The keychain in Aqua’s hands was an exact match to Sarina’s. There was no doubt about it.

  He looked away and saw Ruby joining the claymation conversation with Shin and Cobalt. She was no longer so downtrodden as she was minutes before. Since Aqua had deduced she likely died young in her past life, the talk of a doctor who’d been close to Ai before disappearing might have stirred memories of whatever identity Ruby had previously lived. Whatever the circumstances of her death, a doctor may have been there for her in her last moments.

  Or maybe Aqua was just projecting again, wanting to see Sarina in Ruby, to see an aspect of Gorou Amamiya’s old life doing as well as Aqua Hoshino and his family were doing now.

  Aqua set the keychain aside on Shin’s bed. He kept his distance from the others, sitting on the bed while the rest of the children clamored around Shin’s workspace in the corner of the room. Cobalt held up a tripod and peered into the screen of the digital camera propped on top of it. Ruby played with a clay caveman figure, posing him amid a pile of real rocks and pebbles likely gathered from the house’s backyard. Shin divided his time between making sure Cobalt didn’t ruin the camera and Ruby didn’t damage the clay character.

  As an actor, Aqua has played as an extra with no lines, only needing to devote a token amount of attention to the main players of the scene and the simple orders of the director. Sometimes Aqua used the opportunity to observe and learn from the senior actors at work. Other times, he was free to delve into his own thoughts, of his current leads for his investigation and pressing family responsibilities to handle once he got home. Now, Aqua once more blended into the background to review his new findings on this most enlightening night.

  Aqua’s father must have thoroughly disposed of Gorou’s body but had allowed that single piece of Ai memorabilia to survive and be found by a random passerby. Or perhaps it wasn’t random for a member of the Hoshigami family to have claimed ownership of the keychain. Ai’s former partner may have investigated Gorou Amamiya’s history after discovering Ai was his patient, and he could have allowed Sarina’s precious memento to be found so rumors could naturally unfold about Gorou’s love life. Despite the disagreements that were never resolved between Kumada and Gorou, they had still been decent friends in their adulthood. Kumada and others they personally knew in Takachiho concocting a story for the disappearance of the infamous loner in their friend group must have been a great boon for Aqua’s nefarious father.

  Yet for Gorou’s friends to conclude he gave up on Ai…

  There had indeed been the hardly hidden whispers and quiet comments echoing throughout the hospital’s long corridors, speculating on the nature of Gorou’s relationship with “Nurse-chan.” However, Gorou honestly was never romantically interested in her. She never proposed to him either. Their banter was just that: silly banter that came about organically to get through the day. Her judgmental eyes and piercing tone regarding Gorou’s dedication to Ai had also staved off any possibility of doctor and nurse ending up together. Kumada and the rest had clearly underestimated what Ai meant to him.

  As Ruby began more actively engaging in the stop-motion Q&A between Cobalt and Shin, Aqua quietly pulled out Ai’s phone. He had seen Ruby discreetly take it from Ai earlier, and he had claimed it from the upbeat Ruby when she wasn’t looking. She had apparently wanted to sneak a peek at old photos of their birth, most likely to see what Nurse-chan looked like. Aqua went a step further and searched her real name in an incognito tab.

  She was still alive and well. One of her social media accounts included pictures of her celebrating the most recent new year… in Las Vegas.

  Digging further, Aqua saw that she had a family: a daughter half Cobalt’s age, and an American husband who had no resemblance to Gorou Amamiya.

  The residents of Takachiho probably stayed willfully ignorant to this, not wanting to expel the romanticized story of Gorou running off with Nurse-chan. Kumada was smart enough to do his own research, let alone a five-second Google search and ten seconds of scrolling, but Kumada either didn’t care to look up Nurse-chan or didn’t care about Gorou evidently not being a part of her life anymore. Kumada never cared for a lot of things… except for his wife, Tenshi…

  Fleeting thoughts whispered in Aqua’s ear about the Hoshigami family potentially being complicit in Gorou’s murder and the coverup. Aqua swiftly dismissed those absurd conjectures. Kumada was a hardass sometimes but never psychotic or bloodthirsty; he would never be a willing accomplice to murder. Shin had been a normal boy when Gorou last saw the kid, attached to the hip of his mother. Not so different from Cobalt, though his development had clearly taken a radical turn if his current relationship with Kumada was anything to go by. Tenshi Hoshigami’s passing must have definitely dealt lasting blows to her surviving family.

  Her death by heart attack had occurred four years after Gorou had died. There simply wasn’t enough evidence to implicate any of the Hoshigamis to knowingly being involved with the schemes of Aqua’s father. Moreover, Aqua was not so cynical as to think Nurse-chan could have also been an accomplice for his father and the stalker. Her sense of duty and honor weren’t only limited to her criticism of Gorou’s fanaticism of Ai the Idol. She was a good person, no question.

