Parental guidance

Where, we have a little bit of the backstory, or maybe almost all of the backstory, of Kaguya Momoko, Morakawa Yuuko and Kaguya Momoko begin to navigate their new family situation Kakinomoto Yoshio is smarter and dumber than he seems on the surface .

Kaguya Momoko was eighteen when she last spoke to her parents.

Four years earlier, she ran away from home. There was no straw to break the camel's back, just an opportunity on the horizon: high school. Specifically, when her parents left her to take care of all the paperwork. She signed up in Tokyo, not Tokyo in Tokyo, but it was still Tokyo, four hours on the bus line, she pretended she had just signed up for a school in the neighboring city, then took her savings and ran.

It was more difficult than she originally expected. She was still alone, that was a constant between before and after in her life. But there was a difference between being alone and at least having the neglectful parents who paid the bills, and being alone and not even having a safe place to sleep at night. She couldn't stay from homeless shelters, because there was strong pressure to report minors. No, no way was she coming back. That was character building, to say the least. You meet the most interesting people in the Cloth Towns.

She went to classes, participated in clubs after classes that did not require any money, Debate Club, Gardening Club and First Aid, and she did odd jobs to stay afloat. It was difficult and she had almost no social life, but she managed to make it work.

She ended up finding a tiny apartment in Hamura that was a little difficult to get to and from school, but the landlady took the money and didn't ask questions that she didn't want to answer. It was barely the size of her old room, no shower and no central heating or cooling, but it was hers. Only hers and only hers.

All she had to do was keep her head down until she was an adult and could not be forced to go home. The worst that a judge could do was mandatory family counseling. So she waited, always patient, and kept her head down. On the day she turned eighteen, she didn't celebrate the fact, she just looked at the calendar and said, "Eighteen, huh?" She hardly recognized this factor. His co-workers gave him a little birthday party after work. The day after she turned eighteen, they left for the city and she got totally drunk. And luckily, she and Takano Kirihara, her only friend and true friend, were arrested for drunken disorderly conduct.

Her mother called her. The tips had been great that month, so Momoko had more than enough money to post bail, but with Kirihara who was draped over her shoulders with too much hangover to move, she had no one to talk to at the moment.

She almost told the policeman to hang up when he said her family had called. But a small voice in the back of her head insisted that this could be different. That maybe four years have changed them. This may be different, she picked up the phone ... and her last hopes died.

"If you expect us to take you back, you will have to come in person. It is a four hour drive to Hamura." Her mother's voice was cold, chipped and indifferent to her as it always was. And so, it ended. Any illusion of reuniting with a happy family was suddenly buried alive years ago. This was just the final breath of air before it completely choked and disappeared as if it never existed in the first place.

Now Kaguya Momoko was of age and was safely hidden, in a police station cell, Momoko started using her only method of coping that she knew of: boldness. "You're saying that, like I'm the one who called you."

"Well, what am I supposed to say? You're the only one in prison. Not that I'm really surprised, you were always a selfish little troublemaker. Do you know how much your dad and I had to cover for your little tantrum?"

Momoko wanted to scream. She pinched the tip of her nose and remembered her training at the Debate Club. "Oh, I don't know, but I think it was a lot easier than looking after a child. Your only child by the way."

"Don't be too dramatic. You always had food and a warm place to sleep."

"You left me in a house alone. For weeks. What kind of guardians leave a seven-year-old child alone at home with a wad of money for expenses, for almost three months?" Momoko asked.

Her mother made a face, not that she could see, dismissing it as a trivial matter. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We were leaving for France soon and we didn't need a babysitter. It would be a good start to make up for all the problems you caused us."

Momoko is surprised at herself for not telling her mother to fuck herself at this point. After that moment, however, her anger ... changes. It turns into a blazing fire in the cold ice of logic. It would always be like that. Her parents never loved her. Many would find this painful or worrying. But for Kaguya Momoko? It just means that she hasn't lost anything. How could she miss something she never had in the first place.

Her mother takes the silence as an opportunity to express more of her opinion. "Momoko, be reasonable. You are not strong enough to handle yourself."

"Really? Because that is exactly what I have been doing for the past four years." Momoko bit back.

"Call us when you're ready to be reasonable." She sighed as if Momoko was to blame here.

"What to know? You don't have to worry about me but no, you never really cared, pretend you never had a child like you always did and continue to ignore me !!" Momoko then hung up and managed to hold back the tears until she was released and was safely hidden in her tiny apartment.

