A matter of family, part 1
"Do you have a second?"
Utau looked up from her book, slightly annoyed at the interruption. She'd been reading a particularly interesting chapter—something about leveraging fixed points in the egosphere to cause larger disturbances outside, which could then go on to spike enough Magatsuhi into the world that it would pierce its defences against that sort of thing. As opposed to doing it all with your own will, which was apparently either impossible or impossibly foolhardy, one or the other; the book didn't go on to explain which one, or why.
It didn't match up very well to any of the things she'd tried herself, and admittedly she didn't understand most of what it was saying, but she figured that if she kept reading she'd eventually find an explanation. If nothing else, at least it was far more interesting than schoolwork.
But these two were Amu's parents, which easily earned them a second of her time. An hour or two, even.
"Sure, what's up?"
She fought the urge to blush. Even if she said that… the last time they'd talked had been really embarrassing for her, thanks mostly to Su, and she dearly wanted to avoid a repeat.
"Mm. It's a little complicated, and really Amu should be here too…"
"Before we start talking about that, I'd at least like to have your brother here," Midori said, elbowing her husband. "Do you know where he is?"
"Ikuto?" Utau shrugged. "No idea. He doesn't tell anyone where he goes, least of all me, but he'll show up for dinner."
Because if he had, he knew her well enough to know that she'd be practicing her stalk… er, ambush hugs. Any progress she'd made on not clinging to him every chance she got (that was, when Amu wasn't looking), after two days of consistently being around each other, had also been eradicated by Su.
She smiled to herself, deciding that a little openness was one side-effect she could currently live with. Her brother was starting to get used to it, too, and had stopped pushing her away quite so fast~
They'd slept in the same room, and he had told her goodnight. She'd hugged him good morning—and it hadn't been hurried. In fact, she'd sat there and watched him wake up. Ikuto's sleeping face was cute. She'd known that, of course, but this was the first time she could remember seeing it on him in bed, and he'd seemed stunned to see her there, and… He'd be around later that day, and they could eat together, her, Ikuto and Amu. And Amu's oversized family, of course.
Not all of the butterflies in her stomach were from joy. It still felt a little too good to be true.
"I can find him if you want," she offered, suddenly a little nervous. He was still around here somewhere, right? He wouldn't have left. There was nothing to do outside, and even if there had been, an Easter agent might have seen him. That would be bad. She didn't know what would happen if Easter started talking to JPs, only that she probably wasn't useful enough to Hotsuin for that, and…
Actually, the nervousness wasn't hers, but mostly Midori's. Odd.
"Would you?" Midori, who'd looked considering for a moment, finally shook her head. "I'll take you up on that, but not just yet. Utau-chan…" She paused for a moment. "Do you mind if we call you that way? I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine, really."
In the ensuing, brief silence, she had to fight twice as hard not to blush. Using her first name felt childish, but she didn't have another to give anymore.
That really was Su's fault. No, she didn't like her mother's family, and she didn't like her father either—he'd abandoned them—and she definitely wasn't ever going to call herself 'Hotori,' ever again—but that covered all of her options. Tsukiyomi? She'd only liked it because it was Ikuto's. It didn't feel like hers, not the way Su felt about Hinamori.
"All right," Midori said easily, as if nothing at all had happened. "Utau-chan it is. That might make things a little easier later on, though… there isn't a good way of saying this. Utau-chan… Can I ask you for a favour?"
Smiling, she let her book fall shut. Please do!
"It's about Amu-chan." Midori sagged a little, briefly feeling far older than her years. "She's always been a kind girl, but lately she's been trying to shoulder the weight of the world. I can't tell her no…" She shook her head. "I can't, because she's succeeding, but I don't like what it's doing to her. She's getting… grim. As if she has to work every moment she's awake. She barely takes the time to talk, anymore…"
She saw Amu's father squeezing Midori's hand.
