[Jaykobell]

After leaving Takumi and Aya to their enjoy their new room, Tsuneo had headed off to meet with the Monarchs. Takahiro had mentioned going to meet with them as soon as everything was done and settled, and with some time left in the evening, he thought it was a good idea to finalize everything. Part of him had been a little worried; typically, he only had to meet with the Patriarch, since he was in charge of the Pathfinders. The Matriarch, on the other hand, handled all Pioneers and typically taught and watched over them. It spread out the tasks and typically kept each division focused on their own tasks.

When an Archivist had to go meet with the both of them, however, it was typically because it was about something unrelated to their tasks. It usually referred to something important, and Tsuneo hoped nothing had happened while he'd been sick — or worse yet, that he hadn't done something wrong without his knowledge. The Matriarch particularly liked to harp on him over anything, ever since he'd been a young boy. Tough and authoritative, the Matriarch always complained that the Patriarch was too lenient with Tsuneo, and that the boy was allowed to do whatever he wanted. Many were the times Patriarch Katsumi had to defend him against Matriarch Akane, and it was always a wonder to Tsuneo how the two Monarchs were husband and wife. It portrayed the more common form of marriage amongst the Archivists, where the members married out of necessity rather than out of love.

Despite all his worrying, their reason for calling him had been vastly different. As a matter of fact, the reason had genuinely shocked him. The Patriarch was overjoyed to announce the news, and while the Matriarch seemed to disagree, she'd still wished Tsuneo good luck. It had been a wonderful meeting: short, but worth the while in many ways. They were wonderful, incredible news, and as soon as their meeting had been over, Tsuneo's first order of business was to go tell his wife the good news.

The opportunity revealed itself quite nicely, considering Narumi still expected her husband to be in his infirmary room. At the same time as their meeting, Katsumi had mentioned that Tsuneo seemed in good health, and so he'd granted his permission for the Archivist to move back to his quarters with his wife. Most excellent news, but they weren't nearly as exciting as what had come before that.

As he reached the door to his room, his heart started beating faster from the excitement. He wanted to surprise Narumi completely, and so, instead of walking in, he simply knocked on the door and waited for his beloved to come answer. It felt like an eternity before Narumi finally opened the door; a look of confusion — and relief — was all over her face, but it took only a few seconds for her to realize what had happened and what were the news he absolutely had to tell her.

[Jaykobell]

While Tsuneo was busy running around and settling things, Narumi was back in their own room. Her own day had been busy with her own tasks, including updating some Pathfinder records and taking care of a few newborns. She'd had a chance to meet Tsuneo along the way now and again as they crossed paths in the halls, but their meetings had all been cut short. They'd exchanged a few hugs and kisses throughout the day, but aside from that, they hadn't had a chance to truly talk and enjoy each other's company. A pity, but with the night quickly setting in, Narumi was looking forward to visiting her husband in the infirmary. She also looked forward to him moving back in with her in their quarters, considering his health had basically completely recovered from the poison.

Aside from doing her usual Pioneer tasks throughout the day, Narumi had kept herself busy cleaning their room. With Tsuneo falling terribly ill from the poison and with her running around to take care of him along with doing her job, cleaning had taken a backseat. Their living space wasn't so terribly messy, but it could definitely use some cleaning. Dust had started to pile up on the walls and furniture, and some clothes still needed to be washed. She hadn't bothered to make the bed every day for the last two weeks, and she'd been procrastinating on putting things away. Some dishes and things were still on the counter, waiting to be washed or put away.

When she wasn't busy doing her job, Narumi took the time to clean up the whole place. She made the bed, cleaned their clothes, washed the dirty dishes, wiped them clean and dry and put them all away, dusted and cleaned the the trickier spots across the place. She even went the extra mile by changing the bedsheets and cleaning other things that weren't too terribly dusty or dirty yet. While she was at it, she figured it didn't hurt to do everything. Not to mention, it kept her mind off her husband while she waited for the night to roll around. Once the night rolled around, she would have all the time in the world to give Tsuneo a visit.

