Chapter Text
Four months later….
The Shadow Operatives become busier each month since Kotone temporarily leaves the organization on maternity leave in June.
Kotone is now five months pregnant and has noticed some changes in her body. Kotone’s breasts have gotten slightly more prominent, and her stomach has increased as she and Shinjiro’s unborn baby started to grow bigger each month. She often sometimes feels the baby’s movement inside of her. To her, it felt like butterflies in her stomach. Kotone’s appetite increased a bit so that the baby could grow healthier. She is still in college classes, except she switched to online courses... She earns good grades on her exams and gets her assignments on time before the deadline.
Shinjiro still checks Kotone’s current state during her pregnancy. He works hard for his college classes and a part-time job to pay rent and food. After winning the cooking competition this year, he earned a considerable sum and got an internship with a famous chef. His Japanese and Western dishes won 1st place with Fuuka, assisting him without any accident. Shinjiro would have taken Kotone this year, but she is pregnant, so Fuuka was his second choice. He has enough money to pay child support and is saving it for his and Kotone’s marriage ceremony, which he is considering going to after their child is born next year. Kotone and Shinjiro also found out the gender of their baby will be a boy, based on an ultrasound from Kotone’s last checkup 18 weeks ago. They started to take parent classes together to prepare them for pregnant women to enter into labor, change a baby’s diaper, breastfeed babies at certain months until they are ready for solid foods, and learn how to give birth to newborns. Shinjiro and Kotone’s love for one another stays strong.
Junpei still has a healthy relationship with Chidori, as usual. He tried a method for Chidori to stop giving him blow jobs every time they met on holiday breaks by either showing her a variety of famous artworks or flower landscapes. Chidori’s addiction has deceased, and she’s much calmer. However, she starts to enjoy getting anal sex with him. Junpei still uses condoms for safety purposes, and he is still technically a virgin himself since he didn’t do it raw. He hasn’t seen the Chidori in his dreams since May, nor has he experienced any of Chidori’s childhood memories of the Dark Hour. He worries that Chidori did it on purpose to prevent him from seeing that ugly side of her.
Akihiko’s officer classes have gone smoothly except for some significant courses, as he barely passed due to his focus on training his body at the gym. He still felt guilty about what happened during Golden Week. He never told anyone about it. He knows he should be moving on but cannot forget his first kiss with Kotone while she is asleep. Plus, Kotone doesn’t feel anything off after she wakes up from her nap and the feeling of her lips. Akihiko is off the hook for now.
Yukari is still together with Mitsuru in secret from the public. She is still annoyed that her mom schedules her on blind dates with men almost every week. She has to make up excuses that she needs to focus on work and college. She doesn’t have time for blind dates right now, which her mom understands, so she changes to holiday breaks instead. Yukari still refuses Mitsuru to take her first time because she doesn’t want to come out yet, even though she took Mitsuru’s words at heart during the Yakushima trip.
Fuuka is still seeing Tsubasa and has a good time together, but she is hesitant to confess her love for them even though they have a rarely seen boyfriend. She decides to improve their friendship first before she can tell them properly.
Ken is doing well at school, club activities, and joining the student council club. He tries to befriend students his age, whether young or older than him.
Koromaru spends every time hanging out with the dog he has a long-time crush on at the shrine he always visits to pray his respect for his former master’s resting place and get to know his crush.
During the important case in Inaba from four months ago, there have been a few more incidents each month until July. The son of the Textile shop’s owner, Kanji Tatsumi, was kidnapped in May and was safely rescued the following day by the same students who saved Yukiko Amagi. A retired idol, Rise Kujikawa, was also kidnapped in June and rescued the following day. Mitsuru stated most of the victims shared some connections to the deceased Mayumi Yamano. However, several weeks later, a former teacher at Yasogami High, Kinshiro Morooka, was found dead even though he didn’t appear on television, nor was there any connection to her. In August, the police arrested a young man with blank eyes who claimed to have murdered three people and kidnapped the saved victims. Most of the Shadow Operatives, especially Kotone, felt terrible about it, and something was off.
September 7th, 2011 - Daytime
Shinjiro and Kotone’s Apartment - 1:30 pm
Kotone is doing a project from one of her online classes about biology on her laptop computer at home. She learns about the species and the function of their bodies. She does pregnancy exercises such as yoga, walking, and trimester workouts to keep her body active before the baby's due date. After she finished, she closed her laptop and put it on the coffee table. Suddenly, she receives a call from someone she hasn’t seen for a very long time since her first year at high school. It reads “Naoto Shirogane.” Kotone surprisingly picked up the phone right away.
“Hello?” Kotone sounds unsure.
“Greeting cousin. It’s me, Naoto. I'm sorry I didn’t call, text, or send you letters due to working for two years… How have you been doing lately?” Naoto politely asked.
