Why? why did Gyutaro say that? It doesn't make any sense?
She waited until the weekend to head over, banging loudly on their door, but no one answered. Absolutely nothing. No knocks, no glimpses of the siblings, nothing at all. The silence was deafening. She knew it had something to do with the strange door knock she got. But there wasn't much else she could do.
Several weeks went by until finally one night she was roused from a dead sleep by panicked banging.
Marin wipes drool from her mouth and throws her hair up in a ponytail. She could be forgiven for thinking she was getting a complete night's sleep and not be as dolled up as normal.
She didn't even bother putting in her contacts, as her phone read 1:49AM again. So after fishing out her black-rimmed glasses, she threw on the nearest shirt and a high-waisted skort she didn't know she had and headed down.
She worried for a moment it might be the brother again, but threw the thought out when she realized the banging was far more delicate. It had far less force than when he banged on it. There was some muffled shouting through the door as well, a feminine voice, but it was hard to make out the words. She peeked through the peephole and quickly undid the lock. "Daki?"
She's standing at the door in the most adorable oriental lingerie ever. With ornate pins and pearls in her hair, holding it up, she had on pink eyeshadow and a ball gag in her mouth with handcuffs on her wrists and a silk robe falling off her shoulders. There are tears in her eyes as she holds up her hands, shaking them.
Marin wakes up quickly after that.
"Holy shit," she immediately focused on the gag. It has a strange buckle, but after a bit of wiggling, getting off. She spits on her step, flexing her jaw and wiggling her tongue. "Gyu left!" She says furiously, tears of anger and shame in her eyes. "He got called for work while I was mid-shoot and left, and when I was done, I lost the key! And he's not answering his phone- "
"I hear you, I hear you." She looks like she was about to fall apart on her doorstep, so she figured there was no time to contemplate. She grabbed her house key and phone and was about to run out when she remembered something...
"oh my god, she claps her red coffin nails together. I know the perfect thing, to find a missing key. Hang on!" she runs and grabs her metal detector before running back to Daki. "Why do you have one of those?"
"Gojo bought it for a cosplay, but instead of returning it, we pretended to be pirates looking for booty at the beach." She taps the metal detector triumphantly. "Now let's go find that key."
It's hard to tell if she's crying or just having a tantrum, but she is without question cursing out her brother. Spouting things like: He abandoned her in her time of need, he shouldn't be doing his stupid job since she makes more money than him, she hates him for leaving and, of course, "He should drop dead!"
"Daki don't say that." Marin scolds.
"sometimes I wish he wasn't my brother..." that time sounded more sentimental, so Marin let it go.
Their house was messy. A lot of the things inside didn't have a proper place to go and were scattered. "Did you... punch holes in your walls?" she asks at the damage in the drywall. A fist? Or maybe small objects thrown?
Daki ignores her, sprinting up the stairs, her bare feet slamming on the wood.
Perhaps it wasn't her decision to cut off communication. After all, maybe it was her brother's alone. She runs up the stairwell two at a time, gripping the bannister for support to the top of the stairs. Daki's studio was lit with a beautiful gradient of red, pink and purple lighting that gave the same aesthetic as brothels of old. She had tatami mats on the floor, red and brown backdrops, a comfy reclined chair and RnB music playing in the background. Daia's playlist, she noted.
There were lights and cameras all over the room aiming to catch the perfect view without unflattering shadows. Her computer was in the corner, out of sight, with another chair for editing. She also had a pink neon sign that flashed on the wall: beauty is your weapon to wield." feels like a horror movie with your brother hating my guts, so where did you last remember seeing it?" She asks.
"I put it on the table," she points with both cuffed fingers towards the wreckage of a wicker table upended on the floor. There were various tools and other supplies scattered everywhere. Tools being the conservative word for it. "I tripped into it."
"Are the handcuffs too tight?" she asked instead.
She wiggles her wrists slightly. "No, this isn't my first time. I just... can usually get out of them." She looks at the floor again. "People like handcuffs, but they like ropes better, or the sashes."
"Yea totally! I use sashes all the time, many anime cosplays use them, plus I think they're beautiful. Chains and handcuffs hurt my neck and wrists after a while."
"Tell me about it," she says with a sigh.
Marin began scanning for the key. "oh what the hell..." the metal detector kept going off everywhere. "Fuck, I forgot this is the second floor. This won't work the piping in the floor is messing it up." She looks around, "hm... what can we use?"
she was so concentrated at the task at hand she didn't hear Daki clearing her throat to get her attention.
"oh" Marin grins "quick hand me those nipple clamps, I'll use them as a magnet to pull it out of the floorboard!"
"Marin!" Daki yells, stealing her attention, "Yes, Daki?" She asks, wondering why she was wasting time. She isn't moving anymore, if the lack of shuffling is anything to go based on, but she sounded calmer and less like she's going to curse out anything that mildly inconveniences here.
"do you watch my content, Marin?"
"Huh? Of course!" she said a bit too eagerly, much to Daki's horror, "you know I meant my OF account, right?!"
"I don't watch porn duckie. I'm only subbed to your gram."
"Yes, you do..." she retorts matter-of fact, "we watch it all the time at your place,"
Marin flushes. "No! eroge is different!"
"It's still anime porn," she challenges, gesturing to her own lingerie. It took a minute but when Marin notices she shouts, "Whaaaaa?!"
"Yeah idiot," Daki chastises with a shake of her head. "So you weren't stuck?!" she pointed to Daki's now freed hands.
