Songs in the Void

Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

In the penthouse of the high rise apartment in Sasazuka, while Tatsuo was taking a shower after coming home from his middle school, a diminutive woman, standing at 5' tall with a child-like figure and an absolutely gorgeous face with long, straight, purple hair and lively, eyes sat in front of a dressing table. On her petite figure, the woman wore an elegant lavender kimono with red trim and a red and yellow obi fastened with a black cord.

Standing behind the short, purple-haired woman was a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her early twenties standing 5'5" tall with brown hair, styled into a tight, high topknot and a waist-length ponytail, amber-colored irises, and a well-endowed figure. She wore revealing, sleeveless, red kunoichi attire that showed off nearly all of her legs and a large amount of cleavage with white trim and white cherry blossom patterns embroidered at the bottom, red tassels fastened to the back of a green and yellow obi around her waist, white circular ropes around her shoulders, and black and red tabi on her feet. There was also a traditional butterfly fan tucked into the back of her obi.

"Mai-Chan, Tatsu-Chan is home from school, right?" The purple haired woman asked while the brown-haired young woman combed her hair.

"Yup, that's right, Sumire-Sama." The brown-haired woman, Mai, or Shiranui Mai, replied in an upbeat tone. "I think he got home about half an hour ago. He's probably taking a shower and changing clothes right now."

"I see." The Purple-haired woman, Sumire, or Soramoto Sumire, Tatsuo's mother, replied. A moment later, she pouted while puffing out her cheeks. "He didn't come say hi to me. Doesn't he love his mommy anymore?"

"Oh, come on, Sumire-Sama." Mai replied with a giggle. "You know that's not it. He's just at that age."

"So what?" Sumire said, her cheeks still puffed out. "He should come and give me a big hug when he gets home and let me give him all the kisses I can."

In response, Mai could not help but laugh a little harder at her mistress's antics. At the same time, she began styling Sumire's hair into a bun. And when she was done, she fastened her hair together with an ornate hair clip.

Though, Mai could understand how much Sumire wanted to dote on Tatsuo. They had been separated for eight years, after all.

What Mai did not know, however, was that Sumire was only an avatar of the multiverse's ruler, the Void Empress. And because of Tatsuo's father from his first incarnation, she had been separated from him for millennia. And it was all thanks to a prophecy about Tatsuo one day surpassing his parents.

Naturally, Tatsuo's first father was not happy about that. Though she did not know it when she first laid with him, Sumire's ex-husband, was a power hungry megalomaniac who had ambitions of ruling the entire omniverse. But when the man ordered his three year old son's assassination, she was livid, seriously injuring him for his transgression. Though, he was ableto escape with his life.

Luckily, Sumire was able to retrieve Tatsuo's soul before it entered the cycle of reincarnation. And since then, she had reincarnated him eight times, this life being the eighth. Unfortunately, because he was reincarnated into a human each time, she miscalculated how much of the power he should have wielded from birth that his new body could handle. But this time, after so much trial and error, she finally got it right… Or so she hoped.

'Nothing is going to take my son away from me again.' Sumire thought to herself. 'I've lived for thousands of years hoping that I could raise my son with the love and care he deserves. And he will get it… Everything that he deserves. And he will definitely surpass you, just wait for the day he takes your life.'

While Sumire promised herself to raise Tatsuo into a being surpassing her ex-husband, Mai finally finished styling her hair.

"Okay, all done~." Mai said happily as she stepped back and looked over her work with satisfaction.

In response, Sumire came back to her senses. Then, she looked over herself in the mirror before quickly standing up.

"Good, now that all that is finished, I'm gonna go see my Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said before quickly sprinting out of her room, leaving Mai to once again laugh at her antics.

About a minute later, Sumire had arrived in the hallway leading to Tatsuo's room. Before she reached his door, however, she heard the sound of music played on the piano. Immediately, she slowed down. Then, she approached the bedroom door quietly.

Upon reaching Tatsuo's bedroom door, Sumire reached into her kimono's sleeve and pulled out a smartphone. Then, she opened the camera and set it to take a video.

