XXXVII

Family Affairs

By the time she arrived back at the inn it was already well into the afternoon, unfortunately for Mayu, the scheduled short day at the club had turned out to have lasted far longer than she had hoped for but there had been little that she could have done about it. Just as unfortunately it was that she had found it hard to focus her attention towards any of the club related activities as there were two pressing matters that had kept her mind occupied.

She hadn't even reached the front entrance of the house or she could already hear Wanta barking at her presence, she felt so much better already to know that he was just on the other side waiting for her. "Wanta, am I happy to see you," Mayu cried gently as upon opening the door she rushed forward and dropped to her knees next to him. Her arms reaching out she was jumped at by Wanta who showered her with affectionate licks across her face as he expressed his feelings towards her. he must have really missed her. "I've missed you too Wanta. What do you say we go for a little walk right after I get changed?" His tail kept wagging as she asked him that. A quick bark was the only answer she got in return as he rolled over onto his back, exposing his belly.

Mayu had to smile as she reached out and rubbed across his belly, his little legs kicking back and forth. To Mayu, it was a scene that took away her unease. "Thank you, Wanta, for making me feel better."

She had a lot to think about during her walk home, her mind constantly going back and forth between the various problems, firstly there was still the problem with Mei and without having heard anything from Bando she couldn't help but remain uncertain on what to do. One thing was certain though and that was that she really needed to talk about it to Kouta and Yuka tonight. She had already promised herself that she was going to do just that.

"I won't hesitate any longer, tonight when I can speak to them alone I will them what I know and ask them for their help. For their sake and the sake of Mei-san," she said underneath her breath as she kept herself busy with rewarding Wanta. She still hadn't been able to find out who had placed that love letter in her locker but as far as she was concerned it was likely that somebody had played a prank with her, really childish in her mind but with nobody that she could come up with she had decided to drop the whole matter though she did find it to be rather irritating at not finding out who was responsible.

And then, of course, there had been her most recent headache, namely that a group of three second-year students was targeting and bullying Saeko for no apparent reason. After what the younger girl's friends had told her she was determined to find out why they were picking on her sister and to make sure they got to understand that Mayu didn't take it lightly when somebody harmed a member of her family. The first thing she was planning to do on Monday was to go and find these girls and get some answers from them.

"They might get away from some first years but they won't get rid of me that easily. I'll have to ask her friends and see if they know who these girls are?" She was going to have to, she had no idea who these girls were and the only people that she could ask at the moment were Saeko's friends. "I doubt that she is able to tell me, she has never been able to take it well when people start to speak ill of her." Saeko had never been able to deal with that, likely still the results of what she had been through for most of her life, the abuse that she had been through while being incarcerated at that institute. She had always been rather insecure about herself and the way that she believed that other people might view her as such.

Well, for now, Mayu wasn't going to say a word, she would have a talk with those girls first and see what they knew, once she had learned who the girls were that were picking on Saeko she was going to address them personally but also inform her teachers about it as well as Kouta and Yuka.

"If they can complain about it then likely the school will have to intervene." She wasn't certain about it of course but it was a start, as she heard the door slide she looked over her shoulder, apparently, somebody had noticed her having come home.

"Ah Mayu-chan, I hadn't heard you coming in. Welcome home dear," Yuka mentioned as she appeared from the open door, looking at the dark haired girl in surprise. "So how was your day in school? How did things go at your club?"

Mayu smiled in return, getting back on her feet she bowed to Yuka and greeted her before she told the young woman about her day in school. Once she had done so she followed Yuka back inside the house, leaving Wanta to be on his for the time being.

Inside she was greeted by the rest of her family. "Welcome home," Kouta told her the moment he caught sight of her and gestured that she should come join them at the table.

"Well, he certainly looks a lot better than he did last night but still..." Dai fell silent as he stepped outside the room along with Mako, Bando hadn't been able to say a word thanks to him still being heavily sedated though given what the man must have been through that didn't come as a surprise to him. "Maybe we have more luck tomorrow though I won't be holding my breath, I'll leave a note at the nurse's office to give us a call if he wakes up."

Mako said to him. "We should go home now, there isn't much for us to do and Sei needs to be fed soon."

He nodded as he agreed with that suggestion. "Yeah, let's also order something to eat as well. Neither of us seems to be in the mood to do any cooking and for now, we can't rely on Kyou doing it for us." He did his best to make it sound like a joke, it only earned him a slap against the chest not to mention a stern look from Mako, to say the least.

"Don't make fun of that, you know how I feel when the girls aren't at home. I know that they're with the best of people but that still doesn't mean that I'm at ease with our daughters not being home." A quick nudge to his side followed. "Don't ever make a joke about it."

Dai was all too fast to apologize, making sure to reassure her that he was never going to do that again. With hindsight she had been right, he too felt this unease about the girls not being at home but they needed to get out of the house for a while.

