately, this technique she uses can give her visions a life of their own."

[Jaykobell]

"Wait," Takumi said shortly after Tsuneo had given him an explanation, "you mean the butterfly isn't the technique?" He'd thought that the butterfly was just a little thing Aya could summon, but according to Tsuneo, that wasn't the case. The butterfly was apparently part of a much bigger technique that was a lot more open-ended.

Tsuneo shook his head when Takumi asked, and he turned back to look at the butterfly. "Using the technique, she can create whatever her imagination can think of," he repeated, turning back to Takumi. "She could even create things that don't exist in reality. Their behavior is according to her imagination, as well." The butterfly moved like a real one because Aya had seen butterflies before; her memory then interpreted this memory into the skill. It was a fascinating technique that bordered magic itself, and it was breathtaking to watch. "It's a little unpolished because she hasn't had a chance to practice very much, but it's impressive regardless."

"Seriously?" Takumi turned to stare at the butterfly, and that was when he realized that this trick wasn't all that different from the Chemistry that he could do. The basic movements that triggered the technique were always the same, but the results varied depending on the ingredients used. In a way, the two techniques were similar in that aspect.

While the two were talking, Aya kept her eyes down, keeping her hands cupped together. Her thumbs rubbed over each other nervously and idly, and after a while, she starting feeling the butterfly getting lighter. Shortly after that, the bug disappeared entirely, seemingly leaking into thin air until nothing was left of it.

Takumi kept his eyes fixated on the spot where the butterfly had been, even after the bug had disappeared. Seeing the skill for himself, especially with Aya using it to show a bug, got the Chemist thinking. "Could you make ants with it?" he eventually ask, and the question made the girl jump a little, while Tsuneo looked confused.

"Ants?" he echoed, tilting his head at the Chemist. That sounded like an odd request; why wants, of all things?

"Ants," Takumi repeated, and if the two were going to question him endlessly, he would only get agitated with them. "So, could you make any, or not?" he asked as he turned back to the child, waiting for her answer. He stared back as Aya looked at him in silence, until she eventually nodded quietly, giving only a small, slow "uh-huh" for a reply.

[Jaykobell]

Once again cupping her hands over her mouth, Aya took a few deep breaths as she focused. She clasped her hands together, and when she let them go over the bed, a small family of tiny ants spread out between her hands. The small bugs skittered around and ran as quickly as they could along the covers, ethereal and smoky bodies invading the bed.

Takumi watched as the little insects spread all around, some of them even going over his legs and crawling up his body. That didn't bother him; and as a matter of fact, he found the little things to be soothing more than anything. They reminded him of his younger years, a time long gone, back when ants and even bigger critters like scorpions were his best friends. Tiny little things that would react to his actions and who would crawl on him and give him the closest thing he'd ever gotten to companionship. Some people like mammals, others liked birds, others preferred reptiles: he preferred and enjoyed the company of bugs.

He approached the small bugs, showing a finger to some of them. For a split second, Takumi forgot that the glowing shapes weren't real. Just like the real ones, however, the ants stepped back when presented with his finger, using their miniature antennae to get a better feel for him. Some of them decided against it, but others decided to take the leap of faith and climb on the given finger. They climbed over the black glove, and Takumi raised his hand to take a closer look at the ones that had crawled up.

"There's a lot of dry land around the Chemist territory," he explained passively, his attention devoted to the ants as he observed them from all angles. "We had a lot of bugs. I could play with the ant colonies for hours. Sometimes I would fight with the scorpions." He could remember the many times he'd been stung and injured by the many scorpions they had back there, but getting a beating from a scorpion was always better than playing alone in the dirt.

"Well, see? You already have something in common," Tsuneo pointed out happily, smiling at the two with renewed hope. "You both like bugs. Something most girls don't like very much, as far as I can tell," he added, voicing out the last comment specifically for Takumi to make a mental note of it. "And she seems to have inherited her father's genius," he added right after, stating it once again so Takumi could realize what was happening. The Chemist had been worried that the girl would be weak or helpless because of her gender, but this little display had proved the Chemist wrong on both fronts.

