Chapter 8 – Storm Watch
At lunch she sat beside him and he handed her a hastily procured tako ball from a street vendor's cart.
"I can't believe I forgot my bento box," she mourned. "But my neighbor showed me this article about us in a magazine and I got so flustered. What if my mother saw it, I haven't had time to speak to her yet, prepare her…" she trailed off as she saw a look of anger cross his face.
"She saw it." His voice was frozen over and she felt suddenly faint.
"How do you know?"
"Because she told my mother all about it." The tightness in his jaw bespoke a deep anger and Yumi's stomach plummeted into her shoes.
"What did she say?" the question came out as barely a whisper and his eyes when they turned to her flashed sudden concern.
"It's okay, Yumi, she can't stop me from caring about you!" he reassured her and she let out the breath she had been holding. "You were right though, she doesn't approve of me, or my family, I left the house before she did so I don't know how Mom got rid of her."
"Your house? She went to your house?" Sudden rage swept through her as she imagined sweet Miyumi-san confronted with her icy cold mother in full "Great Lady" mode.
"Mother was somewhat taken aback," he admitted and fury threatened to overwhelm Yumi.
"I must apologize to your mother! I am so sorry!" She was stammering, feeling utterly furious and humiliated. "What she must think of me!"
"Yumi-chan!" Tsubasa cried and she felt his hands wrapping around her own, where they were clenched in her lap. "It's okay, we have faced down a dark God, your mother is hardly a challenge for us." He smiled at her and she found her anger fading, though her embarrassment was still there.
"It's nice to know that mother isn't quite as bad as a dark God," she murmured, still unsure, but he laughed and squeezed her hands again before letting go. His phone rang and he sighed, but she shook her head. "I need to get back to work anyway."
"I will see you after work," he assured her and she smiled at him, feeling warm and happy. He had faced her mother and still wanted to be with her. It was going to be all right.
She would have to call her father though and see what could be done.
In the history of miserable evenings, this one had to be the worst, Yumi decided. The restaurant was elegant and expensive, chosen no doubt by her mother so as to intimidate the Ozu family. After the morning's visit, Yumi hadn't imagined that the dinner her father had planned for them would still happen, but she had underestimated her mother. She sat there in her tailored clothes, looking coolly elegant and refined, staring down her nose at Tsubasa and his family.
One raised brow had sent Makito into a stuttering nervousness and then Yumi had watched him fall silent, something she hadn't imagined him capable of. Houka and Kai were equally quiet, leaving Tsubasa, Yumi, and her father as the only ones talking. Isamu and Miyuki spoke, but they kept their sentences short and noncommittal. Isamu especially looked as though he wanted nothing more than to either make a very cutting remark or escape quickly, his lips were pressed together so hard she was afraid he might hurt himself.
Tsubasa squeezed her hand under the table and she shot him a look of affection. His family was not happy to be there, but they were putting up with her mother for his sake. She was deeply grateful, but also frightened that despite his brave words of this afternoon her mother would succeed in driving him away.
"I did not quite catch what you do, Ozu-san?" Yukio asked in a blandly polite voice. Isamu blinked at her in surprise.
"Perhaps because I had not mentioned it?" he replied, his tone polite, but his eyes flashing.
"Isamu is an explorer," Miyuki cut in. "He leads expeditions to bring back botanical specimens and such." Her soothing tones were meant to diffuse the tension in the room, but even she was hard pressed to stay calm as Yukio's surprised countenance managed to convey without words how little she thought of such a profession.
"Mother…" Yumi began, her voice decidedly unsteady. She would not just sit here and let her insult Tsubasa's family like this.
"I have made a great deal of progress in my research lately," her father interrupted somewhat loudly, "hopefully my theorem should be complete in a few months." It was an awkward interjection, but it served to give an opening to Miyuki.
"How interesting, please tell us about your research." The next half hour was taken up with her father explaining his theories on quantum entanglement and while it was probably not the most scintillating of subjects, it served to turn her mother away from baiting the Ozus.
By desert even her father looked weary of the constant attempts to keep the conversation civil. Yumi could feel tears pricking behind her eyes as she watched the happy cheerful Ozu clan reduced to morose one syllable replies. Only Miyuki and her father were left to maintain the charade of friendly conversation.
"Tsubasa-san, what will you do after you have stopped boxing?" Yukio asked her boyfriend suddenly. He looked her steadily in the eye as he answered, apparently still undaunted by her.
"I was going to teach young boxers at Jun-sensei's gym. He was a great boxer once himself, " he answered softly.
Something happened then, her mother's face froze over and her father went pale.