“Naoto! It’s good to hear your voice again!! I could ask you the same thing. I read on the news online about an androgynous young man in a trademark blue cap investigating mysterious murder cases in Inaba. I thought that might be you. Oh, based on your previous question, I’m fine for now. Just taking my online course during my fall semester classes for college.” Kotone cheery explained to her cousin.
“You’re working on your homework assignment just now. Is it a bad time to call you?” Naoto sounds worried.
“No, I’m fine. I’m almost done. What do you want to talk about?” Kotone asked.
“I was wondering if I could stay at your place for three days and two nights since you lived in Iwatodai after that. My first-year classmates and two other students are taking a class trip this week. I checked what hotel we are staying at, and I don’t want to sleep here with other students I’m unfamiliar with.” Naoto asks her permission to stay temporarily.
“Why? What kind of hotel are your classmates staying at? It’s probably not as bad…” Before Kotone can finish her sentence, Naoto interrupts and reveals the name of the hotel and what it used to be called in the past.
“It’s called Seaside Clamshell Hotel; it used to be Love Hotel Champs De Fleurs two years ago.” Naoto regrettably corrected her.
“Ohhhh….. that hotel.” Kotone seems uneasy about the love hotel to which she and former members of SEES went during the full moon operation in July 2009. Kotone’s recollection of that place was awkward and disturbing, especially after they defeated Arcana Hierophant. The other Shadow paired them, split them up, and transported them into different rooms. She was paired up with Akihiko, and Yukari was with Junpei.
Two years ago….
Champs De Fleurs Hotel - Dark Hour
After Kotone regains her sense from the Shadow’s manipulation, she hears the shower turn off. “I wonder who’s in the bathroom who just finished showering… That figure seems familiar. Where did I see it before…” Kotone wonders in her inner thoughts. Suddenly, she sees someone coming out of the bathroom. It was Akihiko Sanada. He was completely naked, except he wore a towel to cover up his crouch. She felt something was off with him. Akihiko’s eyes are completely blank. He slowly walks towards Kotone. He stares at Kotone’s red eyes with his gray soulless eyes.
“Hey, it’s your turn next.” Akihiko reminds her.
“Huh?! Uh... I’m sorry, I’m good. I don’t feel like taking off my clothes right now…” Kotone denies the brainwashed Akihiko’s offer.
“Or do you want me to undress you instead?” He flirted with her.
“Wait? What?!” Kotone looks confused about what he means. Suddenly, Akihiko pulls her onto the bed, removes her S.E.E.S. jacket, and her red ribbon tie from her collar shirt. He licks Kotone’s soft, delicate neck before he sucks it hard. He was leaving a hick mark on her left neck. Kotone reacted very confused and slightly nervous until she realized the Shadow’s ability influenced Akihiko. When Akihiko was about to kiss Kotone on the lips, she blushed and quickly slapped him in the face. “Senpai, snap of it!!!”
“OW!!! What was that— Huh? W-What the hell!? What’s going on here!?” Akihiko looks confused, finally returning to his senses from the shadow’s control.
“It’s an enemy trap!” Kotone responded to Akihiko’s question in a serious tone.
“What!? We have to regroup immediately!” Akihiko looks furious. He looks down to see that he’s not wearing anything except his bath towel. He reacts nervously and is surprised by this. “…..Oh, after I change first…”
Akihiko ran back into the bathroom. It seems Akihiko’s mind had been clouded, too.
Kotone sat up and put back her jacket and ribbon on. She heard Fuuka’s voice.
“Oh, I can finally reach you! Can you two hear me?” Fuuka sounds relieved.
“I can hear you, Fuuka,” Kotone responded softly.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you sooner… The Shadow was interfering with your thoughts… And you all got separated… The enemy is still in the same room. Please regroup and hurry there.” Fuuka informs her. She decides to talk to Akihiko if he hears everything now with Kotone. “Sanada-senpai, can you hear me?”
“Y-Yeah, loud and clear!” Akihiko replied.
“Um… Did something happen?” Fuuka’s voice sounds confused.
By the time Akihiko was entirely changed to his S.E.E.S. battle gear and weapons, including his Gekkoukan High school uniform.
“All right, let’s go.” Akihiko had a brief pause of silence. He noticed something on Kotone’s neck. He realizes he might be the cause of it. “Um, and about what happened earlier… Could you keep it a secret? Please… Especially that mark I gave you.” Akihiko shamefully begged her to keep it a secret just between them.
“O-Okay. Akihiko-senpai.” Kotone agreed with him. She faintly blushed at Akihiko.
September 7th, 2011 - Present
“Kotone? Are you alright? You sound like you've been to that place before.” Naoto sounds concerned for her cousin.
