Chapter 46 - Escape

When Kuniharu got back to the house that day, he immediately noticed the pair of women's high-end fashion shoes that were too big to fit Kurumi's feet. From the door, he could hear the familiar gentle but firm voice of his mother, Risa, and the background noise of a TV show.

"Lay down, Kurumi. You had an exhausting day, haven't you?" was Risa's cooing voice, the same one that she used on obstinate patients who were refusing life-saving treatments.

Surprised, Kuniharu took extra time to just listen.

Was Risa going to be that monster mother-in-law, the dreaded, overly critical woman who is the bane of all wives?

"I'm not tired," denied Kurumi. Her voice sounded normal again, with that hint of pettish stubbornness. "I've been sleeping all day and I haven't made dinner yet. Papa is going to be home soon. I'm sure Ku-chan is hungry after a long day at school, too. Ku-kun might visit and stay for dinner. He hasn't even met you. I want it to go well."

"Shhh," intoned Risa. "I'll take care of dinner. You just lay on the couch and relax, okay? Remember how sleepy you were? You were so tired that you accidentally fell in the kitchen earlier while trying to teach Kusuo-kun how to cook, remember?"

"I guess so," Kurumi murmured, "Ku-chan did say I fell. But I don't remember how..."

"Now you'll feel a little pinch in your upper left arm," intoned Risa clinically.

Pinch? An injection? Was Risa administering a drug?

"Why?" asked Kurumi. "Is it a needle? Please. No. I'm afraid of needles."

"It's going to be lighter than a feather," said Risa. "I promise."

Kurumi sucked in a breath like a toddler being brave for the first time. She ended up asking, "Did it already happen?"

"Yes. All done. See, nothing to it," said Risa, adding a little pep to her voice. "Don't you feel sleepy?"

"I do feel a little tired..." confessed Kurumi, her voice trailing off. "You'll wake me up when Ku-kun comes by? Right? I feel like haven't seen him in a long time and I miss him."

"Of course," reassured Risa. "Oh look, Housekeeper Mitamura is on."

In the background, the opening tune of a Toru Mugami show came on, along with the annoying catchphrase "Get it! Got it! Understood!" There appears to be a marathon of Toru Mugami's shows to promote his new upcoming movie release.

Kuniharu peeked around the corner of the hallway that opened up to the living room with the open area to the dining room and the kitchen area.

There was that hospital smell of antiseptics, ethylene alcohol, and copper.

Kusuo was sitting at the dining room table, staring into space. He seemed like his normal, perpetually crabby, frowning, lost-in-thought self.

Risa was over by the couch with Kurumi.

As a professional, Risa was in a black pencil skirt, a buttoned starched white long-sleeved shirt, and black stockings. There was a leather medical bag with the expected stethoscope, a mini box of blue nitrile gloves.

Currently, Risa placed a used syringe and blue nitrile glove into a little red disposal box. Her task completed, she began to repack her equipment.

Kurumi was on laying on the couch. There was a glazed look about her as her eyes trailed to the TV, not even acknowledging Kuniharu who had walked into the room where she could see him.

Risa grabbed a throw blanket covered Kurumi with it, careful to tuck the younger woman in. Well-manicured hands lightly massaged Kurumi's head, deliberately brushing over the eyebrows to induce an automatic response to close the eyes.

Kurumi's eyes drooped and closed within a minute.

As much as Kuniharu was a self-absorbed idiot, even he could read the atmosphere in the room.

Something really serious had just occurred, enough for Risa to show up without warning.

Risa's demeanor was a professional one, with that metered warmth that put the unsuspecting and unwary in the thrall of her wishes. It was a crowd control technique of hers. She was that person in authority, whose words were spoken as suggestions, but were, in reality, commands.

Kusuo seemed like the blind, not acknowledging Kurniharu's return home. He kept on looking ahead, absent fingering the germanium ring on his finger.

"Um..." intoned Kuniharu, breaking the silence. "What happened?"

"Nothing good," said Risa gravely.

It was an answer that shut off any further discussion.

Not deterred, Kuniharu looked to his son. "Kusu-mon," address Kuniharu, using a diminutive nickname in an attempt to alleviate the tense atmosphere. "What's going on?"