A year later, by mere coincidence of fate, she met one of her cousins ​​and she told him that her parents died on a trip abroad, they went on vacation in a war zone, she was almost overjoyed to have to working to be able to secure next month's rent, that took the decision to go to the funeral from your hands.

~ XxX ~

Kaguya Momoko grew up with parents who were cruel in their indifference. She would not let Morakawa Yuuko suffer in the same way as she.

This did not mean, however, that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

Like, in terms of materials, she could vaguely plan around that. She bought a second futon for the floor, the size of an adult because that child would spread like a weed after it was consistently fed with the right nutrients, supplied its pantry with ingredients to prepare easy meals, and even finally bought a detector of carbon monoxide.

It was the whole ... paternal / maternal aspect that really made her go through a cycle. Without really having a clear reference point to work with, Momoko decided to check out the local library for books for parents. Most of them were kind of useless, assuming that: 1. She would have a husband, or a significant other from the word and / or 2. That the child was biologically hers, starting from a baby. She managed to find a self-help book for Adoptive Fathers and another for Single Mothers and decided to resolve it from there.

Hey, she became Japan's Most Wanted Watchman after starting three self-defense classes and some vaguely criminal skills. Kaguya Momoko knew how to work with an unstable base.

Okay, the first point advised was to evaluate her resources. Vetochkina has always paid her employees very well, and that went beyond the tips she gave as a bartender, so economically speaking, Momoko had a lot to support herself and a school-age child, with some limits here and there. In terms of who else can be trusted to help with the girl, she trusted Vetochkina completely, and Mura-san seemed qualified enough to look after Yuuko's physical well-being in an emergency.

The next thing to do would be to seek community support, which meant schools, day care centers, hospitals, walking in hot and cold areas. It was here that Momoko was starting to have some problems.

They had been in their newly created custody for about three days, Yuuko responded with cries of satisfaction and extreme joy to learn of Momoko's secret identity, but solemnly vowed to keep it a secret when the new adoptive mother addressed the matter.

"So ... Yuuko. What's the name of your school again? I want to call ahead to let you know about the change of address to avoid any misunderstanding."

"Oh, you don't have to do this."

"No, I do this so that they don't accidentally-"

"I don't need the school! I'll be your helper! When are we going to start our first patrol together ?! Can I beat up Santa?"

'Right. Let's ignore it and pretend we never heard the last part. ' Now that Momoko thought about it, she realized that she never explicitly told the eight-year-old that she couldn't do this. But that was not the immediate problem now.

Once again, Momoko took time to assess what she knew. The child knew the streets, of course, but she was still eight years old. A child's early years of education were probably vital or something. So, weighing all the pros and cons, Momoko decided to start setting some certain limits.

"Actually, you have to go to school, Yuuko."

They fought over it for what seemed like half an hour until Momoko pulled out the ultimatum, the final card that all parents and guardians owned. "I am your guardian and because I said that". Yuuko was confused for a while after that, her little nose pressed against a cookbook that Momoko wasn't even sure she could actually read. She looked at her watch, it wasn't even midday yet.

"Yuuko, what do you think about the soup?" Momoko asked and it caught the girl's attention.

"It's okay, I think." She shrugged, but kept her wary eyes on her foster mother.

"Would you be interested in helping me make some?" She offered. Momoko loved to help her grandfather in the kitchen when she was Yuuko's age. Or maybe it's because she was just happy with the least amount of attention? It's not important.

So, Momoko took the biggest pot she had and took out all the ingredients they needed. She started to eat better since she became Valkyrie, fruits and vegetables were important for fighting crime and all that. "We are going to make a good mushroom and vegetable soup, what do you think?" Yuuko seemed to get even more excited. Momoko took charge of most of the cutting, instructing Yuuko to help clean the ingredients and things like that. The child had the most adorable look on his face learning to measure oil, water and sea salt, which was a good introduction to the fractions, looking from a certain point of view, Momoko smiled to herself, happy to at least be able to teach Yuuko something when -

"Filth!" Yuuko cringed and looked at her with a hint of fear in her young eyes.

"What-"

"You do not." Momoko quickly tried to reassure him. "I just cut my finger when I was cutting vegetables, like an idiot." She stuck her finger in her mouth and wondered if there were still band-aids in the medicine cabinet.

