Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 314: Arc 5, - 8: Namora Household

Water trickled and formed from her fingertips, growing and growing into a big bubble. "Splosh!" She dropped the glowing blue water into a mug. She moaned and groaned under her breath before drawing it closer to her lips.

"What’s that wolfy?"

"Hahp!" Hotaru flinched and twirled, losing her grip on the mug.

Fumeko put her hand out and leaned forward, catching the mug by the bottom without batting an eye—she capped it with her other hand to not let the water splash out. "You didn’t hear me coming?"

"Yeesh." The redhead’s ears wiggled back and forth before folding down, "No, I’m not up to normal standards... Only two hours of sleep..." she whined.

"Didn’t Jotou tell you to stop with the rejuvenates?" Fumeko peered into the mug of glowing water, then up to her.

"I just made some water Fumeko, you’re overthinking it," Hotaru pouted to the side.

"There’s a tap right there and already boiled water in the fridge," the brunette doubted with glazed over eyes. "Besides, you can make about ten drops of water before it all disappears if it’s not a spell."

"Hmph; well, I have to get through the day thank you very much, so I’ll be having that," Hotaru reached for it.

Fumeko pulled the mug away, "How many times have you rejuvenated yourself since you woke up?"

"This is my first mug!"

Fumeko leered.

There was no lawyering her way around the truth this time... "Five—I thought a bigger dose might help much more."

Her brows furrowed, "Bigger dose? One spell already feels like a rush and fixes most things, why would you need so much... Unless-"

"Shp, shck, shut!" Hotaru’s mildly tired eyes widened.

Fumeko took a few more steps back, "We’re not going anywhere today, I think we should just try our best to keep you up... The normal way..."

Hotaru sauntered forward with a hand grazing across the kitchen counter, "Just, just one cup, that’s it."

She hid it behind her back, "No, the spell’s barely working on you since your body’s getting too used to it. You need to cool it with the addiction or we might get some trouble when we deal with the cult."

Her ears and tail flickered up, "The cult...? What are you talking about?"

Fumeko blinked behind Hotaru and stood next to the sink, "It doesn’t take a detective to figure out. There’s no way we won’t wind up in some plot with the Deuctus Cult since we’ve made it here."

"That’s ridiculous," Hotaru shook her head. "Just because we’re here, it doesn’t mean that’s what we’ll be dealing with. It’s under wraps and your father’s already on the case."

"Exactly why we’re more likely to be involved," behind her back, Fumeko slowly lowered the mug to dump the water against the edge of the sink. "Think of all the things we’ve been involved in; it’s not that ridiculous."

"Maybe, but we chose to get ourselves involved."

Fumeko tightened her lips...

"I mean, the adventure finds us in a way sure... And don’t think I can’t hear what you’re doing," Hotaru glared.

"What are you talking about?" Fumeko had emptied the mug into the sink. "Anyway, why not here then? Aren’t you the least bit curious? What this all means? There’s something going on and my dad has the intel we need."

"You want us to look into it?" Hotaru gave a worried chuckle.

"Why not? Too scared to give it a shot?"

"I didn’t say that. I love adventuring, but I’m not a fan of being close to death’s door."

"We’ve only become better and better; I bet we can avoid even ringing the doorbell," she proclaimed with a glimmer of a shadow in her eyes.

"That’s already more closer than I’d like to be," the redhead sighed. "Either way, we’re just staying here today. So why not we just focus on Dolpool and your graduation?"

"Not like I wasn’t. I’m just saying, today’s probably the best day for us to dig through this house for any clues."

"How’s that?"

"If the cult’s related to the fire, then it’s related loosely to me. And my dad’s the one who brought the previous head down, so there must be something here... Or it’s all in his office and not here at all," she held a hand to her chin.

"Sounds like you have a solid plan..." Hotaru splashed a rejuvenate onto herself.

"Hey, no more!" Fumeko scolded.

"No more what?" the blonde poked her head into the kitchen. "Can we not yell at ten in the morning?"

"Ask wolfy to stop with the rejuvenates, I caught her with a mug of it," Fumeko snitched.

