Cobalt liked Hikaru Kanzaki. While working, he wore a black suit and tie that made him look like a real businessman like grandpa Ichigo, except younger and less blonde. Sometimes Hikaru had to babysit Cobalt and his siblings when mom or aunt Miyako were too busy with work, and he always gave them Cobalt’s favorite brand of canned orange juice. It was Hikaru’s favorite, too! Hikaru also was a good listener, letting Cobalt pepper him with as many questions that popped up in his head as possible. He didn’t have as many good explanations or answers like Aqua, but Hikaru still paid more attention than some of the other Strawberry workers and the teachers at school who Cobalt wanted to learn more stuff from.

  “And I think Robo-Max used cotton balls for the explosion special effects!” Cobalt finished from where sat in the backseat of the Strawberry-mobile. Aunt Miyako was snoring in the front next to Hikaru driving. Music played at a low volume from the radio as Hikaru weaved through winding, hilly roads.

  “Sounds a lot cheaper than dynamite,” HIkaru said. He was responding directly to something Cobalt was saying. Most people outside of Cobalt’s family would give a quarter-baked reply, like a boring “That’s nice” or “That’s cool” without expanding on why they thought what Cobalt was talking about was nice or cool. Hikaru’s answers were always half-baked or more!

  “It does! You should watch his videos, too, Kanzaki!”

  Cobalt still didn’t understand why he had to call him by his last name, Kanzaki, out loud instead of his first name. All of Cobalt’s friends at school let him call them by their first names. He wanted to be friends with Hikaru, too! But, since mom and Hikaru asked him politely, Cobalt couldn’t not do what they wanted.

  “I’ll check them out later, give ‘em the Kanzaki stamp of approval, after I find us a place to rest.”

  That made sense. They had been driving for a while now. Cobalt had lost track of the time, but it had to have been a good while for Miyako to have gone through the rest of her bottles and be completely asleep now. Hikaru must need his rest, too, once they get to Takachiho.

  Cobalt didn’t need rest. He was still wide awake, having spent the entire trip watching Robo-Max videos and telling Hikaru all about them.

  When the sky became orange with the setting sun, Hikaru drove out of the roads surrounded by trees and onto roads surrounded by buildings. They weren’t as tall as the ones in Tokyo, but they did look familiar.

  Cobalt still couldn’t see the hospital aunt Miyako had recognized in Robo-Max’s video, though.

  HIkaru pulled out his phone again. “Yes, President!” Cobalt listened to enough of these conversations between HIkaru and grandpa Ichigo over the course of the road trip to know he didn’t have to listen too closely. Hikaru was just updating grandpa on where they were, so Cobalt brought up Robo-Max’s video again and tried comparing the town building in it with the real ones Hikaru was driving by.

  Miyako had made comments about visiting the hospital where Cobalt and his siblings had been born. Even though that would be neat, Cobalt was more focused on finding Robo-Max, so he needed to try to find the spot where Robo-Max had filmed with the hospital way in the background.

  The more Cobalt compared the video and his surroundings, the more he thought this might be the right neighborhood.

  Hikaru abruptly stopped the car with a jolt that lightly pushed Cobalt against his seatbelt. Offhandedly giving an apology over the sounds of aunt Miyako’s slurry grunts, Hikaru turned off the engine and leaned between the front seats to look directly at Cobalt.

  “So, listen up, Cobalt,” Hikaru said. Already having scanned the immediate area around them, Cobalt set down mom’s tablet and met Hikaru’s eyes head-on. “Your grandpappy’s on his way with your mom and siblings as we speak.”

  “Hooray! Then they can also meet Robo-Max!”

  “They’re trembling with anticipation just like you, I’m sure. Anyway, I need you to make sure your auntie stays safe here in the car while I check us in.” Hikaru pointed at the building directly next to the car, hanging lights on the facade shining over the signs naming it a hotel. “I need to use my own money for this since your auntie’s asleep and I can’t use the company card. Your grandpappy will probably pay for more rooms when he gets here, but for now, do you want your own bed? Or are you fine with sharing with the Vice Prez?”

