"Yuri! Dinner's ready!" Kaori yelled up to the second floor.
"Kaori, I could have done that. I asked you to go up and actually get her. She probably has her headphones on, she usually listens to music when she's studying" their mom said as she began dishing out food to their plates.
Kaori rolled her eyes and stomped up the stairs, mumbling under her breath the entire way. It wasn't a huge house, but they were all very happy to call it home, even Kaori (who seemed to almost enjoy being a vocal pain at times). At the top of the stairs it was an immediate right that led to one end of the hall where she and Yuri had bedrooms that were across from one another. Further down at the other end of the hall was their parent's bedroom, and an additional room which their father used as a home office. Having a detective for a father meant that many times his work came home with him, and Kaori couldn't come close to remembering how many nights she had gone to bed while he was up still working in there. Yuri's door was closed, annoying Kaori even further. She pursed her lips and kicked the door as hard as she could before yelling that dinner was ready.
"Kaori!" her mom shouted from downstairs in the kitchen.
Before any sort of reprimand could ensue, Yuri opened her bedroom door, headphones still on which she now was taking off in confusion.
"Dinner's ready, idiot" she said before sauntering back down the stairs. As soon as she got back to the kitchen Yuri could hear their mom begin yelling at her sister, who in turn began arguing back.
Yuri had spent most of the afternoon studying. She had two major tests coming up the following week (both core curriculum for her teaching degree track) and wanted to make sure that she wasn't burning herself out at the last minute trying to cram. A bit of studying every day, followed by a couple of full day reviews prior to the test should put her on a good path to do well she felt. Both of her parents were extremely supportive of her and proud of how well she had been doing. And even though Kaori had a love for giving her older sister a hard time, she was proud of her as well. Yuri did find Kaori's ongoing harassment tiresome at points, but at the same time it was her little sister who understood her better than anyone, and was always there for her during her hardest times. Even during what Yuri considered to be extremely embarrassing breakdowns, or episodes where she experienced hallucinations, Kaori was always the first one there for her. Because of that, Yuri was always willing to cut her some slack, even if she insisted on insulting her half of the time. Putting her books away, Yuri joined Kaori and their mom in the kitchen for dinner.
"Mom! Oh my God! I told you I don't like chicken!" Kaori whined as she sat down.
"Kaori, I've watched you eat chicken countless times over the past month" Yuri spoke up.
"No one asked you! And this is different!" her sister snapped back.
"How is it different?" Yuri asked.
"I...it just is!" Kaori argued.
Their mom had air fried chicken cutlets with a homemade breading and made a side salad and baked potato to go with it. Yuri thought that the dinner looked wonderful, but Kaori had a knack for complaining about anything that she possibly could. Whether it be food, plans to do things together as a family, going out to see her friends...Kaori was first in line to let everyone know why it was a problem for her and how life was completely unfair. Yuri oftentimes wondered if she had acted like this a handful of years ago when she was Kaori's age but couldn't recall a single instance that she did...at least not to the extent that her younger sister regularly created a scene. The three sat down together before their mom turned her full attention to Kaori.
"We both know that you wouldn't be doing this if your father was home, so stop it, unless you want me to fill him in on the details of your dramatics" she said firmly.
With that Kaori seemed to deflate. She was able to get away with her nonsense to a degree with her mom, their father on the other hand had no tolerance for it and more than once grounded Kaori for her behavior. The bigger concern between her parents were her failing grades this semester at school. At this rate Kaori was setting herself up to have an extremely difficult time passing her grade, let alone thinking about University down the line. Yuri had even offered to tutor Kaori after school and on the weekends, something that their parents were all too eager for but it was met with outright refusal by Kaori. The trio sat eating and making small talk for a short time before Kaori spoke up excitedly.
"How cool is it dad gets to be on that case for that girl's skeleton that they found?" she said enthusiastically.
Yuri had been trying to block that particular piece of news out of her mind for a couple of weeks now, especially with the need to focus on school and the ski trip with Monika and the others coming up in just over a month. It had only been a couple of weeks prior, Yuri remembered watching the news and seeing that the skeleton of Sawa Higashi had been unearthed in Blackwood Park alongside a stream deep in the woods. The discovery had been made by some campers who were out hiking with their dogs when they found a partially unearthed skull in the dirt. Over time the rain and stream had eroded enough dirt to finally bring it to the surface. Despite their father working on the case, they knew absolutely nothing about it beyond what was being reported on the news. He didn't talk with them about the details of their investigation, no matter how curious any of them were. A professional to a fault, Yuri knew that if there was anyone who would be able to crack this case, it would be her father.
