Chapter 44:

Mimi's origin

Spice of Life


As the day went on, more and more customers came to try the new menu items. Though around 7, the restaurant was surrounded by black sedans as a limousine pulled up to the front of the restaurant. A woman with heterochromia and long silver tresses that reached the floor, emerged from the limousine clad in a sleeveless silver dress.

"Why do I have to dress up so fancy? Aren't I the head? If I wanna go out in shorts and sneakers I should be able to," the woman pouted.

"Master Gozaemon is still very much alive," a servant sighed.

"So? I'm practically the de-facto head and he's de-facto retired. Hell, he even acknowledged Madoka as MY successor!" the woman pouted.

"It's officiality, Madam Harumi. That and it would pay to make a good first impression on this new establishment."

"Well, I kinda think it'd have been better to go incognito."

"You always take the limo though, madam."

A young girl clad in a silver dress and dress shoes hopped out of the limo. Just like the woman, she had silver hair and her pink eyes matched that of the woman's left eye. She was none other than the woman's 12 year old daughter, Madoka.

Men clad in black suits surrounded the two as they walked into the restaurant.

"Uh, do you have a reservation?" Matcha nervously asked.

"Ginkawa, table for two please," the woman smiled.

"Gin- GINKAWA!? Y- Yes, right away ma'am!" Matcha nervously stuttered as she showed the two to the restaurant's luxury seating area.

"My, a treat indeed. The Ginkawas are the second richest family in the entire world. Richest in fact by some metrics," Benihime mused.

"They're that rich? Never heard of em," Mimi shrugged.

"Well, guess that means it's me and Masaru for this one. Knowing him, I'm probably gonna be cooking for the daughter, and doing all the talking," Rika sighed.

"I take it that means I take 5 till they're gone?" Waki asked.

"Perhaps you could flatten your mohawk," Zuina suggested.

"Nah, they probably want a high class server. Guess Benihime's up. Poor Matcha looks like she's about to faint."

Rika tapped out with a nervous Matcha as she entered the luxury seating area.

"Ah, could you close the curtains for a sec?" the woman asked.

Some of her men did so, and upon completion, immediately drew their guns and pointed them at Rika.

"Well some first impression," Rika growled as she was motioned to sit down.

"Miss Rika "Ri" Korosekai, or I guess now you go by Komachi now. Do you know why you are in the hot seat?" the woman glared.

Rika recognized the woman immediately. She was Harumi Ginkawa, the daughter of the head of the Ginkawa family, Gozaemon Ginkawa. Despite not officially being the head of the family, many considered her the de-facto head due to Gozaemon's semi retirement and due to the fact that she practically wielded the power the head of the family would. Her daughter Madoka had also been officially acknowledged as the next in line after her to become the head of the family. Even though Harumi tended to have an aloof and childish personality, she could get very serious and terrifying in an instant.

"Um, did I kill someone close to you?" Rika nervously asked.

"Possibly. Tell me, what is your relation to one Dastard?" Harumi glared.

"Uh-"

"Honestly!" Harumi glared.

"Partners?"

"It seems fair. I'll accept that. So did you steal anything alongside him?"

"A container."

"Hmm? From WHERE!?"

"Hie cryogenics."

"So the intel was correct. Then where is Mimi?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Rika glared.

"Hmm, an attitude change. Why is that?"

"You answer my question first! The hell you want with Mimi!?"

"Is she alive?"

"Very much so. And I'm gonna keep it that way."

"Then bring her here."

"That's-"

"Ma'am! We found this girl listening in," a servant stated as he entered with Mimi.

"Eh heh heh, I got caught," Mimi nervously laughed.

"So she's been here right under my nose. Mimi, please show me the wounds on your stomach."

Mimi froze and cautiously complied.

"Seems like you've made a full recovery. And who did this?" Harumi asked.

"I don't sell out my friends!" Mimi declared.

"Admirable. Though perhaps I'd better ease the tensions of both of you. It seems my cause for concern has vanished," Harumi said as she waved her hand.

All the servants immediately sheathed their guns and Rika was allowed to rise.

"Huh? Uh, what's going on?" Mimi nervously asked.

"Mimi, 9 years ago, did you meet a girl with short silver hair eyes the same lapis lazuli colored as my left eye, named Reiju?" Harumi asked.

"Nope."

"How about you Rika?"

"Never met anyone with silver hair- _! I might have. As soon as I brought Mimi back to the lab, some silver haired girl leapt out of a car and chased me," Rika stated.

