In the span of twenty minutes, Rin calms Baby Kaiju down with a variety of shadow hand puppets, teaches Sato how to reduce the possibility of her vomiting, requests Mina for a makeshift mobile and a pillow, and puts Baby Kaiju to sleep with a lullaby. Sato watches in awe as Baby Kaiju's eyes slowly flutter shut and she falls asleep while reaching for the toys hanging from the mobile.

"How did you do that?" He gasps at Rin as if she's performed a lifesaving miracle.

Rin sits cross-legged by the containment cell, drumming her fingers in a rhythm. "My mother was the midwife in our village so I have a lot of experience and knowledge about babies," she tells him. "Have you thought of moving your bed down here? It'll help when the baby wakes up at random hours."

"What!? No way!" Sato exclaims and is immediately (and aggressively) shushed by Rin and Mina. He begins to whisper, "My sleeping space is sacred. I can't give it up because of a giant infant. I have a right to my privacy. It's not like I asked to become a babysitter. The egg just hatched—and I couldn't leave her out there! Without her mom. It's just.... there's no guidebook. She's so helpless if I'm not around but I can't be around all the time. I have a life. A career. Do you know how awful the match today was?"

Rin listens against her best wishes. Her eyes roam the bruises on his face and says, "I have a faint idea, yes." She gets up and walks quietly over to the sofa by the elevator. The cushions are softer than the expensive pashmina shawl a friend of hers bought on a spending spree. "If you cannot adjust your sleeping space then you will suffer for as long as she's in the infant stage. Proximity means a quicker reaction to her waking up. Plus you both get more sleep because waking up alone in this big lonely space might scare the child."

Sato follows her to the sofa and sits next to her. "That's not—"

A beeping noise from Mina makes them both turn to her. "There are a number of studies done on this subject," she chimes, "Sergeant Ryuzaki is correct."

He still doesn't yield. "We'll see about that," he huffs and crosses his arms over his wide chest.

Rin pats down her pocket for her phone and raises it to Mina. "I made a map that you can refer to of all the safe places for switching to Ultraman. You're a little sloppy as compared to your predecessor, I've noted." Sato scoffs. Mina returns her cellphone with a grateful ping. "Also, you need to manipulate the CCTV better. Delete the footage quicker. From now on, there will be surveillance teams looking for you."

Sato startles and exchanges a 'look' with Mina. "From now on?" He repeats, "Why?"

"Doctor Onda was waiting on a special package and he lost it because of you." Rin turns her eyes to Baby Kaiju sleeping soundly. "You said something about an egg hatching?"

His eyebrows slowly rise up his forehead when he begins to remember. "You don't think...he wanted her?"

"I don't have enough information. But..." Rin trails off, weighing the pros and cons of talking about her work. She doesn't like the organisation she's a part of and doesn't agree with several drastic measures they have taken ever since she got posted here. "My team has been assigned to be a part of this project called Project Surrogate. Designing machine parts for a mechatron. The dimensions look a lot like Gigantron's."

With a brief pause, Sato asks, "Are you sure you're supposed to be telling me this?"

"No," she answers, "Divulging government secrets to an unauthorised figure can force me into a dishonourable discharge, a lifelong prison sentence, and dishonour on my family."

"Sounds fun."

"It isn't."

"I meant it—nevermind." He waves her off in exasperation. From the corner of his eye, he catches Mina projecting the map Rin created for him. He points a thumb at it, "That's why you came here? For the map and advice on vigilantism?"

Rin nods, "Yes. I felt guilty that you might've had a rough day because of me. Or rather, I must've contributed to it."

He chuckles, quite obviously taken aback. "Naah. You caught me when I was having an off day. A bit of legal drama isn't enough to make me lose focus. But...I appreciate it, Sergeant. You coming here. I wouldn't have been able to sit peacefully like this." They fall quiet. Sato fidgets, glancing repeatedly at her. Unable to bear the silence any longer, he makes a show of glancing at his watch. "Odd time to come over though."

"Oh. Yes. I apologise." She scratches the back of her ear, blushing from embarrassment. "I forgot to check the time while leaving. The city is always awake so it disorients my sense of time. I didn't mean to inconvenience you like this."

Sato eyes her strangely—the way one of her younger brothers would at a mathematical equation. "It would've made things easier had you picked out a car from my very vast and very impressive collection but..." he gestures past her, across the floor and beyond Baby Kaiju, to the wall mounts where several damaged cars stood. "Somebody was in a cranky mood."

"He is lying," Mina buzzes in, "The Baby did that by accident because she was scared of him." Sato groans and mouths at her to be quiet.

Rin shakes her head, repeating her refusal. "I wouldn't be able to explain where I got such an expensive item on a government paycheck. There would be a court of enquiry and the brass might think that I indulge in bribe-taking." She frowns, "Oh, dear. I need to figure that part out."

With a hiccup that makes the floor rumble, Baby Kaiju sits up with a start. Frightened by the manner she woke up, she bursts out crying, drenching the floor with her tears. Rin and Sato run up to her, Mina hovering directly overhead, and Sato tries to soothe her back to sleep. Rin, however, folds her hands to make a puppet fish, raising it with a questioning look.

