decorator | if even a bunch of flowers dressed up with words can steal your heart, are they real?

[ If he ever hears Ai claim to be low-maintenance ever again, it'll be too soon. What? It's been almost twenty years? Yeah, no, he still rests his case. He's not sure if this was a result of a wish not worded well enough... or just the limitations of the Holy Grail.

Regardless, he found himself here... now on an unbleached Earth as a human like a certain Grand Caster had done... well, there were a few notable details that differed the situation, notably that he was reborn here... and a few years before Ai was even born at that. Seriously, what the hell? Why is this so complicated!?

Well, he can at least be glad that his name is still Oberon, even after being reborn into a different world. He's not sure if that's the grail at work or just a happy coincidence, but it meant there wouldn't be too much confusion... even if he had to deal with the current impossibility that is finding Ai, let alone what state she's in.

Honestly, there was just way too much he didn't know... but even if B-Koma... whatever it was called, doesn't exist yet... it will eventually. So alas, Oberon was saddled with the first goal of... getting into the entertainment industry. The Japanese entertainment industry, specifically.

Well, it's a good thing he's good at working hard for long periods of time, all for the sake of leading up to one big goal.

He followed the Japanese idol sphere closely the whole while. He heard of B-Komachi practically the instant they had their debut, but as expected, there was no sign of Ai. She had mentioned that she was scouted later on, hadn't she? He really wasn't interested in them as a group, but because they would presumably have an eventual connection to Ai, he kept an eye on them anyway.

He was good at acting. He was once a Pretender, after all. That was his way into the entertainment sphere. Becoming a prodigious child actor was easy enough, building up his reputation and subtly manipulating others to get more opportunities... yes, while he was still a child, too. If anything it was easier because of that. Nobody expects this kind of thing from someone who, by all means, should still be learning the alphabet.

To reiterate... it was a lot of work to get where he is now, and boy did it suck! His fairy eyes may have been considerably dampened, but Oberon can see through human bullshit just as easily with or without, and the entertainment industry could get particularly ugly. Seriously, what made him want this in the first place... was Ai. What the hell is even the point of being reborn as a human if she's not there with him? She was the only thing that made the idea bearable! Appealing, even!

Still, he had moments of hope to push him forward. Ai's debut in B-Komachi finally arrived, and... well, at this point he had to face facts, she probably doesn't remember him. Things have followed what she told him of her life too well. Having the memories of yourself in your twenties would have to stir things up, but it hasn't. There was a chance, then, that those memories would only resurface upon something triggering it. Like meeting him, for example. He looks pretty much the same, after all... well, the same, barring being much younger. He's three whole years older than her, but that still made him a teenager at the time she had her debut.

So with all of that in mind... he had to keep his distance. Because if meeting him would cause her memories to surface, then they couldn't meet now... and for a very obvious reason: her children didn't exist yet.

Whoever she hooked up with... well, he doesn't like the idea of that, but it's for the greater good. Whoever she hooked up with would be hard to hook up with—and consequently, get knocked up by—if she meets and remembers the guy who she had a lot of sex with in her future twenties before it happens.

So he waited. Waited and heard of Ai's hiatus due to health concerns... and promptly let out a long, long groan.

He wants to be there with her. He wants to be with her, right now... a part of him considers if it would be fine now. If now that she's pregnant with her beloved children, it would be safe to find her. Sure, it would make the future different from what they know, but... he misses her.

...Not that it's possible. She didn't mention which hospital she went to while they were still together, it simply never came up. He knows it's out of the city, but that doesn't exactly narrow it down. Ai's wherabouts at that point were a tightly-kept secret that he would have a hard time finding.

So... more waiting. More acting. He's become something of a household name in the Japanese Entertainment sphere... and perhaps being foreign helped in grabbing attention as well.

