/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>43854608

Mother eventually forgave me and let me continue doing field work. My next outings were not nearly as disastrous. My reflexes got better, I became more aware of the little clues left behind in an investigation, my ability to channel my powers grew and grew. It wasn't soon until Mother graduated me from “Dead Weight” to “Someone who can do all the annoying minor jobs” I had hoped that having someone lighten the workload she had would improve her mood, and it did to some extent. But she was still unpredictable as always. Sometimes she would just get in a bad mood for one reason or another and take it out on us. We endured as always. Dad always dad a smile and an excuse for whenever she hit him, but I could tell his resolve was wavering. I was no longer a child and he didn’t have to stick around her for my sake. I guess he still felt like he had a duty to be by her side, no matter how many times she hurt him.

With my growing freedom to explore the village and world on my own, I came to confirm something. Everyone knew. It wasn’t just Marisa and Aunn, who still stuck around but learned to not interfere much after Mother caught her cuddling up to Dad after she’d beat him one day. But it was everyone. The people in the village were always quiet when she walked by and whispered when she wasn’t around. I got sad looks from them occasionally and they occasionally pressed gifts into my hands to take home after I helped them deal with youkai, obviously feeling sorry for my home life even if they didn’t say it. The youkai knew it as well, and they feared my Mother much more then me, and not just for the gap in power we had. They were mostly kind enough not to not speak up about this, but not all of them.


I remember one of those times very well. I was sixteen, investing reports of s strange large flying shadow in the sky. The mystery would be solved when a Kappa crashed her glider into a house on the village’s outskirts. I was there on the scene, making sure everyone was alright and making the Kappa swear she would pay for the damages. As I confiscated her manuals and made a note to check in on things to make sure the kappa wouldn’t build this troublesome thing again. I heard her mutter something. Asking her to repeat herself, she turned to me with a grimace. “I said maybe you should be back at home looking after dad instead of ruining my fun. We all know he needs to more” I would have merely been upset at what she said if she hadn’t smirked at me. In a second, the Kappa was on the ground, gasping in pain from the blow my gohei made to her ribcage. I stood above her, ready to beat her again when I saw her smug face melt into one of fear. I had a reason to be angry at her, I was stronger to her, I could easily teach her a lesson. But I paused. Something about this situation seemed too familiar to me. I couldn’t go through with it. I let her go and watched as she scrambled away before heading back to the shrine. I had a lot to think about on the way.


I came home to find it quiet. Not even Aunn was there to greet me, she must have been patrolling around somewhere else. As I went inside, I saw empty dishes and a sake jug were left on the table. Mother had clearly eaten dinner without me. I sigh and clean things up, wondering why Dad hadn’t done it. Not cleaning up messes was one of the things that always sent her off. As I finish up and head further into the shrine, I heard the noises coming from their room. Of course, I wasn’t naive. If the door to the room is closed and the two of them were muttering, then one conclusion came to mind. But it was the nature of the noises that upset me. “Dear, don’t you think you should lay down, You drank at the stall in the village, then you drank here. You’ll get sick” I heard Dad say.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” I heard Mother slur. “I’m not drunk, I know my limits, Jeez. Hana is going to be gone for a while so why don’t we...” The rustling of clothes and the grunting of Dad. Then a loud slap, and another one. “You’ve been so cold to me lately, come on...” The rustling continued. Dad sighed and muttered something I couldn’t hear. A pause came, then the movement of bodies and Mother’s moan. “See, you like this. No need to act like you don’t like this” She giggled. I tore myself away from the door, not wanting to hear anymore. It was just another crime my mother committed to my dad on top of all of the other abuse. I felt disgusted, this surely wasn’t the first time she did this.


Wait. If she did this multiple times before and they had me, then that meant that I possibly was…

No. No. No. No. I felt my stomach tie into a knot. I couldn’t stay here. I had to leave. The thought of bursting in and saving Dad surfaced into my mind. But I pushed it aside. I wanted to avoid what was going in that room. I just had to think things over. Without looking back. I took into the sky and flew far away, trying to hold back tears.