Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Akiharu had been dreading this moment for months. Making the trip all the way to Kanobe every week for Miyuki’s appointments was hard enough, but he’d rather keep them than deal with this.

“You need to get her into a school soon.” Hasegawa said. “Honestly she should have started going a month ago, but she’s perfectly healthy now. You can’t keep the truancy officers off your case with her being sick anymore.”

He knew Hasegawa was right. Of course he did. Miyuki herself was even starting to talk more about going to school with Miu. He couldn’t keep pushing this off forever. It’s just that the thought of them being separated every day was… difficult for him to deal with.

But this was about what was best for Miyuki. Even if she was his older sister, he was the adult responsible for her now. He needed to make sure he raised her right.

Getting children registered with a school was easier than he was expecting. There were a few raised eyebrows when Miyuki and ‘Ren’ had no prior school records, but they seemed to accept when Akiharu told them they just went to a rural school that didn’t keep records. It was unusual, but not completely unheard of.

On the other hand, getting school supplies was much more complicated than he was expecting. Not knowing the area meant he was forced to rely on the children to tell him where to go, and just stepping into the stores they recommended met him with a flood of colours. It was disorienting.

Miyuki seemed to have no trouble, walking from shelf to shelf with a sense of wonder in her eyes. Renamon, or well, Ren (he still needed to get used to calling him that) followed behind her glaring at anyone they came across.

“We‘ll go with the standard red for your school bags.” Akiharu told them. “But everything else is up to you. Choose whatever you’d like.”

Miyuki wanders off almost immediately, but surprisingly Ren doesn’t follow her. He keeps a watchful eye on her from Akiharu’s side.

“You aren’t looking around?” Akiharu asks.

Ren only crosses his arms, glaring up at him. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to get. Isn’t that what you’re here for?”

Right . It was easy to forget with how he spent most of his time pretending to be human, but this was the first time any Kemonogami ever had to worry about something like school shopping. At least Miyuki could guess what things were, even if designs she was familiar with were fifty years out of date.

“I have a list of your school supplies.” Akiharu said, taking the folded page out of his pocket and giving it to Ren. Even as his eyes scanned the page, Akiharu could tell some of the items were confusing him. He could see him mouthing the words ‘graphing compass' several times. “I can lead you to the right sections, but if you have any questions about what things are for you should probably wait until we’ve returned home.”

“Why?” The annoyance in his voice was clear.

“Humans your size usually know all of these things. Explaining to you here might cause problems.”

That answer seemed to satisfy him, and Akiharu was soon leading him through the store. Miyuki met up with them again as they were looking through the graphing kits, her arms full of supplies she was struggling to carry. She placed them in their basket, pausing as she saw Ren’s things.

“Your choices are so grown up.” She muttered, picking up a plain metal pencil case that was almost identical to the one Akiharu himself had at home. “Haru’s not picking for you, right?”

“Of course not.” Ren seemed offended by the mere suggestion. “I just don’t care about what they look like. It just needs to do its job, I don’t need anything extra.”

“Everyone else said getting interesting stuff can make it easier to make friends.” Her own choices were decorated with foxes and cherry blossoms.

“I’m going to school to be with you. I don’t need friends.”

Miyuki was clearly disappointed with his statement, but decided not to press the issue. “Well, I guess Miu gets plain ones so she can decorate them with stickers herself. Maybe you can do that too.”

“Probably not.”

Miyuki wandered off again as Akiharu stood in line for the cash register. The display of keychains seemed to catch her attention, and she was slowly turning the small figures over in her hands.

As the cashier totaled up the items, Akiharu could only wince as he looked at the total. He’s certain when he originally bought his camera it was only a bit more expensive.

“Oh dear.” Renamon glanced up at him. “It’s nothing, the price just surprised me.”

I suppose it's not often families need to buy this amount for two children at the same time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Akiharu could see Miyuki freeze. He watched her glance down at the keychains in her hand, two foxes posed so that they linked together, before slowly putting them back.

