Chapter Text
Some would say the girl surrounded by crows had a creepy smile.
They would be right. It came completely naturally for her, and she enjoyed using it to great effect when talking with others. The atmosphere during conversations was also enhanced with the way she let her eyelids lazily droop sometimes and the chaotic patterns in which the crows flew around in. It all came together in a well-made display.
Beyond that, she couldn't help but smile as she watched people's stories unfold in the world around her.
Today, she was watching another chapter of Ai Hoshino's story play out. The star-in-the-making was with the boy who will spring major changes to her life. They were with the rest of their theater company at a park for some group exercise, but Ai made sure to keep close to the boy as they captured secret moments away from the troupe, ignorant of the tragedies to come.
Then the girl surrounded by crows lost her smile.
She almost didn't recognize the dog. She has seen him before, but not in this form..
A tag from his collar was in English, naming him Bartholomew of all things.
Ai lowered herself to her knees to play with the dog enthusiastically barking and pawing at her. After some visible hesitation, the boy also leaned down, but he barely touched the dog before pulling back.
The girl with the crows doubted the dog was here solely for Ai Hoshino. There had to be other business in Japan which had drawn his presence, but whatever that may be, it evidently wasn't pressing enough to prevent him from spending a short reprieve with Ai Hoshino and her lover.
Considering who the dog really was, Ai's story will likely change. The crows chirped to voice the girl's vexation at the new state of affairs. She would have preferred little outside interference in the Hoshino saga – not that the girl was one to talk since she was willing to step in to see the story continue with a focused direction if need be, but the dog had even less right than her to make this his business.
Perhaps the girl was being too harsh. Perhaps a blessing from Bartholomew will make for an interesting story.
She regained her twisted smile. The dog saw her, gave a low rumbling sound from the back of his throat, and darted deeper into the forestry of the park. Ai's partner kept her from chasing after Bartholomew.
Yes, the more she pondered on it, the dog's brief helping hand might be something the players in Ai's story can use to frame something truly memorable in its own right.
And she'll look at it all with a smile.
"Safeguard the secret of Ai and her children. Dote on these children and do everything they ask of you."
Aqua felt his frown grow more pronounced as Ruby laid out the terms of Miyako's so-called divine mission. He wanted to keep Ai safe as much as his new sister, but she may be taking their deception too far… or maybe that was exactly how far it needed to be taken, to overcome the limitations of their current state of their bodies…
"Do thusly, and a second marriage to a handsome actor is not out of the question."
And Miyako was eating it up, her face red with delight at the prospect presented to her. "Seriously?!" On her knees, she leaned forward and gently held Ruby's tiny hands. "I'll do it! I'll do whatever you ask of me! I'll even–"
Miyako cut herself off. She turned away from Ruby and Aqua sitting atop the living room table and looked down at another blonde baby, dressed in a onesie a shade of blue darker than Aqua's. The child was on colorful, softly padded carpeting as he crowded stuffed animals atop an oversized toy pirate ship. He squealed and snickered happily, oblivious to the conversation ongoing nearby.
"If you two are divine messengers," Miyako said slowly, "then what about Cobalt?"
Cobalt Hoshino must have felt the three pairs of eyes on him as he turned toward them. He gave a wave that accidentally toppled the ship and sending the animals overboard, which only made his chortles even louder.
"Oh, him, he's just a real baby…" Ruby trailed off before scrambling to get back into character. "But blessed with the privilege of being another of Ai's precious children! Though he cannot give commands or requests as we can, still take care to guarantee a safe and fortunate life for him as the rest of Ai's family."
That seemed to seal the deal for Miyako, who nodded vigorously and pledged to uphold her duties.
Shortly afterward, when Miyako began humming softly to herself about a possible second marriage and Aqua mused aloud on Ruby's admirable acting ability, the eldest Hoshino sibling found his gaze turned back to the last of Ai's triplets. Now Cobalt was wrestling with one of the larger stuffed toys, slapping its cheeks and watching it spin in place.
Aqua wasn't particularly superstitious when he had been Gorou Amamiya, but he can't deny the otherworldly nature of his and Ruby's reincarnations to the same idol they had both adored in their previous lives. That made Cobalt's apparent lack of a reincarnated soul all the more bizarre. With the many countless fans Ai had, surely whatever supernatural powers that be which had granted the older Hoshino children's memories of past lives could have done the same for the third child?
