Kurumi's Disappearance

It has been seventeen years since Shido married Kurumi and has had six children with her, their triplet identical daughters and son, Asami, Saori, and Reiji, their fourth child, a daughter named Miki, their youngest daughter Emi, and their infant son Koji. In this time, Shido has never once complained, has always shown pride in his children and wife, and has been a hardworking loving father and husband. At the moment, Shido is just sitting down with Kurumi on a couch in their home at night almost ready to go to sleep.

Shido gets up to go use the bathroom, and when he passes by Miki's room, he sees Saori helping Miki with her homework. He sees her smile as she helps her younger sister and rubs her head like her father does, and this makes Shido happy to see his children getting along with each other. Then he hears Miki say.

"I love you big sis."

This makes Shido remember the times he spent with Kotori and makes him feel a little nostalgic. After he uses the bathroom, Shido encounters his youngest daughter Emi in the hallway. Her blue hair is a little messy from her head lying on her pillow. Shido kneels down to look her in the eyes and asks nicely.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed, Emi?"

Emi looks a little nervous as she says with her red eye and gold eye wide open.

"Would you…read me a story, daddy?"

Shido can't say no to Emi, but asks.

"Don't you usually ask mommy to read to you?"

Emi shakes her head and responds.

"Mommy doesn't do the voices like you."

Shido doesn't mind reading to his beloved Emi, so he gets her to go back in bed and asks her what story she wants to hear, and she answers.

"I want to hear the story of Urashima Taro."

Shido nods and grabs a book from a nearby shelf. He then reads the story until Emi nods off and falls asleep all together, he rubs her head as she sleeps, and then gently walks out of her room. He rejoins his wife on the couch and she wraps her arms around him and puts her legs on his lap. Shido does enjoy spending time with Kurumi, but he is simply just too tired from a long day. Kurumi looks a little disappointed but understands that Shido does get tired after work and spending time with the children drains what's left of his energy, but tomorrow he has the day off so they can spend more time together then.

Shido and Kurumi then go to bed themselves. They assume their usual positions and hold each other as they sleep. As he lies next to his wife, Shido thinks to himself before falling asleep.

"I really can't imagine my life without her, or our children."

The next morning, Shido wakes up and stretches his arms as he yawns. He then looks at his side to see Kurumi and say good morning since she usually wakes up before him. But to his surprise, Kurumi isn't next to him and he wonders why, but doesn't pay much attention to it since she may just be in another room. He then looks around and sees something very odd, he sees that he's no longer in the bedroom that he shares with Kurumi, rather, he's in his old bedroom from when he lived with Kotori. At first he thinks he's dreaming and attempts to go back to sleep but can't nod off. He keeps his eyes closed for a while, and then someone jumps up and down on top of him. He then thinks.

"No way, it can't be!"

Shido opens his eyes and he sees Kotori she has a big smile on as she says.

"Rise and shine!"

That jump felt way too real to be a dream, and Kotori looks like she's fourteen again. Kotori is 34 and shouldn't look that young from Shido knows. Suddenly, Shido is a little worried and Kotori says with a less happy smile.

"Hey, I didn't think it'd hurt that much. Are okay, big bro?"

Shido is confused and worried, so he asks.

"Kotori, do you know where Kurumi is?"

Kotori looks a little confused as well, and answers.

"Who's Kurumi?

Shido responds by saying.

"My wife and the mother of my kids."

Kotori then chuckles a little and says.

"I get it; you're trying to pull a fast one. You can't have kids until I stop being cute okay, so you're going to be waiting a long time, got it?"

Shido is now worried. He does his best to stay calm and still concludes that he is in a dream. The day proceeds like how it would with Kotori before Shido knew about the spirits. He continues to go with the flow of the morning hoping that he'll just wake up after a while. Since it is Sunday, Shido doesn't have to go to school. He decides to pass the day by just staying home and doing chores, continuing to hope that he'll wake up and be with his family again. But as the day comes to an end, Shido hasn't woken up yet and he is starting to really worry.

Kotori begins to notice her brothers worry and asks with concern.

"Big bro, are feeling okay?

Shido, despite his nervousness, remains calm and simply replies.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little under the weather."

Kotori then suggests.

"You should take a bath then. I'll let you go first tonight since I'm that nice."

Shido takes Kotori's advice since a bath may be able to help clear his head. Shido goes into the bathroom and draws his bathwater. He then begins to take off his and as he takes off his shirt, he notices a large bruise on the front of his shoulders that look like hand prints. He gets startled and looks in the mirror to inspect the bruises better, but when he looks in the mirror, the bruises disappear. More confused, Shido feels his shoulders to see if he feels any pain from where the bruises were, but nothing. He then looks with his eyes outside the mirror, but again, nothing. He pays too much attention to himself, and the water overflows out of the tub and he slips trying to turn off the water. Kotori barges into the bathroom to see if Shido is okay since she did hear his fall.

