Multiversal: The Shop

-Ai-

The picture on the phone wasn't something unfamiliar to her; after all, she still remembers it vividly when her children were at that stage of infancy.

To her, this very scene was something she remembered as if it was just yesterday.

However, compared to her blonde angels, the children in the picture weren't any inferior to her angels; they were both adorable, and she wanted them to have all the joy and love of the world.

It makes sense as they were also her children but from a different world.

Now, comparing her twins to this alternative version of twins, although their hair color was different compared to the blondes that she was used to, their faces, noses, ears, and mouths were almost the same with a slight difference.

It makes her wonder if the father of these children is Hikaru's alternative counterpart.

If Alexander were to hear those thoughts, he would have been greatly offended; being compared to that sadistic murderer wasn't something he'd like; it was honestly degrading for someone from his pedigree.

"....they look happy together." Ai couldn't help but feel jealous at this photo; after all, this was something that she hadn't achieved in her world.

Her children were without a father, compared to the one on the phone, they were a completely happy family.

"We do." The man who was the father of her younger counterpart's children replied after hearing her words.

Ai was undeniably jealous of her alternative counterpart right now, all that love was hers to take.

Meanwhile, in her world, her family was still incomplete; it wasn't like she was unhappy with her situation. It's just completely different compared to the paradise she saw in front of her.

For her, 'love' is a foreign concept; to her, to love is to lie, and only recently she realized what it means to really love someone without lies.

Upon seeing this perfectly happy family, it makes her wonder if she should try to contact her old ex-boyfriend and maybe, just maybe they could replicate that paradise on the screen.

But then she shook her head; it wasn't what was important right now, as there were still a lot of things to be done for her to do before thinking about her ex again.

Her unexpected revival would cause a lot of potential trouble, which she is very aware of despite her lack of some common sense.

Either way, now that she understood that her son wasn't going to be a slave for eternity, instead, he'd be just working here for a year like a part-time job.

Which made her feel relieved as her son didn't pay any sort of price, but now that she was here, not to mention the revelation that the owner of this place was her lover? Or husband? From another reality, it made her curious about him.

If her counterpart managed to have children with him, he shouldn't be that bad.

Not to mention, she does like her face and realizes that she has a type.

It was something new to her, aside from her attraction to this handsome young man, she couldn't help but be curious about what kind of things this shop sells.

"Say, out of curiosity what does your shop sell?" Then the man replied with a rather charming smile.

"I'm glad you asked; why don't I give you a little tour of this shop?" 

Thus, her otherworldly shop touring started.

—

I did my best to accommodate the Hoshino family, while I introduced them to my shop.

Questions like, what do I sell? Or how do you get customers even though my shop was in the middle of space and was literally nowhere in definition.

To which I gladly explained to them, and their reaction was completely justified.

"What?! You're saying that your shop has everything and there's no exception at all?" This was Ruby's reaction.

"Wait, you mean the customers of this shop are from a different universe, and we could potentially meet another version of us aside from your world?" This was Ai's response.

While Aqua said. "If what you're saying is true, then why didn't you give me more power to kill a person from a distance than this shard."

I noted that response, and answered. "There are two reasons; first, giving you an ability that could instantly achieve your goal wouldn't be satisfying at all; sure, you could eliminate them, but that's it; they're dead, and trust me, you'll feel empty afterward."

Aqua frowned at my reply, he wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"Trust me on this, the ability I gave you is more useful in the long run, it would get you everywhere and wouldn't it be better to expose the killer's dirty secret and humiliate them in public and when they are nothing more than an empty shell of what they were before, only then you can eliminate them, isn't that wonderful? With the ability I gave you, you'll easily achieve it; there's no need for any fancy power-ups that could potentially get you into a dissecting table in some secret base hidden from the world." 

Aqua couldn't refute my words and could only nod as nothing I said was wrong; thinking about it, this short-ranged clairvoyant was low-key overpowered in a world without superpowers.

As it could be hidden, no one would find this ability aside from the people thinking that it's some sort of super deductive reasoning ability.

"And the second reason?"

"Did I say two?" I said with a smirk.

Aqua scowled at my answer. "Yes."

"Haha, then I must have forgotten it! Either way, you got my point as the shard gives you perfect for you and the world you're in." I said.

To which he could only nod.

Then I thought in my head. 'The second reason for me choosing that ability for him is solely for my self-satisfaction, that's why it's better if he doesn't hear it.'

But then again, even if he did there's nothing he could do about it.

—

-Aqua-

He was now back in his own universe and also clarifying what was his 'job' in that place; he was quite relieved that it wasn't what he was expecting at all.

Like that man claimed or his alternative father, there's nothing dangerous about this one-year employment contract. Instead, he could treat this as a part-time experience.

It was nothing compared to what he received from it; in fact, from his perspective, it was an absolute win, and he hardly lost at all.

But then again, it might have to do something with the fact that the man was his father from another universe, which made the man soften his attitude toward him.

Aqua really doesn't know what to say about it, and frankly, if he was his father instead of that murderous bastard, he might have accepted it.

Anyone aside from that sadistic maniac was better, from the picture he saw from that man, they looked very happy.

Aqua wondered if their life would be like that at a certain point, but clearly, it was impossible here.

Then his mother said, "How do we explain this to everyone? I mean, I'm literally dead on paper, right? Not to mention, I look really young; if I ever use the excuse of not dying at that incident, there's no reason they would believe me as I look too young, and according to you, it's been almost a decade, which means wait I'm in my thirties now!"

Aqua was surprised by this; he didn't think that his mother could think reasonably; from what he knew about her, she was an airhead, and common sense was a foreign subject for her.

"You're too young to be in your thirties mama! You could totally pull off being a high-school student easily!" 

"Aww, thank you!" Then she proceeded to hug his sister. Honestly, it was astonishing that Ai easily accepted the situation as it was.

If he was in the same position, he would no doubt ask many questions and even be suspicious of things.

'Perks of being an airhead, I suppose.' He thought.

Then he suggested. "You should stay low for a while; no one should know that you're alive unless it's someone we trusted; I know few people that could be trusted in this matter and could also help us."

Then he thought about Miyako and her husband Ichigo, who was missing for the majority of their life after Ai's death. To be honest, he couldn't be bothered to think about him when he was preoccupied with his revenge.

However, now that this issue has arrived, he would be a very useful help. Also, it would make him very happy to know that Ai Hoshino is alive.

After all, the man thought of her as a daughter.

Either way, it's going to be a lot of work as not only would they make an entire identity as the previous one that Ai has wasn't going to cut it, but making a legal identity needs a lot of connection and resources.

But he could do it, and even more so now that he had an ability that could easily get him the information he wanted.

One thing is for sure: it would take a lot of work.

Despite that, he couldn't help but smile as he was genuinely happy for the first time in years.

Ai was now alive; most of his regret, sadness, and anger had mostly vanished.

But he still retained some of his anger, it won't disappear as long as that man existed.

For now, he would create a safe haven for his family and only then he could resume his quest for revenge.

His original plan of murdering his father changed, and instead, he took note of what Alexander told him instead of giving him the taste of death.

Why not destroy him socially, humiliate his name to the point that even the dirtiest names in history would be nothing, paint him as the evilest man on earth, and then mentally break him step by step to the point he'd kill himself.

It was more satisfying that way, there's no need to dirty his own hands for this matter.

With the help of his new power, he was fully capable of breaking minds, as with enough information, he would know them better than they do themselves.

—

Aqua did in the canon was very stupid, like he could have done better, but no, it's better this way for the plot. 

Support me on [email protected], even if it's just for a month I'd be grateful.

[email protected]/charlottes143