Fragile Truth: Nekopara Drama

𓄼⠀ 𓇢 ⠀· ⠀ ┈──┈ ⠀ ♢

"Onii-sama! You're finally home!" Shigure leaps herself onto me like she usually does every Friday. "I've missed you so much! I can't wait to see Chocola and Vanilla! They are coming for their weekly visitation, right?" She peers beyond my shoulder, but her expression turns sour. "And while we're on the topic: I haven't seen any of my lovely cat girls in a while! You know how much they-"

"Actually," I interrupt. "That's what I came to talk about." I gently scrape Shigure off me with the very little patience I already had.

"Huh?" Shigure's face twists into confusion as I close the door with no catgirls to be found.

"We need to talk," I answered and I kept my ground.

Worry spreads across her face with furrowed brows.

"You've become so engrossed with your idea of perfection that our girls can't even look at you. If they're close to you they flinch and try to put on some kind of good girl act. Like, they can't be their authentic selves around you."

Shigure backs herself up. "Onii-sama, what are you-?"

"Our catgirls are scared of you. They don't want to see you, Shigure. You hurt them so much that they second guess every little thing that they do. Hell, Azuki asked if she was allowed to get something from the kitchen. Allowed. To get something!" I keep my frustration to a minimum and patiently wait for a response.

Shigure stands there with her eyes wide, as if a deer in headlights, but her head stays down with her gaze to the floor. Frozen, she doesn't speak. Or rather, she doesn't want to speak. Not yet.

I continued, "they care so much about you that they didn't want to tell me it was you who was making them feel uncomfortable. They have nightmares about you. You were the one who made them feel like they had to walk on eggshells around both of us. You-"

"I would never do such horrendous things!" Shigure raises her voice. "Maybe it's you not being there for them. Maybe it's because you work them all day long with only a lunch break, Onii-sama!" Shigure launches her words towards me in a preplanned structure, as if she was ready for this conversation.

"Excuse me?" I deflect back immediately with a hand over my chest. For some reason part of me believes her.

"It's your fault that Chocola almost failed her Bell Exam. It's your fault that Vanilla is so cold and blunt towards everyone. You don't even sleep with your catgirls! That shows that you truly don't care about them like you say you do." Shigure grins like she's winning the battle, even though her tone indicates frustration, she still seems so calm and diligent. "I don't think it's me, Onii-sama. Don't you remember? Everything changed once you came back from France. You left us, remember?"

"Shigure. The gaslighting won't work on me. I know what I saw. I know what I heard. Fuck, Chocola avoided bathing! I only found out when I had to force her into the bath with me and Vanilla. And you know what I found once she undressed herself?" I wait as if she'll know the answer. "I saw a bruise that swelled all across her thigh. A bruise!" I loom over Shigure, and her cutesy gaze follows mine. "I saw Maple fall over her knees and admitted that she saw you yell at Cinnamon because she asked for a snack before dinner, but she didn't want to say anything because she knew you would hurt her too."

Shigure's smile fades into a blunt one, but her eyes still hold that cocky grimace. As if none of the evidence I brought forward was true.

She hums softly to herself as she turns around—showing her back to me. I watch her walk towards the living room, and she shuffles herself towards the chairs in the middle of the room—digging around in a box underneath one of them. She brings out a stack of paper-clipped documents, folders, and clipboards with paper bound to them. Some of the documents were folded and ripped, some were even discolored.