She was finishing off all the cleaning when she heard a knock on the door. Narumi stopped what she was doing and looked up, wondering who was possibly knocking at this hour. She wasn't too terribly worried, but part of her was nervous; she wasn't expecting anyone, so had something happened? Was Tsuneo all right? She put down her things in order to go answer the door, making her way through the bedroom quickly.

When she reached the door and opened it, she was incredibly relieved — if also confused — to see Tsuneo standing behind the door. "Neo!" she gasped, wondering why her husband, of all people, would knock and actually wait before walking in. He lived here: he had no reason to wait for her to answer the door.

It was only after she got a better look at him that she understood why.

[Jaykobell]

The man standing in front of her was definitely her husband, but something was different about him. He stood beyond the door, and Narumi was left breathless. Tsuneo was no longer wearing his black Pathfinder robes: instead, her husband was wearing a slightly different style of robes, all in white with cooper and golden accents all across. Under one of his arms was his Pathfinder outfit, lumped in a ball so he could show his wife the brand new attire he'd been given.

"Neo..." Narumi spoke out slowly as she looked him up from head to toes and back again, feeling her emotions welling up inside her. She found herself to unable to speak, but not because she was upset or scared; rather, because she was overjoyed to see the new robes.

With his wife successfully surprised, Tsuneo hurried inside their quarters. He closed the door behind him, and threw his old Pathfinder robes on the floor; afterwards, he grabbed his wife's hands and made the two of them spin around the room as they held each other's hands. Narumi went along with it as she remained truly surprised at the news, letting her husband spin her around their lobby for a while before Tsuneo stopped in order to pull her into a strong, passionate embrace.

"A Scriptwriter!" he announced, making the news officially besides the new robes. "They promoted me to Scriptwriter!" He was so excited and overjoyed that his voice was ridiculously high-pitched, his grin stretching from one ear to another. After giving his wife the news, he pulled her in for a strong kiss, albeit a short one. The excitement was making it hard to stay put, but his wife didn't seem to complain.

"So then?" Narumi asked after the kiss, bringing her hands up to Tsuneo's face. "Did you ask them?" Tsuneo's promotion to Scriptwriter was something the couple had been waiting for for years. Scriptwriters were above Pathfinders and Pioneers, but that wasn't why Tsuneo had been eagerly waiting for the day to come. Being that they had more authority and more privileges, Tsuneo had been waiting to be promoted to a Scriptwriter in order to ask for certain advantages. Many of them were controversial ideals, which was why being established amongst the Archivists was important for them to be realized.

[Jaykobell]

When Narumi asked, Tsuneo shook his head. "I didn't ask for anything," the former Pathfinder said, and when he noticed the disappointment in his wife's eyes, he quickly turned her mood around by giving her a kiss. "I didn't want them to reconsider their decision. But as soon as I have a chance," Tsuneo continued, putting his hands to his wife's face, "I promise I'll ask them," he promised, pressing his forehead against his wife's, if only to comfort her.

Narumi sighed, but she couldn't let this minor setback ruin this wonderful evening. The news of Tsuneo's promotion were a happy event, and they had to take things one step at a time. As much as she would've liked for Tsuneo to finally ask if the couple could be allowed to raise their future children as their own, she agreed that he'd made the right decision. "I know you will," she said as she pressed against her husband, tightening her embrace, "but I won't be young forever, Neo. I know you want to wait, but even if it means the child won't ever know we're his parents, I at least want a child."

"I will give you a child, Mimi," Tsuneo said as he, too, tightened the hug, resting his head on her own. "I will. But I can't stand having a child who won't even know who I am." The Archivist traditions of children being raised by the family and being forbidden to know of their parents saddened Tsuneo terribly. He wanted his children to know him as their father, he wanted to raise them, to teach them, to love them. Being unable to tell them who he was, being unable to truly enjoy their company; he couldn't imagine being able to do such a thing. He would slip up, and he would break the rules, or he would drive himself miserable keeping his identity a secret.

