Alternate Canon: Fuuko

Knock Knock...

"Yes, yes, I'm coming..." I grumbled as I made my way to the front door. I knew who was on the other side, but the foreknowledge didn't make it any easier.

As I opened the door, the young woman on the other side snapped a jaunty salute. "Ibuki Fuuko reporting for playtime!"

I sighed heavily as I stepped aside to let her in, and it wasn't long before she was latched onto my daughter. "Shio-chan! Your onee-chan's here to play!"

"Goodafternoon, onee-chan," my daughter greeted as politely as she could withFuuko's face mashed against hers, bringing a smile to my face; Pops and Sanaehad taught her manners better than I would've been able to.

"What are we going to do today?" I heard Fuuko ask excitedly as I made my way back to the kitchen to prepare their snack. As my hands worked on the meal, I allowed my mind to contemplate Fuuko's situation.

She had just recently come out of a near-decade-long coma, so her mind was still stuck at around age fifteen. However, every time I saw her she would act like a much younger...well, child. This worried me; had she suffered some kind of brain damage due to how long she'd been in her coma? I didn't know much about comas, but I could see how someone being unconscious for almost ten years could end up having some brain problems.

I found myself feeling more sorry for Fuuko as I finished putting the snacks on their plates and turned to head for the table. "Snack's ready," I announced.

The girls immediately plopped themselves down at their usual places at the table, Ushio to my right and Fuuko across from me, and put their hands together. "Itadakimasu."

As usual, Ushio dove into her meal; also as usual, Fuuko examined her own meal. "You didn't put any aphrodisiacs in here, did you?"

"Of course not!" I huffed. "And where did you learn that word, anyway?"

"Don't remember," she replied as she started on her meal.

I inwardly fumed as I watched my daughter eat but, of course, I couldn't fume for long as I watched that angelic face, with its large eyes that blinked so innocently...

"Daddy, what's an 'afro-dizzy-axe'?" she suddenly asked.

So much for innocence. "It's...well, it's hard to explain..." I knew what they were, but how could I explain it to a five-year-old child? Should I explain it to a five-year-old child? "It's supposed to be a thing that...well..."

"It makes people fall in love with you," Fuuko explained simply. At my astonished look she shrugged. "Fuuko knows about these things because she's an adult."

"Well yeah, but-"

"Maybe Okazaki-san's not the adult he thinks he is," she said with a melodramatic sigh.

I bit back a smart-alecky reply, realizing that it would do no good; the woman's pride was simply too strong and would not allow her to admit any kind of mistake. Wait a minute...'woman'... "Fuuko, you say you're an adult, right?"

"Of course!" she chirped. "Fuuko is very mature, unlike Okazaki-san."

I pointed to the plate in front of her. "Then why are you eating snack like Ushio?"

Her hand froze on its way to her mouth. "Wh-What?"

"You're a grown woman, right? And grown-ups don't need snack since they've done all their growing, unlike children like Ushio."

"Hey, you're right, Daddy," Ushio breathed. "You're so smart."

"B-But-" our guest sputtered. "There's nothing wrong with eating snack with Ushio-chan, is there?"