"That was Reiju. She's the main benefactor, well technically the Ginkawa family is the one that paid for Mimi's refreezing, but Reiju's the one that put the payment down on site personally to save Mimi."

"Wow, I had no idea. Oh, that must be why you got mad."

"Indeed, when I heard someone working with Dastard had stolen her, I was furious. Though I didn't know Mimi personally, my niece Reiju was very adamant about saving her life. We had even gotten our medical technology to the point where we could have saved her, then she was stolen. To find that she is alive, and healed nonetheless, relieves me greatly. Now I also have one more thing to discuss," Harumi stated as she signaled some of her servants to check for eavesdroppers.

Once the coast was clear, she told everyone a big secret.

"Mimi, you are a member of the Ginkawa family from an parallel universe that was merged with this one," Harumi stated.

"Wha?" Mimi gasped.

"In your universe, Denmark was Danablu. However, due to actions beyond our comprehension, your dimension was perfectly merged with this one, making you and all your friends denizens of this one."

"H- How!?"

"I do not know, though to put it in comprehensible terms, the only thing that changed when the universes were merged was the names of the countries. Everything else was the same. You are the only one that fully retained your memories of all the countries names. Everyone else was essentially reprogrammed upon the merger."

"So are all my friends here-"

"They're the same from your dimension. They just began using the real names of the countries, though they still retained some knowledge of the old names. They simply thought the names were changed after the mission that wiped your team."

"Uh, I'm not very good with complex stuff. That was Hylda's forte."

"I got it, mostly. Though that would explain your Danablu card," Rika said as Mimi took said card out.

"Indeed, this appears to be a genuine article. All your teammate's cards were changed to Danish equivalents upon the merger. It seems like yours was left intact intentionally. Perhaps because of its significance. Treasure it as a souvenir of the old universe that was merged," Harumi smiled.

Mimi smiled and nodded as she put her card away and pulled out her new one.

"Ah, so that is your new ID. I can see it was made by a forger... How about we handle your official documentation," Harumi suggested.

"Wait! It's that bad!?" Mimi gasped.

"It would be better for you to have an officially made ID card. The Ginkawa family has many branch families in Scandinavia, Norway in particular. We can effortlessly get you proper visa and ID both there and here. Plus you're connected to the Ginkawa family by blood."

"Wait what!?"

"The Ginkawa family existed in your original dimension, but it was not known as the Ginkawa family. Rather it took the name of one of it's Norwegian branch families, Sølvhavet."

"Sølvhavet!? I've heard of them! The second richest family in the world!"

"Correct, and you are from that branch. As such, you bear some biological traits unique to the Ginkawa family."

"What? My hair and eyes look nothing alike."

"The silver hair and lapis lazuli eyes are the dominant trait of the MAIN family here in Japan, though there are some exceptions. I developed heterochromia after the birth of my 3rd daughter whom had red eyes, and Madoka's eyes are pink like my right eye. However, all that have Ginkawa blood can heal themselves by drinking milk."

"MILK!? Wait! I can heal myself by drinking milk!"

"Indeed, it's why you've made such an extraordinary recovery."

"Ah, so that's why the ice cream helped so much. It had milk in it."

"Correct, the more milk you consume in a sitting, the faster you recover. You could even shave your head completely bald and regrow all your hair instantly just by chugging a gallon or two of milk."

"So this trait is unique to Ginkawas?" Rika asked.

"Correct."

"Well now I know why she said drinking milk helps."

"One more question. Whom is the doctor I must thank for this?"

"Stitch, want me to hook you through?"

"Stitch? Ah, Shiori. So she's blossomed. A shame she still refuses to become a personal doctor at the mansion. We have a city's worth of amenities. Nonetheless, I will send her my thanks. Now, since I've come all the way to your fine establishment, it would be poor taste to leave without ordering. Mimi, can you cook?"

"Desserts have become my specialty!" Mimi beamed.

"Then make us your finest Danish Kringle."

"Uh, momma. Can I order something too?" Madoka asked.

She had been sitting quietly struggling to maintain her patience.

"Ah! my apologies Madoka. By all means order away," Harumi nervously smiled.

"Then I want a bunch of stuff! I'm hungry!" Madoka beamed as she began pointing at various dishes, mostly desserts, on the menus.

"Perhaps I should order something too in addition to the Kringle," Harumi laughed.

Mario Nakano 64
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