Mafuyu spent the first 17 years of his life learning to long for perfection, and proving his worth. He was then kicked out of the house, and those who tried to help him are either rotting in jail, or dead. He kept making mistakes, and with each of them the more people he hurts, and the more he hurt.

It took him four years to unlearn the insults he's heard, and it took four to learn his worth.

"[...]I have tried speaking to him, but he would not listen. Mafuyu. You know your father is stubborn, and the situation wasn't pretty. Natsu's death have placed a strain on our reputation, and now Akiichi's case- the surviving victim was one of the ancient Yokai's sworn sibling, they are our ally, but this has crossed a line. We are quickly losing favour from all sides.

There is more pressure from Constella for evidence, now. The Nanakasa Mercenaries' name have been tarnished. I have told Azuma that he ought to speak to you, since you are the only heir now and having you handle some of these matters would help things along— But he wouldn't budge. And while Haruka may be an option, we both know your father would rather die than allow a woman to inherit the position."

Letter from Nanakasa Nadeshiko to Nanakasa Mafuyu, regarding his father, Nanakasa Azuma, former head of house.

"I don't know." Kurokocchi's next words are followed with the aversion of his eyes, head turning away to stare somewhere off to the side. There's an odd look to his pale blue eyes, Ryota notices, not like a lie but like omission. "It's true that I started to question Teikou's ideology. Back then, I felt like we were missing something." His eyes lower, and he almost looks like he's about to speak more, but he closes his mouth, and falls silent. So Ryota voices his thoughts- before silence actually falls round them.

"Sports are all about winning, isn't it? It's competitive sports," he asks, tilting his head, what's the point then? People don't just train and work after all that time to lose, "what could be more important?"

"I thought the same, before." His reply as he stared down at the basketball in his hand sounds off. Ryota isn't sure what's going on, but there's a look of something on Kurokocchi's face, and he doesn't like it- he wants it to go away. "But something wasn't right, with Teikou. And I'm sure of that, and I know," there's a pause, and his brows crinkle like he's trying to find words, holding the ball, palms pressing against the lurid orange surface, before he finally speaks, meeting his eyes again, "I hated basketball at that time."

The words shakes him, just a little. Because Kurokocchi loved basketball, that was fact. But he's not lying. "The game I started playing just because I loved it," his ex teammate says, almost like contemplation, "It became suffocating there. I couldn't stand it." A pause, and he begins again with something brighter in his voice. "That's why I was so impressed when I met Kagami-kun."

Kurokocchi sounds like he's smiling, and a small, petty part of Ryota goes green with envy. He can't help it, late to the friend group only to become a part of unpleasant memories to one of the people he admires most. "He loves basketball from the bottom of his heart," his ex teammate continues, and Ryota watches, holding down that petty little thing in his head, "he seems to have been through rough times, but he still takes basketball more seriously than anyone else."

Looking at Kurokocchi's face right now, Ryota feels his mouth open, "...I don't get it," he didn't mean to let that slip, but he catches himself before more words tumble out, and pulls himself back together, "I can say one thing, though," he almost feels ugly, for the things he's about to say- he can't say much about his intentions, but what he's about to say is true, that much he's sure, "if you think so highly of Kagami because of his attitude towards basketball, some day the two of you will part ways." His eyes slides off Kurokocchi's form and to a little further behind him, where he catches the readhead's eyes, likely here for his teammate. Kagami narrows his eyes back.

"The biggest difference between me and the other four isn't our physical abilities, they all have something that I just can't imitate," he takes his eyes off the teen, and looks back towards Kurokocchi, who stares back towards him with an unreadable gaze, "I realised during the game that he's still learning. And just like the rest of the Miracles, he has a unique ability as well. For now, he's just an immature challenger, enjoying the thrill of strong opponents recklessly. Doesn't that sound familiar?"

Kurokocchi looks away, and that may as well be a flinch. Bringing up Aominecchi is low, he knows, so Ryota doesn't go any further. "In the end, he will achieve the level of the Generation of the Miracles, and grow apart- When that happens, do you really believe he would remain the same?" Ryota takes a deep breath. "Also, that doesn't answer my question, why did you disappear after the middle school championship games? I couldn't find you, anywhere. I tried to call you at first, but you didn't answer. No one heard from you, at all."