The Baby's large, large tears turn into hiccuping sniffles. She nods hesitantly. Rin tilts her head towards the ocean-viewing window and tells Sato, "Sit with her by the window and make her look at the fish. That'll calm her down."

He sighs and grumbles and harrumphs like an old man but he doesn't protest. For the second time, Rin watches Sato turn into Ultraman. Baby Kaiju raises her chubby arms and does a little dance as she waits for Sato to pick her up. They settle by the window and Rin listens to Sato's senseless babble as he tries to get the infant to sleep.

It's a little nerve-wracking to be this close to something this ginormous. Rin has experience with mechas. The KDF experiments with them all the time. But sentient beings like this? With the power to crush you into pulp with the bare minimum effort? It feels surreal.

Rin takes a step back. "I'll leave you to it, then," she says, eager to return to bed.

Ultraman's eyes are immobile but she's sure she sees terror in them when he tries to stop her. "Wait, no! Don't go!" He ignores hers and Mina's attempts at shushing him. "What do I do if she wakes up again?"

"Put her back to sleep," Rin answers flatly. "My advice is you invest in baby books to help you learn the basics."

"I...I don't..." He hesitates, whether embarrassed or unhappy, Rin can't tell. "I can't do this by myself."

She tilts her head, averting her eyes. "You are the only one who has the means to help her," Rin says, "and take responsibility for her."

Sato Kenji doesn't stop her from leaving but he doesn't sound too thrilled either. On her hike back to the coastline, Rin can't help the churning in her stomach that only grows worse the farther the distance between her and Sato's house becomes. She doesn't understand. Wasn't the feeling supposed to have stopped after handing over the map?

Rin catches the sunrise over the coast. She breathes in the morning breeze, noting how the air smells different this far out towards the ocean. The village she grew up in is flatlands and rice paddy fields. She had rarely seen the sea or the ocean before moving to Tokyo. By the time she makes it back to her apartment, her neighbourhood is already bustling and her landlady is opening up the store for the day.

Her landlady, somewhere in her late forties or early fifties, fixes her round glasses and stares pointedly at Rin while rolling out the awning over the tiny seating area. Rin bows and mumbles a good morning as she heads up the stairs next to the store, pretending to have not heard the 'fun night?' comment.

It's past afternoon when Rin wakes up again. She answers messages from her mother while she cooks lunch, explaining that no, she can't take a week-long leave and come home whenever she wants because there's work to be done. No work means being fired and being fired means not being able to send home money. While eating, she dives further into researching what she believes is her new hyperfixation—Sato Kenji. Rin reads the few interviews he's done, watches his highlights and scrolls down his game stats. She understands none of it but the comments tell her that 'Ken Sato' is 'the best baseball player' ever.

The cameras love him. Sato stands out aesthetically in every photo, every video Rin comes across. He's handsome and talented and hard-working. No wonder he's so sought after. Rin goes through his much recent interviews, paying close attention, and finds that while Sato addresses every question thrown at him and talks a lot, he never really answers. He's quite skilled at dodging personal questions, she notes.

Early evening, she hears a loud knock on her door and her landlady drops off the keys to her seemingly new car. "No way," she pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she and Rin examine the shiny new car, "You actually got Ultraman to compensate you?"

Rin spins a quick, effortless lie. "Of course not. I couldn't find him no matter how hard I searched. Maybe the insurance company's capitalist heart melted when they heard my sob story."

The car doesn't come without unnecessary additions. Inside, hanging from the rearview mirror, is an encased photo of Sato Kenji. It's a close-up shot, from the chest up, of him winking and grinning. Rin can almost picture the animated sparkle over his pearly whites. A mini-Ultraman figurine with a rounded head is glued to the dashboard. A bobblehead. The car also has a GPS that is set to Sato's voice. In any other scenario, these additions would have grated Rin's nerves. She would've ripped off the bobblehead and the photo, and changed the GPS settings, citing them all to be illogical and distracting.

But, oddly, it makes her laugh.

She blames it on the full tank, something she's rarely been able to afford, and goes for a test drive.

"Ya got your car," her landlady huffs when Rin drags her feet into her fried chicken store, "So what's with the long face?"

"Somebody I just met recently adopted a baby," Rin tells her, accepting a basket of chicken popcorn, "We're not friends in any way. Not even acquaintances. But they tried to make me stay and help out because I know how to care for infants. I don't know—I told them that it was their responsibility. I don't understand why I'm so uncomfortable still."

Her landlady stares at her for a good two seconds before swatting the back of her head. Rin nearly chokes on her food. She thumps her chest to make it go down smoothly. "Would it kill you to be nice sometimes?" Her landlady chides her, fixing her smooth, grey hairbun. "Do you know how difficult it can be to ask for help? Gosh, I knew you were a weird one when I let you lease the apartment but you keep finding ways to surprise me."