Yet after constant observation of Cobalt and prodding at him with the simplest of words and phrases, the boy only ever gave Aqua and Ruby the typical incoherent noises of curiosity and fascination of an infant. No recognition of Ai as an idol or the strange self-awareness of being talking babies like with Ruby. No awkwardness or – thank god – perverse pleasure as a boy when being smothered or breastfed by Ai. No hints of a greater understanding of the world around him drawn from any possible prior life experience.
Cobalt Hoshino was truly nothing more than a baby boy, happy to distract himself with the various toys bought for and gifted to all of the Hoshino children. Most of Ruby's and Aqua's free time without Ai at this point were spent napping, watching Ai on TV, or watching Ai on one of the spare smartphones anyway. Ai finding Cobalt trying to bite into her phone a while back was one of the more telling signs of the status of Cobalt's mental state.
"Hey," Ruby said to Aqua, prompting him out of his lingering thoughts. He realized he had been staring at Cobalt for a short while, the boy now having moved on to playing with Miyako's hair as she held him close to feed him a bottle of milk. Miyako's good mood with her promised fate looked to be enough to suppress her usual annoyance when Cobalt did that. "Are you really sure he isn't faking being a baby?"
"I'm positive." If Cobalt was truly a reincarnated soul, he would have to be the greatest actor in the world in his past life to go along with the baby act and willful ignorance to his siblings' intelligence for so long.
"Maybe he was your twin brother in your last life? And that's why he's your identical sibling again."
"I can definitively tell you that I was an only child."
As his moniker and Ai's naming conventions may have suggested, Cobalt was practically a mirror image to Aqua: similarly blue onesies if in different shades, plus the blonde hair – more than likely from their biological father – and the striking blue eyes inherited from their mother.
"Well…" Ruby muttered before decisively pumping a fist. "That just means I get to be the older sister he'll look up to and learn all about how to properly appreciate and love Ai!"
The devoted fan in Aqua couldn't bring himself to object to Ruby's want to raise their little brother into another idol fanatic. It would be for Ai, after all.
Still, Ai deserved to have at least one of her children be normal and raised somewhat conventionally, her own fame and a reincarnated brother/sister pair notwithstanding.
If anyone had any true claim to being Ai's child, it had to be Cobalt.
He may still be a kid who didn't yet know how to walk or talk, but the vibrant look on his face at everything around him was too much like Ai's. She gave her passion and love to all of her fans, and Cobalt seemed to do the same ignorantly to anything and everything around him. A generous excitement and a genuine smile of an innocent child instead of the laser-focused dedication and care Aqua and Ruby held for Ai.
Even now as Cobalt crawled toward Ruby as she cooed and called for him to come closer, Aqua imagined two stars spread between Cobalt's eyes, compelling the older siblings to shower him with attention.
It was only natural to pay more attention to Cobalt as the youngest, and as the only real baby among them, but Aqua still couldn't stray from the idea that this was truly Ai's son.
Gorou Amamiya wasn't able to see through the delivery of Ai's children as he had promised. Aqua Hoshino, on the other hand, can make up for his prior absence and ensure her children now – himself, Ruby, and Cobalt – live as best as life can provide them.
"Great job today, Ai!"
That was the common message Ai received as she was leaving the film set. She returned the appreciative smiles and congratulations with her own, complimenting everyone's work as well. Production delays had made today's work a bit more strained than usual, but between the lead star's good attitude and Ai putting her idol radiance to good use, they had completed the necessary scenes for the penultimate episode of this week's TV drama as painlessly as possible.
Ai had even managed to sneak a bit of her humming one of B-Komachi's recent songs. Hopefully the editors will let that part slip in. Ruby will have a field day once the episode airs and she spots the little easter egg made just for her.
As she rounded the corner to the parking area, she was surprised not to find Miyako waiting for her.
"Oh, president!" Ai said as she approached, Ichigo Saitou's brows scrunched together in consternation. "Why are you here?"
Miyako had left the set early to pick up the Aqua, Ruby, and Cobalt, so then she could come back for Ai and let her catch up on the kids' day at school. Ai still had an audition for another role to get through elsewhere before the day was over.
