Normal POV
The moment Akivili stepped out of Bazett's car, she was already mentally halfway down the road.
To be fair to her she had almost called the police on herself three times.
Akivili had discovered, somewhere around the second convenience store, that crying and loudly accusing her of kidnapping him was an extremely effective negotiation strategy for acquiring snacks.
But the worst part of it all? He looked like a little angel doing it. Black hair with gold at the tips and a face that belonged on some ancient fresco of a sun deity was just unfairly cute.
And it was because of that cuteness he was able to perfectly manipulate every stranger they had encountered.
Bazett had so far been forced to use mental suggestions on completely ordinary civilians three times in one afternoon.
So yes she was just about ready to get the hell out of here.
But then the kid turned around at the gate, faced her directly, and bowed, "thank you for taking care of me and bringing me home, Miss Bazett. It was a lot fun for me hehe," he added with a giggle.
Every single thought in Bazett Fraga McRemitz's head vacated the premises simultaneously.
'So. Overwhelmingly. Cute!'
You might have assumed that questionable taste in the began in the Aozaki family and ended with Aoko. The evidence however suggested otherwise.
Bazett suddenly snapped out of it though as she rapidly recalled the three civilians she had to mind-wipe.
This damn child had approximately zero shame and a gift for causing problems left and right.
"Yeah no worries, kiddo," he kept her voice dignified and casual, "anyways I've got some important things to do. You go on and take care of yourself alright," she said quickly, giving him her farewell.
The car was moving before she had even finished the sentence.
Akivili watched it go until it disappeared around the corner.
Then he turned to face the house.
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In all honesty he had expected something a little modest. Maybe a comfortable family home that was slightly above average.
What he instead got was a castle.
Not literally but close enough that the distinction felt academic. The floors were white marble, polished to the point where looking down was like looking into still water.
The walls carried an intricate pattern of red florals that climbed toward ceilings that had no business being that high. A grand staircase rose through the center of the room before splitting in two directions.
And right in the middle of it all was a family portrait.
His mother looked exactly like herself beautiful, effortlessly stylish, and composed.
He was also in the portrait too. If Akivili had to make a guess, he'd say he was roughly around seven months old with a round shaped face and had a few tuffs of hair on his head.
Then there was his father.
'Huh?..Doesn't he kind of look like Charlemagne?'
He studied the man intimately.
Tall, swept-back hair with purple colored eyes, and dressed in a deep violet formal attire similar to that of a knight.
Overall the man looked quite strong and stunning yet what held Akivili's attention wasn't the regality of it.
It was the smile.
The exact same smile his mother wore when she wasn't trying to be intimidating.
Something settled over on his chest just by looking at it. Akivili wasn't quite sure how to describe it exactly but it strangely felt comfortable, 'rest in peace Dad. I am sure you were no doubt someone amazing,' he mentally thought with closed eyes.
He let the moment sit but his brain decided to keep yapping.
'Actually now that I think about it, if my Dad's related to Charlemagne, then I might be too. Which means if I ever became a Master... could I maybe summon Charlie? Or one of the other Paladins like Roland or Astolfo?'
He was still turning that thought over when he suddenly realized that he wasn't alone in the room anymore.
A gorgeous looking female stood at the far end, near the base of the stairs.
She was quite tall with reddish-brown hair tied up in a ponytail without a doubt this was the Scarred Red, Touko Aozaki.
Said woman turned around once she noticed him and gave out an easy, unbothered smile like she'd been waiting for quite sometime, "oh hello you must be Akivili, right?"
Her voice carried through the space without effort.
Akivili took a slow cautious step back but otherwise kept his expression neutral and his voice slow.
"Are you the one my mom calls her old teacher?"
Touko considered that for a moment before she shrugged, "sure kid you could say that. She's one of my old students."
The relief that moved through him was immediate. Akivili reached under his shirt, pulled out the letter, and held it out toward her with both hands.
Touko glanced at it then looked over at his hand.
"...Why the hell is it so sweaty?" she muttered.