“You’re both sure this is everything you want?” He asked when she returned, and they both nodded.

As walk to the exit, Akiharu secretly takes a picture of the keychains.

Akiharu sees his opportunity when Miyuki is distracted by the menu at the restaurant they stop at for lunch. He pulled Ren aside, whispering just quiet enough for her not to notice.

“Can you do something for me? It will make Miyuki happy.” That was enough to get his full attention, so Akiharu showed him the picture. “Miyuki seemed like she really wanted these. If I give you money, can you run to the store we just left and buy them?”

Ren scoffed. “Of course, that’s easy.”

“Good.” Akiharu got the money for him. “Don’t tell Miyuki, I want this to be a surprise.”

When Miyuki noticed he was missing, Akiharu just told her he had left to find them a table.

It’s when dinner is finished that Akiharu brings out the keychains. He slides the tiny bag they were packaged in across the table, and sees Miyuki’s eyes light up in excitement and confusion as she opens it.

“When did you…?”

“This was a joint effort.” Akiharu said. “You seemed interested in them, so I had Renamon go back.”

That brings a soft smile to her face. “Thank you.” She separated the two foxes, pausing for a moment before passing one back across the table to Ren. “This one is for you.”

“Aren’t they both yours?” He asked, staring unimpressed at the small plastic fox.

“It makes us match, see?” The message behind those words is clear to Akiharu. It matches, so you can’t say no.

Despite how hyper aware of Miyuki he was, Ren wasn’t perceptive enough to notice. He only quietly accepted the gift.

“I’ll go clip this to my bag.” He said, running off.

“Didn’t even say thanks.” Gabumon muttered, starting to gather the dishes. “Next time let’s pick somewhere I can go too.”

“I’ll look into stores that are less crowded, I promise.” Akiharu assured him.

Miyuki stayed at the table, fidgeting with her own keychain.

“Something wrong?” Akiharu asks.

“I want Renamon to be happy here too.” She tells him. “But everything’s always all about me with him. He keeps ignoring things that could make him happy.” She sighed. “Giving him something nice for him to talk to people about means maybe he has a chance, right?”

“I know you’re worried, but he’ll be alright.” He leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. “Don’t tell him, but I was actually very similar as a teenager.”

“Really? My sweet little Haru? I can’t even imagine that.”

Gabumon scoffs at the very thought. “I don’t either. You being like that moody little jerk? Yeah right.”

“It’s true. So please believe me when I say he’ll turn out okay.”

She turned the idea over in her head. “I guess he’s kind of like Kaito.” She finally admitted.

“Exactly.”

Chapter Text

Despite many around him thinking otherwise for most of his life, Akiharu was not a very superstitious man. He didn’t believe in ghosts, or karma, or omens of bad luck. As a researcher of folklore, many of his colleagues found him strange for only believing in things backed up by his experience. By ‘facts’.

Even so, Akiharu’s life has been plagued with such specific misfortunes that he couldn’t help but take them as messages from the universe.

Messages that said: “You do not deserve to be happy.”

Messages that said: “You do not deserve a family.”

It’s only recently that he’s stopped believing them.

It starts with Shuuji.

Despite Akiharu's title of professor, Shuuji was the only person he could ever truly call his student. The boy was under an incredible amount of pressure when they met, and watching him grow into someone who lived on his own terms had been a delight.

Needless to say, Shuuji's gratitude came as no surprise.

The email was sent hours before Akiharu finds it in his inbox, having been too absorbed in his work to check it. (He worries something has gone wrong, and his negligence will cause problems for his student. He worries about all of the children, but perhaps Shuuji the most.)

The contents confess to a past Akiharu has already realized, apologies and explanations are woven into every line, apologies that Akiharu has never needed. It's painful to reach the end, but when he does, he stops and reread the last two lines several times.

Thank you for being in my life. If only my father was a little more like you, maybe I could have found happiness sooner.

