Archive of Our Own ^beta

A week had passed since Shin became the newest employee of the Sakamoto Store, a small family market in your regular suburb. As Shin organized the shelves and restocked some items, he thought about on how things had changed.

Just a week ago he finally found Mr. Sakamoto, tried and failed to kill him, he realised how foolish he had been, he almost got himself killed trying to make his old boss leave Mr. Sakamoto in peace, only to be rescued by Mr. Sakamoto and offered a job at his store. Job offer he had obviously accepted. There was no way on earth he would have refused the chance to work with Mr. Sakamoto again, even if it was a very normal job What was most impressive about this story was that everything had happened in less than 48 hours.

Now, a week later, having resigned to the life of a professional assassin (he did work for a third-rate agency, but who cares?) and he had moved in with the Sakamotos during his first day of the job. The icy policy of his old job was a very real possibility, since Mr. Sakamoto had spared the lives of many of his old co-workers. The best solution was to move in with the ex-legendary assassin who had made it clear how strong he still was.

The ring of bell announced the entrance of Mr. Sakamoto, he had left shortly after Shin arrived to run an errand. Meanwhile Mrs. Sakamoto (even if he said it in his mind, he could feel the woman’s glare at his instance to call her by her surname) helped Hana be ready for kindergarten.

“Mr. Sakamoto, we need to buy more bath products. There are only a few left in the storage room.” Mr. Sakamoto made a beeline to his seat and started preparing a cup of ramen for himself. “Already did.” Said his boss in his mind.

Shin nodded and decided to clean the floor trying to ignore the fact that Mr. Sakamoto was eating the ramens on display.

Shortly after Mrs. Sakamoto (again, somehow, he could feel she glare at him) and Hana came downstairs ready to leave.

“Papa!” Hana ran to hug his father, while Mrs. Sakamoto approached to make small talk with her husband. Shin looked at the small family with a smile. This everyday life made him truly understand why Mr. Sakamoto had left everything to protect it. He contented himself with watching. Even though he lived in their spare room out of precaution, he knew this was a family moment.

“Shin! Hana is going out now!” Suddenly, he felt small arms around his leg, he looked down and smiled at the little girl.

“Have a good day Hana” He patted the girl on the head, knowing now that she wouldn’t let go until he reciprocated her goodbye. As Hana let go with a smile on her face, Mrs. Sakamoto approached him as well.

“Shin, I will be running some errands. Please help Taro until I get back.” The woman said with a smile. Both mother and daughter were always kind with him. Shin smiled at her.

“Of course, Mrs. Sakamoto. It’s my job after all.”

The immediate glare thrown his direction made him laugh nervously. “Just call me Aoi. Everything’s confusing if you keep calling us both by our surname.” That was just an excuse; Shin had realized that Mrs. Sakamoto was simply laid-back and didn’t mind skipping formalities.

“I can’t. That would be too disrespectful, Mrs. Sakamoto.”

The woman gave him one final glare before sighing, accepting todays defeat and smiling again. “Seriously, with those manners, no one would believe you used to have the same job as Taro.” She said as she laughed and left the store with Hana. Shin decided it was a good moment to clean floors again, starting at the back and away from a smiling Mr. Sakamoto.

After so many similar mornings, he supposed this was his new morning routine. He only wished he could hide his flustered face better. Mrs. Sakamoto truly had a way with words and emotions in general. She was a good match for Mr. Sakamoto, who went back to his poker face as soon as his wife and daughter left.

The day continued at a nice, lazy pace. Customers arrived every now and then, and he helped the regular granny find everything on her shopping list. As the afternoon drew to a close, he went upstairs. He still had a few things left to unpack, and his break seemed like a good time to do it. He preferred to sleep in an organized room and get rid of that last box. He left the door to his room slightly open, knowing that the Sakamoto household was most likely one of the safest places on earth. Unlike at his previous job, his personal space was not something he had to protect anymore.

His room was almost finished. He and Mr. Sakamoto had installed a new desk and shelves the previous day, all gifts from the Sakamoto family (one more reason to help protect Mr. Sakamoto’s ordinary life—the whole family was kind). He had his old PC on the desk but still needed to get his books and games from one box.

With the dexterity of a professional assassin (he mentally flattered himself), he used a kitchen knife to open the box. On top were his video games. He hadn’t wanted the boxes to bear much weight, so he had placed the games above his books and music CDs. Smiling to himself, he began to organize them by genre, making it easier to know where everything was. He was so absorbed in his task that he didn’t notice the little girl approaching him.

