Summary: Kusuo's paternal grandmother visits.
AN: Suspend your belief of Mendelian genetics. Mendel fuged some of the results anyways.
Ani - A term to refer to one's older brother when not addressing him in person.
Chapter 12 - Grandmother Risa Part 1
The Saiki family, mom, dad, and younger son, sat at the low table in the traditional tatami mat hosting room, having a late lunch with a recently not-so-estranged woman named Risa.
Since Kusuo woke up and seemed to go around fine on his own, Kurumi no longer felt the need to fret by his bedside. Instead, she went all out on this meal.
There was white rice, sushi, miso soup, skirt steak, pork chops, a serving of curry, as well as a variety of steamed vegetables and traditionally pickled foods such as daikon, beets, and plum. She broke out the lacquered dishware, handmade clay teacups and teapots, ceramic utensils, chopsticks and chopstick holders. The spread of colorful food and fancy serving ware was certain to earn the much-desired approval of a mother-in-law.
Kurumi specially prepared rice porridge separately for Kusuo and gently reminded him that he should eat that first before trying any other foods. She had watched him through his health episode and knew that he had not eaten for a while. It was not a good thing to shock the body with heavy foods like curry. She also reminded him to wear that ring as Grandmother Risa instructed, until he was informed otherwise. He was a good son and she knew that he would obey her recommendations as commands.
Kusuo picked at the rice porridge a bit, which was hard to do considering that it was just rice and water. He was hungry, that was for certain, but once he sat down at the low table, he felt that he had no appetite again. The sumptous spread of everything else seemed unappetizing too. The hot barley tea was good, though, and much welcomed. He did feel much better after about three cups. He sipped his tea, savoring the warmth and fidgeted with the germanium ring underneath the table, studying this stranger woman who had so suddenly came into the Saiki family's lives.
Grandmother Risa was a relatively tall woman in her sixties.
She wore a muted tanned colored kimono, of the houmongi type, with understated plum blossom patterns sewed onto the skirt and sleeves. It seemed odd considering that most people did not normally wear these cumbersome old-fashioned dresses for casual visits anymore, must less in the summertime. Yet, on this woman, she made it seemed normal. She even had a traditional oil-paper umbrella, completely impractical in modern times, as her cover from the rain and sun.
She seemed comely but also eyecatching. Her hair bounded high and out of the way. Her lips were curved into a decidedly neutral expression, neither smiling nor frowning. She looked like a real-life photoshopped cutout from a fashion magazine.
But her color was what caught Kusuo's attention.
Pale blonde with greenish golden eyes, exact shade as Kuusuke's coloring.
Her build and facial structure strongly mirrored his own, more than Kuniharu and Kurumi. Her posture was of someone who had strength, pride, and position. She was effortlessly regal, calm, controlled, and completely unlike Kusuo's down-to-earth maternal grandparents or even his own sentimental parents.
Finally, an answer to the question of why Kusuo and his older brother seemed so different from everyone in their immediate family and the people around them; they were not so different at all.
The Saiki brothers strongly resembled the people on their father's mother side. That had to be one of the reasons why his parents were so accepting that their children had come out looking so physically different from them.
What an oddly comforting and troublesome thought, considering that Kusuo was learning this now, when he was almost legally an adult.
What had caused such a rift that both of his parents, who are so wholesome in their own right, avoided an entire half of the family? Something about a disownment? How in the world did his parents hidden this from him? Why did Risa looked so different now, compared to the photo he saw at the hospital? How come his father's impression of her seemed to suggest a passionate woman, rather than this tranquil old lady?
Kusuo was itching to remove the germanium ring and listen to Risa's inner thoughts and figure this mystery out. He did so, briefly underneath the table. Immediately, his parent's animated thoughts, along with several dozen of voices of the people in their neighborhood came filtering in far louder than whatever inner thoughts Risa had.
