Heard Secrets (1)
Before his bath but after helping Sayoko put her eldest sister in her bedroom, Nik was eager to remove one layer of his issues—
The Language Barrier.
He did not intend to remove his cover of amnesia— until he returned from his eventual trip planned by [Transmigration Paradise].
This cover was too convenient to let go out of nowhere and would give meaning to others’ suspicions. Honestly, Nik was more worried about how the Souma Family survived until now by helping strangers like this.
Then again, this assistance may be credited to his bloodline— Adonis’ Ember.
As Nik peeled away his clothes, he interacted with Infinity in the form of translucent gold-trimmed red panels.
[Acquire Language of the homeworld?
Cost: 1 AP (Rank 0)]
Nik accepted the price with a thought, and the panel shifted again.
[1 AP Deducted. Detected multiple fully recognized languages. Automatically select region-wide local language?]
Nik frowns for a moment. Multiple languages meant that even if he understood the locals, he would have to work hard to learn other languages if he tried to leave this region.
Infinity allowed the acquisition of a spoken and written language once in every world.
‘Do it.’
Nik agrees. He didn’t want to browse a list of languages before his bath. He was already down to his underpants.
His mind accepted another stream of information that sent him into a daze. Words became meaningful to him. He understood every compliment the old ladies gave him while sighing about him being a foreigner— sassy much.
*Click*
The door to the bathroom clicked open as Mitsuko walked in with a surprised smile.
“Ah, I thought you would already be inside.”
She then shakes her head with a giggle, “Silly me. I keep forgetting you can’t understand me.”
Then came the animated movement from the captivating mother of three as she waved her hand around to try and convey things. But ever the amnesiac, Nik smiled cluelessly.
‘Damn, I understood more from your words than your actions… then again, Infinity is far too mysterious, and acts like this should be as simple as breathing for the divine-like entity.’
“There!”
Mitsuko typed into her cell phone and presented it to Nik while unbuttoning her cardigan. The action earned her a swift glance, but Nik focused on the glowing screen of the small box that accomplished many tasks!
‘I can read this language, too. Good. Now, I need to collect another point of AP before my departure. This way, I’ll be ready to purchase the language of the next world I drop in.’
The skewed logic dictated that he could also write, but Nik wouldn’t try it to impress others for no good reason.
Nik dropped his underpants without questioning Mitsuko’s actions and entered the bathroom through the translucent sliding door. This time he could accurately differentiate between a shampoo and a body soap as he turned on the shower head to rinse himself briefly. As usual, an eager Mitsuko entered the bathroom while Nik could imagine Kurumi’s annoyed expression.
Eventually, both of them found themselves in a relatively small bathtub as Mitsuko leaned back onto Nik. More than pleased with how responsive but casual Nik felt to her touch and advances, Mitsuko couldn’t help but purr in satisfaction.
“I really want to know who you were and what made you.” She whispers to herself.
‘Dear Landlord, the sentiment is the same. You’ve got as many issues as me, given your butt is on me.’
‘But… what made me, huh?’
Those are the stuff of his nightmares.
Nik soured slightly, but he didn’t find it odd. Curiosity is what killed the cat, after all. He was no better in his previous life.
“Oooh!” Mitsuko gasped and tilted her head sideways to look at him. Not even paying any attention to her, Nik found himself hugging her slightly— for himself. Just those memories sent him scrambling for comfort. And seeing his dazed look toward the ceiling, Mitsuko refrained from commenting on whatever was in her mind and overlapped her hand on his around her smooth abdomen.
---
"Who are you?"
It was a surrounded inner garden with large walls topped by deep red aggressive-looking rooftops. Pink and red lanterns illuminated the area from various spots. The scent of flowers made everyone in the garden feel good.
There was a line of little boys and girls in the garden. Most showed signs of malnourishment and marks of physical abuse. Tattered clothes, some not even wearing any. The bleak and blank looks of the children were a chilling sight in such a beautiful garden. Nobody had tears left to cry or the naivety to smile for.
On an extraordinary garden chair in front of the children sat a woman whose voice was thicker than most men that used to beat them in the streets. She wasn't beautiful, but she wasn't ugly either. Her skin was darker than normal tan, and her pupils were strikingly blue. She wore her dark brown hair in a long braid from the back of her head while keeping the rest of her skull shaved.
