meitori | open post

Nadeshiko nodded. Tadase joined them and the students made way, watching the progression with something like awe. A boy in the blue uniform with the cape - Kukai - rounded up the kids for ice cream, which would probably make them extra popular the next day. The sporty spirit went with them. The kimono one stayed with Nadeshiko.

Tadase and Nadeshiko walked Yuuta around the school to the back, and along a small well kept path to what looked like a very well maintained and ornate greenhouse. Nadeshiko opened the doors as if they were remarkably light and held them so that Tadase and Yuuta could go in.

Inside there was a flower lined path. Everything was warm as you'd expect in a green house, but not as humid. And while there were plants, they were decorative flowers mostly, and mostly around edges. The path lead to a raised platform that took up most of the green house. It housed a dining room table with chairs around it at the center. Off to one side was a sofa and some other comfortable seating. On the table itself was a nice looking doll house. More of the little spirits were inside the doll house. One, dressed all in green, seemed to be cleaning it. One, dressed as a baby, was sleeping right where it would be in the way of the one trying to clean.

Around the table were two kids. One was a girl, a bit younger than the others, wearing the same exact uniform and Nadeshiko, though she had mary janes instead of boots. She was dozing off, and didn't seem to notice their arrival. The other girl...

Pink hair pulled back by red X clips. Narrowed eyes. Something about how she wore her uniform screamed "punk". And not in the music sense. Instead of a cape, she had a red armband over one jacket sleeve. She wore leg warmers that matched her uniform skirt, except that they were held in place by black bands with metal buckles. Her bag was dangling from the back of her chair, two bands of red sewn onto the outside of what was a bag just like everyone else's were set at sharp angles crossing near the lower corner.

"Who is this?" she asked, her voice sharp. Two of the spirits floated out of the doll house to hover over her head. One wore a pink cheerleader outfit and had a heart on her sun visor. The other was in blue shorts, white shirt, with a big blue hat that sported a blue spade. The small spirit also sported what looked like a messenger bag or satchel.

"A new friend?" the pink one asked.

The blue one stared at Yuuta a long moment then pulled out a sketch pad and a pen and started drawing.

"This is Yaya-chan," Nadeshiko said, gesturing elegantly at the dozing girl. "And this is Amu Hinamori," she added nodding to the pink haired girl. "Amu-chan, I'm going to make some tea. Did you want to help me bake some tarts for tea time?"

Amu flushed slightly, and glowered. "No," she grumbled, crossing her arms. The little pink character over Amu's head started giggling.

"Baking?" the green character in the dollhouse asked. Her broom vanished as she floated out. "Leave it to Su! Chip! Syrup..."

Amu's hand shot out and caught the green character abruptly. "No, no chara-change. You wanna help Nadeshiko, go right ahead. I'm staying here." She opened her hand.

The green spirit considered a moment, then flew off after Nadeshiko who walked past plants that had seemed to make up the back permitter.

"Hinamori-san," Tadase said. "This is the uncle of some of our students. And he can apparently see the Shugo Charas.

Amu scrambled out of her chair so fast it fell backwards. She seemed like she was ready to either attack - never mind the table between them - or run away. "Easter?" she asked, Yuuta, accusingly.

Yuuta was still in disbelief about all of this. It was—ridiculous. Yes, that’s how all of this could be described. Was this where their tax payer money went into? What about the school tuitions?

And all of their reactions screamed that this was a secret, just as he suspected.

The best thing to do was alleviate their fears of … whatever Easter implied. He wouldn’t be a threat to them anyways, now that he was sure that they were not malicious themselves. He couldn’t say that someone capable of murder wasn’t also capable of being excited by baking, but from what he sensed of the other spirits, they were protective at the most.

“I don’t know what that means,” he said. “Unless you are referring to the Christian holiday. But, I have been able to see spirits and such things since I was small. It’s a power passed down in my family. If you need a reference, I can give you the contact information of my grandmother and the shrine I worked at over the summers to train when I was about your age.”

That was another possibility. Could this have just started?

Could they have just recently stumbled upon these protective beings and got caught up in something akin to a fantasy anime? Half of the supernatural stories that appeared in the media had more truth in them than the average viewer might realize.

“As long as you are not hurting anyone, I don’t have a problem with spirits being about. They’re here whether we like it or not.”

"WELL SAID, PEASANT!" the little king looking spirit said. "We Shugo Charas are here no matter what anyone thinks of us!"

"Kiskei... please," Tadase said quietly and a little plaintively.

Amu slowly calmed down, still eyeing him. "Easter. The huge company. The one that is using evil to destroy kids' hearts, that Easter. You're really not with them?"

