More to me- Pregame Saioma

62. Unexpected struggles

JSDFlkfjlkdsjflksdjfsdk i forgot to update!! last night was kinda emotionall for me, so sorry :[ here's your weekly story!

I sat alone on the bed for a while, trying to get rid of the thought of growing old with Saihara. I guess I'll have to call him Shuichi more often if our last names were the same. But calling him by his first name still flusters me! I can barely do it when we're alone, let alone in public...all the time...I'll probably have to think of a nickname for him. Something that's similar to his name, but will still be cute and cheesy enough to draw away any sort of suspicion. Something that will make me a bit embarrassed to say. I don't want him finding out that I'd be more flustered if I called him by his own name!

The door opening shook me out of my thoughts. I looked up and saw my sister, who strode into the room.

"I'm bored." She said, sitting down next to me. "So...what have you and Saihara-kun been up to~?"

My face flushed. "W-What are you trying to imply, you-"

Kotoko's laughter cut me off. I got up and chased her around the room with an angry smile. I caught her by the hair and pulled her.

"Ow! You asshole!"

"You were the asshole first!" I let go of her and huffed, laying with my back down on the bed. She laid down with me. 

"This is...nice, isn't it?"

I looked over to her. "Yeah. I'd s-say so."

"Much better than back home."

"Oh, definitely." I chuckled. "If mom doesn't respond soon, I think I'll just n-never leave. I'm old enough now."

She turned toward me, and I could see a bit of sadness in her expression. "You'll...take me with you, right?"

"...Is t-that even a question? Of course I will, Kotoko." I smiled. "You and I...well, as long as Saihara-kun and Saihara-oji are okay with it, we can stay here for as long as we'd-"

The sound of the door opening interrupted us. Saihara-oji walked into the room as we sat up, giving him a confused expression.

"I'm...glad you two are together. I've been meaning to talk to you about some things. Things that...well, I couldn't talk to you about if Shuichi-oi was here."

Me and my sister shot each other a look. 

"Is he asking about...?" I said with my raised eyebrows, tasteful side-eyes and pursed lips.

She shook her head before rocking it side to side and following it with another shake. "No...maybe. Hopefully not."

We both faced him as he began to talk.

"Kotoko, a few days ago I asked for your home address."

I forced a smile, nudging her slightly. "Hey, imouto-chan, I didn't hear anything a-about that."

"And I didn't hear about Saihara-kun picking you up in the middle of the night until-"

"S-Shut up!" I spoke over her, with furrowed eyebrows. We once again had a bit of nonverbal communication.

I quickly tilted my head towards Saihara-oji. "He's right there!"

"Bitch, you expect me to care?" Kotoko gave me a scowl, accompanied by squinted eyes and a small shrug.

"...As I was saying..." Saihara-oji continued. "Kotoko gave me your addresses. I was made aware by Koma-san that you both haven't been able to reach your mother in a few days. Is that correct?"

"...That is correct." I responded cautiously. 

He sighed. "I thought so. That's why...I took the liberty of paying her a visit."

"Oh?" Kotoko snickered. "Did you find her drunk off her ass? Or maybe with some old man~?"

"Stop..." I elbowed her, but I couldn't hide the small smile I got from making jokes at her expense.

Saihara-oji furrowed his eyebrows. "...No. In fact...I didn't even find her."

My sister's eyes widened. "Uh...what?"

"W-What do you mean, you...didn't find her?" I asked, more and more caution seeping into my voice.

"She wasn't there. I contacted her place of employment too. They said she left an angry text before she quit immediately. Her home was taken by the Japanese government a while ago, and they're getting ready to sell it."

I gave him my best worried face. "...Are you saying t-that she's..."

"She disappeared off the face of the earth a while ago. We don't know how long it's been, but she just...vanished."

"She went...m-missing." Kotoko muttered, her face of shock slowly changing as she furrowed her eyebrows. "...Well...g-good riddance! She was a nasty, vile old bi-"

"Kotoko!" I raised my voice only a little. "We...we don't know what happened to her! She could be in a l-lot of trouble!"

"Yeah, whatever! I hope she got picked up by those stupid sex slave traders! It was all she was good for anyway!" My sister argued.

I teared up a little. "Stop it, Kotoko! She could be...she...she could be dead..."

"And what did she do to ever deserve our sympathy, huh?!" She yelled. "Good riddance to a stupid, good for nothing whore! Her karma was just about as ran through as her community puss, and you want to defend her?"

I covered my mouth with my fist, trying not to cry.

"...And the worst part is that I had to sit by and watch her hurt you, onii...I had to bite my tongue when she berated you and made you cry." Kotoko uttered, her voice cracking a little. "I couldn't do a thing to protect you...like...like you've always protected me. Even...even on that night, you protected me...you locked me in the closet and tried to get me focused on...braiding my stupid hair..."

My lips pursed as I opened my arms to her. Tears filled her eyes as she ran into my chest, hugging onto me tightly.

"You've...a-always protected me, onii-san..." She muttered into my shoulder.

"I know, Kotoko...I know..." I wiped my own tears. "It's...it's over now. We're safe now."

My eyes drifted as I tried to focus on anything else. Slowly, I looked over to Saihara-oji, and I recognized something in his eyes that made my heart race.

Suspicion.

I looked away quickly, hugging her as tightly as I could.

Saihara-oji continued after a few minutes of crying. "...I...I understand now may not be the best time to ask about this, but...well, I found lots of things that concerned me in your old residence."

"...Y-You'll have to be more...specific." I mumbled the last part. 

"There was a room filled with...rather sexual items. Next to it was a filing cabinet filled with...a of database of clients...a lot of which were older men and listed...kinks?"

I pursed my lips in dread, my voice stubbornly stuck in my throat as he went on. He's going to ask, isn't he?

"In the closet, I found many outfits and uniforms, a lot of which were too small to fit on a woman around 61 kilograms. They seemed to fit a...smaller individual."

Shit. Here it comes.

"What I'm trying to ask is...have you two ever been...sexually abused?"

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