"How about we talk to Ayumi first?" Yui suggested, after she had handed the water to her guardian. "Maybe she thinks the idea is weird."
"Why should she?"
"I don't think, she likes to play kindergarten teacher."
Midori chuckled while the blue-haired girl said, "You behave like a kid. Kiriko is the same age as you."
"What ever. She has a new boyfriend or something. She surely wants to live with him." The middle-school student sat down next to the black-haired woman, who took a sip of water.
"Asking won't hurt, Yui-chan. Besides, it really would be a way for us to save money. At the moment we have separate residences. Moving in together sounds like a good idea." Embarrassed, the nurse grimaced. "If you want to live with me at all."
Thoughtfully, Yuna rested her chin. "I would like to continue living with Wataru. We both are so busy all the time, that we see each other barely."
"In our old house, we would have enough space for this many people... I think." The blonde calculated in her head. "Well... you and Wataru, and me and Kiriko would probably have to share a room, but otherwise..."
"Before we speculate wildly, let's get this afternoon behind us. We could check out your old house. And then maybe the property." The green eyes turned to the high-school student, who kept quiet. "What do you think, Yuna-chan?"
She shook her head briefly and then shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I don't care."
"Okay. Yui-chan?"
Eyes rolling, the youngest sighed. "All right."
A cellphone started to ring. The other two looked at Yuna, who yanked her phone out from her shoulder bag and squinted at the display. "Oh man..." She turned away from the others and answered. "Hey, Hikari-chan."
Midori and Yui looked at each other. "Unfortunately, I can't. No, I'm on a trip with Midori and Yui." She listened for a moment. "No, we want to look at some stuff from our old house. Exactly."
The blue-haired girl shifted her weight to the other foot. "I don't know if he read it. I'm not his secretary, okay?... I think he wanted to do something with his friends." Annoyed, Yuna snorted. "I really can't help you with that. Maybe you can ask Nisha. Do you have her number?"
"I thought Hikari is her best friend," the nurse whispered to the blonde.
"Like you said, she has changed too." Yui ignored her neighbor's gaze and stared at her sister.
"I don't know, man. Will you come back to school on Monday?... Next week? Okay. Should we even bring you homework?" The high-school student turned to the others and gave them a chattering gesture. "We may have other things to do, besides hanging out in your room with you, okay? For example? I want to go back to Kendo training." She pulled her brow in confusion. "Hikari?"
"Are you okay?" Midori asked.
"Yeah, yeah. She hung up." Yuna stowed her cell phone.
"Is she ill?" wondered the youngest.
"Why do you think so? Oh yes... yeah. "The blue-haired sat down on the other side of the guardian. "She stayed at home this week, and she seems to stay for another one."
"She didn't look sick on Sunday." Yui leaned forward and looked at her sister.
"I don't know. I'm not her nurse, okay? Me and Nisha have brought her homework, but she is lazy and just bums around. It doesn't matter."
"If you want, you can go to her. Give us the keys and we'll go on our own," Midori said.
"No. I don't want to hang out with her. She's always watching anime anyway, or reading mangas."
The middle-school girl grinned. "Didn't you use to do exactly that?"
"Used to, yes. Not anymore." Yuna jumped up. "The tram comes every minute."
They took the tram to the stop closest to Yoshiro's warehouse. From there, the high-school student led the small group to the site. As they entered the graveled forecourt, Yui felt very queasy. It was the warehouse, she had inspected the previous day. Nervously, she squinted to the large main building, but her sister led them over to the smaller warehouses.
Midori fumbled out her notebook and went through it. "Hm... it's not rented out, is it?"
The blue-haired stopped and turned around. "No."
"Okay." Satisfied, the guardian added something to her notes.
"Have you ever been here, Yuna?" Yui asked.
"Yes. Yoshiro was here with me, when I wanted my phone and clothes back. And the book and the scarf for you." She continued with crunching steps. The other two followed her.
They reached the roll-up door of the first warehouse. Yuna fished a bunch of keys out of her shoulder bag and picked out the right one. She unlocked the gate and then pushed aside the door, which groaned on its rail.
Midori had turned away and examined the main building. "Have you been in there too?"