"Let's just get home then, besides there isn't much left that we can do for Bando at the moment. We might have more luck tomorrow but I remain skeptical about given what they have told me." She then spoke in great detail what the doctors had told her, the number of injuries that Bando had sustained and the severity of several of them.

He already had a general idea from what he had seen but even so, the finer details were new to him. "So is there anything that we can do to help him rehabilitate? He isn't going to listen to anything those doctors will tell him even if they asked him nicely, he isn't the kind of person to just listen to others."

Mako nodded in agreement as they stepped into the elevator. "I know that which is why we'll need to help him understand that unless he listens his recovery is going to take much longer and it might even result in him injuring himself or even preventing himself from reaching a full recovery. Would he want that?" As the elevator began to descend she waited for an answer from him. Nobody was looking forward to that, even Bando had to see that.

He let out a deep sigh, there wasn't a reply that he could come up with other than to have to say that she was right. Bando was going to need to listen and it was going to be their job to make sure that it got through to him, however painful not to mention frustration that might be.

The door opened once the elevator had reached the ground floor, and they left, ahead of them they could already see the exit of the hospital.

"It's not going to be easy, not for him and especially for us. Still, he's been a great help and I doubt either of us would've been standing here if it hadn't been for him," she added but somehow her words were lost on Dai who seemed to be preoccupied with something else.

"Dear? Is there something on your mind, care to share it?"

His eyes darted from left to right as they approached the exit, leaning towards he quickly whispered the following in her ear, "Not here, when we get to the car, just keep walking." They kept on moving until they reached outside and making their way across the parking lot they finally reached Dai's car.

"Alright care to tell me what was that all about? Seemed more like you were keeping a lookout for trouble, care to explain that to me?" Mako said as she got in between him and the car as she wanted to get an explanation for Dai's erratic behavior all of a sudden.

He nodded his head "Well it's just that, it seemed odd to me nobody has shown up yet to pick him up. He deserted from SAT well over two years ago and you can bet they were not happy about that," He explained to her all the trouble he had to go through when Bando had been found near the wreck of one of the vector attack craft. It had been hell to get him out of that mess.

Mako raised an eyebrow. "So you're expecting to police or some guy in a suit to show up and just abduct him? That sounds a little too dramatic even for you. I don't think we have that much to worry about. Besides ever since he got out then they haven't bothered to look for him."

"You're probably right but I don't want us to run into any unforeseen problems, we have already enough of those as it is without having to start looking over our shoulders. W-"

Her finger tapped against his chest. "Stop worrying yourself, you'll go bald over it if you keep this up. Now come on, let's go home," she insisted as she turned around and got in the car.

Chuckling to himself over her insistence he did the same and got in, yeah he could worry a bit too much about certain things. Well, he had done his best to cover Bando's tracks so he doubted that any save for the best was going to be able to track him down. Still, the sooner they could get him out of that hospital the better.

Looking at her he got a scowl from her. "Alright, what is it now? What did I do wrong?"

Her finger tapped him hard on the forehead. "Idiot, you haven't suggested what we could take for dinner, honestly let's go for something simple. I wouldn't mind some pizza."

Chuckling over her suggestion they drove off, for tonight Bando was going to be safe. Tomorrow it was going to be a different story but that was a worry for then, right now it might be best to get something to eat and put his mind at ease by making the best of the opportunity given to them. His stomach rumbling in response told him enough.

"Everybody, dinner's ready," Yuka announced as she came out of the kitchen after Mayu had finished her homework she along with Kyou and Yuka herself had spent their time making dinner for everybody and they had been having fun doing so.

"Hmm, it sure smells nice though I have no idea if the others are going to like it?" Mayu mentioned as she turned off the stove, the dinner that they had spent nearly two hours on making was something that she hadn't seen before and if it hadn't been for Kyou insisting on it, she doubted that any would have bothered making an attempt at it. "Where did you actually learn from it Kyou-san?"

Kyou then began to explain how she had seen a while ago on TV shows about foreign cuisine and this one had seemed rather interesting so she had spent time about finding out what exactly it was and what ingredients that she needed in order to make it.

That made sense to Mayu and likely if Kyou hadn't spent so much time trying to figure out what the recipe was for this dish, she pretty much doubted that any of them would have been able to make it. Kyou had been constantly providing them with advice, tips, and explanations on what they needed to do as well as why they needed to do it that way.

But in the end, the result seemed to have been worth their frantic efforts as it looked delicious and the aroma that this dish gave off truly made Mayu's stomach rumble with anticipation.

She really wanted to have a taste of it and find out for herself if it was going to taste even better than that it looked though she had to wait for a few more minutes until everybody had gathered at the table. "Kyou-san, you're cooking never ceases to amaze me," she remarked as she turned around and complimented the young Diclonius standing next to her.

