"Pretty much." (Alya)
"So you are the reason my daughter has been skipping school." (Mom)
Alya snorted and shook her head, checking on the water as it got closer to a boil and adding salt.
"Firstly, no, your daughter was skipping school before I even arrived. I possessed her while she was skipping school in the first place. I just skipped the rest of the day because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I was somewhere unfamiliar and had memories that weren't my own." (Alya)
"You're not a demon." (Mom)
"Was an average, single twenty-seven-year-old American." (Alya)
"And you fully believe your original self is dead?" (Mom)
"Yes." (Alya)
When the water started to boil, Alya added the noodles to the pot and began stirring them. Mom had a complicated expression, so Alya spoke.
"Sorry about crying earlier." (Alya)
"What do you mean?" (Mom)
"You and your husband look like younger but somewhat different versions of my parents. You look like a carbon copy of my mom, but she had brown eyes and brown hair. My father was the one I took the most after in that world. He had dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. " (Alya)
"So why did you cry?' (Mom)
"Because he looks like my dead father. My father died a couple of years ago, but everything about your husband made me remember my father." (Alya)
"Sorry." (Mom)
It's fine." (Alya)
An awkward silence filled the room as Mom stood up and took a deep breath as if she had made a decision.
"Well... Alya, although I have an idea of what I would like to do, I would like to know your plans." (Mom)
"Simple learn all I can in this world and have a better life than I did in my other one." (Alya)
The look on her face was like that of someone sure in their thoughts.
"You may not originally be my daughter, but I won't sentence you to death for being inside my daughter's body. I want to hire professionals to see if my daughter is trapped in there or if her soul is truly gone. If her soul is gone, you can stay. If it is trapped, I swear we will find a way to let you stay here and get my daughter back." (Mom)
"Thank you." (Alya)
Mom had a look of determination, but grabbed an apron for herself and started setting up to make food as well.
"Would you be willing to cook for us one of these days?" (Mom)
"I would love to. I honestly enjoy cooking, but I don't know many traditional Japanese recipes. I would love it if you would teach me how to cook some of them." (Alya)
"Your father and I should be able to handle that. Also, I do plan on telling my husband the truth..." (Mom)
Alya sputtered before she could keep talking.
"Thats fine, I don't expect you to keep such a thing secret from him." (Alya)
"How about we exchange recipes, I teach you something, and you teach me something. I've always been curious about American cuisine." (Mom)
"Well, I should say that don't get your hopes up, a lot of our food is just offshoots of different foreign foods." (Alya)
"So why are you making food?" (Mom)
"I agreed to make Sato the class president some food or provide lunch money in exchange for him helping tutor me. You guys have magic and a different history compared to my world, so if I don't have help from him tutoring me, I would fail those classes." (Alya)
Alya grabbed one of the noodles, checked to see if they were cooked through to where she needed them, grabbed a strainer and strained them of all liquid besides a partial cup's worth, and tossed everything into the pan with the cheese sauce.
Pulling the chicken out, Alya let everything mix and then started to dish it out into two different lunch boxes.
"Can I try some?" (Mom)
"Oh, go ahead, just be careful, it is hot." (Alya)
They spent the rest of the time chatting as Alya decided to dish up the extra portion for Mom to take.
"Is it alright if I call you mom?" (Alya)
"It's fine." (Mom)
"What are you two doing up so early?" (Dad)
When he walked down the stairs, he had the look of a man looking at his daughter with adoration and his wife with love. Alya turned her focus to washing up her mess so that it could be dried and put away.
"Is something wrong?" (Dad)
From his daughter not rolling her eyes at him and his wife having a serious expression, any man would wonder what is going on.
"Honey, can we go talk in private? I think Alya needs a moment." (Mom)
With that, Mom looped her arm through Dad's arm and, like a forceful march, walked him back to their room.
Alya looked at the wrapped lunch boxes, part of her unable to face the facts. She does not know how he will react, and part of her is scared he will reject her. Perhaps being accepted by a man who, in essence, is her father would be horrible for her emotionally.
She grabbed everything into her bag, unable to keep still as she started to hear yelling from their room, before Dad stormed out of the bedroom and rushed her. His fingers dug into her shoulders as he looked into her eyes as if begging for her to say what he learned wasn't true.
"Whatever she told you is true." (Alya)
"You're an alternate version of my daughter from a universe without magic, and we need to get a magic soul specialist to make sure your soul isn't crushing our daughter, but if our real daughter isn't in there, you will be living as our daughter." (Dad)
"Yes." (Alya)
"You also believe your original body is dead, so you would have no real way of returning to your world without leaving for the afterlife." (Dad)
"Yes." (Alya)
"You also see us as your real parents because not only do you have our daughter's memories, but we look like your parents, and for you being around me might be difficult because in your world, your dad is dead, but you can't help but see your dead father in me." (Dad)
"Also, yes." (Alya)
He let go of her, his face falling as he shook his head. Alya's head drooped fuck he was probably going to reject her being around them isn't he?
"Well then, no matter what, you will be in our care." (Dad)