Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 311: Arc 5, - 5: 22 Fleur Boulevard

A coat rack and a shoe rack stood right next to the door—three steps right next to the door which led to more stairs going up, guarded by a light brown handrail with metal bars.

Cotton sofas of maroon hues sat a bit further from the entrance, circling an unlit fireplace and a wide coffee table. Three sofas, one for a single person, one with two spaces and a three-seater.

The plush carpeting had been flattened in a small area by the coffee table. On the same side of said table, multiple crayons, markers, pencils, pens and papers were scattered about—a purplish crayon rolled off.

A few potted plants by the curtained window, a door under the stairs that led to the basement and next to the living room was a dining table with four seats, under a hanging yellow light. Straight ahead from the front door was the kitchen.

Certain knickknacks decorated the wide mantlepiece, alongside a turned off radio and a few pictures of a younger Fumeko with her father.

Now, behind the three-seater sofa and next to the stairs was the older Fumeko, staring in abject horror to the little one hugging her side in joy.

Low pigtails and light brown hair; as she peered up to Fumeko her eyes were a dark brown. Dark red corduroy overalls with plenty of pockets and a white t-shirt.

All over the girl’s head were dozens of hair clips—one in a red cross with a flower atop, another with a 7-line rainbow, one with a blue cherry and there were other various baubles amongst the lot.

Fumeko’s brows initially in shock, furrowed more and more with her mouth still agape. She took a step back, but the girl still held the dark grey jacket within her tiny clutches.

"Woosh!" The girl held nothing but shadow and the brunette emerged a few steps behind the girl and recoiled. She looked up to her father, "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING!?"

"Woah, big sis has magical powes..." her eyes bubbled with wonder.

"I AM NOT YOUR ’BIG SIS’!" she shouted to the little girl and once again glared to her father, "You... YOU REPLACED ME!?" her face was going red and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Fumeko," Kazuo raised his hands, "That’s not what’s happening; please just listen, you don’t have the whole picture yet."

Her breath was erratic as her eyes glared to the child still looking up at her with glee... Before Fumeko’s lips opened, she took a glance to her father... then the three people behind him who stood, unsure what to do in the situation.

But seeing their faces... She exhaled a long breath and raised her head, "It better be a good explanation," she peered to him and removed the dark grey jacket around her.

"I woke up soooper eally to see you!" the little girl hopped.

"Piss off you little-"

"Meko!" Hotaru voiced.

Fumeko looked to the redhead who scolded her and grumbled under her breath. Jotou knitted her brows and asked, "Wait, woke up? Not stay up?"

"Ms Kinoshita, you might wanna retune your watch," Kazuo said as he took off his winter coat and turned to her, "It’s five thirty-two, not one in the morning. We’re four hours ahead of Cravolta."

Wait, it was not late at night? It wasn’t even close to midnight, but in the darkness, who could really tell the difference?

Hotaru checked her watch and her face crumpled before she hit her forehead once, "I completely forgot," she began to change it.

"Wait, there was a huge clock that said it was twelve thirty above the train station," Jotou retorted.

"You would’ve also noticed that the clock hands were not moving, just some gears. It broke down yesterday from the cold; unlike most clocks, it has a lot more steel components than brass, not to mention it’s completely exposed—a bird’s nest broke it once."

"So it broke right at half past noon yesterday? While the Sun was out?" Fumeko crossed her arms.

"I’m sure the damaging didn’t break it instantly, it would’ve happened sooner and then gradually broken down and stopped the clock. The Sun won’t help much in winter or with clouds. You can check your train passes to confirm the time of your arrival."

"Aru?" Jotou turned.

Hotaru finished adjusting her watch and hazily glanced up. "Train passes? Hold on, it’s in my bag somewhere- Got it," she rummaged them out; the time stamped on it was, "Four fifty-six a.m. 29th of January," she squinted and read.

"We left at noon, right? So, four hours, carry the twelve- I only have ten fingers," Asobi tilted her head and made more illusory fingers to compensate.

"It was nearly a thirteen hour trip," Hotaru answered.

"I was just checking, not trying to make a math question," Jotou sighed.

"Bleh, I don’t like math!" the kid scowled.