  Cobalt quickly thought on it. It has been a long time since he got to bundle up with aunt Miyako. The last time was probably when he was in pre-school, before mom started hogging all the hugs from him. Then again, Miyako still smelled pretty funky from all her drinks, so…

  “Aunt Miyako’s really tired,” Cobalt decided. “She should get her own bed.”

  Hikaru clapped his hands. “Got it. I’ll be back real soon. Alright, kiddo?”

  “Alright!”

  Hikaru held his hand forward, barring his knuckles at Cobalt. Cobalt formed a fist back and bumped it against Hikaru’s.

  As Hikaru got out and shut the car door, Miyako shifted in her seat with another groan. “Are we there yet?”

  “I think so!” Cobalt answered.

  Aunt Miyako started laughing. “The blessed lands…”

  “The what?”

  “You’re a special boy, Cobie!” Miyako reached behind her, trying to hug Cobalt, but she just embraced the back of her seat instead. Cobalt wanted to hug her back. If only she was at a better angle. The cooler next to Cobalt in the backseat was in the way. “You’re a blessed, divine child, favored by the gods of entertainment, and now that we’re here, they’ll turn all our lives around.”

  Cobalt didn’t understand… Was Robo-Max a god?

  “You’re Ai’s favorite, you know.”

  “Mom doesn’t have favorites,” Cobalt corrected. He had asked mom if she had a favorite among her kids already. He had thought it was Aqua, since he was so much smarter than both himself and Ruby.

  “You’re everyone’s favorite. We love you. We’ll protect you. We’ll cry for you. We’ll forgive you.”

  She tried holding out her hands toward Cobalt again. She must have hit a switch or something ‘cause the backrest of her seat moved downward, letting her reach Cobalt. Since Miyako’s voice started getting quieter, Cobalt clasped her hands in his and tried to get closer to hear better. “Forgive me for what?”

  “Anything and everything.” Aunt Miyako chuckled again. “Ai would be dead if it wasn’t for you. You need to keep being in her life if she’s going to keep up her momentum.”

  “Then why did we leave first without her?”

  “Because you’re a really stupid kid.”

  Now aunt Miyako was just being silly! Cobalt gave his own little snickers. “I already know I still have my stupid moments!”

  “Aqua and Ruby are so smart, yet you’re really a little, tiny, helpless kid. You’ll be blessed by being in this…” Miyako burped, making Cobalt chuckle again. Burps always sounded funny to him. Which was partly why mom had switched his favorite orange soda into favorite orange juice, so he’d stop intentionally making himself burp all the time. “... in this sacred town. The gods will see up close how hopeless you are, and you’ll be divinely blessed again. Then Ai will be at the top of the damn world again… I’ll get what I deserve…”

  Cobalt still didn’t really understand…

  But it sure sounded like Cobalt made the right call in asking aunt Miyako to come here! He was apparently even “divinely blessed” by the gods!

  Hikaru was taking too long. He still wasn’t back yet. Miyako letting go of Cobalt’s hands and started snoring again. Considering his options, Cobalt decided to see if that divine blessing was any good.

  Cobalt dug his hand into her purse. He pulled out the spare key for the car and sneakily made his way outside. Cobalt paused, considering if he should try parking the Strawberry-mobile closer to the side of the road since it was in the middle of the street, but there was no other traffic around, so he just locked the car with three beeps from the key clicker and went on his way. Ruby had really hurt his ear by pulling and shouting into it the last time Cobalt had tried to be helpful by moving the car alone.

  Besides, the door was locked, so aunt Miyako will be perfectly safe, just like how Hikaru asked for.

  Cobalt peeked through the doors of the hotel. Hikaru was talking with a pretty lady at the front desk. It didn’t look like they were going to finish soon, so Cobalt marched down the road with more confidence that he’ll have the time to continue the search for Robo-Max before needing to help Hikaru carry aunt Miyako to bed.