That was why his promotion was a massive step in that direction. While Narumi didn't particularly care whether or not the children came to know them as their parents, she'd been waiting for Tsuneo to truly be ready. Amongst other things Tsuneo wanted to ask, he wanted to have the ability to raise his own children and to keep them as his own, together with his wife: their children would be theirs and theirs alone. Getting the promotion, however, wasn't enough on its own. Still, now that he had a foot in the Scripwriter world, all he had to do was make a name for himself and continue to bind his time carefully. He knew that, in due time, the opportunity to ask would show itself.

"I believe you, Neo," Narumi replied quietly as she simply continued to enjoy his embrace. "I trust you. For now, we can just be happy for the news," she added, breaking the embrace just enough so she could plant a kiss on his lips, this time taking the time to really enjoy the unison.

[Jaykobell]

"So how did it happen?" Narumi asked afterwards, changing the topic slightly to avoid the mention of children. "I'm surprised Matriarch Akane even let it happen!" Although Tsuneo had always been favored by the Patriarch, his emotional display and his tendency to do things his own way had gotten him in his fair share of trouble with the Matriarch. Narumi herself had never been in good terms with her, and she barely knew the Patriarch considering he wasn't in charge of the Pioneers. To think that the Matriarch would let something like Tsuneo's promotion happen without a fuss was a first.

"Oh," Tsuneo voiced out passively as he thought back to the actual meeting. "No, she was actually very supportive," the Scriptwriter admitted, and he chuckled briefly when he saw Narumi's baffled face look up at him. "Well, she was glaring, but she sounded a bit more emotional than usual," he admitted, thinking back on the behavior of both Monarchs. Katsumi had been joyous as ever, but Akane's mood had been slightly less jarring than usual. "She wished me good luck and hoped that it would be a good experience."

"Huh," Narumi replied simply, finding no other word to describe the situation. "I guess there's a first for everything," she teased, admittedly grateful that the Matriarch wasn't around to hear her say this. "So who's going to teach you, then? The Patriarch?" Considering Tsuneo had learned his Pathfinder duties under Patriarch Katsumi, it only made sense that the Patriarch would once again take on the duty of teaching Tsuneo the ropes of Scriptwriting.

Surprisingly, her husband shook his head when she asked. "No. Takahiro will be teaching me," he answered, and once again he found his wife disagreeing with the decision.

"Oh," she said flatly, sounding a lot more disappointed than her husband. "Seriously? You'll have fun with him." Takahiro was certainly a good Scriptwriter, but Tsuneo would hardly catch a break if he had to learn under him.

"I think it's a good thing," Tsuneo replied, but his smile was a little insecure. "Takahiro is a great Scriptwriter: he'll teach me all I need to know faster than I could hope for." The days would certainly be painful at first, it was only a matter of adapting to a new schedule.

[Jaykobell]

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Narumi answered, shaking her head. "It's just that he's not very understanding or very lenient. I hope he won't be too hard on you." Takahiro naturally strict, so it was easy to imagine that he was even worse when work was involved. She could picture the older Scriptwriter giving Tsuneo a hard time if her husband didn't work fast enough or if he asked too many questions: and the latter was something Tsuneo would definitely be doing.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Tsuneo assured his wife, only then breaking their embrace. He let his wife go, but he let his hands drop in order to grab her own. They stood a few inches away, held only by their hands. "But for tonight, let's just enjoy the news. I can tell you all about Takahiro's abusive teaching methods only once I've started learning under him," he added as he pulled Narumi closer to him, having both of their bodies pressing against one another, their hands still intertwined. "For now, I just want to be with you." For two weeks, he'd been unable to truly enjoy his wife's company, stuck in that infirmary room. Although she'd visited him daily, it didn't feel the same to know that she couldn't sleep next to him and that they didn't live together.