Golden earrings, bangles, anklets, chained nose piercings, and an exposed navel piercing decorated her body. The chain from her nose piercing linked to another golden bolt on her left earlobe.
She was more muscular than most men who used the children for their benefit. She lay lazily on the swinging chair on her side. Her body was supported by her broad shoulder and elbow. Her carved abdominal muscles would flex whenever she shuffled in her chair. She lay on the leisurely while observing the one disheveled boy made to step out of the line. On his head, a small blue lizard could be seen silently staring at everything.
The woman had a silver but extremely scandalous outfit on her body. Strips of fabric sashayed over her breasts and then wrapped around her waist with a loose and baggy pajama trailing her thicker legs due to her idle position. Interest flickered in her eyes as she observed the little boy.
If the children could read, the tattoo right below her pierced navel with an arrow pointing at her crotch would have scared them—
Her question resounded again.
“Who are you, boy?”
"I... I don't got a name," the boy shook his head timidly and spoke brokenly.
"And the little guy?" The woman glanced at the small blue lizard on the boy's head. The kid shook his head again.
"Come on, bring that sweety close to me," the woman gave a warm smile as the kid couldn't help but gulp and step forward. Carefully, he took the lizard from his head and handed the lizard with a confused expression to the woman. However, the boy and the other children paled when the woman pinched the Lizard’s head between her thumb and index.
*Squelch*
The struggling lizard did not stop twitching even when its blood and matter splattered on the woman’s chair.
"I will name you," the woman cooed gently as the warm glow of the lanterns made her dark skin strangely attractive. She continued, "I will feed you. I will teach you. I will give you a mother. I'm your trainer from today on."
The boy's nostrils flared, and his eyes teared up at the sight of the woman tossing away the twitching corpse of the lizard— His first and only friend.
His dry and cut lips along his shoulders trembled as the woman ruffled his head with the same filthy hand she crushed the lizard, "Got it, Nik? Hmm, I'm Esta Faran. You will call me Trainer."
---
Nik slowly woke up. A yawn escaped his lips as he stood up, more tired than usual.
Rubbing his eyes, he silently gazed at his surroundings, and seeing nothing change, he folded the mattress again.
The morning happened to be the same as yesterday. Kurumi went off to her school, and Sayoko quickly followed to her University. Souko had her job, too. But when Nik got ready for work, he was stopped by Mitsuko as she smilingly stated that she had plans for him.
Strangely, it felt ominous to him.
Still, she assured him she got Yuuko’s agreement yesterday.
But instead of going out early in the morning, Mitsuko had him wait and help with the chores. Done with the breakfast, Nik followed Mitsuko after setting aside all the dishes as she washed them and then moved a few pieces of furniture around, too. It also allowed him to enter Mitsuko’s, Kurumi’s, and Sayoko’s bedrooms.
Kurumi had a neat room with barely any personalization. A single mattress bed with a desk in the corner and a window above it. A lamp, a cupboard, a small bookshelf, and a mechanical item with a larger screen. Surely another one of the devices he failed to grasp, still. This rectangular screen on her desk came with a black cuboid and a tray filled with alphabets of the local language.
Sayoko's room was average, too. A little messy with a large bookshelf and her desk packed with various notes from the looks of it. Souko's, on the other hand, was horrendous. He saw it yesterday and realized how long it took for Mitsuko to clean her eldest daughter’s room every day, only to get thrashed later in the night. Really, he remembered putting a passed-out Souko on her bed, but the room was even messier than last night!
"Oh, would you look at that," Mitsuko groaned. Clothes and papers lay everywhere.
With a deep sigh, the two began cleaning up. Nik silently stacked the papers while Mitsuko tossed the used garments into the smaller basket before cleaning the place and folding the blanket over the mattress.
There was something Nik had noticed by now— A picture of a man. The house had an odd vase of two as decorations, but it was relatively simple with a few family photographs. The framed image of the happy family seemed captured from a few years ago when Kurumi was still a short stack. Not that she isn’t at the moment. Smiling and hugging like a happy family should.
Only… Nik was trained to look past one's words and emotions. Something he should have considered when he tried to lie and escape from one particular hellhole, but in the end, he was successful.
