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"...Hey, Yoshihide"
Ryoshu eyes darted to Kira, standing next to Hohenheim and shuffling on the spot. "What?"
Kira paused for a moment, working up courage to say what she wanted to. "We're… I wouldn't say we're "family" exactly, but…" Kira sighed, frustrated. "… Listen, there's a lot of stuff I wanna say to you, and a lot of stuff I wanna hear from you. Okay? So… S.Y.L? Did I do that right?"
Ryoshu breathed in, then let out a puff of smoke. "Acronymize it into 'L'" She paused. "And call me Ryōshū, not Yoshihide" She looked down at her sword before whispering. "Prefer the echoes of that name."
After a round of goodbyes, Kira and Hohenheim stepped off the bus to watch it depart. Machinery clicking into place, engine whirring, as the Bus Mephistopheles rode out and into the blindly radiant portal, disappearing, leaving the researcher and apprentice alone in the exit.
"Well" Hohenheim spoke up, adjusting his glasses and turning to Kira. "It's best if you return to your confinement before the juniors catch on"
Kira groaned. "C'mon dude. Do I really gotta? Y'Sure I can't just like, follow you around for a bit?"
"It's imperative that you stay on good behaviour, Kira"
"Fiiiiiiineeeeeeeeeeee" Kira relented, while she never had to with Matthias, she learnt that Hohenheim was much harder to sway. "At least follow me back, I've got a lot of important requests and questions about previous requests. Like where my box set of Seven Assoc. Mystery Incorporated is!?"
"While I can't follow you back, I can tell you that your box set is in the long-term recovery ward. Surely you can do them this charity after your fath- Matthias put them there"
"Yeah yeah- Sure whatever. They can have it. But once they're back at their jobs I want it back Specs! You make sure of it!"
Hohenheim adjusted his glasses anime-ly. "I'll see too it. Now, head on back to your confinement chamber. I'll visit the juniors after my research today to make sure they're. 'doing their job'"
"I can walk her back!"
Hohenheim and Kira both frantically looked around. Spotting a man standing just across the room.
Hohenheim squinted at him "Were you... Standing on the otherside of the bus before it left?"
"I was trying to make a dramatic entrance!" The man laughed and ran a hand through his luscious hair, a burgundy mullet with hints of pink. "Y'know? Like one of those 'Oh my god where did he come from!?' kinda things?"
"Oh yeah! I get what you're going for dude! It uh... sorry we didnt see you as it happened bro. Would've been preem"
"It's all good kiddo, gotta roll with the punches sometimes"
A closer- well. any distance of inspection of the man would reveal his allegiance pretty quickly. Unbuttoned Floral shirt, golden chains, tan skin, book around his waist and an outrageously bright outfit. "If you're here for the coupon thief you just missed him. What exactly is a member of the middle doing here? And how?" Hohenheim stepped forward as he interrogated the man, standing infront of Kira.
"Oh right- I was getting to that. See-" The man stepped forward towards the two of them, causing Hohenheim to brandish his E.G.O weapon, sparking with overcharge.
"I don't remember asking you to come closer. Answer the questions"
The Sibling undid his step. "I'm just here to pick up my niece!"
Hohenheim was shocked, opening his mouth to speak only to be beaten by Kira.
"WHA?!" She pushed Hohenheim outta the way to get a better look at the Sibling. "You're here for me!?"
"Eh? Did Matthias never tell you?"
"Well he didn't say that anything like this would happen... And whenever I took a backdoor to hang with the brothers and sisters they all gave me the cold shoulder"
The sibling rubbed his brow. "Well not much I can do about that, some of our family are always gonna be a bit nervous around you, with the stigma surrounding... him" He clapped. "But enough about that, c'mon lets get going!"
"I'm afraid not" Hohenheim decided to stop being ignored and raised his voice. "Kira is our prisoner, and the board wouldn't be glad with me giving up a valuable... person, like this. Sorry, but you'll have to leave alone, and quickly"
The sibling paused, his hand reached down to his book, but stopping half way before reaching back up and crossing his arms. "Alright then- Weekends?"
Hohenheim, once again baffled, rebutted. "Elaborate?!"