  Aqua still searched his old name online every now and then for any possible updates for the whereabouts of his old body, even ten years divorced from the incident itself. Nurse-chan never appeared in the results, but it was during one of these past Internet searches where he had learned of Tenshi’s death. She wasn’t the first or last patient to have died in circumstances outside of Gorou’s control. Even so, Aqua remembered the shock he’d felt upon discovering the news.

  The successful, uncomplicated birth of Shin Hoshigami had been something Gorou had needed at the time to remind himself that there was still real help he could give to others as a medical professional.

  Tenshi had been a bit of a daredevil during university, only barely restrained by Kumada, her boyfriend back then. She had shared Cobalt’s penchant for embarking on exhilarating misadventures and getting herself injured, wearing a varying array of casts and bandages with an easygoing smile every time Gorou saw her on campus or in group outings. Gorou hadn’t been the only concerned acquaintance wondering if Tenshi was in a troubled relationship with Kumada, but time and time again, her injuries had been entirely due to her own folly. In an odd way, spending time with Kumada and Tenshi had served as a prelude to Aqua’s brotherly watch over Ruby and Cobalt. Of course, Ruby was far more emotionally outspoken and insistently protective of their own little troublemaker than Kumada by a long shot.

  Becoming Tenshi’s doctor in Takachiho had been a surprise to them all. Settling in a relatively boring town like Takachiho hadn't seemed like Tenshi’s first choice at first glance, but Gorou supposed that was how love guided an odd couple sometimes. Likely to tease and annoy Kumada, she had happily thrown herself into the cheers and chants Gorou had begun conducting for Ai during their appointments together. Kumada came to tolerate it, and Gorou had been appreciative of at least one adult he personally knew not adversely judging him for taking up Sarina’s place in supporting Ai.

  Shin’s birth had humbled Tenshi far better than any of Kumada’s own attempts throughout university. Although her physical heart had still needed observation in the years after Shin’s arrival into the world, her love for her own flesh and blood had finally convinced her the value of restraint and self-discipline, caring for her health at a tremendously more agreeable pace.

  Gorou had other notable patients, of course. Other mothers and children to lend his expertise to beyond Sarina or Tenshi. Men and women without too complex health concerns or significant personal ties to Gorou, though with memorable personalities and conversations which Aqua still occasionally thought about to this day. Some had been cordial, others not so much.

  Yet whatever higher power that had granted Gorou Amamiya reincarnation, it also apparently saw it fit for Aqua Hoshino to come into contact with these specific people from his old life.

  This had to mean something. The precise nature, Aqua couldn’t quite identify yet, but this was fate.

  Aqua thought on what were the most appropriate steps to take next. Studying more of Nurse-chan’s available online profiles and possibly even fabricating accounts for Gorou Amamiya to reconnect with her, to gather more details and context of their supposed love affair from a primary source. No matter how slim the chances, even if the nurse was ignorant to the role she had played for that monster, Aqua might catch a hint of his father’s influence, if any, over this cover for Gorou’s disappearance.

  To that end, Aqua will also have to remain in contact with the Hoshigamis. Perhaps engineer more “reunions” with other former associates of Gorou Amamiya at the hospital and the rest of Takachiho. If there was time before the Hoshinos’ return to Tokyo, he needed to take advantage of physically being back in this town and actually retrace his last moments from the night of his death, to thoroughly confirm there was no subtle sign or another salvageable piece leading to Gorou’s corpse to be found.

  Would there be merit in informing everyone about Aqua’s status as the reincarnated spirit of Gorou Amamiya? He’d have to confer with Ruby, since her reincarnation would also naturally be revealed.

  Ai… would still love them, but she didn’t need to know. It would be another complication in their already hectic lives. Cobalt caused enough trouble as it was, this outing to Takachiho being the latest prime example to cite for future reference, and the state of Strawberry Productions may be at its most fragile depending on how things were resolved between Ichigo and Miyako. Knowing that the same stalker who had assaulted them six years ago had also technically already succeeded in killing someone close to Ai would no doubt perturb everyone, as well. Aqua was supposed to protect his family, not disturb them with horror stories.

  Aqua had intimate knowledge about… well, himself, so he could convince the skeptic in Kumada of his supernatural rebirth… but it was unlikely Kumada would be much of an active or useful ally. Kumada had his own life, and evidently his own shortcomings with regards to his son. The only person Aqua genuinely trusted with his true goals was Director Gotanda, but even he was unaware of Aqua’s reincarnation. No, trying to persuade Kumada to aid in Aqua’s search for his father would have to be a last resort, if Aqua hit a wall in his plans and had no one else to turn to.

  Shin was still a child, who adopted Gorou’s and Sarina’s keychain to remember his mother. He didn’t need to be told anything more about Gorou Amamiya.

