Oshi No Ko FanFic (A Spiteful Reincarnation)

Chapter 13: The End of the Beginning

Mariko saw the medical stretcher as they rolled Ai into the hospital. She was not sure what injury she had sustained but the fact that the doctors were wheeling her in with such urgency gave her hope that Ai was still alive. It did not take long before the entire family was in the waiting room to see what was to become of Ai. The police had taken Ruby and Aqua in for the investigation. Ruby did not see Ai since she was wheeled out by medical personnel before the police opened the bedroom door. Aqua on the other had had to see the whole thing first hand. The questioning ended pretty quickly since Ruby was not even privy to the events that happened on the other side of the door, and Aqua's age did not lend itself to deep scrutiny.

It was pretty late in the day when the doctor finally delivered the news that Ai was in a coma. Apparently, the blood loss contributed to a lack of oxygen in the brain, but the good news is that there is a high probability of recovery. As the doctor was delivering the news all Mariko could do was twitch silently in her chair. She had no idea how to react to the news. Should she be guilty because of this result, or proud that Ai had not died. However the thing that caused her the most distress was the part of her that felt nothing at all. The part of her that was transferred over from her previous life, but before she had any time to reflect she fell asleep from exhaustion.

After the initial detention by the authorities Ruby and Aqua were temporarily turned over to the Saitou family. This was supposed to be an arrangement that would last until Ai recovered enough to take care of her kids again. The news reported the hospitalization of Ai for weeks. There were some tabloids that delved into speculation, but most people in the professional scene were sympathetic. The internet on the other hand spawned some crazy conspiracy theories, and some were strangely close to the truth. Ruby was quite affected by the social media outrage mobs that painted Ai with unflattering words. Eventually when it was obvious that Ai would need some time before she would wake the new report became sparse, and later on died out all together.

Mariko had thought back to how her interference had changed one of the scenes she read in the manga. Ruby and Aqua were in Ai's apartment when Miyako walked up to them and then kneeled down to talk to them on their level. "Hey... you two I just wanted to let you know that I will be your temporary guardian until Ai has recovered. I know I can possibly supply the same amount of love and affection that Ai has as your mother but I just want to let you know I genuinely love and care for both Ai, and you guys." Mariko did not find her mom's speech as impactful as the one in the manga but apparently it had done the trick. She tried her best to suppress the urge to cough as Ruby jumped into her mom's arms. To save herself from the embarrassment of interrupting the scene she turned and walked out of the building. It was not like she needed to be there anyway.

Mariko was sitting in the car with Ruby and Aqua to her right. Ruby was looking at the hospital through the window. "At least there is no funeral this time around." Mariko thought to herself in the silence of the car, but all of a sudden a darker thought came to mind. "Yeah, there is definitely a funeral going on. It's a career funeral." It seems that the negative thoughts would have gone on forever if it wasn't for the voice of Ruby saying, "Mama said that I could become an idol in the future. Aqua, do you think I could?" It was so similar yet different from the original version of this conversation that Mariko could not help but be interested in how it turned out. "What's the point? The pay is bad and you get lambasted by fans if they catch a whiff of drama. Plus, some fans are crazy enough to do this, and this isn't even the worst case scenario." Aqua replied. Something deep within Mariko broke at that sentence. Maybe it was the irony of Aqua saying it could have been worse, maybe it was the morbidity of the situation, or maybe it was parts of her previous life's personality slipping through. However, for whatever reason she found herself struggling to suppress a sick laughter that was building up within her waiting to be released. Instead of laughing she let out a few snickers that she passed off as sniffles if anyone cared to look.