Yui waited anxiously for her sister's answer, but to avoid suspicion, she peered through the open gate.
"Erm... no. I was only in this one."
Countless memories flooded her mind. When she was first brought to this hideout by Yoshiro. How he had told her the story of the Oni. Or how he and her father got to know each other. How she really had wanted to kill him, after she knew what he was. How he had trained her in the use of weapons. When she had learned, how to clean a Katana properly. How he had been comforting her the whole night, after her power didn't protect her any longer.
And how she had cowered here after she had killed him.
Her breathing had accelerated and an unpleasant tingling sensation came over her.
"Sister?" Yui timidly grabbed the blue-haired girl, who flinched at the touch. "Everything okay?"
"Y-yes." Energetically, Yuna blinked a tear away. "I... just remembered Yoshiro."
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you," apologized her guardian.
"I'm fine." A big smile appeared on the older girl's face. "I just remembered how wonderful he had taken care of me after the disaster."
"He was really special," the black-haired woman assured her.
"I'd have liked to see him again." The middle-school student let her shoulders hang and shuffled into the warehouse. Her eyes fell on the piles of boxes, and she turned back to her sister. "Is this all from our house?"
"Yes." With a nod Yuna underlined her statement, then she joined her sister and reached for her hand. "That's all, that's left of our family." She squeezed the other girl's slightly trembling hand.
"Would you like to be alone for a moment, girls?" Midori asked.
Yui sniffed, "I'm good." She walked on, whereupon the blue-haired girl followed without letting go of her hand. Worried, the nurse looked after them.
The Masuda girls cautiously approached the many boxes. With watering eyes, the younger girl looked around before she let go of her sister and knelt before the first box. Carefully, she unfolded the box and peered inside. Yuna knew in there were crockery from their old house, so she didn't expect any special reaction from her sister.
Yui picked out the topmost bowl. "Wow. I didn't think I'd be glad to see that pattern again." She held up the bowl so the high-school student could see it.
"Oh yeah. We ate from them all our lives." She crouched down next to the blonde and studied the contents. "In another box are the drinking glasses from Father, which we were never allowed to use."
"We are now," Yui joked and chuckled a little.
"Yes. It all belongs to us now."
Nodding, the middle-school student closed the box and picked up another. In it she discovered a whole bunch of cat figures. "Mother's collection." Silently, her sister nodded. Yui looked around, walked a few yards and opened another box. She stared into it, motionless.
Sighing, the blue-haired girl straightened up and stepped beside her. She briefly grasped the contents of the box, then looked at her sister, who was struggling with tears. "Mai's Teddy."
Yuna put her hand on the shoulder of the smaller girl. "Take a break, if it gets too much for you."
"It's all right." The younger one wiped her eyes.
"No. For real. I speak from experience." They looked at each other, then Yui nodded.
"I have handkerchiefs in case you need one, Yui-chan," Midori said sensitively. She had sat down on a box and watched the girls from a distance.
"I'm okay." The blonde picked up the teddy and tilted it, whereupon it gave a tormented moan. "Mmm... it was already broken when she got it from me." She pressed the stuffed animal to her chest, while her sister gently stroked her back.
"Are you looking for something specific?" the high-school student asked.
"I-I don't know..." Yui blinked helplessly and scanned the boxes once more. "Where are my things? Do you know that?"
"Most of it is already in the pension, but maybe we can still find something out of our room." Yuna marched off, whereupon the younger one put the Teddy in the box and followed her. She read the inscription 'bedroom' on a box, so she took a look, but in it were her mother's clothes.
"From here you have mother's dress, right?"
"Yes."
The nurse came strolling over to them. "Say, Yuna-chan... Do you have the keys to the main building, too?"
Tense, the blue-haired girl blinked, then slowly turned to Midori. "Um... I don't know..."
"Have you ever tried to get in?"
"No," the high-school student lied quickly.
Anxiously, Yui gasped and rummaged noisily in her mother's clothes.
"Will you give me the key chain? I'll check over there, while you two are here looking for your stuff, okay?"
Yuna gulped hard, then fumbled in her shoulder bag for the key chain.
What are you doing, sister? the middle-school student wondered. Don't you know?
Patiently, the guardian waited, watching the older girl search.
