Chapter Thirty - Imouto

“Ugh, those people,” my mom practically gagged. Like raw meat to a wolf, Jun had given her tacit approval to bag on one of her favorite targets. “They’re ugly inside and out. All they do is sit around and cry and whine about how they should be allowed to get married and spread their poisonous ideas to impressionable children.”

My mom’s words had drifted into the background of my racing mind, becoming a dull drone as I tried to stare a hole through my soup bowl. I was keenly aware of Jun’s smirk washing over me, even as I kept my head down. I, honestly, didn’t want to try to gauge Aria’s reaction to the venomous comments my mom was spitting out. How had he found out? I’d been careful. Careful to the point of paranoia, even. How had this happened?

Honestly, I had not even considered this scenario in my comprehensive list of worst possible outcomes. Jun finding out was simply too awful to consider and I honestly had no idea what to do. My first instinct was to throw up and run to my bedroom, but that would leave Aria at the mercy of my family and there was no way I’d do that. What was left that I could do?

Jun was like the mean bully in the playground which pulled the wings off flies for the fun of it. There would be no reasoning with him. At this point in time he was merely toying with me, and my mind simply couldn’t wrap itself around the horror that revelation brought to me. He knew I was gay and was determined to make me suffer for it. One look into his sneering face informed me of that plainly enough. Knocking him through the wall would only invite a quicker end so that was, at least temporarily, out of the equation.

“It flies against everything we hold dear,” my mom continued on, tapping her finger on the table for further emphasis. “Women doing disgusting things with other women is reprehensible! We have a declining birth rate in this country! What is the future of Japan going to look like if all of these people have their way and tear apart the very fabric of our society?

“It’s not natural! Those people are an aberration of nature! As soon as you allow people like that free rein, they begin to corrupt the next generation. Giving any sort of voice to those lesbians or any of the other ABCQDEO people will be the ruin of Japan and I won’t stand for it! This country has been around for 2900 years, and I will not accept the pillars of this great nation and all the work her Emperors and warriors and statesmen did eaten away by the rot caused by some abnormal miscreants. Isn’t that right?”

“Right you are,” my dad mindlessly agreed. I stared down at the soup sitting on the table before me. As my mom raged on my anger began to rise like a high tide and my jaw clenched. I was screwed but snapping on my mother or biting my own tongue in half to keep from saying something didn’t seem like decent options. No matter what, though, the life I had known was definitely gone. I imagined it would be similar to being put in a guillotine face up to stare as the blade fell. It wasn’t a matter of if anymore, simply one of when.

“I had lots of female friends when I was still in school. I guarantee none of us were ever like that. It’s unnatural, I tell you,” my mother was really hitting her stride at this point. My grip on my chopsticks was so tight I was beginning to fear I’d snap them in half.

“I just don’t like how they think they’re entitled to the same rights normal people have,” Jun took his opportunity to weigh in.

“Exactly!” my mother enthused, happy to have backup. “They’re like a cult! They indoctrinate other people and try to turn them against what is right and natural! You should be thinking about settling down by now and having a family, Jun, not having to fend off this trash with their mind-controlled minions taking potential mates away from perfectly respectable relationships to live a life of debauchery and repugnance!”

“I think you- “I began, unable to take it anymore. I raised my head, my eyes boring into Jun’s grinning face, barely fighting down the urge to kick him through the wall.

“This dinner is delightful!” Aria chimed in, cutting me off.

“Why thank you, dear!” My mom switched gears immediately and positively beamed through the sake haze enveloping her. “It’s so lovely having a guest over for New Year’s! It’s been so long! Were you able to see the first sunrise this morning?”

“Yes,” Aria smiled brightly. “My family and I went to the cliffs to watch it. It was really amazing! Even if the weather wasn’t quite as nice as I would have liked.”

“The weather has been unseasonably cold this winter,” my dad finally found a subject he felt he could weigh in on.

“So much for global warming,” my mother scoffed.

“It’s global warming,” I tried my best to keep my voice emotionless and very nearly pulled it off. “Not warming in your front yard. The world’s a lot bigger than what you see outside the window.”

“Is it?” My mother’s voice positively dripped with venom as she leaned forward toward me. I’d committed yet another in an endless series of cardinal sins by daring to question her deeply held lunatic beliefs. “I think a very good case can be made that our world is what we see.”

“Your mother’s not wrong,” my father jumped in, plainly ready to dive into an attempt at rationalizing what she’d said with his take on pseudo-science. “Philosophically speaking, it’s a fundamental truth that we are only influenced by what we see around us. We can influence and in turn be influenced by the world we see. Thus, philosophically, the world is no larger than what we can see.”

“So if we bury our heads in the sand like ostriches the world closes in until it’s the size of the dirt we see right in front of us?” I scoffed. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how things work outside a mythical philosophical bubble.” My dad gaped at me wide mouthed.

“You will respect your father!” My mother snapped. “We have a guest with us today and you’re putting on quite the spectacle. What’s wrong with you?”

“Take your pick, I guess,” I muttered, my face hot and flushed, my body ice cold.

“We’ll have a discussion about this later, young lady,” my mom’s voice was one of barely contained fury which, honestly, suited me just fine.