"The appointment later was canceled," Ichigo explained as he motioned hurriedly for Ai to get into his car. "Drama came up with the investors for that project – the details aren't important right now."
Matters of business weren't important? As Ai buckled in and the president pulled out of the parking lot, she asked, "Is Miyako okay?"
"Is she – oh, no, no! She's fine."
Ai's heart began beating faster. "Then is it –"
"Let me make some things clear first," Ichigo said before Ai's mind could start drowning in worst-case scenarios. "The kids are at home safe and resting with Miyako. I told her not to call you or tell you anything about what happened at their school while you were still working. No one was seriously hurt. Cobalt was still giggling like the little munchkin he is when I left your apartment. When I was told the audition today had to be dropped, I decided to bring you home directly instead of making you wait any longer."
Ai felt herself relax. Past all the arguments and disagreements she had with the president, she knew he wouldn't betray her trust when it came to their children. Prevent her from openly revealing the true nature of "the president and his wife's children" in public, yes, but if he said no one was seriously hurt, then that had to be true.
But the emphasis on seriously must mean someone was hurt.
"Is Cobalt really okay?" Ai asked, keeping her imagination at bay. "What happened to him?"
Ichigo sighed. "A nurse already looked him over. All things considered, he's doing great." At her intensified glare, he elaborated with another sigh. "Alright, some of the other kids at the preschool were apparently bullying Cobalt and dared him to climb up a tree. He fell – nothing was broken. He had a couple bruises but nothing that will leave anything permanent."
Schoolyard bullies – preschool-yard bullies hurt her Cobie?
"Things escalated when Ruby started fighting those bullies. I mean literal fighting, punching and kicking along with the yelling and screaming. Aqua got pulled into it, too, though he and Ruby weren't actually hurt." Ichigo chuckled. "Hell, the bullies were way worse off than Cobalt by the end of things."
Ai had some experience with rivalries and cliques. Her days in the orphanage. Her time in the theater company. Making peace with the other girls in B-Komachi regarding her own prominence placed above them. Then all the other entertainers in the business vying for the same jobs Ai was applying for. Even so, she couldn't remember having similar feuds or bullies when she was as young as her kids.
There was only one person in Ai's life at that time who could've played a similar part, but the situation with Cobalt and Ruby sounded different than what she had lived through.
In any case, Ai let herself smile at the thought of little, rambunctious, eager Ruby concentrating her energy into beating up the squirts who hurt her little brother. Aqua she could imagine no problem playing peacemaker and holding her back from going too overboard.
"Maybe Ruby should try to be a police officer when she grows up," Ai said with a chuckle. "Dancing can be part of her brand – the stylish officer protecting the innocent and downtrodden! I'm so proud of her. And Aqua can be her detective partner! Or he rises in the ranks and becomes the bigshot chief!"
The president snorted. "Miyako and I have already spoken with the staff at the school and the bullies' parents as your kids' guardians," he went on. "There are options of other preschools we can go over some other time if you want. I know Aqua and Ruby are pretty smart for their age, but their mama should drill the lessons in on not being so naive or reckless at school from now on. And for Cobalt, too."
Ai was never going to say no to spending more time with her children when the opportunity was practically dumped on her with no strings attached.
By the time she and the president got to her apartment, Ai could already hear her kids bickering as she walked further inside.
"You didn't have to pick a fight with them," Aqua was saying in an exasperated tone. "There were witnesses, including us, so they would have been punished regardless."
"Don't tell me you didn't want to knock their teeth out after what they did to Cobie!" That was Ruby, with all the passion she could muster.
"Fine, I won't tell you that. I'll tell you that everyone else in class will probably be too afraid of you now to put up a decent performance at the festival. They'll be busy looking over their shoulder and tripping over their own feet, too conscious of trying not to make you mad and lash out again."
"Well, I'd rather they be scared of bullying Cobalt or me or you than to have to perform with those bullies! I'll just be the only star of the festival, dancing with all eyes on me!"