Yuuta raised an eyebrow at the peasant comment, but otherwise, kept silent. Who was he to criticize how a spirit addressed him? It wasn't entirely false either.

"No. Absolutely not. How are they destroying kids' hearts? I have more nieces and nephews than the two you saw here today! Are they in danger? How does no one know of this if this Easter company is so huge?"

It certainly wasn't ringing a bell to him, but, there was much in the world he didn't know, especially if he was not in their target audience. They could be from the United States too, for all he knew.

"Most people cannot see the Charas," Tadase said. "Very few children and even fewer adults. That is why adults cannot see what is happening when Easter steals the Hearts' eggs of children and turns them dark. And destroys them." His voice was even, but he was struggling for calm.

"We can see the Batsu Charas, and we have Shugo Charas," Amu said. "so it is up to us to stop them!"

"YEAH!" Yaya cheered.

“This is the same with other supernatural creatures and beings, unless they will themselves to be seen,” Yuuta said, leaning forward. It was much like what he experienced as a child—some of his classmates could see the creatures and beings he could, until eventually, they could not. But these powers ran strong through him and his family.

“What if you got some help?” he asked. “From adults, I mean. Adults who can see like I can and who would do what they could to help?”

He suspected that there would be a number of spirits out there who would want to help as well. If Easter continued their practices, who knew what they would be able to do? Or what they would do once they achieved their goals? Even if they could care less about humanity, they would at least be concerned about themselves.

"Adults.... who would help?" Amu said, sounding like she didn't believe that was even possible.

"IF there were adults who wanted to help, that would be wonderful," Nadeshiko said.

"So long as they do not try to stop us from doing what we need to do," Tadase said with a nod. "Hinamori's role as Joker is crucial."

Nadeshiko nodded. "Of course."

Yuuta nodded. “Yes, adults who would want to help. There are many who would happily take up arms to defend children from an obvious evil.”

His grandmother would be one of them. He was pretty sure that she could easily raise an army of other grandmothers and grandfathers who would fight monsters despite their sore knees and backs.

“You would need to make a convincing argument regarding your roles and why they are crucial as they are,” he said. “I’m afraid that there will be many adults who might think they know better. But, this has been your fight. How did all of this start?”

They exchanged looks, then Tadase stood. "There is someone you need to meet, he can explain things better than we can."

"I'll make sure tea is ready for when you get back," Nadeshiko said with a warm smile.

Amu hesitated, unsure.

Yaya just dug into the snacks like the discussion was over.

“Who would this be?” he asked.

Coming to this garden and learning about a corporation that was literally destroying the lives of children had already put him way outside of his comfort zone, as determined as he was to help.

"Tsukasa-sensei," Tadase said. "He was the first King. He knows more than anyone. Follow me."

The first king was a teacher at the school?

Yuuta was starting to be not surprised at this point.

"Alright. Lead the way."

He nodded and headed out of the royal garden. "It is a bit of a walk," he said, apologetically. "This time of day her is more likely to be in the observatory than his office."

Yuuta gave him another look of disbelief. What kind of school was this? He was going to have to do some research when he got home once more, or at least find some blue prints or those aerial map views.

"That's fine," he said. "I'm not going to shy away from a walk if it means protecting my niece and nephew."

Another nod as he led Yuuta down a narrow but neat wood lined path. They could walk along side each other, but only just. It was peaceful out here, and lovely, but there was nothing about it that seemed to fit in with an elementary school. It was about a ten minute walk before the planetarium came into veiw. The chain was down, so Tadase led him in. Kiseki, his chara, zoomed in ahead.

Tadase led Yuuta into a large circular room full of movie theater seats around a central projector. A thin man with pale hair sat in one of the seats, sipping his tea. "Welcome," he said, not looking up as the "sky" overhead shifted into a deep red sunset. "I shall take it from here, Hotori-san," he said kindly.

Tadase bowed deeply to the man, then to Yuuta. "Unless you need anything else....?" he offered Yuuta.

Yuuta was pretty sure that what he thought of the world, his place in it, and some certainties of it were no longer true. He was clearly being introduced into another reality—one he had not been aware of. That, or he was in a very long and lucid anime-influenced dream.

“No, besides answers,” he replied. “Among them how best to help as soon as possible.”

As important as gaining the full picture and as much information as possible was, he was itching to do something already. He already knew that he had calls to make. His grandmother would absolutely join forces with them to defeat these people (and beings) who threatened her great-grandchildren and other children everywhere. She would even rope others into the cause, knowing their hearts would be aligned to protecting the innocent and thwarting their plans.