I have to do something. Yui stared down at her mother's clothes. Mummy... "Mom...", the kneeling girl whimpered softly, before she sniffled. Tears came from her eyes and slid down her cheeks. She had constantly pushed the pain aside and ignored it so she could live on, but now it was of use to her, so she gave herself to it. "Mama," it came louder from her.
"Yui-chan?" Midori turned her attention to the youngest, and Yuna stopped searching and looked at her sister.
"I miss you, Mom," Yui sobbed. Then she started shaking and crying loudly. "I miss you..."
The blue-haired one froze and squinted uncertainly at her guardian, who knelt beside the girl and put her arms around her. "Shh... it's all right, Yui-chan."
Crying, the middle-school girl turned to the black-haired and wrapped her arms around her. "It hurts so bad."
"I know. It'll get better sometime... my little one." Soothingly, Midori leaned the girl's head against her shoulder and stroked her back. "Let it out, Yui."
Yuna's lips narrowed as she watched the drama. She looked at her left palm. With just one touch, she could take the pain away from her sister, but it's like Midori had once told her 'Crying cleanses the soul'.
Yui's collapse had saved her once more. Now the high-school student had to come up with something, so that Midori didn't go into the big warehouse. She couldn't imagine how the nurse would react to her find.
"I want to go home, Midori-san. I want to get out of here," Yui sobbed.
The black-haired woman breathed a kiss on her hair. "Of course, Yui-chan. It was just too early for you." She looked at the older sister. "Yuna can gather the rest of your things and bring them to the pension, okay?"
"Sure," Yuna mumbled.
The blonde nodded. "Good. Please let us go. Please."
Carefully, the guardian straightened up and held the girl. "Take it easy, Yui-chan. I guess now you will have something, that you can discuss with Doctor Yamada on Monday."
"What?"
"I'm supposed to bring you in for a session on Monday, so he can see how you're doing," the woman explained.
"You have not said anything yet." Yui broke away and stared at her guardian with a reddened face.
"Did you really think, this thing would be over with your release? Yui-chan... you're not healthy. You are still traumatized." Midori pointed to the box of clothes from Kaori. "Your breakdown just now shows that very clearly. You'll be in therapy for months if not years."
"I don't want therapy!"
"Hey, calm down," Yuna interjected.
The nurse raised her hands. "Easy, Yui-chan." She squinted at the clenched fists of the blonde. "No reason to get aggressive."
"I'm not aggressive!" hissed the middle-school student.
"As your guardian, I'm in charge of you, Yui-chan, and I think it's best, if you continue to go to Doctor Yamada for therapy."
Breathing heavily and with a rushed look, Yui gazed at her sister. "Yuna!" But she only shook her head.
"Yui-chan. There is no discussion. You stay in treatment and go to your psychiatrist once a week." The blonde stormed out, foaming with rage. "Yui-chan! Stand still!" Midori started to run, but the blue-haired girl held her back.
"I'm talking to her, Midori-san."
"Don't make false promises. In her condition, she can't handle that. Understood?" the guardian told her ward.
"Don't worry." Yuna ran off and followed her sister.
"My God..." whined the black-haired. She took a deep breath and touched her chest. With her other hand she wiped drops of sweat from her forehead, then leaned forward and took a deep breath.
"Yui! Stand still!" Pretty soon the older girl had caught up with her sister and held her by the wrist. "Just stop."
The blonde obeyed and turned around. "You owe me."
"What?"
Yui looked at the main building, then back at her sister. "I know what's in there. I know Midori can't see it by any means, so I staged this collapse."
"What?!" Yuna's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I told you, that you can trust me. I don't want to push you, but you can really tell me everything, no matter how bad it is. I will understand."
The blue-haired girl swallowed uncertainly and looked at the main building. "You were in there?"
"Yes. Yesterday. The side entrance is unlocked."
"I can't explain that to you. I want to protect you from it."
Gratefully the younger girl smiled. "I know, but from what do you want to protect me?"
"I really can't explain that to you. You just have to trust me, okay?"
The middle-school student hugged her sister and pressed herself against her. "I trust you with all my heart. I just want to understand it. Maybe you can tell me someday."
"Maybe someday."