Yuri remembered very well when Sawa had gone missing. They lived in a relatively small town where the extent of the crime was usually theft, vandalism or teenagers selling drugs. In fact, during the past fifteen years the town had only experienced a single death when a drunk driver hit a telephone pole, and only two in the ten years prior to that where a couple of teenage runaways had frozen to death after getting lost in Blackwood Park during the Winter. So when Sawa disappeared, it was assumed initially that she had simply run away from home. Unfortunately she had a history of such behavior and always returned by the next day...but when one day, then two...then an entire week passed with no sign of her, the town went into a panic. The news did very little to help at the time, sensationalizing headlines in big bold print "A kidnapper among us?" and "Where is Sawa Higashi?". Families were terrified, and the police despite their best efforts were never able to find a single trace of Sawa. It was almost as if the girl had vanished into thin air. There were different theories that floated around, the most popular of them was that Sawa made it to a main highway and hitchhiked her way out of town into the unknown. Others believed that she was swallowed up by Blackwood Park, however the police never turned up anything in the park to indicate that she had been there. Then there were those who believe that Sawa never made it out of town, and she was in fact being held against her will by someone within the town. As the months dragged on there was the occasional tip that came in, however none of them ever panned out.
With the discovery of Sawa's body, the news was again supercharging the town's residents with panic. To make matters worse, someone had leaked that the police had ruled Sawa's case a homicide. Daily headlines now were "Who killed Sawa Higashi?" and "A killer hiding in plain sight?". These were the sorts of things that made Yuri's father's job extremely difficult. Kicking up a panic wouldn't do anything but hinder the investigation by way of countless tips coming in that were based on completely inaccurate or misremembered information. And in the event that there was a killer still living among them? They were now on high alert to be careful, to cover their tracks, to get rid of any evidence that they may have held onto.
"There's nothing cool about it Kaori, a young girl died" their mom said, then continued "I really thought this nightmare was behind us"
"I'm sure the police will catch whoever did it mom, don't worry" Yuri said, putting her hand on her mom's arm and offering a gentle smile.
"I hope you're right sweetie" she replied and patted Yuri's hand, smiling back.
"The hell with that, I hope I run into whoever did it so I can kick their ass!" Kaori said, throwing a fist in front of her.
"You, young lady? You aren't going out anywhere on your own until the police get to the bottom of this. Think you are tough all you want, I'm not risking you being out there alone with all of this going on. You either" she said as she turned her attention to Yuri, Kaori rolled her eyes hearing her mom's words.
"But...how will I get to my classes if I can't go alone?" Yuri asked.
Her mom thought for a moment...that was actually a good question.
"Alright, strait to and from school, but that's it, for now anywhere else I want your father or I with you" she replied.
"That's lame" Kaori mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?" their mom asked.
"Nothing! Jeeze!" she said, turning her attention back to her dinner.
"I can't even imagine what kind of monster would have done that to Sawa...but...I'd rather we talked about nicer things" Yuri finally spoke up after a couple moments of silence and eating.
"I agree" her mom replied, "So tell me more about this ski trip? It sounds like it should be fun for you girls"
"It'll definitely be a nice break after this semester's classes. And I really don't get to see the others too often, so I'm looking forward to it" Yuri said with a smile.
Kaori looked down, her sister noticed and asked what was bothering her.
"It's stupid..." Kaori replied.
"The only stupid things are the things that we don't say, Kaori" their mom said, encouraging her to speak up.
"So you'll be gone for a week, who am I going to play board games with on Friday night?" she asked.
"Kaori I'm only going to be gone for a week, and when I get back we can have two board game nights if it would help you feel better" Yuri replied smiling.
"I guess" she said, sounding disappointed.
"You know, I used to be something of a board game player Kaori. In fact I can guarantee I know a game we can play that even Yuri hadn't played before" their mom said, trying to cheer her younger daughter up.
"Huh?" Kaori replied, perking up suddenly.
"What games do we have that I haven't played before? I'm pretty sure Kaori and I have played all of them countless times" Yuri said, her curiosity now piqued.
"Oh, it's a little something I like to call Dungeons and Dragons. Your father and I used to play all the time before you two were born" she said to the girls proudly.
"But...wait that isn't a board game. You need a rule book, and there is a lot that goes into planning a successful campaign" Yuri said, her mom rolled her eyes and then looked over at Kaori who was now trying to hide her smile.
"Yuri, I said that I was a board game player, but I never said it was a board game that you hadn't played that I was going to play with Kaori" she replied.
"Semantics mom, it's the same thing" Yuri said, trying to sound confident.
