Chapter 67: Ai's Confusion

(Ai pov)

I thought we would just look for the ghost in our kid's bedroom in Mitsuha's village and then have a good holiday, but then… to believe we had to deal with something like this.

After the drone incident, as Minoru-kun said to us before, a lot of authorities came to Itomori.

They were wearing military uniforms and, from their appearance, they were from our country, Japan, and foreigners, probably Americans. Well, I don't know.

As Minoru-kun said before, the missing drone at that time was an uncontrolled aircraft that was feared to crash into the village. However, the villagers were lucky that my husband was able to take over the drone before it crashed. They knew that was heroic and not easy.

Even though it was heroic, Minoru-kun still had to go along with them. I assume they suspect Minoru-kun of something... bad.

I hope this misunderstanding will end. But now understand why Minoru-kun told us to leave before we got caught too.

That's why we went to Mitsuha's grandma's house.

In the old Japanese two-story house, I sat opposite the old lady wearing a kimono. She looked at me with a smile while Ichigo and Miyako sat beside me in seiza.

"I see… so this young man is your husband. I'm thankful for what he did for the village, young lady."

I smiled back at her and said, "Please don't think about it, grandma. Rather than that, is it okay for us to stay here?"

The old lady laughed, "That's alright. It's been a while since this house was full of people. Besides, to think I'll meet Mitsuha's friends from the city. And you come for tomorrow's Mayugoro Festival. As the guardian of this shrine, I feel honored. Put that aside, is the young man okay?"

"He said that he can take care of it and come back later. I'm worried about him too, but I'm confident that he'll be okay."

With my answer, the old lady hummed, "If you're fine with this, I can call my son-in-law about this matter. He's the mayor of this small town and maybe he could help him."

I paused for a moment. So, Mitsuha's father is the mayor of this small village. Since we just involved ourselves in something dangerous, I think we will somehow meet Mitsuha's father. I'll take note of this in case I need it later.

"Thank you, grandma! But I have to consult with him first. Hehe~"

I didn't know if Minoru-kun would like it or not, as he said he could handle this by himself.

Right, he is trying to solve this matter without me, and he's right that I can't go with him because it'll be useless even if I were right beside him. Which means I couldn't help him much. What could he expect from my help anyway? I'm just a nobody, while he looks like someone who understands this world.

Who is he anyway? Well, as I said before, I didn't know much about him even though he's my husband. So far, he hasn't told me everything about himself, except that he has another name besides Yanagi Minoru. Maybe that's why he didn't seem scared at all.

Even when the Japanese and American military approached him and brought him for a talk, he said to me, "I'll handle this alone."

What confidence. No, that's not mere confidence. As he said before, he's Professor James Moriarty?

I think I should accept that my husband is an amazing person.

At first, I thought he was just a rascal without a home and family like me. After we broke up but then restored our relationship, he showed me his wealth and wisdom, and later I met people around him, like his mother, Rachel.

I learned that not only did I not know anything about him, but my husband also lived in a different world from me. I started to wonder if I deserved such a person.

Looking into reality, I'm just an uneducated person who ran away from the countryside to the big city. Yeah, country bumpkin. I'm just a mere idol from a country like Japan, and on top of that, an idol trying to hide that she has two kids.

I began to be afraid.

Will my presence just hold him back? Like now, I'm pathetically letting him go alone as the army took him, and I wait for him to come back. I wonder what I should do now.

Five hours have passed since Minoru-kun went with the military.

During these five hours, I was helping Grandma around the house, and she showed me what Itomori has and their culture. She showed me and my kids, President Ichigo and Miyako, around places like the shrine. I noticed that the village is busy preparing for the Mayugoro Festival that will be held tomorrow.

Sure, it's refreshing to see all of this. But for me and my kids, it would be different if Minoru-kun were here with us.

"Ai-chan, thank you for helping me. You can call the kids now…"

"Yes, I'll call them."

We were about to have lunch, and I was helping Grandma in the kitchen. I walked through the house to the front door.

"Aqua, you know what? I'm starting to wonder if Dad will come here late or maybe not…"

"Well, I get it though. He's involved with something big. Wait... Nah—somehow, I think he'll be alright."

I stopped as I was about to slide the door open, hearing my kids talking about their father.

"You don't seem worried about him. How terrible!"

I heard Aqua sigh, "Are you an idiot? Let's point out why I shouldn't worry about him. First, our father is someone honorable. Didn't I say this before? Sigh... simply put, you have to know that many people know about him, Professor James Moriarty."