[Jaykobell]

When Tsuneo made his subtle comments, Takumi kept his eyes fixated on the ants, but his mind was now gone. As much as he hated to admit it, Aya seemed good enough. She wasn't loud and annoying like little girls — little children, to be perfectly honest — tended to be. She was quiet and reserved, much like her father. She liked bugs, something most girls didn't really like. She also seemed to have a lot of potential as far as learning and applying techniques were concerned, being able to do such a skill at her age. If this level was still unstable and unpolished, as Tsuneo had put it, then he couldn't imagine what real, stable illusions looked like. Not only that, if the child could create anything from her imagination, there was virtually no limit as to what she could summon and create. In itself, it mimicked Chemistry a lot, where there were virtually countless options and recipes for Takumi to try and experiment with.

Hearing Tsuneo call Takumi Aya's father didn't really sound right in the Chemist's ears. Although he considered her to be a child, he didn't really consider her to be his child, specifically. He hadn't known about the mother being pregnant, he hadn't been there during her birth, he hadn't been there to raise her. To him, she was only a kid, but not necessarily his own. He was unsure if Aya considered him her father at all, or if she even understood who he really was. He'd heard that little comment from earlier about her wanting her father, but he didn't know if that referred to him or just to anyone who could fill in those shoes.

As the ants continued to scatter, some of them slowly started to leak and disappear. Takumi blinked as he watched the little insects disappear, and it was while looking around that he noticed Aya yawning. Was the kid already tired?

Tsuneo picked up on it as well, and he answered Takumi's mental questions without waiting for the Chemist to voice any concerns. "The technique is draining, and if she's not focused, it'll just disappear," the Archivist explained as he got up from the ground. "I think we should let her sleep for the night."

"What? We've only been here for like fifteen minutes," Takumi argued, moving his hands about, completely forgetting the ants had been sitting all over one of them. "Wasn't the point of this to talk or whatever? I'm not tired at all." The "meeting" in and of itself had been built up this whole time for the sake of seeing this kid for a short session of fifteen minutes? They could still talk even if the child wanted to sleep, couldn't they? She could just lie down, and they could keep talking about whatever until the child fell asleep.

[Jaykobell]

Tsuneo clearly disagreed with that answer. "This isn't only about you, Takumi," the Archivist reminded him, and suddenly, those words got a strong sense of déjà vu. "You're not tired because you woke up just a few hours ago. Aya has been awake since early this morning. Children sleep longer than adults."

"So what now?" Takumi asked, wondering what the point of the meeting was now that the child was too tired to stay awake for it. "Why did you ask me to come see her if you knew she'd be tired?" It sounded like a waste of time, and the Chemist could've used it in much better ways.

"The point of you two meeting each other was to see how you would interact with one another," Tsuneo pointed out, crossing his arms. "It was short, but I think you'll get along wonderfully. Don't you think so?" he asked, first looking at Takumi and then turning to face Aya. True, the two hadn't had a chance to truly interact very intensively, but the little time they'd had had been enough to establish a small connection between them. Aya would probably remain reserved and quiet, and Takumi would probably continue to be insensitive towards her, but neither of them had cried, screamed, yelled, or otherwise done anything negative or alarming.

Aya didn't say anything when given the question, and Takumi just shrugged weakly after a few seconds of thinking. "I guess," he voiced, but his tone was uncertain. He didn't consider Aya to be his child, so he didn't know how far he would be able to go with her. At that thought, however, his mind cut him off abruptly by reminding him of the night prior. The slew of stone slabs showed up again in his mind, clear as day, as he remembered the countless gravestones that were just a couple of feet under them. And although he didn't think of Aya as his daughter, he knew that she had no one else in the world who could take care of her.

"Well?" Tsuneo inquired again, looking from the father to the daughter. "Do you want to move to your own room? The room you got has separate rooms, so you each get your own bed." It sounded like an obvious thing to have if the father and the daughter were going to share a room, but not all rooms even had separate rooms. Some had separate beds, but still in the same room. Really, the two had gotten a very good room for their stay here while they got accustomed to one another. Whether or not they wanted to move now, however, was entirely up to them.

[Jaykobell]

Tsuneo felt like his assumption was inaccurate when he got no answer from either of them. Both Aya and Takumi were incredibly reserved, so both of them required someone to coax things out of them. It could get grating and painful at times, but at the end of the day, both of them had their own reasons for keeping things to themselves. While they were hard to talk to, Tsuneo figured this would play in their favor in the long run. Aya wouldn't run around and scream for attention, and Takumi wouldn't overwhelm the child or get clingy.

