Chapter 5: Family Bonding

My name is Kanji Bando, 52, employee at MON. I was offered a job after stopping a rampaging extraspecies from harming some campers barehanded. I was unemployed at the time so I figured may as well do something new. My first partner Saki is a blue-skinned Oni and is as tall as I am. She's wet behind the ears when it comes to dealing with people though. She also tends to jump the gun on suspicious extraspecies without thinking.

My other teammates are Shira, a Mothman girl, and Ivy, a rather "affectionate" Alraune. I couldn't help myself, as these two are troublemakers too. Shira has a short temper and Ivy is… shall we say "indiscreet" with her cravings for "partners". I wound up recruiting them hoping to rehabilitate them. Wouldn't you know it, not a week after they joined they started calling me "dad" because I happen to be on the older side. At the least there's affection behind it… at least I hope it's affection, anyway.

Ever since Satogami-kun came, things haven't quite been the same. A lot's changed actually, especially after the incident with the Demonic Fang. He certainly had us worried since he got beaten up so bad. Of course he's fine now. He's really got an idea of what he wants to do in this job that he aims to realize. He's the opposite of me who doesn't really know where I want to go with this job. He's great with kids too, which you wouldn't have expected from a former Demonic Fang member. Sometimes I wish I could be more like him, with nerves of steel and a will that doesn't bow.

"Satogami-kun. Can I ask something?" I asked him during break.

"Shoot." he replied retrieving his drink from the vending machine.

"If you were feuding with your child, and you were on the bad side of the argument, how would you handle reconciling?" I asked.

"I'd start by admitting I was wrong. Can't argue if you come to the wall that is a unanimous decision." he told me.

"I see. So that really is the only way." I laughed nervously.

"Kids aren't idiots you know. We aren't going to be kids forever either. Some wise up sooner than others too. Some of us know what we want to do from the start, others figure that out later in life. If your kid's an adult then don't treat them like a kid, treat them like the adult they've become." he lectured, or at least to me it sounded like a lecture.

His words were painful for me, because I knew them already. I lost my wife twenty years ago, and had a falling out with my daughter over it. She changed her legal name and I haven't seen her since. She went from being a sweet child to being a delinquent during middle school. She kept telling me the kids deserved it, but I never believed her. We'd have nightly arguments over her behavior. I never raised my hand to her, but there were times she brought me close to doing so.

I guess that's what made me want to set my troublemaking teammates straight or help them get through their problems. All this time I always thought it was my fault that my girl turned sour. I blamed myself for everything, including my wife's death.

Smith-san called me to her office one afternoon. She looked to be in a serious mood. I was even instructed to close the door behind me.

"Bando-san, I never wanted to ask this of a new agent but everyone experienced with it is busy at the moment including myself. I need you to go retrieve a homestay that's suddenly become violent toward their host." Smith-san ordered me.

"Violent?" I asked.

"We got a call about things breaking like a real fight is going on. There's little time to waste." Smith-san told me handing me a vanilla envelope and a clip of tranq bullets for my sidearm.

I gathered my team and hurried to the residence where it was going down. We got there and the fight seemed to still be going. The door was locked so I busted it down with my shoulder. In the living room a Minotaur girl was grappling with a young woman with long wavy black hair. The entire room was a mess and the woman had many injuries on her. I signalled Saki to rush and pull her away. I didn't want to fire if I didn't have to.

"Don't look at me, I'm only slightly stronger than the average human." Ivy shrugged as the Minotaur began to overpower Saki.

"I forgot my pistol." Shira admitted.

I was forced to take out my gun and fire. She didn't go down even after three shots of concentrated tranquilizer. I unloaded the whole clip by the time she threw Saki through the wall and into the yard. She charged me and without thinking I locked hands with her and flipped her over my shoulder putting her through the dining room table. She roared getting back up continuing to come at me. I kept blocking without retaliating because I wanted to avoid being reprimanded, but she wasn't showing any signs of fatigue.

"Bando-san, I got word from Smith! She's authorized you to take out the target by any means you deem necessary!" I heard Satogami-kun's voice call from outside.

I couldn't have asked for better news. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. I employed my knowledge of defensive martial arts and wrestling on her. She had strength, but no skill at all. I dislocated both of her arms and proceeded to lock her into a sleeper headlock. She struggled for another five minutes before finally succumbing and passing out from lack of air. I'd heard that Minotaurs were tough, but that was completely insane.

"We did it!" Shira exclaimed.

"No thanks to you two…" Saki groaned.

"Sorry. She was beyond our skill level." Ivy chuckled.

"Girls, just get her in the car before she wakes up." I ordered them dusting myself off.

"I could have handled her…" the homeowner scoffed cradling her left arm.