"Ah! I remember it now…"

"Got that now, idiot? Second—"

"Don't call me idiot!"

"Right… secondly, do you know who our grandma is?"

"Rachel?"

"Yeah… she has a significant place in Luxemburg, I assume, maybe she's a person working closely with Eileen de Luxemburg."

"Huh…? Who is she?"

"Have you ever watched the news before? Never mind, you're just a kid. Look, sis… everyone in this world knows about the famous Queen of Luxemburg who reigned in this era, and that person is Eileen de Luxemburg."

"But I think Mama is more amazing. But you're telling me that Grandma is amazing too?"

"Yeah, I'll put it simply, Ruby. You said that Dad piloted the helicopter to this place, right? I see… from your nod, let's think about it. If he can pilot a helicopter, then why should I worry when he's hacking a drone and controlling it with his laptop? What I'm trying to say is that he must have thought it through and knew he could handle the aftermath and find a solution."

"Hmm… I think you're right. Whoever dad is, I'm still worried."

I wondered where Aqua knew about all this. I thought kids his age weren't interested in these topics. Maybe, Aqua is truly his father's son. As for Ruby, I think her father would be happy to know she's worried about him.

Hold on…

So, Rachel is such a person, huh? I'm such an idiot.

"Luxemburg…"

But somehow… I also met another person with the same name when I switched bodies with Mai-san.

Ah… she was a classmate of Mai-san. If I'm not wrong, it must be Teresa de Luxemburg, right?

More importantly, I hope he'll tell us who he is. After all, we're a family.

---

12:11 PM, 13 April 2014, Okinawa.

Still on the same day. At a runway at a military base belonging to the United States Air Force in Okinawa, a man dressed in a military uniform shook hands with a man with silver hair standing in front of him.

"On behalf of the United States Air Force, let me apologize for this misunderstanding and thank you for your help, Professor Moriarty. Without you, we'd have a big problem if our drone prototype had crashed into the civilian area. Surely, this would have brought shame to my country."

Minoru looked at the man named Colonel Benjamin Canopus. He was in charge of testing the drone Minoru had hijacked earlier. After Minoru cleared everything up, the hospitality he received turned 180 degrees, as Minoru had, done them a huge favor.

"I'm just doing my responsibility as a part of society."

Benjamin laughed a little. "Well then, if there's something you want, you can call the embassy or contact me anytime, Professor. For your information, I'll stay at the crash site to oversee the drone evacuation, so you can reach me personally there."

"I'll remember it."

"Very well. I hope you have a safe travel back to the mainland, Professor."

Colonel Benjamin saluted as Minoru nodded, then entered the V22 that had been prepared for him alone.

Technically, he wasn't alone in that thing.

"Every time I get involved with American folks, I see your face again."

Minoru's sarcasm made the woman with blonde twin tails giggle.

"Well, if I hadn't told Colonel Canopus the truth that Professor Moriarty is important for the States, maybe his attitude wouldn't have changed like before."

"He should be grateful since I saved the multi-million dollar drone. Otherwise, American taxpayers would be outraged."

"Hey, could you stop saying things like that? Hmmph!"

"So, Lina… I don't remember calling you, so why did you come here personally to Okinawa?"

"Wh-What?! Like hell, I missed you or something! I'm just here because I thought you'd accept our offer to become our citizen and help us out with the pandemic! So, it's job-related! Hissssh!"

"Ah… I'm glad though… it would be troublesome otherwise."

"No! Th-That's wrong! Well…"

As Minoru talked with Lina on the plane, time passed, and Minoru safely returned to Itomori without becoming an enemy of the USAF. Somehow, he managed to put them in his debt, which was good.

This holiday seemed worth it despite having to sacrifice time with his daughter.

There was no safe landing zone even for a helicopter near the crash site, so they had to escort him. On the way back, when he was almost there, they reached a checkpoint.

As the car halted, he looked outside from the back seat. There were so many mainstream media representatives from both local and international outlets that had come here.

By the look of it, they seemed to have set up a perimeter to keep the drone incident far from journalists.

Minoru wasn't shocked by this. In this age, news can be delivered within seconds through social media. There must have been a lot of footage of the drone flying at a low altitude. The public surely wanted to know why a military aircraft was being tested so carelessly, especially the local people.

Besides that, the geopolitical tension between Eileen's new faction, the West European Alliance, and NATO was not good at all. If war broke out, everyone would want to know what these two factions were doing, and in the modern age, you can instantly find out. Even if the US wanted to cover it up, they couldn't hide it forever.