“N-No, I’m alright. Of course, you can stay here for three days. I’m so happy to see you again tomorrow.” Kotone happily accepts her request.
“Do you want to meet up at Gekkoukan High since my class is going there first for a lecture before we go to the hotel where we will be staying? You can probably recognize me since I always wear masculine clothes and a blue cap. You can find me wearing a Yasogami High summer school uniform.” Naoto asked which place to meet up.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll recognize you.” Kotone determined.
“I’ll text you the time and place tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to seeing you again, cousin.”
“Me too. Naoto. :)”
Naoto ends the conversation.
“Who were you talking to on the phone?” Shinjiro curiously asks his pregnant fiancée.
“Oh, Shinji! I didn’t know you just got back from class.” Kotone looked surprised by his sudden appearance.
“That was 10 minutes ago. I didn’t want to bother you because you were doing your online work. So, the person on the phone just now was someone you know?”
“She’s my cousin from my mother’s side. She is on a class trip with her classmates to Iwatodai. I agreed to let her stay at our place for three days until she returns to Inaba.” Kotone cheery explained.
“What?! I never agreed to this. We promised Ken we would babysit Koro-chan since he is on a school trip in Shinjuku. He won’t be back until this Saturday.” Shinjiro pointed out Koromaru's nuzzle on Kotone’s stomach to feel the baby’s movements.
“Oh, right. We did. I’m sorry. It was at the last minute. I haven’t seen my cousin for a long time since I transferred to Gekkoukan High. She and her grandfather were the only relatives I was close with. My other relatives weren’t kind to me, and they blamed me for my parents’ car accident. I highly doubt they want to see me getting married. They took it harder than my uncle and cousin.” says Kotone, happily saddened.
“I’m sorry to hear that… to have heartless relatives who refuse to move on and end up blaming you instead for their grief.” Shinjiro sat down and gently pulled Kotone closer to him. Kotone lay her head on his shoulder to rest.
“I’m already used to it. I don’t think about them anymore since I was taken in by my cousin and uncle, the family I have left. That’s why I want to catch up with her.” Kotone comfortably held Shinjiro’s hand, which was valid for hers.
“*sigh* Koto, next time, tell me before you make a reckless decision without me. Your cousin can sleep in the guest room since we are still making our son’s room.” Shinjiro, who couldn’t stay mad at his lover, forgave her.
“Arf! Arf!” Koromaru was cheerful, wagging his tail. He seems to know what is going on. He doesn’t mind meeting Kotone’s cousin tomorrow.
“Hm. You seem excited to meet Koto’s cousin, Koro-chan?” Shinjiro smiles at the dog with red eyes.
“Bark.” Koromaru agreed.
Shinjiro pats Koromaru’s head gently and comfortably with his other hand. Koromaru seems to enjoy it. Kotone looks relieved that Shinjiro, her cousin, stayed for three days. She will ask Shinjiro the next time someone asks her for something important.
September 8th, 2011
Gekkoukan High - 4:00 pm
After the lecture, their teacher guides the first—and second-year students from Yasogami High to the hotel, where they will stay for three days and two nights. Everyone has left except an androgynous young woman dressed in a male school uniform, waiting for someone to meet her.
She checks the time on her cellphone to meet with her cousin, whom she hasn’t seen for two years. She hopes her cousin doesn’t get into much trouble.
“Naoto!” says Kotone’s voice in a cheerful tone.
Naoto faces the direction of the voice and sees her cousin, Kotone Shiomi, who is surprisingly happy to see her. She waves at her to get her attention. She seems to be touching her stomach, revealing that she is pregnant. Kotone stands in front of the school gate.
“Kotone!” Naoto calls her name happily.
She ran to her before she gave her a heartwarming reunion hug. Kotone hugged her back. The two of them were happy to see each other again.
“It’s been a very long time since I have seen you graduate from your first year of high school. You look the same as ever.” Naoto compliments her.
“Same to you, Naoto. I’m still surprised you are still dressed in men’s clothes. I wish I could see you dressed in feminine clothes once.”
“You know I can’t because my ancestors who were detectives before me were men. This is the only way to become like my grandfather. You and my grandfather are the only ones who know my true gender. I hope you kept your promise to me years back.” Naoto reminds Kotone the reason she has to keep her gender is revealed.
“So, no one has ever found out?”
“I am professional in keeping my true gender a secret from the public. Everyone thinks I’m a man, and I want to keep it that way. I want to avoid being prejudiced against my gender.” Naoto frowned.
“Don’t worry, Naoto. I still accept you for who you are. Your gender doesn’t matter to me. You will always be the kind, serious cousin I grew up with.” Kotone cheers up Naoto.
“Thanks, Kotone. I need that. I noticed just now that you’re at least five months pregnant. I was wondering why you didn’t tell me about your pregnancy.” Naoto looked suspiciously at her.