“Shin! Hana is back! I had a great day!” Not for the final time that day, he felt small arms hug one of his legs. He placed the game in his hand on the shelf before knelling down in front of the little girl.

“Welcome back Hana. So, you had a good time?” He couldn’t help but smile around the youngest Sakamoto. She had a way of spreading her good energy.

The kid nodded, smile still present in her face.

“Yes! We played this new game where we had a drawing on our head like this” She made small rectangle with her hand and put on her front head.

“And we had to guess what we got. I had an apple, but my friends were clothes or drinks! It was super fun. We should play it Shin!”

He patted her on the head, his smile becoming a little more awkward.

“That sounds fun, but I’m an esper. I will know what I got when I read your minds.” He would love to play with Hana and the rest of the family, but his powers were a hindrance in moments like this.

Hana snickered.

“It’s alright Shin, Mama says no one can know what Papa thinks and I heard Papa say you can’t read Mama's mind...”

Ahhh… Mrs. Sakamoto probably didn’t mean it like that, but it was true that if Mr. Sakamoto wanted, Shin couldn’t hear him. Plus, he would rather play without Mr. Sakamoto killing in his mind every 2 minutes.

“And Hana isn’t a problem either!”

Shin raised an eyebrow, curious as to know why the little girl thought she was immune to Shin’s powers.

“Hmm and why is that?”

Hana put his hand on her hips and full proud said, “Because we can ask Papa to write what you are! Papa knows lots of languages that I haven’t learned yet.”

Shin couldn’t help to laugh.

“You are right Hana. I hadn’t thought of that. You are very smart!”

Hana smiled, satisfied with her plan.

“Great! I will Mama and Papa so we can play!”

Shin stood up, already expecting Hana to run out of his room and get her parents.

“Sure, call me when everything is ready.”

Hana nodded but stayed in her place.

“Is something the matter Hana?”

Defying all physics, Hana’s smile grew even bigger.

“Hana is happy that Shin and Papa will play again!”

He stood dumbfounded for a second.

“What do you mean?”

The youngest member of the family hugged his leg again.

“Hana heard Mama said that Shin and Papa used to do things together all the time, but since Shin moved in with us all you do is work. Friends need to play together too! That’s what Hana does with her friends.”

Shin was at lost for words. Mrs. Sakamoto wasn’t the only one to surprise him. Hana, in all her innocence, had a special way of viewing and saying things. She had inherited more from her mother than just her looks. He felt a little hand grip his pant leg, and Hana’s big eyes looked at him with happiness.

“I’m glad Shin and Papa made up!”

He laughed. It was so simple, but there was no better way to put it.

“Me too Hana, your dad is amazing! I’m glad we can work together again.”

“Papa is amazing!”

“Yes, he is!”

He sat down, putting himself at Hana’s level.

“What do you say if we ask your parents together? I bet they won’t refuse if we join forces!” He knew either parent would refuse such an innocent request, especially if it came from their daughter, but he wanted to play along a little longer.

For a moment, the girl looked at him in silence and then jumped up with joy.

“Hana would love that!”

He patted her head again, hoping to help calm her a bit. He was a little worried that with all the excitement, Hana might trip.

“Great, we can go now if you want.”

Hana took the expression as an invitation for cuddles and quickly sat on Shin’s lap. The blonde did nothing to stop her; he didn’t mind.

“Shin, how was Papa when he was younger? Papa and Mama don’t talk much about it, but I bet Papa was amazing even back then!”

He hugged Hana and looked at the ceiling. He wondered how much he could say without incurring Mr. Sakamoto’s wrath. He smiled and guessed it was okay. It wasn’t every day that he could tell stories of his days working with Mr. Sakamoto.

“Sure! I will tell you all about our time together!”

Sakamoto turned the key, closing the store for the day.

“It sure was a slow day, it good to have one once in a while.” Said Aoi behind him, and he nodded in agreement. They began to walk back to their apartment, their pace was lax, neither felt rushed to go up. His wife snickered; he wondered what could have made her laugh.

“Shin never came back from his break. Do you think he finally relaxed? I wonder if he is asleep.”

Sakamoto looked up the stairs. It was rare for Shin to be irresponsible with his duties. Either Aoi was right, or something more important had come up. He stroked his chin, worried. He hoped nothing dangerous had happened.