"There's a lot that goes into it. You need a really strong sense of creativity, a lot of dedication and passion, and I think Kaori would love it. And if she's interested, after I teach her then she can teach you and we can play together. In fact I bet your dad would love to play too. It'll be like the old days" she explained to them happily.
"I...I think I'd like that" Yuri said, understanding now her mom's method to help bring Kaori out of her slump.
"Kaori what homework do you have tonight?" her mom asked.
"I have to write a stupid poem for my literature class. I already did my algebra and history homework" she replied.
"Did you do them correctly?", a follow-up that Kaori should have expected.
"Basically" she replied.
There was a moment of silence as they ate before their mom began talking again.
"Well, I'm sure Yuri wouldn't mind helping you with your poem. And she wouldn't mind helping check over your other homework to make sure it's all set for tomorrow" she said.
Kaori sighed.
"Fine, yeah that sounds good" she replied.
"And you, young lady" their mom continued, now turning her attention to Yuri. "I had to call in your prescription refill again. You can't wait until you are almost out of pills, if you have any lapses we both know what that can be like for you"
"I know, I'm sorry. I'll pick the prescription up tomorrow" Yuri said.
"She saw the man in the black hat again, it was when Sayori, Natsuki and Monika were over" Kaori said, speaking up.
"Kaori!" Yuri snapped, kicking her sister under the table.
"Ow!" Kaori exclaimed, then kicked her sister back.
"Both of you stop it" their mom said firmly, "Yuri, we agreed that if you have anything like that happening, you have to tell your father and I. It could be that you missed a dose of your medication, it could be that the medication isn't working like it's supposed to, but you can't keep these things from us. And the same goes for you Kaori, you can't cover for your sister, no matter how much you think you are helping her by doing it"
There was a drawn out pause before Yuri spoke.
"Sorry" the pair said almost in unison.
"Where did the man in the black hat come from anyways" Kaori asked.
"I don't know, he's always kind of just been there since the hallucinations started" Yuri said.
"I think I might have an answer to that" their mom said, taking another bite of chicken before she spoke.
Both girls stopped and looked at her, Yuri in particular seemed to be hanging off of what she said.
"When you were little, I'd say no more than maybe three or four years old, Yuri, I had taken you with me to the grocery store one day to pick up a few things. Normally you always sat in the cart while we shopped, but for whatever reason that day you insisted on walking. And I still remember it as clear as yesterday, I turned my back for no more than five seconds to pick out some cereal and when I turned back you were gone. Somehow you had sped away into the next aisle, and of course in a panic I went running after to find you. There had been a very nice older man who saw that you must have wandered away and was walking you back to help you find me, and he was wearing a black fedora. The entire thing was extremely scary, and I'm sure for you it was traumatic. Something about him must have stuck in your subconscious, and now for whatever reason it manifests in hallucinations unfortunately" she explained.
"Wait, why don't I remember this?" Yuri asked.
"You were extremely young, I'd be more surprised if you did remember" her mom replied.
"That...explains a lot actually" Yuri said.
"See, always a brat right from the start, wandering off on mom like that" Kaori chimed in.
Their mom turned her attention to Kaori.
"Oh no, sweetling, I have stories about you too. Like taking you to the grocery store and you throwing a glass jar of pickles on the floor because you were angry that I wouldn't buy you candy" she said.
"Some things never change" Yuri said, covering her mouth to hide her smile.
"Oh shut up" Kaori argued and kicked Yuri under the table again.
"Enough! Ok, both of you finish up and clear the table, I want to see homework being finished up within the next half an hour" their mom said, "And Kaori, you better thank your sister for her help when you finish"
Kaori rolled her eyes and Yuri sighed as they finished their dinner without much small talk to speak of after that point. The pair cleared the dishes from the table, putting away leftovers and then washing plates and silverware before settling back down to work on Kaori's homework. To Yuri's surprise, Kaori's algebra and history homework were not only done, but was nearly perfect. This always puzzled Yuri, that her sister was actually quite smart but refused to apply herself in nearly everything she was a part of. Unlike her, Kaori has a temper and wasn't afraid to cause a scene or start a fight to get her way. She had a very bad habit of digging her heels in and being unreasonably stubborn, but there were also those rare points when Yuri saw the much sweeter, kind sister that she knew Kaori could be. For all those bad qualities, she was also extremely loyal, would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it, and would be by your side no matter what might be going on. With that in mind, Yuri wanted to try the same poetry writing exercise that Monika had done with her during their early days at Literature Club.