  The town seemed to be empty of people, but there weren’t any real people in Robo-Max’s videos anyway. What Cobalt was looking at were the rooftop edges, towering signs, tall trees, and interconnected electric posts. That shot in the behind-the-scenes video had been on an elevated position a little above these things, visible at the lower end of the frame with the hospital at the back. Only Cobalt in the present was at the very bottom at the streetside view, so even though some of what he was seeing looked familiar, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure.

  He needed to get higher. He needed to climb and get a bird’s eye view.

  That wooden electric post with little steps along its sides looked good!

  Wait, the ladder steps embedded in the pole didn’t start low enough for him to reach… unless he stacked those trash bins and used that stepping stool nearby! Using everyday items as props, just like Robo-Max!

  Cobalt didn’t feel any fear once he was rising up the post. Heights didn’t scare him much. It was usually an exciting thing to do, feeling the breeze pick up around him and people from below watching him ascend. Like he was a movie star like mom or Aqua, but in real life! Cobalt hasn’t even gotten hurt from falling off a tall height in… a few months, at least! Heights certainly scared his family, scared of Cobalt hurting himself while trying to reach those tall places, but if aunt Miyako said he was divinely blessed, then climbing now should be fine!

  “What the fu– Hey!”

  Cobalt had his foot raised, about to settle on the next step, when someone started talking loudly.

  “You, blondie in red and blue!” Oh, that person must be talking to Cobalt. He was wearing his lucky red shirt and his cleanest blue slacks. “What on earth are you –”

  Cobalt yelped. His other foot slipped, he lost his grip, and he started falling.

  Someone caught him in their arms. For a split-second, it reminded Cobalt when he was younger being held by mom or aunt Miyako. Only for a split-second, though. Whoever caught Cobalt almost immediately fell, too. Cobalt was soon sitting on their chest as the person lay flattened on his back.

  “Damn, kid,” the stranger wheezed. “What do you weigh? Fall might not have killed you, but your butt would’ve killed me.”

  Cobalt turned around to look at him.

  He was also a kid. An older kid – a teenager! Brown hair and a nice green coat. Strapped around him was a book bag, which Cobalt moved his leg off of. The teenager wore a surly scowl.

  Instincts churned around Cobalt’s heart. He wanted to turn that frown upside down!

  “Thanks for saving me, mister!” he said. “I guess I really am blessed!”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome.” The frown didn’t change. The teenager roughly pushed Cobalt off him. Now they sat across from each other on the side of the street. “What the hell do you think you were doing? You could’ve gotten seriously hurt!”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t get hurt. You got hurt for me, because you saved me.”

  The teenager’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “I… well, yeah, I saved you…” Whatever funk Cobalt’s savior had gotten into, he quickly shook himself out of it. “But, uh, seriously, why were you climbing up this thing?” The frown became less surly. Progress!

  “I needed to get higher to look for the hospital!”

  “Do you not have a phone on you to look it up?”

  “Nope!” Hikaru kept his phone on him, and aunt Miyako’s phone was out of battery.

  “Okay…” Cobalt’s savior stood up, patting dust off himself, and extended his hand to pull Cobalt up. He took it. “Did you try asking for directions from someone?”

  There hadn’t been anyone around to ask. Oh, maybe Cobalt could’ve asked the pretty front desk lady. Ah well, too late now. “Can I ask you?”

  Cobalt’s savior looked at him funny with squinted eyes. “You alright in the head there, kid? Where are your parents?”

  “My mom’s on her way from Tokyo!”

  “Alright… Where’s your dad?”

  A question Cobalt hadn’t asked in years. “I don’t know.”

  The savior was still looking at Cobalt funny. He looked up and down the street before sighing and rubbing the back of his head. He was kinda acting out a mix of Aqua and Ruby. Nervous in the same way Ruby sometimes looked when she was doing something she shouldn’t, like swiping more cookies out of the cookie jar, and didn’t want to get caught. Annoyed in the same way Aqua was when he had to clean up one of Ruby’s or Cobalt’s messes.

