Chapter Text
“Terrifying,” Mari murmurs to herself as she walks the empty and dark halls of the house.
A creak and a moan can be heard. The whole atmosphere just felt wrong. Were they truly be haunted? Mari dreads the thought and freezes up upon hearing the moans and groans sound more like some poor living thing that is dying.
“No, this won’t be good for business at all,” She murmurs once more to herself.
If the sounds of a ghost or a tortured being keep coming, business for Yu-Topia Katsuki will start to decline and that is the last thing the Katsuki family needs. This is the fourth day and by some miracle, these depressing sounds have not disturbed the customers, sort of. Mari turns around finally fed up as she hears a quiet weeping sound only to let out a scream.
“It’s just us, Honey,” Toshiya states.
He looks exhausted and so does his wife. Mari feels immediately bad for her parents. The poor souls have not gotten a wink of sleep since these haunted noises came to be. There is an easy solution to this problem but Mari is forbidden to do it.
“I’m here! Oh wow, she does sound like she is dying,” A new voice states.
The three turn to see the family friend, Minako. Suddenly, a newfound hope is lit up within the three. Minako just chuckles.
“I promise you it can’t be that bad. The poor thing is probably just stressing herself to death. You know how she and Yuuri are.”
Another, this time annoying to Mari, moan comes and she is quick to not greet Minako. She pushes the female to the door where these sounds have been coming from. All of Minako’s prior confidence seems to vanish as soon as the ghastly sounds reach her ears.
“I… Suddenly think there is an evil spirit here,” Minako whispers.
Mari huffs and demands, “Just open the door already!”
Minako nods to herself and counts to three. “One… She will be totally fine. Two… I am getting scared here… If my delightful news doesn’t work I have no idea how to help her out of this fit… Three!” Minako slams the door open.
“(Name)?” Hiroko calls out gently.
The four of them freeze. They expected to see the youngest in the family to look a bit like a sleepy zombie, not like the very definition of dread! She doesn’t even look like herself. Her clothes were caked with paint and other artistic items while her hair was dried with the paint as well. Her face seemed pale and lifeless… And her eyes? They had the reflection of someone who went to hell themselves.
When the girl speaks, her voice is devoid of emotion. “What are you guys doing here so late?”
“It… It spoke!” Mari says in a slight shock.
Minako pinches her and questions the girl, “It is not that late! It is only dinner time! How the hell does it get this bad?”
Hiroko speaks up, “(Name), Honey, I think you should take a long break. Come and eat some bowls of Pork Cutlet!”
“Thank you Auntie, but I am afraid I have to decline,” (Name) says as she ever so slowly turns back to a beautiful piece of empty paper.
Mari seems almost annoyed as she tries to be gentle with her tone. “Please tell me you haven’t been staring at this blank piece of paper these past four days.”
Only incoherent mumbling is the reply she gets. Mari’s parents retreat to go finish the dinner preparations and Minako pinches Mari once more for being a little less than polite with her bluntness. The two seem to quiet down their conversation so the out of place teen wouldn’t hear them.
“I don’t care if she’s having a bad week! Well, I obviously do but she needs to tell us! We care and love for her and we worry about her when she gets like this!” Mari whispers harshly to her friend.
Minako frowns and nods. “I understand but you know how she is! She’s like Yuuri. She needs either a push or to tell us at her own pace…”
“A push? I’ll give her a push. (Name), I had enough of this bullshit. You’re making me worry like crazy over here. I don’t want to be harsh but you haven’t been taken care of yourself. Go clean up and eat,” Mari demands loudly pulling the younger girl out of her depressed rut.
Minako isn’t that surprised by the tough love in Mari’s voice but it does make her worry. She quickly tries to make sure their point is getting across. “We worry about you (Name). Why don’t you take a break as your aunt suggested? Just relax for the next few days because Yuuri is coming home soon!”
Hearing the name of her darling cousin seems to snap (Name) out of whatever hellhole she was currently in. The normal happiness returns to her and shines brightly in her eyes as she asks, “Yuuri is coming home?”
When the two older females confirm the question with a nod of their heads, (Name) jumps up with newfound hope and rushes to go take care of herself now.
~*~
“Is she coming down to eat?” Toshiya questions.
Mari and Minako nod their heads. With ease, Mari lights up a cigarette and mumbles, “That girl… Honestly, she’s going to give us more trouble than Yuuri did during his phases.”
“She’ll be fine. She has all of us to look after her! Anyway, I better go prepare for Yuuri’s arrival as well. I will contact you all when I receive word that his plane will leave!” Minako states.
They bid her farewell and Hiroko is the first to speak about (Name) once again. “She will be fine. She is a strong and beautiful young girl-“
“Almost an adult, Mom. That is what is worrying me,” Mari mumbles again.
Hiroko ignores the negative words and continues, “I am proud of her. I am proud of her and Yuuri! They are both passionate about what they want to do and because of that, it has brought fame upon them. They could change the world with their beautiful minds if they so wish! I know her parents would’ve been proud of her.”
“I am proud of her on their behalf. My darling sister and brother-in-law would have been so happy to see the positive impact she is doing in the world,” Toshiya states with a sad smile.
The three family members can only feel pride upon thinking of the goodness in (Name)’s heart…
If only they knew how slowly she is losing her inspiration for the thing she loves most. At the rate she is going, it will be the same tragedy that fell upon Yuuri when he got defeated in the Grand Prix one year ago.