Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Fourteen - Matsuri [祭り]

There was something wrong.

Amaya couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew that there was something very wrong ever since she woke up that first morning after Yuta and Reiko's arrival.

She vaguely recalled after setting up the kittens in a box in her room with a warm water bottle that night, and the grand assortment of sweet Chinese the twins had chosen for dinner, she'd opted for disappearing for the evening. She'd been awake for a while, tending to the kittens in regular hourly intervals just as the veterinary clinic had instructed, though she eventually nodded off, she guessed.

So waking up tucked away in the futon shouldn't have been strange for her, but it was considering that she hadn't been anywhere near the futon while she was conscious - stranger still was that it appeared the kittens had both been tended to while she was asleep.

But that wasn't the particular something that was so very wrong.

It was the sudden and unexplainable fact that from the moment she woke up on the 26th, Karma was being alarmingly nice to her, and her, alone. He gave the normal treatment to Reiko and Samuel, maintaining his harsh edge towards Yuta, but to her, he was painfully nice.

While he didn't stop with all the cat jabs and taunting remarks, he didn't pinch her face harshly in punishment for doing something he deemed 'wrong', nor did he really do anything to upset her per say. What was more strange and unexplainable than even that however was the fact that without the taunting he would normally give, he opted to cook all her favorite things out of the blue.

It was almost scary, especially the way he seemed to meticulously sidestep any question she had about it, and once he even seemed to avert his gaze from her for a small second, almost like he was guilty when she'd asked him if he was hiding something from her.

She didn't understand it, but she decided there wasn't much point in trying to pry the answer out of him, either.

And so, she decided to leave things alone for the time being - He'd been taking off during daylight hours, anyway, but seemed to make a point of coming back right before sundown, almost like he was checking up on her.

No, undoubtedly that was exactly what he was doing.

Outfitting the house was more important than trying for answers he wouldn't hand over, and so she did just that. The rooms of her siblings were sorted out and furnished, a washing machine was purchased, a television plus the cabinet to put it on and a couch. Bedding was next, along with the necessities for the twins.

All in all, everything was sorted and completed, however, when everything was delivered, for some reason a few other items had been sent along. Apparently paid in full, the receipt the delivery man had given had two purchases, one made a single hour after the one she'd paid for, outfitted with a bed, a closet, and a bedside table.

And the name of the account that had made the purchase was a S.Mizumoto, a dead giveaway that Shigure had been keeping tabs on the purchases made, and recognized immediately her own attempt at trimming any purchases made on herself.

Amaya had frowned at that, though otherwise she said nothing.

It was the last weekend before school was to start again on Monday, Saturday, if Amaya had to take a guess at it. Samuel was apparently enrolled to start attending school with the twins, and he had his uniform and everything needed - The uniform turned up in the mail along with the necessary paperwork just the morning before.

And apparently, Amaya's transfer was canceled without trouble - No doubt if Shigure wasn't the one who organized it, then it was Karasuma. It felt like it had been forever since she had been back in Class E, though in truth, it had just been the summer break - a little over a month, if she had to take a guess.