The girl next door

Looks can be deceiving, Aether knew this more than anyone. He knew a girl, so gentle and sweet, yet worked so much the bags underneath her eyes had been mistaken for mascara. He knew a man who was known as the most loving brother in the world... well, he was a battle junkie and that little girl who always played in the park nearby to his home, cheering a hopping about? She knew how to stink bombs and would terrorise the fishing spots in the city.

So yes, looks can indeed be very deceiving.

But there was one particular person that truly stuck with Aether, the mother next door in his building. She was beautiful, long purple hair tied in a braid, a bountiful chest and rear, and she exuded the very aura of a mature woman that mesmerised the young man.

She didn't seem to have a husband either, he hasn't seen a ring on her finger, yet he was aware she had children, two in fact a girl and a boy. The boy was Aether's classmate, Scaramouche, while the girl was apparently named Shogun. Odd name for a girl, but who was he to judge? His and his sister's guardian was called Paimon, not really a conventional name either.

Regardless, Aether had ways to get to know the woman next door, but considering how Scaramouche often never liked talking about his family, there was a slight obstacle. But that never really stopped the young man.

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During one school lunch, Aether sat with friends, including Scaramouche and brought up the upcoming exam they were going to have as a way to enter the Raiden household in the guise of a study session.

However, Scaramouche visibly recoiled at the suggestion and immediately shot down the idea.

"No! No one is going to enter my house!" Scaramouche growled.

"Why not?" Aether asked, despite knowing the reason.

"We won't be able to study there. We'll be disturbing my mother," the indigo-haired boy explained.

"She works from home? That would explain why she never seems to go out," Aether surmised.

"She does never go out," Scaramouche replied. "But that's beside the point. It would be more beneficial to study at Buer's place."

Buer was Scaramouche's aunt, of sorts, he often spoke of her highly, almost as if she was his mother rather than his actual mother.

"So we can't go to your place?" Aether asked, his eyes drooping.

"No." Scaramouche then stood up from his chair and took his finished plate to put it away before leaving the cafeteria, never giving Aether the permission he so wished for.

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Aether left school that day without any progress and was starting to think that maybe he wasn't ever going to meet that lady from next door unless he timed it so that they would, but that would be too creepy... by his standards.

"Now what am I going to do?" Aether wondered, dejected. He planned to pretty much wallow in those thoughts for a while, as if he got rejected by his long-time crush, when he hadn't even met the girl.

While silently bawling his eyes out Aether then got a call, much to his annoyance. He didn't plan to answer it, but after about 3 consecutive calls, he realised there was only one person stubborn enough to keep calling.

Left with no choice, he fished his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

"What is it Lumine?" Aether asked.

"Where the hell have you been?! I've been calling for ages!" an angry Lumine roared from the other side.

"What do you want?" Aether questioned, he wanted to get it over with so he could cry his eyes out in peace.

"Paimon's asked me to grab some dango milk on the way home, but I'm with the girls right now so you get it," she ordered.

Aether suddenly felt all of the sorrow in him turn into annoyance as several veins began to pop out of his head. This wasn't the first time Lumine made him do her jobs and at that point he was too tired to complain every single time.

"Ok, I'll do it," Aether reluctantly said.

Lumine giggled from the other side and lovingly replied, "Thanks bro."

Aether could only sigh at the situation he was put in, he thought he really needed to start charging her for dumping him odd jobs like that.

Turning around from where he was heading, Aether made his way to the local sweet shops that he knew had dango milk, he just wanted to get it over with. However when he got there, he suddenly forgot what he went to get when he spotted who was standing outside the shop.

With her long purple hair cascading down her back, her fair skin that was as white as snow, and the aura of a mature and experienced woman.

The apple of Aether's eye was just there in front of him, peering into the sweet shop while fidgeting about. Could fate have brought him there? If so, he needed to thank Lumine for giving him the odd job he loathed moments ago.

Realising this was his chance, Aether took a deep breath and approached the woman, albeit in a slightly robotic manner.

"Uhm... are... you alright?" Aether shakily asked. He was more nervous than he thought.

"Huh?" The lady then turned to the shaky boy and gave a small smile. "Yes, well... I was trying to buy some dango milk, but it seems as though the shop is closed."