"Her sisters are doing everything they can to help, but maybe that's part of the problem. They're all…" Midori shook her head. "Look at me, passing my own problems on to a teenager. You've been in the same situation, though; you know that working too much isn't good for you, and Amu doesn't. Those three… I've only known them three days, but it feels like I've known them for years. They'd do anything for each other, no matter what it costs them."
Utau's thoughts spun ahead. This wasn't quite what she'd expected, but it wasn't like she hadn't seen the same thing. She could work with it.
So, she should look out for Amu. Catch her if she fell, though Utau doubted it would come to that; Amu was stronger than Midori gave her credit for, just too naive sometimes. Utau didn't mind the job, not if it was basically about helping someone.
Still, she felt a little bitter. This warmth, the genuine care radiating from Midori when she was talking about Amu felt like a bonfire. Even if it felt frustrated, this was what she'd hoped for, for years, from her own mother.
"—I can't help them," Midori was saying. "I don't know how to reach her, not anymore, but maybe you can. Will you be her friend? No, more than that. Can you try to be her sister? She needs someone like that, I think, someone who can stand in between the normal world and wherever she's going. You understand her better than me, and you're closer to her age as well."
Utau's thoughts came to a screeching halt.
"Her—sister?" She asked, uncertainly. What.
"Her older sister, someone who'll call her out when she does something stupid." Midori smiled. "I didn't mean literally. Although, since this is where the conversation went…"
Midori looked at her husband. Tsunagu? Utau didn't remember.
"What my wife is trying to say—" He took over, and something in either their demeanour or feelings filled her stomach with butterflies. "—Is that, in light of the situation, we have been thinking about officially adopting the two of you."
What…
"I know it's a little fast. You're a sweet girl, but we've barely met, and you don't really know us at all. It's just, the way things are now…" He sighed. "We're hoping that knowing Amu is enough. It might be a good idea, as at the very least, it'd give you the cover of law if something were to happen. I think you'd want to stick around anyway, right?"
She stared blankly at them.
"This is something we'll need to discuss with the both of you, and at least in Ikuto's case it might be mostly for form. We'll try to make both of you as welcome as possible, to the degree that you'll let us. …."
He kept on talking, not that she heard. Please dial nine for the operator. Utau will be with you shortly.
She could feel her face draining of blood, a dizzy sensation spreading through her body.
The truth was, she didn't know how to react. She'd never, not even once, not ever—
She thought she squeaked something. Maybe a terrified denial.
"—Utau?"
She heard blood rushing through her ears, and suddenly her face went bright red.
They'd only just escaped from the last set of parents! …No, that was the wrong way to put it, she didn't need to escape. Mom—She didn't even want to escape. It was Easter she wanted to escape, not—She shuddered, feeling cold.
Abruptly, she felt nauseous. That 'caring' emotion. It was just meant for Amu. Wasn't it just meant for Amu? She was suffocating. She couldn't draw breath—
Through foggy eyes, she saw an arm reaching out for her. Her eyes widened, and she scrambled backwards, knocking over the chair in her rush to get to her feet. Her book crashed to the floor.
"Utau! Please, calm down!"
She stared at them like a deer in the headlights, then turned tail and ran. The moment she was through the door, operating mostly on instinct, she wrenched at the space around her. It rang like a gong—and a blast of wind slammed through the corridor, ripping one hairband out but shutting the door.
— — —
She ran until she found an empty corridor, dodging both functionaries and JPs' troops, then sagged to the floor in exhaustion.
What…
"What am I even doing?" She muttered to herself.
Amu's parents had just wanted to help. She'd been sitting right next to them, and there wasn't a cruel bone in their bodies. Just like Amu, which shouldn't have come as a surprise. There was no call to start blubbering like a little kid, let alone running away, and she still wasn't sure why that had happened.
Now that she thought about it, all of this had to be the fault of that chattering of Guardians. They were the ones who'd always taken Tadase's—
She patted her face, feeling the scrunched-up muscles, and gradually forced them to relax. That… no. She would not turn as excitable as Amu. She owed them an apology, but she had to talk to someone first.
Ikuto. Ikuto would know what to do.
