Chapter 18: Taking Care of Mommy... and What did it Cost?

"Ahhnn~!!!"

A sweet sound at four in the morning...

The night was almost coming to an end, transitioning into the early morning hours.

The room was filled with a unique scent, and the heat enveloped them as they lay together.

As their bodies glistened with sweat, Ai moaned passionately while gripping the helpless pillow tightly. She lay prone, her hips arched upward, and he violently slammed her wide hips, again, and so on...

"Mi-Minoru-kun, did you promise—Hyaah! to take it easy on me? Ahnn!"

Minoru stayed focused on Ai's back as he kissed it and he was like, "Huh—What?"

"Ahhn! Forget it!! Ahn! I'm almost there!"

He realized that it had been a while for Ai, so he decided to wrap things up quickly. And, she needed some sleep more than he did.

Minoru pushed his rod deep inside as he poured the juice inside her, "AHHHNN!—UGH!" Ai screamed as she trembled intensely. Her hips rose even higher as she accepted it with pure pleasure.

'Again... this is his third time.'

Ai's eyes rolled up as she felt something flow inside her and tickle her intensely, "Wai—take it out slowly— KYAA! Nooo!" With a sound of "Plop!" Minoru violently took off his rod as Ai squirted her juice again.

'Hm, I think that's enough.'

Minoru gazed at Ai, who was overwhelmed with pleasure. He was certain that she couldn't handle another round, as he was still hard down there. He wiped her sweat and 'that' away with a towel.

"Mmn~!"

She reacted as he kissed her plump butt before putting on short sweatpants and a t-shirt. With an amusing smile, Minoru gently laid Ai down to adjust her sleeping position.

And, he gave her cheek a peck as hopped out of bed.

"Where you off to?"

"Bathroom."

"Kay..."

Minoru stripped off his long-sleeve white shirt, checking himself out in the mirror.

"I guess I should start tackling some chores after I've had a breather."

After changing into fresh, dry clothes, he climbed back into bed beside Ai and drifted off to sleep.

---

He was a top spy who lost and failed miserably.

He was desperate and clueless when he stumbled upon the enigmatic hitman, 001. He chased him like a hungry bear without a plan up his sleeve.

But it got even worse. He couldn't even say goodbye to his daughter truthfully. He had to lie, saying there was an emergency patient he needed to attend to, all because he was undercover as a psychiatrist.

The next day, he woke up in a familiar room. It had been two hours since Loid had opened his eyes, and he was staring at the same ceiling he used to see when he was just a doctor, not a spy.

"Chichi, don't leave Anya again. Sniff! Sniff!"

Anya crawled up to his hospital bed.

"Ugh! There, there..."

He accepted her hug, even though his body still ached from the pain he endured.

'I don't understand...'

It made no sense to him that he was still alive. He was sure that 001 had given him a death sentence. But somehow, the man he believed to be a criminal had shown him mercy.

As he patted Anya's back, the hospital door cracked open, and he allowed the person to enter and deliver a message.

It was from Eileen.

Loid felt a shock, wondering what she wanted. There was a wild thought that he might be punished for his failure, but he had already let go of his pride as a spy and was prepared for whatever came his way.

He opened the envelope and found an encrypted message, but he easily deciphered it. It was a simple yet ambiguous message that only he could understand since only Eileen and Twilight knew the mission's details.

'This is unbelievable...'

[Mission aborted, and I'm granting you a long vacation.]

Loid was surprised, knowing that Eileen always got what she wanted.

Yet, she was giving up on her quest.

"A long vacation, huh?"

---

The sun was already up when Minoru woke up at 5:00 AM, kicking off his morning routine.

He started by tending to his aching backside before hitting his penthouse gym for a grueling neck and leg workout. By 6:45 AM, he was sipping on a protein shake, his curiosity piqued by the morning news.

[In a shocking incident, a truck ran a red light, causing a collision with another vehicle. The truck subsequently exploded, leaving authorities puzzled. Tragically, all three individuals involved pass away at the scene...]

'In the end, they'll probably chalk it up to some truck malfunction...'

Minoru taking another sip of his protein shake.

'But who knows, maybe there's a detective or police out there with a sixth sense for sniffing out trouble. Let's just hope nobody decides to investigate Shuchi'in...'

Deep down, Minoru had his doubts that the authorities would leave Shuchi'in alone for long, but he was ready to face whatever came his way.

After finishing his workout, Minoru tackled some housework.

He cleaned up, did the laundry, whipped up breakfast, and packed lunches for his kids.

"Oh, Aqua! You're the first one to wake up." 

Spatula in one hand and a skillet sizzling with breakfast in the other.

"Good morning, Minoru-san."

Aqua, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, shot Minoru a half-grinning, half-confused look.

He plopped onto the living room sofa, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV, only to be greeted by the same news.

"Is it just me, or are there way too many incidents happening lately?"

With a nonchalant shrug, Aqua flipped through the channels.

Aqua couldn't help but admire the man. Minoru was like every dude's delusional dream, a freaking fictional hero, kick-ass at everything, except for gaining Ruby's trust.

'Hm, well... we've only been living together for about two weeks...'

'And Sarina-chan has been through a lot as her family ignored her. Now, she's just guarding herself and won't open up easily. So, I can't blame her...'

Aqua didn't mind accepting Minoru as a father figure, he'd done a lot for them. What earned Aqua's trust was when Minoru saved Ai. And, Aqua had seen it with his own eyes.

