Chapter 114: One Big Step Towards Reconciliation
—
"Open your mouth as if you're smiling,"
"Okay."
I shifted the camera a little and took the picture. It came out as a beautiful shot.
She wore a modest bikini top, as well as a white skirt. There was a fur trip over her shoulder, giving her a classy look. She was staring into my eyes with her vibrant pink ones, with a cheerful expression on her face that would make anyone fall in love.
[Image Here]
"Hmm," I looked at the image for a long minute. She truly was a beautiful woman. I'd have loved to wife her up in another life.
"Did it not come out good?" Ai asked in a worried voice, quickly shifting to change her pose.
"It was fine," I nodded. "I'll edit the eyes to turn them red as if you're about to blast lasers out of them." We were going for the basic Supergirl eye powers, they were basic but powerful. Since these would be only her 'base' powers there was no reason to make them needlessly complex.
She could always use her main power to turn into any other character to use the said complex characters.
"Try posing like you're about to take off," I said and manipulated the wind aura in the atmosphere to lift her off the ground.
"L-like this?" She made a shaky pose and I deemed it enough to take the photo.
Likewise, the day passed with me taking her photos in different poses. Some of them have to be edited to get the vibe right, but most of them look real enough anyway.
We also made a short, low-quality video of her flying in a bikini. The recording was taken from a distance, in a way that made it seem like an outsider was recording us.
We also shot a video inside an Instant Dungeon. Two videos were shot, in one Ai was in her bikini and flaring at the yachts in the distance, and in the other, she wore a basic superhero-type suit and shot lasers from her eyes to cut the boat in two. We'd overlap the videos and make it look like she shot lasers while wearing the bikini.
The idea here was to give people the idea that "Ai Hoshino wasn't a human". And it didn't have to be believed by people, her power derived from "fiction" and not from what people believed. So just the video being out there should make it take effect.
Indeed, it was a cheat power.
Though it's not as if this was limitless, there were various limits on this power. For example, a newbie might want to make a Manga starring Ai where she uses superpowers, which should effectively work the same way as our current method. Or, to get over the hard limit of copyrights, one might think Ai can just draw her own manga about someone overpowered. Smart ideas, but I've tested them all with my Empress and they did not bore fruit. Not good ones, anyway.
For example, if Ai were to make her own manga, or even hire someone under her wing to make a manga, the 'reality' might not register it as a proper input because the user was related to it in any way. This was the problem with Conceptual Powers and why I haven't gotten myself one yet, they have stupid limits.
Making a Manga starring Ai would work but it's better to do this picture and video thing I'm doing right now. For two reasons, one is that the effects will be faster here, and the second, and more serious one is that it might affect Ai's mind in a wrong way.
Ai was her own person, but if a manga about her were to be popularized, every person would have a different idea about Ai. It's the saying that every person has a different version of you in their head. Since this manga will be affecting the original Ai with no way to rewind things, she will get the powers shown in the manga, but her mind may be too affected by the idea of different people. Maybe she won't even remember her actual life and only the life shown in the manga. She might forget us.
So that's why it's easiest to do this social media thing. Since her followers were in the 400 millions, the effect should be fast.
"Go to sleep," after we finished shooting and were about to post the pictures, I told her. She gave me a confused look.
"Why?"
"It's easier to affect you if you're asleep," I said. "Be excited. When you'll wake up you'll be strong."
"Alright…" she frowned and nodded. She returned to the hotel room, while I handed the camera to Uncle Ichigo.
"You sure this will work?" He asked as he went through the pictures.
"I'm sure," I nodded. My Empress and I had done something similar in the past.
"Man, this magic stuff really is weird," he said with a shake of his head and went back to the hotel himself, to work on his laptop. Aunty Miyako followed to help.
Which left me and the kids alone, under an umbrella sitting around a table where the three girls were drinking Boba.
"Onii-chan," when I saw off Uncle Ichigo and returned to the table, Ruby turned to me. "Give me one of those potion things. I want to do a photoshoot too!"
"They're too annoying to make," I said as I sat down beside Asia, facing Ruby and Tsubasa. The little nun was wearing a cute, full-body swimsuit, prompting me to ruffle her hair a little which made her look up.
"Mhm, hi."
"Hi, Asia. Are you enjoying the beach?"
It was her first time at the beach. I hoped she was enjoying it. We had a small chat while Ruby kept whining.
"Come on, I need one~" she demanded.
There was a real reason I hadn't specced up everyone, including myself, already. Potions can be dangerous. The powers they would grant are predictable but not quite. Ai's case was different since I could guess exactly which Conceptual Power the Yellow Potions would grant her since I had worked with it for almost fifty thousand years.
Any other Conceptual Power for anyone else is unpredictable, and therefore very dangerous. The danger is low if I work with some other color potion, such as Red for Energy, but even that can be dangerous.