  Muttering something too quiet for Cobalt to hear, his savior gave a deep breath. “Okay… Let’s start over. I’m Shin Hoshigami. And you are?”

  Now there was a clear-cut name to put to the face of his savior! “My name’s Cobalt Hoshino!”

  “Hoshino…” Shin bit his lip. Cobalt matched the expression. He was actually getting hungry. Shin must be, too. “Is your mom Ai Hoshino?”

  Wow! Some random teenage stranger guessed it right on their first try! It’s usually random adult strangers who made the connection between his and mom’s last name, since it was generally adults who remembered mom introducing him, Ruby, and Aqua to the world. “You know my mom?”

  The talk of dads made Cobalt think of the forbidden question.

  “Are you my dad?”

  Shin spat and sputtered, waving his arms around uncontrollably. “What?! No, that’s stupid. I know of her. She’s like fifteen years older than me, kid.”

  “Are you sure?” Cobalt couldn’t believe he didn’t think about asking anyone in town this question until now. Well, Cobalt was focused on finding Robo-Max first and foremost, so it made sense. “Me and my siblings were born in Takachiho, so there’s a chance someone here could be my dad!”

  “Well, I’m definitely not your dad, kiddo. Is that why you’re in town? Looking for who your father is?”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Cobalt shrugged. “Not really, I was just curious. Who I’m really looking for is Robo-Max!

  “You’re – what?!”

  “Yeah!” Sounds like Shin was shocked. Robo-Max really needed to get his name out there! Aunt Miyako could help with that. “He’s a stop-motion animator on YouTube who makes really cool videos!”

  Shin was stuttering, eyes open really wide. “You-You… You’re a fan?”

  “Of course! I didn’t know one person could make so many awesome videos by himself!”

  Shin’s face was getting redder. “You think those animations are… awesome?”

  “Yup!”

  “... Why?”

  Cobalt wasn’t sure if Aqua had really understood his explanations on why he liked Robo-Max so much. Maybe Shin will get it better?

  Cobalt cleared his throat. “You know my mom likes to act and stuff, right? She always works with other people. Other actors, the director, the camera people, the makeup people, the wardrobe people, and more! Her videos on TV need a lot of work done by a lot of people. Robo-Max’s YouTube videos look small, but he’s doing an…” Cobalt channeled his inner Aqua for the right phrase. “… equivalent amount of work on a lower scale all by himself. That’s really cool. My mom and my brother need all sorts of help from all sorts of people to make cool stuff. Robo-Max only has himself.”

  If Cobalt wasn’t seeing things, that wiggling curve at the end of Shin’s lip was a hint of a smile! “But the voice acting sucks. The lighting is inconsistent between frames. The skits aren’t very funny or interesting. They’re just slightly exaggerated slice-of-life fluff.”

  “And Robo-Max is still making videos anyway! He’s creating things. He’s like…” Cobalt stumbled, thinking hard as he tapped his chin with one of his fingers. “I don’t know what to call him exactly! Someone who creates and controls everything and everyone in the things they put out.”

  Grandpa Ichigo, Aqua, aunt Miyako, and Hikaru have tossed around the word “creatives” before. Generally, they were imaginative people who contributed to the stories everyone watches on TV, buys seats for in theaters, listens on the radio, or reads about in books. Mom and Aqua were the biggest creatives Cobalt knew, always working with other creatives.

  Cobalt wanted to be creative, too. He’s tried drawing, writing, and copied Ruby with her dancing.

  But Cobalt is stupid.

  His drawings look weird. His nicest friends at school try their best to help him. His handwriting is too messy. Aqua always spends part of the weekend teaching Cobalt how to clean up his penmanship. People always say Cobalt puts in a “good effort” in dancing while Ruby is a thousand times better, always learning mom’s dance routines much faster than him. Even Aqua thought Cobalt was just playing or play-lying when he asks to help him rehearse his scripts he gets sent ahead of time for jobs. Cobalt was old enough to know play-lying was just a roundabout way of telling him not to take something seriously! But he was taking all of it seriously!

