Songs For Daddy- Chapter 33: The Answer (part 1)
Author: bar_ohki
Title: Songs for Daddy
Rating: This chapter is rated T.
Summary: After receiving a phone call, Hiruma abandons his job, his football team, and his friends, disappearing into nothing. After several years pass, Mamori finds a strange girl in her Kindergarten class, a girl strange enough to have the only remaining connection to the missing quarterback….
Notes: The Answer is by Automatic Loveletter, I do not own it.
Links: To song on youtube: Video
To lyrics of song: Lyrics
To a list of chapter links: Links
To chapter 32: Hanging by a Moment
To chapter 33, part 2: here
Songs for Daddy
Chapter 33: The Answer
Juumonji hadn’t had time to change out of his uniform when he finally arrived outside of Hiruma’s apartment. He couldn’t help but to stop and stare at the door in awe. Behind this door was the little hole Hiruma had been successfully hiding in for the last six years and the precious daughter that Hiruma had done the hiding for. Juumonji couldn’t help but to think about how he managed to get this job.
Hiruma had actually come back to Takekura Construction Company two months ago, but it wasn’t until today that his presence back at the company was announced. Something about grace periods, Juumonji didn’t really care about the excuse. He was more interested in hearing what Hiruma had to say about the last six years.
Juumonji wasn’t too surprised about who he found in the board room that morning. Kuroki, Togano, himself, Komusubi, Gaou, Onihei, Kurita, and the others on the Babies line. Not to mention they had some of the back there too: Mushanokoji, Tetsuma, Kaitani, and Ikkyu. Yukimitsu was there too, but he always kind of showed up at these Devil Bat receptions, so no one thought anything of it. Raimon was probably the only really surprising face in the room, considering he was supposed to be in America right now and judging by the startled look on Hiruma’s face that, he hadn’t been expecting that either.
“I was kind of wondering why Sena had to stop practice and fly out here.” Raimon confessed. “And he asked me to make sure Hiruma was okay.” Everyone seemed to be satisfied with that explanation, even if Hiruma grumbled something to himself.
“Well, this is your meeting.” Takekura pointed out to Hiruma, looking a little bored like he usually did. Kurita and Takekura were here mostly because everyone expected them to be. Since they already knew about Hiruma’s last six years and had been helping him transition into society again, they wouldn’t be learning anything new today.
Before Hiruma stood up to speak Juumonji noticed something about his expression he hadn’t ever recalled seeing on Hiruma before: hesitation and regret. Obviously Hiruma was the one most affected by his absence, something Juumonji hadn’t appreciated until now. Silence fell over the room and all eyes turned to look at Hiruma as he stood there.
“First off, I got hitched 8 years back. Arranged and shit, totally superficial.” Hiruma began, waving off most of what actually happened with his marriage as ‘unimportant’. “Anyways my wife got pregnant-”
“Huh?” Kuroki protested, he didn’t follow that explanation at all. “What do you mean ‘got pregnant’?” Okay, part of the explanation.
“She fucked and got pregnant, it’s where babies come from.” Hiruma gave Kuroki a flat look. On the other hand his tone had the faintest sense of helplessness about it. This was not an easy subject for Hiruma. Most of the people there didn’t catch that, like Toganou.
“Does this mean-!?” Toganou cut himself off, dreading the next thought.
“-You have a kid?” Juumonji finished, wanting to know the answer enough to dare to finish the question.
“No, my wife was having an affair with fucking dreads and got knocked up,” Hiruma rolled his eyes, his voice oozing with sarcasm, “of course it was my kid!”
Kurita started laughing and Hiruma shot him a slightly disgusted and mostly confused look.
“You’re joking about it now!” Kurita laughed a little. He was really happy about this. The expression on Hiruma’s face became thoughtful and somber for a moment before returning back to the annoyed expression it had had when he started the explanation.
“A kid, huh?” Gaou looked at Hiruma carefully.
“What happened to him?” Onihei asked.
“She,” Hiruma corrected Onihei, “has been living in my house, being raised by me.”
Raimon’s eyes flew open. The thought of Hiruma of all people being a single was just mind boggling.
“Why’d you wait so long to tell us?” Yukimitsu asked suddenly, startling the room. He’d been sitting in the back quietly, watching Hiruma carefully. To be honest, Yukimitsu had just heard that Hiruma had been found and was having a meeting about a week ago. He didn’t know anything about Emiko and her situation.
Hiruma shut his eyes and took a trembling breath, having lost his composure at Yukimitsu’s question.
“I-”Hiruma almost choked on his own breath, “-I was scared.”