"Aru," Jotou glared—disappointed.

"The slightest annoyance is going to make me wanna claw the nearest thing, so if you’d prefer that-"

"I would," Jotou kept her frown.

...

Hotaru stared before looking away with slight redness across her cheeks, "Well okay then."

"That worked?" Fumeko raised a brow.

Jotou blocked a yawn with the back of her hand, "Anyway, what’s for breakfast?"

"I’ll prepare something," a voice came from upstairs. All their eyes widened; how much did he hear...?

_

Toast, cured ham slices, eggs fried sunny-side-up, smoky ham ready to be cut, baked corn with butter melting down the cobs, some fresh fruit juice and a pot of coffee.

"There’s also milk in the fridge and cereal in the cabinets, feel free to have your fill," Kazuo Namora offered.

Sat in a booster seat, Kineko forked down her breakfast whilst Kazuo would wipe the side of her cheek periodically. Fumeko, who had much of the breakfast stacked on her side, glared to the child.

"This is so tasty! Did Fumeko always eat a lot?" Asobi hummed.

"She did. The kid could finish up an entire week’s worth of food in one sitting," he nodded.

Fumeko paused her chewing and glanced to the elf with puffed up cheeks, "Shut it!" muffled, her words were.

"Don’t talk with your mouth full kid."

Fumeko grumbled to her father.

"Ding-dong!"

Only shadows remained where she sat as she blinked to the front door. Too short for the peephole, she instead just opened the door, "Mr Lampard? We don’t need you, bye," she shut the door at the man who looked confused.

"Kid," Kazuo glanced, "Let him in, I’ll be off to the company soon."

"Why? We’re right here, aren’t we?" Fumeko replied.

"You want to babysit your sister?"

"Stepsister. And not exactly," the brunette blinked back to the table and pointed to the other three.

Her father looked to them, "Well, if you want to, I should have no issue, but... have you looked after children before?"

Hotaru hummed, "I’m still a little sleepy, but we should be able to. If there’s ingredients, I can even make some lunch."

"There’s stuff Lampard usually cooks with, it should be fine. Just make sure Kineko eats everything, including her greens—surprisingly, Fumeko wasn’t as picky."

Kineko made a disgusted face.

"I can make them look super cool!" Asobi planned a trick and Kineko’s face brightened.

Jotou, who sat on the sofa for her breakfast, looked over, "I think we can handle it if anything."

Hotaru covered her mouth and hushed, "She’s great with kids."

"I can tell," Kazuo whispered back.

"What was that?" Jotou knitted her brows.

"Well Kineko, who would you prefer taking care of you, Mr Lampard or them?"

"I want big sis Fumeko and the aunties to stay! Mr Lampawd is soooo bowing..."

"That’s not a nice thing to say kiddo, but noted," Kazuo got up and over the attire he wore, he threw on a black-ish trench coat. "She’s a smart kid, she knows how to do things herself," he ruffled Kineko’s hair clip-less head as the little girl giggled.

"Just keep an eye on her and make sure she gets to bed by nine. If you can get her to do her homework, even better," he tossed one more slice of ham into his mouth.

He went by the mantlepiece and swiftly fitted something into his holster. "If you need Lampard, his number’s by the phone." He walked towards the door and fitted his boots and gloves on.

He secured earmuffs onto his head and turned, "If the stove runs out of gas, there’s another tank in the storeroom; if it’s too much of a hassle, there’s another number that you can order food from nearby, Fumeko knows where some spare money’s kept-"

"We’ll be fine, go on to work," Fumeko shooed.

Kazuo Namora sighed... He took one more glimpse at his daughter, standing no taller than she was a few years ago and yet her face had aged quite a bit.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob of the door, "Alright. Take care of yourselves," he departed whilst Kineko and Asobi waved goodbye.

As the door shut, a grin appeared on the brunette, "Time to snoop~"

"What?" Jotou looked to her.

_

"When dad got his title, the city basically gave him a fulfilment of basic needs warrant. So, that’s how he got this house. Food and water they give him an allowance every month to buy much more than he needs.