"No, of course not, stupid." She drops the cuffs to the floor with a clink. "What the fuck? Was this all your brother's test?" Marin whines, embarrassed. Daki turns around slightly offended, but more than anything, she is glum. "no. It was my idea."
"I don't understand."
"I duped you, moron!" she shakes her head. "I wanted to see if you'd actually help."
"Why?" Marin truly didn't get it. "To see if anything could scare you off." She says cryptically, What the fuck did that mean? Did she mean Gyutaro? "Daki, I know your brother means well deep down- "
"No, not him." She dismisses with a sigh, sitting down cross-legged in front of her, "Marin, there are people in this world who are actually fucking sick. They make Gyutaro look like a saint by comparison. In fact, he's only the way he is because of those same people."
"I dont understa- "
"You asked me a while back what I wanted people to know about us they didn't already know. Do you remember?"
She nodded. "I've been thinking about your question ever since you asked. Nobody has ever asked me that before." She stared aimlessly at her pink walls.
"I asked because I used to think you guys didn't have a particularly good relationship." THAT made her look up. Marin thought about stopping, but seeing that sad, knowing look on Daki's face made her continue.
"I mean, I was wrong, obviously. Yes, siblings fight all the time, but with you two, the words always had a particular harshness to it... or it could be me. I don't really know. I probably shouldn't judge."
"You're right, you shouldn't." She said coldly, but Marin could sense it was a defense mechanism masking the obvious hurt she felt about her brother not being there. Missing him. Maybe to each other it seemed weak to say they care, but at the very least, she trusted Marín enough to confide the truth that she cares... a lot.
She thought back to the tramp in her town everyone had made fun of. She told Daki that the woman was very confident, but that was only in public.
"Remember that tramp everyone would make fun of? I told you I wanted to be like her, but..." she rubbed both her eyebrows, "One time I caught her crying, in a parked car where she thought nobody could see. I can only assume why." She paused.
Daki laughs. Not a cruel sound, but something genuinely amused. She sits back on the floor, with that warm amusement rubbing her wrists again, thoughtful, then finally speaks. "Listen, to answer that question... what I want people to know about me is mostly how I want them to think of me. What I need to do to get the right response."
"Modeling is perfect for you, then."
"Oh, fuck yeah it is, not like you would know miss teen magazine." She elbows her hard, but she meant well. "but there are things that are mine and only mine, and things that are ours. So... you can't tell anyone what aim about to say. Do you understand?"
She nods, her dyed strawberry blonde hair bobbing up and down, like a lion's mane. "No, I need you to say it, Tig Bitties "Daki sits up on her haunches and pokes Marin in boob, making her jolt from her long acrylic nail digging into her skin. "If you wanna help us, don't fuck us. Do you understand?"
The weight of the moment settles in. She wasn't just speaking for herself, but on her brother's behalf as well. Despite being told she isn't allowed to see or interact at all, Daki still reached out. And all she's asking in return was silence.
She pounds her chest. "I'll treat it like the nuclear launch codes. I promise, Daki, I will not tell anyone. Not a soul," she says firmly.
She stares into her eyes for another long moment, still testing, Marin assumes. Then she speaks again. "They all said that we were doing illegal stuff, right? That my brother and I are troublemakers? That's why no one wanted to live next to us. And.." she gauges Marin's eyes, "I know they think we had something to do with the brick in your house." Marin gulps uncomfortably, knowing this would be the inevitable result of the entire neighborhood seeing the police at her home, but daki continues, "You two bring the property values of the whole neighborhood down, what will people think?"
Her voice goes deep and growly in imitation of someone who clearly lives nearby, and she grins. It's a ferocious smile, a daring one.
"They can think whatever they want about us. All they need to know is that no matter what, it's my brother and I against the world. No matter what happens, he's my big brother and I'm his little sister. And nothing can get in the way of that. Nothing ever will. "
"Yeah, I figured it was like that. It's clear you love each other very much, even when you're both shouting the house down." She threw her hands up over her head. Daki laughs, but this seems a little softer, less angry. "Just because we love each other doesn't mean we get along all the time.""
"Perfectly understandable." She climbs to her feet.
"Marin,"
"Hm?" Daki eyed her, her for a moment. "You don't seem scared by us at all. That's a big deal, maybe not for you, but it is for me. Ive racked my brain a million times over and not once has anyone spoke of my brother the Same way you do. I think can confidently say you're the only person in the entire world who sees him like me." she clears her throat,
"What I'm trying to say is..." she tapped her nails on her forearm in discomfort, not able to say the words, "what I wanna say is..." she gave a frustrated sigh, "ugh... look, you're no chickenshit, I can see that, so if you can just... show him that too..."
Marin let what she said sink in. She expected a simple thank you, but what his sister was offering ended up being far better than that. Daki provided a road map, assuming Marin wanted to pursue it. Marin bowed her head, shutting her eyes tightly. "I get it. I understand... but next time a simple thank you will suffice too," she smiled.
"In your dreams," she retorts, pouting. "He'll be back here any minute now. So if you don't wanna get caught, hurry up!" the words were harsh, but her tone playful. They walk down the stairs, chattering away about her next shoot plans that will make up for the handcuff fiasco.
She puts her hand on the front door to open it, only for it to open from the other direction. Daki reacts instantaneously, fist clenched, drawn back to land a blow on whoever is barging in-
-only for Gyutaro to catch it in his bony palm.
"You gonna do me like that, sister?"he whines, pushing the door open all the way, holding her hand."That hurts me, you know."
Oh, no...
This is literally the worst thing that could've ever happened.