Still, if they were going to start living in the same quarters in order to know each other better, Tsuneo had to make sure both of them were willing to move to their room. Since addressing the question to both of them hadn't earned him any answer, Tsuneo turned to Aya first, since the desires of the child came before what Takumi wanted. "Aya," he called out, which earned him a nervous stare from the girl, "what do you think? Would you like to move to a new room with your father?" he asked, but when he asked her, the child looked away again, seemingly unsure of what to say. She was still young, so Tsuneo had no idea if she felt comfortable making decisions or if she'd ever been given that kind of respect. Although she was a child, he felt like she deserved to be treated like an adult, or at least as a human who could think for herself. "Takahiro and I will still visit you to help you," he added afterwards, since Aya seemingly refused to answer him. Perhaps the thought of the two Archivists visiting her would ease her dilemma.

Aya continued to silently look away, but she did eventually give an answer: and a rather clear one, at that. After a few minutes of silent deliberation, the child rushed towards Takumi, latching onto the Chemist's arm tightly.

Takumi reacted by trying to pull away as soon as he felt the child latching onto his arm. He gasped and flailed a little from the surprise, not expecting that reaction from the girl. He stared down at the child with gritted teeth, and he once again tried to pull his arm away.

When Aya felt Takumi try to pull his arm away, she only tightened her grip as she curled up next to him. "No!" she screeched as she shut her eyes tightly and continued to hang on. "I-I want my daddy," she cried out, going from a quiet, timid child to an impulsive, nervous girl. She had no one else left in the world, and even though her mother had always told her to stay away from her father, her mother was no longer here to protect her. Her family was no longer here; the only one who remained was her father. Even though Chemists had been the ones to kill her mother and they were the ones who'd tried to kill her as well, it was the loneliness that made her hang on to the Chemist's arm.

[Jaykobell]

When Tsuneo saw Aya make the rash decision of latching onto Takumi, the Archivist's heart skipped a beat. Of all things, Aya was invading his personal bubble, and all things considered, that was a bad thing. There was no telling how Takumi would react to Aya clinging to him, and seeing his attempts to free his arm, Tsuneo was ready to interfere if Takumi replied recklessly to the child.

When Aya latched onto him and cried out that she wanted her father, it felt like time itself had stopped for Takumi. The feeling of the girl clinging to him was absolutely alien to him, and his mind was treating it as an invasion of space. He felt threatened, he felt insecure; a ninja getting touched was typically a bad thing, because it was usually too late by the time you realized the enemy had gotten to you. It took everything for Takumi to internally calm down and to remember that he wasn't anywhere dangerous. He wasn't out there in the forest, and the thing latching onto him wasn't a ninja from a rival clan. It was just a child who, supposedly, wanted her father.

That was when the doubts started creeping in his mind, and that was when reality started to truly sink in. The girl clinging to him was his offspring, and if he agreed to this tonight, he would have her cling to him forever. He would have to take care of her, protect her, spend his time with her; he would have to do everything with her in tow. Was this actually a feasible solution? Could he continue to work on his own personal goals while handling the responsibility of a child?

Just as those doubts started to make him feel nervous, that graveyard appeared in his mind again. To be honest, it had been haunting him since the night before, appearing in his mind now and again throughout the day. Something about seeing so many graves, something about realizing that all those deaths had, in fact, happened. And if no one did anything about it, the Archivists would just keep on digging more graveyard rooms to hold all the bodies. The graveyards would just keep multiplying until there were more dead ninjas than live, breathing ones.

Thinking of adding another gravestone to that cemetery was enough to curb those doubts. He'd given his fair share to that graveyard, and after seeing so many tombs, he'd told himself that he had to stop. He had to stop killing others so mindlessly, and he had to stop promoting it. Leaving Aya to fend for herself, whether she was a girl or a boy, would only result in an extra grave for the Archivists to carve.

[Jaykobell]

After pushing those doubts away in place of the facts, Takumi just stared at the child for a little while longer before sighing, exasperated. "Fine, fine," he groaned a little as he turned away from the child and rolled his eyes, right before frowning, "let's move into the joint room." His only wish was that Aya wouldn't turn out to be clingy, because he genuinely had no idea how he would deal with something like that.

