Private Finished Holding onto the past

"Oh, of course, I promise we'll have the best snack I've in the house.", and thus Kiroku would lead them around in organizing and cleaning up, Kabano himself took upon shelving goods at the store side and handling a part of the empty boxes, Shinme helped Rin with unimaginable energy.

Kabano just came back with a stack of now folded cardboard boxes. "Even with people talking to him, visiting him... Uncle Kiroku was still alone, he knew none of the distant relatives could visit him. That's why I made the difference. Hm? Lemme check...", Kabano rested the stack down on the floor to check the clipboard, while Kiroku was assembling a Gachapon machine. "That is... Oh, it's the balls for the Gachapon. Leave it next to him."

Kabano chuckled a bit at not only Izumi's reaction, but also at Shinme, who was peeking at the back of boxes and boxes of Super Hero Time figures. The kid sure has been helping, but was also curious about all these things he has only seen on TV until now. And while Kabano had introduced him to Japanese television, he could only do so much in terms of toys and the like.

"Ah, I assembled these before. Even repaired a couple of them, no big deal.", Kiroku explained, "But if Rin-chan is so eager to help, she could grab the price tags and help Kabano-kun place then. The fourth page in the clipboard has the prices listed.", he played along for Izumi's amusement.

And sure enough it wouldn't be long until the store was set up to be opened by tomorrow, and Kiroku would be serving them tea, coffee, juice and assorted sweets to celebrate. And this was just an afternoon snack, the dinner had yet to come.

"Four pair of hands are faster than one pair, I'd say.", Kabano chuckled and sipped green tea, seated next to Kiroku, who enjoyed himself a good cup o' joe. Shinme was mostly trying different candies and cookies, but clearly overjoyed to try something he hadn't in a long time.

Izumi's question to Kiroku did poke an wound, unfortunately. "Ah, I'm divorced. My ex-wife didn't want children with me, and then she married again and had triplets. Heard she's happy. But the closest I had to a son was Yakou, who I should have been nicer to and should have never told him that he should have stopped lazying about and be more useful.", he spoke with intense regret over his actions.

But a single glance at Kabano would reveal that he really want to just say it out loud that it is not all Kiroku's fault, and was also his own...

Kabano rose an eyebrow at Izumi, as if questioning if he gave her trouble. But her next words hit a nail on the head with him: He did care about his uncle this much, and... "Maybe he was just scared, Uncle. After all, he lost his parents and saw you drinking so heavily so often. Some of us have been there, fearing the future they lost before they could see it.", Kabano pulled Kiroku close and patted his shoulder.

"Maybe that's why he never answered my calls either? Out of fear? I too was afraid, of losing him. Specially once his medic called me about his heart condition.. Only relief is, from what I was told, he didn't feel pain when it happened, he was apparently asleep by then.", Kiroku, rested his head on Kabano's shoulder, "You kind of remind me of him... Funny, isn't it?"

Maybe it was time for him to talk about it. Gathering confidence, Kabano spoke up: "Uncle, there's something I have to tell you, it's highly confidential, you have to swear under oath to never tell anyone..."

That has made Kiroku sit upright almost in a snap. "Oh? Business secret?!", he asked, but Kabano shook his head. "It's more important than even my life... But I feel you must know, and for that you need to promise me.", Kabano responded, the two trading stares. There was obvious anxiety from both sides: The desire to tell, and the desire to know.

"You have my word! I'd sooner perish than betray anyone who has come to support me so vehemently.", Kiroku spoke with equal conviction.

It was finally time to tell it. He could have been blunt, played around with the idea to make it sound like a joke at first, but ultimately he went on to address it all: "What I'm about to tell you is harmless to us if only you are allowed to know. I could dwell deeper into the subject, but I did my homework, so to say, and the less people to be in the know, the better."

Kiroku agreed with a nod without averting his gaze. "Alright... The truth is about Tsubasa Yakou, your nephew. People told stories of his ghost haunting the last game he was playing, and suddenly... The "ghost in the machine" was gone, people handwaved it as a programmers mischief.", the way Kabano was phrasing was intended to bring things from past to present.

"The truth behind "Neon Moth's Ghost" is that Yakou's consciousness was stuck in the machine, and effectively became a ghost. But this isn't your average spooky ghost story, oh, no... In truth, he denied that he was dead, he claimed to be very much alive, and no AI could replicate that behavior to a T. Then, one day, the server he was on was removed and taken far away to keep the paranormal phenomenon a secret from what we call "Narrow Reality"... Are you with me here?", and to Kabano's question, Kiroku could only mumble "My nephew is a ghost?! But... Go on."

"In that place, his ghost was alone in a server that was maintained active, possibly for contact and study, or who knows... He could be given a robot body of some sort. But what happened was the birth of a modern yokai. And that Yokai is me: Cyber Kitsune Neon Moth.", as he said that, he let his true nature show just slightly, startling Kiroku, who stumbled in his chair, but then learned forth and reached at the projection of ears above Neon's head. "Oh, by the Gods, it's real! Wait, you telling me you are Yakou! How about you prove me then?!", Kiroku rapidly withdrew his hands, crossing his arms in a stern expression.

As Neon returned to his Kabano disguise, he gave a hearty laughter and went "Come now, Uncle... I know your all-time favorite game is Dragon Quest, you hide a Famicom under the floorboards in your room, your gameplay time with Dragon Quest 4 exceeds 73 hours but still falls short of 74 hours, Yakou once accidentally erased your Dragon Quest 3 save but you simply played it with him on the Game Boy Color for many hours, and the saké you drink on the day we lost my parents is a Tozai, with a hint of strawberry. I also noticed you had a Tozai stashed in the cupboard, hope you don't play on drinking it alone tonight.."

Kiroku's mouth went agape, absolutely flabbergasted. A smug Kabano and a surprised Kiroku, face to face, until Kiroku grabbed him by the shoulders and finally acknowledged "Yakou, that is really you! But to come back to life like that... All this time I... I really wanted to tell you how much I regret telling you such mean things, all I really wanted was you to stop eating junk food and start to live your life!", he hugged Kabano tightly, who also held him close. It was clear the good Uncle had just opened his waterworks.

"At last, I'm home...", Kabano finally shed a few tears he had been holding for long.