Also, being a fan of Ai, he was thrilled when Minoru wrote a song that catapulted B-Komachi to even greater fame, although he couldn't help but wonder why Minoru didn't want credit for it.

Aqua sighed again and adopted a solemn, thoughtful expression.

'About my death...the same person who almost stabbed Ai is the one who pushed me over the cliff. And that person is probably just a puppet. They're still out there, enjoying life, and who knows when they'll strike again.'

Minoru glanced over at Aqua, noticing his gloomy boy demeanor.

After he sneakily checked what Aqua had been doing with Ai's old phone and his browser history, Minoru's suspicions were confirmed. Aqua was after the person who had used the stalker to harm Ai, and the most obvious reason was to get his revenge.

"I'll set aside how he has that level of intellect, but we'll have a pep talk later between men."

Besides Ruby, Aqua had a concern Minoru couldn't ignore as he wanted them to enjoy life, no matter the cost.

"Aqua, can you wake up Ruby for me?"

Aqua glanced at Minoru, who was busy setting the table, and got up from the sofa.

"Sure, no problem."

He walked past the kitchen and couldn't help but notice that Minoru hadn't mentioned Ai.

'Maybe he forgot...'

"Wake up, Ruby. Minoru-san said breakfast is ready."

"Hmm~~! Just give me five more minutes."

"Oi, sleepyheads. Don't tell me you're responding to Ai's hater tweets again?"

"I'm not. Ugh! Just get out you idiot!"

Aqua gave up and went to Ai's bedroom, knocking on the door.

"Ai, it's me, Aqua. Breakfast is ready..."

Silence.

"Ai..."

Still silence.

He opened her door and widened his eyes when he didn't find Ai.

"Ai!"

He entered the room, panicking, and then heard a voice from behind him.

"Don't worry, she's still sleeping and will probably wake up later."

Aqua looked at Minoru, wondering what that meant.

"Anyway, just focus on waking up your little sister."

Minoru just smirked and walked back to the kitchen.

After a few moments in a daze, Aqua blushed hard as he realized what had happened.

'Sigh, I knew this would happen. But, let's just hope it won't become a problem.'

He hoped they wouldn't end up with a new sibling, as it would worsen their family situation.

After some struggle to wake up Ruby, they finally managed to sit together.

"Where's Mama?"

Ruby yawned.

"Minoru-san said she's still sleeping."

"Huh?— how?"

Ruby looked at Minoru who was sipping his black coffee with bleary eyes as he was still sleepy.

"Hey Dad, I thought you—"

-Ting!

Ruby and Aqua turned their attention to the elevator.

Since their room was on the second floor, Ai used the elevator instead of the stairs due to her 'knee issues.'

"Oh, it's breakfast~! Ugh—my back!"

Ai's hungry eyes locked onto the food, but she nearly dropped her body as she struggled to steady herself against the wall.

"Pfft! Cough! Cough!"

Aqua choked on his water when he saw Ai in that state.

She was trembling, and on top of that, there were many marks on her skin, especially on her neck.

Ruby glanced between Aqua, Minoru, and Ai, completely clueless about what was going on.

"I thought you were still sleeping," Minoru said as he walked over to Ai and carried her in his arms. However, he didn't expect her next move.

"Chu~! Good morning~"

Ai gave him a morning kiss and pouted.

"It's horrible to eat breakfast without me. I'm hungry too, you know!"

A falling sound echoed through the room, and with a puzzled expression, Ai looked from Minoru's face to the kitchen area. There, she found Ruby dropping her spoon, while Aqua was trying to avoid looking at the couple.

'Ruby's gonna hate me, sure... she's got some insane mommy-con.'

Minoru realized Ai was bold, as she never bothered to check her surroundings.

And yes...

After that incident, Ruby started calling him "Yanagin" again rather than "Dad."

---

In front of the kindergarten gate...

"Don't forget to eat the lunch I prepared, alright?"

Minoru smiled as he saw his kids in their uniforms.

They were just too adorable, drawing the attention of everyone around. After all, Aqua and Ruby were cute twins with their rare hair color, and Minoru was quite flashy himself.

"Yanagin... don't say something I already know."

Ruby responded, crossing her arms, showing that she didn't like to be treated like a kid.

'Yanagin... after all of my effort... it all shattered because Ai kissed me in front of them. It seems that was too shocking for her.'

Nevertheless, he smiled at her, never giving up on his cute daughter.

"I'm just giving you a reminder... sigh~. Aqua, make sure you take care of her."

He looked at Aqua, who just nodded and went back to his textbook.

"Bye-bye~!!!"

Even though she didn't call him dad, Ruby was still an innocent and cheerful girl. Minoru watched them as Ruby waved at him, and he waved back at her.

He walked to his new ride, a matte black G-Wagon parked near the road. His phone vibrated as he approached the SUV's door and opened an email. It was from Chabashira Sae, who had sent him Murdoch Swan's address because all the teachers were expected to attend his funeral.

'My bad...'

He didn't feel guilty as he usually did.

'It's ironic that the killer himself is visiting his own target's funeral. But I already knew that Swan's family was broken as he divorced his wife and lost the right to raise his kids. There was also some corruption as he allowed some transfer students in exchange for money, and his position was still secure thanks to his wife, well, ex-wife, who happened to be the owner of Shuchi'in Academy. What a lucky fuckin' bastard...'

He got into his car and headed to the funeral. He knew that the school would be busier as the head of school affairs had just passed away, and the new school academic year was about to begin in four days. Even if he killed Swan, getting that position wouldn't be easy, probably.

---

stones?