  But that was alright. Cobalt knew he was still stupid, and he was still working on improving himself with help from everyone willing to lend a hand. Just like he promised mom, there will be a day when he won’t be as stupid and be as smart as her!

  Aqua, Ruby, and mom definitely only said they liked Robo-Max’s videos because Cobalt liked them. His meaner friends at school said Robo-Max’s stuff was boring and stupid.

  But Robo-Max has been making and releasing videos for the past two years. He wanted to be a creative and was doing it in a way Cobalt hadn’t known was possible: by himself.

  Cobalt always had his family. He wasn’t sure if Robo-Max had his family secretly helping him out of view from the camera, but it didn’t seem like it from the behind-the-scenes videos. Robo-Max went outside and bought the polymer clay alone. He was the one who mixed and mashed shapes together to craft the characters. He’s the one who wrote down his scripts in old school notebooks with extra empty pages. Robo-Max set up the props, meticulously took the pictures with a camera he bought on sale at a market, and edited the footage and special effects together on his laptop. It was a new, original name on his YouTube channel to define himself on his own merits.

  Cobalt’s family would never leave him alone.

  That made Robo-Max all the more… inspiring if he did all he’s done without a family!

  Cobalt said as much to Shin aloud. “He’s very inspiring!”

  “Like… Like God?” Shin asked. Cobalt shook his head at that.

  “No, gods fight each other or work together. Robo-Max is a solo act.”

  “I mean God with a capital G,” Shin amended, with a small smile. Hey, he was smiling! Mission success on that front! “Like in western religions, like Christianity. My favorite take on God I’ve seen is there being a single God in the beginning that was all alone, so he decided to create the whole world, and all the life in it.”

  Now that sounds like an interesting story! “Oh, yeah, that sounds right! Lowercase gods have to help someone else or need their help to create something. Robo-Max is following his own vision like an uppercase God who knows what he wants and is getting what he wants.”

  Shin chuckled. More smiling! “You really think so?”

  “He wouldn’t be making the regular stop-motion videos and the extra tutorials for so long and so often if it wasn’t what he wanted to do! Mom and my sister Ruby always say to follow your dreams! Believe in yourself! Ignore the haters! I think Robo-Max would like them a lot.”

  “And you really do like Robo-Max.”

  “Yup!” Cobalt pounded his chest with his fist to add emphasis, like how Aqua did once when he had played a student in a fantasy military academy. “I want to know more about him. Do you know who he is in real life?”

  Shin’s smile faded. He shuffled his feet and hunched his shoulders. “Uh, what makes you think Robo-Max lives around these parts?”

  “There was a hospital in one of his behind-the-scenes videos. It’s the one where my brother and sister and I were born. My aunt recognized it and brought me here.”

  “So where’s your aunt?”

  Cobalt shrugged again. “Sleeping in the Strawberry-mobile. She’s fine. She needs the rest.” Hikaru was always a good babysitter to him, so he should do well with aunt Miyako, too. “I need to keep looking for Robo-Max. Can you help me? You seem to know about him, too.”

  Shin started shaking his head, but he wasn’t saying no. He reached into his book bag. “Well, you don’t really need to look much further.”

  “I don’t?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why?”

  “Uh, give me a second, that fall earlier messed some of this up…”

  Cobalt gasped.

  In Shin’s hand from the book bag, he revealed one of those photograph papers that had multiple separate pictures of the same thing on a single sheet. The photo pasted on Shin’s sheet was the clay ensemble cast of Robo-Max’s videos. It was the exact same picture that was used in the bar set, on the back wall inside its own mini-frame fitted for the mini-photo.

  “I needed a replacement since the last one got ripped,” Shin explained.

  “You’re Robo-Max?!”

  “You got me!”

  Making sure not to ruin the picture, Cobalt lunged at Shin with a hug. Shin wobbled before steadying himself. “I’m your biggest fan!”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  Shin didn’t say anything more. He wasn’t telling Cobalt to let go, so the hug continued!

  “Uh, thanks for… supporting me, and… thinking my animations are cool and getting better… Okay, you can stop with the hugging now, thanks.”