Narumi certainly welcomed the affection, now looking forward for the time when her husband would be able to come back to their quarters. "Do you want to go to your infirmary room, then?" she suggested, looking up at him. "You'll already be there if you get tired or it gets late."

But to her surprise, Tsuneo shook his head as he smiled. "No, the Patriarch said I can move back here if I felt like it," he told his wife, giving her some more good news. "We have the whole night to ourselves."

"Really?" Narumi gasped, surprised, but also delighted. Tsuneo had been feeling a lot better over the last few days, and overall, his whole recovery had been a very slow, but steady one. "That's also wonderful news..." she added as she trailed off, planting a kiss on her husband's lips. She let it last as she let her hands stroke his chest, taking her hands away from his own. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she replied as she broke the kiss, but without taking her eyes off her husband's.

[Jaykobell]

"I'm happy to hear it," Tsuneo relied softly as he held his wife's face in his hands, "because I've missed you terribly over the last two weeks." He liked that part of his routine, where his wife was there when he woke up, where she was there when he went to bed, where she was there when he ate. To live away from her had cut their quality time ridiculously short, and he was delighted to finally be back home, as it were.

Narumi giggled as she heard those words, giving Tsuneo a small, short kiss. "Now..." she trailed off, letting her eyes look down his robes and then back up to his face, "... how about you take off these robes, hm?" she asked, giving her husband a look matched with a mischievous grin.

Tsuneo watched as his wife looked him over, but her words confused him. "What? But I just put them on," he pointed out, blinking at his wife's demand. He'd been so ridiculously overjoyed that he'd bothered to change right then and there. It was a pointless decision, considering he wasn't required to start his Scriptwriter duties until the next day, but they were the most effective way of conveying the news.

Narumi blinked back at him before sighing and rolling her eyes. "Really, Neo?" she asked, but even as she gave him a few more seconds to think about what she'd asked him to do, her husband still wasn't catching on. She couldn't tell if he was being serious, or if he was just pulling her leg; knowing him and his nature, however, she was willing to bet it was the former. He was probably too excited over his promotion to even think properly to begin with.

Regardless of the reason, Narumi pulled Tsuneo closer as she planted another kiss, this time a strong and passionate embrace. She let her hands roam to his waist line, and she grabbed the thick fabric belt that kept the two halves of his robes tied together. "This kind of undressing, Neo," Narumi pointed out, but if only to tease him, she broke away from him to head towards their bedroom. She stopped short of the door, putting only one foot into the room. "Unless you have something else you'd rather do," she asked, and at those words, the grin came back as she waited for Tsuneo's reply. She messed with the collar of her kimono, pulling it down just ever so slightly to show some skin.

[Jaykobell]

It was only when Narumi showed him what she'd meant that he realized what she'd been trying to say. "Oh," he said timidly, his face already turning different shades of red all across. "You meant like that," he added as he laughed sheepishly, feeling his face burning. Even after all those years, he still felt embarrassed to think of such things, let alone doing them. Still, he'd gotten used to them, and not only that, he'd also learned what his wife liked, over the years.

He went up to join her by the door, and he pulled her close by wrapping an arm around her waist, the other hand holding one of hers. He planted a passionate kiss on her lips, and as they kissed, Tsuneo guided his wife towards the bed. It had started slow and mellow, but once they got close enough to the bed, Tsuneo forced Narumi down. It resulted in her falling on her back, with Tsuneo towering over her as their kiss continued.

She chuckled at her husband after they'd broken the embrace, and she raised up a hand to stroke his cheek as she looked right back into his eyes. "I'm all yours," she whispered to him as she let her other hand trail across his chest, slowly making its way back to his waist line. She tugged at his belt, urging him to keep going. She was the one who usually initiated this kind of activity, if only because Tsuneo was too timid to do so. She did appreciate him not treating her like a tool, but there were times when she wanted to get just a little closer with him.