"Thank you Mayu, I hope you're all going to like it. To be honest, though, I've got to admit that I feel a little nervous about it, this is only my third attempt at making it so I'm feeling a little uncertain."

"You shouldn't be Kyou-chan, you're good at cooking. This dish is a little different than what we're used to but with you, it has to be good," Yuka told her when she got back into the kitchen to get the last of what she needed. In her mind, there was no reason for the girl to be nervous about. "Now come, let's go and get ourselves to the table." Quickly gesturing for them to go Yuka was the last to join the table.

"Everybody, now I know that this isn't what I had promised you but Kyou-chan wanted to try out a special dish and it sounded good so we went with her suggestion," she mentioned as she lifted the lid from the pot, its content immediately captivating the attention of everybody gathered at the table once they had a whiff of its aroma.

As they all watched with baited breath as the first of the dishes were being filled some curious eyebrows were raised as it was not something any of them had expected.

Nana leaned in closer towards her and asked. "Kyou-san, what exactly is this. I don't recognize this at all?" She pointed to the various bits and pieces that were unfamiliar to her.

"Onee-chan told me that this is a dish that comes from outside of Asia, rather it comes from somewhere in Southern Europe. That's right isn't it, onee-chan?" Ryou mentioned, explaining to them where it came from but she still hadn't told them what it was called.

Continuing where her little sister had left off, Kyou filed Nanna in about the dish. "It's difficult to pronounce it, I think it was something called p-pa-paella and it's made with lots of seafood in it as well. We did have to go to the store to get some."

"Well, I've got to admit that your soup was already great so I'll be looking forward to how this is going to taste. It's not so bad to get an idea of the cuisine they have in other countries,"

Kouta mentioned, making plenty of compliments as he had a good look at the food. He certainly had to agree with the others that it looked great and that it smelled great, though it didn't go unnoticed to him that his words of flattery prompted a significant improvement in the demeanor of said girl as she registered the sincerity of the words addressed to them, her chest swelling with pride and she began to beam.

Finally, with the last plate filled, Yuka sat down as well as was time for them to eat, offering a prayer and giving their thanks to Kyou for her help they began to eat.

"It hurts… everything... hurts…" Saori whimpered as she lied there on the futon, her voice quivering, as slowly she opened her eyes, every part of her body was in pain, her lungs felt as if they were on fire which made breathing difficult, but she couldn't understand or remember as to why. How long had she been asleep nor how did she end up in her room. "... O-Onee-sama where... are you?" She cried out, wanting to hear a familiar voice, to know that the only person she felt safe with was there to tell her that everything was alright. "Please onee-sama… please, I don't want to be alone. I'm scared... being alone… onee-sama... please?" she sobbed, wanting to wipe away some of the tears that seemed to be forming but with the pain in her arm, she didn't dare to move it.

She heard faint footsteps coming up the stairs, she cried out again only a little louder this time hoping that it was going to her that was coming up the stairs even now.

There was a throbbing pain in her forehead, just right where that thing was. That thing that had caused her so much pain ever since she had woken up. She wanted for it to stop, it almost felt like her head was going to split open, she wanted for this pain to stop.

"... O-O-Onee-sama…?" Saori whimpered as she crawled forward carefully, even with the pain wracking her body she pushed on regardless as her cherished big sister appeared in their room., but as she looked up her hope turned to confusion as she noticed the red-stained eyes of Saeko. She didn't know why or even understand why her sister was being sad but it made her feel sad as well. "Onee-sama… is there something wrong…? Why are you crying…?"

Not saying a single word Saeko just walked inside until she stood in front of Saori, gently dropping to her knees she folded her arms around Saori and started to caress her much like Yuka would often do for her when she felt depressed and needed somebody's support in order to be able to cry and let out what was tormenting her.

"...Onee-sama... why?" For Saori it was difficult to comprehend what was going on, there was only so much that she was aware of and what little she could piece together she barely understood. "Why is onee-sama crying? Why?" All she knew was that her big sister was for some reason in pain and although she didn't know the reasons for it, she did want to be there for her, she didn't like the sight of her big sister being in pain, it frightened her.

Sitting with her little sister resting on her lap Saeko tried to repress it but eventually, the tears started to flow down from her cheeks, with watery eyes she gazed at Saori. "I-It's alright… your onee-sama is just feeling… a little sick… that's all… I just need… to lie down…" Whispering the words to her Saeko began to lie down, she just wanted to close her eyes and for this day to be over.

Seeing it Saori didn't understand at all anymore, why was her big sister saying that she was just being ill? Feeling still confused about it, she mimicked what her big sister had done and lied down as well next to her, somehow it all felt wrong to her. Even now the pain she was feeling was making it hard for her to lie down again, she didn't want to move but she had to.