One could get a simple power like manipulating fire energy or something, or something broken like becoming a Living Sun. Or, one can turn into a Wavelength and lose their physical bodies permanently.
One problem with the Potions is that they make the user want to do what the thing it represents is meant to do. For example, a Living Sun would want to commit suicide by blowing themselves like a Supernova.
It's the same reason why Ai loses bits of her mind when using someone particularly strong. It's because she subconsciously is forced to become like the character. It can change her for the worse if she were to stay as a certain character for too long.
For these reasons, it's much better to train like how they are training right now. It'd take time, but it didn't come with any innate side effects.
"Ruby, go play with Asia," I knocked two fingers on her forehead to stop her whine and sent her away. She grumbled but didn't have any way to reject it.
When they were away, busy playing in the corner of my vision, I looked at the only one who remained across the table.
I slipped boba and stared at her, as did she. A long minute later, there was a little pout on her lips.
"Don't even think about it," she said. "I'm sore from last night."
I smiled.
"Oh come on," she grumbled.
"Let's go play in the water," I pulled her into my arms like a princess and hopped in the air to drag her into the sea.
"Use your tiger transformation?" I asked, and she cleared her throat.
"Wouldn't the other people notice?"
"Nah, the spell is still up."
How did the Devils manage to keep their presence hidden from the normal world? It was by using simple halfway Instant Dungeon barrier spells that overlaid on the real world. It made the normal people oblivious to any magical sight that might happen even an inch away from them.
I have cast one such spell earlier, which was why our magical shenanigans went uninterrupted. It was still up, so nobody should notice the transformation.
"Um, alright," she nodded and a white tail came out of her behind. Two white ears popped out as well, and her eyes turned golden.
That reminded me to ask something. "Ah, how has your mother been recently? I haven't seen her in a while."
"Oh," she blinked. "She's exhausted these days for some reason. She wakes up from time to time and talks with me, but other than that she's in a state of sleep."
"I see," I nodded. That was weird.
I called forth the [Tiger Icon] in the sky, as my body too transformed. Standing a bit taller than before, with my hair white and eyes silver, with a tail behind me as well as ears just like her, I held her close.
"Whoa," she gasped. It was her first time seeing me in my tiger hybrid form.
"Let's go for a dive, shall we?" She didn't have the power to breathe underwater like me, but with the help of Tiger Icon, I could make her have it for now.
I dragged her into the water, and the two of us got lost in the beauty below.
* * *
We only came out when evening came. Tsubasa and I stepped out of the water and faced a grumpy Ruby who stood with her arms crossed.
"What?" I asked and used my hand as a wind blower to dry both of our bodies.
"You left me alone and went to have fun," she said with a frown.
"Well, I mean, yes. We were doing adult stuff underwater, why will I take you?" I asked directly, while Tsubasa choked on air.
"A-aqua! Don't say that, there are people around us!" She hushed out, but it was too late. People were looking at them, and Ruby was fuming.
"Y-you're so bad!" her eyes sparkled with unreleased tears as she ran off.
I shrugged. Tsubasa and I slowly returned to the hotel while drinking Mountain Dew.
…..
When we entered our hotel room, there was a little… incident.
"Whoa,"
"Ai, keep your eyes closed please."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm doing that!" Ai said to Miyako while holding her eyes shut with her hands.
There was a clean cut in the wall, barely missing the spot where Uncle Ichigo was standing. Just mere centimeters away, fresh smoke was coming out of the straight cut.
"It could have gone a lot worse," I said as I waved at the others. "Can you guys leave the room? It's dangerous."
Ai was sitting on the bed, her eyes closed to not accidentally hurt anybody. Ruby was glaring at Ai, which I'm sure would have hurt the woman if she could see it.
Asia had a sharp look on her face, ready to have stepped in to heal anybody if needed. Tsubasa looked shocked, but she as well as the others followed out of the room, which left me and her alone.
I closed the door and approached her in the bed. "It's fine now, they're gone. You can open your eyes."
"A-are you sure, Aqua?" she asked hesitantly.
"I said they're gone now," I reminded her, but it was for something else.
She's not supposed to call me 'Aqua' if we are alone. She gulped.
Instead of fixing her mistake, she rather opened her eyes. She kept it low, but her gaze was still falling on my shirtless chest. Perhaps it surprised her because her eyes went bright red, and a beam fired out.
— Shiing...
Thin, red lasers that could cut steel and concrete hit me in the chest. I remained sat with a calm look on her face as I raised a hand to ruffle her hair.
"Take your time, don't look anywhere else since the room is fragile," I reassured her as she nodded with her eyes glued to my chest.
A few minutes later, she closed her eyes and reopened them. The laser stopped and she heaved a sigh. "Finally, haah-" But her sigh stopped midway through.
There were two, black marks on my chest, my flesh was burned like charcoal on those two little spots. Just from her breath, the part trembled like ash and fell off; two deep holes that showed the inside of his chest stared back at her.