“Don’t worry Taro, I bet everything is fine. But you will have to wake up him for dinner.”

Sakamoto nodded. Even if something did happen, he could track Shin’s tag. Thankfully, the boy seemed to carry it everywhere. It was a good thing he had installed a GPS. Almost all the lights in the apartment were off, and curiously, the only source of light didn’t originate from Hana’s room. They heard laughter coming from the guest room. From the slightly open door, they saw Hana and Shin performing some kind of theatrics. They exchanged curious looks and decided to approach in silence.

“What happened then, Shin?!” Hana jumped excitedly.

In an extremely dramatic fashion, Shin ran a hand through his hair and pointed to no particular place. “Then Mr. Sakamoto said, ‘It’s time to end this.’ Obviously, he thought it, but I heard him. So, we took our brooms and charged toward the infested place.”

From the door, they could see Shin making plenty of acrobatic moves, masterfully avoiding Hana and any objects in the room. “And when all hope seemed lost, Mr. Sakamoto found a...” Shin paused for a brief moment before continuing with the same excitement, “Before finding a special cleaning product in a hidden place. Quick as lightning, he did jush, gush, hiya!” One of those cleaning gestures was definitely a kick to an imaginary head. “And before I could even notice, the entire room was cleaned! Not a single bad guy was left standing!”

“Yay! Papa did it!”

“He is truly amazing, Hana. I wish you could have seen him.” Said the blonde, sitting down as Hana lost no time in sitting on his lap. The natural way it happened made it obvious it wasn’t the first or second time it had happened that day.

It was a truly endearing scene. Then suddenly, Shin reached for his throat as if he was in pain. “Mr. Sakamoto?!” The young man looked at the door, panic on his face.

“You were careless, keep it up and I’ll kill you,” Sakamoto said in his mind, referring to all the times Shin let the true parts of his story slip. Luckily, Hana didn’t seem to pick up on anything.

Aoi opened the door, laughing, intuitively knowing what his husband had done. “Hana, Shin, come here. It’s time for dinner.” Today was left over day, so they only needed to re heat everything.

“Yay! Dinner! Let’s go Shin!” Hana stood up, trying to drag Shin along with her, to which the esper obliged. As the family started to put the table and heat the food the blonde suddenly paled.

“Mr. Sakamoto, I’m sorry I forgot to go back!”

Sakamoto stifled a laugh with a huff and simply patted Shin on the shoulder. The boy didn’t need any more scolding than what he was giving himself right now.

“Shin, sit beside Hana!”

Hana came to Sakamoto’s and Shin’s rescue by distracting the blonde. Sakamoto smiled at his daughter; she was as amazing as her parents. The Sakamoto household enjoyed dinner. Aoi looked at his family, briefly wondering how he could make Shin drop the honorifics, but mostly smiling as she remembered the day he met the blonde.

It had truly been a surprise to see an ex-co-worker from Taro’s days as an assassin, and he was even younger than Taro was when she met him years ago. Shin had appeared talking about Taro’s old occupation so out of the blue that she simply stared at them, but what had truly left her at a loss for words was her husband’s reaction. Or rather, his lack of reaction.

Aoi was not as skilled as a professional assassin, but she could proudly say she was an expert with Taro. She was vaguely aware that her husband was quick to react whenever any danger appeared, whether from everyday life or from some other assassin in the shadows. The fact that Taro allowed Shin to do that corny presentation meant something, and she decided to take a step back and let Taro deal with it. In retrospect, all of Shin's discourse about Taro being uncool had been nothing but a kid discovering a new facet of his idol—like a kid meeting his favourite band and realizing things weren’t anything like they had imagined.

But then their shop got completely ruined, and Aoi couldn’t be too mad at Shin. For starters, it was the first time she had seen an assassin warn his target that he was going to be attacked. She wondered if other assassins sent letters or called before trying to kill someone, although she suspected it was simply Shin not wanting to hurt Taro at all. Additionally, Shin had caused the least damage to the store; there were three bullet holes at best, while Taro had ruined their shelves and the display glass of some refrigerators.

On top of it, poor Shin had lost consciousness due to that devastating kick, and his head had bled a little, but thankfully it had been only a scratch. Taro said that facial injuries seemed worse than they looked because they bled a lot. She had glared at him, silently but effectively scolding him for making excuses instead of finding a better way to resolve things with Shin.

