One hundred thousand… Two hundred thousand… Three hundred thousand… Four hundred thousand… Five hundred thousand… Six hundred thousand… Seven hundred thousand… Eight hundred thousand… Nine hundred thousand… One million… Kasai triple counts the wad of cash she plucked for herself. She doesn't think she's ever seen this much money in her life. How's she even going to explain this to Yuki? She's managed to disguise her earnings as her working hard at her part time jobs but she's pretty sure no part-time job pays out this much. Maybe she could say she won the lottery? No, that's way too unlikely. Ah well, she'll figure it out. Kasai sighs, eases her head back on the headrest, and stares out the car window.
Yuki's blue hair is dyed a brilliant orange in the sunset's glow as she walks towards Kasai's car. She has her school bag slung over her shoulder. She forgot to close it today. Gymnastics equipment and school supplies stick out the opening. Kasai rolls the window down of her car.
"Hey, Yuki." Kasai wears her best smile and quickly hides the cash in her pocket. "How was gymnastics practice?"
"Tiring." Yuki tosses her bag in the back and slides into the front seat. "How was work?"
"It was pretty good." Kasai thinks back to the adrenaline rush of the bank heist. Of course, she can't just admit that to Yuki so she spins a lie. "My manager was surprisingly nice to me today."
"That's nice." Yuki takes out a pocket book from the inside of her blazer and starts reading.
"Hey, no reading in the car. You're going to get a headache."
"I'll be fine. I never get headaches."
Kasai sighs as she slows the car to a stop. Traffic. "What're you reading, anyway?"
"N-nothing."
"That doesn't look like nothing." Kasai yanks the book from Yuki's hands. "Yoink!"
"Hey!" Yuki scrambles to grab the book back but Kasai's inherited all the tall genes and so she is kept at bay with a single hand. "Give that back!"
"Nope. Don't feel like it. Now let's see…" Kasai opens the book, which turns out to be a manga, to a random page.
"..." Yuki freezes.
"O-oh..." Kasai's face goes beet red. She silently closes the book and hands it back. "I, uh, I didn't realize you swung that way. N-not that it's a bad thing, of course!"
Yuki swipes the book from Kasai's hand, stows it away in her blazer, and pouts.
"Sorry." Kasai scratches the back of her head.
"It's fine."
"You don't seem fine."
"I am fine."
"You're always so dishonest about your feelings." Kasai sighs. "How about this? I'll make it up to you. How about you pick what we're eating tonight?"
Yuki's shoulders relax a bit. "Are you sure?"
"Of course.."
"Hmm…" Yuki pinches her chin. "...Curry."
"Curry, huh?" Kasai snaps her fingers. "I know the perfect place. "
"Where are we going?"
"This is the highest rated curry restaurant in the city. A luxury curry place. I think it has… two stars?"
"Two stars doesn't sound like much."
"No, no, these are culinary stars, not rating stars. It's kinda hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean."
"So…" Kasai's voice breaks the silence of the car ride. "How'd you like the food?"
"It was alright." Yuki tilts her head left and right, the universal sign for 'So-so'.
Kasai sighs. "You say that with every restaurant I take you to." She really went all-out today too. If this is 'alright' then Kasai's completely stumped as to where to go from here.
"Next time… can we eat at home?"
"Eh? Why?"
"I liked the curry we had tonight. But what I really miss is your curry."
"My curry?" Kasai tilts her head. "But I can only cook instant curry."
"I don't know. It's tasty when you cook it." Yuki looks out the side window. Though Kasai has a suspicion that she's just hiding her face. "But if it's too much trouble for you to bother cooking, it's fine."
"N-no! No, of course not. If you want me to make curry, I'll do it."
"Only if you want to."
"Of course I want to. You're my sister. If that's all I have to do to make you smile then I'll make instant curry as many times as you want me to."
"Thank you… Big sis."
"No problem." Kasai tousles Yuki's hair, making sure to not take her eyes off the road. A lull forms in the conversation, but thankfully they're not too far away from home.
Kasai pulls the car up at the path leading to home. Though, she notices that the lights inside are off. "Are mom and dad not home?"
"As usual."
Kasai nods solemnly. A rage bubbles up from inside her.
"Where are they right now?"
"Date night."
"Classic."
"By the way, um, how do I say this?" Yuki scratches the back of her neck. "Mom and dad… uh, want to have dinner with the both of us. Do you… want to come?"
No. She doesn't want to go. More than anything else, she doesn't want to go. But she sees Yuki's eyes. Desperation. She needs her older sister to come with her. She needs them to be a real family, for once in her life. She has her cornered. "Sure! Why not?!"
"Promise?"
"It's a Kasai promise."
"Sorry I'm late." Kasai grins widely, a little too widely as she pulls a chair up to a wide rectangular table. Yuki and she are seated on one side while her parents take up the other side. It seems she's underdressed for the occasion, sporting only a plain black shirt and black pants in a fancy steak restaurant. "You know, business calls and what not."
"Kasai?" Her mom squints at her. Her father simply stiffens in his seat. "Is that you?"
"Duh-doy. Who else could it be?" Kasai laughs as she sits down. "It's been… such a long time since we've seen each other. How long now? A year? A couple of years?"
"I… can't remember anymore."
"Hm, yeah I bet you don't."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Anyway." Kasai claps her hands together. "I'm starving, let's order."
A polite server places a plate of steak in front of each of them.
"Ah, thank you." Kasai immediately starts digging in, cutting off big pieces before shoving them into her mouth in rapid succession. The instant she's done, she stands up. "Well, Mr. Ryusei, Mrs. Ryusei. Thank you for the meal but I have to go attend to some business."