But he held those impulses back. He needed information first.

"Please, return to the others, they are waiting," the man said to Tadase.

The young boy nodded, bowed, and left.

The man tickled the chara gently with one finger. "Always a pleasure to see you again. All the same, go on now, my friend."

The small chara nodded and floated off.

The man sipped his tea waiting. When the door closed he looked to Yuuta. "you wish to know how to help? Even if the answer isn't the one you are hoping for?"

That made Yuuta suspicious. Even more so than he was when all of this started.

"It depends upon what your answers are," he said. "I do want to help, but I might have to draw some lines."

He nodded, considering Yuuta. "Good. It wouldn't be very comforting if you were the sort of person to say you'd anything without knowing what was being asked of you."

"Then what will you be asking of me?" he asked. "And how much of it is negotiable?"

He could see himself in a supportive role: giving rides, helping with injuries, making sure that others had a safe place to recover and rest, making sure that communication was maintained. Maybe even helping with some magical aspects, if anything between his and theirs meshed or crossed over.

"The most important things I will be asking of you will be the hardest. And I am sorry that I have to insist upon them. The first is trusting those children. The second is to keep most of your help subtle an behind the scenes. There is much we can do for them from back here, so long as they aren't aware of it. Bit by bit those children are shaping who they are. Who they will be. And we need to trust them enough to allow it. That said, there are many ways we can still help. But as the adults it falls upon us to be subtle where they cannot be."

Yuuta considered this carefully. The specific duties was on par with what he had expected—they were not going to fight these monsters directly, but … It was not as if he did not trust children and teenagers to learn and grow under normal circumstances. But this was hardly that. His own life experiences had molded him into the person he was today, but many of those experiences were violent and traumatic. He would not wish them upon anyone.

“Why is this being placed upon the shoulders of children?” he asked.

What if these children, someday, asked the very same question?

Their innocence was already at risk. Why were they being made to fight? He was not arguing to keep them in the dark, but why were they literally being dragged into a magical war in a world where there were already literal wars being fought?

“Why should we be subtle when we should be whistle blowing this?”

"This is on them for a number of reasons. One of which being that they stepped up. Part of it is that Easter is using the young and adults might hurt them or not take them seriously enough. Some of it is that while some rare adults like you and I can see the spirits, the powers needed to fight this battle can only be harnessed by children with their hearts open, their minds not yet set into adult ideas of what is and is not possible." He sipped his tea and shook his head lightly. "Think about it, whistle blow to who? Those of us who are adults and can see that his happening are rare. And even if not... in this case there is something fragile here that would be broken if we are not subtle."

Yuuta was silent for a moment. These were the answers he was hoping for—this was all pretty fantastical, unless someone was already in the know that such things were possible. He was just wondering if these others had done their due diligence to do all they could to protect these children who were shouldering a responsibility only the cruelest of beings could come up with.

However, that was what they were dealing with, wasn’t it?

Absolute, sure cruelty.

He wished that they could just whistle blow this to the entire world, have entire armies by their sides to protect these children and all other children. But when it came to the magical and supernatural, it was simply a fact that they could not.

“What is this fragile thing?” he asked.

He gave the smallest of sad smiles and set a finger lightly against his own lips; indicating that he couldn't even speak of it.

He gave him a smile back, understanding.

Certain things could not be spoken about. Not now, perhaps not until later, maybe ever. It just depended upon how it all went.

"Well, at the end of the day, you can count on me. I just hope that you can be as transparent as you can without endangering the children or your overall mission of protecting them."

"I thank you, and I shall take you up on that offer. Between us, hopefully we can be the subtle invisible support that they need. I do have a task for you, if you are ready for one, though the difficult part will be not acting," he warned.

"My nieces and nephews are in danger," he replied. There was no 'if'. "What is it?"

"I need you to start researching Easter, the company not the holiday." Easter being one of those big mega corps with their fingers in nearly every pie from financing to bulk product to stadiums and concert spaces and celebrity management. "I have done quite a bit, but it is possible that they are aware of my investigations and I may not have the most accurate information."

Yuuta nodded. "I can do that."

It is not something he speaks much of, but growing up as he had ... given who his father is ... He has a few fingers in different things too. More importantly, he has a network who can be much harder to detect and much more thorough in their investigations. They are not people to be messed around with.

But they would be happy to help Yuuta out. They had younger children and teens they cared about as well.

"Shall we meet again next week for an update?"

"I look forward to it. Perhaps three hours after school lets out for the young ones?"

"Yes, I can meet you then."

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time skip? i can edit this :)