[Raikiri] No. 108

[Kumizu]

Kumizu opened the door and walked in, sighing. He couldn't really call it a long day, but he felt exhausted. "Well... like before, there's only water in the fridge. I guess I should put more in it."

Kumizu walked over and collapsed onto the bed. The entire bed jiggled as the water moved around under him. He kind of hoped Ayise would join him, but he wasn't going to openly suggest it.  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

Ayise looked over at Kumizu and chuckled before looking back to the small child, "Tsubaki, I know you and your brother have problems but siblings should stick together no matter what. I'm sure he's worried about you, although maybe not so much seeing as you're always running off..."

The child shrugged lightly, "I came to remind momma of something important, Tsubaki's birthday, to celebrate it with momma and father." Tsubaki said holding up a hand, palm flat out, on finger tucked under. "Tsubaki will be four in human years." She hugged her dark stuffed animal close, "Tsubaki hates Elliot, she doesn't want to be with him-"

Ayise's face had long dropped at the mention of 'father'. Her face drawing in, in a way that was uncharacteristic. "...I see." She paused, "So, Tsubaki...exactly how do you intend to be with your father?" She asked darkly, unfamiliar hostility written on her face.

The child stared at Ayise with large dark eyes, the shock evident before her eyes began to glitter and then water.  

[Kumizu]

Kumizu didn't hear all of the conversation; rather, he drifted in and out. Tsubaki's birthday? Hm. I wonder if that means I need to get her a present... The humor stopped when he heard Ayise's last question. The words weren't important, how she was saying it was.

Kumizu stepped off of his bed and walked over to them. It was obvious that Tsubaki was about to cry. He felt more annoyance than pity... Kumizu was never that good with small children. "Hang on a second. What is going on between you ((Ayise)) and Tsubaki's father?"  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

Ayise blinked and looked at him her face showing mild puzzlement. "What do you mean...?" She asked as if it were obvious, suddenly back to her pleasant voice. "We don't know where her mother has gotten off to, and her father abandoned her." Ayise said, her voice sympathetic in a hollow way.

Tsubaki made a face, her tears forgotten. She looked up at Kumizu, her face half triumphant. "Does Kumizu see now? Momma doesn't remember anymore." She shrugged, "Because Tsubaki knows her father would never leave her." She sulked.

Ayise sighed, "Tsubaki they've explained this to you already...h-"

Tsubaki blew a raspberry. "Boo to you!"

Ayise sweatdropped, "Kids..."  

[Kumizu]

"Don't try to act innocent with me. Both of you have me worried about Tsubaki's father. I'd just like to know what's going on." This entire ordeal was confusing Kumizu. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than his relationship with his father. After 'running away from home', for lack of a better way of putting it, Kagahn was now hunting and trying to kill him. Ayise had already experienced that once. After all of this, it was natural that he was concerned about any issues dealing with... well, a man.  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

"He abandoned her."

"He was murdered."

"What do you mean? You're not old enough to remember something like that." Ayise frowned a bit, she'd heard something like this before.

"Tsubaki is no ordinary girl, she's trained very hard to be able to see things." The child frowned, "Momma doesn't work as hard as Tsubaki does, and she was there. With the scary man in the white coat, they took father away and left Tsubaki with momma before they sent her away too."

"...You don't mean your brother. He would never harm anyone, Elliot wouldn't have hurt Kiryuu." Ayise's face was clouding with doubt, "Elliot is a noble person, he looks out for everyone's best interests."  

[Kumizu]

Wait, Elliot killed Tsubaki's father? It feels like nothing in this family is what it seems... "Well, whoever... did it, I don't want him coming after either of you... that reminds me! I need to finish something!" He didn't want any unexpected visitors anymore.

Kumizu opened the closet door and pulled out the boxes inside. He quickly opened them and dumped out the contents. Various tools; a drill, hammer, nails, and screws; tumbled out, along with pieces of rubber, insulation, titanium alloy, and a metal that the girls probably wouldn't recognize. A glass sphere also came out, which Kumizu caught before it hit the floor. Energy inside the sphere swirled around in a bright blue color, as if waves were crashing on something every few seconds. "This shouldn't take long, don't worry." Generating a sword, he very carefully began cutting pieces of the metals into square- and rectangular-shaped pieces. It was almost as if he was building a box.  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

Ayise and Tsubaki had stopped 'arguing' abruptly to watch Kumizu hammer and cut away in seeming insanity. "Oh my..." Ayise shook her head, "Tsubaki, has anything strange happened to Kumizu while I was out?"