Ryota can see the tension in Kurokocchi's shoulders, and he's not meeting his eyes anymore. Staring off slightly to the side, avoidant. "Kurokocchi," he starts again, hesitant.

It was then that Kagami struts right between them, smacking Kurokocchi on the back hard enough to make him stumble, "You've got nerve disappearing on us like that," the teen snaps, sticking his hands into his pockets. He's followed by the, appearantly, SSRA woman, strolling behind him several paces away, "yo." Kagami greets, almost bluntly.

Ryota stares back for a moment, "You were listening." He states. To which the redhead teen leans forwards and snaps in return.

"What listening not listening, you bastard, what the hell are you kidnapping Kuroko for?" Kidnapping-?! Ryota makes a noise.

"Who cares if I talk with him for a bit?" He protests, Kagami scowls at him rolling his eyes. Behind the redhead, Kurokocchi straightens and moves to the side. Meanwhile the taller teen jabbing a thumb towards the approaching SSRA woman, a deadpan look on his face.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe his aunt? Who he lives with?" He snarks, stressing his words, and Ryota blinks. Aunt? Lives with? That's new, is Haruka-san away or something? So when Kurokocchi called the woman 'baa-san', it was literal. He thought she's like a neighbour or a family friend or something. "And coach went on about responsibilities and everything, we couldn't go home without him!"

"Hello," the woman- who looks foreign and nothing like Kurokocchi nor Haruka-san, gives a polite wave. And Ryota snaps out of his thoughts.

"Kurokocchi doesn't live with his aunt, he lives with his parents!" Ryota protests. He turns towards Kurokocchi for confirmation, "Haruka-san has us over for soup sometimes! Right?" He stops, his enthusiasm trailing off at the expression on the teen's face, "Kurokocchi?" He says, voice hesitant now at his ex teammate's ashened face.

Ryota looks back up at Kagami's pale face and look of incredulity, and the aunt's hesitant one, his mouth opens and closes, something feels very wrong here. "Tetsuya," the aunt murmurs- he can't quite recall her name- and Kurokocchi must've conveyed something to her, because the next moment, she steps up towards them, her face not grim, but calmed and serious, "Tetsuyo-san and Haruka passed away this January," she says, her tone gentle. Ryota feels something in him go ice cold, "Tetsuya lives with me and my husband now."

He whirls around to look at Kurokocchi, who turns away from him. Somewhere behind him, Kagami murmurs something about the time, clearly also surprised- though not at the death, but rather the timing. "Kurokocchi?" Ryota asks, faintly, his ex teammate doesn't meet his eyes, his expression closed. January, his head whirls, and something overflows in him, his chest feels heavy, as he swallows thickly. "Is that why- is that why-"

"My parents passed away in January." when Kurokocchi looks up, he seems to have calmed down. He looks like re reluctant to speak about the topic, but long since accepted it, Ryota shakes his head faintly, staring down at him, still in disbelief. "It was a car crash. And... it turned out mom has some unresolved family issues. It's... complicated, but Hotaru-san and Mafuyu-san took care of everything. I live with them now."

"Family issues," Ryota repeats, faintly.

He feels like an asshole now. He recalls how the team were to eachother, and Kurokocchi's devastated expression at the final championship. Something clog up in his throat as he imagines Kurokocchi, freshly after the championship, getting the news. Somewhere none of them knew, Kurokocchi had... became an orphan. "Why didn't you tell us?" He's almost surprised at the crack in his voice. He's nowhere near crying, but he almost feels numb from shock. He finds the answer to his question soon, and loses his voice, staring at Kurokocchi, for once, entirely at a lost.

Kurokocchi opens his mouth, closes it, and then the next words that tumble from his mouth- soft enough that only he could hear, breaks him.

"You didn't seem like you'd care."

He says, with a weak shrug, and Ryota's shoulder drop, air escapes him like he's been punched. At a lost of what to do, he looks back towards the only other people around him, the aunt and Kagami, both looking at him now. "You didn't know." Kagami states, staring at him with an almost unreadable expression, eyes glancing between him and Kurokocchi. Ryota shakes his head silently, mouth still agape.