"So am I," Tsuneo answered as he let his own hand trail down his wife's torso, forming a perfect line right along her collarbone and then between her breasts, and then down to her stomach. She laughed when he said those words, if only because she knew that they applied more to him than to her. Although his wife liked it passionate, Tsuneo was a slower kind of lover; he liked the kissing and the hugging and the stroking. He preferred to take it slow, and to take it all in; he liked it to be something passionate, but in a different way. Still, he did allow Narumi to use him as much as she gave him freedom to use her: and in their case, it was usually the woman who took advantage of it instead of the man.

He kissed her again as his hand caressed her curves and her arms, his wife doing much of the same towards him as the two spent their night away catching up on the quality time they'd lost over the last to weeks.

[Jaykobell]

It was the middle of the night, and everyone had gone to bed hours prior. Despite his sleep cycle being a little chaotic because of the night before, Takumi was starting to feel tired — as well as aggravated.

He worked by the light of a few candles, looking over the vials and bottles that sat on the desk. Ingredients were scattered around, but there were very few left for him to use. He hadn't had a chance to gather up anything for the last two weeks, since he'd had to stay here in order to prepare those antidotes religiously for Tsuneo's recovery. Not only that, but whatever he had left was of literally no use to him. They were toxic plants, and so their components weren't what he needed. They were good for making poisons, but that wasn't what Takumi was trying to do: the exact same reason as to why he hadn't been able to make anything useable the night before, as well.

Whatever he tried to compound together came out into a disgusting brown liquid, thick and filled with debris. Were the liquids simply brown and more watery, he could've used them for something, but the thickness and the debris confirmed that whatever ingredients he'd put together weren't meant to mesh. He was at a loss: although he knew a lot of Chemist recipes for a variety of poisons and antidotes, he had no idea where to find lists that would guide him to curative tonics. He wanted mixtures that could help heal wounds, disinfect injuries, things of the like. Long gone was the era of Chemists using their compounding genius for such things, and so he figured that very few recipes were left even with the family. How was he going to do things besides poisons and other nefarious tonics if he had no idea how to do anything else? So much for all that "genius potential" Tsuneo liked to talk about.

He was staring at the vials with a frown, and he'd been doing so for so long that it felt like the bottles would melt from his glares. He wasn't tired per se, but failure upon failure was starting to give him a headache, and that headache was making him tired and irritable. He groaned unhappily as he ran a gloved hand through his hair, about ready to call it quits for the night.

That was when he froze in his chair. He could suddenly feel someone watching him, staring at his every movement. His heart quickened from the danger, and it was only after he'd bothered to look over his shoulder that it started to slow down. Takumi sighed angrily when he noticed Aya staring at him from afar, just as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

[Jaykobell]

"What do you want, twerp?" Takumi asked, and he was so tired and disheartened that he failed to hide his impatience. Were all women this disturbingly good at stealth? First Tsuneo's wife, and now this kid: both of them had managed to stare at him for several minutes before he finally realized they'd been watching. "Shouldn't you be in bed or something?" He'd expected the child to sleep until the next morning, at the very least, so he could work a little on his own things.

Aya rubbed one of her arms with a hand, as she looked away from her father. From his tone, it sounded like he didn't want to talk to her. It discouraged her from talking, because she wasn't sure how he was going to react. She didn't know him at all, considering they'd moved into the room only minutes after meeting one another. She'd woken up in the middle of the night, only to see some faint light coming from the lobby. She'd been curiously watching, and she was wondering what her father had been working on this whole time. Her mother had barely taught her illusions, and so it went without saying that she hadn't bothered to even tell her daughter anything about Chemistry.

