Chapter 14: Attitude Adjustment

His brother's revelation rested heavily on his shoulders. Involuntarily, his vision darted out of the kitchen, as if it could reach around the corner towards Tsubasa's room. He was unsure how to reply to what he just heard, causing the room to fall into an eerie silence. When he finally spoke, it was not very articulate, but entirely accurate.

"That's fucked, man."

Yatsuhiro looked down into his coffee cup and nodded. "Yeah. It hurts me to see her like this. Every time I look into her face I want to cry."

"And that Dr. Eve can help her, you said?" Genjuro eyes the smartphone with which his brother did a call to the woman not a minute after the situation in the store.

"I hope," he sighed. "The pills she gave her seemed to have worked in regards to her hallucinations, but this outburst was something else. She never did that before."

"God, I did not know what to think back there. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if you didn't react when you did."

"I saw the look in her eyes," Yatsuhiro said, resting his elbows on the table and his face in his raised hands. "She wanted to hit the kid. If I did not pull her away, she would have hurt the boy, no doubts about it." His shoulders started to shake as he tried to fight the tears. "That's not my little girl."

Genjuro hastily rounded the table and put his arm around his brother's shoulders for comfort. "If I can help you two in any way, please, just ask."

"Thank you," Yatsuhiro said, trying to collect himself. He didn't like showing this much emotion in front of his family.

Genjuro shifted his attention to the kitchen clock. "I hope she'll get here soon."

The second he sat a cursing Tsubasa into his car, he pulled out his phone and gave Maria a call. As he told her what happened, she grew increasingly concerned and agreed to drive over to see the girl immediately. This was fifteen minutes ago.

"Yeah, she should be here any minute now," Yatsuhiro sighed out.

"I still don't know what to think. So, she hung out with a girl that was only in her head? Don't take this the wrong way, but that sounds like something you'd see in movies."

Yatsuhiro nodded. "I remember the day her teacher called me. It was the day after she skipped school. She told me she saw Tsubasa yell at nothing. I was so confused at first. She told me Tsubasa said she argued with a friend, but there was no one there besides my little girl at the tree where she always sits."

"And the teacher suggested to contact this Dr. Eve?"

"Yeah. She told me she knew a child psychiatrist and asked me if she could call her to take a look at Tsubasa."

"And she figured out what was wrong with her?"

"Not at first. She talked to her a few times, trying to open her up, you see? Luckily, Tsubasa is rather fond of her, so she trusted her, told her about what happened."

Genjuro arched an eyebrow. He knew Tsubasa, she was always a quiet girl, not one for just talking to people. And that Eve managed to get her to spill the beans, so to speak? "Seems like the woman knows her craft…" His voice trailed off at the end, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I told you about the girl earlier…"

"Oh, I am so sorry," Yatsuhiro interrupted him, "you wanted to tell me about her."

His brother shook his head. "Don't be. Tsubasa is more important right now. But I was thinking, that maybe this Dr. Eve can take a look at my future daughter, you know? I wanna help her as best as I can, after all."

"Do you want to tell me what happened to her?" Yatsuhiro asked carefully.

Genjuro sighed out. "Well, you remember I told you it was related to my work. We investigated a drug trafficking organization. Turned out, the deeper we dug, the worse it got. It wasn't just trafficking drugs. They smuggled guns, they forced women into prostitution. And not just adult women."

Yatsuhiro's eyes almost bulged out of his head when he realized what his brother implied. "Holy shit", he whispered in shock.

Genjuro nodded. "She went through a lot. She has no family, no parents. When I saw her, so scared, my heart just broke. You should have seen her eyes. There was so much sadness in them, I just wanted to hug her, you know? Immediately, I asked if it was possible that I could adopt her. Of course, I'll have to wait after the medical check-up, and then I wanted to recommend Ms. Eve to the doctors there, if possible."

Finally, after a few more minutes, the doorbell rang. It was Maria. She quickly greeted Yatsuhiro and Genjuro and immediately asked questions to assess the situation. She grew more and more concerned the more she heard of what happened, and decided to talk to the young girl.

"Basa?" she called out through the door, "it's me, Maria. I want to talk to you. Can you open the door?" Maria knew her door wasn't actually locked, of course. But she wanted Tsubasa herself to initiate, to show her she trusted her.

Maria heard movement from behind the door, steps growing closer, and finally, the door opened. A disheveled young girl stood there, eyeing her for maybe a second longer than needed, as if she had to make sure her eyes did not play tricks on her. Quickly, she stepped aside to allow Maria to enter.

"Thank you," Maria said with a tiny smile. She took a seat on Tsubasa's bed, letting her vision dart around the room. It was dirty. Clothes everywhere, dust in the corners, dishes and old food on the desk. Tsubasa did not look better. Her hair was a mess, and the items she wore looked like they haven't seen a washing machine in days.

The young girl took a seat at her desk, before Maria asked: "How do you feel?"

"Okay," Tsubasa replied.

"Are you sure?" Maria asked concerned. "Your father told me you yelled at a child today."

Tsubasa sighed and fell back into her chair. "I was just angry at that shit, okay? He was yelling like crazy and I just wanted him to stop. And that fucking bitch of a mother did nothing!"

"You don't mean it," Maria intervened.

Tsubasa huffed in reply. "She was ignoring him. What else should I have done?"