Tsubaki shrugged, "The people of this realm are strange anyway."

Ayise frowned, she didn't trust most strange objects, magical or otherwise. "What is that Kumi-chan?" She asked, puzzled. Carefully resisted her urge to pry into his mind, she remembered that it still unnerved him when she did so.

"This is the person that momma likes?" Tsubaki scowled, "No way, Ezekiel is so much better."

"Tsubaki! Shhh..."  

[Kumizu]

Kumizu was hard at work, trying to forget the insult Tsubaki had just said. Kids... He was, in fact, building a box. The first layer was of the insulation, which he sealed together with ice. The next layer, the rubber, was hammered into place with nails, then sealed around with ice as an extra precaution. The pieces of titanium alloy were drilled together, connected to the rest of the box with ice, and the other metal was treated the same way. In a few minutes, Kumizu held it up. "One last thing." He placed the orb into the box then covered it with another piece of the unnamed metal, sealing it as usual.

When it was finished, the device looked like... well, a box. "What this is is a teleport block. It's going to stop people from randomly coming into my room. No one will be able to teleport inside without getting stopped at whatever wall they're coming from. They also can't just phase through the walls. It won't stop them from entering normally through the door, but now I'll know who is in my room."

Kumizu levitated and stuck it on the ceiling. He hated flying, it just reminded him of.... But it was easier than just jumping.  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

"That won't keep out anyone who knows what they're doing, stupid." Tsubaki crowed, bringing her bear up to her face, "Mr. Bear knows at least eighteen ways to get around that thing."

"Tsubaki!"

"Well, he DOES. Mr. Bear is super smart, and he tells Tsubaki all his secrets because they're friends." Tsubaki pointed at Kumizu, "Besides that man is not daddy, he's trying to his place momma!"

Ayise grabbed Tsubaki and dragged her away, mortified. "Tsubaki!" She stood over in a corner speaking quietly to the small child.  

[Kumizu]

That was pretty obvious. A teleport block did that... block teleportation into and out of the room. Someone could still open a window, walk through the door, blow a hole open in the wall. It was designed to keep certain people away. People who would appreciate subtlety. He had one particular man in mind.

As for taking "daddy's" place, Kumizu didn't have any intention of doing so. He wasn't very good with little kids, and wasn't planning on proving it to either of the girls in the room. Instead, he sat down on the couch and let them have their little argument.  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

"Tsubaki..." Ayise sighed tiredly, "Can't you be a good little girl...?"

Tsubaki shook her head so hard her curls swung back and forth almost whipping Ayise in the face, "Not until she get momma to remember that it's all her fault Tsubaki is sad. Momma didn't get her revenge on them yet, she left Tsubaki behind to go to school."

"I...what? Tsubaki I'm not really your mother, you know that right?" She sweatdropped.

Tsubaki fiddled with her bear for a moment before a tiny photo fluttered out, a crumpled faded of a pretty girl with light hair and green eyes holding the hand of a child barely old enough to walk, a tall man with messy black hair sitting on the ground in front of them holding a toy bear out to the toddler.

Ayise blanched, "Kiryuu..."  

[Kumizu]

Kumizu simply looked on until he saw the color drain from Ayise's cheeks. He jumped up, cursed his leg after doing so, then walked over to her. He looked at the picture. The girl he assumed was Tsubaki, and the man was... Kiryuu? "Who is this?" he asked. "Who is Kiryuu?"  

[EvrythingTastesLikeGinger]

"Hm, Oh well, he's the head of different family. His parents were friends of mine." She blushed at the picture, "I had the biggest crush on him when I was younger." She paused, "I heard he died a few years ago, he was shot to death while coming home to his mistress and her daughter." Ayise made a face, "That's what Elliot says anyway, he makes it sound like a scandal but Kiryuu was never the type to hurt anyone or make enemies."

Tsubaki looked at Kumizu expectantly, waiting for him to connect the dots.  

[Kumizu]

That's what Elliot says. Then by all means it must be the truth, Kumizu thought sarcastically. He felt like everything between Ayise and him had become increasingly complicated since Tsubaki wandered her way into his room. This didn't bother him. The only thing that did was the fact that one day Ayise would want to know about his family.

For now, Kumizu had to focus on Ayise instead of himself. He'd gotten different answers from different people on the same question. It seemed like Elliot was the one feeding Ayise all of the answers Kumizu wanted, so why not pay him a visit? "I don't think I've met Elliot. Do you know where he is right now?"