The Request

As a new morning shone upon the world, Touma awoke from his sleep. It was the usual hour he woke up, and as he went to check on Alice in the room, he saw that she was still asleep.

“I guess I have to take this task more seriously.” Said Toma as he reminded himself of the words that Seki told him.

As he remembered that Alice is not a morning person, he decided to get some more sleep as he had no other duties than to take care of Alice. As he lies back on the couch, he dozes off to sleep. Some time passes, and as Touma opens his eyes, he sees a familiar face towering over him.

“L-Lucy,” said the sleepy Touma as he opened his eyes and recognized the figure.

Lucy is startled by Touma suddenly saying her name and waking up.

“Oh, Toma, you're awake.” Said Lucy.

“How did you even get in?” Asked Touma, sitting up on the couch, confused.

“Well, Alice opened the door for me.” Said Lucy.

“Alice?” Questioned Touma as Lucy pointed towards the table where Alice was sitting, eating breakfast.

Hearing her name, Alice turned and noticed Touma was awake. She got off the table and sprinted towards Touma.

“Good morning, Daddy.” Said Alice in a happy tone.

“Good morning, Alice,” Touma was saying as he remembered that he had not made any breakfast. “Wait. Who made you that breakfast?” Asked Toma.

“Lucy made me breakfast.” Answered Alice as she ran towards the table and got the second plate that was on the table and came back towards Touma.

“This is for you, Daddy.” Said Alice.

As he inspected the plate, it was not the usual cereal that he would just put together. This time Lucy had made him scrambled eggs and bacon.

“I must thank you, Lucy, for the breakfast you didn't have to. We still have some of the food that your mother gave to us.” Said Touma in appreciation of the food.

“Oh, there's no need. I have decided to help you in what I can, and so I came here to make you, I mean to make Alice some breakfast, cause Alice needs something more than cereal to make her grow big and strong,” said Lucy.

“I see well, then, thank you, Lucy. Said Toma. As he stood up and smiled at Lucy.

“No, it's no problem at all.” Said Lucy, showing a bit of joy.

Has Lucy finished her sentence, they all sat at the table and ate breakfast, and when they were all finished, Lucy spoke.

“I was thinking, because yesterday we took more of your time in the shop, we could go by and visit the animals with Alice.” Said Lucy.

“That's not a bad idea.” Said Touma

Touma stood up, took all the plates from the table, and headed to the kitchen to wash them. As he did, and he remembered that he forgot to show Alice the bathroom.

“Do you need any help here?” Said Lucy as she came into the kitchen.

“No, everything's fine.” Replied Touma as Alice came into the kitchen.

“I can help, Daddy.” Said Alice.

“Now I am fine, you can go take a bath.” Said Touma.

“Right, I'll take care of Alice.” Said Lucy as she took Alice to the bathroom.

As Touma finished washing the plates and placing them back where they go, he came out. And at the same time, Lucy and Alice came out of the room with a fully changed Alice.

“How do I look, Daddy?” Said Alice as she came up to Touma and showed him one of the new clothing that she had gotten.

“You look amazing, Alice,” said Touma with a smile.

“Yay, I look amazing.” Repeated Alice as she beamed with happiness.

As she went back to Lucy and grabbed her hand, and brought her closer to Touma.

“Lucy is amazing too, right?” Asked Alice.

“Indeed, she is.” Replied Touma.

Touma headed to get himself ready and put on his usual outfit, but this time he did not wear his doctor's coat, nor did he put on his two blades. When he was done, they headed out of the house and towards where their settlements kept all the animals. As them three spent time with the animals, Alice always asked about the animals with a huge amount of curiosity. Lucy would always respond to her questions.

“What is that?” Asked Alice.

“Oh, that's a cow.” Answered Lucy as she bent down

“Cow.” Repeated Alice.

“Did you know that cows give us milk?” Said Lucy.

“For cereal?” Questioned Alice.

“Yes, for cereal, can you say thank you, Ms. Cow!” said Lucy.

“Thank you, Ms. Cow!” exclaimed Alice as she waved her hand to the cow.

Because of the noise, the cow looked towards the three of them and started mooing.

“Oh, Ms. Cow, said Moo. Said Alice. Surprised.

“Yes, that is how Ms. Cow talks.” Saint Lucy.

“Moooo!” Said Alice at the Cow, trying to speak to it.

“Oh wow, what did you say to Ms. Cow?” Asked Lucy.

“I said Ms. Cow looks pretty.” Replied Alice.

“Some steak would sound nice.” Said Touma, not noticing he said it out loud.

“I can't believe you're thinking about eating the cow right now,” said Lucy.

“Oh, sorry I said that out loud.” Replied Touma, as he started hearing some sniffles and looked down towards Alice.

“Please don't eat, Ms. Cow, Daddy, she’s my friend.” Said Alice, looking a bit sad.

“Wait, what?” Said Touma was surprised at this reaction as he lowered himself to the level of Alice.