Because of her father's angry tone, though, Aya simply stepped back and looked away, nervously rubbing her arm. She would've liked to ask, but now she was afraid Takumi would snap at her.

Takumi waited, in the meantime, for the child to speak up and to answer his question. Did she want something? Or did children just stare at things whenever they pleased for no reason? He legitimately had no idea which one it was, but considering how uncomfortable she looked, he figured it was because the child did want something. "So what do you want?" he asked again, this time taking off his glasses so he could pass a hand through his face. "Out with it, or stop wasting my time."

Being spoken to like that, Aya flinched a little, but admittedly, it wasn't the first time someone had talked to her this way. She was used to people saying she was wasting their time, and she was used to others not giving her any time. She had a hard time speaking up, and so many people got impatient with her. That behavior wasn't anything new to her. "I... Um," she muttered awkwardly as she looked this way and that. "I wanted to know... what you were doing," she finally said, her father's impatient gaze urging her to speak.

[Jaykobell]

Takumi put his glasses back on after he was done messaging his face slightly. Passing a hand while rubbing his eyes, his nose, his cheeks, and everything else eased the headache ever so slightly, although it only increased the tiredness as exhaustion quickly started setting in. After the kid was done questioning him, he would go crash for the night.

The child finally ended up telling him what she wanted, but he was surprised to hear it. "What, this?" he asked, pointing a thumb towards the vials that sat on the table, the majority of them being filled with that gooey brown mess from incompatible compounds. Aya nodded quietly, and Takumi bothered to look back at the disaster of an experiment before chuckling darkly. "I don't even know what all this is," he admitted, his voice ringing with irritation. "Just failure after failure after yet another failure," he complained, passively tossing some of the vials away, causing them to tumble and fall. The brown mass was literally so thick and unusable that it didn't even leak from the vials he'd toppled over.

Aya was happy that her father had answered her question, and that simply act had inspired her to talk a little bit more. "Why are they bad?" she asked, since to her, they seemed normal enough. She didn't know how Chemistry worked, or even how to do it; for all she knew, those mixtures were actually some advanced level of Chemistry.

Takumi stared at the child for a few moments before grumbling at her question and rubbing the bridge of his nose again. Was the kid going to keep him all night to ask him Chemistry questions? He would grit his teeth and try to teach her the art, but not right in the middle of the night when he was starting to falter. "Chemistry recipes give you specific results," he tried to explain quickly, but at that point, he cared very little whether the child understood him or not. "Brown masses like this means the ingredients can't be merged together."

Aya stared at Takumi as he explained, and although it was a short explanation, she'd enjoyed it, even if she hadn't expressed it externally. Instead, she continued to rub her arm as she replied a quiet, "Oh," to Takumi's words. Yet, despite her silence, it was clear she wanted to ask something else. That question, however, was a little different.

[Jaykobell]

Takumi wasn't sure if Aya had gotten all that, but he didn't care one way or another. If she couldn't even understand that simple of an explanation, then learning Chemistry period would be impossible for her. Incompatible ingredients resulted in brown goo: you couldn't really get any simpler than that. The child rubbing her arm nervously and staring away quietly did give him the impression that she hadn't understood his words, however.

Or maybe he'd taken her for granted, because the next question wasn't due to confusion. "Can I learn it?" Aya asked, looking up to face her father. "Chemistry," she clarified, wondering if her initial question had been a little too unclear. She didn't want to learn how to make the brown mud, but how to do Chemistry in general.

Takumi sighed at the thought, and under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have been interested in going all the way back to basics. However, considering he'd had two consecutive nights of failures upon more failures, part of him figured that going back to the basics might just help him figure out what he was doing wrong. Not only that, but it felt like basic recipes were the only things he could actually create right now. "Fine, I'll teach you," he replied half-heartedly, wondering how much he could even afford to teach this kid. How much would she be able to learn and to do? She was a hybrid, and so he had no idea how far her blood would take her. According to Tsuneo, Takahiro also been teaching her Chemistry, but just how was that even possible? Regardless, the Scriptwriter probably hadn't been able to teach her much of anything.