Speaking lowly yet still loud enough for Ai to catch, Aqua said, "If the teachers even let you still dance… If Cobalt had just listened to us and ignored those bullies…"
Rounding the corner, Ai jumped with a spinning flourish, tossing her jacket and bag onto a chair as she landed with a thud. "Mama's home!" she cheered with one of her signature smiles.
Aqua, Miyako, and Ruby were lined up on the couch, with Cobalt sitting comfortably on Miyako's lap. Miyako only had the same general sense of being tired she usually had whenever she had to watch the kids for a long stretch of the day. Aqua and Ruby looked normal, too, still in their school uniforms. No bandages or anything.
There was a darkened area around one of Cobalt's eyes, and his sleeves were rolled up to reveal slips of bandages along his elbows; some of the scrapes from when he fell, yet Cobalt's injuries hardly seemed to phase him. Miyako tenderly pressed a small container of ice cream on his face while he happily shoved a spoonful of the ice cream into his mouth. Aqua had a napkin in his hand, supporting Miyako by periodically wiping off the excess ice cream that slipped down Cobalt's cheeks from his messy eating.
Cobalt reacted to Ai's arrival first with the same toothy grin he always wore. He winced as his eyes widened and moved against the swollen skin, but his innocent smile and starry gaze shone as bright as ever. Whatever happened at school, that was really the last thing Ai needed to see to know that everyone was safe now.
"Hi, mom!" Cobalt greeted exuberantly. Miyako gave her own acknowledging wave.
"Mama!" Ruby's greeting coincided with her immediately tackling Ai's midsection with a hug.
"Welcome home, Ai," said Aqua – and that still peeved her, him still calling Ai by her name even while in the comfort and safety of their home. But that was an issue she can try rectifying later.
"You feeling good, Cobie?" Ai asked her youngest. He loudly swallowed another gulp of ice cream before answering.
"My eye is still cold and itchy, but I think so! Now that you're home!"
"So," Ai went on in a teasing tone, "my babies got into their first fight at school?"
Though muffled with her face pressed against Ai's stomach, Ruby declared, "It was for a good cause. Aqua and I weren't even hurt." When Ai eyed Miyako for confirmation, she simply nodded.
"Ruby defended my honor today!" Cobalt added. Miyako brought him over to Ai for her to carry his weight. Ai nuzzled her chin on Cobalt's head, careful not to add undue pressure on his bruise. Miyako stepped to the side to talk quietly with Ichigo.
"They were horrible, Mama!" Ruby cried. "They tricked Cobie into thinking he wouldn't get hurt if he jumped off a tree! But I showed them why they shouldn't mess with us anymore!"
"She moved so fast," Cobalt said, the admiration in his voice obvious. "It was like when Ruby and mom dance together, but instead of trying not to hit each other when you're spinning and sliding and swinging, she hit them all at once!"
"And I'll do it again if any of those losers try anything else after today!"
Aqua crossed his arms like the wannabe adult, disapproving older brother vibe he often liked to go for. "You can't just use your dancing lessons in place of actual fighting skills."
"Why don't you learn how to fight, then? Instead of burying your head in books all day."
Ai shook her head. With Cobalt in her arms and Ruby still hanging around her waist, Ai sat on the couch beside Aqua so she could pull him into the group embrace. "I'm very proud of all of you, putting up a strong front against those bullies."
"But don't be the ones who start the fights!" the president screeched from across the room. "Aqua has the right idea. Don't let others egg you on so much!"
"Isn't that good, though?" Cobalt asked with a tilted head. "Eggs taste great!"
"No, that's the wrong idea, Cobalt!"
Ai laughed as Ichigo tried to better explain what he meant before soon giving up at Cobalt's steady stream of questions and misunderstandings. Aqua was trying to clarify the president's message while Ruby took over for cleaning ice cream stains from around Cobalt's mouth.
Since all three of the kids were identical siblings, Ai hadn't thought Cobalt as technically the youngest would actually become the "baby" of the babies, yet it somehow turned out that way regardless.
The ditzy parts of Ai's personality was only halfway an act. She honestly did have trouble remembering names and faces, and she could be more forgetful about the simplest of chores or appliances in the apartment more often than for her own good. The Saitous had also made sure she'd never forget each and every moment during interviews and public appearances when she almost let slip her secret. But she still worked hard and paid attention to what mattered the most the most in her life: her lessons in the arts, practicing diligently with the rest of the girls in B-Komachi for their performances, all of her side jobs adjacent to her idol career that might one day be her main source of income somewhere down the line, and most importantly, raising and protecting her children.