Closing her eyes she felt something being stirred at the back of her mind, a voice could be heard hissing words to her. "Humans… humans did this to your onee-sama… they are the ones that put her in pain… they are the ones that deserve to be hurt… humans must be hurt… humans can't be trusted… neither can traitors…"

She didn't like the sound of what it was telling her and yet it sounded so familiar to her as if she had heard it before. As it kept on talking the pain that had been so present throughout her body was starting to fade to the point that she even wondered if she actually had been in pain at all, she felt so confused as nothing made sense anymore but she felt grateful for it.

"… Your precious onee-sama is a traitor… a traitor… one who conspires with humans… look at how foolish she has been… conspiring with filthy humans… getting hurt by them… despised by them… she is a fool… and a traitor… make them pay… make them all pay… all traitors and humans shall pay… have forsaken their right… kill… KILL… KILL… KILL!"

She wanted to argue with it, it was wrong, she knew in her heart that her big sister was not a traitor. This voice was wrong, she didn't want to believe that she was a traitor.

Left visibly shaking she opened her eyes, gazing around her she was scared at first for if somebody else was present in the room but much to her own surprise it seemed that it was just her and her big sister being present in the room.

Had she been dreaming it? It had sounded so real and familiar to her? Saori found it to be so very confusing, it didn't make sense to her nor could she explain it. Perhaps she needed to tell this to her big sister and ask her what to do? But then what if she wasn't going to believe her?

"Onee-sama... would believe me…?" She almost struggled to bring the words to her lips. Why did she find it so hard all of a sudden? Was it perhaps true what the voice had told her?

"She's a traitor to us all… conspiring with humans… treating them as equals… they are little more than vermin… they cannot be trusted… humans abused you… they used you… they tormented you… humans are responsible for all of the pain and misery in your life…"

It came out of nowhere and she could hear it clear as day scaring her, frightened and with her eyes wide open she looked around the room to see where it came from, who it was talking.

"W-Who's there…?" She asked, her voice trembling. She didn't like this, she didn't want this to happen. Terrified she brought her hands up to cover her ears as if to block out the voice.

"There still is a chance… a chance for you… to redeem yourself… to stop yourself from becoming a traitor to… have you forgotten… the pain and suffering… they caused us…"

Saori didn't want to hear any more of it. "P-Please… stop…?" she begged and pleaded but it was a vain attempt as she kept hearing the voice in her head repeating itself over and over again. Why was it tormenting her like this, what had she ever done wrong? She was a good girl, good girls weren't supposed to be hurt like this. "O-Onee-sama is not a traitor… onee-sama is all I have… onee-sama… help… me…" she cried out silently, still clutching her head as the burning pain she had thought was gone came surging back, her body spasmed in response.

Everything hurt, so much that she felt utterly miserable. "… O-Onee-same please help me…?" She cried out but her soft cry for help went unanswered. "P-Please O-Onee-sama?" She gasped right before she slumped back into unconsciousness.

Standing in front of the door Mayu felt an overwhelming urge to just turn around and quickly walk back to her room before anybody might notice her standing there, she might have done just that if it hadn't been for Nana standing next to her.

"Mayu, are you alright? You're shaking," Nana mentioned, expressing her concern for said girl, holding her hand she had told her that if Mayu wanted to go and tell it to Kouta and Yuka than she was going to go with her. Refusing to let her friend do this alone she wanted to be there. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to but if you do I'm next to you. I'm not going not let you do this on your own. I'll be there for you Mayu."

"Thank you for being here with me, Nana-san. To be honest, I'm a little scared of going in there and telling them but I don't have a choice anymore. I do feel guilty about having gone and ask Bando-san for help without telling them first."

Nana squeezed her sister's hand a little. "Mayu, you can't change that anymore. I'm sure they'll understand and besides we're doing this for Mei-san. She's the one who's in trouble."

Mayu nodded her head in agreement, that was right, that was their reason to go through with this. Those were the words of encouragement that she needed to hear, she felt grateful that Nana was here with her.

"You're right, we're doing this for her. We can't give up on her," she said in return, placing her hand against her chest as if feeling for her own heart. It beat frantically but that was alright, it was alright for her to be a little nervous about this, as long she was determined enough to continue it was going to be alright.

Knocking on the door the two girls waited for a few seconds as if wanting to be told that it was alright for them to come inside, Mayu felt Nana squeeze her hand just a little tighter in anticipation.

They could hear voices coming from the other side of the door, telling them that whoever it was that had knocked on the door that it was alright to come inside. Somewhere deep inside her, a part of Mayu had actually hoped that they would have told her to come back later. It felt as if any courage that she had was fading fast.

As she felt Nana squeezing her hand gently in response, Mayu calmed herself down a little, taking a deep breath before letting it out, she reached out and opened the door. There was going to be no turning back anymore from this point on.