However, this was bad. If the media managed to get inside the village, his family was there, and if they saw Ai, it would be trouble.

Well, he had a plan for that.

After that, the military car managed to get in without trouble.

"So troublesome."

Alongside the road near a vast lake, Minoru walked to Mitsuha's home, carrying souvenirs from Okinawa. He kept walking, feeling someone following him. He stopped. The sound of footsteps behind him then stopped too. He walked again, then after some time, he stopped again.

"Kid, you want something?"

He glanced back and met a girl with bluish hair and blue eyes. Judging by her height, she must have been about three years older than his kids. The girl wore an elementary school uniform, but what made him uneasy was the gaze that belied her age. He knew there were cases where kids matured earlier, and maybe this girl was one of them.

"Ojii-san."

"I'm not Ojii-san."

"You're not?" She tilted her head, then smiled.

"Never mind, why are you roaming around alone, kid? Are you lost?"

She shook her head. "I remember the path in this village well."

"Sigh, there are a lot of people from outside the village. It's not safe to be alone. Tell me your home address, and I'll bring you there."

As Minoru said that, the girl shook her head again. "Don't worry, the orphanage is this way. Thank you, Ojii-san…"

Orphanage? So, she's an orphan then? Minoru felt a complicated mix of emotions.

"Dad!"

Someone cheerfully shouted from behind him. He glanced and saw Ruby running down the hill road. Aqua was with her but didn't seem as excited as Ruby. He smiled as Ruby jumped at him.

"I thought you were lying to me! But you came back and brought something! Hehe~ What are those?!"

Ruby looked at the souvenir with drool.

"I bought something from Okinawa."

"You went to Okinawa without telling me? I want to see the sea too!"

Minoru giggled and then noticed Aqua talking to the little girl he had just spoken with.

"Hey, you're alone again?"

"Huh? Did we ever meet before?"

"Crap—"

Minoru glanced at Aqua as he talked to the little girl. He also wondered if he had met her before.

"Ah, no… I mistook you for someone else."

Aqua averted his gaze, embarrassed. Could it be a crush? No, maybe he talked to her when he swapped bodies with Mitsuha.

"Ah, I see. People say to me that I've got to be careful about scammers who say 'This is me you know,' But you're not them right?"

Aqua grits his teeth, "I'm not a scammer!"

"Well then…"

The little girl chuckled then walked past them, and they watched her walk away.

"Hey, Aqua… you hitting on her?" Ruby asked with a grin.

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?"

Minoru sighed. "Hey, kid." He called out to the little girl as she stopped and looked back. "Do you want to eat something first?"

She shook her head slowly. "No, I'm fine—" Then they heard a rumbling from her stomach, and the girl cursed, "Tch… I hate this body."

What's wrong with her? Ah, Minoru realized that at this age, kids should be in the phase of having full imaginations. Maybe she was playing the role of her favorite fantasy character.

"I'm fine, Ojii-san. The orphanage already prepares the meal."

"That's fine, though. Mom said she was preparing a meal, and Grandma mostly cooks more than necessary, like before." Aqua sighed, remembering lunch. "Don't be shy. Wait, you know Mitsuha, right?"

The girl nodded with a smile. "Ah… that girl, I know her. Hm… well, if you insist."

They went to Mitsuha's house with her and ate something Minoru brought from Okinawa.

"Alisa-chan! You're here! Welcome!"

Mitsuha rushed to the bluish-haired little girl and hugged her tightly. It was then that Minoru knew that this girl's name was Alisa.

"Why so sudden? It's rare to see you come here on your own!"

"G-Get off me, Mitsuha! And I didn't come here on my regard!"

"Minoru-kun… Welcome back,"

Ai said with a warm smile, but Minoru felt that she seemed different from her usual cheerful attitude.

It was then.

"Oh, it must be our village hero. Welcome, young man."

When Minoru saw the grandma of this house, he politely said, "I'm sorry to bother you for hiding my family here at your house, Ma'am. It's not much, but please accept this." He gave her the souvenir he bought.

"Oh my, you don't have to bother yourself. Ai-chan already gave me something though, hm? This is?"

"It's a famous snack from Okinawa, Ma'am."

Mitsuha was shocked at this, then asked with a stuttering voice, "Yanagi-san, you bought this all the way from Okinawa?!"

"Well, technically yes."

Anyway, Minoru always keeps his promise.

---

A/N:

Double chapter for today! Keep scrolling!