  So much more to do, so many more points of investigation to consider, and Aqua still had a book report due for school before the end of the week.

  It was incredibly fortunate that Cobalt somehow had wrangled himself into becoming a friend of Shin Hoshigami and wanting to emulate his animation hobby… If the innocent son of Ai Hoshino unknowingly bringing about a reunion between his reincarnated older brother and the family who had been Gorou’s support after Sarina wasn’t orchestrated by fate, by some divine machination, Aqua didn’t know what was.

  If Cobalt keeps it up with Shin, Aqua pictured more Hoshino family visits to the Hoshigamis in the future. More opportunities for Aqua to search the town for anything to aid his ultimate goal, and more time for Tenshi’s and Kumada’s son to learn what it felt like to feel unfiltered, unrestrained love again, only from the fanboy in Cobalt instead of from Shin’s mother.

  Aqua pocketed Ai’s phone and returned to the current moment. Cobalt complained to Ruby how he was taking individual pictures, not recording video, with Shin’s camera, and how she wasn’t supposed to be puppeteering the clay figure in complete motions instead of step-by-step for each photo. Shin just looked exasperated and leaned back on a chair, arms folded and feet propped on the edge of a dresser.

  Aqua approached Shin and handed him back the Ai keychain. “You have good taste,” Aqua said.

  “Uh, thanks.” Shin’s face was always red either from embarrassment or indignation ever since Aqua set his eyes on him tonight. It was the former case again as Shin grabbed a water bottle and held it to Aqua. “You thirsty?”

  At least Kumada’s imparted his penchant for being a good host onto his son. “I’m good, thanks. Are you really considering joining Strawberry Productions?”

  “I don’t know, man. Maybe. Probably.” Such indecisiveness was uncharacteristic of both Shin’s parents. Confident conviction must not have been easily inherited. “More money would be good if it means I get to put out more, better work. I’ve still got a lot of stories I wanna tell…”

  Since he was so focused on looking through the camera, Cobalt turned with the tripod setup still held in front of him as he faced Shin and Aqua, the sound of more pictures being taken sounding off with each movement. “It’d be really cool if Robo-Max joins Strawberry! You can even ride in the Strawberry-mobile! Oh, Robo-Max could make his own miniature Strawberry-mobile car prop and use it in his debut video as part of Strawberry! You could make animated music videos for the company, commercials. There’s a green screen and a blue screen curtain grandpa Ichigo keeps at the office! Robo-Max could edit in regular people into an animation like how Aqua talked about –”

  Aqua and Ruby were fine with Cobalt going on another run-on sentence of a ramble, but Shin’s patience was reaching its limit. “Listen, Cobie… if you’re gonna keep calling me by my YouTube handle, I’m going to need to change it.”

  Cobalt gasped. “Why? Robo-Max is a fun name!”

  “It sounds too kiddy! And goofy. I just went with the first thing that popped in my head when I made my channel. If I’m going to join an actual agency that’s gonna bring in cash, I need something more… official-sounding. Like, recognizable and not so silly to say out loud.” Shin shrugged. “It’s not like I’ve got that many subscribers or comments like other stop-motion YouTubers in the States. Changing my online name shouldn’t be a hassle for any normal fans I might have. If I really do join Strawberry Productions, some rebranding might be nice, too.”

  "But–”

  Cutting Cobalt off, Aqua said, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to begin again. Be happy you helped Shin get the chance to rethink his branding.” Cobalt still needed to learn how to keep from overwhelming people with his excitement.

  “Okay,” Cobalt drawled out unhappily.

  The change in attitude was enough for Ruby to frown at Aqua. On the other hand, it also made Shin feel uncomfortable, setting his feet on the floor and adopting a more gentle air. “How about you think up a new YouTube name for me?” he asked Cobalt. “Something cool, and interesting, but not too silly.”

  They barely had to wait before Cobalt’s chipper voice offered one.

  “How about Clayman Animations?”

  That seemed to strike something with Shin. He stared blankly ahead and repeated the word, “Clayman…”

  “Since your stop-motion mostly uses clay characters! I also like the sound of it. The ‘ay-man’ and ‘may-shun’ parts sound good together. Clayman Animations!”

  Shin rubbed his chin with a contemplative countenance. “Clayman Animations… Well, I gotta say, something about it is hitting right with me, kid. I’ll think about it.”

  Cobalt was shaking. As in his entire body from head to toe was vibrating, moving the tripod he was holding and seemingly unscrewing the camera off until Aqua moved to take the device out of Cobalt’s grasp. Scrutinizing Cobalt, Aqua found himself hit by a ray of light – Cobalt’s sheer happiness was exponentially exploding.

  What was it about Shin’s videos that enamored Cobalt to this extent? Made him so overjoyed at being complimented and thanked by “Robo-Max”?