Both Kouta and Yuka looked at them in surprise when they saw the two girls standing there. "Mayu-chan, Nana-chan? What brings the two of you here? I thought you were with the twins?" Kouta asked, clearly surprised by their sudden appearance. "We weren't expecting you to come see us. Is there something you need us for, anything that we can help you with?"

Mayu nodded, taking a step forward, as she said, "Yes, there's something I want to talk to you about but I did not want to do so in front of the twins or Saeko-san for that matter. I don't want for them to get worried."

Kouta and Yuka exchanged a few confused looks with each other at hearing that, they got the idea that it must be something really important not to mention serious if Mayu had those reasons for coming.

"I see," Kouta mentioned as he got up. "I'm going to make us some tea then. I think we're going to have a long talk, please sit down." Leaving the room Yuka got up as well as she explained to the two girls that she was going to see to make sure that they weren't going to be disturbed. If Mayu didn't want for any of the others to hear about this then it would be best if they wouldn't get disturbed.

Mayu was grateful for the brief moment of silence as it offered her a moment to organize her thoughts and think carefully about what she wanted to tell them first. Looking to her left to where Nana sat she whispered a quick thank you to her sister for being here to help her.

It didn't take long for either Kouta or Yuka to come back to the room and upon closing the door behind them they sat down, offering those present a cup of tea, they gestured that it was alright for Mayu, to tell them what she had come here for. "We won't get disturbed that quickly so Mayu-chan please take you time and don't push yourself. Don't feel like you're being forced to tell us, we're here for you as well."

Hearing those words of encouragement Mayu began to tell them about her friend Mei and how she had been absent from school for a while now after she had spent the weekend here.

So far it appeared that both Kouta and Yuka understood, they recalled that weekend, and what she was trying to tell them. It was good with the way they were listening and understanding, a little too good to Mayu's liking and she grew increasingly nervous the closer she got to the part where she had to tell them of the terrible discovery that she made and what it had prompted her to do.

She fell silent all of a sudden, the hesitation of telling them starting to grow as she was about to reach that point, the part that she really didn't want to talk about, she was scared of telling them not being certain of what they were going to say about it. How was she even going to find the right words to describe what was going through her, all of the pain, sadness, and conflict that she was experiencing?

Yuka reacted almost instantly as she noticed it, the sudden change in the girl's demeanor obvious to her. "Mayu-chan, are you alright? Don't force yourself into saying something you don't want to." She reached out towards the younger girl, placing her own hand on top of Mayu's as she spoke a few more words of comfort to her. "Did something bad happen to your friend? Is that what you want to talk to us about? If so, it's alright dear, we understand what you must be going through. If you need it then don't be scared to take a moment for yourself to calm down. We'll wait until you feel like you're ready to tell us."

She had her arms wrapped around Mayu, her adopted daughter, and told her that everything was going to be alright, that there was nothing that she needed to be afraid of.

Taking a deep breath to regain her composure Mayu then began to tell them what she had learned.

"Ah, this feels great!" Kyou said aloud as she stretched her arms, standing up straight in the bath she was not being modest in the least. "Having a bathtub is so much better than a shower, it feels so good when you can have your entire body submerged. Hah, bombs away!"

She and Ryou had gone to take a bath together, it had been a long day and to be honest they both wanted to get themselves refreshed so Yuka had kindly offered for them to go ahead be the first ones to have a nice bath.

"Onee-chan, you shouldn't expose yourself like that. What if somebody were to come inside and see you? It's not like at home where we can lock the door." Sitting next to her Ryou voiced her concerns at her sister's exhibitionism, although she did silently agree that an actual bad was more pleasant than the shower they had at home, though she did feel compelled to point that out to her sister.

"Don't fret it, Ryou, who's going to be dumb enough to just walk inside? And those that are dumb enough I'll hit them so hard that it will erase their memories, I call it the memory erasing punch," Kyou mentioned as she formed her right hand into a fist and punched the air as if trying to lend extra credit to her dubious, if not violent, sounding statement. "They say that a hard punch erases memories you know. I haven't been able to test it yet but still."

"O-O-Onee-chan…?" Other than that Ryou was left speechless, she had no words for that.

To her that sounded so wrong on so many levels that she didn't even know where to begin.

"O-Onee-chan, I don't think that it works that way. Besides you're not supposed to punch people you know. Remember what oka-san has told us?"

"Fine." Letting herself drop back into the bath Kyou didn't say another word, she was beginning to get a little tired anyway. No, she just wanted to have some rest and of right now that meant that she just wanted to enjoy the bath itself. With the silence setting in it was beginning to really put her at ease, everything seemed so soothing all of a sudden. How long had it actually been that she had felt this relaxed? Gently throwing back her head she let out a little yawn much to her own surprise.