"Your injuries say otherwise." I told her.

"Do you have to take her?" she asked.

"Yes. This is a direct violation of the Homestay Program's rules." I replied.

"It was just a little argument." she scoffed.

"I wouldn't call this 'little'. You could have been hurt far worse than this too if we hadn't shown up." I scolded her.

"Jeez, you sound like my dad." she scoffed dismissively.

"You sound like my daughter." I scoffed before leaving for the vehicle.

Satogami-kun was waiting by our vehicle with his team in a van. He had the smile of a proud coworker on his face. On second glance, it looked to be more than that as well. I wanted to be sure to thank him for bringing Smith's orders.

"I can't believe you bought it at face value." Satogami-kun snickered.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I lied. Smith didn't say a thing." he grinned sending shock through my body.

"You… but I…" was all I could get out before thoughts of the consequences came to my head dropping me to my knees.

"Don't sweat it. If you need to get in the fray yourself then do it. If your teammates wind up in the emergency room because you sat back and watched when you could have done something, you're a failure as a team leader. In the Demonic Fang, it's do or die, no hesitation allowed. If you hesitate and someone dies because of you, their blood is on your hands and you can only blame yourself." Satogami-kun lectured me.

"MON's laws strictly forbid it…" I told him.

"Who gives a shit? Your teammates are family, and you protect your family at all costs. You help them grow, you help them achieve their goals, you help them hone their skills, and they in turn help you grow. I don't agree with all of Demonic Fangs' teachings, but the majority can teach you a lot about working as a team." Satogami-kun continued to lecture me… I felt like I was a punk in middle school getting chewed out by my old man again.

"Satogami-kun… let's go drinking after I turn her in to HQ." I told him.

"I'm not legal for another three months, but I can at least keep you company if you want." he shrugged.

I took Satogami-kun with me to a bar & brill that I used to go to with my daughter on my days off. I didn't used to drink until I was drunk though. I had no intention of actually getting drunk this time though. I felt I could tell Satogami-kun what was happening and get his input.

"Satogami-kun… do you remember what I asked you at the vending machine? About being on the wrong side of an argument?" I asked him.

"Yeah. That's related to a family matter you're going through isn't it?" he responded hitting the nail on the head.

"How… did you know…?" I stuttered.

"No one asks those questions without it relating to them somehow." he bluntly replied as our drinks arrived.

"I guess not…" I chuckled.

"So, you plan to tell me your story right?" he asked continuing to see through me like a window.

"Yeah… my daughter's name was Haruka. She evidently changed it when she left home." I answered.

"Must have been a hell of an argument." Satogami-kun stated.

"Well… my wife passed away due to a driver who was more focused on texting than driving veering from their lane hitting her car head on. Haruka didn't take it very well and started reacting violently whenever people tried to console her. The other driver lived but lost the ability to walk entirely. She always went on about how they should be dead and not her mother, how unfair it was." I explained to him.

"Life isn't always fair. Of course, not accepting consolation or help from friends is the wrong answer. I'm guessing you made a bad step somewhere if you claim to have been in the wrong though." Satogami-kun sighed.

"She always got in my face when I didn't agree with her, saying we shouldn't hunt down that driver when they already paid the damages and money for a proper funeral. She'd hit me, call me a horrible husband, say I never loved my wife, that I only had her around for cheap meaningless sex, and other things. One night work had me on the verge of cracking… it was the three year anniversary of my wife's death. I came home to find my wife's tombstone in pieces on the kotatsu. Haruka was sitting on the couch bouncing a hammer on her palm." I told him on the verge of tears.

"You snapped…" Satogami-kun stated.

"She told me… 'there's no reason to have a tombstone for someone you didn't love'... I broke and put her in the emergency room. There was no excuse for what I did… the only reason I didn't end up in the slammer is because the entire block around my house testified that she was abusing me both verbally and physically, that it was self-defense on my part… and comeuppance for her behavior." I elaborated.

"I'm guessing her lawyers tried to appeal numerous times?" Satogami-kun asked while finishing his fries.

"Ten, in fact. The judge actually threatened to charge them with harassment if they brought it up again. If I'm honest… I think jail would have suited me for what I did. She packed her things and left to live with a friend. I haven't seen her since. It's been a very long time." I answered.

"I have ways of tracking people down, you know. If you want me to I can hunt her down so you can talk it out. This happened, what, twenty years ago?" Satogami-kun offered.

"Correct, twenty years. Even so, I doubt Smith-san would let you use MON's network for that. It's for work purposes only." I told him with a sheepish smile.

