Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Twenty Nine - Hensō [変装]

Amaya knew she wasn't going to live down the embarrassment, however, she wasn't prepared for just how badly this was going to rattle her.

Friday night was a nightmare when it came to managing her composure, and in spite of the fact that she didn't once look at Karma that whole time, he was snickering away as if this was the most amusing thing for him to see right now.

Undoubtedly, it probably was.

But unfortunately, Amaya's composure hadn't returned at all. In fact, the evil incarnate only sought to make all her attempts at reigning in the painful embarrassment rather fruitless with every passing moment.

He'd walk right up behind her while she was preoccupied with either housework, or just while she just appeared lost in thought, and without even so much as a warning, he would do one of many things to startle her out of her wits and rattle her even further. They were general annoying things that he often did to her all through grade-school and perhaps the first two years at Kunugigaoka, but she had far less of an ability to handle that anymore.

When she was reading a cookbook to find something decent that she could cook and turn into palatable mulch if Samuel refused to stop picking through his dinner, he'd walked right up behind her and messed her hair up so bad she had to spend ten minutes just trying to comb out the knots, and another time he'd decided to see how many pieces of paper he could stick to her back before she noticed he was even there. And then one time he just walked right up to her and decided to poke her in the side, earning a sudden yelp and the bottle of dishwashing liquid hurled at his head in retaliation.

It wasn't that he necessarily wanted her attention, but rather that he wanted to mess with her.

That's all it was.

And now that it was Sunday, Amaya was in no mood at all to deal with being poked and prodded all day by an infuriating devil. In fact, beyond making sure lunches were organized, she'd retreated into the attic to skip the day altogether.

In spite of emails from a thoroughly amused Karma, Amaya refused to emerge at all. Strangely enough, it was rather for a Sunday – She could only guess that Karma had decided to leave her alone and wander off elsewhere, and her siblings had apparently left.

It was some time around noon by the time Amaya decided to drag herself down from the attic to try and sneak in some household shopping, since everyone else appeared to have left.

She slid down the ladder with little thought, unlocking the door and sliding the panel aside as she heard what sounded like Samuel's squeals, though she quickly noticed that the sound was more akin to a tantrum. Her patience was wearing considerably thin by the time she'd shoved the panel back in place.

However, it was the very instance she opened the pantry door that she found herself immediately glaring at the scene taking place inside. Her two "brothers" were home with no Reiko in sight, and no sign of Karma anywhere either. Both were in the living room, apparently having just returned home, since Samuel was still wearing his shoes and Yuta had two bags over his shoulders.

'GIVE IT BACK!' Samuel screamed as he swung his arms dramatically to hit a thoroughly exasperated Yuta, who was holding a bundle of material up above his head. 'I FOUND IT AND YOU CAN'T TAKE IT AWAY! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BAAAAAACK!!!'

'I already told you not to bring anything home! Seriously, you need to-- OWWW!'' Yuta sighed as he continued to hold whatever it was he had above his head. 'Will you stop that!? That hurts!'

'I WON'T! I WOOOOON'T!' Samuel shrieked.

Amaya's patience snapped completely as Samuel's tantrum grew to near-explosive volumes and kicking of shoes against shins, sending her to close the distance between herself and the two in several long strides.