"I..." Kusuo started, and cough out a single sarcastic laugh. "I just..."

Kuniharu stared, feeling a dark shadow overcome him.

For one, he had never heard Kusuo's 'voice' teeter between telepathic speech and spoken speech. Not that he and Kusuo spoke much in recent times, not without the painful reminder that Kusuo was now an only child.

For another, there was a level of apprehension that was far beyond all the usual agitations that Kusuo claimed to bother him daily. Something was deeply wrong on a fundamental level. He looked to Risa for directions.

But true to form, Risa appeared to be an impassive visitor making a house call. She had out a sheet of paper, busily notating the time and the time and the amount of pharmaceuticals she had just administered. Her movements were smooth, almost routine like she was merely noting a chart for a patient.

"Kusuo, You just, what?" asked Kuniharu hesitantly.

Kusuo gave another half-cough and half-laugh. "I can strangle her."

Kuniharu blinked, disbelief on his face. Was he hallucinating the words? Who was Kusuo referring to? "What?"

"She used to hurt Ani, didn't she?," asked Kusuo more as a statement than a question.

Kuniharu felt his heart thud so hard that it nearly jumped out of his chest.

"I heard Ani's voice in her memories. He told her to stop hurting him," said Kusuo. He shrank in his chair, seemingly trying to make himself smaller. In a gesture that occurred too often, he clutched his head as he repeated the indelible words.

"She saw us as monsters," stated Kusuo.

Kuniharu gasped but said nothing.

The lack of denial seemed to confirm the idea in Kusuo's mind. "And Ani was young and didn't think changing her as abnormal. It's like how I didn't think much of changing everyone else's appearance so I'd fit in. He was actively mind controlling people because he never knew it to be wrong."

Thinking back, it was curious how people shuffled around and obeyed Kuusuke's unspoken wishes.

It made sense now, considering how Kusuo had refused to lose to Kuusuke, often resulting in a visually obvious display of psychic powers. Yet, in all those displays, whether it be Kusuo catching a fish several sizes larger than himself, or playing festival games, there was never anyone around to see it.

Kusuo had always attributed those coincidences to his own mind control powers, never once considering that someone else had enforced their will on him.

"He knew how to make people go away at will," concluded Kusuo. "Because the power he could not shut off wasn't commonplace telepathy, but mind control. It's why my perspectives on the same memory were so different than yours."

Risa seemed to detect Kusuo's thought pattern. Despite how psychic powers could never meet directly, she still could sense the beginning of an obsession.

"Kusuo-kun, stop," said Risa.

"Why?" demanded Kusuo. "My entire life was based on a lie!" Kusuo's thoughts seemed to run together now, tying all the hints he had seen all his life, trying to differentiate between the falsehood and truths.

"And what were you going to do with that realization? hum?" asked Risa. "How did knowing the details of the past improve your current condition? Did it move you closer to a solution against flashover?"

Kusuo had no answers to the question.

"Knowing did not give you peace of mind, but only added to the questions. It's nothing but a distraction," said Risa. "Get your head in the right place. You have far more pressing problems than the past."

Risa's words seemed to have struck a chord because all traces of distress disappeared from Kusuo's face.

Kuniharu felt a shiver run down his spine as he was suddenly reminded of Kuusuke, of how Kuusuke treated the events and activities life like it was a rote exercise. Kuusuke mastered the art of human interaction more as means to an end, rather than any real emotional connection.

"I can't stay here," declared Kusuo.

The spoken words had all the hints of a decisive finality to them, as if Kusuo had given up trying and put up a wall to close himself off.

"What do you mean, Kusu-mon?" asked Kuniharu.

For the first time since Kuniharu came home, Kusuo looked to him. "I've been accepted to Oxford. I'm moving to London."

Kuniharu frowned as his jaw dropped.

Instead of elation that any parent should've immediately experienced, Kuniharu only felt confused. Wasn't Kusuo 100 percent determined to attend a local university? So that he and Kurumi could enjoy Kusuo presence for a while longer? Why the sudden declaration to attend a perimere institution? And so far away? In the end, Kuniharu could only blurt out, "Moving? When?"

The answer was terse. "Now."

Before Kuniharu could respond, there was a woosh.

Kusuo had disappeared.