The room fell silent. Hiruma doesn’t admit weakness like this, ever. It was jarring to see the almost inhumanly amazing man like Hiruma be normal, be scared. Everyone always thought of the demonic trickster and forgot he was a fragile human underneath all of that. That’s how Hiruma had wanted it.
“I have yet to meet a parent that wasn’t scared about being one at some point,” Yukimitsu commented, “and I can’t say I’m too surprised to hear you went a bit overboard about it. You’ve never done anything in moderation.”
Mummers of agreement filled the room.
“G-girl!” Komusubi demanded suddenly.
“He says he’s only willing to forgive you if you show us some pictures of your lovely daughter right now.” Kurita translated quickly. Several more agreeing mummers filled the room.
“Ke ke ke! Aren’t you fucking lucky I came prepared?” Hiruma pulled a ton of photographs out nowhere, startling everyone in the room. “Her name’s Hiruma Emiko and she’s six.” He then passed them out.
“She’s-!” Onihei gasped.
“Cute max!” Raimon muttered.
“’Course.” Hiruma smiled with smug fatherly pride. Most of the pictures considered of Emiko in the living room at his apartment playing with her stuffed animals or playing with her puppy. Being Emiko, she had a big smile and seemed to be happily laughing in most of the images.
“If it wasn’t for the ears I wouldn’t believe she was your kid….” Mushanokoji remarked only to have a paper cup thrown at his head. Hiruma only glared, his arm outstretched just enough to make it clear who threw that cup.
“Aww Tetsuma, why didn’t you catch that?” Mushanokoji asked his friend.
“You deserved it.” Tetsuma replied in a monotone. Everyone else in the room laughed at Mushanokoji’s expense.
“Any other fucking questions?” Hiruma asked.
“When can we meet her?” Gaou asked, much to everyone’s amazement.
“Next Friday if you want to babysit,” Hiruma answered, “I’m not really up for fucking guests right now.”
“I-I’ll do it.” Juumonji volunteered. Hiruma’s disappearance hadn’t sat well with him and hearing about Emiko…. The security officer wanted some answers and the only way he was going to find them was by meeting Emiko.
“Huh?”
“Huh!?”
“Han!”
“Oh?” Hiruma was amused. “That was fast, fucking eldest.”
“We’re. Not. Brothers!” Juumonji, Kuroki, and Toganou spat on reflex. Everyone laughed again.
Juumonji knocked.
“You’re 10 minutes late.” Hiruma remarked, looking particularly unhappy with this. He was dressed extremely sharply, with a notable return of the bleach blond hair.
“Couldn’t find the visitor parking.” Juumonji confessed and Hiruma only nodded sympathetically.
“Here’s the deal,” Hiruma began as he led Juumonji into the living room, “dinner is at 6 pm, tell her to feed the dog after dinner, at 8 pm there’s a show she likes to watch on TV and at 9:30 pm she goes to bed. Under no circumstances are you to give her sugar and be firm or she’ll walk all over you.”
Juumonji stared at Hiruma, those were insanely specific instructions. Surely taking care of a kid wasn’t that involved.
“Also, don’t be late with anything or she’ll get upset. Really upset.” Hiruma warned Juumonji. “She’s got Asperger’s Syndrome and really hates it if something’s late.” He was deadly serious about that. Juumonji faintly recalled Hiruma and Onihei talking about that at the end of the meeting. He hadn’t been paying attention.
“Okay.” Juumonji nodded.
“Oye! Emiko!” Hiruma called into the back of the apartment. “I’m leaving, do you want to say goodbye?”
The sound of rapidly pounding feet came down the hall and Juumonji got his first look at Emiko in person. She was wearing a bright red shirt and some shorts. Her hair was up in two blue ribbons and she was smiling brightly.
“Papa!” Emiko called, running right into Hiruma’s open arms. “You will have a good time be happy with Mom, okay?” It took Juumonji a second to figure out that Emiko was lecturing her father. Her face was super serious and her tone was monotone and fast, but she clearly meant what she said.
Hiruma smiled at his daughter kindly and squeezed her hand. “I will, now you be good for Juumonji-san, okay?”
“Okay.” Emiko nodded.
Standing up, Hiruma turned to Juumonji. “Well, I leave you to it. My cell’s on the fridge, don’t call me for something stupid.” And with that Hiruma grabbed a bouquet of flowers and went out the door.
After Hiruma left Juumonji and Emiko turned and looked at each other.
“Hey.” Juumonji greeted Emiko with a small smile.
Slowly, Emiko’s face lit up as her big eyes looked Juumonji up and down. Her hands started flapping ever so slightly. In all honesty, Juumonji wasn’t sure what he thought of this.
“We,” Emiko began her eyes sparkling, “should play dress up!”
“Huh?”
And Juumonji’s evening spiraled down hill from there.
