IV – Tea Party


A week had passed since the family had moved to Japan. Giuliano had fired almost half of the bank's employees, from supervisors to guards or janitors. A few cases had been reported all over the country of houses or blocks bursting into flames with people inside, both during the day and the night. Some of the victims that had been transported to the hospital had mysteriously suffered grave complications overnight.

The police were gathering information from other countries where such incidents had happened before, but it seemed the phenomenon had appeared and disappeared by itself. Nobody could trace it to either a man or a group of men, but everybody suspected these had been ordered executions. Almost twenty bloodlines had died in less than a week, the number of deaths rising constantly.

Caterina kept going out, mostly without her father's knowledge. The driver was the only one who knew when she left the hotel, but not even he could be sure where she went or why. Soon enough, the girl had Light's number and he had hers. She knew his father was working for the police, that he had a younger sister and that his parents were still together. They kept discussing cultural differences, past experiences, and the news. Light seemed particularly interested in the series of inexplicable deaths and the fires bursting all over Japan and he suspected that Caterina knew something more than the general public, but he couldn't make her admit anything.

Anastasia was the only one making some favorable progress. She was working on a new fashion line, taking the project very seriously – it was her only distraction from a husband who had never loved her and a daughter who had never recognized her as a mother. Day and night, the blonde kept sketching, imagining, and trying different combinations of patterns, colors and textures. She had a mannequin in her room which she used to put together the pieces of her new collection.

On her first Friday in town, she had a young model coming to see her. Giuliano had agreed to this almost mindlessly, she remembered. He was probably too busy to care about a depressive wife, so he had simply mumbled a positive answer before going back to discussing only he knew what.

Vincent knocked on the door of the lady's door.

"Yes, Vincent?" she asked. The butler was the only one who could bother her. Caterina was somewhere in town and her husband was probably not going to be there for the day.

"Signora, signorina Amane is here." He said from the doorway.

"Oh, wonderful! I will be there in a minute."

The man closed the door and went into the living room to announce the other blonde.

"If you could please wait for a minute. Signora Amadeo will be here in a moment."

"Great!" The girl giggled as her small pigtails jumped up and down on the sides of her head.

"Would you like anything in the mean time?"

"Uhm…" The girl looked up at her own reflection on the mirrored ceiling and pointed a long index finger on her chin. "Some tea would be great, or juice, but please make sure it's sugar-free! Misa-Misa doesn't want to get fat."

"Of course, signorina."

The old man bowed his head, slightly amused by the girl. The fact that she spoke in third person was enough for the butler to label her as dumb.

In another moment or two, Anastasia walked into the large living room in a maxi dress in pastel pinks and yellows, better fit for a day at the beach rather than talking business. She smiled widely as her guest stood up and they kissed one another's cheeks without really touching skin.

"My, you are even more charming in person, my dear!" The woman said before taking a seat on the couch.

Misa chuckled a vain 'Thank you' before taking her seat on the armchair that was usually reserved for Caterina. She crossed her legs, exposed in all their teenage glory by a very short black and red skirt with golden skulls for buttons and knee high socks. She had a black button-up shirt which would have been strangely decent for her if it wasn't half transparent.

"How are you today?" The woman began the conversation as Vincent set the tea on the small glass table between them and poured two cups, one for his mistress and one for her guest.

"Misa is doing well, thank you. Misa is excited!" She giggled.

"Oh, that's great! Because I can't wait to start working with you!"

"Really?"

Anastasia nodded as Misa clapped her hands together.

"I can show you some sketches of my new fashion collection, if you'd like."

"Sure!"

"But first, I will need to talk a few things with you. You see, Misa, I will need you to sign a contract. I will also need your parents to sign an agreement, both of them. I hope it's not a problem, is it?"

The girl shook her head. "Not at all! Mother and Father will be glad! It's Misa's first job for a magazine!"

"Really?" Anastasia smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it, then! You will learn everything you need to know with time. You're just so adorable, I think everyone will be glad to help you."

"Thank you~!" She half squealed, half sang.

Just then, the front door opened then closed with a click.

"I'm home…!" Came Caterina's bored voice as she announced her presence. She left her shoes in the hall before stepping inside.

"Rosa, my dear, we are over here! Please come say hi to our guest." Her mother called.

Out of curiosity, the girl stepped into the room and her eyes stopped on Misa.

"Oh, I didn't know you invited a loli."

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and disrespect, but neither of the blondes seemed to notice.

"Misa loves the dark Lolita fashion!" She gladly claimed about herself.

"Hm, yeah, I noticed…" Caterina mentioned. "Also, that's my seat."

"Rosa, please be nice to our-" Her mother tried to intervene.

"Underage prostitute?" The auburn-haired girl asked ironically.

Misa gasped. "Me?! Misa does no such thing!"

"But you look like one. Now get your ass off my seat."

"Rosa! You could at least try to be nice to her since you will be working together."

"What?!" Both girls asked at once, Caterina feeling insulted and Misa scared.

"Me?! Working with a retarded Lolita who talks in third person? Oh, hell no."

"You take that back!" Misa yelled while jumping to her feet.

"Do you even know what 'Lolita' means?" Caterina continued. "If you're going to sport a certain look, know the message you're sending."

"Misa will dress in whatever fashion Misa wants!"

"Oh, please! Sex shops don't sell fashion, sweetheart."

Anastasia stood up and dragged her daughter outside the room by her hand. Misa remained alone, huffing and puffing, pouting like a five-years-old.

"Rosa, you are embarrassing me!" Her mother complained as her daughter brushed her hand off.

"You will let go of me this instant. Does Padre know who your new model is? Does he know the Amadeo name will be associated with a Lolita?"

The blonde turned pale at the mention of her husband. "He agreed to this…"

"Really? Or did he agree to have a model as a guest to entertain you?"

Anastasia bit her lip like a teenager caught sneaking out the back door. Caterina stood straight, claiming her superior statute with a cold stare and pretending to be waiting for an answer both of them knew was not going to come.

"Just because you were one, doesn't mean the world needs to know about it."

Anastasia tried to slap her daughter, but her hand had been stopped by that of Caterina. The mother had tears in her eyes and her lower lip was trembling.

"Don't think math is too much for me. You were seventeen when you gave birth. Fifteen years ago, that was unacceptable."

"You have no right to judge me! I am your mother!"

"I never said you weren't, it's why I have every right to judge you. Do whatever you want, but I will not have my image stained by you or any of your skimpy friends. I aim for the top and I will not have you dragging me down."

Anastasia gasped in shock, feeling her heart break even more as her own daughter was calling her out for her past mistakes.

"Even if you don't agree to my past, I had given you a better life this way! How many girls your age have half of what you do?! You could at least be grateful for that!"

"Oh, I am… I am grateful to Padre for giving me everything I deserve as his one and only heir. All I'm saying is that I don't want his name stained by a loli."

"You are in no position of giving me any kind of permission."

"…Right. We'll see about that."

Caterina turned on her heels as her mother tried her hardest to keep from crying. What was so wrong in having a Lolita model? The world of fashion was one of beauty, not morals… right? And besides, Misa was cute. She couldn't possibly be a Lolita in anything else but fashion.

Counting her breaths to keep calm and blinking away a few tears, Anastasia returned to Misa, who had been waiting there for the past five minutes or more.

"I apologize, my dear. I'm afraid my daughter can be a little… acidic."

"It's alright… Misa won't have to work with her, right?"

"…No, you won't." The woman answered after a moment of thought. "Now, where were we…?"


Author's Note:

This story is being corrected and proofread by Eat4Fun.

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