"It's nice in here isn't it, onee-chan? A bath like this does feel so much more relaxing than taking a shower. Shame that we don't have a bath like this at home," Ryou mentioned to her sister, it seemed that she too was enjoying the bath to the fullest extent but the same exhaustion that was plaguing Kyou also seemed to be playing up on her as well.

"I wonder though why nobody else is coming, we've been in here for a while now?" Ryou pointed out as she looked towards the door, she had a point as well, both she and Kyou had been in here for almost an hour now since Yuka had suggested for them to go in first.

Honestly, they had expected by now that either Nana or Mayu was to come inside and ask them if they could hurry so that they could take a bath as well.

But so far nobody had shown up which was both welcome as it had allowed Kyou and Ryou to make the most of it and really enjoy the bath but it was by now becoming somewhat odd.

"You're right but then as long as nobody shows up we can stay in here for just a bit longer, I'm really enjoying this a lot so I don't want it to end just yet. So I don't really mind it." And with that Kyou sank back into the bath up to her lips, closing her eyes she leaned her head against the edge of the bath, it felt so good that she didn't want it to end at all. "Life can be so good, to think that a few years ago we were still stuck in that horrible place, back then we didn't even know of each other." She opened her eyes as she slowly got up again and turned around to face Ryou who was looking back at her, feeling and sharing the same sentiment as her.

Leaning towards the other their hands interlocked with each other. "I don't ever want to be separated from you again, my dear sister, I don't want to ever lose you again." They both said out the words simultaneously, as they rested their heads on each other's shoulders and silently enjoyed this blissful moment.

"Okay, I've heard enough," Kouta said all of a sudden, even though Mayu hadn't even managed to tell them all of the finer details that she had uncovered. "There's no further need for that Mayu-chan, I've heard enough to make up my mind." His arms folded across his chest he first looked at Yuka before looking back at Mayu.

"You did the right thing by not listening to what your friend asked of you, she definitely needs help and if she's too scared because of those people to call for help herself then we should be the ones to offer that help. That said I'm a little disappointed in that you haven't come to us sooner with this though you've been smart enough not to make any further steps."

Yuka agreed wholeheartedly with that. "You did the right thing, Mayu-chan, you shouldn't give up on your friends no matter what. If you're going to need our help then please let us know, we'll do whatever we can. But please keep us informed from now on, alright?"

Nana who until then had been silent leaned forward and broke her silence. "So, neither of you are angry at Mayu for not telling you any sooner? See I told you they were going to understand Mayu."

Kouta shook his head in response as he raised a finger. "I'm not angry at Mayu-chan though I do feel that she could have taken a better course of action here. I'm also having doubts about you having asked Bando-san out of all people for help but I guess you have your reasons for asking him."

Yuka shrugged her shoulders, she had only met the man in person twice now and he certainly hadn't left much of a good impression on her but Mayu trusted him to the fullest.

"I guess that should things get out of hand than he's the kind of person you would want right next to you, am I right dear? He'll do his best to make sure that you don't get harmed."

Mayu had to blush at hearing that, she hadn't thought of that when she had gone to ask Bando for help. He was somebody that she could trust, he of all people would understand her.

"There's that yes," Kouta remarked. "He's also the kind of person who can't be bribed or scared into backing off and if what you said earlier is true then he isn't going to give into those people. Least at all if they are politicians of some sort. Besides, it puts us in less danger."

"Kouta, don't say that. You don't know what people are behind this."

He sighed, his shoulders dropping. "You're right, I'm sorry. I should not have said that but you know what I meant with it, we still need to be cautious with the girls and none of us would want for the government to find out that any Diclonius has survived." Before any of them could respond to that he continued. "Bando-san won't give in that easily to threats, he isn't going to betray us. He won't tell other people about the girls just to save himself. I know that it might sound cruel to you but it is the truth."

They all fell silent, nobody had even considered that this might get out of hand to such a degree but then if what Mayu had said was true then the people responsible were also powerful and likely influential as well which also made them potentially dangerous.

It would be best for them to be cautious and not to provoke that kind of people unless they had to, otherwise, there could be consequences which were something they could not take lightly.

"Make sure you don't get caught in it, Mayu-chan, if you notice that something is wrong I want you to immediately come home or go straight to Bando-san or the Hirano house. Don't go along with any strangers or people offering you a lift," he added to it, stressing again and again that Mayu needed to be cautious from now on as there was no telling what kind of people could get involved in this. "Also keep a closer look on Saeko-san in school, she doesn't know what is happening but there is a risk that she might get dragged into this as well. So please look after her and make sure she understands as well not to go with any strangers or people she has recently met. That includes her friends for now as well even though I hope she won't have to."

Mayu didn't feel like it was going to be fair to Saeko but she was going to be at risk as well if things were to escalate and she was at far greater risk as of all of the Diclonius left she was the one who spent most of her time in public areas so for her there was an even greater risk.