Kusuo's reaction to the voices he received was unexpected. The voices of people in the neighborhood, with their usual nonstop complaint of existence, seemed clamorous and immediately riled Kusuo without reason. His own parent's thoughts, as lively as they were about how to impress and catch up with Risa, was rift with an undercurrent of concern; they thought about checking in on grandpa Kumagoro, Kuusuke's silence, but mostly, they thought about their younger son and their apprehension over recent ill physical health effects from his ESP. Both furtively looked over to Kusuo in between conversations to see if he's eatened and made internal comments of how ashen he looked.
Somehow his parents' worry over him, over others, was deeply upsetting.
And still not a peep of Risa's thoughts.
After several inconspicuous failed attempts at hearing Risa's thoughts, and faced with his own unexpected reactions to other thoughts, Kusuo gave up. The uneasy telepathic silence was preferable on his state of mind.
So Kusuo preoccupied himself with poking at his food, making a show of eating it, studying this stranger woman, listening to his parents gibbering on, trying to make up for the two decades of interaction, being good hosts.
As Kusuo continued to study Risa's countenance and mannerisms, Kusuo thought back again about his first mass mind control as a child, the one where he changed humanity's DNA and people outward appearance for the sole purpose of fitting in. A check of the germanium ring's residual memories did confirm the existence of people who shared his coloring long before Kusuo came around, they just lived in dad's hometown, far from the cosmopolitan cities. To think that he, Kusuo, was born to belong perfectly all along, where he was just another normal kid, that exercise of mind control seemed childish now.
Kusuo suddenly wished Kuusuke was here to realize this. Kusuo now recalled that they had to play/annoy each other at the playground because the other children had found them strange looking and avoided them. Such an act only made Kuusuke more adamant on calling humanity a bunch of monkeys and completely worthless. Kusuo did not disagree, but he always felt a measure of isolation and sadness from such treatment by other children, even as their unkind inner thoughts filtered into his mind. Then Kuusuke would scold him for wasting emotions on such selfish animals. There were no others like them.
That know-it-all masochist scientist would be so flustered having such fundamentally held ideas shaken.
Oh...Ani...Kusuo thought sullenly, as he looked down at his tea and took a sip.
"Tell me again, about this mangaka Shiragami Fudekichi-sensei," said Risa, her voice was musical. She sounded like she would score the full 100 points at karaoke. "What is his manga series? And your role, Kuniharu?"
It was a question that Kuniharu happily indulged. Like any son, he still wanted the approval of his mother for his chosen profession and was relieved to know that she was interested. So he told her about his epic direction of the mangaka, getting the series The Silent Cyborg into the mainstream. He chatted about the effort it took to gain a mangaka's trust, the trouble in getting drafts, and the impossible deadlines that editors must adhere to survive as a business in this competitive environment.
In the middle of all this, the meal and the conversation proceeded with some of the usual horseplay between Kurumi and Kuniharu.
For one, Kurumi was spoon-feeding Kuniharu. As a result of trying to wake his younger son, Kuniharu burned his hands. Since it had been more than 24 hours, Kusuo's Restoration powers would only exacerbate the problem. It was not a bad injury since the Kuniharu immediately retracted his hands and it was a mild burn with the expectation of full recovery. Kuniharu did not seem to be so disturbed by his current condition and seemed to actually enjoy the shameless pleasure of being so babied by his wife and making a show of it. He married the right woman and was damn proud of it.
Risa did not indicate her opinion on such a scene. She continued to ask him questions. It seemed that they did not have much of a chance to have long dialogues between reconnecting again and this personal family visit. Kuniharu avoided all mentions of shoe licking at his job.
"What about you, Kurumi," asked Risa after Kuniharu spent some time talking about his work. "I hear that you're heavily involved in the neighborhood association. Can you tell me more about what it entails?"
At that Kurumi prompt, Kurumi dove into an exposition of her day-to-day with the other moms, the cleaning duties, the waste pick up schedules, the festivals that they've arranged with the local schools and shops, the maintenance of the yard and her home so that the neighborhood was inviting. She talked about her time with other moms, how they would go to cafes and shopping.
Risa continued to ask probing questions, seeming to be genuinely interested in Kurumi's domestic life.