_=_=_=_=_
Link to part 2: here
Title: Songs for Daddy
Rating: This chapter is rated T.
Summary: After receiving a phone call, Hiruma abandons his job, his football team, and his friends, disappearing into nothing. After several years pass, Mamori finds a strange girl in her Kindergarten class, a girl strange enough to have the only remaining connection to the missing quarterback….
Notes: The Answer is by Automatic Loveletter, I do not own it.
Links: To song on youtube: Video
To lyrics of song: Lyrics
To a list of chapter links: Links
To chapter 32: Hanging by a Moment
To chapter 33, part 2: here
Songs for Daddy
Chapter 33: The Answer
Juumonji hadn’t had time to change out of his uniform when he finally arrived outside of Hiruma’s apartment. He couldn’t help but to stop and stare at the door in awe. Behind this door was the little hole Hiruma had been successfully hiding in for the last six years and the precious daughter that Hiruma had done the hiding for. Juumonji couldn’t help but to think about how he managed to get this job.
Hiruma had actually come back to Takekura Construction Company two months ago, but it wasn’t until today that his presence back at the company was announced. Something about grace periods, Juumonji didn’t really care about the excuse. He was more interested in hearing what Hiruma had to say about the last six years.
Juumonji wasn’t too surprised about who he found in the board room that morning. Kuroki, Togano, himself, Komusubi, Gaou, Onihei, Kurita, and the others on the Babies line. Not to mention they had some of the back there too: Mushanokoji, Tetsuma, Kaitani, and Ikkyu. Yukimitsu was there too, but he always kind of showed up at these Devil Bat receptions, so no one thought anything of it. Raimon was probably the only really surprising face in the room, considering he was supposed to be in America right now and judging by the startled look on Hiruma’s face that, he hadn’t been expecting that either.
“I was kind of wondering why Sena had to stop practice and fly out here.” Raimon confessed. “And he asked me to make sure Hiruma was okay.” Everyone seemed to be satisfied with that explanation, even if Hiruma grumbled something to himself.
“Well, this is your meeting.” Takekura pointed out to Hiruma, looking a little bored like he usually did. Kurita and Takekura were here mostly because everyone expected them to be. Since they already knew about Hiruma’s last six years and had been helping him transition into society again, they wouldn’t be learning anything new today.
Before Hiruma stood up to speak Juumonji noticed something about his expression he hadn’t ever recalled seeing on Hiruma before: hesitation and regret. Obviously Hiruma was the one most affected by his absence, something Juumonji hadn’t appreciated until now. Silence fell over the room and all eyes turned to look at Hiruma as he stood there.
“First off, I got hitched 8 years back. Arranged and shit, totally superficial.” Hiruma began, waving off most of what actually happened with his marriage as ‘unimportant’. “Anyways my wife got pregnant-”
“Huh?” Kuroki protested, he didn’t follow that explanation at all. “What do you mean ‘got pregnant’?” Okay, part of the explanation.
“She fucked and got pregnant, it’s where babies come from.” Hiruma gave Kuroki a flat look. On the other hand his tone had the faintest sense of helplessness about it. This was not an easy subject for Hiruma. Most of the people there didn’t catch that, like Toganou.
“Does this mean-!?” Toganou cut himself off, dreading the next thought.
“-You have a kid?” Juumonji finished, wanting to know the answer enough to dare to finish the question.
“No, my wife was having an affair with fucking dreads and got knocked up,” Hiruma rolled his eyes, his voice oozing with sarcasm, “of course it was my kid!”
Kurita started laughing and Hiruma shot him a slightly disgusted and mostly confused look.
“You’re joking about it now!” Kurita laughed a little. He was really happy about this. The expression on Hiruma’s face became thoughtful and somber for a moment before returning back to the annoyed expression it had had when he started the explanation.
“A kid, huh?” Gaou looked at Hiruma carefully.
“What happened to him?” Onihei asked.
“She,” Hiruma corrected Onihei, “has been living in my house, being raised by me.”
Raimon’s eyes flew open. The thought of Hiruma of all people being a single was just mind boggling.
“Why’d you wait so long to tell us?” Yukimitsu asked suddenly, startling the room. He’d been sitting in the back quietly, watching Hiruma carefully. To be honest, Yukimitsu had just heard that Hiruma had been found and was having a meeting about a week ago. He didn’t know anything about Emiko and her situation.
Hiruma shut his eyes and took a trembling breath, having lost his composure at Yukimitsu’s question.
“I-”Hiruma almost choked on his own breath, “-I was scared.”
The room fell silent. Hiruma doesn’t admit weakness like this, ever. It was jarring to see the almost inhumanly amazing man like Hiruma be normal, be scared. Everyone always thought of the demonic trickster and forgot he was a fragile human underneath all of that. That’s how Hiruma had wanted it.