"He didn't think-" Ryota repeats faintly, his voice is soft, but catches himself. His eyes lower, mind still whirling in disbelief. "I didn't know."

Lysandra watches the blond boy's crestfallen face with something like sympathy he looks heartbroken. There's something that whispers sadness inside her, but it seems after 30 years of life she still cannot properly recognise her own emotions. Lysandra looks between the two boys, blanketed in silence, she is all too familiar with escapism in grief, refusal to allow others to burden one's own grief- It'd taken her years before she was able to tell Daisy or mom anything about the hospital. But she suspects there's more to it in Tetsuya's than her own.

Moreover, she and Kagami-kun listened in to the conversation. Which, Lysandra still feels vaguely guilty about, but walking away just didn't seem like something to do at the moment, when they're supposed to to find him. What they heard hints to other problems, problems she don't think she should be the one to communicate with Tetsuya for. The silence begins to suffocate, and Lysandra finds herself facing the horrible prospect of being the silence breaker, before chatter from the court carried over the short distance, and they all glanced towards that direction.

It seems like a bit of a scuffle have started over there, a group of thugs bullying three students in a game- it quickly got violent, with two others joining the match, making it 5 against 3, likely not something the three students agreed to. Lysandra frowns, turning to face the direction. It seems like all of them are eager to get their minds off the talk of death and something so personal, as the others follow swiftly after.

Her brows twist when one of the delinquents kicks one of the boys in the stomach, and he put force into that kick, Lysandra can tell it was intended to hurt. Her grip tightens, and she begins making her way over- only to stop dead in her tracks when she realised Tetsuya had beaten her to the chase, and is currently spinning a basketball in the kicker's face.

"There's nothing fair about this," he says, a look of quiet anger on his face- the delinquent in question recoils with a yelp, the others all whirl around in shock, seemingly having not noticed the boy before- which, typical. He has no presence to the unsuspecting, which is slightly uncanny on its own. Both her and Mafuyu were a little surprised by it, of course they soon figured out it doesn't work on them when they're freshly back on work and pumped full of adrenaline and still half in fight or flight and got used to it soon enough.

"Who the hell are you? Where'd you come from?!" Over in the court, the delinquent demands, Tetsuya stops spinning the basketball and stares right back.

"This isn't basketball," he states, "and violence is bad."

Oh, Tetsuya, why don't you pay a mind to the violence they're clearly ready to use on you first? She sighs, both fond and exasperated, and begins making her way over, only to be over taken by the two boys, who rush past her over to the court. Lysandra watches as they run past her, two blurs of red and yellow, arriving by Tetsuya's side like protective shadows, and she retracts her step, folding her hands behind her.

Lysandra relaxes. It seems she is not needed here, the woman tilts her head, gazing towards the unfolding basketball game- seems they're dealing with this with a game, which is honestly, very in character for the trio. Kagami-kun places a hand on Tetsuya's head protectively as the boys offer to play, Kise standing tall right behind them with righteous fury, before instantly scolding her nephew about getting involved- she chuckles a little, and smiles sadly.

Haruka was like that too, free spirited, getting herself up in everyone's business. She was a lot louder about it too, it got her in a lot of trouble when she wouldn't budge about Mafuyu years ago- the Nanakasa family was the worst possible place for her to be in. Tetsuya however, seems to have gotten got the deadpan attitude from his father and prefers to stare.

She slowly makes her way to the side of the court, crossing her legs as she sat to watch the game. It was entirely one sided- of course, even she could tell. She slips her phone out to text Coach Riko about them having found Tetsuya in the meantime. She scrolls up to text her husband in the meantime, glancing up towards her other conversations when she's done, and can't help the disappointment at the gray icon by one of her pinned contacts.

The promised date has since passed, a while now. She still kept the keys to the house- Mayumi and Kageyama kept it clean these days, alongside her mentor's many properties. His books now sit in their library still- her fingers hover over the keyboard, hesitating whether to land or not. It doesn't take long for her to give into nostalgia, fingers sliding over the screen to tap in a message.

Tetsuya's picked up one of your old books

None of those from the collection- I keep those far away from anywhere he can reach- then again I don't think he would be interested in those.