“Uh, don't worry, I won't eat Ms. Cow,” Said Touma.

“Ok,” said Alice

Eventually, all three of them checked out the rest of the animals. When the evening came, they started walking their separate ways.

“I enjoyed my time with you guys, but now I'll be heading home. I hope you both rest well.” Said Lucy.

“You as well, Lucy.” Said Touma.

“Thank you, Lucy.” Said Alice.

As they started heading their separate ways, but in a short time later, before Touma and Alice could get home, Touma stopped.

“Hey, Touma, how's the fatherly life treating you?” Said Junkei, coming out of the shadows as if he were expecting Touma to pass through there.

“Huh, Junkei,” said Touma, surprised to see him. “Well, it's not easy.” Reply Touma.

“Ha ha ha, of course it's not.” Said Junkei with laughter.

“Oh, and hello Alice.” Said Junkei as he looked down towards Alice with a gentle smile.

“Hello.” Said Alice.

“Oh, don't be shy, I'm Uncle June, OK? You can just call me uncle.” Said Junkei

“Uncle.” Repeated, Alice.

“Yep, that's me. Ha ha ha.” Said Junkei.

“Is there anything I could do for you?” Ask Touma.

“Always with that working mind of yours, but no, I didn't come with a job, but with an invitation.” Said Junkei as he looked back up at Touma.

“An invitation?” As Touma.

“Yeah, come over to my place and let's have some dinner.” Said Junkei.

“Yay dinner.” Exclaimed Alice.

“Alice sure is on board, so let's go.” Said Junkei.

“Alright, thanks,” said Toma.

As both of them followed Junkei, they eventually came across Junkei's house, which seemed to have been worked on many times as he opened the with his key with some effort and entered. As soon as they enter, Junkie announced that he had arrived home, and from the inside, the voice of a woman could be heard.

“Welcome back, honey, oh, and you brought the guest.” Said the woman.

“Good evening, Tiffany.” Said Touma.

“Oh, hello, Touma.” Said Tiffany with a smile.

After she looked down and noticed Alice, and knelt.

“And who is this little one?” said Tiffany

“I'm Alice,” said Alice

“Oh, nice to meet you, Alice. My name is Tiffany, just call me auntie.” Said Tiffany as she smiled.

“OK, auntie.” Said Alice.

From down the hallway, you could hear footsteps coming closer at a fast pace.

“Dad, you're here!” said a small girl as she came closer and hugged Junkei.

“Oh, my little Annie, how have you been? Said Junkei.

“I've been good, Dad, this is for you.” Said Annie as she gave over a piece of paper with a drawing to Junkei.

“Oh, thank you it's a beautiful drawing” said Junkei.

“Thank you, Dad,” said Annie.

Annie looked down and noticed Alice.

“Hello, my name is Annie. What's your name?” Said Annie.

“I'm Alice.” Said Alice.

“Come with me, let's go play.” Said Annie as she grabbed Alice and took her into the house.

Junkei took Touma into the house and sat down to talk as dinner was being finished. When dinner was ready, Tiffany took it out to the table.

“OK, kids, go wash your hands.” Said Tiffany.

They all sat down at the table and started enjoying the meal that was prepared. Sometimes, they all finished eating, and Tiffany got all the plates, and Annie and Alice followed her to the kitchen to help clean.

“Junkei, thanks for the invitation.” Said Toma.

“No problem, Touma” said Junkei.

Junkei took a deep breath and spoke.

“Touma.” Said Junkei.

“Yeah,” said Touma

“I am guessing you are aware of the other settlement that was found by the raiders.” Said Junkei in a low tone as not wanting anybody to hear.

“Yeah, I'm aware.” Said Touma.

“Well, in 3 days I will be heading out with some raiders to make negotiations and scout the area.” Said Junkei.

“What?” Said Touma was surprised but trying to keep his voice down.

“But you're the chief, why would you go?” said Touma

“If I sent a bunch of raiders, they might feel threatened, so I will go to show we mean no harm.” Said Junkei.

“If you're set on this decision, why would you tell me?” asked Touma.

“That’s because-” was saying Junkei as he looked at his wife and daughter over in the living room, as he let out a sigh and looked back a Touma and got a bit closer.

“I won't be out long, probably a week or so, but in the scenario, something happens to me, can you do me a favor, take care of my family, can I trust you with this?” Said Junkei with a serious tone.

Touma’s eyes were wide open, surprised at what Junkei said. after a moment, Touma spoke.

“I will accept, I will take them under my care.” Said Touma resolutely

“Thank you, Touma.” Said Junkei

As the night kept progressing, a new task, no, a new responsibility crept onto Touma, not wishing for the day Junkei had to leave. Trying to keep his mind off this, Touma spent every moment he could with Alice, showing her new things. But the days keep moving, the third day was about to rise, and a sense of what if invaded Touma’s mind as he eventually had to say his goodbye to Junkei and the raiders.