"Tsukade Jun?" her mother asked with her teeth clenched.
"Uh, yes, do you know him?" Tsubasa seemed as startled as Yumi herself was. Her mother knew the name of a boxer?
"We were acquainted once," she answered, her voice gone cool and remote again, but Yumi saw her father wince and she wondered at it.
"I had no idea," Yumi answered him later and Tsubasa shook his head. After the revelation that her mother knew his trainer, the conversation had gone more smoothly, if only because Yukio hadn't said another word after that. "I can't imagine how she would have met him. She was the daughter of a great family, she always had servants, chauffeurs, she told me her parents never let her go anywhere that wasn't carefully checked out first."
Tsubasa was horrified by her words, Yumi said it offhand, as though it were nothing, but he couldn't imagine being so sheltered and controlled.
I suppose we could ask Jun-sensei," he answered but Yumi frowned.
"Something about it made my father very uncomfortable, I think that we should leave it alone." She seemed pensive and he wondered if it were love of her father, or some small premonition that was driving her thoughts. Still, if it was something painful, he didn't want to hurt Jun-sensei either.
The next day at practice he was angry and distracted, though and Jun-sensei was watching him with a frown.
"What happened last night?" he asked and Tsubasa couldn't think of any reason not to tell him.
"Yumi-chan's mother is what happened," he grimaced and the older man snorted in amusement.
"Doesn't like you, eh?" There was some bitter amusement there, but also a touch of empathy that surprised Tsubasa.
"Not much, no. Kimura Yukio is a cold hearted witch!" he grumbled, thinking more of the miserable childhood Yumi had suffered through than the conversation from last night.
"Yukio?" Jun-sensei asked with a sudden harshness to his voice that made Tsubasa look up at him in surprise. "You don't know what her maiden name was, do you?" Whatever had been in his mentor's voice before was now absent and Tsubasa wondered if he had imagined it.
"How could I not, she made sure to mention it several times during the meal! She was born Maeda Yukio." If he had not been looking right at Jun-sensei he would never have seen the tightening of his mouth or the way his body seemed to flinch as though from a blow.
"Ah ha! Well, isn't that interesting. Sorry you had a bad evening!" Higa-san said suddenly, interrupting the discussion and stepping between Tsubasa and his trainer. He let himself be distracted from the conversation only because he had a sudden suspicion that he had stepped into something both more painful and more private than he had imagined.
Chi-chan had arrived that morning seeming distracted and unfocused. Her normally cheerful demeanor was absent and she didn't even have a smile for Yumi, which was very strange. She sang with all her usual skill and ability, but there was a melancholy air to even the most upbeat of pop songs. By lunchtime Sato-buchõ was sounding worried from the booth and called of the rest of the session.
Chi-chan went home looking, if anything, more morose than when she had arrived that morning. Yumi was very worried for her,
Stepping out of the studio she caught sight of Tsubasa standing by the fountain watching clouds gathering on the horizon.
"It's early in the year for a storm," she commented, slipped her hand into his.
"I know, it's strange," he replied, his fingers warm and solid, as they stood holding hands and watching the sky.
"Do you mind if we go visit Chi-chan? She was very upset today and I'm worried about her." She was biting her lip, hoping that he wouldn't mind too much. He frowned, but his answer warmed her heart.
"Upset? Of course we should go see her, maybe we can do something to help." He looked genuinely concerned and she smiled up at him. He was the most wonderful man ever, she decided.
They were on the landing to her apartment when the premonition hit. Yumi shivered and stopped Tsubasa from ringing the bell. She had a sudden feeling of overwhelming fear and when he looked at her enquiringly, she patted the pocket where he kept his Magiphone. His eyes widened and he moved to the side of the door, drawing out the phone.
Yumi knocked lightly on the door and wasn't completely surprised when the door swung open silently on its hinges. She had planned to step back but to her consternation she found her feet moving her forwards of their own volition. She shot a panicked look at Tsubasa as a sudden wind sucked her into the apartment and the door slammed shut behind her.
Tsubasa watched in horror as Yumi was drawn into the room by a violent wind, her face was filled with fear and he grabbed at her, but she was gone and the door shut behind her with a loud bang.
He dialed his mother and before she had a chance to say more than "Mo…" he gave her the address in a voice far more calm than the panicked beating of his heart and told him to bring the family as fast as she could.
He put his hand against the door and a sudden shock sent him flying back against the opposite wall and his vision exploded in red and white sparkles.