"Well Specs-" Kira giggled and Hohenheim scoffed. "If she's your prisoner, I don't want to have to put such hard work into getting her out when I don't even have any vengeances with you lot. So I'm trying to find some compromise with you"
"I'm sceptical-" The sibling chuckled. "But I would be... begrudged to hear you out"
The sibling laughed, clasping his hands together. "Exquisite! Lets just say I get to visit her, or the other way around, on.... the weekends? No- Every other day! And I'll leave my Niece some gifts as well!" He took another step forward, only for Hohenheim to spark his E.G.O again. "We haven't signed off on anything yet. Every other day is too much, and she can't visit you. ...Yet"
The sibling sighed, clapping his hand with every word. "Stale. Boring. Unpalatable. Banal and..." He paused to think of a word. "Noxious" "I get the feeling that you're not entirely in charge, so I'll cut you some slack. But why can't you do every other day?"
Hohenheim adjusted his glasses and sighed. "We're a busy department, ignoring how inconvenient it would be to our schedule to have to let in a visitor every other day, the Board wouldn't appreciate having a Finger coming in and out doing whatever they want with our prisoner. The most I can get you is three days. The last of the week. since due to our horrid work ethic, our department tends to get sloppy with the book keeping, among other things, on the last three days of the week"
The sibling clasped his hands together. "Scrumptious! Three days a week I'll be here on the dot, don't worry about picking me up lab coat, I know the way in"
"Oh?" Hohenheim lifted his glasses.
"Heh- I know you've been securing them or whatever, but I know how to use the backdoors of that house of millipedes place"
"Is that information all middle members have?" Hohenheim questioned
The sibling laughed. "No no. I've... got a friend who knows quite a bit"
"Well- I suppose I'll have to walk you back to your room Kira. As well as this man, through to the backdoor. Since I doubt you'll let me stop you, and I'd rather work late than have you unsupervised"
The sibling smirked.
"H-hey wait a sec!"
The two men looked down at Kira, puzzled looks on their faces.
"You guys haven't asked me anything about this!?"
The sibling and Hohenheim looked away in shame.
"Do you not want me to visit Kiddo? Thought you'd be jumping for joy honestly..."
"It's not that its- well. Why now? Why not before? How come you never visited the house?"
The sibling stirred, hesitantly answering. "You're... a loan, in a manner of speaking"
"Eh?!" Kira gasped.
"Matthias took a lot of loans out from the other siblings. Mostly money. And while he got his homework done to pay it back, a lot of still went unpaid. Biggest of all, you"
Hohenheim frowned, more than usual. He could guess what the second biggest loan was, and he loathed to think about this man trying to collect.
"When the house of spiders needed an apprentice, he came begging and pleading for some protégé to teach. Thats how he ended up with you"
"Woah- So am I the kid of some super cool Great Sibling or something!?"
"Hah- Maybe. I never knew where the family got you from, but I reckon they were hoping you'd kill him"
"Oh- I-" She shuffled uncomfortably. "I don't think I'd kill him..."
The Sibling paused, he was about to say something before Hohenheim interrupted. "Yes yes this is all very nice and a touching meeting of family. However today isn't one of the specified days so I'm going to need you to get going"
"Ah, right on Specs, I'll get out of your hair for now"
Hohenheim guided the two of them out of the doorway they'd been standing in for quite some time, and through the research facility halls. Despite the hanging ceiling tiles, and broken chunks of floor they had to step around, the main obstacle in their way was other LCE employees. Renovating and fixing the department, or carrying on the usual research and extraction.
"Thought you said this department had a bad work ethic Specs. Can't be nice to work in this repugnant environment" The Sibling noted, as he grimaced the place.
"If you believe this to be good work ethic then I'm shocked you managed to drag yourself here" Hohenheim sneered. I'd figure you'd still be working on a decade long backlog of vengeances"
The sibling only laughed at his comment.
Hohenheim didn't talk much after that, just the occasional remark on some poor clerk trying their best or some researcher not full acquainted with E.G.O gear yet.
The Sibling and Kira however, kept chatting for the entire walk to the backdoors, mostly the Sibling talking about the U Corp family.
"-And our big bro always takes us out for a nice bite every time we finish a day of hard work, last time we got duck"
"Duck? really?" She gasped with disbelief. "You sure that ain't cap?"
"Oh yeah! He's got great taste, I'll bring you some from wherever we go next time. U Corp's singularity should keep it nice and fresh. Can't be anymore expensive to do than whatever he was feeding you"
Kira thought back to the empty ramen cups and sweet packets littering their room. "Damn... alright even if it's not peak, I'd love to eat something with my Unc!"
"Thats the spirit Kiddo!" He high-fives her before Hohenheim speaks up.