"Girl I'm in love with you~~. This ain't the honeymoon~~. Past the infatuation phase~~." Tatsuo's tenor vocals carried through the door at that moment, blending smoothly with the piano's melody . "Right in the thick of love~~. At times we get sick of love~~. Seems like we argue every day~~."

'Oh, no!' Sumire exclaimed internally. 'He's singing, too! And I missed recording the beginning!'

With that thought, Sumire opened the door without making a sound. Then, she stuck her arm into the room, with the smartphone's camera facing Tatsuo as he played the piano and sang to his heart's content.

'*Sigh* I guess that damn organization did something right.' Sumire thought to herself as she continued recording. "Without them, I don't know if he would be so good at the piano at only fifteen.'

At that moment, Mai, accompanied by another young woman came walking down the hallway, attracted by the sound of the music that escaped Tatsuo's bedroom after Sumire opened the door to record.. However, Sumire was too engrossed in Tatsuo's performance to notice.

Seeing the way Sumire was acting, Mai and the other young woman, a beautiful, slim, young woman, appearing to be in her late teens, standing at 5'2" with an oval-shaped face, narrow amber eyes, copper brown hair tied into a high ponytail that reaches her shoulders with a blue ribbon wearing a high school uniform consisting of a white dress shirt, a beige blazer, a red skirt, white socks, and a red ribbon tied around her neck in a bow, exchanged glances before quietly approaching the slightly opened door to Tatsuo's bedroom.

"*Sigh* I could watch Tatsuo's cute face all day." Mai whispered as she peaked over Sumire's shoulder to watch the smartphone screen. "He's so much better looking than even the most attractive guy to ever hit on me. *Sigh* Why does he have to be only fifteen?"

Although Sumire was a trained assassin, rather, a kunoichi, she was shocked when Mai whispered right next to her. Despite her surprise, however, the smartphone in her hand did not shake in the slightest. She did, however, scowl over her shoulder at Mai, who was swooning over her son.

"Be quiet, Mai-Chan." Sumire whispered, you're gonna mess up my recording.

In response, Mai immediately closed her mouth and made a gesture of zipping it closed, locking it, and throwing away the key. However, it was clear that she was still infatuated with Tatsuo's appearance.

Shaking her head at her overly cheerful attendant, who would be the perfect vision of a Yamato Nadeshiko, if she could keep her mouth shut, Sumire noticed the other young woman standing next to her, as well.

"Oh, you're back from school, Kasumi-Chan." Sumire whispered with a smile. "How was school today?"

"It was good, Sumire-Sama." Kasumi, or rather Tenshin Kasumi, replied while bowing politely as she spoke in a gentle tone. "Thank you for asking."

"*Sigh* You're way too polite, Kasumi-Chan." Sumire said while shaking her head. "This is your home now. And as long as I'm here, you won't have to run from your village or worry about being caught to be a test subject ever again. So, it's okay to relax here."

As Sumire said, Kasumi was originally from a ninja village not known to the public called the Megen Tenshin Village. However, she was sold away by her father, Raidou to be a part of an experiment to create the perfect assassin. However, she managed to escape from the organization that trained Sumire, Mai, and Tatsuo before returning to her village ad killing her father. Ever since that day, she has been hunted by her own village's shinobi as a traitor.

However, one day, as she was on the verge of being executed by a member of her village, Sumire wandered onto the scene and saved Kasumi from certain death. After that, Sumire brought her home, promising to protect her while adopting her into her family.

Kasumi, however, did not adopt the Soramoto surname, opting to use Tenshin so that she would not lose the connection to her village of origin.

In response to Sumire's words, Kasumi lowered her head in a grateful bow. Before she could respond, however, Sumire's attention was drawn back to Tatsuo's bedroom.

"We're just ordinary people~~~. We don't know which way to go~~ yeah~. 'Cause we're ordinary people~~~~. Maybe we should take it slow~." At that point, the piano melody soften as Tatsuo continued to sing. "Take it slow -oh-oh~~~~. This time we'll take it slow~~~~~."