Kurumi eventually talked about their neighbor, how Iridatsu-san's little boy, Yuuta came over often so that he can play with his favorite "O-Nii-san" and how Kusuo indulged Yuuta by dressing up and pretending to be one of Yuuta's TV show heroes, Sodaman Mark II.
"Speaking of "O-Niisan"," said Risa, "I believe you have another son, your eldest?" Risa closed her eyes briefly, as if trying to recall something. "What's his name again?"
Kurumi smiled happily, though not as wide as normal. Her oldest's mysterious silence still worried her but she pushed that concern away. Kuusuke was known for suddenly dropping off the face of the earth and popping right back up, usually as a pleasant surprise. She held onto that hope as she spoke about him pride. "Yes. Saiki Kuusuke. He's out in society already. He just turned twenty, you know."
At those words, Kusuo stopped picking at his rice porridge and took another sip of tea. It didn't seem like anyone noticed.
"Oh? Did he not attend college? And decide to work in the trades?" asked Risa.
This time, it was Kuniharu laughed. "Oh no. Quite the opposite. He graduated last year with a doctorate from the University of Cambridge."
True to her regal form, Risa's reaction gave nothing away. "A doctorate? Shouldn't that have taken at least seven years of tertiary schooling? Assuming that he skips the traditional master's degree?"
"No. It didn't take him that long. It's a doctorate. Only about five years," said Kuniharu, sounding quite proud. "He left the house by fourteen, you know."
"And you let him?" Risa's voice was probing.
"Of course we did. He's always been very independent," said Kuniharu.
"And what did he study?"
At that, Kuniharu seemed stumped, but shrugged. "Something science related. He's a verified genius."
Risa seemed to take that all in, coming to a certain conclusion. Then she turned her attention to Kusuo. "What about you, Kusuo-kun. What are your plans for the future? Is it as phenomenal as your older brother?"
What? As phenomenal as in 'burst into flames?' was Kusuo's unbidden sarcastic inner thought. Unwittingly, Kusuo's mind recalled that cursed memory where Kuusuke's body disintegrated, the brush of hot embers on his skin, his own uncontrollable, overwhelming, surprsing reaction to the loss of someone he thought he hated.
He really should tell his parents.
How should he tell his parents?
Would they even believe him? With Kuusuke's track record of disppearing and reapparing without notice?
In the end, Kusuo did not say anything. He looked down and focused exclusively on his rice porridge. He might have taken a few bites?
"Ku-chan," called Kurumi, concern twinged with unease in her voice. "Are you not feeling well again? You're shaking."
Both Saiki parents were looked at their son with worry. Kusuo was pensive, gloomy even, that was part of his nature, but never had he been so unresponsive.
Was it because he had never been sick, outside the effects of his psychic abilities? For which he just had a major episode for only the second time of his life. And did not know how to react to it?
Last time this had happened, Kusuo seemed to have returned to normal soon after. He attended school like normal. He was able to easily participate in sports, for a short while. He continued the usual competitions that he and his brother had, at least briefly since Kuusuke left home within the year after that. Kusuo finished off elementary school without further incident and went about his life as if such a horrible event that caused his parent's immeasurable personal anguish never happened. It was probably a mentally protective measure. It was not good for the world if such a powerful psychic dwelled so on personal problems.
This time, though, without Kuusuke's reliable discernment, Kusuo's issues within the last couple of days left his parents with a dread of the unknown. Both parents wished that their eldest son's persistent silence would stop.
"Why don't you excuse yourself, Kusuo-kun," said Risa, her arms crossed, detecting the mood at the table. "I'll come and check on you a little later."
"Oh, that's right," said Kuniharu, as if he suddenly remembered something. "Kusuo, I bet you already know this, but your grandmother Risa is one of the first woman doctors in the country. We completely trust her to check you out."
Not if I have something to say about it, thought Kusuo. Just because his father trusted this woman did not mean Kusuo was about to.
He was glad for the escape though. It would give him time to regroup, think of a good way to let his parents know, and corner this stranger woman for questioning about the memories in the germanium ring, once he had his composure about him again.