"Kasai…" Her mother cradles her chin in her hands. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" She scoffs. "I'm… leaving?"
"Kasai, just… be honest with us. What's wrong?"
"..." Kasai purses her lips before leaning on the table. Her height casts an imposing shadow on them. "Answer me this. How old am I?"
"..."
"How old? I'm your daughter, right? You should know this."
"..."
"Take a guess, any guess."
"Sixteen?"
"Ooh, so close, I'mtwenty. Though, not that I expect you to know that. What with your parenting style and all."
"Are you really still sore about that?"
"Wow. Just… wow." Kasai nods. "What do you think? You leave a child to raise themselves and when I say that I don't need you, you flip out? What are you, like, five?"
"Kasai, that's enough." Her father's voice is stern but Kasai ignores him.
"You don't get to say that. You were never there for me. Never. Not once. And after all these years, you still haven't learned a thing. I can abide by you neglecting me, fine, whatever, I grew up just fine. But who do you think's been taking care of Yuki while you're off galavanting at 'work?'"
"..."
"Do you have any idea how much I've had to do in your place–"
"Kasai." Kasai is about to snap at Yuki for interrupting her but she realizes that her eyes are wet with tears. She's trying so hard to keep them in. "Can we pretend to be a real family? Just for tonight?"
"Yuki, I–" Kasai looks all around her, everyone's staring. They're all frowning at her. I'm not in the wrong here. She wants to say. But the words don't come out. "Why are you taking their side?!"
Ah, now she's done it. Yuki flinches. She's scared. She's scared of her.
"I– I didn't… I don't…"
Silently, she returns to her seat, nursing her grudge. They continue their meal in silence. When they're done, Kasai stands up, places a wad of bills on the table, and leaves.
"What happened?" Emu pours Kasai a cup of tea. The interior of her house looks… pretty much how Kasai expected it to. It looks like her fashion sense. Opulent, gaudy, but strangely comforting. A nearby fireplace crackles hungrily.
"I snapped at my parents." Kasai states it plainly. She goes into painstaking detail over what happened. "Am I… in the wrong, here?"
"Well…" Emu sips her own tea. "Not exactly. I see your point. I sympathize with your motivations."
"Right?"
"I don't think any child should have to raise themselves."
"That's what I'm saying! None of them get it–!!"
"It can't be helped. They didn't know the full story."
"God, I hate that spineless side of Yuki's. Why doesn't she ever stand up for herself?"
"Some people are just like that." Emu nods.
"I'm just… so freaking pissed right now."
"It's alright, let it all out."
"I hate mom."
"Uh-huh."
"I hate dad."
"Sounds about right."
"But at the very least, I'm glad you get it, Emu."
"No problem, what are friends for, right?"
"I don't get why they don't get it. Why don't they understand they have to be real parents every once in a while?"
"Some people are just like that. The scum of the earth, in my opinion." Emu shakes her head. "Still, it's not like we're any better."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're the one who robbed a bank a week ago. Stealing is bad. That's the most basic of basics and yet, here you are, acting the saint."
"No, that's… that's wrong. I only robbed that bank because–"
"Because we told you to?"
"..."
"You could have said no at any time and you didn't. What does that tell you about yourself?" Emu throws the rest of her tea into the fireplace. The flames flicker. "Hey Kasai?"
"..."
"Have you ever considered just… killing your parents?"
"..." Kasai stares at Emu before breaking out into laughter. "Hahaha! That's… that's a good one alright."
"I'm serious." Emu reaches into her pocket and takes out a revolver. She places it on the table. "You could get away with it. You know you could. The Awano Family will make it so that they never even existed."
"That's… that's true…"
Do you really want your sister to endure the same things you did?"
A bead of sweat drips down the side of Kasai's face. "I… I mean no, but I don't think I have to kill them."
"Why not? If this continues, your sister will come out twisted, just like you."
"Twisted?"
"I mean come on, you've been drifting from family to family as a child."
"I have?"
"Yep. It's why you joined the ICMG, isn't it?"
"Well, kind of, I just wanted to get away from home. If they didn't need me then I didn't need them. And I also needed the money so…"
"Whether you realize it or not, subconsciously, you were searching for a family to call your own. That's why you left your old one."
"...You… you might be right."
"It's also why you joined the Awano Family, isn't it? We gave you a place to call home. We gave you a sense of camaraderie. A sense of belonging. Important stuff like that. And now look at yourself, you're doing amazing. You bought your own car, your own house, and you take better care of Yuki than both of your parents combined. See what you can do if you just have the right people backing you up?"
"You're… Right. I think. The Awano Family… It saved me. It made me who I am today."
"That's right. You carved your own path."
"I did?"
"Of course you did. This is all you! You freed yourself from your parents and chose to join us!"
"Huh. I guess I did."
"Now if only your sister had the same chance."
"What… what do you mean?"
"Think about it. She's being stifled. Don't you want her to make her own choices? Carve her own path in this world? It'll hurt her at first, but in the long run, this is going to be good for her."
"I suppose… I suppose you have a point." Kasai takes the revolver into her hands and starts fiddling with it. She cocks it, uncocks it, and recocks it over and over again.
"Actually, you know what?" Emu looks like she suddenly just had an idea.
"What?"
"After we get all this family nonsense sorted, the Awano Family would be more than happy to let Yuki into the family."
"Really?"
"Yep. Like I said to you in the past, the Awano Family takes care of its own. You've helped us so let us help you. All you need to do is get rid of your sister's old family."
"I see… I see now. Thank you, Emu. Kasai grits her teeth. "For Yuki's sake. I'll do anything."