Oshi no Ko - What If, Gorou's Edition

Hearty reminiscence

"Aqua...? Wh-what's wrong...???"

The little one clung on tight to my arm, wailing. The way she bawled her eyes made me even more worried and confused. I gave the nappy a feel, that wasn't it. It neither was hunger because Ai told me she breastfed the twins just before I came back to the office. Gas? No, Aqua was clinging tight to me but her legs weren't drawn up. I exhausted all of my knowledge about how babies make different crying sounds depending on different reasons. The little twin buried her face into shirt and sobbed loudly, her little shoulders trembled. Streams of tear droplets rained down the baby's cheek, strangled hiccups littered every few seconds.

"It's alright... It's okay..."

"I'm here... I won't leave you."

"Sensei's here."

"Sensei's right here..."

I could only utter those sentences while trying my best to sooth Aqua. Soon the trails of moisture on her face dried a little and she looked up at me, eyes still swollen, cheeks still red and lips still chewed up. I tried putting up a wry smile.

"You're such a crybaby Aqua...~"

As the little one hid herself in my chest again, so did I stroke her growing golden locks of hair and motioned her from side to side, gently. Once the sobbing stopped, I turned to Ruby. She was looking at us like nothing happened made any sense.

Ai must've have heard her baby's bewailing so when she returned to the living room, her hands were still wet with traces of dishwasher foam still on them. Much to my surprise, Aqua refused to budge from me. Ai was left as confused as I was. After a short while of consideration, we both agreed to leave things as they were.

It took a bit of effort but eventually Ruby was tucked nicely into the baby wrap. There were a few times I was genuinely scared I would drop her, so I resorted to just lying down on the mattress and using my free arm to grab the bigger sister and wiggle her into the spot.

"Good girl, Ruby. Good girl."

The little one with magenta eyes tugged at my card holder strap while I was sitting up.

"Oh? You wanna play with it?"

Ruby was strangely fixated on the keychain Sarina-chan gave me all those years ago. Maybe she recognised her mother's face was on it? A brief wave of sadness fluttered through my memory.

"You know... a really sweet girl gave it to me." - I took out the keychain and held it between the twins. -  "She was a really, really big fan of your mom!"

"Whenever she talked about Ai and B-Komachi, her face beamed. I don't think I can remember a time she wasn't happy when she was watching the DVDs and talking about your mom's group."

Both Aqua and Ruby turned their gaze onto my face.

"Her dream was to be like Ai. She adored and worshipped Ai, even though they ar... no... were the same age..."

"I wonder if she... got to live again, somewhere. I really hope she's living her best life if the gods would be so kind..."

"Ba-ba-bu..." - Ruby's little hand touched and stroked my chin.

"Maybe one day you'll grow up to be like Ai. You're her daughters after all." - I gave the twins' soft, fluffy cheeks a pinch and a slight peck on their foreheads. Their eyes were sparkling, as though the very evening star was shining through, illuminating me from my work-induced listless stupor.

You have her looks and Saitou-san's connections. Maybe one day I'll no longer be here, but if you still remember me by then... 

I stopped myself before I finished the thought. Mhmm. That bridge shall not be crossed yet for another few years. Ai quietly sat down besides us when I was dandling the babies, slowly humming STAR☆T☆RAIN from my memory.