"It’s not very fun, is it?" Asobi hopped forth and the lights that made her fake fingers poofed into butterflies right in front of the child’s eyes.

She gasped and attempted to catch one before they all fluttered away. She looked to Asobi’s warm beam, "You can do magic too aunty!?"

Asobi gasped, "You’re my niece!?"

"It’s gonna be a long wait for morning..." Fumeko’s eyes glazed over.

Asobi giggled, "I’m only kidding!"

Kazuo cracked his knuckles, "Sit down, make yourselves at home," he invited.

They all settled in, putting their shoes onto the rack and taking off the earmuffs and gloves to sit in the warm home. Fumeko’s father prepared a pot of tea for the lot and set it on the coffee table.

With better lighting, they could get a much better image of him. Faint dark circles under his eyes and a light scar under the stubble to the right side of his chin.

A tall figure and a muscular one at that. He wore black leather suspenders with silverish buckles along it—each strap at the front split into a v at the ends as it held onto the dark grey trousers.

Around the back, both straps over his shoulders connected to a silver ring resting on his upper back and a single thicker strap continued down his back and split into a thicker v at the end that was attached as well.

The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his forearms and he had undone two buttons from his collar. Around his black leather belt was an empty holster.

His short tousled hair was a dark brown similar to Fumeko’s shade, except with bits of grey in between; and his eyes were also a similar brown to hers—enough resemblances to convince most people they were father and daughter.

However, with closer inspection his smaller eyes and his facial features were distinct from Fumeko’s more rounded eyes and certain other features. In fact, his features resembled Hotaru more than anyone else—excluding the part-human features of course.

With white socks on she nearly slipped as she rushed to hold up another drawing in front of Asobi, "And this one’s a dwragon!" The dragon was drawn in pencil, with four disproportionate limbs and coloured in with red crayon; it breathed fire of orange crayon.

"Scary!" Asobi smiled and flourished her wand to make a small illusory dragon similar to the drawing and sat it upon her shoulder where it burped orange flames. The kid giggled and tried to touch it, disappointed once again as her hand passed through.

"And you can call me Hotaru," they were finishing their introductions around the sofa.

Kazuo Namora stood behind the single sofa, "This little one’s Kineko."

"How original," Fumeko rolled her eyes.

"I’m this many yeays old!" she put up an entire hand and rushed around the coffee table to Jotou. Jotou smiled and gave her a small high five.

"And she’s your sister kiddo."

"Step, sister. Just like another step," the brunette glared back to Kazuo. The room fell to awkward silence...

’I know I said I’d be on Meko’s side, but this is a bit much... Then again, if I came back home after leaving on bad terms and just saw another kid there, I don’t know how I’d react either.’

"Why’s eveyyone looking funny? Oh! Big sis, big sis! Dad told me that you and these aunties all went on a big adventuwre!" she hopped to Fumeko and threw her arms wide open.

Fumeko glared down and crossed her arms, "I, am not, your ’big sis’," she leaned in close and hissed.

Kineko shied away slightly and pouted, "O-oh..." tears began forming in her eyes.

"Fumeko!" Hotaru bared her fangs. Both Fumeko and Kineko turned, one in indifference, the other in shock. She relaxed her spiked ears and tail with a breath and looked to the child, "She is your big sister Kineko, she’s just a bit grumpy from traveling so far."

"Ohhh," Kineko nodded and turned to Fumeko. She petted the brunette’s knee, "Big sis needs a nap," she soothed. Fumeko was about to open her lips, but stopped after noticing the wolf-girl’s glare.

"Kineko, that auntie there can also copy your voice," Jotou pointed to Asobi.

"Really!?" she rushed around the coffee table.

Asobi gave a nod to Jotou, "Yup-yup! I can do it over there," she shined a spotlight onto the dining table. Kineko took Asobi’s hand and pulled her away with excitement.

Jotou waved before her smile disappeared, "Right," she mildly hushed. "Let me know if I’m overstepping, but it’s about time some things get explained I think."

Hotaru splashed another rejuvenate onto herself. Kazuo crossed his arms on the headrest of the sofa, "After you ran away, I found the note you left me on your bed—the red herring to throw me off."

"Should’ve sent you on a wild goose chase for weeks if not months, but the Krialin gave you a gigantic hint didn’t they."

