"Yeah...? Do you... know her?" Fudo asked as he also stopped walking. Glancing over to the two, who had already regained their calm faces. "I doubt it, but I got surprised by your family's naming sense. The guardian of the south and the god of protection. Makes me jealous of just being Miyoko."

"I knew that about mom's names, but not about mine... that's cool... I guess?" He tried to appear interested, but his smile was shaky, and his voice didn't hide his disinterest in the topic in any way. Yet, Aiko looked somewhat offended at the fact that he didn't know.

"Eh?! Why didn't you tell me that you don't know? So, Fudo Myoo is known as the guardian of Buddhism and its true adherents. That's why he's also called the god of protection!" She proudly explained to him. This time, his face seemed way more interested in what she told him. "You sure know a lot about stuff like this."

"I don't know if I should feel offended or not..." Miyo mumbled to herself with an annoyed smile before Kaiyo bent down and whispered in her ears. "Why don't you just tell him that we work for his mom? I was surprised too, but what's up with you? You're acting weird... I mean weirder than usual."

"We don't know if it's our Suzaku or not. That name may be rare but not unique. We have to find out more about her before we can say for sure... and I know how to do that." "Why are you so persistent? It's a nice fact to know, yeah... but are you really that interested in her?" Kaiyo asked, her head now basically laying on Miyo's shoulder as she glanced over to her face.

"Yes absolutely. I need to find more details." Miyo said as she was glaring at Fudo, who was already walking ahead again. Other than Miyo, Kaiyo didn't show any interest in the topic. Instead, she just kept glancing over to Miyo. "They were able to knock the smirk off her face twice in one day... she's cute when she's serious." She muttered silently.

"Hey, Fudo! Tell me what your mom's like! I need to see which kind of monster I'm fighting against here!" Miyo suddenly yelled out. The smile returned to her face, and the tone she had was brighter as well. As if the dark tone she whispered with Kaiyo just a few seconds ago never existed.

"About mom?" Fudo gazed back at the two, still walking this time. He tried to hide his excitement, but that worked as well as earlier as he tried to hide his disinterest. "Sure, I can. So the last time I saw her was a few months ago. She has beautiful black hair that she always keeps open, and she covers one of her eyes with her bangs. Sometimes she even covered both. Her eyes are bright, almost shining purple. She's really tall too! Like, maybe just a little shorter than Kaiyo."

"Ok, ok, I got it. I have to go up against another supermodel giant, I understand... in that case, I'll fight her with my own of that kind!" She expressed loud and proud. One of her hands was on her hips, and the other one pointed straight at Kaiyo. Though she paid more attention to the surrounding area than the conversation going on in front of her.

As the other two started to chuckle about Miyo's proud announcement, Kaiyo immediately noticed something was wrong with her. Since she pointed at Kaiyo, who was walking behind all of them, she had her back facing Fudo and Aiko, but Kaiyo could see her face just fine. Her smile was shaking, and her eyes were as well. Even the tone of her voice just now was shaky.

Her face entirely looked as if she tried to suppress her fear, but she wasn't scared at all. Instead, she tried to understand what exactly was going on. At this moment, Kaiyo already had enough with her, not explaining anything. "Miyo, why the hell is the thought of Suzaku being his biological mother so weird for you? I mean, she's our boss, yeah, but she put him in an orphanage this far away from Kyoto. It's not our problem."

"Kaiyo, you don't get it. Suzaku... was born infertile. She physically can't have children..." She said silently, holding her forehead while staring at the ground. "Suzaku's number one topic to talk about back then was how much she wanted a child but couldn't get one... it... it's probably no big deal, but as soon as we're there, I need to research."

"I guess you always learn something...new..." Kaiyo now also glared at Fudo, trying to sort her own thoughts. "Yeah, I think it'd be better to not tell him that his biological mother is... unable to give birth."

"Why are ya walking so slowly!? I thought Kaiyo wants to do this quickly?" Fudo abruptly called out. The two were already ahead with a fairly big distance between them.

Miyo flinched slightly, being ripped out of her train of thoughts by the boy's call. "Ah, sorry! I just got pretty interested in the surroundings. You know, we're from Kyoto, such a small town is a nice change of place."

As both of them ran up to the two to stay close to them, Aiko slightly tugged at Kaiyo's jacket. "Does Kyoto really look that different? I want to go there too! At least once!" She exclaimed with a bidding smile.

Kaiyo only glared down at the little girl that was tugging at her clothing. Her expression didn't change from that cold stare, but she could feel her heart squeeze at that sight. She tried her hardest not to break character and hug her as Miyo did all the time. All she could do was nod slightly. "The rule is that your team needs at least six members and to show some results... if you want to, then Miyo and I will play out our authority to have your house be as close to ours as possible. The lion cage that Isamu will stay in is also around there."

"Ah, so you work in Kyoto?" Fudo asked, obviously less excited about the whole Kyoto thing than Aiko was. "Our company works in Kyoto. As a god, I have to be as close to it as can be, so we can't live anywhere else. Through the library, I can always return to where I set the exit, so I can do work pretty much anywhere else."

"While we're at this... what's the strongest esper under these ancient gods? Where do you sit under the... how many gods were there? Seven?" Fudo slowed down as he looked over his shoulder and down at Miyo, who only held her chin as she answered his stare with a smirk.