“I have yet to meet a parent that wasn’t scared about being one at some point,” Yukimitsu commented, “and I can’t say I’m too surprised to hear you went a bit overboard about it. You’ve never done anything in moderation.”
Mummers of agreement filled the room.
“G-girl!” Komusubi demanded suddenly.
“He says he’s only willing to forgive you if you show us some pictures of your lovely daughter right now.” Kurita translated quickly. Several more agreeing mummers filled the room.
“Ke ke ke! Aren’t you fucking lucky I came prepared?” Hiruma pulled a ton of photographs out nowhere, startling everyone in the room. “Her name’s Hiruma Emiko and she’s six.” He then passed them out.
“She’s-!” Onihei gasped.
“Cute max!” Raimon muttered.
“’Course.” Hiruma smiled with smug fatherly pride. Most of the pictures considered of Emiko in the living room at his apartment playing with her stuffed animals or playing with her puppy. Being Emiko, she had a big smile and seemed to be happily laughing in most of the images.
“If it wasn’t for the ears I wouldn’t believe she was your kid….” Mushanokoji remarked only to have a paper cup thrown at his head. Hiruma only glared, his arm outstretched just enough to make it clear who threw that cup.
“Aww Tetsuma, why didn’t you catch that?” Mushanokoji asked his friend.
“You deserved it.” Tetsuma replied in a monotone. Everyone else in the room laughed at Mushanokoji’s expense.
“Any other fucking questions?” Hiruma asked.
“When can we meet her?” Gaou asked, much to everyone’s amazement.
“Next Friday if you want to babysit,” Hiruma answered, “I’m not really up for fucking guests right now.”
“I-I’ll do it.” Juumonji volunteered. Hiruma’s disappearance hadn’t sat well with him and hearing about Emiko…. The security officer wanted some answers and the only way he was going to find them was by meeting Emiko.
“Huh?”
“Huh!?”
“Han!”
“Oh?” Hiruma was amused. “That was fast, fucking eldest.”
“We’re. Not. Brothers!” Juumonji, Kuroki, and Toganou spat on reflex. Everyone laughed again.
Juumonji knocked.
“You’re 10 minutes late.” Hiruma remarked, looking particularly unhappy with this. He was dressed extremely sharply, with a notable return of the bleach blond hair.
“Couldn’t find the visitor parking.” Juumonji confessed and Hiruma only nodded sympathetically.
“Here’s the deal,” Hiruma began as he led Juumonji into the living room, “dinner is at 6 pm, tell her to feed the dog after dinner, at 8 pm there’s a show she likes to watch on TV and at 9:30 pm she goes to bed. Under no circumstances are you to give her sugar and be firm or she’ll walk all over you.”
Juumonji stared at Hiruma, those were insanely specific instructions. Surely taking care of a kid wasn’t that involved.
“Also, don’t be late with anything or she’ll get upset. Really upset.” Hiruma warned Juumonji. “She’s got Asperger’s Syndrome and really hates it if something’s late.” He was deadly serious about that. Juumonji faintly recalled Hiruma and Onihei talking about that at the end of the meeting. He hadn’t been paying attention.
“Okay.” Juumonji nodded.
“Oye! Emiko!” Hiruma called into the back of the apartment. “I’m leaving, do you want to say goodbye?”
The sound of rapidly pounding feet came down the hall and Juumonji got his first look at Emiko in person. She was wearing a bright red shirt and some shorts. Her hair was up in two blue ribbons and she was smiling brightly.
“Papa!” Emiko called, running right into Hiruma’s open arms. “You will have a good time be happy with Mom, okay?” It took Juumonji a second to figure out that Emiko was lecturing her father. Her face was super serious and her tone was monotone and fast, but she clearly meant what she said.
Hiruma smiled at his daughter kindly and squeezed her hand. “I will, now you be good for Juumonji-san, okay?”
“Okay.” Emiko nodded.
Standing up, Hiruma turned to Juumonji. “Well, I leave you to it. My cell’s on the fridge, don’t call me for something stupid.” And with that Hiruma grabbed a bouquet of flowers and went out the door.
After Hiruma left Juumonji and Emiko turned and looked at each other.
“Hey.” Juumonji greeted Emiko with a small smile.
Slowly, Emiko’s face lit up as her big eyes looked Juumonji up and down. Her hands started flapping ever so slightly. In all honesty, Juumonji wasn’t sure what he thought of this.
“We,” Emiko began her eyes sparkling, “should play dress up!”
“Huh?”
And Juumonji’s evening spiraled down hill from there.
_=_=_=_=_
Link to part 2: here