“Oh! I forgot to tell you! I’m sorry. I was so excited to see you again that I almost forgot I was pregnant. I promise it wasn’t intentional.” Kotone's heartfelt apologies.
“I believe you. It’s one of the common side effects of pregnancy. It just… I have no idea why you became pregnant even though you’re still in college, Kotone.” Naoto puzzled.
“It’s a long story… I’ll tell you on the way back if you don’t mind me talking?”
“I got time since it’s been a while since I have had a meaningful conversation with my relative. I want to know what you have been up to lately.” Naoto says with a calm smile.
Kotone takes Naoto to her place, where she talks about the day she met Shinjiro at the hospital and the month they started to hang out and spend time together at night. She mentions she started dating him at the beginning of October, when she confessed her love for him, and they lost their virginity to each other. However, Naoto doesn’t want to know how she experiences sex for the first time. So, Kotone decides to skip that and move on to what happened two days later, where Shinjiro got into an accident that left him unconscious for four months. They reunited on March 5, 2010, and had a happy reunion.
Meanwhile Shinjuku….
Ken and his classmates arrive in Shinjuku to spend their trip until Saturday. Numerous buildings and many people are living there. He realizes how big Shinjuku is. He has never been outside of Tatsumi Port Island before.
“Wow. It's so amazing.” Ken seems bewildered.
“I know. This is one of the most interesting cities yet. For the next two days, we will explore important attractions, like the art museum and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building,” Ken’s classmate excitedly says.
“That seems interesting. Although I wonder what we will do today before we go to our hotel…” Ken wonders.
“Today, we will visit a school recently opened two years ago. I heard foreigners, half Japanese and disabled, are also welcome to learn. You don’t see many schools accept them.” Ken’s classmate explained.
“Why is that?” Ken asked.
“Their school is very prohibited against prejudices. I think it’s best not to provoke them when we see them.” Ken’s classmate nervously suggested.
“Alright, everyone, quiet it down. Today, we are going to Hosei Academy, a school open to everyone, including outsiders. I want your best behavior. The principal is a kind man who is good friends with the creator of Hosei Academy. I advise you to respect him, the staff, and the students. After that, we will go to the hotel for two nights. You can do whatever you want the following day if you return to the hotel before evening. The safest to tour around is being in a group.” Ken’s teacher announced.
“I can’t believe my classmate was right about this….” Ken quietly sulked himself.
Kotone and Shinjiro’s Apartment - Evening
“I’m home!” Kotone announced herself.
“Koto, welcome back. Were you able to find your cousin?” Shinjiro greeted his beloved.
“Yes, I did! I like to introduce you to my cousin, Naoto Shirogane.” Kotone introduced Naoto.
She gets the first glimpse of her cousin’s fiancé. “Hmmm…. Strong build, gray-brown eyes, black beanie, and often wears turtleneck. This is the person Kotone described to me on the way back. I never imagined she would be engaged by someone menacing yet having a warm atmosphere. He reminds me of someone,” Naoto says in her inner thoughts, doubtful.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Shinjiro Aragaki.” Shinjiro extended his hand to Naoto as a polite way to greet her.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Aragaki-san.” Naoto shakes his shake firmly before they let go.
“She told me about you yesterday, and you come from a line of detectives. You’re the fifth generation, and you wanted to succeed your predecessor. It takes a lot of work to become a detective despite being in high school.”
“It’s no big deal. I have been doing this a lot. It’s my job to solve cases.” Says Naoto, proudly at her job.
“I’m sure a friend of mine would love to meet you. He loves detective stories and movies because they’re interesting and thrilling. I should introduce you to him next time you visit here,” Kotone happily suggested.
“I would love that.”
Suddenly, a Shiba Inu with red eyes comes out of nowhere to sniff Naoto.
“Oh, you also have a pet dog too? I thought apartments don’t allow pets here?” Naoto questioned Kotone. She kneels and extends her hand so Koromaru can smell her hand before he licks it.
“The apartment we are staying in allows pets. This is our other friend, Koromaru, and he’s not our dog. We are pet-sitting for the friend I mentioned. He is also on a school trip. He dropped him off yesterday,” Kotone explained.
Koromaru jumps on Naoto’s shoulders and starts licking Naoto’s face affectionately.
“Hahaha… you’re so touchy. You sure like to lick people, huh, Koromaru.” She chuckles. Naoto hugs him for a while, still licking her face.
“*pant* *pant* Arf.” Koromaru barked in agreement.
When Kotone and Naoto have a good time playing with Koromaru, Shinjiro seems lonely and depressed. “I’m glad Koto has a relative who cares for her…. I wonder what it would be like to have a family like that. I… barely remember my parents.” Shinjiro, in his thoughts, was despondent.