"But tomorrow. I'm exhausted, and I'm going to bed," he added, getting up afterwards and stretching a little before turning towards his room. "So go back to bed," he ordered flatly, the exhaustion having completely set in by that point. Fortunately for him, he didn't hear a single complaint from the girl as he crashed for the night.

Aya had simply watched as her father agreed to teach her the art, but only the next day, since he was off to sleep, himself. That single answer had made her heart flutter, and she literally couldn't wait for the next morning to come. Her mother had always been reluctant to teach her Illusion techniques, and while her father hadn't sounded too optimistic, he'd agreed to teach her Chemistry. The thought of learning a new art — and with her newfound father, no less — was making her ridiculously excited. Even as she went back to her own room, she found herself having a hard time falling asleep. Her imagination went off on its own adventure, imagining what kind of things she would see and learn starting tomorrow. It was only after a certain time that exhaustion caught up to her again, and she did eventually force herself to sleep.

[Jaykobell]

Takumi didn't often get the opportunity to sleep peacefully. Living in the forest typically meant that he always had to sleep with one eye open at all times, and even when he bothered to pay for a cheap hotel room in a neighboring towns, enemies could still find their way inside. It was only when he stayed in the Archivist shrine that he could actually sleep completely, closing both eyes for the night for as long as his body and mind needed. It was particularly delightful to sleep so deeply after a long day, and if anything, Takumi truly appreciated it.

Despite being in the shrine, however, something tugged at the back of his mind while he was asleep. Something kept trying to wake him up, although he was a deep, comfortable slumber. Given enough time, however, Takumi's brain forced him awake, but not only because of some noise or because of pain. No, he'd been jolted awake because he felt someone staring at him. His entire mind and body immediately screamed danger, and with his heartbeat quickening, Takumi opened his eyes quickly.

He froze in place when he opened his eyes before pushing himself a little ways away from the threat, which had turned out to be Aya: again. He narrowed his baggy eyes at the child, teeth gritting as he struggled to keep his heartbeat to slow down. Was this going to become a thing with this child? "Ugh," he snapped as he propped himself up just a little bit with one arm, wondering what the child could possibly want now. "What's your problem, kid?"

"Hi, daddy," Aya greeted, and despite Takumi's unpleasant reaction and tone, the child was actually smiling just the tiniest of smiles. "Will you teach me Chemistry?" she asked, and despite her smiling, she was still rubbing her arm nervously. "It's the next day," she added, just so her father would understand that she'd done as he'd instructed. He'd said he would teach her, but only the next day: which was now.

Takumi narrowed his eyes to slits as the child spoke, staring back at her silently. Just a few hours ago — and he could tell, because he currently felt worse than when he'd gone to sleep, meaning he hadn't slept for very long — the child could barely speak to him. Yet, now she was almost jumping for joy because he'd said he would teach her Chemistry. That was an exaggeration, but considering how reserved the girl had looked, this was literally her version of being excited and hyperactive.

[Jaykobell]

Aya quietly and impatiently waited for her father to get up so they could get started. However, it was clear that her father didn't share her enthusiasm, because getting up was the last thing he wanted to do. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to keep his cool. "Okay, kid," he replied, looking back at the child with exhausted, dry eyes that were giving him a headache, "you wanna learn? Here's lesson one."

He raised a finger to signify the number one, and immediately the child's smile got even bigger. Takumi, however, found it disturbing more so than adorably charming. "Don't wake me up at some ungodly hour in the morning," he said, teaching her something he hoped she would remember starting this morning. "When I said I'd teach you Chemistry," he added, putting his hand and arm back under the covers, "I meant I'd teach you after sleeping." He'd gotten a few hours in, but much like Tsuneo the day before, his entire night had just been interrupted for no good reason.