"Not insult him, for one, don't you think?"

"He deserved it," she grumbled out, crossing her arms.

Maria sighed. She studied the girl for a second time, paid attention to how she moved, how her eyes looked, anything that would give her a hint about what was wrong with her. "How do you feel?" she asked her again.

Tsubasa sighed. "Okay, yeah, I don't feel so good, okay?"

"How so?"

"Everything and everyone just pisses me off. I wish the entire world would just disappear."

"Hm," replied Maria. She scanned the girl's desk. She was looking for something. "How is your hallucination?"

Tsubasa's eyes darted over into the far corner of her room, opposite the door. Kanade stood there, her eyes fixated on her, as if throwing daggers from them. "She is silent."

"But still there?" Maria confirmed.

Tsubasa nodded. "Yeah. I doesn't really matter where I am, she is always there, somewhere."

"So, you still take the pills then?"

"I do, yeah", Tsubasa said. She reached behind the monitor of her desktop pc and pulled out the box of her medicine. It was open, and a good number of pills were missing.

Maria smiled warmly. She was honestly concerned if Tsubasa would keep taking them. She heard about many cases where patients thought the pills were poison or something similarly lethal, forcing the doctors to resort to tricks and deception.

"I want you to stop taking them."

Tsubasa, her face full of surprise and shock, looked at Maria like she was the insane one. "What?" was her short reaction.

"I believe the reason why you feel so bad is because of those pills. And I don't want you do feel even worse and then maybe do something you would regret later. So, I want you to stop taking the pills. Just for a few weeks, to see if it changes anything."

Tsubasa pointed over to the corner of the room. "But… what would happen with Kanade?"

Maria kept her eyes focused on the young girl. "She will most likely speak to you again. But that's why I want you to come over to my office once a week starting next Monday."

Tsubasa was concerned. She should stop taking the pills? Kanade was silent for days now, what would she say when she spoke again? Would she be angry? Disappointed? Sad?

"Don't worry," Maria said, pulling the girl out of her thoughts. "Everything will be okay. And you have my number. If something happens never hesitate to call me, okay?"

The young girl was still hesitant, but nodded. She put the package of pills back behind the monitor, and asked: "What… what if she says things again I don't want her to say?"

"Tell her," Maria replied. "She is not you, remember that. She might be in your head, but she doesn't control you."

Tsubasa's eyes darted back towards Kanade. She was scared of her starting talking again. Who knew what she would say?

Maria pulled out a little notepad and pencil. "I want you to come to my office next Tuesday. I was to supervise your progress a bit better." She scribbled the time and date down and handed the ripped-out page to Tsubasa.

"Okay," the young girl replied.

Maria smiled at her, but her eyes conveyed a trace of sadness. "I am sorry, Basa. But I will help you get through this, don't worry."

Tsubasa felt a tug at her heartstrings. How was this woman so beautiful and perfect? A sting in her eyes made her aware that she was about to cry. But she didn't want to, not in front of Maria!

"Tsubasa?" came Maria's concerned voice. "What's wrong?"

Quickly wiping her eyes, she said: "I… I don't know."

She heard Maria get up from the bed and approach her. She felt her hand on her shoulder as the woman kneeled before her and spoke: "Don't worry about it. Crying is good. So just go ahead."

But Tsubasa did not keep crying. Instead, she took the opportunity to do something she wanted to do since she knew the woman. Something that took Maria by surprise: She snaked her arms around the woman's neck and pulled her into a tight embrace.

For a few seconds, Maria was pretty much speechless. Slowly, carefully, she raised her other hand and put it on the young girl's other shoulder. "Tsu… Tsubasa?"

Tsubasa let the feeling of the warmth and softness of Maria's skin wash over her. The feeling of Maria's cheek on her own, her back under her hands… It was bliss. Tsubasa took a shaky breath, taking in the intoxicating smell of the woman's hair and body. She wanted to never let go.

But she had to. She felt a gentle push on her shoulders, and heard Maria call her name again. She fought down the urge to hug her even tighter, and instead, with every inch of her body begging her not to, let go of Maria and leaned back into her chair again. "I… I am sorry."

Maria's hand trailed over Tsubasa's cheek as she said: "Don't be. You did nothing wrong. Just… just ask me next time, okay? You surprised me a bit."

Tsubasa did not dare to look her into the eyes. She simply nodded in embarrassment.

And as such, she missed Maria's gentle smile as she got up and turned to leave the room. "See you on Tuesday."

Yatsuhiro almost seemed to jump out of the kitchen when he heard Maria leave Tsubasa's room. "How is she?"

Maria joined the two men at the kitchen table. "Bad. Her hallucinations are in check; however, it seems she suffers from depression. The problem is, the pills she took to deal with Kanade have the side effect of worsening existing depression."

"Poor girl…" Yatsuhiro sighed.

"I told her to stop taking the pills for the time being. That will make Kanade active again and interact with her again, so be warry of that. I told her to come visit me in my office on Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon. I want to keep an eye on her. She is very on edge."

"Of course, doctor. We will be there," Tsubasa's father replied.

Maria threw a quick look at her watch and decided it was time to leave. She was about to say her goodbye and leave the house, when Genjuro said to her: "Oh, doctor, there is something I want to talk to you about, if you got the time."