Good Day And Bad Day

It was the beginning of a new day, with no problems in sight and a streak of 3 days without having to fight for my life. Everything was definitely going better than before. Tamamo had gotten up early again to practice cooking with my mom, and I was getting ready to go to school today as well.

After getting ready and putting on my school uniform, I went down to the dining room, looking for the jacket and hat I had taken off yesterday as soon as I arrived. My mother was already eating her breakfast, although there was no sign of Tamamo, nor any indication that she had cooked it. In fact, my breakfast was one that my mother had prepared for me. As soon as she saw me, she spoke to me.

"Good morning!"
"You seem quite animated today."
"Did anything special happen last night?"
"Were the books I bought you any good?" she said.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you really had to do some manga research to find out what they were about, and that you even bought lewd lesbian manga despite your position".
"And I will focus on the fact that today is a new day!"
"A new chance to try to have a normal life again"
"By the way, do you know where Tama is?"

"When she woke up, I asked her to watch Maria again to see what she does in the morning.
"She is ready for school to avoid delays," she said as she handed me my breakfast.

"And what are you going to do today?" I asked.

"Business as usual
"Signing papers here, making phone calls there"
"I have a meeting with the British Prime Minister before noon."
"He made the whole trip to meet me, although he will visit various places to disguise his visit."
"I also have to talk to the head of the American base in Tokyo."
"He said something about wanting to install a new anti-aircraft system, but he needs permission from the Japanese government to install it.
"He wants me to meet with the Minister of Defense."
"Taking advantage of the fact that I will be visiting him, I will also talk to him about the plan to establish more units at Yokota Base."
"And finally, I have to go to the neighborhood meeting for this afternoon."
"They want to talk about holding a sports event in the neighborhood to raise money for charity, and they want me to be the organizer.
"Other than that, I have nothing else to do for the rest of the day.
"Maybe now that I have free time in the afternoon, I can catch up on my favorite soap opera, since I won't be able to go to my cafeteria".

"Nothing more?"
"What a quiet day you have today"

"Yes, I don't know what to do with so much free time.
"Maybe I'll have to find another hobby"

"That was sarcasm"
"How can you be so calm about all this?"
"I know it may not seem like much compared to what you've probably had to do"
"But isn't it a bit excessive?" I reproach my mother

"I know it seems like a lot of work, but really I think I'll be done before 2 p.m."
"Since this is about Maria, I'm trying to have as little work as possible."
"Besides, I have already told you that I will be on vacation soon, and that is why all the governments want to see me now that I am still available".
"Besides, tomorrow is Friday and that is my day off.
"They are quite annoying, but they need my help to do all this.

"Do you really need so much help that you have to meet so many people today?"

"Well, Major Zero, someone in the C.I.A. helped me with the false ID about Tama, and you and some members of the European hackers helped me create your false travel history in various countries.
"It is also thanks to the Ministry of Education of Japan that you are enrolled in this school in the same class as Maria, and that they were able to appoint Xi'an as a teacher, even though she does not have a teaching degree.
"Not to mention the police who are helping me get more information about Maria by patrolling the streets."
"As well as some hackers from Russia who are trying to break into the I.S.C. database to get your sister's information."

"Do you have an espionage operation working with several countries just to find out about Maria?"
"And you even have the luxury of saying that you'll be on vacation later."
"I'm afraid to know how it all ended up like this."
"Is there anything else that helps you?" I asked her again.

"I have a daughter-in-law who is a goddess in the living room trying to spy on Maria".
"I didn't even think I would end up like this," my mother replied with a triumphant face.

"Aren't you the president of some country by any chance?"
"Or is that not enough for you?"

"It is very annoying to try to do something when a whole country is watching your actions.
"It's better the way I am now."

After talking to my mother, Tamamo reappeared, but she informed us that nothing strange happened, Maria just got into a car and went to school. So we didn't waste any time and left as well.

Nothing important happened at school either. The students were curious about Tamamo's ears and tail, but they just ignored me. It seemed that my strategy of hiding them worked quite well. Maria by her side just hung around and did nothing, and Haru, our other group work member, scolded everyone for every rule they broke. Although Tamamo seemed to be immune to her complaints, Haru saw that she was a hopeless case and let her do whatever she wanted. The teacher, despite being good at teaching, seemed to have no authority in our group, thanks to Yamada and Josuke, who seemed to annoy her whenever they could to make the class laugh.