Come pick up your books soon, they're gathering dust by now.

And almost hesitantly, she hits the keys again.

I miss you, Aniki.

Behind those lines of text, is a long string of bubbles stretching upwards, a record of five years of unread, unreplied messages.

Twilight falls, and the edges of the sky are getting darker by the minute by the time the game was over. The three of them gather by the benches, where Kuroko's aunt sat with crossed legs and her phone in hand, looking between them with mild interest in her eyes. Taiga rolls his shoulder with a sigh, before rounding up on his teammate, a hand holding his jacket.

"What were you thinking?" His eye twitches a little. "Did you think you could win if it turned into a fight?!"

"No, they would have beaten me to a pulp."

The nonchalant reply was followed by a short, spluttered laugh from his aunt, who almost dropped her phone at the words. Taiga can feel the oncoming headache. "You bastard..." he growls. Kuroko flexes his arms.

"Look at these guns."

"You don't have any!"

Next to him, Kise shakes his head in mild amazement. "Kurokocchi, you can be amazing sometimes," the blond says, with a smile that gives Taiga hives. And in return, Kuroko glances off to the side.

"I thought those guys were terrible," he says, a clear distaste in his expression. "I just wanted to tell them."

It made sense, and it feels wrong for Taiga to get mad at him for this, which only makes him even madder- "You should've considered the consequences first!" He snaps, he thinks this eye twitch may be staying for a while. There was a beat of silence, and then-

"I forgot."

"Oh, Tetsuya," the aunt sighs like, well, like how every adoring parent would. She uncrosses her legs and stands, crossing her arms as she walks over and reaches up to ruffle her nephew's hair. Taiga blinks a little at that, the woman carries herself in a way that makes her seem tall- sometimes he forgets she's this short, "just like Haruka, sometimes." She says gently, Taiga catches sight of Kise's face, which fell at the words, Mrs Lysandra doesn't pause, however, and continues in a more humorous manner, "should I teach you self defence, then? I taught your uncle, so I can handle you."

"Hotaru-san, he told me you threw him into a wall."

Into a wha- Taiga whirls to stare, but the woman just smiles. "I can do worse." She shrugs. "Is that a no?"

Kuroko gives a long suffering look, "yes it is a no."

"No, teach him," Taiga butts in, still scowling, "maybe he'll learn some self preservation."

The woman laughs, "Oh, you have no idea how ironic that sounds- but sure."

"I'm sorry," Kuroko sulks, "stop giving her ideas, Kagami-kun."

"You said yourself they could beat you up!"

"Sorry."

From somewhere next to them, Kise starts chuckling, and the mood seems to drop, just slightly. The events earlier creeps up on them, and Taiga shifts. "I'm glad I finally got to play with you again, Kurokocchi," the blond says, smiling, gazing down at his ex teammate. Taiga glances towards Kuroko's aunt, who motions for them to give the two some space.

Before they can, however, Kise yanks Kuroko into a hug, and buries his face deep into the crook of his neck, hiding his face from the world, and squeezes. The blond says something, and lets the blue haired boy go immediately after, a cheery expression on his face, even though anyone with eyes could tell he's really not feeling up to it.

Kise heaves a sigh through the smile, and looks towards Mrs Lysandra, releasing Kuroko's shoulders as he gives the woman a deep bow. "Nice to meet you, auntie! Thank you for taking care of Kurokocchi!" He straightens, then looks towards Taiga, the grin on his face gaining a bit of an edge as he tosses his jacket over his shoulder, "And don't think I've forget about our revenge, Kagamicchi!"

Kaga- Taiga chokes at the added suffix to his name. "Kagamicchi?!" He splutters, incredulous. Kuroko, who seems to have recovered from the shock of the hug and whatever Kise said to him during the hug, turns towards him to elaborate.

"Kise-kun adds '-cchi' to the names of people he acknowledges." He says. He sounds too happy to not be feeling it right now Taiga is starting to get a hang of this guy's expressions and tones- and to hell with that nonchalant face, that is a certified little shit right there. "I'm glad for you."

"I don't want it!" Taiga's eye twitches, it seems that's becoming chronic at this rate.