For Tsuneo, it felt like the event had lasted a lifetime. He'd expected Takumi to toss the child away, to get upset at her, or to do something to demotivate her from literally clinging to him without any warning. Much to his surprise, the Chemist had little besides struggling for a time, until giving his approval to move rooms with the child. He felt a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders when he heard the Chemist say those words, feeling like this short meeting had been a great success. "Am I glad to hear it," he replied as he sighed a breath of relief. "From both of you." Aya could've easily said she didn't want her father because of his bloodline, and Takumi could've easily refused for obvious reasons. Against all odds, the father-daughter meeting had gone a lot better than initially anticipated.

"Let's help you guys move, then," Tsuneo said as he tapped a fist in the palm of his hand, determined to settle everything tonight. If he had enough time, he could even manage to go meet with the Monarchs, too. "You said you weren't tired, Takumi, so help me help you," the Archivist stated as he started gathering Aya's things. They were only clothes, really, along with a bag and other such little belongings. It wouldn't take long to move the child, but Takumi had a lot of vials and other things to move. "Let's move Aya first, and then we can go get your things."

Takumi groaned a little, suddenly regretting those words. Despite everything being settled, as he went to get up from the bed, he found himself unable to do so because of Aya's weight. "Er," he said hesitantly as he looked down at the child with an insecure face, "can you let go? I kinda need this," he pointed out, talking to the child the same way he would talk to any adult.

Aya was hesitant to let go, but since they were planning to move rooms, she figured they would be living together starting soon. He wouldn't leave her and go away if she let go, right? That's what it felt like, but the grown-up side of her that her mother had instilled her forced her to let go of her father's arm. The sooner she let go, the faster they would move.

[Jaykobell]

After Takumi had been freed and Tsuneo was ready to move Aya's things, the three set off from the guest room. Tsuneo lead the way, and so Takumi had to keep Aya close to him so she wouldn't run off. Whether because of his reaction or otherwise, the child was now keeping her distance slightly. She glanced at her father now and again, but otherwise, she kept quiet during the whole trip. Takumi did much of the same, but unlike her, he didn't bother to look down at her. He expected her to follow him, and so he didn't even bother to check up on her to make sure she hadn't been left behind. If she couldn't do so much as keeping up with them, then that would be poor news for both him and the child.

Tsuneo lead the way to the room first, giving Takumi and Aya a short and quick tour. The quarters were surprisingly big compared to the single rooms, sporting a large lobby that lead to two separate bedrooms. It was hardly a "tour", but there was no other way to put it as Tsuneo insisted on showing them around. The entrance room had quite a few tables, and that did please Takumi: that would be enough space to allow him to work. If he could still get a workplace even with the child behind him, he wouldn't complain.

Since Aya was tired, Tsuneo and Takumi left her in the room as they went off to pick up Takumi's items. The trip was quiet, but they fortunately weren't very far. It had only been a matter of moving Takumi from a single room to a shared room, but he did stay within the same general location. The guest rooms were all together, so moving from a small one to a bigger one usually didn't involve a lot of walking or complicated turns and corners to remember.

As they picked up Takumi's vials and items, the Chemist broke the silence. "Hey, uh, Neo," he blurted out awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head, "can I ask you something?"

While Takumi was holding part of his belongings, Tsuneo took care of the other half, so that they only had to make a single trip back to the new room. "Yes? What is it?" the Archivist asked as he turned around to face the Chemist. "Is it about Aya?"

Takumi rolled his eyes. "No, it's not about the kid," he replied flatly, and he hoped Tsuneo wouldn't assume that every single time the Chemist tried to ask something. "It's, er... a favor," he explained, a little awkwardly, before using his free hand to pull out a scrap of paper from his pocket. "This is a list of ingredients. If you could send someone to pick them up." The scrap of paper was folded in a few layers, but from his words, Tsuneo could tell it was a list that was much bigger than usual.

