“I…” Yuko paused, suddenly lost.
“I know how dangerous he is. I know that the world would be a better place without him. He is still the man that fed me when I killed my mother in birth and taught me how to walk. So I'm using this ability he taught me to leave the conversation I don't want to be part of,” Wakane rambled, clearly distraught, before continuing on her way.
Yuko still followed her. It didn't feel right to just let her leave. She groaned but didn't stop her.
Eventually Wakane stopped at a bench by a window, overlooking the south side of Sanroku and the ocean behind it. She dropped herself on the bench.
Yuko hesitantly took a seat at the other end.
Wakane sighed. “I don't know what else you want to hear but-”
“I'm sorry,” Yuko cut in, looking at her hands, “I'm sorry for not thinking about how you might feel. That wasn't right.”
She deflated at the response, taking a deep breath and exhaling again. “I forgive you… you can hardly imagine my perspective.”
“How does Kosuke manage this?”
There's a small quiet moment. “Father always treated us differently. Kosuke was already everything father wanted. A boy to be his legacy and go inherit everything. Their relationship was a lot… more strained, with him being so strict and harsh and putting a lot of expectations on Kosuke. Since I was a girl, father didn't think I was fit to help carry his burden, so I was more there for fun.”
“That's…”
“Awful?” Wakane responded with an empty chuckle, “Yeah. I had no idea as a child, though. Didn't even think twice, not that I was encouraged to think even once. Kosuke and I spent our childhoods apart, but we became closer when we became teens.”
Yuko frowned. She figured it'd be better not to mention how messed up that was. Wakane clearly knew already. “How did you two become close?” she decided to ask instead.
“It started with just being interested in what Kosuke was doing and learning about. Father never wanted to teach me, not really. With my brother's help I was caught up pretty quickly, though, and he didn't object to me tagging along. Kosuke was really lonely and he probably just really appreciated my company, and the little bit of help I could offer then. I'm glad I could be there for him,” Wakane explained, a small but genuine smile on her lips.
Wakane paused for a few moments. She understood that she left her story unfinished. She sighed. “As we grew closer, we grew apart from our father. After all, we could clearly see how we weren't treated equally. It was like a new world had opened up, and it wasn't a good one. We started seeing it in the other people of Niku. When we spoke to our father about it, he either brushed us off or shut us down. Then the people of Sanroku arrived in the city…” her expression turned sour, then angry, “who weren't offered any grace when they struggled to adapt. They'd lived a really different lifestyle and were denied everything that made them different. Even things that they needed, like their hand treatments. Father said to just cut it off!”
Yuko flinched. She remembered the scars she saw on all Sanroku's citizens' hands. She didn't know what had been in its place, but hands were always a sensitive spot.
Wakane winced as she fidgeted with her hands. Angry tears welled up in her eyes. “Had he not lost part of the feeling of his own hands after amputating his outer thumbs, he would've done it to us, too. All to be more like the people from hundreds of years ago he worships so much!”
Hesitantly, Yuko scooted over and put a hand on Wakane's shoulder, only to be pulled into a tight embrace.
“So, I know… I know he's terrible…” she murmured between her sniffles.
Yuko gently returned the hug. “He's still your dad… and I'm sorry I didn't get that before. it's okay to remember him fondly for when he was there for you…”
The affirmation caused Wakane to choke back a sob. “Thank you, Yuko…”
The two stayed like this for several minutes, with Wakane sobbing into Yuko's shoulder. When there were no more tears to shed, they separated.
Yuko offered a sympathetic smile, which was hesitantly returned. “Do you want to head back?” Yuko asked as she offered her hand.
Wakane let out a small giggle and took it. “Our food is going to be long cold, but at least we should go clean up.”
Yuko's smile widened at seeing just a glimpse of Wakane's playful nature return to her.
Wakane took a deep breath which she released as a long sigh, but she looked calm, at the end of it. “We have a murder to plan, after all.”
When the two returned to the small dining room, everyone else was still there, surprisingly. Usually people dispersed to spend time with their families after eating, at least those that had them. An air of relief washed over the room when Yuko and Wakane appeared to be in good enough spirits.
It was clear that it'd been fairly quiet since their departure, but the two took their seats nonetheless.
Kosuke had a pensive look on his face, staring at his hands. Satoru and Shizumi had been clearing the table.
“You're right that we can't just ignore him,” Satoru spoke up, “but he's built a delicate situation that no sane person would dare disturb for the fallout it would come with.”
Kosuke put his hands on the table, outer thumbs resting under his hands to be out of sight. He's still not moved his gaze from them. “He taught me everything he knows,” he explains, “It might be possible to remove our father without anyone noticing, and taking the city apart from the inside.”
“You want to replace him,” Yuko figured with a frown.
Wakane immediately objected. “Kosuke, no. Your hands… don't do that to yourself,” she pleaded.
He was surprised to hear speak in that way. “A set of fingers isn't the worst sacrifice to make,” he argued calmly, allowing his accent to match hers.
Shizumi walked over to Kosuke's side and extended a hand. When he gave it to her, she started pensively checking it. “Are you sure that's even going to work?” she asked.
“Few people have seen him without his mask… and while those that have would know Kosuke, they could be convinced to play along to maintain order… It might be one of our safest bets,” Wakane explained, though she wasn't happy about it.
Yuko considered the possibility. “So, all we'd need is a way to isolate him.”
Satoru frowned as he thought. “He's not without his hubris. He did approach us confidently during the Migration. Luring him into a similar situation isn't off the table.”
“That's because besides the group of people, which he didn't consider a threat, it was just us,” Yuko reasoned, “Would something like that work again?”
“It would be a gamble-” Kosuke started, only to be interrupted by Satoru.
“What isn't about this?”
There was a small collective chuckle before he continued. “But we could approach him head on. Too small of a group to be a threat, but too important to ignore or gun down. He'd want to come out and meet us.”
“There is one threat, though,” Kosuke noted, looking at Yuko.
It took her a second to catch on, before reaching into her pants and sliding Fukui's pistol onto the table. “He knows I have it.”
“If we all bring them he would immediately know what we intend to do,” Shizumi mused.
“How?” Yuko asked.
“The thirioids, they mostly behave like the animals they are meant to represent, but they're loyal to him and feed him information. It's how he watched the Migration,” Wakane explained.
“So he'll know we're coming,” Yuko conceded. “Then… I should be fine to have it. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.”
“He'll still want it out of the picture,” Shizumi argued.
Yuko thought for a moment, before picking up the gun and removing the magazine and putting it back down. “There.”
Wakane and Kosuke frowned, confused. To Satoru it seemed obvious.
“It's still loaded,” Shizumi pointed out, “in the chamber,” before she hummed pensively. The siblings were surprised to be reminded.
“Would he remember that?” Yuko asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.
The moment gave everyone pause.
Kosuke hummed softly. “I'm not sure if I've ever seen him use one. He phased them out for the energy firearms pretty quickly, so it has at least been a very long time since he handled one, if ever…”
“You'll only have one shot,” Wakane pushed.
Shizumi continued staring at the gun. “It could be enough.”