A week passed since then. The girls were being suspiciously diligent about chores in the house when I woke up. Did they break something? I looked, but everything was in one piece. They claimed nothing was up as well. Even at work it continued. Ivy didn't flirt once with anyone. Something was up… and I was going to find out what. I had the girls go on ahead of me so I could see Satogami-kun. As usual, he was working much later than me.

"What did you tell my team?" I asked him.

"I just told 'em your sob story after hearing them complaining. Wouldn't you know, it fixed their attitude toward your dad tendencies completely." he answered without looking up from his computer.

"You didn't have to do that…" I told him.

"You're my coworker, that makes you family too. Family helps family. So I'm just doing my part." Satogami-kun shrugged.

I returned home and found that none of the girls were present. I thought I'd go look for them when the doorbell rang. I opened it to a woman with long blue hair wearing a thick brown trench coat hiding her clothing and a red scarf. Behind her was the woman that I'd taken the homestay Minotaur from.

"So it is you… dad." the blue-haired woman sighed.

"Haruka?!" I exclaimed in shock.

I didn't recognize her at all. She was filled out, had dyed her hair, and grown it out considerably. I invited her in and she analyzed the house thoroughly making me grateful the girls went all out today. That was when it hit me… they set this up with help from Satogami-kun, that sneaky devil. Haruka gave a satisfied sigh before sitting down on the loveseat forcing the woman with her to sit as well.

"It's been twenty years, hasn't it? The last time I was here my arms and left leg were in casts while the movers gathered my things." Haruka stated.

"Yeah…" was all I could really say.

"Firstly, introductions are in order. This is my daughter, Yoko, and she's currently trying to get into college. She's enamoured with extraspecies cultural exchange and wants to someday work in MON." Haruka told me.

"Is that so?" I asked.

"He took away my friend… she was helping me toughen up for the job MON would have me doing." Yoko growled.

"Haruka… about what I did that day… I'm very sorry…" I choked out.

"That's not mom's name." Yoko told me.

"Wrong. That's my birth name, just like ordinarily I would have had his surname until I married your father." Haruka corrected her without me even saying anything.

"You said you hated his guts…" Yoko spoke in disbelief.

"That was before I found out how hard parenting is. It seems fine and dandy with both parents… but subtract one… it becomes a nightmare. You can't always be there, you can't always get your child what they ask for, a lot of the time you have to say 'no' as much as you want to say 'yes'. Worst of all… it leaves a gaping hole in your heart. Back then… by acting selfishly I tore another in your heart. I didn't once stop to think of what mom would say to me if she could see what I'd done. I didn't think about how much you were suffering either. So I'm the one who should be sorry." Haruka explained bringing tears to my eyes.

"Mom…" Yoko gasped.

"What dad did to me that day I had coming the day I started laying my hands on him. Every day once I had my moment of clarity I'd visit mom's grave and ask her for the strength to say I was sorry. I'd apologize endlessly for doing that to her first gravestone. Sometimes I'd wish the paramedics had let me bleed out. I'd actually had several opportunities over the last twenty years to apologize, but I was always too scared of what you'd do. Your coworker, Agent Satogami-san… he gave me the strength to come here today. He told me about how hard you were trying, how much you wished you could talk it out, that you blame yourself for me leaving…" Haruka explained coming to tears herself.

"I knew it…" I thought to myself envisioning Satogami-san's smug grin.

"Haruka… I'd like to mend our relationship. It can't have been easy for you if you became a widow." I told her.

"You'd know first-hand, huh?" Haruka chuckled.

The next few weeks were spent catching up. It turned out Haruka wound up a lot like me in the end. We have the same drink preference, same food preference, and prefer the same shows. My granddaughter was the exact same way, prompting something very unexpected - Haruka cracked a joke about it being genetic. I'd only heard from the school about her jokes and puns, so it caught me off guard actually hearing one. She apparently did it at home a lot going by Yoko's groan.

I had to thank Satogami-kun for this. I don't think we'd have ever reached out like this if he didn't stick his nose in. I made for his office and froze seeing his Kobold partner on all fours with a dog collar on with a leash being fed a treat.

"I know this looks bad… but I can explain..." Satogami-kun stated.

"I'm listening…" I told him trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Smith said that it's important to roleplay in order to build a bond with each teammate. So we're roleplaying master and pet, and it was her idea." he explained.

"Is it…?" I asked her.

"Don't judge people's kinks lest yours be judged as well." she told me with the straightest face I'd ever seen.

I calmly closed the door and pretended I didn't see it. I emailed him a thank you instead. He's wise for his age, but still just a kid. I decided if he ever needed help I'd lend a hand if I could. Still… I felt like I was forgetting something. That was when Smith entered my office...

"Did you finish assembling your team yet?" she asked instantly clarifying what I was forgetting...