When class was over, we all went to the coffee shop to do our group homework. And even though both Tamamo and I were aware of Maria, the truth is that nothing out of the ordinary happened. When we got there, we asked Saeko, the employee who works for my mom, to let us use the table in the back to do our homework. After that, we worked a little on how to make the presentation poster, and I thought it was the right time to try to get more information.

"How did you hear about this place, Haru?" I said, trying to start a conversation naturally.

"The owner of this place is a friend of my grandfather's."
"She opened this store a few weeks ago."
"In fact, until today, I see that the name of the store is White Moon."
"It may be that the store signs were late and they were able to put them up until recently."

"And what am I taking care of, darling?" Tamamo asked when she saw that we left her aside.

"Take these scissors, you will be in charge of cutting out the drawings to put them in this part," I told her to avoid more problems in the future.

"But that's not doing anything!" Maria said at the same time looking at the wall where the counter was.

"Leave her alone."
"Believe me when I say she better just do that," I tried to calm my sister down.

"What if I do it like this?"
"It fits well?" Tamamo smiled and showed an example of how not to cut out a page with pictures.

"But that's my science book!"
"Don't cut that!" Haru said when she saw her book.

"How did you get here?" Maria asked when she saw that the atmosphere was more relaxed.
"Tamamo says she is from here, but from what she says, she lived abroad with you, right?"

"Well, actually it's because of my mother's work," I started to tell the story I had prepared in advance in case this happened.
"Right now she is trying to negotiate with Japanese companies to export some products from here to America."
"Since it will take several years, we have decided to move here.

"I'll be where my darling is!" Tamamo said happily while looking for a new victim for her scissors.

I think what Tamamo is doing is making the environment as happy and friendly as possible to make Maria talk more and make a mistake and reveal important information. But I personally think that maybe she's overdoing it with the silly personality. I am afraid that she will say something stupid in one of her attacks that I will not be able to cover later.

"Tamamo's family is still in America for work."
"Since we did not want to be separated, Tamamo offered to come alone."
"Her parents paid for the trip so she could explore her home country, so we traveled together."
"We will study here for a while and return to America later."

"We even sleep in the same room!" Said my wife.

Exactly what I was afraid Tama would say, why doesn't she stop complicating things?

"There's no need for them to know!"
"Stop talking about private things!" I told Tamamo sincerely.

"Do they even live together?"
"So are they serious about being a couple?" Maria asked as she looked at the cafeteria counter.

"I don't like to talk about it."
"But it is like that"
"I'm totally serious about it," I replied to her.

"I'm serious about our relationship too!"
"There is no other person I love more than my darling."

"And do your families know that you love each other?" Maria speaks again, now with a surprised face

"They knew a long time ago, that is why they let Tamamo come here with me, because they did not want to separate us," I tried to explain as quickly as possible before the kitsune moved her mouth again.
"They were a bit against it at first, but eventually they left us alone.
"As for my mother, she always wanted me to get married as soon as possible, so when I started dating Tamamo, she left me in relative peace, accepting her defeat.
"But I already talked a lot about us, what about you?"

Finally, I had managed to bring the conversation to the point where I wanted to take it. It cost me more than I thought in terms of dignity, but at last I was able to ask about Maria in a way that seemed natural and not like an interrogation.

"Not much to tell the truth," Haru was the first to answer.
"I live with my grandfather."
"He works at the police station in Tokyo."
"He has been taking care of me since my parents died a month ago."

"Oh..."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Maria, Tamamo and I said at the same time.

I didn't expect this. What do I do now to make it seem natural? I don't think I can even look sad since I was in heaven earlier this week and I've already seen people die in front of me. I can't imagine what a person should look like or do in that situation.

"I am very sorry for your loss."
"If you need help, remember that you can always talk to me."

But surprisingly, the first person to act was Tamamo, who took Haru in her arms and hugged her. And like a mother telling her child that everything is fine, I tried to calm her down and talk to her, but now with a serious and friendly tone, completely different from her usual behavior.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Although it sounds tragic, I was not very attached to them"
"My mother was never home because of her work and she was always angry with me because I couldn't be smart and a genius like her, and my father wasn't better either."
"For her, I was always the disappointment of the family."
"It may sound terrible, but honestly, since that happened, my life has improved a lot, now that I live with my grandfather."
"He is a person who is good to everyone and everyone respects him for who he is."
"That is why I want to become a detective like him and make people respect the law," Haru said with passion in her eyes as she talked about her grandfather."