  Aqua wasn’t complaining, per se. It was just… unexpected. This kind of visceral reaction of love from Cobalt used to only be reserved for his family. Aqua still remembered the time Cobalt had nearly jumped out of the sunroof of a rental car when Ai had announced a trip to the beach to collect star sand versus when Cobalt had responded to news of a school field trip to a similar beach with only the regular amount of enthusiasm.

  “What should my YouTube handle be?” Cobalt asked.

  Ruby sat on top of Shin’s work desk, swinging her feet as she shuffled closer to their little brother, looking at him with inquisitive eyes. “Do you really want to start your own YouTube channel, Cobie? Why not just join Shin’s channel as his apprentice or something?”

  “But that’s his channel,” Cobalt stressed. “I want to help him and want him to help me, but I also want my own channel! Something that belongs to me.”

  How admirable. Cobalt actually had a personal, tangible goal he was setting himself to strive towards that will take a great deal of work to reach. The youngest of the Hoshino triplets finally had a dream he wanted to make a reality. Aqua desired his vengeance through his understanding of the acting world, Ruby obsessed over becoming a subject of idol worship, and now Cobalt was aiming for Internet stardom by way of animation.

  “It might be a while before Strawberry Productions can give you your own contract as a YouTuber and pay you money,” Aqua warned, half-jokingly. Cobalt took it at face-value.

  “That’s okay. I know I need more experience. That’s why I want to start animating and producing my own stuff on my own channel! Just like how Clayman originally did!”

  “Listen,” Shin spoke up, “I’d totally be willing to help you, give some tips and whatever. But, why not just use your normal name? People know who Ai Hoshino and Aqua Hoshino are, so you’ll have some continuity with the family business.”

  Cobalt shook his head. “I love my family,” he said as easily as he breathed, “but my name is already something mom made for me. Aqua and Ruby gave me my nickname, Cobie. I want something made by me and for me.”

  Aqua raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking us for advice, though, on what to name your channel.”

  It took Cobalt a second to let that sink in. “Huh, I guess you’re right…” He snickered. “Creating something new is hard!”

  “You’ll get better,” Aqua reassured, “especially with that gung-ho attitude.” He turned to Shin. “He came up with your new handle. Any ideas on what Cobalt should take?”

  As a child, coming up with names had been a recurring bit for Shin. He had taken to speaking with great grammar and punctuation almost as fast as Cobie had. Throughout Gorou’s last year before his death, Shin had always accompanied Tenshi to her appointments, and the boy had often been distracted by Tenshi prompting him to come up with names for the various medical tools or procedures he wasn’t able to pronounce correctly.

  It didn’t take Shin long to come up with an answer.

  “How about Orel?”

  “Orel?” Cobalt repeated. He muttered the name repetitively to himself.

  “Why that name?” Aqua asked.

  “Kid’s so goddamn talkative,” Shin said with a teasing grin.

  For a moment, Aqua was back in university, listening to Tenshi whine goodheartedly about Kumada being a worrywart. The image was shattered as Shin’s expression changed to resemble an annoyed Kumada, since Ruby kicked Shin’s leg for the inappropriate language in front of Cobie.

  “Like I was saying,” Shin continued, rubbing his leg and matching Ruby’s fierce glare with his own weary look. “Cobalt never shuts up. In English, I think ‘Orel’ spelled with an ‘e’ is actually a real name, but you can use it as a play on the word ‘oral’, related to speaking. Like an oral presentation in school.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I like it!” Cobalt voiced his approval. “Orel…”

  He was swooning over the name. For all of Cobalt’s obliviousness and Shin’s abrasiveness, there was an unseen wavelength between the two that they just kept hitting, feeding off of each other.

  “But it needs something more,” Cobalt said. “Something to help make the name stand out.”

  “Oh!” That was Ruby. “I have an idea! How about ‘Elemental Orel’?”

  Aqua scrounged his memories for the reference and nodded in agreement. Shin lacked the context the siblings shared. “Where’s ‘Elemental’ come from?”

  Ruby explained it. “Like how stories and media use the four or five elements as the foundation in super power or magic systems. Cobie was confused by the word once. Elements are the forces of nature, but he took it to mean ‘a force of nature’ as in something that’s really big and powerful. Like the big bad villain, or the veteran mentor character, or like our mom, Ai, being a force of nature in entertainment.” She pitched her voice differently and raised her fists up in the air in a rudimentary mimicry of Cobalt. “‘You’re so elemental, mom!’”

  Aqua smiled fondly. “I remember that, too.”

  Cobalt nodded vigorously. “That sounds great! Elemental Orel will be the name of my stop-motion animation YouTube channel! I’ll grow and become the second-best animator this side of the Pacific!”

  Shin groaned. “I really need to figure out a new slogan for my channel… Same goes for you, Cobalt. I don’t want you to just copy me verbatim.”