If only that man didn't have an iron grip on Shuuji's guardianship.

Akiharu is forced to settle for inviting Shuuji to visit more often.

When he gets a string of texts from Aoi, he isn't expecting it. He knew talking to her parents was supposed to help her, but he also assumed anyone in his place would have done the same. He hadn’t done anything special.

Instead, he reads her words.

Aoi: Thank you for talking to my parents.

Aoi: We aren't better, but you've given us a start. I'm glad it was you I called.

Aoi: I'm glad I trusted you.

Aoi: Really, thank you so much.

It isn't as long as Shuuji's email, and yet it impacts him all the same. As friendly as she was, Akiharu always perceived Aoi as one of the more closed off children. Like Shuuji, she sought approval, but unlike him she almost forced herself to remain unseen. Forced herself to never be a priority.

Aoi is someone who understands that anyone can choose to hurt her.

Akiharu treasures her trust more than her gratitude.

Saki shows up at Akiharu's house soon after. She makes her way into his home uninvited, but her upbeat personality isn't unwelcome on such a cloudy day. When he asked what she was doing there, she just shrugged.

"Nothing better to do."

At a loss, Akiharu offers her tea and she accepts. She sits quietly across the table from him as she slips at it, watching Miyuki and Ren through the glass patio doors. Akiharu couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking, though Saki was the child he could probably admit to understanding the least.

"You take good care of her." She finally said.

"Sometimes I worry I'm not doing enough."

But Saki just laughed. "You're fine."

"How are you so sure?"

She was silent for a long time, swirling her tea in its cup.

"I guess," she finally said, "because you let Miyuki's world grow."

And in that moment, Akiharu comes to understand a lot about Saki.

The day that Miyuki and Ren start school, Miu is waiting on his front step. Akiharu can see Kaito at the end of the road, the vaguely annoyed look on his face proof that Miu dragged him along.

“I’ll show Miyuki and Ren the way to school.” She says, standing proud.

“You didn’t have to come all this way.”

But Miu wasn’t having any of that. “I’ll be back tomorrow too Professor.”

“Alright.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them.”

Akiharu didn’t doubt that for a second.

The others don’t have such specific moments, but rather it’s the little things he begins to notice.

When Kaito hears about his computer lagging, he doesn’t hesitate to step in and fix it. Even as Kaito calls him stupid for not installing an antivirus, he can’t find it in him to feel bad.

Minoru slowly comes to him with ideas for his blog. He tells him some of his posts sound too stuffy. He needs more funny pictures. Minoru’s help brings the blog to a new level, in many ways.

Help with his homework is always the excuse Ryo uses when he visits alone, and yet no matter what Akiharu tries, his home is always cleaner by the time Ryo leaves. He’s never seen a single page of this homework Ryo keeps talking about.

Akiharu owes Takuma more than he could ever repay, and yet Takuma still finds ways to brighten his day.

For the longest time, Akiharu isn’t sure how to react. He isn’t really sure what to do with the idea that he is apparently an important person in their lives. Gabumon seems amused when he tells him.

“Ever think that maybe you’re just a good person?” He asked. “And maybe, as smart as those kids can be sometimes, they noticed?”

That idea… makes sense. Akiharu can’t think of anything to deny it.

It doesn’t stop him from being shocked when Renamon of all people comes to him next, begrudgingly admitting he appreciated Akiharu’s lessons. He’s so surprised, he feels disoriented for the rest of the week.

Akiharu doesn't know when the change hit. When they stopped being "the children" and became "his children". Not all at once, he thinks. Some of them came to him at different paces, in ways he perhaps didn't even see at first.

At his age, he never thought he would ever use the word giddy to describe himself, but it's the best word for the feeling that comes over him when the realization hits. He sits up in bed, radiating happiness strong enough for Gabumon to notice.

"Something good happen?" He asked.

"Not specifically.” Akiharu said. “I just have everything I’ve ever wanted.”