She snapped up to look at me, "You acted like it didn't hurt!" She yelled in anger. "I could have cut the wall and bought the building for compensation. Why do you keep making me hurt you?!"
"You're overreacting."
"And you're acting emotionless!" she let out a grunt and pushed him away.
"It doesn't hurt as much as you think it does," I shrugged. "It'll heal."
"That is not the issue," she looked teary. "Do you like doing this to me?! You give me no chance to redeem myself, and only keep making me do stuff like this."
I sighed at the woman's cries. Can't she be calm for a minute?
She glared at me and walked over, placing a hand over the wound as her outfit shone and transformed into that of a Saintess. A healing light spread from her hand and it bathed over the wound.
When she removed her hand a minute later, the wound was gone. It had healed.
She dropped the outfit and faced me in silence. "The laser is the only thing I got. The physical enhancements and flight are yet to come."
"Yeah, the reason why we're here for a few days and not one," I said. I already expected that only one would work, so this wasn't a bad thing.
"I won't continue," she suddenly said, "if you keep this up. Next day if I wake up with strength to break the door handle and you come running to help me manage my strength by acting like a punching bag or something, I'll return home."
"I mean, sparring is indeed the fastest way to get used to the sudden increase in strength. Why are you rejecting the idea even before it came to me?" I looked at her with a frown. "You're acting bratty. I'm not a candle doll, Ai. Quit thinking of me as a normal 15-year-old only when it matters to you."
"...." she must have been taken aback by my retort. I disliked her thinking so weakly of me, I didn't need meaningless pity when I was just trying to make her stronger.
She opened her mouth and then closed it. A moment later, she turned her back to me and wiped her face off something. Tears, obviously. "...Aqua, why are you so harsh these days?"
Why is she crying now…
I couldn't even bring myself to remind her that she's not supposed to say 'Aqua' now. Was I going too far? Amaterasu did tell me to keep in mind that Ai's the child between the two of us; she's just 31. First, she found out her two children were not actually her two children, yet after she compromised by letting me stay with her, I'm treating her so harshly for caring for me. At the same time when her other child is ignoring her entirely.
Was this what I meant when I promised myself that I'll get this fucked up family back on track?
"Haah…" I let out a sigh and hugged her from behind. I wanted to remind her that I never minded her meaningless care in the past, and only now I did because we didn't have the mother-son relationship anymore, so a mother's unconditional love and care weren't expected.
But… I guess she was slowly returning to her natural senses. It's hard to believe, but she did yell to me that she's special, and she's not like my other mothers.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be." She hicced and said. She sounded so grumpy. "Right, it's you who had holes in his chest, not me, so why should you be apologizing?"
"Don't be like this."
"Don't be like what, mister 'daddy'?" She bit back with a grumble and a sniff. "You are so bad. I hate you." She didn't. "You-"
"I'm sorry," I said, "mom."
"...."
"Oh right," I canceled the hug. "My bad, I forgot. I said it instinctively."
As I hoped, she quickly pulled my arms back and made me hug her from behind again. To begin with, it was the Venerable One who thought it funny to make her call me 'daddy'. I found it funny too, to be fair, but it's been a while.
"Do I sound offended?" she sniffed.
"I don't know, you're still crying, so…"
"Call me mom," she said. "I don't like this weird daddy thing. Can't we return back to how things were before?" she asked.
"In case you forgot," I kissed her nape to remind her. "It's not that easy."
She went silent. It had been two months since she found out. This was the first time we were having a chat about it again.
"Call me mom," she said again.
"Did you not hear what I said?"
"Did I stutter?" she asked back.
"...."
What is that supposed to imply, then?
Am I allowed to kiss her nape and call her mom? Is she allowing me that freedom?
No matter how many times I asked, she remained silent. Sometimes… silence was the greatest answer.
I snickered and hugged her tightly, "Will you accept my apology if I say it?" I asked and she nodded. "I'm sorry, mom."
She smiled, but she didn't reply. I could guess why.
"I'm sorry, Mom," I said again.
"Mhm?"
"You don't trust me, mom?"
"Say it again then,"
I had this unbearable urge to kiss her right then. But it'd probably not suit the situation if I did. I shall hold onto it until I get Ruby back to her, it'll be my gift from her.
"I'm sorry, mom."
"Apology accepted."
For the first time in months, she smiled a genuine smile. I liked seeing her happy.
It was just the first day of this vacation, and my plan to get the family back in line was greatly working.
Next, I need to focus on Ruby. We'll be sleeping together tonight in the same bed. Just to be clear, I have zero plans to touch either of them during that time, sex isn't the solution I'm looking at. I'll just give her a good family time to remind her how nice this new life was.
Hopefully, it will be enough.
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Author Nore: Sadly we did not meet the goal in Sunday. Let's goal Top 5 again this time, and hopefully we'll hit it within 24h for an extra chapter.
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