"Big bro!"

Shido bumped his head against the tub and rubs it as he says.

"It's okay Kotori, I just feel is all."

As he rubs his head, Shido notices that something else isn't right, he doesn't feel any pain from his fall, despite a red mark being visible on his forehead. Shido is now beyond confused at his situation. He regains his composure and takes his bath but can't think straight because of all his confusion.

After he finishes, Shido cooks dinner since he is feeling hungry. He cooks hamburger steak since Kotori was craving it apparently. Shido likes the way the food turned out since in his years married to Kurumi, Shido practiced his cooking skills to treat his family to tastier meals when he cooked. Kotori has a blush as she eats her dinner expresses great enjoyment. Shido also notices that not once has Kotori made fun of him, or talked about Ratatoskr, or even wear her black ribbons. He then asks her.

"Hey Kotori, how's Ratatoskr doing?"

Kotori may as well have question marks above her head since she gives him a blank look and asks.

"Is that some kind of videogame or something?"

Shido then presses a little harder since she may just be playing dumb.

"Ratatoskr, you know, Fraxinus, Reine, spirits, dating sims."

Kotori snaps her finger and she says.

"Oh, I get it; you must be making up a game in your head. Can I be in it? I can be the adorable little sister, and I bet you're planning on your girlfriend to be the love interest."

Shido then gets a little confused about she's talking about.

"Girlfriend?"

Kotori then adds with a little wonder.

"Uh hello, don't tell me you forgot about her. Come to think of it, I'm surprised you didn't go out on a date with her today, but I'm super happy you stayed home all day with me. Still, you should have invited her; you know how much Tohka loves your cooking big bro."

Shido isn't very surprised to hear that Tohka is his girlfriend, but it still doesn't make him feel different for his family.

"I've occasionally thought of what life would be like if I married Tohka, but…that doesn't make me feel right about this. I married Kurumi for a reason.

Shido proceeds to eat his dinner with Kotori, and it does taste good. After finishing his meal, Shido still feels hungry and notices that Kotori is full and she hasn't eaten all of her food.

"Hey Kotori, I know I don't normally ask this, but can I have the rest of that?"

Kotori smiles and retorts with.

"Only if I can have dessert later."

Shido smiles and says.

"Okay, that sounds fair."

Kotori moves her plate over to her brother, which has a chunk of meat and a couple of vegetables from a salad on it. After eating Kotori's unfinished food, Shido still feels hungry so he decides to make a trip to a nearby convenient store to buy some instant noodles rather than make more food and make another mess in the kitchen. He offers Kotori a chance to come with him so she can pick out her dessert for the night, but she wants to take a bath since she hasn't taken hers yet. Shido knows what she most likely wants.

Once he exits his old home, Shido then begins to show signs of worry, but keeps it in his head.

"What is going on!? Why am I suddenly sixteen again, and why haven't I woken up yet!? I want to see Kurumi, and just as important, I want to see my kids!"

Shido tries not to panic, but the idea of not waking up to see his family makes him worried beyond words. He wants to be able to read to Emi, he wants to see his children bond with each other, and he wants to hold his wife in his arms again. He wouldn't be so worried if this dream only went on for an hour or a little more, but he's felt like he's been wide awake for about ten or eleven hours.

Shido takes a few deep breaths and calms down again since panicking won't do him any good and even now he wants to be a role model for his children, even if they aren't around at the moment. He then shivers a little since he notices that it is rather cold outside and he's wearing a short sleeved shirt without a jacket or anything. He feels a little better about the temperature once he enters the convenient store since it is a little warmer. Shido already knows what he's after and picks up the items that he wants quickly so that he can get some more food and get back home quickly. As he readies to get to the counter to pay, he sees the cashier, a plain looking man, talking to himself in a strange manner.

"Why are kid's evil useless punks."

Shido has to wave his hand in front of the man's face to get his attention.

"You mind if I pay for my stuff here?"

The man seems to come out of a trance and responds.

"Got easy treats, useless punk."

Shido doesn't understand why this cashier is speaking so weirdly.

"OOOkay, so can I get a total please."