So every time Aqua or Ruby said something complex with a confidence that shouldn't be natural for toddlers their age to know and grasp, Ai always played up with the child prodigy angle. That seemed to be the response they were hoping for, considering the barely hidden brief expressions of panic on them whenever Ai or some other adult questioned their intelligence aloud. They must be afraid of being ridiculed or shunned for their big brains. Ai found it all rather cute. Ruby still sung her mother's praises and craved her attention in between getting into arguments on the social media accounts she still hadn't realized Ai knew about. For every advanced novel, textbook, or internet article Ai found Aqua reading, he still played his role as a loyal son and the eldest sibling in supporting Ruby and Cobalt – and he just had the most adorable blush whenever Ai gushed about how proud she was of him being such a considerate brother!
Already aware of how smart Aqua and Ruby are, even Ai was quick to see that Cobalt wasn't quite the same.
He actually picked up speaking long sentences and pronouncing words right very well, yet everything else lined up more with what the tutorials and blogs she's looked up said about how kids his age should act. If Ai had to sum it up, Aqua and Ruby understood things while Cobalt wanted to understand. All of her kids asked questions to learn about their mom and the world, but Cobalt's curiosity was absolutely endless in comparison.
"Cobalt," Aqua was saying after Ai relented in letting him slip out of her hug to let him throw away the now emptied ice cream container and extra trash, "you can't just instantly believe whatever random nonsense people tell you. You have to also trust your own feelings. The things you feel happening to you already in the moment should matter more than the words said by other people you don't know well."
"But I got up the tree like they said I could," Cobalt said almost matter-of-factly. "So why shouldn't diving off the branch without getting hurt not also work?"
Dumping the trash in the bin, Aqua buried his face into the wall and groaned.
Ruby reached over to clutch Cobalt's wrist. "You did feel hurt after you fell, right?"
"I mean, it sure felt and looked and sounded like I got hurt, yeah, but why would they lie?"
"They were lying to hurt you."
Ai privately gave herself a mental pat on the back for not visibly reacting at those words.
"Oh, so they were acting?" Cobalt asked. "Like how mom acts on TV and Aqua had to act with that salt-licking girl?"
"No, Cobalt," Aqua answered. Instead of rejoining his family on the sofa, he sat on a separate chair, probably having reached his tolerance today of getting smothered. He really was growing fast. "Our acting and our classmates' lying is different."
"How?
Ai decided to chime in. She couldn't just let her junior prodigies carry all the slack in teaching the youngest right from wrong, now can she? "I act for the money!" she said proudly.
"Ai, please…" Miyako moaned wearily from somewhere else in the room. Ai was keeping her eyes on her children first and foremost.
Cobalt bent his neck to look directly up at Ai. His head was still twisted slightly at an angle, so Ai also shifted so their stares were level with one another. "Acting on TV is okay because everyone involved already knows we're 'lying' to each other," she explained. "You know how you play with your toys and pretend that they can talk and move without you making them?"
"Yeah?"
"It's the same thing!" Ai stroked loose hair strands away from Cobalt's bruise. "Everyone agrees to lie, to act, to 'play' so they can all have fun. It's different from what happened with your bullies. They knew they were lying, but you didn't know they were lying. That's no good."
She could see his brain turning the gears to process what he was being told. "So it's okay to lie when everyone who's lying already knows they're lying?"
"Yup!" Ai said. This was probably the best way Cobalt can learn how not to let people take advantage of his naive nature. "The next time you play with your friends at school, learn how to spot the lie. Be honest to them and make sure they're honest to you before you start playing together. If you're still not sure, go to your older siblings. As your brother and sister, you can rely on them to tell you the truth no matter what. Isn't that right?"
The responses came exactly as expected.
"Of course, Mama!"
"Right."
His head still tilted backward, Cobalt bent his arm and made a sloppy salute – no doubt picked up from the action movie Ai had recently gotten a small role in. "Okay, mom!"
Ai thought she would be able to keep her smile on effortlessly for the rest of the day. Then Cobalt said something that made her immediately frown.
