● Illusory ●

Chapter 22

"Koh-bah-yaa-shee," Yuuko corrected me, to which I nodded, embarrassed.

"R-Right. How's things going on in your household?" I went on, cursing my social awkwardness for making me forget how to pronounce things. This moment was starting to make me remember all my failed attempts to pronounce words like 'colonel' and 'lasagna'....and how I still don't know how to correctly pronounce them.

"Fine, for now. My mother's been okay while my father's been a little distraught. It's understandable though, knowing what has happened with our family in the past," Yuuko's tone seemed to drop, though her nearly deadpan expression didn't change, "With my times of being near-death, you can understand why he's upset. He probably thinks that Seiko's in serious danger."

I nodded. "Yeah, I can see why he would probably think that. After all, we don't know her status," I replied, "What about you though? How do you feel? I mean, this whole thing with your sister can't be easy on you. I know it hasn't been easy at all on your parents, me, or any of her friends."

Yuuko was quiet for a moment, before she sighed. "I'm doing alright, okay?" she answered, sounding slightly annoyed. I unfortunately didn't pick this up in her voice. "I'm just a bit worried, but I know she'll be fine. She's survived all the stupid things she did as a kid. She'll survive this."

"Are you sure, Yuuko?" I questioned. To be honest, I was just a little bit scared of her, mostly for the fact that she used to lecture the crap out of me and that she just has this intimidating aura to her. Though, it didn't stop me from questioning further. "Are you sure everything's fine?"

Yuuko paused again, then shook her head. "I'll be honest, I'm not even sure. All I can say is that I'm really worried, possibly more worried than I've ever been," she spoke honestly, looking down at the carpet. I nodded.

"I know how you feel."

There was a moment of silence before Lilly's words about Kalle popped into my head. I wondered if Yuuko knew about any of it at all. I decided to ask her about it. "Hey, Yuuko, did you ever....notice something weird with Kalle and Seiko?" I inquired, looking over at her as we walked. I thought I saw the woman's eyes narrow for a moment.

"Elaborate," she told me, with a commanding tone in her voice.

"Well, I heard from Lilly yesterday that she had noticed for the past few years that Seiko flinches sometimes when she's around him, or excuses his oddly overprotective actions. Lilly thinks he's hurting her, and so do I, but," I explained, "I just thought you might know something about it, since you're her sister and all."

Yuuko's expression then became angered. "Well, yes, I've noticed Kalle's sort of overprotectiveness since her childhood," she started, before turning to me and asking in a frustrated voice, "but why didn't Lilly tell me about this!? Why did she wait so long to say anything!?"

I put my hands up in defense. "I-I don't know! From the way she was phrasing her words it...." I replied, recalling Lilly's words on how it all 'reminded her of a her from before', ".....it sounded like she had been through a similar situation before and is still scared or hesitant."

Yuuko huffed for a moment, before sighing and tightly gripping the hilt of her sheathed blade, as if it were a stress ball. "So....you and Lilly think he was hurting her....correct?" she asked, to which I nodded.

"Yeah...I think Lilly took the flinching as a sign," I answered, "I thought that once Kalle visited this place again I'd have a little talk with him myself and see if I could get answers out of hi-"

I was interrupted by the sound of Yuuko pulling her katana from its sheath and twirling it in her hand for a minute before she pointed the tip of the blade down at the floor. "No need. I'll take care of it," she told me, anger evident in her voice, "If Nadine's going back to Agloe tomorrow, I'll check in with him. If there's one person Kalle will answer to, it's the pissed off sister, aka me."