  Before Shin could push him away, Cobalt retracted a few steps of his own accord. Cobalt’s savior was no longer a random teenager. He was the Robo-Max! The best stop-motion animator this side of the Pacific! Cobalt had a whole pack of questions he was waiting to pour out for him! “What made you want to start making videos in the first place?” he asked first.

  Robo-Max put the photos away. “You mentioned you liked how Robo-Max created and controlled everything in his animations? I needed a little more control over my life, and I found writing stories, molding puppets, and making videos was a good way to do that. They’re my stories, and it’s…” Shin sniffled. Was he trying not to cry? “It’s really nice to hear that someone likes something I made.”

  Cobalt pumped his fists in the air as he nodded in excitement. “More people should be telling you that! Robo-Max deserves all of the views in the world.”

  “That’s the dream, kid.” Robo-Max patted Cobalt’s shoulder, like how Aqua did whenever he was proud of Cobalt about something. Cobalt started feeling weak in the knees thanks to the gesture. “Thanks for the compliments, kiddo.”

  Making sure to straighten his legs, Cobalt said, “I had other questions, too. Have you ever thought about making little clothes for your characters? What kind of tripod do you use for your camera, since you never actually said what brand it is? Where did you –”

  Robo-Max put both of his hands on both of Cobalt’s shoulders. Cobalt shut his mouth to himself from squealing at being so close to the big YouTube star. This was like mom reining him in from overwhelming her with too many questions. Cobalt had to be more tactful about expressing himself.

  “Hold your horses there, Cobie. Listen, it’s really nice to know you’re a fan. I really do appreciate it, but… you said you came here with your aunt? Can we go see her? I don’t think she’ll appreciate you heading off by yourself to find me.” Robo-Max gave a fake laugh. “I could’ve been some lying serial killer for all you know.”

  Cobalt gave Robo-Max another once-over. “Nah, I’ve been getting better at feeling people out on whether they're good or bad. You seem pretty good.”

  Wiping his face, Robo-Max snorted. “Don’t let my dad hear you say that.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s… nothing, just an inside joke.”

  “Oh.”

  Robo-Max didn’t say anything else. He just stared at Cobalt with trembling lips.

  “Can I get in the inside of –”

  “Come on,” Robo-Max interrupted, walking past Cobalt and dragging him down the road, like how Ruby sometimes did when they were walking to class and Cobalt got distracted by something. “Let’s go find your aunt. Is she this way?”

  “Yeah.” Cobalt’s previous words with Miyako prior to embarking on this adventure resurfaced in his head. “Does this mean you wanna sign up with Strawberry Productions?”

  “What, like a real contract with them? They don’t have any online-only personalities hired on, do they?”

  “Nope! You’d be the first!”

  Cobalt couldn’t see Robo-Max’s face, but his tone was light. “I’ll think about it.”

  Does he need more bargaining or incentive or any of those other things Aqua and the Director and grandpa Ichigo talk about sometimes? “You’ll get to meet my mom if you join!”

  Robo-Max laughed again. “I’m a fan, Cobie, but I’m not that desperate.”

  Aqua had pictured a return to his previous life’s hometown when he was older. He’d have gone alone on the excuse of a personal vacation. There still hadn’t been any word of Gorou Amamiya’s body online, so Aqua would have taken the time to see if he couldn't find any potential leads, if any could even be found decades after the fact. Ruby and Cobalt were also aware the three of them were born in Takachiho. Another possible return could have been during a visit which Aqua’s siblings would pressure Ai for, visiting their birthplace on a family excursion.

  Never would Aqua have imagined the inciting incident to prompt a homecoming was Miyako practically kidnapping Cobalt with one of Strawberry Production’s talent scouts as her reluctant accomplice.

  What was even more surprising was Ai’s reaction to being told by text from Miyako of the impromptu road trip.

  “Oh, that’s sweet,” Ai had said with a smile Aqua was ninety percent sure wasn’t a lie. “I just wish Miyako waited until we were done filming today. We could’ve all gone together instead of dragging poor Kanzaki on overtime.”