  “You don’t want me to use too many verbs?”

  “What? No, I mean not to copy every single thing I say or do. Like you said earlier, you should make something of your own.”

  “Alright!” Cobalt saluted. “I’ll do my best! Thank you, Robo–”

  “Kid!”

  “Oh, sorry. Thank you, Clayman, Ruby, and Aqua!”

  Shin leaned back against his chair. “Clayman… Yeah, I can be happy with that. Better than Robo-Max.”

  Then Shin jumped to his feet. “I gotta go drain the dragon.” Ruby and Cobalt obviously didn’t understand from the way they hardly reacted, but Aqua did. Shin pointed at him. “You seem like the smartest one here.”

  “Hey!”

  “But Clayman’s completely right, Ruby.”

  “You’re in charge,” Shin continued. “Anyone breaks anything, it’s coming out of your piggy bank.” Then Shin marched out.

  Aqua made himself comfortable on Shin’s chair and slid it closer to his siblings. Cobalt flipped through a notebook full of sketches and blocks of handwritten text while Ruby was back to playing with more clay dolls, posing them in familiar idol stances performed by B-Komachi.

  “What kind of videos do you want to do?” Aqua asked Cobalt. “We know stop-motion, but do you plan on writing up scripts and bringing them to life? Or maybe wordless exhibitions… presentations focused purely on the movement of the animation.”

  A second wave of sunshine from Cobie hit them. “I want to tell stories,” was his answer. “I don’t want to copy too much from Clayman, or from the other shows, movies, books, songs, and YouTube channels I watch, but they all do give me ideas! I also have really cool dreams I want to make videos about! You read them sometimes when you help me with my writing.”

  Wait, those messily written but coherent tales which Cobalt had penned on paper were recountings of his dreams? Aqua had thought they were just copied directly from some story book Cobalt really liked, or synopses of stories he found online.

  Cobalt may have been more interested in the art of storytelling for longer than Aqua gave him credit for.

  “Aqua and I can help you out, too!” Ruby promised. “We can voice-act and pitch in with the animating. We’ll learn with you! You can be the director, so we’ll do what you say to make the best videos possible!”

  “That’s great!” Cobalt hugged Ruby, who hid a wince. Her male counterparts were starting to grow slightly bigger and taller than her, and Cobalt was still learning how much stronger he was getting compared to his older sister. “I’ll be a good director who gives you lots of home-cooked food mom makes when we take breaks from work!”

  He was speaking from his interactions with Taishi Gotanda and his doting mother. “You don’t have to go that far,” Aqua said.

  Ruby suddenly gasped and clapped her hands. “Hey, I just had another idea. If you want to practice animating, we could make dolls of B-Komachi or even use old surplus ones already made that are probably in storage, and then recreate some of their music videos!”

  “Not a bad start,” Aqua commented. It was a fine base as any to begin with. “Though it might be better to first look up more animation tutorials –”

  “I already watched Clayman’s tutorials!” interrupted Cobalt. “I just need the parts and equipment, I think a storyboard, too, and we could start right away when we get home.”

  Aqua mentally jotted down time in his schedule to look up other sources and tutorials regardless. With him already busy with acting, school, and the investigation, he can probably get Ruby to put more time in an animation crash course, too, and make sure Cobalt knew what he was doing when Shin wasn’t around to guide him.

  When Shin returned and Cobalt tackled him with a hug that sent them right outside the room, Aqua seized the short moment alone with Ruby to ask her, “Are you alright?”

  She put up a front of bewilderment. “What are you talking about?” Aqua was fairly certain it was a front. Ruby wasn’t as good a liar as Ai yet, and he was getting more and more adept at seeing through lies with his growing acting skills anyway.

  “Why were you teary-eyed earlier?” Aqua said bluntly, to which Ruby merely whipped her hair over her shoulder – a move, Aqua had learned, which would briefly hide her face and give her a chance to commit to an expression to display. She chose a frown and half-lidded eyes.

  “I was a little sad,” she admitted. “Mom talked very fondly about her Sensei. I would’ve liked to meet him.”

  So Aqua may have been right in his earlier assumptions on Ruby. Well, she appeared to have recovered from her earlier woes. He wasn’t going to be forthcoming with his own past, so he wouldn’t press Ruby too much. “Wherever he is now, I’m sure he’s happy.”

  And he really was.

  He could hardly wait until their father was burning in hell so that he could never infringe on their happiness ever again.

  “You can’t really know that, but sure,” Ruby said as she hopped off the desk and moved to whatever ruckus Shin and Cobalt were causing in the hall. “Who knows? Maybe when I get big as an idol, he’ll realize how he missed out on being there when we were born.”

  Aqua wore a smile she couldn’t see. “If Ai meant anything to him, then I’m sure he’ll be your biggest fan.”