Ai made her return to the spotlight at last. He watched her return interview and nearly spat out his own drink when she very nearly outed her own secret almost right away... but whatever, that's Ai for you. They can meet now, can't they...? It should be fine... right? ]

"Ah, you're here! We're so glad you decided to join us, Oberon-san!"

Please, the pleasure is all mine. Now, I believe I heard that an idol would be joining us...?

"Eh? How did you know?"

Oh, it's just a little something I heard on my way in. It's no problem, I've just never met one in-person before, so I got a little... interested? Yes, interested.

"Ah, I see! Well, it's as you say, she's..."

[ He exchanged pleasantries with the director as he usually does with others in this world. This is just a talk show, Ai's debut into taking on more acting roles and jobs having provided the perfect opportunity to secretly nudge some higher ups' attentions toward her. They requested her participation, she agreed, and now...

...He'll admit it's uncharacteristically impatient of him, but he just... can't help it. He blames it on her, really. Making him this needy for her. He swiftly and cleanly ends his conversation with the director and starts looking around to try and spot her... and yet having no luck. She must not be in the room yet... ]

[ It seems like it happens in a blink. One moment she's making all the same mistakes again and the next, some thread has been yanked so violently that the entire tapestry it makes up has come entirely unravelled. She doesn't learn in time not to open the door or to engage the chain lock, but against all odds, for the first time in her life, in any life -

Someone saves her. And perhaps she shouldn't be surprised in the least. Saving her is all he's ever done, after all.

It takes some time for her heart to find its place in her chest again. Foreign feelings saturate her body in the days after the attack and she's too numb from shock and confusion in the immediate aftermath. They're questioned by the police, she dutifully gives them all the information she has and when she and Oberon part ways once again it takes all her self control not to go chasing after him. She doesn't even know why. Or rather, she hadn't, not at the time.

Now, though...

What a bizarre route for the Grail to have taken in granting her wish. Undeniably, it's done exactly as she asked - and that's what frightens her the most. She'd asked for a long, happy life for all the people she loves and for herself too and that's exactly what she's been given. But she hadn't phrased things precisely enough to know for sure if it means them all having that happiness together.

She wants to believe it must. Why else would he have been here just in time to save her? But the Oberon she knows, the one who knows her in turn - surely he would never have just let her walk away. Not if he remembered. Maybe this is the extent of the miracle she's been granted - to be saved and nothing more than that. Maybe anyone else would be happy with that much.

But Ai's too greedy for her own good. She always has been. And when his address falls into her lap entirely by chance - police reports are just a little too well informed, it seems - she can't bring herself not to test her luck a little further. She makes up a lie to Miyako and the President that she's sure neither of them believe but they dutifully swallow anyway and she sets out, clueless and stubborn, to try and put her doubts to rest, one way or the other.

Just as her luck would have it, the heavens open as she makes her way over. Enough so that she's soaked to the skin and shuddering in the cold by the time she gets to his apartment building (just close enough to her own that she has to wonder). With a trembling hand, she skims the intercom buttons until she finds the right one and before she can let herself hesitate, she pushes it. And even with her hair plastered to her face and her shudders rattling her tiny frame, she manages a winning smile into the camera. ]

Sorry to barge in! Mind letting me up before I freeze?

[ Agh... everything hurts...

That's the first realization on Oberon's mind as light streams in through the window. It's manageable, but it feels like he just ran a goddamn marathon... and maybe that analogy isn't too off. He's had to keep fit for the sake of his acting roles, but this was something else.

...Wait, hold on, where's— ]

...!

[ At some point during the night after he passed out, he must've slipped out of her to unconsciously lay on his back. Presumably, he still held onto her, but the worst possible scenario suddenly flits into his head.

Waking up... and her being gone.

His eyes shoot wide open, and his head snaps to look at his side. On one side there's nothing, nobody there, just his empty arm and his heart starts to sink...

...and then he looks to the other side, and— ]

Ah...

[ ...There she is. There she is. Resting on his arm like a pillow, dishiveled as one should expect after everything they just did... there she is. ]

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