That would explain why she hadn't gone in. Aether looked inside as well and as the lady said, there was no one there. Odd since they were usually open until nightfall.

"Huh, maybe they're off today," Aether deduced. "I needed to buy dango milk as well. Guess this shop is a no-go."

"What a shame, I was hoping to stock up today," the lady said, dejected.

"There is another shop, it's a bit further away from here, but if you'd like I can take you there," Aether proposed. He wasn't getting to let the opportunity slip by.

"Oh can you? Please do," the lady requested, not realising her words pretty much sent Aether into a frenzy inside his mind.

The two would then walk side-by-side back up the road to head to the next candy shop. The lady, who Aether only ever knew as Scaramouche's mom, introduced herself as Raiden Ei. She was a lot different than what Aether thought she was, originally he thought she was far more calm and serious, judging from the times the two had met while in their apartment building. But Ei was a lot more innocent than she let on, she actually didn't know a lot of things in the neighbourhood, telling the young man that she barely left the house since she wasn't so sure how to approach people and that she only went out that day since both her kids were not home and she was desperate.

Furthermore, Ei was also different in appearance, she didn't wear her fitting turtleneck and jeans anymore, instead opting to don a light purple hoodie, a short skirt and a pair of half-rounded glasses. Her hair was no longer in its usual braid and was now just let loose behind her. It almost seemed like she was a completely different person.

While walking down the street beside her, Aether also noticed her behaviour was somewhat different, she was tinkering with her phone and what looked to be like a game, he never pegged her for a gamer.

"Is this really the same person who I always saw?" Aether thought everything he thought about her was being crushed right in front of his eyes. "Um, miss Ei?"

"Hmm? Oh, Ei is fine, you don't have to be so formal," she replied.

"Oh, ok. What are you playing then Ei?" Aether asked though he felt weird about calling an older woman by her first name so casually.

"It's a game called Henshin Impact, heard of it?" Ei turned to the boy, who nodded back.

"Yeah, my sister and I play it, I just finished the latest story quest," Aether said.

Ei's eyebrow then raised a brow for a few moments before her mouth parted open upon realising what Aether was on about. "Oh yeah, I finished it when it came out so I'm doing farming now for mats for the new banner."

Aether was speechless, one because the quest he was on about was only three days old and was worth hours of gameplay and cutscenes, and the other was that Ei was already preparing for a future update to the game that wasn't happening for another 3 or 4 months.

"You finished the quest line, wow," Aether expressed, still finding it hard to believe.

"Isn't that normal if you want to get all of the mats and pull on the limited banner?" Ei asked.

Aether wasn't so sure what to say so he just nodded instead, but he did have a single thought run through his mind. "So she's one of those players huh?"

After buying two boxes of dango milk, the two decided to head home. A shame for the young man, but he was happy enough that he got the chance to talk with Ei. But he did fear that they would never talk again since Ei did say she barely left home.

However, while he was saddened by the fact he might not see her again, he still felt like the girl he was with wasn't the woman he has seen coming out to take out the trash every week. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something just felt off.

"Oh, Shogun," Ei said, snapping Aether out of his train of thought.

Looking at Ei first, Aether noticed her attention was caught by whoever was in front of them. When he too looked forward, the boy's eyes spread wide open and bulged out that they nearly popped out of their sockets.

In front of them, was a woman that looked identical to Ei, except she wore a fitting, black long-sleeved turtleneck with a pair of tight jeans. Then there's her expression, calm, and completely void as if she was like a robot or puppet.

"Ei, who's that?" Aether asked, he felt like he was going crazy, did he confuse Ei with this other lady that looked like her?

"That's Shogun, Kunikuzushi's little sister and my daughter," Ei explained.

Aether knew that Scaramouche was called Kunikuzushi at home, so that meant the woman that Aether thought was his friend's mother... was actually his sister!

A younger sister at that. Though considering that Shogun was definitely more well-endowed than most girls around her age, Aether couldn't fully blame himself for misunderstanding. In fact, when placed side-by-side, the boy thought that Ei was more of a little sister figure than Shogun.

"All this time... I've been going after the wrong girl!" screamed the boy in his head. He wasn't gonna call himself out that easily.

That night at the dinner table, Aether would express to Paimon and Lumine how he came to realise not everything was as it seemed, plus the fact Lumine may have gotten the short end of puberty.