Me, strays, and some old dude (Fukuzawa x adoptive daughter reader)

Part 73

Y/n POV

Maybe the investigations can wait. I walked into the agency. I'm going to talk to Mr. Fukuzawa and get my answers. I'm not making the same mistakes I did before. The agency was still pretty busy except that Yosano and Ranpo were gone. I knocked and then entered Mr. Fukuzawa's office. "Hey Mr. Fukuzawa, I wanted to ask you something. You seem stressed out lately. Is everything ok?" His sunken eyes met mine.

"I'm alright Y/n, it's just paperwork." His eyes fidgeted from the papers to me. "But since you're here, would you mind running to the store?" He picked up a list from his piles of paper.

"Sure, I'll head out now."

"Before you go, take Kyouka and Atsushi with you."

I looked back and paused one foot out the door. "It's alright Mr. Fukuzawa, I can handle it."

'Give trust to get it right, I'll prove I can be helpful, maybe then they'll let me in the know."

"Y/n, I insist that they go with you." I furrowed my brows. "Um, ok." I slowly closed the door behind me and turned to Kyouka and Atsushi sitting at his desk. They were already staring at me. I walked up to them to explain what was asked of us. The two seemed more than ready to drop whatever else they were doing. I put the list in my pocket as we walked out the door. We walked down the city streets. Although the city was loud our conversation was silent as the two ability users seemed to be communicating with each other through knowing glances. These glances were known to seemingly everyone but me.

We silently got our ingredients from the store and checked out at the cashier. As we were walking back to the agency, we heard yelling from down the street. A woman in burgundy pants and a long black trench coat was running to catch up to us shouting, "Y/n!" Kyouka and Atsushi tensed up. "Mother, is everything alright?" I asked her.

"Please, can I talk to you for a moment? It's important, I promise."

I looked to the other two, silently asking if it was okay, and they nodded.

"Alright, can we just be quick?" I followed her to her car. She popped the trunk and pulled out a large black briefcase.

"I know I haven't been help here at all, and I know I've been a bad mom. I understand this won't make you instantly forgive me or erase all my previous actions but I hope it will give you a bit of comfort. You can maybe say it's a little piece of home." I opened the briefcase to find a thin but sharp sword sitting in the padded briefcase. I put the bags in my hands down and picked up the sword. It held a swirled hilt, It was light but well-balanced. "I hope you didn't miss her too much."

"This rapier, it's mine?" I asked tears welled up in my eyes.

I looked up to see my mother's smiling face. "Yep, I had it custom-made for you so you didn't have to use the practice ones anymore." She then grabbed a leather belt from the trunk and held it out to me. "I also got you a holster for it. I stitched it up myself, so I hope it is to your liking." She got nervous telling me about the belt. Is she being SHY?!?!

"Thank you, mother, I truly appreciate the gifts." I opened my arms to her and her face lit up. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my neck.

She whispered to me in a hushed almost tearful tone, " I'm sorry for being too much of a coward to just take you back myself, I was just scared." I held onto to her tighter.

"Mother?"

"I'm sorry I've been so bad to you, I just- you're so similar but I know you're a good person. I know so kind hearted, yet whenever I look you in the eyes it reminds me off the look he gave me when- hic*" The woman holding onto me began to weep. "I just was so cruel to you because I was scared." She pulled away and gently grabbed my face in her hands. "My beautiful baby, I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you the love you deserve, but I know these people will provide for you and they'll help nurture that kind soul of yours. Don't be like him."  I put my rapier down.

After years of despising and resenting this woman. This woman that I viewed as the root of all my problems, a selfish cruel witch. I took a step back for once and looked at her...

She wasn't confident.
She wasn't in command.
She wasn't prideful.
She wasn't the root of all evil
She wasn't antagonistic.

She was just another person.
Yes she was neglectful.
Yes she made mistakes, but she's trying to take accountability.
Yes she's giving up on raising me, but she let me choose what I wanted.

All this time was she a cruel mother pushing me away.

Or was she just a scared woman running from her woes and trying to protect herself from being hurt once more.

"It's okay, I promise." I rested my hands on top of hers and she stroked my cheek with her thumb.

"It wasn't often that I stood up to him you know, but fencing was the one thing I insisted on."

"Really, why?" Although it was a taxing physical activity it was actually fun with a challenging opponent.

"Well your father insisted on you being active and in sports and stuff, even though I rarely saw him go for a jog. But, you had so much passion for creativity and the arts. I didn't want to put out that spark in you. I thought fencing was a good mix physical activity but it's almost like a dance. I'm so happy I was able to nurture that spark, because when I was first able to make it to one of your matches I saw the wonderful inferno your transformed that spark into."

"You went to my matches?" I asked hesitantly with watering eyes.

"Of course I did, do you think I just waited in the car in the parking lot?" She asked jokingly.

The floodgates burst as I stood there weeping. "Thank you for doing your best mother." I wiped my eyes.

She hugged me once more and rubbed my back as I buried my face in her chest. "You should head back, I'm sure your friends are waiting for you." I nodded, I placed the sword back in its case and locked it up. I held it with one hand and the grocery bags in the other. "Y/n, I'll be back for the holidays and, you can visit us anytime you'd like, I'll pay for the trip."

"Thank you, mom"