Kuroko's aunt laughs, "I see you're catching onto his humour," she smiles, a teasing tilt to the grin she bares. She turns back towards Kise then, "its nice to finally meet you, Kise-kun, I'm glad you and Tetsuya made up."

The teen laughs, and waves goodbye.

There's a brief silence, as they watch him leave, before the woman's voice speaks up again.

"So," she drawls, "am I the only one who remembers what Riko-chan told us to do?"

Ah, shit.

"I'm sorry, Kurokocchi, I do care. If you want to, let's be friends again."

Their walk back home was mostly silent. Kise-kun's words, murmured into his ears, linger with him, never quite leaving him mind, all the way until they're at the door, and Hotaru-san starts fishing the keys from her pocket. Tetsuya's arm still aches a little from the headlock coach put him in, rolling his shoulder to ease the soreness. His aunt glances in his direction briefly, unlocks the door, and the two enters. As the door slides shut behind them, his aunt's glamour drops, and Tetsuya blinks in surprise at the sword that appears hanging at her waist immediately after, making a small noise.

She glances at him, "what?" She frowns, and Tetsuya just stares at the sword. "oh, right, that. You didn't think I would leave the house unarmed, did you?" She asks, tilting her head. Tetsuya tries to find fault in the logic, but he doesn't know enough about either of their work or positions to judge whether his aunt should be armed at all times. Seemingly noticing his thoughts, his aunt just chuckles, tosses her jacket onto the rack, kicks her shoes off and strolls straight into the living room.

"Go shower first," she calls over the short distance as she picks up a watering jug and opens the sliding door to the balcony, "I have some salve for muscle soreness, it's best applied as soon as possible, but washing it off makes them less effective. And, I also want to talk to you about Kise-kun."

"Okay." Tetsuya nods, slides off his shoes, and watches as they slide back into the rack just like her aunt's own dress shoes did- he's still not really used to that- before he makes his way upstairs, head still half full of thoughts.

When Tetsuya descends the stairs, his hair damp from the shower, it has completely darkened outside. His aunt is seated at the couch, sorting through an array of creams and ointments in small glass jars, all with hand written labels, a market between her lips as she reads each of them with a frown on her face, muttering to herself all the while.

She startles when Tetsuya takes a seat right next to her, and almost drops the pen, catching it barely in time before breathing a sigh of relief. "Tetsuya," she says, accusatory, he blinks back like he didn't do it on purpose, and his aunt just sighs, and pushes over a small glass jar, "here, use it on where the most strain goes- wrists and shoulders," she instructs as she returns to sorting the labels, "you can keep it, its my mentor's recipe, I made it myself."

Tetsuya examines the bottle, it looks new, and clean, but the label has already started yellowing- the handwriting on it he recognises as the sassy one that wrote comments all over his aunt's books. He twists open the cap, and a strong, but not unpleasant herbal scent assaults his nose. Tetsuya crinkles his nose, making a face at the unexpected smell, "what is it?" He fans at his face, blinking hard.

"Milk of anguis grass roots, bloodwings resin and willow dust" she answers swiftly, and Tetsuya just stares at her, he knows what bloodwings are, apparently a magical breed of orchid, but nothing else. His aunt realises that belatedly, and coughs in embarrassment, "magical plants," she finally elaborates, rather lamely, and explaining exactly nothing at all, "if it eases your worries, both myself and almost everyone I've ever taught used it. I can confirm its all plants, and except for two oils, all of them come from the balcony."

"Do you do alchemy?" He pokes at the cream, and rubs it between his fingers, it feels warm, the texture is different from manufactured stuff, just enough he can tell it is home made. He starts spreading it around his wrist, and the relief is instantaneous.

"My mentor did, and I know enough." She answers, finishing a final label before she began packing the jars into a wooden box, and closing the lid, it flies off and slots itself back into a drawer he's come to know as the medical one. Honestly, the frequency at which his guardians uses that drawer should be worrying. But he has no idea what should be considered normal within their world- in fact, his guardians seems hell bent on not letting him set foot into what they consider their normal. "And, about what you asked me to look for."

Tetsuya looks up towards his aunt, having finished with the application. He sets the closed jar aside to face his aunt properly. "How is Kise-kun?" He asks, a little urgency leaking into his voice.