“I don’t think Kasumi meant anything by it,” Aria soothed gently, her smile beaming across the table. “It’s been quite the talked about topic at school and on social media for quite some time.”

“You’re a very good girl,” my mother returned Aria’s smile. “I do have to apologize for Kasumi’s behavior. Ever since she got into high school, she’s been more difficult to deal with. I’m so very happy she has a good influence like you in her life, Aria chan!”

“Well, I consider Kasumi a very good friend, Mrs. Fujimura,” Aria’s smile brightened by degrees. “She’s the first friend I made when I got here from America and is a very precious one to me.”

“I’m sure my sister thinks the same about you,” Jun grinned maddeningly. “Don’t you, Kasumi?”

“I don’t need you to speak for me, Jun,” I glared at him.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Kasumi, mom,” Jun ignored me and cut my mom off before she could berate me again. “I’ll have a nice long talk to her and get her sorted out.” My eyes narrowed further as I stared at Jun’s arrogant, disgusting face.

“You’re such a good brother,” my mom sighed, patting his hand. “I’m sure she’s missed having a steadying male influence in her life given how much her father works to provide for us all.”

“Well, Jun is the man of the house when I’m not around,” my father nodded in agreement.

“I plan on being around a lot more often, now, dad,” Jun reassured him. “I’ll make sure things go back to the way they should.”

“I hate to, but I have to leave,” Aria announced, glancing down at her phone. “My uncle and aunt wanted to have a family get together with my cousin getting ready to head back to school soon.”

“Oh! How delightful!” My mom’s enthusiasm was as fake as her smile. “I’m terribly sorry about Kasumi’s outburst. I hope it didn’t give you a poor view of our family.”

“Well, I think the world of Kasumi, so it wasn’t a problem at all,” Aria bowed before heading toward the door.

“Jun, walk Aria out, please,” my mom instructed, pouring herself another glass of sake.

“Huh?” I scowled. “She’s my friend.”

“We need to have a talk, Kasumi,” my mother warned. “Your brother is perfectly capable of walking Aria to the door.”

“Are you on drugs?” My mother demanded in a whispered hiss as soon as Jun and Aria moved far enough away from the table to prevent them from hearing. “How dare you act like this in front of a guest.

“I’m not feeling well,” I muttered, not lying.

“Another outburst like that and you’ll lose your phone privileges for a month, do we understand each other?” My mom growled.

“Can I go to my room?” I nodded.

“I think that would be for the best,” my father weighed in.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and got up from the table, stalking toward my room.

“Not so fast,” Jun whispered, grabbing me as he returned from seeing Aria out.

“I’m not in the mood for your shit, Jun,” I snarled.

“Here’s a little clue for you, little sis,” Jun sneered. “Disgusting carpet munchers like you aren’t tolerated in this household. If you don’t want you and your blonde girlfriend’s private business spread all over town, you’ll find yourself in the ‘mood for my shit’.”

“Do what you want, just leave her out of it,” I snarled. “I’d welcome getting the hell out of this shithole at this point.”

“Your girlfriend’s in it up to her neck, imouto,” Jun shook his head. “She burns if you burn. Plain and simple.”

“What do you want, Jun?” I demanded in an angry hiss.

“You’re going to be nice, Kasumi,” Jun grinned broadly.

“What the hell do you mean?” I snapped.

“You’re going to do what I say when I say it and you’re going to smile the whole damn time,” Jun chuckled. “When I say ‘jump’ you say, ‘how high?’ You’re going to show me the respect I have fucking earned. You do that and you can keep your secret and your girlfriend. If not…”

I glared at him coldly. I had no doubt in my mind he’d do everything he could to ruin our lives. I have no idea how he knew Aria and I were dating but he obviously did. I could feel my options dwindling away. If I did leave, he’d no doubt drag Aria into the abyss, and I simply couldn’t let that happen. Which left three choices, as I saw it. I let him burn everything down, I broke up with Aria and hoped I could protect her or, my mind seized on a faint but possible third option. Once school started up again, I had no doubt my dad would insist on him going back. I could try to wait him out.

If he burned everything down, we both were out of luck. Aria would most likely be sent somewhere else and I’d be kicked out of the house without a doubt. My school life would be a living hell, Jun would make sure of that. If I broke up with her maybe she’d be spared but I doubted it. Jun was a sadist through and through. However, I also doubted Jun simply wanted me to ‘be nice’. He was angling for something; I just didn’t know what. Trying to wait him out was, honestly, my only option at this point.

“I won’t be your fucking bitch, Jun,” I warned him. His hand closed tighter about my recently healed wrist painfully and it was all I could do to stop myself from grimacing in pain.

“You’ll be whatever the fuck I want,” Jun snarled, two centimeters from my face. “If you understand say ‘yes, onii chan, I understand.” It was only a couple of months, I reasoned, seeing no other option.

“Yes, onii chan, I understand,” I yanked my hand away from him, the words feeling like glass shards in my mouth.

“See?” Jun grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I’m easy to get along with if you’re nice.”

“Are we done?” I kept my face carefully neutral through a colossal force of will.

“Yep, we sure are, my sweet little sister. You’re excused.”