WC: 1694 --- ** Back Dated prior to At World’s End

After his chat with Realta Totoro had decided he needed to come clean to his mother. After all, with the world in danger and not knowing what could happen he needed her to know what was really going on. He'd gone to school that morning like any other, but found it difficult to concentrate and well, going over in his head all the things going on...

His teacher ended up concerned as well, as it was unlike Taki to not be able to answer the question so she'd pulled him aside asking if everything was okay. Taki nodded and assured her everything was fine; he was just having trouble sleeping as the storms kept waking him up. Especially now as they seemed to come more frequently. Hoping the teacher would buy he was scare of the thunder lightning that came with these storms as they seemed more violent than normal storms.

Thankfully she'd let him go after offering some suggestions that might help him sleep during this turbulent time and make the storms less scary. He thanked her for her concern and suggestions promising he'd try them out. But, knowing they weren't normal storms the suggestions she offered didn't put him at ease.

He hefted his book bag onto his back and headed home, it wasn't a long walk but the walk was long enough and he took time to detour and buy her some flowers and her favorite tea. If he was going to give her the bad news, he figured he needed something she liked to soften the blow. It didn't help his test scores from the test they'd had the previous day also seemed worse. He could hear her now over how terribly he'd done.

He rubbed the back of his head as he headed home, he'd also gotten her some bath bombs. The money that Ganymede had given for showing up at the moon came in rather useful surprisingly. He'd thought about giving it to his mother for bills but instead used some to hopefully make her less mad at him.

The concern was still there and he wasn't sure how he was going to handle this even though Realta had given him pointers and even promised to help him find somewhere for his mom to stay. It was useful but was there anything else they could do for a just in case?

He was lost in thought as he walked back to his house playing over how he was going to address the issue and what was the best way for him to explain to her what was going on. He also debated if he needed to show her the test first or wait until after the news dropped. Maybe he should've had Realta come to help him??

There was a pause as he thought, shook his head and decided he'd call for the cat if his mother didn't believe him. That was perhaps the best way, and hopefully she wouldn't chalk this up to his "wild imagination". When he got home, he pulled his shoes off as he did every time, then entered the house and put on his house slippers. "Mama I'm home!"

Taki called from the entryway. Her head popped around the corner, she was cooking and it smelled amazing.

“Your teacher call--- oh are those for me?” Kiku looked surprised, interested and concerned. “Hold on.” She sat down the sauce pan and spoon she’d been using and wiped her hands on her apron as Taki came closer.

“What happened at school? Your teacher was concerned and said you told her you hadn’t been sleeping well.” His mom’s eyes narrowed at the gifts, “And why are you bringing me flowers, tea and bath bombs? What’d you do?” She normally wasn’t suspicious of the child but this just seemed strange even for him.

“Um… well.” Taki paused as he handed her the flowers and other gifts. Then pulling from his bag his test, “I kind of got a really bad test score…” He started and paused as he held it out to her.

“I uh… haven’t been sleeping good because of these storms.” He explained as she was looking at the test. He could see her brow furrow in disappointment. “But it’s not because I’m afraid of the lightning and stuff…”

He took a breath and continued, “See, the reason no one knows what is causing the storms is because it’s a magical serpent. It’s supposed to be world eating and it’s targeting earth.” He explained quickly trying not to let his mother stop him. He pulled out his henshin pen showing it to her, “Mom it’s coming and we need to get you somewhere safe in case it does eat earth.”

He continued still hurriedly as she was about to say something and called out his henshin phrase – “Totoro Power! Make-up!” The sparkles and blinding light had his mom shielding her eyes until he stood there clad in the raccoon themed fuku.

He grinned sheepishly, “Sorry I’ve been keeping secrets.” He said looking at her.

Kiku was standing there in disbelief. Rubbing her eyes she looked at her son and was processing what all he had just said and just happened in the short time span of a few minutes. “So, you got a C on a test because there’s this giant world eating snake – and you’re telling me …. You’re what exactly?”

Totoro tilted his head, “I’m a senshi mom, well chibi senshi. I have magical powers and help fight – chaos?” He seemed to think about it, yeah that did sound pretty wild. He didn’t blame her if she didn’t want to believe him. Though the fact he powered up in front of her should’ve been a clue.

“A senshi…?”

“Yes, Sailor Totoro, senshi of Raccoon’s to be precise.” He answered when she asked.

