Lesson Learned

I'm the most stable one

Her mouth set in a thin line. "True..."

The 1st of March was twelve days away... they didn't have much time.

"Well, thanks for the heads up." Mitsuko drank the rest of her drink and placed it on the desk. "Even if it was cryptic."

Bitch-sensei looked amused. "I'm just letting you know." She sipped her drink leisurely. "If you kids are real assassins, backstabbing is a part of the game."

***

Mitsuko sat next to her brother opposite their dad in the Ice cream parlour Booth.

"How is the Ice-cream?" dad asked pleasantly, before drinking his coffee.

"It's nice." She shrugged, having devoured half of the  Strawberry and Banana Sundae already.

"Yes." Gakushuu wiped his mouth with a napkin when some of his bubblegum ice cream got on his chin. "This is a nice place."

"Good." Dad nodded, sipping some coffee. "I thought it would be a nice change of scenery." He looked around at the obnoxiously colourful décor which had red and white striped walls and lots of images of fruit painted around. "It's....colourful."

Mitsuko hummed, glancing at her brother who shrugged. The two of them ate most of their ice cream in silence or a while until their dad's constant staring started to freak her out a bit.

"So..." She wiped her mouth with a napkin. "You wanted to bring us here to eat ice cream, because...?"

Dad sipped his coffee. "Well, I assume you all recall Tuesday Night—"

"Where you burst into the room and started yelling at her?" Gakushuu raised an eyebrow. "Yes, we remember."

Dad sighed. "I admit I should have been less confrontation." He frowned. "But I can't abide with your mother's reckless behaviour."

She sighed. "We know you're just worried, dad, but we just think you could have handled it a little better."

Their dad grimaced. "Your mother is childish. My concern is that her habits will jeopardise both of your futures."  He eyed them sternly. "I won't have your education compromised if she becomes dependent on you both."

Mitsuko exchanged a grim look with her brother. "We know there's a risk, and we know we can't let mom's bad habits ruin our future," she said hesitantly. "But yelling at her and scaring her isn't helping, dad..."

Gakushuu raised an eyebrow. "And considering how you've treated her over the years, it's not very surprising that she's emotionally immature."

"Yeah, it's kind of a big consequence of always trying to control her life," Mitsuko commented dryly.

Dad sighed again. "I'll admit I may have been—"

She raised an eyebrow. "May?"

His eyes narrowed. "I was overprotective of her...I also have been slightly controlling."

Gakushuu obnoxiously licked the ice cream off his spoon. "Slightly?"

Dad sighed in exasperation. "I realise my actions may...did have negative repercussions on her mental health."

Mitsuko nodded, pointing her spoon at him. "Better."

"Your mother is clearly not stable still," dad continued.

She frowned, growing on edge. "Yeah, but neither are you?"

"Will you let me finished?" dad replied impatiently.