Obviously there’s a quota it’ll hit and the country didn’t really give it to him at first—it was only after he and a couple of his friends asked; mainly because, well, he had me," Fumeko explained as she shuffled through documents.

A part of the floorboard on the second floor was opened up, with boxes and papers scattered as they all sat sorting through it, only to end up with various unrelated or uninteresting documents.

"It was just the house and permanent residence at first. So, dad still has to work if he wants to get mostly anything else since the boon says basic needs only.

Which isn’t really a problem, since he’s good at it and likes what he does a little too much—it’s almost an obsession."

"Like father, like daughter I suppose," Hotaru uttered.

Fumeko side-eyed the redhead.

Her brilliant blue eyes scanned over all the documents scattered about the floor, with Fumeko in the middle of it all, "Tell me I’m wrong," her ears spiked.

Kineko was about to set loose a crayon on the documents, "Nope, can’t draw on that," Jotou led the small hand away.

"It says sign aunty!" Kineko pointed to the papers.

"Yes, it says Kazuo Namora, not Kineko," Jotou read. "Why don’t you try to practice your signature on this," Jotou brought the blank sheets of paper to her.

"He’s not actually my father," was all she had to say before focusing back on task.

"So what?" Hotaru snapped back.

"Meko, that’s not very nice to say..." Asobi pouted.

"He still took care of you since you were a literal baby. What difference does it make? Would you’ve rather stayed at some who-knows-what-goes-on orphanage?" the wolf-girl continued—her fangs bared.

"Owrphanage?" the word caught Kineko’s ears.

Hotaru switched to a smile, "It’s nothing Kineko, you can practice your signing."

"Did big sis Meko go to an owrphanage?" she turned to her.

"No."

"Ohhh. They awre not vewry nice there. They make you study a lot and if you fail the exam, they hit you like this," Kineko picked up a plastic ruler.

Jotou felt a very small spark go down her hair. "Smack!" Kineko struck the back of Jotou’s hand with the ruler. "And the food is all, bleh!"

"See Meko, you didn’t want bad food, did you?" Asobi queried.

"That’s not my point."

"Ow... Kineko, why would you do that?" Jotou rubbed the back of her hand and pretended to pout.

"Oh no, sowwy aunty!" Kineko took Jotou’s hand in both her tiny hands and rubbed the area she smacked, hoping to make it go away.

"It really hurts. I think I need a hospital," Jotou put on a weak voice.

"I know I’m vewry stwong aunty, but Aunty Spauky-Eyes should be stwonger!"

Jotou laughed internally.

Fumeko took a breath, "He lied to me about it; that’s why I hate it... Because, well," Fumeko shrunk a little as the memories within these walls played themselves in her head. She glanced up and around.

Red string connected each dot to a day, a month, a year—growing up slowly as time ticked by. Each memory... Stuck within this house. Her face twisted in anger and gloom, "He’s the only dad I know...

And he kept me like a bird in a cage, when he wasn’t even the real one. What right does he have to keep secrets like those from me for so damn long?"

"He’s your legal guardian, simple as that. He has the same custody as a biological parent in most cases. He just didn’t want you to know something like that and I think that’s fair, it’s not an easy thing to bring up," Hotaru argued.

"Not easy is a shitty excuse and it’s better than me finding out on my own."

"Well, look what happened. Would it be different if he sat you down and explained it?" Hotaru’s ears folded.

"Maybe, but we’ll never know."

"I, I think I can’t feel it anymore," Jotou acted like she was about to faint.

"No, no aunty, don’t die! My hand’s been hit by the mean old ladies, I’m still stwong, you need to be too!"

Asobi stuck her tongue out to the side and pointed her wand. She casted, "Illusory Appendage," in a whisper. Jotou’s hand vanished into nothing.

Kineko gasped and recoiled her hands. Her face faltered and her eyes began to water, "AHHH!!" she bawled, making Hotaru’s ears flinch.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jotou couldn’t help but giggle as she held on to Kineko’s shoulders, "It’s just an illusion, it’s just an illusion, I’m fine!"

