The Unknown

Ch. 21 - Split

You continued moping around for a few days after the fallout with Choso, hoping to hear from him in one form or another.
It was an empty hope. Your heart continued to break as Choso's image started to blur in your mind with the continuation of time. It was almost as if he hadn't existed to begin with. 
Akira and Utahime tried their best to keep your spirits up, but you knew there was only one way to get over him - or at least try to. You began applying to master's programs on the other side of the country in Hokkaido. With it being an eighteen hour drive, you decided that come first semester you would take the hour and half long flight.

Time quickly dragged on through the rest of the semester. You didn't really visit your mother all that much. The house only brought about negative emotions. Truly, you felt bad for Eso who was stuck there alone.
You hadn't even seen Choso at the family celebration for Labor Thanksgiving Day. He was completely estranged from the family at that point. Even your graduation wasn't a happy occasion, just something in everyone's schedules that they had to attend.
You did, however, have contact with Toshi who had gone back to his school in Kyoto. He shared that he knew very well that he was the favorite son - something he didn't even care about seeing as he used Kyoto as a way to stay away, but informed you that it could be a potential motive in getting rid of his brothers. He figured that his father didn't want his other sons to have any sort of inheritance and that each son was a terrible embarrassment, a stain on his reputation that he wanted removed. It wasn't a good motive, but really any selfish motive wouldn't be good enough for killing your own family.

You could feel Noritoshi's negative presence any time you set foot in the house. You worried for your mother and Eso every day. When you did visit, you sensed some sort of tension between your mother and her husband. It was as if she could sense something wasn't right. His eyes would pierce yours and fabricated images of him poisoning his sons invaded your thoughts. Ricin...like the stuff people use to poison government workers through the mail... 
You began doing extensive research on the subject, curious to see if there were any details that could help in getting him to be held accountable besides stealing the medical records from the bribed doctor. There was more than one way to use it and it was hard to detect. There truly was no antidote and it could kill in just as little as thirty-six hours just as it did with Kechizu. Death was usually caused by some kind of organ failure thanks to the body's cells being unable to make necessary proteins.
Ricin itself came from castor beans used to make castor oil so it was obvious that Kechizu's poisoning was a deliberate act, the powder likely put in his meal during dinner that one night. Hearing about it was frustrating. Knowing that you couldn't do anything to bring justice to Kechizu and the other lost brothers was infuriating. 
The bean is openly sold so there was one way...if you were bold enough. But you wouldn't dare dirty your pristine, innocent reputation that was already slightly dirty thanks to Choso. You still ordered a small pack, keeping them safe in one of your desk drawers just in case.

"Hey, Mom," you sweetly answered the unexpected phone call. You were happy to hear from her when you did seeing as you were now a full year into your master's program - a full year and then some without seeing or hearing from Choso. You knew he was still alive somewhere knowing, or at least hoping, that your mother would tell you anything that was going on back home.

"Hi, sweetheart," your mother's soft voice trembled. You could hear small hints of sniffles and right away you knew she had been crying. Your heart began to flutter in a panicked state. It felt as if dozens of tiny bugs were crawling all over the strained muscle.

"What's going on?" You asked quickly, barely any time passing between her greeting. "Is Choso okay?" You winced at your specific question and changed it up. "And Eso?"