[Jaykobell]

Since Takumi was handing the list to him now, Tsuneo put the items back down so he could pick it up. He bothered to unfold the list, and his thoughts were confirmed when he saw a massive list of a whole slew of different ingredients, ranging from plants to bugs. "This is much bigger than usual," the Archivist mused out as he scanned through the long list. "What are you working on?" The Chemist had been kept up all night the day before; had he been coming up with this list? Had he been working on new things, and so he needed all these new ingredients? He had never seen some of these, and this wasn't the first time he'd seen ingredient lists from Takumi.

"They're ingredients... for curative tonics," Takumi admitted timidly, and he looked away from his friend. He didn't care to elaborate more than that, but the moment he spoke out the words, he could feel Tsuneo's gaze staring right into his soul.

"Curative tonics?" the Archivist echoed, and his voice failed to hide his curiosity — as well as his excitement. This was definitely a surprising development. While Takumi knew how to create antidotes, that wasn't what the Chemist had said: he'd specifically referred to these ingredients being necessary for curative tonics, which were different from plain antidotes that were only used to cure poisons. "What brought this about?"

Knowing Takumi, Tsuneo wasn't expecting a very elaborate answer. Much to his surprise, Takumi did answer him quite clearly as to why he'd had such a sudden change of heart. "The graveyard," he replied quietly, an answer that legitimately shocked the Archivist.

"The graveyard?" Tsuneo repeated, urging Takumi to keep going. To him, it felt like a room like any other: he'd seen enough times to know what to expect, to have gotten used to the feeling in general. Against all odds, it sounded like the graveyard had left a strong impact on Takumi.

Takumi groaned when Tsuneo asked for all the details, but he should've expected it, considering who he was talking to. "I knew ninjas died every day," the Chemist started with, but as he started to speak, his embarrassment turned to a grimmer expression, "but I hadn't realized how many. Seeing the numbers like that... shocked me." The atmosphere had also been a part of it, but for the most part, seeing all the graves lined up neatly in rows, spreading across such a massive area, had really resonated with him.

[Jaykobell]

Hearing Takumi speak those words was like music to Tsuneo's ears. For so many years, he'd insisted that countless ninjas died needlessly every single day. He'd always insisted that Takumi stop mindlessly killing ninjas, to stop spreading the mentality that their lives were worth nothing, or that death was a better choice than the humiliation of defeat. To hear the Chemist say, all on his own, that he'd realized those facts made Tsuneo's heart flutter with excitement — and even with pride.

"How many..." Takumi started, breaking Tsuneo's train of thoughts. "How many did I kill?" the Chemist asked, narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth. He'd killed so many ninjas without ever thinking twice about it. Even those who'd begged for his mercy, even the young or the old: he'd killed all of them equally, working solely for the sake of surviving and for the sake of being rewarded for it. "I can't dare to think of the number." A few hundreds, over the last decade? That sounded about right. To imagine and see those hundreds of ninjas laid out as small tombstones actually gave him a sense of dread.

While he was speaking, Takumi had kept his eyes turned away from Tsuneo. That explained his surprise when he felt the Archivist literally hug him, tightening his arms around the Chemist's body as if letting him go was a matter of life or death. "Urk!" Takumi complained as he flushed from the sudden embrace. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"I'm so happy to hear you say that," Tsuneo replied excitedly as he grinned through their embrace, caring very little over the fact they were both grown men. "I'm so glad you finally understand," he added as he tightened the hug even more, and at that point, he could feel the Chemist glaring down at him. "I'll make sure to get someone to bring back all those ingredients so you can keep working," Tsuneo continued, but without breaking the hug. "I can even help if you'd like me to!"

"Ugh," Takumi complained as Tsuneo refused to let go, and with him holding some of his vials, it was difficult to push the Archivist away. "You're embarrassing, stop it," he insisted, trying to push the weight of his belongings against Tsuneo so the other would let go.

But despite how embarrassed Takumi felt, Tsuneo was beaming, almost sickeningly so. "I'm so excited," he admitted, and after picking up the vials and the bottles from the desk once again, he turned to Takumi with a bright smile that stretched from one ear to another. "I can't wait to see what you'll come up with."

"Can we just get a move on?" Takumi insisted, his face and his ears burning red with genuine embarrassment; and Tsuneo's ridiculous grin was only making it worse. Fortunately, after cutting the conversation short, Tsuneo agreed to get back on the task at hand, helping Takumi move his things to his new shared room.