CHAPTER 47: MIORI — THE DISGRACE OF THE YUKINAGA FAMILY (2)

«What the hell is going on here?!» Kagura screams in sheer panic.

«M-Miori...» Shin whines, scrambling toward his mother and trying to hide behind her. «Miori hit me just because I came home a little late! S-She punched me in the face — my nose won’t stop bleeding — and then she threw me to the floor on purpose so I’d mess up my shoulder and wouldn’t be able to play in the high school basketball tournament finals!»

Kagura’s blazing eyes land on Miori.

«That’s all bullshit!» Miori snaps. «That punch came from someone I know — after he caught Shin with a nude picture he secretly took of me behind my back!»

«Mom, you’re not seriously gonna believe this lunatic, are you?! Why the hell would I ever take a naked picture of my own sister? I’m not some sick pervert like her, okay?!» Shin protests, clinging to Kagura’s nightgown like a beaten dog begging its owner to save it.

«I know, Shin... I know, my sweet boy...» Kagura murmurs softly, gently stroking her son’s head. «Unfortunately, you know as well as I do that your sister has deep psychological problems, so let’s just be patient until she finally moves out of this house. She’s almost done with university — it shouldn’t be much longer,» she adds, using that overly sympathetic, pitying tone of hers, as though she were talking about a terminal patient.

«Stop calling me crazy! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!» Miori explodes, slamming her fist into the wall hard enough to split her knuckles open, streaking blood across the white paint.

Meanwhile, Shin curls up even tighter behind his mother, trembling in fear, knees pulled to his chest and his face buried between them.

«You are — you always have been, ever since you were a little girl!» Kagura hisses, her voice edged with icy cruelty. «That useless pediatrician told us to sign you up for martial arts to vent your anger and teach you discipline, but all it did was make you even more vicious! You’ve gotten to the point of hurting your own brother just because he came home a little later than usual — completely unacceptable. I’m honestly scared for myself and for this whole family, living under the same roof with someone as dangerous as you.»

«I already told you that bastard took a nude picture of me and showed it to his friends! What the hell was I supposed to do — congratulate him and give him a hug?!» Miori fires back, stomping her foot hard against the floor while blood drips from the knuckles of her right hand. In her rage, she barely even registers the burning pain.

«Do you seriously expect me to believe your brother would do something like that? Oh, please — he’s not some reckless, brainless idiot like you are! You should be asking yourself if it’s even normal to injure his shoulder knowing he’s playing the most important basketball match of the year in two days — and that thanks to you he might end up letting the whole team down! And let’s be honest here: even if it were true he took a nude picture of you and showed it to his friends, what’s so scandalous about that? Back in high school, half the boys in Kyoto saw you naked anyway, and because of all those disgusting rumors about you, we were even forced to move out! Or have you conveniently forgotten what they used to call you?» Kagura hisses, shooting Miori a look filled with nothing but disgust.

«Mom, stop bringing that up... please...» Miori cuts in, her voice cracking as she speaks, her legs shaking uncontrollably. But Kagura doesn’t listen.

«Oh no — I haven’t forgotten a single bit of it. God, what an embarrassment that was... not to mention all my friends telling me, "Did you know my son came home last night with your daughter in tow? You can’t even imagine the noises I heard coming from his room — I heard Miori screaming like a possessed woman, shouting things I’m too ashamed to even repeat. Oh, poor Kagura — a refined, respectable woman like you shouldn’t have to endure such humiliation". Despite all the effort your father and I put into you, trying to raise you into the flawless, perfect young lady the Yukinaga firstborn is supposed to be — you turned out to be a failure in every conceivable way, and tonight you proved it yet again,» she concludes, her tone stern, her eyes locked on Miori with a mix of disgust and disappointment.

At those words — at that look — Miori’s already trembling legs finally give out beneath her, and she collapses to her knees with a desperate, gut-wrenching scream under her mother’s cold stare... and her brother’s guilt-stricken one, guilt eating him alive for what Miori is being put through because of him.

«M-Mom...» Shin sobs. «Miori’s right... it’s all my fault. She didn’t punch me in the face, and the story about the picture is true. I only lied because I was mad at her. Please... don’t say those things to her anymore...»