Rin frowns, "There are other ways to learn how to raise a baby. I don't want unrelated trouble in my life."

"It is still difficult," the woman stresses, "Inexperience can cause panic. They might also be overwhelmed with other things. A person doesn't always play a single role. The least you can do, at times like this, is be a good person."

I played all the roles given to me and never felt overwhelmed, she wants to say but a second thought tells her that she might sound rude.

The rest of the weekend goes by in a blur. Rin hardly leaves her home, apart from the small trip to the grocery store. Her friends, few as they are, are all busy with their own professional lives. A rare win for her is that she doesn't need to bother too much about her work on the weekends like her friends do. Overtime for her is a choice.

Monday is the same routine of meetings and maintenance checks and training programs. After lunch, when Rin and her colleagues return to Project Surrogate, WO Watanabe lets out a panicked yell. "Who calculated the dimensions of the scapular plates?" He asks, looking around the bullpen. "These do not fit the requirements connected with the construction metal. The blueprints are completely altered!"

The only other Sergeant exchanges a look with Rin before chiming in. "Our progress was passed onto the team handling the Mandables section. They wanted to cross-check and compare for the alloy malleability. I'm...not sure whether they were the ones who made the changes."

"This is ridiculous," Watanabe begins to sweat, "That team leader is my senior. If I bring this up, he'll criticise us again and probably have Docto Onda kick us out."

The problem drags onto the next day, when they sort through the evac equipment while doing inventory for a new squadron lands from Nagoya. Watanabe continues to mumble under his breath, recalling how the research and maintenance department was much better when Doctor Sato was here.

"Sato?" Rin pauses and asks.

"Doctor Sato Emiko," Watanabe clarifies with a sigh as they head to the hanger to beat the sun, "She was renowned in the field of Kaiju research. Her husband too but we liked her better because she was smarter, more likable, and funnier. I was only a Flying Officer then but it was less...dark to work with the KDF. Now, it's like we're at war with a different species."

Rin counts the number of parachute packs now rendered obsolete from lack of use. "What happened to both of them?" She asks casually, "The Satos."

"Doctor Emiko migrated to the West sometime when I got posted to Tokushima." Watanabe squints, trying to recall, "She picked up her research in the States while her husband retired and worked privately."

Before they clock out, Watanabe reappears in the bullpen like he's walking on clouds. "I got Talon and Torso to take a look at the calculations," he announces, "The hit my ego took when I asked them is no little injury but at least I got the job done. We'll be moving to structural design and construction once we accommodate the integrated weaponry weight. R&D should be sending in the materials by next week. Phew. I didn't think they'd help me out."

Rin deliberates on the concept of asking for help on the drive home. She'd always been discouraged from bothering others. Help was something one received out of the goodness of others. It wasn't something that she could freely request. But it would've been nice, she thinks, if she had help when she couldn't figure out how to fix her father's crop duster or get one of her brothers to stop crying or when there was too much to cook and her parents were away working in the fields.

She stops by a secondhand bookstore to pick up baby books. At home, she packs up a bento box with the fried chicken her landlady dropped off. Rin places the food carefully in the back of her car, by the books and one of the decommissioned parachutes she managed to swipe from the hangar. She glances at Sato's photo spinning from the rearview mirror and tries to imagine how much worse he must look. New parents always look like they've gone to hell and back before they get the hang of raising an infant.

Mina answers the door when Rin rings the doorbell. Her lights flash, indicating that she was the last person the AI had expected to find. "Sergeant Ryuzaki! This is a surprise." She exclaims.

She nods, holding her things close to her chest carefully, "Yes. I'm just as surprised with myself as you are, Mina." She peeps inside the house and asks, "Sato?"

Pushing the door open completely, Mina welcomes Rin inside and waits as she takes her shoes off. "In the living room," she points with a mechanical arm, "I'm not sure he's conscious."

Sure enough, Rin finds Sato Kenji in the living room, by the elevator pod. He's lying face down, hair greasy, spread eagle. He shows no signs of acknowledging her arrival and continues to lie unmovingly. Rin stands over him, flinching a little when the rays of sunset hit her eyes through the unnecessary amount of floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding them.

Rin scratches the back of her ear and awkwardly begins, "Hello." Sato doesn't respond but she's pretty sure she hears him groan softly. "I brought you some baby books that I believe might help you. Since you might not have a blanket to fit the Baby Kaiju's size, I also have something makeshift. I can teach you how to swaddle the Baby so that it calms her down and lets her sleep longer." She sets the things down, one by one, on a nearby coffee table. Mina's lights blink in gratitude. Rin holds out the bento box, "Oh, and...dinner. If you haven't had the time to eat."

She stands a step and a half away from him, waiting. For a few seconds, there is silence. Then, Sato tilts his head and looks at her with one weary eye. "...God?" His voice is hoarse.

Rin blinks, "No. It's me, Ryuzaki." He slumps back to the wooden floor, groaning louder this time. "Sato? I hope you like chicken. You're on the KFC billboard after all."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･

thoughts? comments? spare validation?