"We've arrived to the backdoors, goodbye"
"Wait wait wait I've still got two more things to do" The sibling smiled, brandishing two objects stuffed in his pockets. One half of a handcuff, and a small book covered in stickers.
First, he tossed the cuff to Kira. "Here, put this on" As he did, a singular chain from the many surrounding his body latching onto it, duplicating as it went further and further away as to not strain the link. "It'll keep us close even when we're far apart. Means you'll never get separated from your family again"
Kira smiled and snapped the cuff around her hand. The chain tensed as the links in the middle lessened til the chain was taught. Then the centre chain began to fade away, leaving the two chains pointing at each other.
"Woah this is peak dude! This something all the siblings get?!" Kira gasped, staring at it in excitement.
The Sibling matched her smile. "No no it's a special... piece of workshop tech, same guys who made our fist chains! And now for the second great gift"
He placed a small book into Kira's outreached hands.
"Yo I've already got a book of vengeance though? Well- I did until they took it away"
The sibling chuckled, casting a glare at Hohenheim at the mention of her book being confiscated. "No no it's more of a... journal of misdeeds. But anything you write in there I'll see. It's a way to keep in touch!"
"Oh thats sick" She looked at Hohenheim before pulling the book away from him. "You lot aren't getting even a look at these!"
Hohenheim adjusted his glasses. "I wasn't planning on telling anyone about these, considering your... good behaviour today"
"Heh. You better not!"
The Sibling clasped his hands together one final time, smiling wide. "While it's a shame you can't come with, or even visit. I'm glad I get to at least spend some time with my niece!"
"Yeah- like come on bro you sure there isn't anyway for me to go with him?"
Hohenheim adjusted his glasses, again, and thought for a moment. "Well... I am in need of a new assistant researcher. And after some time working for the LCE you would hopefully be freed from prisoner status. Earning some time off then would be. A possibility" He shared a subtle smile with Kira's much wider and much toothier smile.
The Sibling laughed. "Great! You better try your best to get that to happen Specs. I'd owe you a favour, and thats valuable coming from the middle!"
After the second round of goodbyes that day, Kira and Hohenheim returned to her solitary confinement chamber, though at this point it had become more of a room to her.
Kira hummed happily as Hohenheim opened the door to her chamber, before turning back to him. "Did you mean what you said earlier? About me becoming a researcher?"
Hohenheim paused. "Well. It's certainly in the cards, you've managed to impress upon me more than the new hires. Especially after what happened with the Ring"
"Heh! Sweet"
"Ah but one more thing Kira. Could you get the name of your... Uncle? He never bothered to mention it before leaving"
"Oh crap you're right... Ah where's a pen I need a- oh it's got on attached very swanky!"
Hohenheim smiled, closing the door and leaving. Not before snickering at a very loud and very muffled "IT'S A GLITTER PEN? OH THATS PEAK!" from within the chamber.
~~Later. In U Corp~~
"So. How'd it go Bro? I don't see the kid with you" A brother of the middle spoke in-between bites. Him and the older sibling eating at the counter in a favoured hole in the wall.
"Had to use the plan B" He said, lifting up his hand, showing the golden chain flying off into the distance. "It's alright though... We're keeping in touch"
"Great great. We'll see her soon then? Took long enough for that bastard to kick it I was hoping it'd all be over by today"
The older sibling just hummed in agreement, but the other sibling didn't stop there, nudging him in the shoulder.
"So... what about the rest? You didn't just go to collect the kid right?"
The older sibling finished his bowl, slurping the dregs at the bottom. "Patience is key dude. That sword is not for us two. Besides, I've got mine" He shuffled his chains, they rattled and tightened around a large object, wrapped in black cloth.
The other sibling paused eating, and began to count on their fingers, before sighing. "I don't know how many ancient poets used the word 'dude' in their haikus"
"I think it's radical- Oh" He felt a small vibration, and reached into a pocket, taking out and flipping through a small book. Two distinct sets of handwriting on each page. One in glittery purple, the other starry black.
He unlatched his pen from the side, and responded to the message.
"It's a lovely name, Kira. The one good decision he made.
Me? Well.
You can call me Flatwell"
He tucked the book back into his pocket and payed the chef. "C'mon, lets bounce. I've gotta go shopping"
The night was dark that night. Anxiousness and worry in her stomach. But for the first time in her life. The girl had felt the warmth of a bond that wouldn't break.