Still she took it anyway. A quick motion of her hand blue colored runes tracing across the envelope until it opened cleanly. She checked the handwriting first, running her eye along the lines then read:
"It is as I feared, teacher. Although you've managed to keep yourself well hidden, the Association has managed to catch wind of your location. Fortunately, the operative they sent is a dear friend of mine. Her name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz. I caution you to stay inside the house until you've found a way to move your main body to safety..
Oh and one more thing if things go south, please don't kill Bazett just knock her out however as quickly you can.
Your eternal student, Rosalyn.
Touko was quiet for a moment.
Then she let out a fond smile. It was honestly kind of amazing seeing someone with a reputation like her's being able to look so stunning.
She looked at him.
"Well it seems you and I will be sharing this house for a while kid," a pause, "my name is Touko Aozaki."
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.
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Akivili processed the full picture while keeping his face politely attentive.
Touko was under Clock Tower surveillance because of her unprecedented mastery in puppet-making. Her work became so flawless that the root misinterpreted her replacement puppets for her real body, allowing her soul to effectively "respawn" after death.
This time around they had sent a young Bazett to either capture her or monitor her which almost made him snort. Glaze Bazett however you but she would be no match against Touko. The very same Touko who not only rediscovered a few primordial runes but was quite literally unkillable with the numerous puppet bodies she had at her disposal.
And his mother fully aware of this, had instead handed the young Bazett a false trail and written Touko a warning letter delivered via her four-year-old son.
His mother had fooled her friend.
'I mean I respect her audacity but there's a code for these things, Mother dearest. An ancient sacred code called "thou shalt not deceive thy friend," and you women have violated it.
'...Michael my old friend, you really gave me such wisdom I did not expect to use in this context.'
A flicker of nostalgia moved through him before he caught it.
Touko, for her part, had been watching him stand there in silence for what was probably an awkward amount of time.
'Is this kid broken? Let's fix that,' she flicked a finger against his forehead. It wasn't a hard flick either but neither was it too soft..
Akivli suddenly blinked.
'Oh right gotta stay focused on the present.'.
He'd have plenty of time later to figure out this whole situation later. What really mattered now was that Touko Aozaki, one of the most capable magi alive was going to be living in the same house as him. Which meant there was a real, breathing, non-zero chance she might teach him something.
He straightened up and bowed.
"Then I'll be in your care, Miss Touko."
A satisfied expression settled over her face as she nodded and turned up to climb the stairs only to pause mid-way through, one hand on the railing.
"You can call for me if you need something. Not at night though I'll be busy with my research."
Then continued to go up the stairs until she was gone.
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Akivili found his room eventually which was up the hall, the door slightly ajar.
It was quite the large place, bigger than it had any reason to be for a child. There were high ceiling, blue bedcovers, and someone at some point had done something to the walls that made it resemble the clear night sky.
He didn't have the energy to think about it.
He crossed the room, sat on the edge of the bed, laid back, and stared upward for exactly as long as it took for exhaustion to win.
Then he finally closed his eyes.
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He was kneeling.
Not in his room but somewhere vast and without edges.
An endless dark space.
His hands were in front of him. Not the hands of a child but rather those of his 18 year old self. Akivli stared at them in bewilderment then looked up to see a throne.
To be more precise someone sitting on a throne.
They had red hair with eyes that burned with neither anger or grief but rather something older than both. The pressure coming off from the individual had a strong heat to it. For some reason Akivili instinctively knew that whoever this man was could easily kill him without having to break a sweat.
Then there was darkness.
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.
He was in a different place this time. The ground was red and deeply saturated. Akivili couldn't tell if he was seeing things through his own eyes or was watching from above, or somehow both.
He looked up to see a dark sky covered in stars and just far away from him was the distant and small blue colored sphere that was Earth floating there by its lonesome.
Then something shifted below him.
He looked down to see an eye.
Not in the ground or even beneath it.
The moon was quite literally an eye.
There was a saying for something like this back on Akivili's normal Earth.
"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you."
The eye was fully locked onto him.