"I understand, I'll look after her," Mayu told them, making a promise to herself that she was going to look after her like a big sister was supposed to do.

"We know you will Mayu-chan but we would prefer it if neither of you was to get into any kind of trouble, please make sure that we won't have to hear that bad people will be coming after you. I'd rather have that this can be resolved without any of you getting into danger."

Yuka mentioned before taking a sip from her tea, placing the mug back on the table she continued. "This family has already been through more than enough suffering, I don't want to see any of you getting hurt because of this. So please for our sake be careful out there." She tried to remain calm and strong but they could all hear her voice wavering, nobody could blame her for that.

"Yuka is right, please be careful. Don't do anything rash and at all times make sure that you have a way to contact us, Bando-san or Dai-san for help should you have to."

Mayu, and Nana as well, both nodded their heads in agreement, at all times they were going to make sure that they had a phone with them should the need arise to call for help though in those cases it was going to be easier for Nana to defend herself than that it was for Mayu.

"Alright, I think we've talked long enough about this for the evening. Why don't the two of you go and take a bath? I think the twins should be about finished by now."

Feeling relieved that she has had a chance to talk about it Mayu got up from her seat with Nana following her, saying goodnight for the evening it was clear that after the bath they were likely going straight to bed. Well, it was already starting to get late though it would have been fine if they had wanted to stay up a little longer, well it was their own choice to make.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to follow their example and go to bed early?" Kouta asked her.

Yuka giggled as she eyed him closely before giving him a gentle nudge in the side. "You're being such a tease right now, you know?"

Closing the door of the house behind her Mako stood silent for a moment as she looked at Dai, neither of them had said all that much after dinner. Well, she could understand it, Dai was likely still feeling guilty over not having been there to help Bando.

"I know what you're going to say, so please drop it. You're not going to change my mind on this and I'd prefer it if we could not to talk about it anymore," Dai remarked as he noticed it, taking a step forward he made it clear that he had every reason to feel guilty and he wasn't going to accept somebody else trying to tell him that it wasn't. He and Bando had been through a lot together and the two of them had gotten to depend on each other.

He was fully aware and acknowledged it that there had been every chance that he himself could have gotten hurt, or even worse killed, if he had gone along, he was painfully aware of that risk but even so a good friend of him had gotten hurt because he hadn't there to help him when the man needed him the most.

"Now please let it rest, I'm going to need my rest as I have some work to do tomorrow. I pray that Bando misspoke when he said that but I fear we might just have another problem," Dai commented, still holding up his hand in order to make it clear that enough was enough on the matter as far as he was concerned.

Mako didn't seem to be impressed but then she hadn't heard what Bando had been trying to tell Dai right before he passed out. "You make it sound it's going to be something terrible. I doubt it'll ever be as worse as to what we went through back then."

He shook his head. "I honestly hope that you're right about that but I've seen things that I wish I had rather not and Bando told me the same again. There's something going on in the shadows and unless we're careful we might risk getting swallowed in it as well."

The both kept standing there, neither willing to continue as they both became painfully aware of what was going to be brought up next, the daughter of the deceased Chief Kakuzawa; Anna.

"Can we please not talk about any of that anymore while the girls are out, I'm not feeling so good thinking that they aren't inside the house. They're our daughters and you know that," Mako mentioned, emphasizing that the twins were their children, blinking away a tear as she thought about the prospect of having her daughters taken away from her. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to lose the two girls they had taken in and treated as their own.

Dai scratched his head, he felt like an idiot not to mention like a total jerk. "Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. You know just as well as that I feel a little worried about them staying out, but you've got to keep in mind that no matter how much we want to protect them, they also want to live their lives, we can't keep them locked up in the house forever."

And then began another one of those long and deep conversation that they have held so often before about what to do when the girls would grow up, always they had felt like it was still going to take a while but with them staying over at the inn for not only the weekend but for the coming week as well it came hauntingly close all of a sudden. After this stay over who knew if they were going to ask if they could do it again more often and then there was off course them being allowed to go out on their own.

Girls of their age just wanted to go out and shopping with friends and although both of the girls hadn't really been through that it was becoming clear that they both wanted to be more like normal girls of their age. They wanted to find out for themselves all of the joys that this world had to offer them, they wanted to make friends, go to places, enjoy themselves.

Mako had seen it for herself how much Kyou and Ryou had enjoyed it when they had been asked to go out along with a few others when they had stayed over at the inn. "They don't want to be stuck in this house, they want to know more of what this city, this country and even this world has to offer them. Even though it scares me to think that they will at some point leave the house, they've been kept inside most of their lives, they want to be free."

Dai nodded, he was aware of it as well and as much as he wanted to keep them out of harm's way by any means he was also painfully aware that keeping them locked inside the house wasn't going to help them either. At some point, they would want to get out of the house. And neither he nor Mako was going to be able to stop them then, the only thing they could do was to help guide and teach them to the best of their abilities and pray for the best. "They're smart, neither of them is going to do anything stupid. I'm sure they both are aware of the dangers."