«My precious Shin, you’re far too kind...» Kagura murmurs, stroking his head again. «You’re even taking the blame to cover for what Miori did to you — at least this house has one child with a bit of sense.»

«But no, Mom — I’m telling the truth—»

«Ssssh... that’s enough.» Kagura cuts him off. «That girl who, unfortunately, shares your last name doesn’t deserve your kindness — save it for the people who actually care about you and are doing everything they can to raise you into a respectable man — one who won’t make me ashamed to be part of the venerable Yukinaga family.»

«T-That girl... who unfortunately shares his surname...» Miori stammers, shattered. «Y-You’re my mother — how can you even think something like that about me?! What kind of mother calls her own daughter a psycho and a whore like that?!»

«What kind of mother, you ask? The kind who was cursed with a daughter like you — that’s who!» Kagura snaps. «Any other mother would’ve given up on you after everything you’ve put me through these twenty-one years, and yet I still tried to fix you, spoiling you at every turn! But enough is enough — it’s clear someone like you needs an iron fist. You’re going straight to your room — and you’re not coming out until you graduate. No gym, no going out with friends, no more attending university — I’ll hire private tutors to prepare you for your last exams. And once you graduate with top marks, your father will find you a position in one of his companies abroad... and you’ll disappear from this house for good. That’s your life for the next year — like it or not.»

«Don’t worry, Mother...» Miori murmurs with a sudden, eerie calm, slowly getting back to her feet. «...you won’t have to wait that long to see me gone from this house. I’ll disappear from your life for good — tonight. I promise.»

«Stop talking nonsense and get to your room!» Kagura snaps, her anger rising.

But her words don’t even reach her.

Miori walks toward the front door in slow steps.

«I told you to go to your room! Don’t make me say it again!» Kagura shouts furiously, placing herself between Miori and the exit.

Once again, Miori doesn’t even flinch.

And then— SLAP!

A sharp crack splits the silence — Kagura’s hand stamped in bright red across Miori’s cheek. Yet the blow doesn’t move her.

«Mom — no, Kagura — get out of my way right now, or I’ll kill you,» Miori hisses, her voice frozen solid.

A shiver shoots down Kagura’s spine when she sees her daughter’s glassy, utterly expressionless eyes locked onto hers — the empty, fearless stare of someone with nothing left to lose, someone who might actually carry out that threat.

Kagura has no choice but to step aside at once, watching helplessly as Miori steps out the door and disappears across the villa’s wide garden.

«Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here immediately, Miori! And don’t think I won’t block all your credit cards this instant!» Kagura yells after her — but she might as well be shouting into the void.

«If you walk out that gate, don’t bother coming back — you’re done here! Do you understand me?! This is the last warning, Miori! ...Shin, where are you going?!»

Miori stops when she hears hurried footsteps behind her — and then arms wrap around her: a tight, desperate hug from behind.

«B-Big sis, please don’t go... please don’t...» Shin begs, clinging to her and crying into her back. «It was all my fault — I blamed you because I was scared Mom would get mad at me, but if you come back, we’ll explain everything to her and I’ll make her drop that stupid punishment! Just... don’t leave me alone here — without you... I just can’t handle it here...»

Miori lowers her gaze, her tears hitting the cold marble at her feet. She exhales a trembling breath, then turns toward her brother and wraps her arms around him just as tightly, cheek against cheek, the two of them crying into each other.

Behind them, Kagura watches in silence.

«I’m not angry with you, little brother...» Miori whispers into Shin’s ear. «But please... don’t let that woman do to you what she did to me. Don’t let her turn you into what she’s made me become. It’s already too late for me, but you still have time...»

«If you really care about me, then stay!» he pleads softly.

«I’ve made up my mind, and nothing’s going to change it. But you need to go back inside, or Mom will come after you too.»

«No! I told you I don’t want to stay here without you! If you’re not going back, then I’m leaving with you!» Shin insists.

«I love you, little brother... more than anything,» Miori murmurs — and then...

THUD!

A sharp strike to the side of Shin’s neck drops him instantly. Miori catches him before he hits the ground, lowering him gently onto the cold marble just as Kagura — who saw everything from afar — comes sprinting toward them in a frenzy, screaming and cursing while Miori steps through the gate and leaves the Yukinaga estate behind her.