"The note stumped me for maybe half an hour," Kazuo admitted. Fumeko tightened her lips. "You left a book with a page open about Kria, had a newspaper clipping of the Velatos Case and a world map with pen marks next to Kria, all in your room..."

Fumeko shifted her head away from his view. Jotou and Hotaru both managed to halt themselves from grinning. "Regardless, assuming they weren’t red herrings, I began my search..." he quieted down for a second.

Fumeko turned her head to look at him.

"I got that letter saying you were fine in Kria and were working for the Krialin three days later. I knew something was amiss—you had no qualifications."

Fumeko squinted; there was something that her father didn’t want to say when he paused briefly. "I forged your handwriting to get a letter of recommendation. They didn’t accept me, they just put me on hold, before I broke a couple of laws and got rejected."

Kazuo raised a brow, "What laws?"

"Underage drinking, petty theft, impersonation of a Krialin, taking custody of an arrested suspect with no authority by making a verbal contract-" Hotaru listed off.

"Shut it snitch!" Fumeko used her inside voice.

"Nothing to worry about, it was all pardoned by a boon," Hotaru reassured. "Your daughter did help with the Velatos Case tremendously at any rate."

The agitated Fumeko fell silent and muttered an apology to Hotaru under her breath. Hotaru’s ears flickered having heard that and she smiled in response.

"I’m aware," even the sombreness in his voice carried some amount of pride. Fumeko leered up to her father.

"Three days," Jotou uttered in remembrance. "That’s the travel time between Burnetrout and Kria, right? But Fumeko said she made it on the same day."

"That’s true. I left in the early morning and reached Kria by late night around eleven. I even checked the calendars."

"You’re forgetting about time zones kiddo," Kazuo corrected.

"I told you so~" Hotaru spoke.

"Okay yeah, yeah, maybe I wasn’t considering that. Still, I would’ve noticed three whole days going by, I’m not THAT unaware," Fumeko furrowed her brows.

"That’s because three days didn’t go by," her father replied.

"Now you’re just not making sense."

"You wouldn’t use what money you saved on a train ticket; even then, the furthest you would’ve got was Galuvit Town. Burntish IDs double as passports, so most customs wouldn’t be an issue, but they’ll still document arrival and departure.

I checked those records and you were nowhere to be found. Same goes for any normal carriage service records; you didn’t call for one from the telephone either. The most likely thing for you to do, was to stow away.

After some checking, there was only one way you made it to Kria in such short time on that specific day. The carriages you stowed away on, were transporting goods to Kria—namely perishables that need to be moved and stored quickly.

The company in charge of the exports—Marksman’s Wholefoods—uses enchanted horseshoes for their international trading, which speeds up their travel times.

Hence, three days became roughly twenty-five hours, since you left around five thirty a.m. here."

"So the time zones... Kria’s eight hours behind, so when you made it there, it seemed like the same day," Jotou calculated.

"Since I left on the 31st of May in Burntish time and the calendar I saw in Kria said the 31st of May in Krian time; both were correct, but I just didn’t connect the time zones.

Case solved. Now, what about her?" Fumeko looked to the dining table where illusions flew around.

"She would be the reason why I couldn’t- didn’t, come directly to you. You three probably can tell I’m not saying something; something in between. It’s something sensitive I don’t want everyone to hear—sorry.

It was, a hard decision to make—not sending you a letter sooner or come to see you myself. It doesn’t have much to do with Kineko in regards to that decision, but what came after does."

Jotou gave a glance to Asobi. Asobi looked back with a smile and made her left ear much bigger. Kineko looked at it in wonder and tried to touch it, but failed; Asobi continued making voices for her in glee as the ear disappeared.

’She’s listening in. Good.’ Jotou looked to Kazuo Namora again.

"I have no problem telling all of you this, considering what you’ve done. But I need to also preface this by saying, the intel for now, is being kept classified from the public.

So, you’ll have to keep the matter private for your stay in Burnetrout—no matter how many nosy reporters will come for you; at least one will..." he sighed in exhaustion.

"Alrighty."

"Consider it a verbal contract."

"Fine."

A hand made of white light gave a thumbs up in front of his face.

Kazuo gave a nod and said...