  Ichigo was finally alone with Miyako. After she freshened up, they left the house and relocated to the driveway near one of the company cars. Kanzaki hadn’t returned yet. The neighborhood was dead silent aside from the soft breeze. This late at night, and with the Hoshinos busy getting to know the Hoshigamis, the Saitous had complete privacy to have this conversation.

  It was a long time coming.

  Miyako was sober, standing tall and not weakly leaning against the car. The total opposite of how Ichigo had imagined this talk going, and he was all the more thankful for that.

  “Why did you bring Cobalt here with Kanzaki?” he began.

  “Cobie wanted to see his favorite YouTuber, and I was in no shape to be driving.”

  Ichigo blinked a few times. “You left to search for a stranger on the Internet we had zero confirmed information on?”

  Miyako gave a shrug that only exacerbated Ichigo’s frustration. “I was drunk and wasn’t thinking straight. It worked out anyway. Cobalt has a new best friend, and Strawberry might be getting its first internet star off the ground.”

  Taking a deep breath, Ichigo asked, “Why did you really come to this town, Miyako?”

  “… This was where Ai’s children were born.” Miyako gazed at the countryside scenery around them. “Back then, when I learned she was pregnant, I thought that dream you promised me, of seeing her light up Tokyo Dome, had become a lie. At first, I chose to stay with you, look after Ai’s kids, because I had nowhere else to go if I still wanted to stay in the industry and keep a semblance of my dignity without selling myself out.”

  Ichigo still remembered those tense conversations, before and after the kids were born, vividly. “I thought you wanted kids. We talked about –”

  “Ai isn’t the only one who knew how to ensnare lonely men with charming lies in her prime.”

  He… didn’t know what was the right thing to say to that. Anything he wanted to say would just… make this whole conversation deteriorate.

  “I was young, hopeful, and naive when I told you I wanted kids one day. Then, like you, I wanted to chase that dream of seeing Ai win the hearts of everyone in Japan. You had the experience and the connections, so I wanted to support you, learn from you, stand with you as you put in the work for Ai. I understood it was work, and it can’t always be so glamorous, but being dumped with changing Ai’s snot-nosed, drooling children all the time instead of actually contributing to Ai’s career…”

  “You did contribute,” Ichigo insisted. “They were Ai’s children. Caring for them was the support she needed. There was no one else we could trust for that.”

  “In those early days with Aqua, Ruby, and Cobalt, I was desperate for a fresh start.”

  Yes… Ichigo had realized too late the true scope of Miyako’s dissatisfaction at the time of becoming the kids’ surrogate mom. She had earnestly taken to it relatively quickly, but it was years later during one of her drunken tirades when she had confessed to Ai about almost leaking to the media about Ai the Idol’s teen pregnancy. Ai had forgiven her, so Ichigo did the same.

  Still… “Why didn’t you leave?” he asked her, a Miyako now in perfect control of her mental faculties.

  She grinned playfully. “I had a religious realization. I thought if I gave up on my own private, selfish dreams, and instead devoted everything to whatever Ai and her kids needed, then I would get my reward. I would be happy.

  “It started working out. Ai was getting more gigs outside of idol work. She survived a horrible tragedy that could have gone even worse and learned how to stop living a lie. She and B-Komachi got to the dome. Our dream came true. It was dazzling. Amazing… and Ai’s kids… They’re my kids, too.”

  Ichigo understood that. He wasn’t ashamed at his own lack of closeness with the kids compared to Miyako. They were happy, which made Ai happy, which made Ichigo happy. “Even when the dream ended, we've both been working so that Ai can still brighten the world without being an idol. You still believe in that as much as I do. Don’t you?”

  Miyako didn’t answer him. Instead, she went back to his original question on why she came to Takachiho. “Whoever it was who gave Ai her kids, it was in this town where she started to shine brighter than ever before, where she first held her precious children. I came to Takachiho again thinking it could somehow give us all… give me… another burst of good fortune.”

  He couldn’t stop himself from going to the worst implications of those words. He gritted his teeth as he asked, “If you wanted a rendezvous with Hikaru Kanzaki, why bother bringing Cobalt?”

  Miyako’s face froze before bursting out a snort. “Excuse me? You think I’d involve Cobie in some overly complicated scheme to get in Kanzaki’s pants?”

  She would have to if Cobie fell headfirst into the scheme by his own misadventurous nature. “What other good fortune could you be talking about? Was this supposed to be some fantasy family vacation for you? With Kanzaki as your partner and Cobalt as your son?” God knows how he played his own fantasies in his head of weekend vacations where it was just himself and Miyako again, without having to think about the stress of the month’s net profits.

  “As if you’d know what a vacation would look like in the past six years,” Miyako accused with a scoff, as if they hadn’t always scrounged enough money for trips out of Tokyo every summer for Ai and the kids.

  “Because we are working for Ai!” Was Miyako really that blind?

