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Ace is 14 when she first appears; he is busy preparing lunch for himself when he hears a feminine voice humming. It isn’t his mother, as shes at work, so he turns to investigate.
Ace follows the humming and sees a woman dressed as a geisha in his hallway. It’s pretty obvious shes a ghost, lost and somehow wandered to his home. The woman turns to face Ace as he adverts his eyes. Neither of them speak—Ace was a little scared to talk, and after a beat of silence the woman speaks up, “Hello child, what is your name?”
Turns out the woman’s name was Michiko. She was a geisha that left her work to marry a man she loved, but she only tells him that it didn’t end well for her. Ace doesn’t pry, he knows that it would only upset her. He also learned that she doesn’t like to be looked at, so he tries his best to not look at her, opting to stare at the intricate fabric of her kimono when they interact. In turn, Michiko treats Ace softly: doing his hair, making snacks for him, and generally making sure he is content. Especially with how busy Ace’s mother is, Ace always appreciated how Michiko doted on him.
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In the now present, Ace is preparing some tea for himself. As he does, he hums a song he personally never listened to, something Michiko always hummed. He isn’t sure what Michiko does while he is away at NRC, but he hopes she isn’t too upset at his absence; she likes brushing his hair, its a pity how short it is now.
“Ace?” His train of thought and humming are abruptly stopped by a familiar voice, “Ah! Oh- Housewarden! What do you need?” Encountering Riddle was always a tad nerve-wracking, even if his temper had dialed down notably. “Well, I’ve noticed that you hum that song quite a bit. I wanted to ask what the song was.”
“. . . .”
“…Ace?”
“Oh! The song I hum? I’m… not exactly sure..hahaa….. my uhm—older.. older sister! She always hummed songs and I picked up the habit, I guess.”
“You have an older sister?” Riddle asked, curiously, “You haven’t mentioned her before, unlike your older brother.”
“I haven’t really- you know, gotten much of an opportunity to talk about her…considering people at this school don’t really…talk.. about themselves and their family unless promoted, so..”
Riddle examined Ace for a brief moment, sighed, and simply walked away. Ace let out a breath; he wasn’t sure why he blanked and said that Michiko was his sister—sure, it was an easy explanation, but it wasn’t an exact descriptor of their relationship. It feels different from a brother-sister connection, despite it being familial. It’s… hard to describe.
Ace glared at his tea. Took a sip. Huffed and decided to read a book or something. Anything to distract himself.
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It’s been roughly a week since that interaction, and Ace can’t help but continue to think about it. He hopes he didn’t weird Riddle out with his frazzled response—that’d be mortifying.
He sighs and gets up from his desk, putting away homework he’s been staring at for the past 12 minutes. It’s due in a week, he’ll get it done. He’s just…. Unable to focus.
Whenever he couldn’t focus, Michiko would always coax him into having a break; she would prepare Ace fruit as he attempted to explain his assignments.
He could certainly use her company again, she’d always scratch his head and hum soothing tunes that’d relax him whenever stressed. Michiko’s hands were always cold to the touch, which Ace liked quite a lot—it’d be hot outside and Ace would squirm in the heat. He’d run inside and tie his, at the time, long hair into a ponytail and look for Michiko.
She’d always be standing ominously in a corner, looking at the art on the walls. Ace would walk up to her, babbling about the heat and how unbearable it is, and she’d suddenly press her frigid hands into the back of his neck. It always earned a squeak from the kid, but Michiko would laugh, so he didn’t mind too much.
It’s too hot in this room. The red walls absorb the heat, and for sole reason his roommates insist on keeping the AC off. It can be unbearable at night, the heat slowly suffocating him in the dead of night.
With a huff, he walks out of the room to go-…somewhere he’s going somewhere. He passes by classmates through the halls and goes straight to the rose maze.
The air is lightly saturated with the scent of roses, one that Ace enjoys quite a lot. Back home his mother would always have roses in the house that he tended to daily. Of course, the roses were in vases and were fated to death. Ace would always be upset about that part of the care loop, and Michiko would always comfort him about it.
Ace wanders through the maze, not caring where he is going. The mere activity of walking already soothes him more. He thinks that, if she had the chance, Michiko would enjoy walks in this place. She always mentioned her adoration of flowers and gardens.
Ace notices a bench as he’s walking, and decides to take a break from his walk to sit. As he does, he hears footsteps faintly on the grass. His eyes follow the sound of walking, and locks eyes with Riddle again.
There is a pause where neither speak.
Riddle is staring Ace down with a serious expression.
Ace stares back.
“Ace, I’d like to know more about your sister.”
“..oh? Is that so?” Ace smiles and pats the empty space on the bench, “Well come on over and ask away, Mr. Housewarden.”
Riddle slowly walks to the bench and sits at it, “‘Mr. housewarden’? That’s a new one. When’d you come up with that name?” Ace’s smile turns into a smirk as he retorts, “Psh, a while ago.-“ He shrugs, -“Just been waiting for a good time to use it, yaknow?” His face turns to a more neutral expression as he finally prompts, “So what’d you want to know about my sister?”
“Well, I should say beforehand that the reason I ask is because… I.. I want to get to know you better and what kind of family you’re from. Family shapes who a person is, and I want to learn more about that. To see how different people are shaped, I guess.”
“Well! Housewarden Riddle,” Ace giggles, “Just to let you know I am very much not like my family! Both my parents are preetty serious. They just don’t moniter me a whole bunch. It’s an interesting a…uhhh…project? I guess? Good.. cool…. Uhh social, people-person thhing. Yup. It’s like, a cool…a cool experiment.. i guess.”
Riddle stares at Ace with an amused expression before stating, “Yes, I.. suppose. Regardless, could you just.. tell me things about your sister? Name, personality, how she treated you?”
“My sister’s name is Michiko! It’s… it’s foreign she was…addopted.. before my brother was born. Yeah. Shes pretty like, mature, I guess? She’s sort of like Trey a bit. Shes uh… more melancholic though. She had a fiance but it didn’t work out so… She likes flowers and other art. She’s also very affectionate with me. I used to have like, super long hair and she’d always do it in pretty styles. I had to.. cut it though.” He took a breath after that last part, his demeanor shifting to a more dejected face.
“Why’d you have to cut it?” Riddle asked, almost hesitant.
“Bah. Some kids that were bigger and older thought it was fun to pick on smaller kids, and I was a target. They normally just like, insulted me but one time they pinned me down and chopped my hair all uneven. I sobbed for a couple of hours, according to my mom. My hair means a lot to me, so i was absolutely devastated.”
“Oh.. I’m sorry for bringing it up.” Riddle’s eyes looked downward to the grass, discomfort clear in his eyes.
“Naw, you’re good. It may take me a whole long while to grow it back to its original length, but as long as it’s healthy, im glad.” Ace nudged Riddle, “So, got any specific questions?”
“Oh, no. I shouldn’t take any more of your time, actually. I’ll see you later, Ace.” Riddle stood quickly and started speed walking away, “I expect you at your dorm before lights out!”
“Oh yea, sure.” Ace nodded to Riddle. After his housewarden was out of eyeshot, he leaned back into the bench. Riddle seemed..flushed? During the whole conversation? Like he was embarrassed. Weird. Ace doesn’t really know what to make of it, so for now he’ll just relax and think about what Michiko could possibly be doing right now.