The young man was now resting in the guestroom, bandages covering his forehead and torso. Taro’s kick was sure to leave a bruise. At least Hana was sleeping too; between all the commotion, her daughter had grown tired as well. She heard the front door close, and soon enough, Taro was sitting beside her, a pot with cold water and a cloth resting between them.

“Did you finish fixing the shelves?”

Taro nodded.

“And the refrigerators?” Taro looked to the floor in shame.

“Mr. Garasu gave us a discount, two glasses were fractured.”

She sighed. The glass for the refrigerators was surprisingly expensive, but it was a small price to pay if it meant things between these two were resolved. Honestly, men needed to use words more than fists.

“Good thing Mr. Garasu is so kind.” She said, hoping to lift Taro’s spirits. She didn’t like to see him feeling down. It seemed to work, as Taro looked up at the unconscious blonde.

“So, are you going to tell me who he is?”

Taro looked at her, confused.

“He’s obviously more than ‘just an ex-co-worker.’ I’ve never seen you entertain an assassin, and you even spent an entire afternoon with him. All the neighbours said you two seemed very friendly!” She took Taro’s hand, she knew he had trouble expressing his emotions. Sometimes the ex-assassin had trouble realising what his own emotions even were. In moments like this, it was her turn to be patient and supportive.

“He... used to follow me around.” Taro’s gaze was fixed on the unconscious boy, and even behind his glasses she could see her husband’s gaze soften.

“He said he wanted to be like me, so I decided to teach him what I knew.”

Aoi looked at his husband in surprise. She never imagined Taro taking someone under his wing, at least not the Sakamoto Taro she had met more than five years ago. She squeezed his hand, encouraging him to keep talking.

“He is hard working and learns fast...”

Her gaze fell on Shin, wondering what kind of memory was going through her husband’s mind.

“How old is he? He doesn’t seem like a teen, but...” If Taro trained him all those years ago, she wondered if...

“He is like me. He grew up into that world.” Taro confirmed her worries. She couldn’t help the sad expression on her face.

“I see, but at least he had you. I can’t imagine a better companion than you, Taro.”

For the first time since he entered the room Taro looked at her.

“Shin... is a good kid.”

She looked into his husband’s eyes. Those eyes were expressionless to many, but to her, they spoke volumes. He was trying to console her about something no one could change, the past was the past. But his eyes also had that look, that telling sign that Taro was feeling something that even he wasn’t aware of. She smiled, knowing how to help!

“Well, it’s ok now. Let Shin rest here, and when he wakes up, we can invite your friend to eat with us!”

Taro looked at her surprised.

“Fri...end?” The concept seemed so foreign coming from her husband’s lips, but to her, that baffled look was adorable. She smiled.

“Of course! I’ve never heard you talk about someone for so long! And you two hung out all day yesterday. I’m glad I get to meet one of your friends, Taro!”

That characteristic glint that briefly shone in her husband’s eyes told her that her job here was done. Who would have thought that Sakamoto Taro, the ex-assassin, had a friend hiding somewhere? If she had known before, she would have searched for Shin herself! Taro had left the life of murder and was now a man of family, but her beloved husband was a lonely man. He spent far too much time alone in the store, and even after helping the entire neighbourhood, he had failed to connect with other people other than his family.

She ignored Taro’s surprise and gently caressed Shin’s sleeping face before starting to take off the bandage on his forehead. The kick must have hurt, as the boy didn’t stir one bit. But similar to Taro, now that he was resting and all the exhaustion was taking a toll on his body, he had caught a slight fever. At least his injury had closed with no problems.

As soon as she was done taking off the bandages around Shin’s head, Taro took the fresh, slightly damp cloth and placed it over Shin’s forehead with care. Something told her that these two would be inseparable! Her suspicions were proven correct when Shin reacted just like Taro to a home-cooked meal. She would need to feed the young man correctly; it wouldn’t surprise her if Shin picked up Taro’s horrible, horrendous, unspeakable bad habits, like only eating army rations all the time!

She heard noise behind her. When she turned around, she saw a tired Hana. Aoi smiled and opened her arms for her daughter, who delightedly claimed her mother’s embrace.

“Is Shin alright?”

Both parents smiled, but before Aoi could say anything, Taro took the words out of her mouth.

“Don’t worry, Shin is strong.”

Hana gave her dad a sleepy smile.

“I know, he is Papa’s friend!”

And again, Aoi could appreciate that baffled look on her husband’s face. Taro could be so cute!