Chapter 9: Speak Your Mind
She met with Kanade a lot the next few days. She stayed after school, waiting for her friend, and then walked with her through the streets and talked about anything that came to mind: School, her family, girls, music, movies… everything, really. She enjoyed those days immensely, and felt herself opening up more and more. She started talking to other people more freely, learned to voice her opinions more – which got her into one or two arguments, with classmates and teachers – and generally did what ever she wanted. It felt great.
She was endlessly thankful to Kanade. She made an entirely knew person out of her.
Her dreams the next few days were filled with Maria. Some harmless, some a bit more reckless, and others completely shameless and depraved. She decided she liked those dreams the most, even if it meant changing the sheets more frequently.
Today was a Sunday. School was closed, and Tsubasa got ready to spend the entire day home, on her computer. Browsing, playing games, whatever she wanted. Who would dare to tell her otherwise?
Her grandfather, apparently. Head of her family. And he had the audacity to command them over to his estate. Command. Like he is some sort of General or whatever.
Seemed like her dad called him a while back, and now he wants to see them both. Unusual. Normally, it was only her dad who went to see him, and only if he got in some kind of trouble. Or what her grandfather considered trouble.
If she was honest, she was scared of her grandfather.
As the car drove into the estate, she thought about Kanade. If she was here with her right now, she'd take the lingering fear away. With a silly sentence or by simply speaking her mind. She'd most likely call her grandfather an old grumpy geezer.
"What's so funny?"
Tsubasa looked over to her dad from the passenger seat. "What do you mean?"
"You just giggled. What's so funny?"
She did? "Oh, nothing. I just thought of something funny."
Apparenty, her father was satisfied with her answer. He shrugged his shoulders and continued focusing on driving towards the large garage, almost half a big as their own house.
Inside were a magnitude of cars. She could not even estimate how many there were. Forty, maybe? All big, bulky SUVs and sports cars. He really must be compensating for something.
"Still something funny on you mind?"
She exited her father's car and made her way towards the mansion. "What does he even want from us?"
Her father regarded her with a strange, unidentifiable look, before answering: "He wanted to speak with us because of the changes that happened to you recently."
Oh, so she was the reason he wanted to see them. He probably got wind of her liking women, and now he wants to talk about it. He probably thinks of it as a phase or whatever. The dumb fucker should mind his own business. God knows it's big enough already.
If she was honest, she didn't like her grandfather.
"So? He has our number. He could have just called."
Again, that strange look from him. Is it… pity?
He sighed. "Please, Tsubasa, promise me that I'll do the talking, okay?"
"Okay, if you think we get out of here faster," was her reluctant reply.
They walked through his big mansion, past expensive paintings, golden statues and large carpets, to a massive two-winged door. That was where is grandfather waited. He loved making himself bigger than he actually is. Helps inflate his massive ego even more.
The doors swung open, seemingly on their own, but Tsubasa knew he had two of his servants pull them open on his command. That prick considered him above opening doors, it seemed. Hopefully, he still wiped his own ass, at least. But who knew, with someone his age…
He was sitting there, on his glamorous zabuton, two additional ones prepared before him. The room was massive, making him look like a tiny angry gnome.
This time, she noticed and thankfully stifled her laugh.
"A good day to you, Father," her dad began. "We came, as you commanded."
The only reply was a grumble, as he waved his hand towards the zabutons.
As soon as the two sat down, he began speaking: "I heard you have been causing trouble, Tsubasa." His voice was coarse, but strong. It seemed to boom from every corner of the room at once. He noticed her father shrink a bit upon hearing his voice. "You stayed absent from the school for which I pay, so you could take a stroll in the city. You got in fights, too, I heard. With your teachers, even."
As if he was never young.
"This is unacceptable. I will not hear about any more misconducts in this regard. Did I make myself clear?"
His head was red like a tomato. He was so enraged, it looked like he was close to an aneurism.
Funny.
"May I know why you are laughing?" he screamed at her. But the more he yelled, the redder his head became, causing Tsubasa to giggle even harder.
Her father tried to intervene. "Please, father, this is something else I want to explain to you. You see, she is…"
"Oh, I know what she is. A disrespectful little brat! I am disappointed in you, Yatsuhiro," he growled at her father.
He did not notice how Tsubasa abruptly stopped giggling.
"Not only did you disregard your parenting. No, you also let her develop an interest in women. She turned into a freak, unworthy of so much as carrying the Kazanari name. If she can't produce an heir, she is worthless!"
Oh, so that's how it was then, huh? Seemed like Kanade was right. He is nothing more than an old dusty shithead, living in the fucking past. How dared he? How fucking dared he try to judge her? Try to insult her father? This pathetic excuse of a human being was the worthless one! Nobody liked him! He could have died and no one would have missed him. She would have laughed. Laughed loud. And a lot. She could have KILLED him and nothing would have changed. Kanade was right.
Kanade was FUCKING RIGHT!
"Hey!" she yelled out. "How fucking dare you?"
Calling the expressions on the men's faces shocks would have been a massive understatement. Her father seemed to lose every bit of color, while her grandfather's eyes were wide as traffic lights.
"You shitty, fucking old fart! I knew I shouldn't have come here! Who the fuck do you think you are, acting like you own me? You don't own fucking shit! You sit here, in your mansion all high and mighty, and think you…"
That's all she got out, as her father grabbed her in panic and pulled her out of the room. Two of the men standing guard outside the room were ready to jump her, but when they recognized her and her father, they stepped back a bit.
Her father held the struggling girl tightly. He was sure he hurt her, but he had to get her out of here.
Tsubasa fought, kicked, screamed, as she was dragged away from her grandfather, who, with a look of utter confusion and concern, looked after them from the doorframe.
In the garage, he noticed she had calmed down, and risked letting go of her wrists. He crouched down, to look into her eyes, and asked: "Tsubasa, can you hear me?" His voice sounded stressed and covered, as if he was close to tears.
Tsubasa's vision was blurry. She was not really sure what just happened, or where she was. But she heard a familiar voice, and willed herself to focus on it. And slowly, the room they were in took shape again. She saw her grandfather's car, the sun shining though the windows in the garage gate, and finally, the worried face of her father.
"Dad?"
Tsubasa was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. She felt something wet drop on her shoulder. Her father held her for a solid minute, seemingly scared to lose her.
He let go of her and dried his tears. "Get in the car, honey."
Tsubasa did as she was told, mostly because she was confused and did not know what the fuck was going on. Her father started the car and drove it out of the garage.
"Are we going home already?"
He sniffed a few times, before answering: "No, we're going to see a friend of yours."