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"Do you want my own opinion or based on facts?" Fudo now stopped walking entirely, as he also scratched his chin. He looked up with his mouth standing open. "You're...the goddess of knowledge, right? Wouldn't your opinion be better than facts if they aren't the same esper?"

The small woman began to chuckle as she heard his statement. "You're not as stupid as you look! In this case, my definition of strongest is probably deviating from yours, though. So, I'll just tell you both factual and based on opinion. So, the first one would be the strongest by facts, that's the death god's scythe... I've never fought against its user, but a single touch of it can drag your soul into ruin and kill you entirely, there's no joking with that."

"Wait...instant kills? Is there actually a human just walking around with that..?" Aiko asked with a worried expression. This time Kaiyo put her hand on Aiko's head. The wide smile on her face was probably just to console Aiko, but with the glow in her eyes, she appeared just like a devil in human skin.

"Don't worry about that bastard. As soon as he only thinks about hurting you two, I'll already have him fucking decapitated." She said in a determined tone. Her blood-lusting aura was nearly visible around her. All this instantly disappeared as Miyo jumped up and smacked her against the head. "Wrath's coming out, Kaiyo! Don't scare the babies!"

"Eh...? Sorry...didn't mean to..." She said as she let go of Aiko's head, putting her hands back into her pockets, before Fudo suddenly walked up to her. She was ready to endure him trying to threaten her for scaring Aiko again, but as he stopped only a little in front of her, he didn't yell at all, Instead, he looked at her with a sparkle in his eyes that matched the ones Isamu and Aiko had as they talked about the espers in the library earlier.

"Teach me that." The only thing he said. The sparkle in his eyes kept on as he gazed at her with a determined face. "You...what? You want me to teach you to get angry?" Kaiyo was surprised by his sudden demand. Not knowing what she should answer and not knowing what he meant in the first place.

"You had this two times now! This aura! I want to show aura like that too!" The determination showed in his eyes. Kaiyo looked almost surprised at his request, as usually people either flinch or quiet down entirely whenever they see her aura. The boy's reaction was rare, but nothing absolutely new, as the only other person that ever reacted this way stood directly behind him.

"When you get your esper, I can help you, but you won't be able to show your aura without esper. To calm you down...your aura is about the size of Miyo's. That's impressive for a Noes, but nothing amazing in general."

"The topic was the gods! Stop making fun of my aura, Kaiyo! We can't all have the literal Excalibur stuck in our pants!" Miyo broke into their conversation, obviously angered by Kaiyo's statement but also seeming interested in Fudo's aura.

"Yes! I also want to hear your opinion on the strongest esper now!" Aiko added along while Fudo and Kaiyo had already stopped talking. "Just so you know, her opinion is taking a little weird take at... 'strong', so don't get your hopes up."

"It is not! We don't all rely on brute strengths like the one whose esper is just a big sword! In my opinion, every esper gives you the ability to take lives, so no matter how powerful they are, they aren't uniquely strong. For me, the strongest esper isn't the one that takes, but the one that creates life. The esper is passed down by the divine being itself. In every story it's in, it's stated as the birthplace of humanity. The esper that can create an entire alternate world with living beings, an ecosystem, and everything earth has as well. It's called origin, but we know it better as the place that is the garden of Eden."

"That means the divine being is god, right?" Aiko asked. Miyo stopped her explanation a little surprised as she thought that it should be common knowledge. "Everyone knows them as god, but professionally we call 'em the divine being. Not to compare with the divine beings who are the rulers of the universe."

The two had distinctively different reactions after listening to Miyo go on. Aiko seemed as excited as always, but Fudo was clearly overwhelmed by the times that a god was mentioned that day. "And where do you stand between those gods now?"

"Somewhere around the last place probably. I'm not the best fighter, and Omoikane isn't cut out to be used as a fighting esper. I could only kill Nyoibo because I tricked myself around the user, and not because my esper is super powerful." Miyo said without changing her tone or expression, as indifferent as can be.

"Hey, Fudo, is that the orphanage?" Kaiyo yawned as she pointed towards a building that peaked out of the smaller houses around them. Before Fudo could even remotely answer, the little girl in front of them already got more energetic. "Yes! That's our home! So let's hurry now! We shouldn't wait any longer!"

"Is she always that energetic? She seems so different than when we first saw you." As the two watched Aiko and Miyo run towards the building, Kaiyo leaned over to Fudo, who kept looking at Aiko with a satisfied smile.

"She's just happy to finally get adopted. Aiko and I were the only ones to see kids getting adopted without being adopted ourselves...which in my case would be pretty weird as I'm nearly eighteen, but that's not the point. Aiko was the weird ghost girl even the adults were weirded out from, your adoption just made her feel so much joy, I guess... you'd better not let her down."

"You mean, better not let you two down, right? We're gonna be the moms of both of you! So better include yourself, you brat." Kaiyo punched him against his shoulders with an equally sized smirk as she followed the two that ran ahead.

Aiko and Miyo, already at the orphanage, didn't wait for the other two as Aiko ran through the front door with full force. "Mama! Someone wants to adopt me!" The woman inside that she ran towards suddenly froze up, dropping the few papers she was holding as her only response was a silent "W-what?"