"Mom, am I stupid?"
All the information videos and advice articles about not displaying favoritism or bias for any of her children against their siblings hit Ai like a bullet train. "Of course you're not, Cobie!
Cobalt was still smiling, but Ai couldn't tell if it was a pretend smile his siblings sometimes put on to keep up appearances or just a stock instinct to not let his expression fall. Either way, it'd be something he'd have inherited from her. "But my friends say I am, for always asking stupid questions and doing stupid things. I have to listen to them to know how not to keep being stupid."
Ai put up a pout as she hugged Cobalt tighter. "Well, it sounds like you need better friends!"
"But I don't want to stop being friends with Aqua and Ruby."
Ai wasn't the only one confused, since Ruby let out an incredulous gasp. "What are you talking about? Cobie, we're your siblings!"
Aqua was more level-headed. "What do you mean when you say 'friends'?" he asked Cobalt.
"Friends are people your age who you hang out with," he said with his limbs stretched widely through Ai's own hugging arms, "so Aqua and Ruby are my bestest friends in the whole world!" Ai would have tightened her cuddle with Cobalt even more for his cuteness if his body wasn't still healing.
"But we don't call you stupid!" Ruby squealed before shutting her mouth with a quiver. "Or, well…"
"Yeah, you called me stupid for for jumping off the tree. And Aqua always makes that hungry stomach-growling sound with his mouth and slaps his face whenever I say a dumb thing." Cobie didn't even sound hurt or insulted as he gave his explanation.
Aqua's face flushed as he sputtered denials. "I-I'm not trying to call you dumb when I do that…"
Ai had underestimated how smart her youngest really was. Cobalt could pick up things well enough by himself, just at a pace different from his brother and sister.
Keeping up a mischievous atmosphere, Ai covered her mouth and spoke in a stage-whisper. "So Aqua and Ruby have been bullying Cobie, too, in their own ways…"
"No we haven't!"
Ai laughed at the synchronized scream. "I'm just kidding. Don't worry. I know you two would never intentionally bully Cobie."
"So am I stupid, mom?" asked again the boy in question.
Ai turned around Cobalt so he faced her directly while sitting cross-legged on her legs. Patiently, she said, "What do you think it means to be stupid, Cobie?"
"Uh, to not know things everyone should know."
"Well, I think we're all a little stupid," Ai said with another snicker. "Your mama's no exception."
"Absolutely not!" objected Ruby, not surprisingly. "You're perfect, Mama! The ultimate goddess of an idol!"
"But there are still things I don't know about well," Ai gently warned her daughter. For all her fame, she was still discovering new things in all aspects of the entertainment industry, and she was still learning plenty on how to properly teach and nurture and care for her kids every minute she could get off work and be with them. "We all learn something new each day. Some people learn faster than others. There's no shame in that. So it's okay if you're a little stupid now, Cobie, but you'll learn not to be. Keep asking those questions and you'll become as smart as Mama!"
Aqua gave a grunt – doubting his own mother's intelligence? The quick sideways look she gave him that he instantly turned away from told her everything. She'll have to think of a funny punishment for him later.
"Okay!" Cobie said with another silly salute. "I'll do my best to stop being as stupid, mom!"
He leaned in for another hug, his tiny arms draped over her shoulders.
"I love you!"
A sick sensation filled her stomach upon hearing that.
Ai swallowed those feelings deep down and returned the hug, never outwardly breaking character as Ruby joined in.
She still couldn't say those words back with absolute certainty. She couldn't risk lying to them.
Not to Aqua and Ruby, who must be smart enough to recognize if she was lying straight to their face if they haven't privately caught on yet.
Not to Cobalt, would believe the lie considering how he was tricked at school today.
They were little kids. They will grow smarter and learn how to not be easily tricked or swindled eventually.
And by that time, Ai hoped with all her heart that she would never need to hesitate to tell them the three simple words which Aqua, Ruby, and Cobalt already could say honestly without a sliver of doubt. When Ai can stop being a hypocrite and won't have to swindle them by avoiding doing what they do everyday.
"Let's go have dinner!" Ai announced in a perfect pitch of playfulness.
"Yay! I want eggs!"
"Uhh, not again, Cobie!"