Ryuuko's age is a mystery, like almost all other things about her. Of course, the question about how old she was remained, like all other questions, unanswered. No one could say how old she was and the ones who knew had died and taken the answer with them to their graves. Her appearance and her recollections don't leave much to conclude from, as she could only state what she remembered, which wasn't much, and the severe abuse and neglect she suffered stunted her growth and physical development.
What we did know was that she was in her formative years when she was locked away and, while she has about average intelligence, her comprehension and mindset is more on the level of a toddler's. If asked about how old she is, she would simply state that she doesn't know.
Likewise, we don't even know when her birthday is and Nui and I have differing opinions as to when it was. Nui thinks she was born during the spring or summer, whereas I think she was born in the fall. Either way, we haven't a clue as to when her birthday is and, likewise, we hadn't interacted with our mother enough to notice if she was pregnant or not, as she was oft distant and we feared her more than we could have ever loved her, so interaction with her wasn't typical for us. Ryuuko got her attention and said attention wasn't the sort of attention she should have recieved.
In us wanting to know her age, we were brought back to the photo, the one Nui found in the attic. While the photo has a date, the date didn't have a year and neither could we determine if that was her pre-isolation or during, forestalling calculation. That mystery brought us back to the attic, the tomb where secrets were buried and forgotten, hidden once more and waiting to be rediscovered.
While Ryuuko napped, we went to the attic and started probing boxes. We unearthed photos of our father, which returned bitter memories. Our memories of our father prior to his leaving are like a dream, which is to say, we don't remember him well, just the fact that he left and didn't come back, however, we never knew why he left. Ryuuko remembered bits and pieces and the fact that he wasn't cruel to her. However, what we didn't expect to find was a wedding picture.
It was hard to believe the two, our father and the Mistress, were ever so happy together. Clearly, they must have loved each other once and our mother must have been very kind but the mystery that remained as to what could have turned her from the kind person she once was into the cruel person she would become. The photos didn't reveal that but it did show us a side of our mother we had never seen before.
In finding those photos, we found a photo of a then-infant Ryuuko. She was wrapped in a towel and seemed to have been freshly born, meaning she couldn't have been born in a hospital. We didn't know who took the photo but we assumed Rei must have taken it, considering that she knew about Ryuuko's existence long before we did, which supported that Ryuuko was born in secret, however, that raises a question as to why she wasn't taken to a hospital afterward to see if she was alright or not.
"I wonder, did Ryuuko remind the Mistress of something she wanted to forget?" Nui asked, pondering the photo. I found the thought odd, yet that lead to another unanswered question, as I couldn't think of any real reason why the Mistress would have anything she yearned to forget. As I mulled over the question, something had struck me. What evidence we did find of our baby sister seemed to have pointed towards the Mistress being pregnant with and giving birth to her in not so happy times and, whatever those times were, the Mistress felt constantly reminded, taking her rage out on a baby who had that misfortune of being born.
While I was lost in thought, Nui pointed out that the photo had a month and a date on the back and the date was September 5th. "Oh, she's a clover." she voiced, citing that the date was the official day where summer ended but where autumn hadn't officially began. Interestingly, that day, if either us could recall, was the day was the day Rei committed suicide, over a year ago.
The memory of her suicide was a bitter one and reading her diary after her funeral fueled that fact. Ryuuko's birthday being the day of her death felt like death and rebirth, as she died on a day someone was born. Something in my heart stung, as I realized that she had tied the date of Ryuuko's birth to her regrets. The photo had to have been taken by her, as she had to have been the only one there as our mother gave birth. The true events on that day, when Ryuuko was born, was something that both of them to took their graves. I could only wonder if she had other intentions besides what she's stated in her diary, however, she did make it clear that she had been unhappy for a very long time. Frankly, I started to wish I could have talk her out of it, telling her that there was another way, but she took the easy way out.
I was shocked out of my thoughts when Nui told me she had found something. What she had found was another photo and it was another photo of Ryuuko. She couldn't have been any more than about a year old, going by the length of her hair, and she was looking out of a window. It didn't take us long to realize that she wasn't always kept in a cage or, rather, the cellar, as that was the attic window. I tried my hardest to muster up a distant memory about the attic and what transpired, however, I couldn't draw up any besides once finding a little blanket. Of course, we didn't know exactly who took the photo but we ruled out the Mistress pretty quickly. "She kept Ryuuko in a cage, locked her away keeping her hidden, and didn't give her a name, so it had to have been Rei." Nui explained, citing the fact that Rei had to have taken the other two.
As we both then recalled, Rei was often beaten, much like Ryuuko was, however, unlike Ryuuko, she was allowed to move around, however, Nui hazily recalled how Rei was smacked around with something metal but she didn't recall why, except that it was exceptionally brutal. "It was real, real brutal," she said, shuddering.
Way brutal than what I had ever seen before. Usually, Rei got hit with a belt, a shoe, or a rope but, naw, she was hit with something metal. I don't recall what it was she was hit with but I know it was something metal. Rei it seemed was begging, praying, and wishing for mercy, yet she took that beating for what I didn't recall why and it seemed like she was getting hit for no reason, until the Mistress said, "THAT was supposed to stay hidden and I'll make you pay for ever defying me."
"...I still don't know what she meant by that but I do know she beat the pee out of Rei and I mean that literally." she said, throwing her arms around herself. What she had seen had terrified her to her core and she was in tears. That image of Rei taking such a savage beating wasn't a good one and, most certainly, it wasn't one that I'd forget. She had taken more of a punishment than either of us did and, odds are, Ryuuko doesn't remember much. Those photos were before she formed permanent memories and, for showing a bit of kindness, she played the martyr.
We were brought out of the attic when we heard Ryuuko calling for us. In my hand, I held those photos, the very few of Ryuuko past we had.