Yumi pulled her head up from the floor where she had fallen and looked around the room. Huge spider webs hung from the ceiling, looking surreal against the wood paneling and elegant furniture of the apartment. Wrapped in cocoons, their heads the only free part of them were Chi-chan and the five members of her retinue. They were awake and staring at her, eyes wide in horror and fear. Their mouths were gagged by more of the webs, and they were stuck to the walls in different parts of the room. Chi-chan was crying and Yumi pulled herself to her feet and still feeling dizzy and winded, lurched towards the idol.
Webbing shot at her through the doorway into the kitchen and Yumi felt it coming a moment before it struck. She threw herself to the side, dodging it and screamed.
"Help me!"
"Help me!" Yumi's scream was both frightened and angry and he hauled himself to his feet with some difficulty. He suspected that he had a broken rib or two, but it was a minor consideration with Yumi trapped inside with heaven knew what. He transformed and this time just blasted the door open with his crossbow.
The time for subtlety was over.
She watched the bloated figure of the spider woman crawl out of the kitchen and across the ceiling with horror and revulsion. She had the face, arms, and torso of a beautiful girl, but the rest of her body was something out of a nightmare. The creature smiled and sharp fanged teeth glinted at Yumi in the afternoon sun that streamed through the windows. She felt the chill of a premonition and quickly dodged the next spray of webbing, rolling frantically away from the creature.
The front door exploded open with a sound like a sonic boom and Yumi kept moving, wanting to be sure that she was out of Tsubasa's way as he came in. He was in his Magi Yellow form now and the last thing she wanted to do was distract him.
She crawled behind the couch and put her head down, trusting in her special sense to warn her of danger.
Tsubasa knew his family would be here soon, so he moved cautiously further into the room, he4 just had to keep the Yumi and the others safe until the family arrived. Yumi, he saw, had quickly sought cover and he felt a flash of pride in how well she kept her cool under fire.
"Magician…" The spider woman growled and he shifted his feet in anticipation of her attack. She spat webbing at him and he deflected it with his bow caster, feeling the sheer power of the attack drive him back a step. From nearby, he spotted the woman who had chatted with him at the studio, Chi-chan, and the other members of her staff webbed against the walls. Their terrified faces looked down at him with silent pleas for assistance and he felt a burst of anger at the demon. They were good people and they didn't deserve to be terrorized like this.
"Demon!" He shouted and cast a bolt of lightening at her. She dodged nimbly, her eight legs giving her great speed and agility. She was moving past him towards the couch again.
"You are not my prey, Magician, give me the Clear Sighted one and you can have the rest of them!" She informed him in a voice filled with malice and cruelty. Clear sighted one? What was she talking about? Tsubasa was baffled until he saw the webbing shooting out at Yumi again.
Amazingly, she rolled away an instant before the attack could connect with her and it hit the ground inches behind her.
"No!" he cried as she flung herself away from another attack. He flung himself at the spider woman, frantically attacking her, trying to draw her away from his girlfriend. He didn't know why she was his target, but he would die before he let anything happen to her.
"Magician!" Yumi's scream warned him of his danger as the monster spat more webbing at him. It impacted his chest and blasted him back against the wall.
The monster leaped at him and Yumi screamed in terror for him. A blast of ice hit the spider woman in the side and drove her away from Tsubasa and another blast, this time of fire, freed him from the webbing.
His parents charged into the room, spells blasting from their wands and the spider woman screamed again and then exploded into a mass of black webbing that caught fire and burned away to ashes under the combined powers of his parent's magics.
Wolzard Fire, red armor gleaming, turned to rescue the trapped people, while Magimother went to help Yumi. Tsubasa, still in his armor, watched as Yumi smiled up at his mother and thanked her very politely, as she might a stranger. Thinking back, he realized that, even as terrified as she must have been, she had never revealed his identity to Chi-chan and the others.
"Everyone all right?" he asked and the bedraggled idol singer nodded.
"Yumi," she wailed. "I'm so sorry, it said it would free the others if I got you to come here. Pleases forgive me!" Chi-chan was deeply distraught, but Tsubasa was touched by her loyalty to the others, they were obviously not just employees to her, but trusted friends.
"You did exactly right!" Yumi assured her and gave the younger girl a quick hug. "I would have been mad at you if you hadn't tried to save everyone!" Chi-chan hugged Yumi back, tears still falling down her face and Tsubasa remembered just how young the girl was. "Besides the Magicians saved us, so everything is fine!"
Tsubasa and his parents were thanked by the whole group and then they slipped out. Yumi looked up and gave him a nod as he left and he returned it. She understood why he had to go and he loved her all the more for her courage and strength.