"Oh," Aya replied quietly, looking down, disappointed. That lesson didn't sound like it had anything to do with Chemistry, but more like it had to do with the fact her father was upset she'd woken him up. "I'm sorry," she apologized, and she started feeling bad for waking him up so early. Admittedly, she hadn't really wanted to do that: she'd only wanted to stay close to him until he was ready to wake up, so they could start first thing in the morning. "I didn't want to wake you up, daddy," she apologized, looking away; she hadn't expected her staring to wake him up, really.

Takumi watched the child silently, and it was amazing how quickly Aya had picked up on the whole "daddy" business. It felt awkward for her to call him as such, but ultimately, the title meant very little to him. He sighed again; obviously she'd adapted to this whole thing much faster than he had. "Fine, fine, whatever," he said as he waved his hand, basically trying to tell the girl to go away. "Forget it. Just let me sleep." He would let it go if it meant the child leaving him be so he could sleep some more. All he needed now was for Tsuneo to just walk in and wake him up an hour or two down the line.

Still, for the time being, he could only hope that nothing else would distract him. He let his body fall onto the bed, pulling the covers over his shoulders and closing his eyes shut.

"Can I stay here with you?" Aya voiced out next to him just mere seconds after he'd shut his eyes to go back to sleep.

All Takumi could do was open a single eye to look back at the child. Whatever fuzzy feeling he'd started to feel at the thought of going back to sleep vanished into thin air as the child abruptly asked if she could stay in his room.

[Jaykobell]

"Seriously?" he grumbled as he opened both eyes then, but without moving from his position. "This is why we have separate rooms, twerp. Go back to sleep in yours," he complained, turning his back to the child, hoping that would be enough for her to go away.

"But I'm not tired," Aya said as she tiptoed to try to look over the mount that was her father's back, but the girl was too short to see much of anything. "I want to stay here so I can be ready." If there was one thing her mother had taught her, it was that punctuality could get you far. And if being punctual here meant that she had to sit in her father's bed for the next few hours, she was perfectly fine with that. She could practice her Illusion power while he slept, and since it was completely silent, it wouldn't wake him up. As if to emphasize her desire to be close to her father, she put her hands on the bed, applying just a bit of pressure.

"Ugh," Takumi groaned as he frowned, eyes closed and teeth gritted. He could feel the child trying to climb on the bed, and really, the only thing that kept him from literally pushing her off it was the fact she was harmless. At this point, he didn't care about what she wanted to do, so long as she let him sleep. If he had to look past that too, then he would force himself to do just that. "Fine, you can stay here," he replied unhappily, scooting over to the other side of the bed, "but don't blame me if I end up punching or kicking you while I'm sleeping," he warned the child, because he had no intention of taking any responsibility if such a thing happened. He had no idea if he tended to move and flail a lot while asleep, but the child would soon be able to tell him.

As soon as Takumi gave his approval, Aya pushed herself onto the bed. Although her father couldn't see it, being able to stay close left the child with a bright smile as she sat next to him on the bed. Her mind was already running wild with all the things they could possibly do together once her father had slept, and the excitement was effectively keeping her awake.

As for Takumi, he did his best to ignore the fact the child was sitting right next to him on the bed. Was she going to become clingy, too? He'd known this child for less than twelve hours, and already she was throwing curveballs at him. Regardless, he would worry about everything after he'd managed to get a few extra hours of sleep. So far, he had a long list of things to do: teach Aya Chemistry, learn how to do better tonics, and needless to say that Tsuneo would get him to do something while Takumi stayed in the shrine.

He would have to take it one day at a time, because thinking about it all at once while he was sleep-deprived did very little to motivate him. His life had been pretty monotonous up until then, but with that child now clinging to him, he had no idea what to expect. With a heavy sigh, he tried to relax his mind and body to go back to sleep so that he would be ready to endure whatever challenges would come his way starting now.