"He's fine," she assures, and Tetsuya's shoulder's slump, "Usuing ripple had extremely mild results, which is to be expected- poltergeist's area effects are entirely magical, while ripple is mostly biological. His recovery speed is slower than I'd expect, but nothing much."

He's okay, then, Tetsuya breaths out, "I'm glad," he says, mostly to himself. What he felt back then seems so... hostile, which since if he remembers right, that poltergeist his aunt fought was a war ghost, makes sense. He doesn't like to admit it, but he had been worried.

"On another note, I saw your other teammate, Midorima, correct?" He confirms the question with a nod, "Midorima, his situation, however..." she frowns, "its not enough to draw worry, but either he had closer contact with the direct entry, or he's just recovering on a much slower scale- its still within the expected range but, a little on the extreme side."

"Midorima-kun..." Tetsuya's voice trailed off. And falls silent in contemplation. He looks back up at his aunt, who gazes back at him with a knowing look in her eyes. How much did she hear? And how much did she already guess? Tetsuya wonders, recalling that she'd likely heard parts of his conversation with Kise-kun. He's not stupid, neither is his aunt- he's seen the conspiracy board thing in the study. He wouldn't be surprised if she already guessed most of the events which transpired in Teikou.

"Another thing, I wanted to talk to you about." She starts, and Tetsuya braces himself. "Back when you first met Kise-kun again... I think you felt something because you might have Echo." He blinks, that wasn't the question he expected- its not even a question at all. He looks up in mild surprise, but his aunt just gazes back with a kind, knowing gaze.

"Haruka had Aura," she states, continuing on, "so it really isn't surprising that you manifested a branch of it as well, though its internal. It's mentioned in one of the books we gave you to read, the basics for magic. I hope you recall?"

"I do," he answers, faintly, its a sort of echolocation for magic. Named for the phenomena's similarity with resonating tuning forks. Unlike ripple, which has to be used voluntarily and most struggle with turning it on- Echo users have a hard time turning it off- He frowns, remembering the recommendation from the book, "does that... mean I have to start taking lessons? Proper, magical lessons?" He asks. If he recalls, there are official lessons for magical students, so his worries several months ago that he wouldn't be able to attend Seirin was null. Almost all schools have a program for sorcery, its just that no one knows its sorcery- since it's disguised as an elective with specific requirements and takes place off campus.

"Depends on you," his aunt's face is conflicted, "this is... more complicated than you might think. Tetsuya."

It was several hours earlier, late afternoon.

His spoon clinks quietly against the walls of his mug as Mafuyu stirs his drink, eyes lowered as a silence blankets the two of them, with him pointedly ignoring the whispers and gazes directed towards their table. His mother sits across him, posture elegant, but the awkwardness is clear. They're in a small, local restaurant- at Mafuyu's own request. His mother may be some of the less unpleasant people within his family, however speaking to her with elders breathing down his neck is not something he want for a effective conversation which he gets the impression that is what she wants to achieve today.

But while he's dressed like a normal person, Nanakasa Nadeshiko is, as usual, dressed in a tomesode, draped in layers of silks and velvets. The family crests line her dress, and silver-streaked hair elegantly loops away from her deceptively youthful face, she looks not a day over 55. For all her posture and grace, though, her expression betrays her discomfort looking very much out of her comfort zone.

He sets his cup down with an audible click.

"How's... the boy?" His mother speaks first, tentatively. Mafuyu looks up, meeting his mother's eyes- the same colour himself, Haruka and Tetsuya shares.

"Mother," he sighs, greeting her for the first time today, "now? After all this time?" He asks, she had never asked after Tetsuya before, even when he returns to the mansion for family meetings and she manages to catch him alone.

"I'm making small talk," she sighs, "and, he is my grandson, Haruka's son, he looks like her, too." A pause. "Can you fault me for being curious?"

"It's been months, now, so why now?" Mafuyu shakes his head. "Tetsuya is fine, he's currently in his school's basketball club, they're going to be playing one of the national-grade high school teams-" he glance at the date, "today, actually."

"Basketball," a blank look passes over his mother's eyes, "he's athletic? That's good."