  “Aunt Miyako kidnapped Cobie!” had been Ruby’s reaction. Ai had wagged her finger with disapproval at her.

  “Miyako loves you all, Cobalt included. She would never hurt him.”

  The certainty in Ai’s words had kept Aqua and Ruby from voicing any objections.

  They regrouped with President Ichigo and spent a good portion of the rest of the day speeding toward Takachiho. Ichigo was at the wheel. A business gift basket was secured on the passenger seat. The Hoshinos were stuffed in the back.

  Unlike Ai’s children, the paternal figure in her life had no restrictions in giving her blowback for her cavalier attitude.

  “It’s still absurd you didn’t call me immediately!” Ichigo was screeching again. “I could have contacted Kanzaki and kept Miyako from carrying out this nonsense!”

  “There’s nothing nonsensical about needing a break from work with some shrine worshiping,” Ai lightly chided. “I wouldn’t mind a little extra support from the gods.”

  “Forget religion. Knowing Cobalt, he’ll get lost in Takachiho’s forests and we’ll need to spend the rest of the weekend in town; to search for Cobalt, and then for him to get treated for any scrapes he’ll get while lost.”

  “You know Cobalt’s gotten better about recklessly hurting himself. Aqua’s only needed to whip out the ice pack for bruises four times this year!”

  Yes, Cobalt has verifiably harmed himself through careless actions at a significantly declining rate over time. Years of therapy and support from his family has helped him combat his ignorance and bad judgment calls. He better understood when he was biting off more than he can chew, though there was always the underlying worry for Cobalt his family could never completely ignore.

  “Kanzaki’s reliable, too,” Ai added confidently. She wasn’t wrong. “He’s a perfect professional. I get jealous sometimes how quickly he can get Cobie to settle down and avoid making noise on set.”

  “He just bribes Cobie with orange juice or food,” Ruby chimed in, unimpressed. “I do it all the time! Kanzaki must have learned it from me.”

  “Or he just has experience with kids Cobie’s age,” Aqua said. “Miyako keeps Cobie complacent the same way, too.”

  Ichigo was silent.

  An uncomfortable tension was suddenly in the air. Aqua caught on to it as Ai glared at the back of Ichigo’s head. Ruby was confused, but Aqua was pretty sure of the reason behind the awkwardness.

  “Kanzaki’s the most professional one in Strawberry after you, Prez,” Ai said.

  “Miyako literally signs his paychecks,” Ichigo muttered lowly.

  “If I can trust your wife, why can’t you?”

  Ichigo raised his voice sternly. “We’re not talking about this in front of the kids.”

  Ruby realized the situation a minute too late and audibly gulped. “I’m sure Miyako still loves you, grandpa!”

  No more words were shared as Ichigo turned on the radio and raised the volume.

  Planting that seed of a second marriage in Miyako’s mind all those years ago may have been a mistake. She hasn’t brought up Aqua’s and Ruby’s godly infant act in a long time, but apparently something clicked with her today to cause this unplanned journey to a supposedly godly town.

  Aqua believed Ai’s trust in Kanzaki was warranted. The man would adequately ensure the good health of both Miyako and Cobalt, as proven from his past service. Even so, Kanzaki was also hired in part for his decent looks as a talent scout wowing prospective recruits for Strawberry, and the close proximity with Miyako Kanzaki found himself in on a regular basis obviously made Ichigo very self-conscious about the state of his marriage.

  Everybody Strawberry hired were good people. Thorough background checks and the works had been committed with a motivated zeal to ensure Ai’s safety after the assault, and the practice continued forth into the current day. Miyako’s heavy drinking was a turn-off in the temptations she offered to the people working for the company. Kanzaki was no different. Even if she found someone willing to sweep her off her feet, Miyako rarely had the time to go out the house for pure leisure, and Aqua was absolutely confident she would never bring home any adulterous guests to the house in which the Hoshino matriarch and children comfortably lived.