He watched his mom rub her temple as she thought, “Get cleaned up for supper. We’ll talk about these test scores after supper and put the outfit away.” Kiku said, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with him but it sounded like enough of a problem they needed to address it. This wasn’t something you could find advice about in a parenting book.

“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone.” He said as he powered back down, moving to go put up his backpack and wash his hands, “There’s bad guys who would try to hurt us if they knew.”

He paused, “If you want, I have a friend you can meet to help explain more. And see if we can figure out a safe place for you until we deal with this world eating monster.” Taki paused looking back at his mother.

Kiku sighed, “Lets just eat first, then worry about the details.” How did she get the kid that had magical powers?

“It does at least mean I’m safer when I go out shopping by myself though, I’m able to protect myself!” He interjected before catching her look and scurrying on to wash his hands and get ready to eat. “What’s for supper anyways? It smells really good!”

“Tempura Tacos.” She answered simply going back to fixing the food. “We’ve also got udon noodles and sushi.” She added before sighing.

“That all sounds good mom! Do we have dessert or can we go get cheesecake?” Taki called as he dropped his bag into his room; he heard his mom reply sure and sighed as he looked out his window at the sky. “I guess that went better than I expected it to.”

He knew his mother didn’t seem happy about it and he needed to figure out their next steps. Realta said she knew some other senshi and knights who might have a home world she could stay on for a while until they got the world eating snake back into its prison assuming Earth survived. “I hope she’s okay with a sudden holiday.” He said softly.

He heard her call him saying it was all ready to eat and he hurried to wash his hands. “I need to visit my homeworld…” He also muttered, “I need to get it livable in case we win this and something else crazy happens. Or if we can’t save earth and something else happens….” There was a pause when he had that thought and another frown crossed his face. He didn’t want to assume they’d lose and earth would be destroyed.

This wasn’t the time for doubt, they needed to win. They had to win. He wanted to keep living with his mother here on earth. Not at some random world that might or might not be decently fixed up and livable. Specially if it wasn’t his world. There was a nod and resolve, “When we get out of this, I’m visiting my homeworld and fixing it.” He said as he left his bathroom and looked at the dinosaur plushie on his dresser. “Then we don’t have to worry about what if something happens to earth.”

Taki enjoyed the food his mom cooked though she still looked concerned he asked how her day was and made small talk avoiding the senshi stuff at least until they finished. “I’ll help with dishes then we can go get cheesecake right?”

He grinned when she nodded yes, knowing that she was too quiet still. He got the dishes to the sink and started washing them. “So, my friend Realta knows other senshi who have places off earth that are livable for a time.” He said as he rinsed the dishes after his mom washed them and putting them up to dry. “We could treat it like a vacation!”

He grinned, “You always wanted to go somewhere different for a holiday. That would count right?” He was trying to look at things on the bright side. Though he saw her look at him concerned. “Realta’s a cat if it makes you feel better. I’m not talking to random strangers.”

Actually . . . he was talking to random strangers but if they were all on the same side there couldn’t be any danger in it right? He scratched the back of his head when they finished the dishes. He grabbed her a light jacket as well as his and bounced back down the hallway.

“I promise I’m not going out looking for trouble!” He added, “Having magical powers actually could keep me safer…” There was a pause, “Maybe we could sign me up for some self-defense classes too?”

He was hoping that would make her feel better, “Just because of the crazy animals that run around I found out they’re called youma.” He said, “They’re part of the negaverse.” He continued to chatter and explain things stopping if they passed someone else and when they got to the cheesecake place, “Ohhh can I have a rocky road cheesecake slice this time?”

This place had the fanciest cheesecakes, and normally they just ordered plan cheesecakes and would drizzle strawberry topping on it or chocolate syrup. But he wanted to try something new that he’d been eyeing. If his mother would let him.

Kiku finally sighed, “If I get you the rocky road cheesecake will you put a pause on the magic thing and let me have my thoughts for a bit on it before we continue to talk?”

Taki bit his lower lip looking sheepish but nodded furiously, “I promise mama!”

“Okay then you can have the rocky road cheesecake”

Taki did a little victory dance and ran to the counter when it was there turn ordering the cheesecake and looking at his mom who ordered the plain as she always did with strawberry topping on the side. When she was about to pay for it, Taki pulled out the left-over money from earlier and paid for the cheesecakes.

Kiku side eyed her son but guessed she’d ask about that later. For now she needed to think and savior the silence.

“Also about that test – my teacher said I could retake it on Monday.” He looked at his mom, “I promise I’ll study extra hard so I can pass it with an A!”