Asobi immediately dispelled it. Kineko’s breaths were frantic as she calmed down, "I’m sowwy aunty, I won’t hit you again..." she whimpered.

"I’m fine, I’m fine," Jotou laughed.

"What we all need after no sleep—a crying kid," Fumeko glared.

"Sorry detective~"

"Anyway, if that’s what’s really bothering you, why not talk to him about it? Nothing’s gonna be solved if you keep pushing him off; he clearly reached out," the wolf-girl advised.

"It’s barely been a day, we’ll see."

"Didn’t you have any other babysitters, or was it just Lampard?" Jotou queried.

"Yeah, Lampard’s just the longest and my last one. I mean, he did the job for the most part, but he was boring. I think I remember a couple others," Fumeko shifted through the papers as she tried to recall. "There was Mrs Atherton.

A friend of dad’s I’ve met a few times. She’s another detective; I also remember that she can do magic. I haven’t seen her in years and she maybe babysat me once, a long time ago that I barely remember; she has a son I think?"

"Is she still working with him?" Hotaru asked.

"Probably; I don’t know, I’m not keeping track. I’m remembering this loosely-" she stumbled onto a few documents to which her eyes softened then narrowed... "There we go; Sobi, you asked me if I knew who they were?"

Asobi swivelled her head from comforting Kineko, "Hm? Who were what?"

"My parents," Fumeko handed the documents which Jotou took.

"Layton Beckett and Wren Beckett," Jotou spotted through all the text. The names were underlined in black pen. ’Presumably for something her father was investigating.

If they died in a fire, he would need to identify them. Looks like he found it out at some point and kept the documents hidden. The paper looks aged enough. A carpenter and a housewife—with an only child.’

"Is this, where you found out?" Hotaru searched for the brunette’s gaze.

"..." she nodded. "I just happened to find a little gap in the floorboards one day."

"Sorry Meko."

"There’s nothing to be sorry about wolfy," she sighed with a softer voice. "It’s not like I knew them."

Asobi had stepped up to give her a hug, which the brunette begrudgingly accepted. Kineko hugged her other side, though she barely understood what was going on. Not in the mood to push her off, Fumeko accepted even more begrudgingly.

Jotou flipped a few pages and scanned through the text, "Huh. Sable Beckett..."

"What?" Fumeko furrowed her brows.

"It’s your birthname," Jotou handed the page back.

Fumeko reached for it through the two arms around her and checked the papers.

"Cute name," Hotaru remarked with a smirk. "Not that Fumeko isn’t a cute one either."

The brunette blushed and wore a frown.

"Do you want to be called Sable?" Asobi tilted her head.

"What? No," she squinted. She exhaled, "I’ve had enough of looking through this. There’s nothing about the cult here, I’ll just have to ask the source."

"You’re gonna talk to him?" Jotou looked up as Fumeko stood.

"I have barely another choice. Don’t you get it?" Fumeko looked around the floor to her friends, "If the cult’s coming back, I want to help stop it too...

Don’t need more orphans or people losing their families in fires. These people got my parents killed; if you think I’m just gonna sit around and let my dad handle it like last time, you’re wrong.

The old man’s already had half a year plus. Why the hell can’t we do it? We can at least get some information about it. If I need to talk to my dad, so be it—whatever." shadows glimmered in her eyes.

"Hm," Hotaru smiled, "I guess we’ll be close to death’s door all the same. It’s settled then."

"Time to fight a super big evil cult!" Asobi cheered.

"Big evil cult!" Kineko joined in and hopped up.

"That thing’s gonna snitch to dad," Fumeko narrowed her eyes.

"No cults Kineko, why don’t we go see what we can make for lunch?" Hotaru grabbed the girl by the waist and waddled her back.

"Chicken!"

"Chicken it is."

The brunette crossed her arms and took a deep breath before looking to Jotou who was looking up at her. "Taking my role of overdramatic are you Sable Beckett?" Jotou smirked with a spark in her eyes.

Fumeko rolled her eyes.

Jotou giggled, "I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s get ourselves involved then~" ’Not like I expected things to go to plan anyway. Not like I can’t accept it either.’