Shido pays for his stuff and exits the store, but now he doesn't feel cold once outside; actually, he feels warm now, like being wrapped up in a blanket. The bruises were one thing, but now his body temperature is acting weird, Shido doesn't know what is going on. He quickly gets back to his home and gives Kotori some different flavored lollipops and cooks his instant noodles. They taste average, which is expected. Kotori watches him eat his noodles and asks if she can have a little, and Shido lets her slurp a few noodles and she even takes a sip of the broth. Shido takes back his noodles and continues to eat the noodles, but he still feels hungry even after eating all the noodles and drinking the broth. Shido feels that maybe it's because he stressed out and that he knows he's eaten enough.

He goes to bed shortly after, and as a extra caution, he sets his alarm clock since Monday is tomorrow so that means he would have to go to school. Shido, however, can't fall asleep; he lies down with his eyes closed for two hours, but he won't fall asleep. He sits in bed until about six in the morning trying to fall asleep, but can't. He decides to turn off his alarm since it will only be a loud annoyance. The more Shido thinks about things, the weirder he notices this so called dream is becoming, and it makes him question if he really is in a dream or some kind of alternate world. The only things keeping his mind clear is thinking of Kurumi and their children.

Kotori attempts wake Shido up with another "Rise and Shine" but she stops when she sees his face and notices that he doesn't look happy. She looks at him with sympathetic eyes as she asks.

"Big bro, are you okay?"

Shido puts on a forced smile as he answers.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little slow to wake up I guess."

"Well, if you say so. Want me to handle breakfast this morning?"

Shido shakes his and says.

"No, I like to cook. I can't let you take that away from me, can I?"

Kotori regains her smile and goes into the living room and waits for her breakfast. Shido cooks breakfast, but then as he cooks, Shido now suddenly feels full, like he ate a feast fit for a king. Because of this, Shido doesn't touch much of his breakfast and ends up putting it in his lunch for the day.

Shido decides to go along with the flow until he can get back to his family, but things are only getting weirder as his day goes on. On his way to school after splitting up with Kotori, Shido is run into by Tohka, who immediately clings to his arm. She has a very chipper attitude and has a big smile on her face as she greets him.

"Good morning, Shido!"

Tohka nuzzles his arm for a minute and then Shido greets her as well.

"Oh, hey Tohka."

Shido sees Tohka on a fairly regular basis since she is still an important person to him, so seeing her isn't surprising for him. However, he doesn't know how to respond to her more affectionate behavior she is currently displaying. She, out of the blue, attempts to kiss him on the lips, but Shido puts his hand between them, and Shido thinks to himself.

"That was a little odd. Tohka doesn't come on so quickly, but then again, maybe because it's been over seventeen years since this, so I don't remember so well."

Tohka pulls back and has an upset look on her face as she says.

"Why did you do that? I thought boyfriends and girlfriends kissed each other."

Shido feels a little bad about what he just did, but kissing other girls, even Tohka, doesn't feel right to him since he is devoted to his wife, but he wasn't married, he probably would kiss Tohka. He makes up an excuse to Tohka to calm her down.

"Oh, I just don't think we should be kissing this early in the morning. I can't just say I'm married with six kids, she'd never believe me."

Tohka's expression changes to pouty as she responds.

"Okay, but you'll have to kiss me ten times later, okay?"

Shido reluctantly agrees for the moment and thinks.

"Oh I really hope I wake up soon."

Tohka still clings to his arm and they walk to school together. Being at school makes Shido feel nostalgic and he actually looks forward to seeing since he hasn't seen her in years. Seeing his old classmates is also fun, but he's worried about how he'll handle Origami again; he hasn't had to deal with her advances in years and has mostly forgotten about how to handle her. Of course, being married to Kurumi will definitely help his case should it come down to it.

Shido takes his seat, just like how he used to, and waits for class to start. He hears some familiar voices coming from everyone he remembers. He hears Tonomachi acting like Tonomachi, the trio of girls gossiping, and others. However, Origami isn't around. Shido thinks that maybe she's just out sick or something and doesn't pay any more attention to it. As Shido reminisces more, takes her spot in front of the chalkboard and announces to the class.

"Good morning everyone, may I have your attention. Are you ready for a surprise? A transfer student is joining our class today."

This catches Shido's ear as he thinks.

"Wait, could this be…"

calls for the transfer student. The door opens, and walking into the room, a familiar face that Shido is happy to see. Just like the day they met, she writes her name on the chalk board: Kurumi Tokisaki. She announces to everyone.

"Hello guys. my name is Kurumi Tokisaki."

Author's Note- This is the first shipping fic I will do that is a two parter, but this will not be the last. Due to Halloween being around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to incorporate spookier elements into a fic in the spirit of the holiday. This will not be the only one either, I may make another Halloween based one before too long, but I may not have the time. However, I will do other holidays when they get closer. My holiday ones will most likely the main two parters.