Mafuyu purses his lips, reading between the lines. "Mother," he warns.

"Mafuyu, you have to face the truth, he will likely be the only heir. Lysandra-chan is..." she sighs, "unlikely, to bear children, any chances of that was almost completely destroyed twenty years ago- and I know," she interrupts him with a pleading look when Mafuyu opens his mouth to retort, "we have have a hand in what happened then, I will not deny it, and we owe her a dept we cannot repay for that."

"Then you are doing a horrible job at showing it." Mafuyu says, cold.

His mother chuckles weakly, but Mafuyu finds nothing funny in the situation. "Depts are often treated with disdain, after all." She murmurs with remorse, staring down into her own tea. "Nothing I can do about it."

The Nanakasa have both an abundance of grudges against Lysandra and people relating to her- as well as an abundance of depts. It enrages the elders to no end- as a person not born into the Sorcery Society, they look down upon her, her mentor is their rival, and her family someone who spat in their faces. But they can't act with her 'Aniki' acting as a shield, and have already wronged her far too horribly that any open action or expression of disrespect would come off as vile.

To Tetsuya, being taken under their wings is both the safest option, as well as the most dangerous. No one can touch him, but one wrong move on anyone's part can upset the delicate balance entirely. But he understands, why Haruka entrusted him to them, mother is far too vulnerable to father, their siblings are either in prison or dead. Tetsuyo has no family outside of his own mother- and she cannot expect the old woman to protect Tetsuya from the rest of the Nanakasa.

The Sorcery society may be almost entirely unknown to most- but that does not mean it is not well connected. Among the rich and the powerful, they are the elusive, esoteric elites. If the Nanakasas wanted Tetsuya, they could've gotten him. Be it proper, legal channels, or else. He recalls the sharp-tongued arguement between Lysandra and the elders- their disdain and talks of recycling talent- and if only looks could kill. Her eyes blazed like the lightning she wields that day. And so long as she exists, and Tetsuya remains in their care, none of them will touch him.

No, Tetsuya will not become a Nanakasa.

Not untill his father is out of the picture.

Mafuyu sighs, sets down his spoon, and meets his mother's eyes, tired. "I didn't invite you outside the house just to deal with the exact same song and dance." He says, dropping all pleasantries. "What are you here for? Mother," he asks, "if you're only here to ask after Tetsuya and and be a mouth piece for father to ask if you can take him for a 'day trip' or let him 'meet the rest of the family', then the answer is no, as I must've said to the 20 other people who told me to do so."

His mother is silent, chewing on her lips as her eyes darted to the side. Mafuyu straightens then, this has been a waste of time- his mother's head snap up, and a look of desperation enters her eyes.

"There has been-" she blurts, and Mafuyu glances at her. She stops, her mouth agape as she struggles to find words, "there has been rumours." She finally says, lowering her head, and Mafuyu takes his seat again, facing her properly this time. "That someone managed to get their hands on remnant products from the Research Institute that hired Akiichi." Mafuyu's head snaps up, he knows what case she's talking about. She takes a shuddering, deep breath. "They are selling them, as well as attempting to recreate the old results, and apparently, there have already been successes."

Mafuyu sits, staring at his mother- he very nearly drops into his seat- His mother meets his gaze hesitantly. "Where," he says- and his mouth feels dry, "did you come across that information." She hesitates again. "Mother."

"Some of your father's associates." She finally says, head slumping and resigned, and Mafuyu-

There's a loud clatter, cups and glasses hit the floor- and Mafuyu belatedly realises he has stood up with enough force to almost knock the table to the side. He's burning, fury raging in his veins as he stares down at his mother, he recalls that haunting building- the gray concrete walls he never saw but have heard so many times that he could practically map it in his mind, and could know exactly how blood would look splattered against it. He recalls the files he'd read, and the look on Akiichi's face when he told him what lies within those walls, and the fact that his father having any connection to that hell hole sends shivers down his spine. "And what," He trembles, "is he doing with that information."

His rage splutters out, when his mother meets his gaze, helpless. Her head lowers into a bow, before she stands, and walks away- leaving Mafuyu in her wake, staring after her lonely, retreating back.

The past haunts.