  “Does Ai want to be the top actress in the world?”

  “Of course!”

  “No!” Ichigo didn’t back down from Miyako’s intense glare as she turned around to fully face him, her eyes sharpened enough to pierce diamonds. “She doesn’t! Our dream for Tokyo Dome and making everyone feel loved by Ai the Idol was hers, too. She got to be Japan’s greatest idol already. If only we could all achieve our dreams at twenty. The only things she dreams about now is her children achieving their dreams.”

  “Everything we do is still in support of that,” Ichigo reiterated. “We keep getting Ai and our other talents well-paying jobs, building up the triplets’ inheritance. Aqua gets more acting opportunities. Ruby has tutors, music composers, and idol deals beyond Ai easy to line up for her. Cobalt can do whatever the hell he wants, animation included.”

  “You’re rationalizing. All of that being true doesn’t make your obsession a lie.”

  “What obsession?”

  “Don’t play dumb, grandpa Ichigo,” Miyako said mockingly. “Every single thing you do is for Ai first and foremost, because she’s your daughter, the family you always wanted. The star you want shining highest in the night sky, burning hotter than the sun. She’s still a star, but she won’t sparkle as bright as you want. Those days are over.”

  Ichigo wanted to pull at his hair. “Enough with the metaphors. Yes, I think of Ai as my own daughter…”

  And Miyako had lied about wanting to be a mother… But she had grown to accept the family dynamic and genuinely loved the Hoshinos as her own.

  She must think of herself more a Hoshino than a Saitou at this point.

  “No matter what,” Ichigo said slowly but resolutely, “I still want us to be together, Miyako.”

  Miyako shook her head, never breaking their stare. “We married because it made our dreams with Ai easier to make real,” she said, no-nonsense. “It was out of convenience. It isn’t so much anymore.”

  That wasn’t true, technically. “The new tax laws –” He shut his mouth.

  Ichigo exaggerated, told half-truths, and deflected all the time. To hype up the talents he was selling. To downplay their faults. To make Strawberry Productions look better than it actually was and give the impression of their rival agencies offering less in turn. To convince Ai she can afford to spend a little more time endearing herself to her co-stars and producers at the most opportune moments over stubbornly running back home to the kids who wouldn’t be going anywhere else.

  Now he was resorting to telling Miyako they should stay together because of the lenient tax codes instead of saying those very simple words.

  “I love you, Miyako.”

  “I don’t love you, Ichigo.”

  Her words hurt, but Ichigo couldn’t bring it in himself to call them a lie.

  Ichigo often twisted the truth like it was second nature. Overtly denying the truth, especially now, would make him a liar as good as Ai.

  Before tonight, when was the last time he and Miyako had dinner together, in the same room, across from each other?

  And while they were alone? Just the two of them? Without the worries about Strawberry Productions so incessantly hanging over them like a taunting guillotine?

  He was sad to say that his most vivid memory that ticked all the boxes had been on one of the days during the interim between Ai’s assault and the Tokyo Dome concert. Ai and the kids had already gone to sleep, Ichigo had completed all of his calls with the available work contacts, and Miyako had soothed over the last worries the other girls in B-Komachi had been expressing about early idol retirement.

  With nothing else to do, no more work they could have possibly busied themselves with at that hour, no childish Hoshino kid to fret over, Ichigo and Miyako had jointly cooked her father’s favorite miso soup recipe with a side of leftovers the kids hadn’t gobbled up from lunchtime that day.

  It had been a peaceful night.

  The only nights now that Ichigo could call peaceful were when he could sleep a full eight hours… instead of citing the nights when he was Miyako.

  Just like when Ai had revealed her plans to stop being an idol, Ichigo took a step back and saw Miyako right in front of him. Not with his eyes under the lens of a business partner, but as the man who had convinced her to marry him.

  Ichigo had brought his cigarette pack and lighter, having forgotten to leave it behind in the rush to pick up Ai for the drive to Takachiho. He never smoked or let the smell linger when he knew he was going to be near the kids. Especially not after Miyako started freely drinking.

  Now, tonight, Ichigo pulled out the pack and crushed it under his foot.

  Miyako was surprised, as he expected. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m quitting the habit, and you’re quitting your vice, too.”

  Her glower returned with disbelief. “Yes, that will happen right this second.”

  “I don’t care how long it takes. It’s going to happen.”

  “And that will magically solve all of our problems, will it?”

  No, of course not. But it was something they could do, to work towards. Something other than money and opportunities and pure business.

  Even so, the agency president part of Ichigo was working through other options. “I can move out of the house,” he said.

  Miyako was even more shocked. “I’m not asking you to –”

  “The kids live there, and like you said, they’re your kids, too. I’m grandpa Ichigo to them. I love them, but I barely see them when I stay at the house as it is. It’s your home more than mine.”