  Yet Ichigo still had doubts. Kanzaki was a fine enough target to dump his disgruntled feelings on, if not solely on Miyako.

  Aqua spent the rest of the car drive considering how to fix the Saitous’ marriage. He should have made more plans regarding Miyako’s drinking and her related issues sooner. Ai loved them like her own parents, and Cobalt’s love for his faux aunt and grandpa was obvious. A divorce would leave everyone in tears. Moreover, they were more useful to Ai’s career and the safety of the Hoshino triplets in a united front. If Ichigo and Miyako were unable to sort things out in a satisfactory conclusion after they reunite, Aqua will have to intervene somehow.

  Granted, Gorou Amamiya has never been married or gone through a serious long-term relationship with a woman. Still, between his acting repertoire and the investigation for his father, Aqua’s become fairly adept at assessing people’s personalities and nudging them toward the destinations he wanted them to reach. Real life was under no obligation to conform to fiction, yet Aqua was willing to orchestrate events to the best of his ability to see a satisfactory narrative play out where Ai, Cobalt, Ruby, and even both Ichigo and Miyako can wake up the next day with no regrets holding them back.

  It wasn’t too long until they were back in the same streets and passing the same buildings that Gorou Amamiya had traveled for the better part of his old life. Takachiho has hardly changed in ten years. Aqua wondered if any of his old associates at the hospital were still there. Aqua may get the opportunity to check if Cobalt does end up requiring medical treatment.

  Staring at familiar haunts passing them by, Aqua returned his attention to Ai when she asked, “I thought we were going to a hotel Kanzaki booked?”

  She had a point. Ichigo had mentioned the name of the hotel after another call with Kanzaki earlier, and now they were passing by that hotel.

  “Change of plans.” Ichigo was glancing between the road and his phone. “Miyako won’t listen. We’re apparently having dinner with Cobalt’s favorite YouTuber and his dad.”

  “Oh?” Ai said in wonderment. Cobalt said it in the same exact way. “Cobie really found Robo-Max so quickly?”

  His sense of humor returning, Ichigo commented, “If things work out like how he wants, Cobalt could be a talent scout when he grows up.”

  Another long talk they’ll need to have with Cobalt: why he shouldn’t willfully go on unplanned road trips to visit someone on the Internet who unintentionally leaked their personal information like their hometown. Whatever godly entities out there at least had the mercy of providing Cobalt caretakers in Miyako and Kanzaki, who seemed to have judged Robo-Max and his family as decent enough to share a meal with.

  Cobalt always liked making friends. He’s even befriended a bully or two at school who have since mostly given up their bullying ways (partly due to Ruby’s own thuggish tomfoolery). Hopefully Robo-Max as a person won’t turn out to be another problem individual they’ll have to deal with.

  Ichigo pulled over at a residential address at the edge of this particular neighborhood. Ai ushered Aqua and Ruby out to stretch their limbs. Ruby yawned as Aqua looked over the house, lights shining through the windows.

  A tall man in a collared shirt and suspenders stalked out of the building with hands casually in his pockets.

  Aqua froze on the spot.

  He recognized the man instantly.

  “You Ichigo Saitou?” asked the man who once convinced Gorou Amamiya to go skydiving with him, his girlfriend, and a few other acquaintances while on a short break from university. Ichigo gave an affirmative. “I’m Kumada Hoshigami. Your wife’s in the bathroom. Her aide’s waiting outside.” The man looked to Ai. “And you…”

  “Ai Hoshino!” Ai introduced herself with a classic smile and wink. “Nice to meet you, Mister Hoshigami!”

  “From the sounds of things, my boy and your youngest have become best friends,” Kumada said in a deadpan tone.

  “That’s so sweet! These are little Cobie’s siblings…”

  As further pleasantries were exchanged, Cobalt ran out the front door and dove into Ai. Following after him with slow steps was a shy teenager who could only be Kumada’s son.

  Aqua gazed at the face of a boy who, fourteen years ago, had been brought into the world by Kumada’s wife Tenshi Hoshigami under the care of her trusted Doctor Amamiya.