They remained at an uneasy and unpleasant setting, the realization starting to sink in with both of them, things were going to be different. The way they had lived their lives until now were going to change for good.

The following morning a delicious aroma was slowly starting to make its way through every room of the house, the source of it could easily be traced back as coming from the kitchen.

Inside Yuka and Kyou were busy in making breakfast for the rest of the house though unlike the normal traditional Japanese breakfast that was so common Yuka had decided to go with a more western oriented breakfast for a chance and given that Kyou often made these at their house she had enlisted aid of the young Diclonius.

Still, Yuka was finding it a little strange to have no rice with her breakfast, she was so used to it but then when she took a moment to think about it, how often did she have anything besides a traditional Japanese breakfast? Not often, perhaps even to the point of being almost non-existent. Likely she could even count all of them on just one hand. Looking over to her side where the pinkette was busy Yuka was reminded that despite Kyou having been out in the world for only a few short years she was already wise to so many things outside of their country compared to her.

"So Kyou-chan, what else are we going to need other than we have already done so far? It was fortunate for us that the bakery hadn't sold out of the bread you told me about.," Yuka mentioned, they had been busy for well over an hour now, not counting the time she had also spent in going to a nearby bakery and back. It had been a rather pleasant walk, one that had allowed Yuka to get to have some intimate talk with the young Diclonius which had proven to have been remarkably pleasant.

"Not much, it's just really only making the omelets and getting everything served on the table before we can call everybody. The bacon and pancakes are also done," Kyou remarked, the apron she had donned contrasting against the darker clothing she was wearing, her long hair nicely tied up in a little bun to make sure that it wasn't going to get in the way.

"So do you want me to go and call them or should we perhaps enjoy the moment with just the two of us and a fresh cup of tea? I bought a new blend last week and I haven't had a chance to see how it tastes. Would you like it as well?" Yuka asked as she bends over a little.

"That sounds good, I'd like that, also can we also have a little snack with it as well?" Kyou replied as she took off the apron and removed the band holding her hair, letting it drop across her shoulders, shrugging her shoulders Kyou turned around and walked to the closet to grab a couple of mugs for them.

They still had some time left and although Kyou was going to make the omelets she could get everything set up in the other room and have the water cooking. Likely by the time the tea was ready Kyou was going to be ready as well.

"Just take your time with making those omelets, I'll go and ask your sister if she wants some too." And having said that, Yuka left the kitchen, as she went to look for the others.

Seeing her leave Kyou went back and resumed working on the omelets, she was planning on using her special recipe to add some extra spice and flavor to it. Craning her neck up to gaze at the ceiling she began to turn around her head until she was staring in the direction that she figured Ryou had to be, outside in the garden, likely sitting near the pond.

"You would like to have something to eat as well, you're always a little hungry when you wake up early in the morning," she mentioned to herself as Kyou readied a few small pieces that she had been preparing as well so that Ryou could have already something to eat.

Turning her attention back to the stove she wondered what her parents were likely doing right now, would they still be sleeping in bed or had they decided to get up early as well to make breakfast for themselves? She could imagine that it must feel a little weird for them to not have their daughter making the breakfast for them, to be honest, she did kind of miss seeing her parents.

Perhaps they would come over and visit them today, maybe even stay for dinner or perhaps they could even have a large barbecue in the garden like they had last time? She would really like that, at least she would get to know how her parents were doing but then she could just as easily grab the phone and give them a call to ask. Her mind started to wander off, making her forget all about the omelets right up till the moment that the stench of charred eggs could be smelled throughout the house.

"Kyou-chan!" Yuka came rushing into the kitchen. "Quick! Turn down the stove!" In a frenzied blur of movement, she had quickly opened the windows which allowed fresh air to come in, when it had cleared it became obvious to them that they were going to need to skip the omelets.

Author's note: Hey folks, I hope you will all enjoy this latest addition to the story.

I'm glad to say that I've got good news with regards to my father's surgery which has left us all feeling a lot better, after an operation that lasted for almost 9 hours we finally received the call that the surgery had been successfully completed and that he had been transferred to recovery which brought a lot of relief to us all when we heard it. I'll spare you the details of his surgery but suffice to say it was a pretty complicated one.

By now he's back home after he has spent the last 3 weeks in the hospital, he was supposed to have come home sooner but pneumonia meant that it took a little longer than what we had hoped for although we've been informed by the staff that they did expect this.

We're all glad that he's back with us and that his recovery is going well, that also means that I have a bit more peace of mind and can devote a bit more of my time towards my stories. I've been driving up and down to the hospital every day for the past 3 weeks so luckily that's over.

See you all again in the next chapter, until then, and take care.