When she finished speaking, everyone fell silent, as no one knew how to continue after hearing her speak as if the death of her parents was no big deal.

"What about you, Maria?"
"By your name you should be from America too?" Tamamo said trying to change the subject to something more cheerful.

"Not much to tell either"
"My parents also have work here and that's why they brought me."
"Although I think we will not stay long"
"I hope I can go back to my country soon," Maria said, sounding like a pre-recorded tape.

It was clear from the way she spoke that she was lying.

But as much as Tamamo and I tried to ask about her, she only gave us vague answers. So to avoid suspicion, we decided to give up for the day and try to finish the task instead. Also as a curiosity, Maria was the one who ordered the most desserts from the group today. This seemed strange enough to me, because since she spent so much time in the hospital, I thought she would take better care of herself so that she would never go back there again. To avoid further suspicion, Tamamo and I were the first to return to the house, and Haru said that her grandfather would pick her up later when we left work, so she stayed in the cafeteria. Maria from her side, it seems she ordered a last dessert from Saeko before she left, they were talking just as we left.

Afterwards, I met Xian in the park to tell her that we made no progress today. So her hopes of getting his job back were fading. I asked her to find another way to get closer to Maria and she replied that she was looking for something else to do for that purpose.

Back at the house, more of the same happened. I told my mother that I couldn't get any new information. The goddess was watching a new series of superheroes that had just come out. And apparently a water pipe in the kitchen broke, so I spent my free time trying to fix the leak. By the time I was done, everyone was asleep, so I was the last one to go to bed.

But what would happen the next day I certainly didn't see coming, at least not that fast.

Friday started like the day before. We all got up and had breakfast. Tamamo and I went back to school while my mother spent the whole day in the cafeteria. But it was here that things started to change.

The first thing was that Maria was absent today, but I was naive and remembering my high school days, I thought it was normal for a student to be absent for a day or two. When classes ended, we went to mom's cafeteria to spend the rest of the day. But when we arrived, only Saeko was there as usual. So I asked her where my mom was and she replied that she hadn't arrived yet. And here something clicked inside me.

Something bad was happening and I was unaware of it. I did not know what it was, but if it was true, something was out of place. Except that Maria, who was watching someone, was absent today. Our house is only a block away from the coffee shop, so my mother could have just walked here. Besides, it was impossible for her to arrive so late, since it was almost dark.

Something must have happened to my mother on the way from the house to here. Considering that she was someone important in the Alliance, there could only be one possibility. A kidnapping, either by someone very intelligent who knew what he was doing by kidnapping someone important, or by a real idiot who did not know who she was.

It would probably have been the work of the I.S.C. Maybe Maria somehow managed to find out where our mother was and somehow her superiors found out, but how?

The one who gave me the answer was my wife, who showed me that on the opening day there was a picture of my mother on a shelf. I remembered that Maria had looked in that direction several times yesterday. That must have been how she thought she should be around it, and her bosses took advantage of it.

After that, I stole a car that was nearby and drove to the docks.

"What are you going to do, darling?" Tamamo spoke to me, bringing me back to reality.

"I don't have a clear idea where my mother might be, but I think she's probably in the warehouse where Maria is."
"In the worst case she won't be there, but at least there must be a clue.
"In an abduction, the more time that passes after the disappearance, the more likely it is that something bad will happen to the person."
"I don't know how much time has passed, but we must move now."

"Are you sure she's there?"

"Tamamo, my mother just disappeared and I have no idea where she is.
"The only thing I want right now is to kill someone, I am going to fucking do it, and there are people at the harbor who have my sister locked up."
"You should stay at home and wait for me to come back."

"No, I want to help you and my mother-in-law"
"She's the closest thing to a mother I've ever had in my life.
"So I wanted to save her too"
"Do you have any plans in mind, darling?

"I have no plan in mind"
"But since you are going to help me, I will ask you to use your power of shapeshifting to find my mother or sister in that warehouse and protect the entrance.
"Kill the guard and anyone who doesn't knock on the door three times.
"When I leave you near the warehouse, you will have ten minutes to do so.
"After that, I'll crash the car in the driveway and try to find you.
"Then I'll see what I can do to get out of there."

"Alright"
"I'll help you with everything
"Everything will be fine and we will save your family"
"Trust me"

When we arrived at the harbor, I let Tamamo go to infiltrate while I got into position for the shooting that was about to happen.