"On here." The girl offered, holding out her hand. Oh right, heal. The wounded offered her finger. There was a certain golden glow that shone under Yuuko's skin before the girl touched her wound. The glow then spread over Momoko's skin for a second before her flesh came together again.

"Wow ..." Momoko looked at her finger. It was as if there were no injuries. "This is such a cool power, Yuuko!" She praised, ruffling the girl's hair. Yuuko gave a shy, toothy smile in response.

They had the soup about half an hour later, and Momoko is not sure if she has tasted anything so delicious in her life.

Yuuko waited for the other shoe to fall, for something to go wrong. She was relieved when it didn't, but that didn't mean she couldn't afford to let her guard down. First, she agrees to go to school. Okay, okay, she can handle it. So she kind of understood when Valkyrie, no, Momoko, she said to call her Momoko out of the mask, told her that she couldn't become a helper at her age. At least not yet.

Her day would normally be like this: she would wake up with Valquíria, do some stretching, have breakfast and then walk to school. She would take care of school and learning, her teachers were fine, and none of the other children had tried to mess with her. After school, she would walk to Holiday if it was a patrol night, it was usually a patrol night and would go to Veto-san's apartment to do her homework. Momoko would leave the shift about half an hour later and take Yuuko back to their apartment. She would make dinner and try to help the girl with her homework before settling in for a long nap.

"So, what are you working on?"

"A report to the school. It's about who our favorite hero is."

"Oh?"

"Yes, we were all talking about it during recess. I think half of my class said 'Luphinus'. Like, I know he's super popular and stuff, but there are other heroes." The adult seemed to hum in agreement.

"So, who do you want to report on?"

"Well, about you, duh." Momoko started to get red in the face and almost looked like she was going to start crying at the moment. Yuuko thought this was seriously strange. "But when I told the teacher she said no."

"Oh." Momoko then looked at Yuuko with those big, bright, violet eyes. "I'm sorry for this." Yuuko just shrugged.

"So I said I would do just about Hera Healing." The foster mother looked at her and smiled. Then that smile started to transform into an affectionate smile territory.

"Do you want to know a secret? Something I guarantee that no one else in the class will know about Luphinus?"

Yuuko leaned over, delighted. "What is it?"

"Luphinus is nothing cool. In fact, he is a total nerd."

Yuuko gasped. "For real?" The watchman nodded wisely. She pulled out the phone and, with a few rings, put a video in the queue.

The time stamp was last February, Luphinus was in his Silver Age costume, the blue and red cloak billowing behind him. "I'm the justice!" He tried to gargle, in a low, somber voice "I am the night!" He tried to wrap the cloak around him to make it look more like a hood, "I am. Shit!" As he tried to do a dramatic pose, his foot slipped on a piece of ice, causing the number one to fall on his ass.

Off camera, Valkyrie started to laugh, the hysterical, uncontrolled kind that you could never really pretend. The video had a good image of him lying on the floor, then stopped. Yuuko couldn't help but notice that Luphinus was smiling at Valkyrie. Like ... a soft smile. The child looked back at the real-life Valkyrie, who looked like she didn't even notice.

Yuuko decided that she would talk to Veto-san about it, the old woman was usually very direct with her.

~ XxX ~

"Hey, Veto-san."

"Hm?" The woman asked, examining some spreadsheets on her laptop.

"Does Luphinus like Valkyrie? Like, like-like-like her?" The older woman looked at the child for a few moments, but then laughed to herself.

"Ask me that in Russian and I will answer."

Yuuko pursed his lips in thought. "Could Luphinus want ... want ... like it! Does Luphinus like Valkyrie?" She finally managed to complete the sentence in Russian. Russo was so cool, but it was difficult.

"Gives." Veto-san nodded. "I think they really like each other."

"Does that mean they like to kiss?"

The woman shrugged. "Nyet, I don't think so." It seems to have calmed the girl down for now. About five more minutes passed, and the girl's focus seemed to have returned to schoolwork.

"I don't think they should do these kissing things." Yuuko seemed to decide something important at that moment

"Really? Why do you think they shouldn't kiss." Vetochkina asked, it was always good to let the children know that you were listening to them.

"He's not cool enough." Vetochkina couldn't help but laugh at that. Yuuko decided that Luphinus, Hero Number One, was not cool enough to kiss his adoptive mother. She really loved this girl more and more.

"You know what? You're absolutely right. And as a reward, I'm going to take you to the park this Saturday and teach you the fantastic art of how to pickpocket."

Yuuko gasped in surprise. "Same?!"