"Ok, Kaori. I've found that the best way to write a poem is by starting out with some key words. These are just words that are meaningful to you, ones that evoke an emotional response somewhere deep inside. They can be literally anything, there are no wrong answers here. For me, I've always been a fan of gothic romance and things that are a bit darker, they help to inspire me to do my best work. For you though I am sure that is going to be different. So let's give this a try..." Yuri said, sliding a blank sheet of paper and a pen across the table to Kaori, "Take five minutes to come up with some words that evoke an emotional response for you, ones that bring your passion to the surface, and write them down. We can work on putting together a poem afterwards once we know what we're working with"
Kaori sat and thought about what Yuri had said, and then slowly began to write. Those five minutes seemed like they took forever, and she wasn't particularly impressed with herself...but she had done it.
"Well, here" she said, sliding the paper back to Yuri, "They suck, but it's the best I could do"
Yuri took a look at the list, nodding to herself and occasionally letting out a mild "hmm" when her interest was piqued. Kaori's list read as follows:
Revolution
Overthrown
Suppress
Storm
Sunrise
Flowers
Warmth
Family
"This list is actually quite deep" Yuri said, "There is such a strong contrast here, it reminds me of an analogy about breaking through armor to reach the warmth inside of a person. And that gives me an idea..." she said as she took out a fresh sheet of paper and wrote down a title at the top.
"The Knight" Kaori read aloud, "Are you kidding me? I'm not a knight, this is stupid"
"Well think about it. You're fiercely defensive of our family, you bristle against most everyone you meet and are stubborn to a fault..." Yuri began to explain.
"Uh yeah, I get that from dad and we both know it" she replied with a laugh.
"Regardless of that, I think the comparison of you to a knight is an excellent one...so lets see here..." Yuri said as she began to write. Together she and Kaori worked for a short while on the poem until it became something truly special that they had created together.
The Knight
Resolute I stand
Against both friend and foe
I shall not let my guard down
Not even for my own good
Yet I yearn for the day
When I can lower my shield
And welcome someone who will help carry this burden
Will it be you?
"Holy shit...this turned out really good!" Kaori exclaimed. "I have to show mom, just tell her I wrote it on my own and you proof read it afterward for me" she said and jumped up. Kaori didn't have to go far as their mom was coming into the kitchen to see how things were progressing.
"Kaori you really wrote this all on your own?" she asked, "I'm seriously impressed, look how well you do when you really apply yourself! And Yuri, thank you for helping out"
"Yeah thanks...idiot" Kaori said, smiling.
Yuri smiled and nodded.
"Anytime" she replied with a laugh.
"Hey when will dad be home? I want to show him!" Kaori said excitedly.
"Ah about that, he was about halfway home and called me, he was called back into the office. You know how that goes, and of course mister important detective couldn't tell me what it was about so...yeah, girls night again..." their mom said, sounding disappointed.
Kaori and Yuri looked at each other and smiled.
"You know what this means?" Kaori asked.
"Ice cream sundaes and Hell's Kitchen!" Yuri said excitedly.
"You two...I love you guys" their mom said and hugged both of them.
While the trio was settling in to relax for the rest of their evening, Kaori and Yuri's dad had just arrived back at the station. Not too pleased with being called back in after a long, tiring day he was all too eager to find out what was going on and get back on his way home if at all possible. Arriving back at his office he found his partner there waiting for him. A more detailed coroners report had arrived regarding Sawa Higashi, with a critical detail that had been absent from the initial report that had been sent over. Sawa's death had been ruled a homicide, her skull had multiple fractures that would have been caused by blunt force trauma. But this, as it was now being reported, was not her cause of death. The final report that had been received deemed Sawa's cause of death due to spinal cord injury as a result of a fracture of the cervical vertebrae in ligature strangulation.
Seeing this new report, he sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. Outside of Sawa's skeletal remains, a single button was also recovered from her grave. It was determined that the button recovered had come from the blazer of a female's school uniform that wasn't Sawa's as it was the wrong color. With that information he and his partner had begun to form theories as well as a strategy as to how they would setup an extensive interview list to narrow down a list of possible suspects. But now? He finished looking over the report and turned to his attention to his partner.
"So...let's say for the sake of argument that Sawa was murdered by another girl close to her own age. How would that girl have the strength to crush her cervical vertebrae?" he asked.
"She wouldn't have been able to, not without help" his partner replied, letting out a sigh and then looking out the window as he furrowed his brow.
"Well then that leaves only one option, Sawa has two killers"
YOU ARE READING
Doki Doki Literature Club - The Taste of Sunshine
FanficA second chance. An unsolved murder. A chance at happiness. In the months following Sayori's suicide attempt, she finds that the stronger that she becomes, the more pronounces the cracks in those she cares most about are. With this newfound clar...