With that, Tatsuo repeated the same line several times. As he did, his playing became softer until he eventually ended the song. Then, he took a deep breath and smiled, happy with is performance.

"So, did you three like the song?" Tatsuo asked as he turned his head towards his cracked bedroom door.

*Bang!*

In the next instant, Tatsuo's bedroom door was slammed open. Then, as if she teleported, Sumire was sitting in his lap while hugging him tightly and showering kisses all over his face.

"Tatsu-Chan, you're so talented.!" Sumire exclaimed excitedly. "Mommy is so proud of you!"

In response, Tatsuo smiled awkwardly while trying to pull away from the onslaught of kisses. However, contrary to what her small size would suggest, Tatsuo, with is strength at the peak of humanity was unable to free himself from his mother's grasp.

Meanwhile, Mai and Kasumi also entered Tatsuo's bedroom. However, they did it at a much more normal pace. And while Kasumi wore an awkward smile similar to Tatsuo's, Mai was smiling brightly, blushing, and cupping her face in her hands.

"Ooh! Tatsu-Kun, you're so cute when you're all embarrassed!" Mai squealed excitedly.

'*Sigh* It's only been a few months since I moved in here after Mom rescued me…' Tatsuo thought to himself while inwardly shaking his head at Mai's reaction. 'But I already expect nothing less from Mai-Nee.'

When Tatsuo first started living with Sumire after his rescue, Kasumi was introduced as his older sister. So, he called her "Kasumi-Neesan." However, as Mai was his mother's attendant, he originally called her Mai-San.But Mai, thinking Tatsuo was so cute, felt that Mai-San made her sound too old. So, she insisted that he call her older sister, as well. So, Tatsuo stated calling her "Mai-Nee."

'But seriously, if I don't find something to say, this could go on for the next hour.' Tatsuo thought to himself while still being barraged by kisses and praise from his mother. 'I gotta think of something.'

Then, Tatsuo began looking around his bedroom. Eventually, his eyes fell on his smartphone, which he laid on top of the piano when he got home from school. Then, his eyes lit up.

"Mom, it must be getting late since Kasumi-Neesan is home." Tatsuo said in a feigned tone of panic. "If we stay here, we're gonna be late for training. And if we start training late, we'll be late for dinner, too."

Immediately, the barrage of kisses ceased, Sumire opened her eyes wide in surprise, and finally, she pulled her smartphone back out of her kimono sleeve to check the time.

"Tatsu-Chan, you're right!" Sumire said as she hopped off Tatsuo's lap. Then, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the piano bench, she continued while dragging him towards the bedroom's door. "Let's go! You can't be late for dinner! You're still a growing boy, after all."

With that, while ignoring Mai and Kasumi, Sumire dragged Tatsuo out of his bedroom, into the elevator, and went down one floor to the training room that was converted from the entire floor below their apartment.

As one of the most, if not the most, successful assassins the organization produced, Sumire could more than afford to buy this entire high rise apartment building. So, owning two whole floors was little more than a drop in the bucket for her finances.

Meanwhile, Mai and Kasumi were left standing in Tatsuo's bedroom. While Kasumi was still smiling awkwardly, Mai smiled happily as she nudged Kasumi.

"We'd better get going, too, Kasumi-Chan." Mai said in a bubbly tone. "So, go get changed and come downstairs. You'll be sparring with Sumire-Sama today."

"I know." Kasumi replied with a nod. "Then, I'll go get changed. See you downstairs."

However, it did not seem as if Mai even heard Kasumi's response, as she was once again blushing and cupping her cheeks while muttering to herself.

"Hehehe, I get to spar with Tatsu-Kun today." Mai said to herself. "His face is so cute whenever he loses. But he's really handsome whenever he wins and lends me a hand to get up. What should I do? Should I win? Or should I lose on purpose? Ooh! I can't decide."

Shaking her head at Mai's antics, Kasumi walked out of Tatsuo's room, leaving Mai alone with her thoughts until she realized she was in Tatsuo's room alone. Then, she rushed out of the room and headed downstairs to participate in training.