If this family was so happy and content, Souko wouldn't be pushing her body against him, Mitsuko wouldn't be bathing naked when Nik already knew that seeing someone naked is a big deal in this world, and Kurumi wouldn't be trying to act like a confused kid who didn't know how to seduce an escort. Nik didn't know what Sayoko’s deal was, but she didn’t act coldly or warmly to him. A cool distance was maintained from the very beginning, something that could be because of the language barrier itself.
The mystery, however, is where is the man himself.
Nik hasn’t seen him once these four days. Sure, Genta told him about the business trip before he entered the residence but this long? From what he understood, the smaller devices— the cell phones— could allow communication from anywhere, but Mitsuko and others barely received any call from this particular individual, and if they did, it wasn't in front of him, too. The chances were high that the latter was more likely, but Nik had a gut feeling that things weren’t this simple.
Still, he wasn't deeply attached to the family to care long enough. But that feeling changed a little when Mitsuko took him out for his first train ride to some other location for reasons unknown. It was a wonder to Nik, everything. From the train station to the train itself.
Trains existed in his previous life, but he had only heard of such genius mechanical contraptions. Seeing one in real life still blew him away.
Only when the initial rush of childish excitement passed, and they got a seat on the train did Nik glimpse at his hand held by Mitsuko.
She had held his hand casually to keep him from losing in the crowd, but the clasp of their hands had long transitioned into their fingers interlocking. And now that they did not need to hold hands, Mitsuko felt reluctant to let go. Instead, she relayed that the train ride would be slightly longer and leaned against him. Nik would have resisted it if it did not feel comfortable. So, as Mitsuko rested, Nik looked outside the window.
He felt amazed at how quickly he was moving.
The scenery blurred past him.
‘Wow.’
Nik was heartily speechless. He was comfortable and happy.
Just… wow.
He looked sideways. Although he and Mitsuko wore their masks, they attracted plenty of attention from the passengers. Especially Mitsuko.
She wore a red top and a pair of cream-white trousers. Her innocuous action of leaning into him with closed eyes as their fingers interlaced made a few sighs to themselves.
But Nik felt conflict in this sense of comfort. It was his inner conflict.
Nobody helped someone else out of pure kindness. Nik did not mind this notion. However, he did mind the payment expected of him. The last time someone put a roof on his head, he was thoroughly ruined. Not that he is projecting his hate for his pimp on Mitsuko.
It was clear that Mitsuko wanted a more sexual reward, but honestly, Nik wanted to end his streak of wild nights for favors. It wasn’t like Mitsuko was treating him as an escort. In fact, Mitsuko seemed intent on being a guiding hand. It was as if she wanted him to make the first move. Why? He did not know.
That's why he enjoyed working for Yuuko. The costumes were fun, his job was easy: cleaning and hugging, and most of all, it barely touched his true profession while making him feel happy because of all the hugs. A hugger enjoys hugs as much as the person getting hugged as long as it is warm and appropriate to the occasion!
Nik eventually filtered out his thoughts and enjoyed the scenery.
It wasn't until a few minutes when Mitsuko opened her eyes. An announcement of the train reaching another station made her get up as Nik followed. The next stop was boisterous, and unlike the region of their residence, this one had taller buildings and in great numbers, too.
Finally, Mitsuko stopped at some sort of plaza. A large building filled with more stores, just like the one Genta took him to at the beginning for his outfit, but this time, the place looked a little more luxurious and much cozier, once again, because of the fabled functional ac units!
‘So we are shopping for her clothes.’
Nik nods to himself.
Mitsuko turned to look at him with a smile.
“Let’s get you something better to wear~ You’ve got a job so I’ll have my compensation later.’
Nik blinked, and Mitsuko pointed at the men’s section and dragged him with her.
‘For me?’
Nik couldn’t help but wonder as he watched his arm getting pulled without a hint of malice.
‘Will I even get such a cozy environment in the next world I am supposed to prowl?’
‘If anything, I’m lucky.’
Mitsuko pulled her mask down and smiled as she began to pick clothes from the shelves.
‘And happy.’
***
Alternate Title: Nik’s Maker, Not the Lizard!; Breaking Barriers!; Esta Faran; Name Giver; The Trainer; Cause of Nightmares; The First Image of Trauma; Muscle Mommy… Not!; Trains!; Inner Conflict; Happiness; Kind Gestures; Esta is not a Slut Mommy… Mitsuko is!