#whatever. have fun six year old eri and her new girldad.

[pocketramblr]

Names

Eri squinted at the signs. "Those are... silly names, for kitties, right?"

Shouta looked back over the list: Trash Bag, Egg, Cheese, Ham, Fast, Furious, and Carpet. Honestly, he didn't think there was anything wrong with those names, but he also knew they weren't exactly normal.

"Yes. They are."

"Why? Why not real names?"

Shouta shrugged, but apparently an employee heard her question.

"Well, silly names get people's attention, and they're more likely to adopt for one." The employee smiled at Eri. "It also helps us not to get to attached, like giving them real names would. These can be changed easier when their families pick real ones."

Eri pressed herself closer to Shouta's leg when the stranger approached, but she nodded at their words, brows furrowed in thought.

She didn't say any more about it until they were walking to the train.

"Ai-san, Eri is a real name. Right?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Because... The cat worker said giving a real name gets you attached. But I don't remember if Mom called me Eri before Chisaki did... And..." Her voice drifted off, a shaky sound in it that he hadn't heard in a while, maybe before the cultural festival. She'd come so far out of the shadow of where she'd been, but Shouta supposed that it would be foolish to think she'd never think of it again.

"I don't know who gave you the name Eri." He says, and it's true. They couldn't find any records of her, not even her birth. No one was sure who got rid of it, but they hoped that her grandfather could clear up anything when he woke. If he did. "But if you'd like to change it, you can."

"I can?"

"Of course you can, it's your name."

She was stunned by this idea for several minutes. Shouta feared he sent her into a spiral.

"Uh, you don't have to get rid of your name to change it. You could add to it, like my students add a hero name."

"Ohhh..." Eri nodded at the idea. "How did they do that?"

"It depends on the person. You should ask them when we get." Because Shouta didn't remember why, he was pretty sure he'd been asleep under his desk that day.

"What if I want someone else's name?"

"Uh," he paused, wondering if she meant to take. No, Eri was a sweet girl, she'd mean to share. Probably. "You can ask them."

"Hm. Eri Lemillion. I don't like how that sounds." She wrinkled her nose. "Eri.... Eri Shouta?"

Shouta almost fell on his face.

"Ack- uh- Eri. It would be Eri Aizawa, if you wanted my name."

"I don't like that as much as Eri Shouta though." She said, shrugging. "Oh, Eri Midnight, that sounds like a magic name... Eri Pretty Cure...Eri UA..." She tested each name, and Shouta gave up on stopping or reasoning with her. If anyone deserved whatever name she wanted, even "Eri Deku Mermaid", it was her.