  “But…” Ichigo saw the gears in Miyako’s head turning. She had learned a lot from him, but much of it was her own good acumen and sensibilities honed during her own trials in helping keep Strawberry Productions afloat. What Ichigo was truly saying would hit her any second. “Ai won’t want you to leave.”

  “She’s an adult, same as me and you. We can all cope with a little personal separation for a while.”

  The shift in her eyes was the sign that she finally understood.

  “You want a divorce,” she said.

  “You’ve thought about it, haven’t you?”

  “Yes… but that wouldn’t be fair to Ai or the kids.”

  “Neither would letting them get dragged down by our own issues. Just because they love us and we love them, it doesn’t mean we have to feel obligated to pretend to love each other when we really don’t.”

  Ichigo almost couldn’t believe what he was saying, but if he didn’t say it, Miyako would still be drowning herself in alcohol, and Ichigo would be throwing himself in the usual work to keep from facing the harsh reality. To keep himself in that dream of furthering Ai’s mesmerizing legacy.

  Miyako was right. They’d already achieved that dream, with Ai the Idol at Tokyo Dome. They couldn’t – Ichigo couldn’t just keep chasing it and dragging Miyako down with him.

  “What about the company?” Miyako asked next. Sober, she was doing the same thing Ichigo always did, thinking about the business before letting the emotional baggage cloud their thinking.

  “We can revise our roles as we want them. Reallocate responsibilities at a pace we can both handle. Delegate more. Kanzaki’s already proven how loyal and trustworthy he is to work as a reliable go-between. We can take a break until we can both come to properly defined agreements on how Strawberry can move forward. We could even have you as the new President, plan out a better schedule than the workaholic’s wet dream I always pitch everyone.”

  Miyakos’ frown deepened. “The Ichigo Saitou I know wouldn’t be happy stepping down from anything he’s already committed to.”

  Ichigo gave her a bittersweet smile. “I know. I think that Ichigo Saitou should have learned better if staying committed to a dream and a marriage his partner doesn’t believe in leads to conversations like this.”

  The pain in Ichigo’s heart was only surpassed by the fear and dread he felt when news of Ai’s and Cobalt’s assault had first reached his ears. However, it was a necessary pain he needed to feel if there was going to be any hope of salvaging his relationship with Miyako.

  Whether as lovers, business partners, or simply as friends… even if they needed time away from each other, the most selfish part of Ichigo didn’t want her entirely gone from his life.

  “Bye, Clayman! I hope we see you again soon!”

  “His name is Shin, Cobalt.”

  “Just let Cobie call him whatever he wants!”

  The older two siblings were still bickering while Cobie continued waving. Shin returned the wave, keeping his eyes on him as both of Strawberry’s company cars drove away.

  Yesterday had been a good day for Shin. He got to meet Ai Hoshino the superstar, her youngest son was apparently his biggest fan, and now Shin was going to be working with Strawberry Productions to make something real out of his animations!

  Dad was already back inside the house. He didn’t have work today. In spite of the early morning hour, he was probably going to drink the rest of the bottles the Strawberry Productions president had brought with him in that gift basket.

  Good. That meant no one was around to nag Shin about the chores he needed to get done today. Instead, Shin sat for a little while at the front of his house, waiting patiently for the next guest’s arrival.

  The brown wolf rose out of a field of tall grass across the street. Shin waved, and the wolf trotted over to him. The animal plopped down next to him resting, his head on Shin’s leg. Shin caressed the wolf’s neck.

  The wolf’s presence always had an unexplainable soothing effect on Shin. He didn’t even like dogs or pets in general that much, but ever since that night…

  After giving mom’s keychain in his pocket another squeeze, Shin removed his hand and pulled out his smartphone. He dialed the number he had memorized and pressed the phone against his ear.

  “Hey,” Shin greeted when the call went through. “Did you send the Hoshinos to find me?”

  The wolf growled when Shin’s grip became rougher.

  “The youngest triplet, Cobalt Hoshino. He's a big fan of my work. He somehow convinced one of the managers at Strawberry Productions to track me down.”

  Shin glanced down to meet the wolf’s attentive red eyes. They were a darker shade than Ruby’s pink eyes, but still undeniably captivating. Hypnotic, even. Just like Ai’s. Just like the eyes of the person who Shin was speaking with now.

  “They seemed good… No offense, but Cobalt’s kind of an idiot… Have you met him? I don’t think so. I have, so…”

  Shin scratched the wolf’s ear, a little too forcefully. In response, the wolf bit his wrist, but it was a sting he could tolerate.

  “I’m going to teach him how to do claymation… And I think he and I share a lot in common… Fine, I’m an idiot sometimes, too. Whatever, but I’m talking more about our ideas for stories, the types of videos we want to put out. If you liked what you saw in me, you might like what Orel will want to show the world.”