Vetochkina nodded. "Just ... don't tell your mom that."

This would become a recurring theme.

~ XxX ~

Luphinus realized that there was definitely something ... strange about Valkyrie these days.

She was as sharp as ever, on top of every detail. But there was something almost ... distracted about her, recently.

At first, he thought it was just the general wear and tear of the heroic profession, or, in her case, vigilantism. Then he started to notice little things. Thanks to his little meetings with Azul Una in the last few months. Tiny things that normally meant nothing, but put together they start to paint a very interesting picture. She mentioned that she had to cut her activities for a while. He would see her looking for schools and daycare centers in Hamura. He sometimes even caught her looking at families with young children or pregnant women nearby. At first, he could just shrug his shoulders, but then he saw a book on Advice for Single Moms coming out of his back pocket. He politely pretended he hadn't seen it. But at that moment, everything just seemed to ... fit perfectly.

Is Valkyrie ... pregnant? She never mentioned any kind of non-binary gender boyfriend or girlfriend, and Luphinus could tell that she didn't have a wedding ring under her gloves. Also, you know, the book clearly said Advice for Single Mothers. Single mothers. SINGLE MOTHERS!

But what should he do about it? He was a friend of Valkyrie for sure, but he didn't even know her real name, and she didn't know his real name, although she knew where he currently lived, let alone an address or PO box to send money and diapers surreptitiously. 'Wow, aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? Maybe I'm sure she even wants the child, you idiot! '

"Oh, yes, it's just. Something big has happened to me and I'm trying to find a way to balance that with everything else." Although logically, he knew that the language was vague enough to apply to almost anything, Luphinus was in a certain state of mind that the phrase almost sounded like a confession.

He nodded wisely and decided to try to improvise. "I understand that it is a really scary world out there. Especially for raising a child alone." Over there! Now she knew he knew and would tell her everything and maybe even show her sonograms if it was early enough for them. Not that he wanted to invade her privacy, but seriously he needed to know what support system this woman had and how much he could help and what was the best type of jumpsuit to buy, he should probably talk to Miss. Blake on the future making of overalls and pajamas for children. Perhaps one with a mohawk-shaped hood. "You have nothing but my absolute respect for trying to deal with something like that."

"... What ?! How, how did you know?"

"Well, I noticed a lot of little things going on in the past few weeks. And I know how much you value your privacy, but at least tell me if you need me to punch someone." He finished, laughing uncomfortably. Because any man who dared to get her pregnant and not even stay around to at least offer help would receive a very stern conversation with a certain angry hero who was ready to punch or two.

A dark look crossed his face. "Believe me, I already thought about it. I'm going to let the justice system take care of that for now."

Wait, the justice system? Was she ... uh, close to some kind of criminal? It didn't really look like Valkyrie style. Unless… wait, let's not assume anything unpleasant here. Because if he started to follow that path, he could end up killing someone. And that is not what the Symbols of Peace do. However, citizens can do many things. How to make some phone calls and have a few moments in the dark, away from the world with the criminal. Shit, it's getting dark.

"But, back to the main point. Just to make sure that we are not having one of those hilarious communication errors, like in soap operas, what exactly do you think is going on?" Well, shit now all of this is just too weird. Luphinus rubbed the back of his neck before deciding to simply spit.

"You are pregnant, right?"

Valkyrie looked at him for a moment. Not a 'Are you kidding me' look or your sternest cousin, 'Are you a fucking idiot?' Just a stare.

"Well, I'm glad I left before that. No, I'm not pregnant."

"There's a child who got involved in one of my cases. Her adoptive parents, well, let's just say she doesn't trust the system anymore. So, I've been watching her for a while." The watchman explained with a shrug.

"Ohhhh." Luphinus said, and he didn't know why he suddenly felt so ... not disappointed, but, well, those were feelings that could be reexamined at another time in the future.

"I think you would be a great mother."

"There is?" A certain redness started to spread across his cheeks. It was ... really adorable. And Luphinus had no idea why his heart suddenly started to tighten in his chest.

Oh Yoshio, you adorable buffoon.

"Well, if you were really pregnant, I would be more than happy to marry you." Luphinus said without thinking much about his words, they just left.

"What?!" Valkyrie was wide-eyed looking at him.

"Platonically. As a friend. I would marry you as a friend!" Luphinus tried to correct himself with more words, not realizing the fact that his face was starting to turn red.

-XxX-