Chapter Nine: Aurora:

Things started to get uglier for Yumiko and Kirika towards the end of their short lives. It started when one of Haruka’s neighbors got a new dog that wouldn’t stop barking. The young couple and the old lady fought constantly about it.

“Shut that damn dog up!” she always yelled at them in the morning.

“Mind your own business, grandma!” the husband barked. Apparently, he didn’t know who he was dealing with. Haruka didn’t take too kindly to his insults and decided to get a little revenge. That evening, she went out and bought antifreeze. By morning, she had the perfect pawn in mind. She waited in the kitchen to set her plan into motion. The baby of the family happened to have the misfortune to come down their first. Haruka listened as tiny feet made it into the kitchen. She smirked as she looked up to see Kirika in the doorway. The little girl panicked as she started to back away. Haruka put up her hand to stop her.

“Kirika-chan,” she addressed her. The little girl froze with big eyes.

“Come here,” her mother commanded. Already, the baby didn’t enjoy where this could possibly go.

“Y-Yes?” she asked.

“Come closer,” her mother ordered. Not seeing any other choice around this, the little girl reluctantly did so. Haruka gave her a cold smile.

“I have a little job for you,” she told her.

“A job?” Kirika asked.

“Yes,” Haruka replied. She pulled out a small cup and shoved it towards her daughter. “You’re going to take this sausage to the neighbors’ dog and feed it to them,” the mother told her. Naturally, Kirika’s face went pale.

“Feed him?” she asked.

“Yes,” her mother said. “Make momma proud.” There was something so threatening in her voice. Haruka smirked as Kirika nodded once at her words.

“Good girl,” her mother cooed. “Now get going.” She watched as her daughter reluctantly took the cup off the table and headed out the front door. Kirika marched on as if walking to an execution. Luckily for her, the young couple living next door to them wasn’t home. The little girl peeked over the wooden fence.

“Puppy?” she whispered. “Here, puppy, puppy.” The black and white Japanese Chin raced over to the gate. The little girl already suspected that her mother did something to the sausage inside the cup. However, she couldn’t turn back around and face her mother through failure. Kirika reached down and pat the little dog on his head. The child swallowed as her stomach turned in knots. I’m so sorry, she thought. Kirika reached down and slid the cup through the fence. The dog sniffed the meat and ate up. In seconds, he froze, crumpled up, and started to die before her eyes. The poor child backed away and screamed.

What have I done?! Kirika ran all the way home in tears. Daisuke ended up trying to comfort his sister after she told him everything that happened. He looked up and saw Haruka watching them from across the hall. He glared at her as she smirked.

Haruka seemed to punish Daisuke for everything that he did wrong by tormenting his sisters. Ever since he failed his first kill for his kitsune, the abuse of Yumiko and Kirika grew worse. For vomiting after watching their mother kill a target, she practically starved her daughters for five days. Sometimes, the mother would get her sons to join in tormenting them. Yasuo happily went along with it just to keep their mother happy. Shichiro and Nobu, on the other hand, reluctantly went along with it just so Haruka wouldn’t torment them as well. Despite all of the torment and pain, the girls didn’t blame their brothers one bit.

“Are you mad at me?” Daisuke asked in the backyard one September night. Kirika cuddled up close to her brother.

“No,” she replied.

“It’s not your fault,” Yumiko told him. Daisuke smiled such reassuring words.

“We love you,” Kirika said. He patted them both on the head.

“I love you both too,” he said. The girls giggled at his words as he smiled at them. Haruka watched them from inside the house. It annoyed her that her youngest son found the strength to stay together through his sisters. She wanted to see him crumble into another puppet like her older sons did. Watching them gave her a cold idea as she smirked.

You love your sisters, huh? Let’s see how well you survive without them around! Aki appeared by her side.

“What do you desire to do, mistress?” she asked. Haruka giggled like a flirtatious hooker.

“I will need your help with a little cleaning,” she said as she began to plot her cruelest plan yet.

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Around February 11th, 1982, Yumiko went missing around ten A.M. At first, nothing really rose of this. The fourteen-year-old girl did run away to her friend’s house to escape from the Kimoto House hell before. After about four days however, something didn’t seem right. The only one who was alerted by this was Daisuke. He tried to ask Haruka about his sister. Their mother shrugged over her tea.

“She probably ran away from home,” the old lady brushed off. Though his face didn’t show it, something in Daisuke told him not to believe her. The next morning, he secretly went to the police after school to report his sister missing. As he walked down the hall, he wasn’t the only one worried about Yumiko.

“Did she do something to nee-san?” he heard a small voice asked behind him. The seventeen-year-old boy looked up to see Kirika peeking out from her bedroom. Her older brother dropped his shoulders as he didn’t even bother to lie. He leaned in close to his younger sister’s ear.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I think that she did something to Yumiko-chan.” The twelve-year-old girl looked up at him with big eyes.

“I’m scared, Dai-kun,” she murmured. Her brother reached past the door and patted her on the head.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “I will be here for you.” Haruka happened to hear him from the other end of the hall as she planned part two of her cruel plan.

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Things only got worse for Daisuke’s paradise when on Valentine’s Day of 1982, the news reported that the burned and bloated remains of a schoolgirl around fourteen to fifteen years old was found in an open field. They didn’t have a match to fingerprints and they were still working with dental records to identify the body. The whole time, Daisuke feared the worst.

Please don’t let her be dead, he thought to himself every night. However, in his heart, he already put the answer of who the body they found was.

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Around April, Kirika disappeared from her route to her school for a class trip. Again, only Daisuke was really worried. Against his better judgment, he asked his mother what happened to his other sister. Haruka didn’t even look up from paying the bills.

“Oh,” she cooed. “She probably ran away too.” This time, Daisuke knew she was lying. That wasn’t in Kirika’s character. She was too meek and timid do something as bold as running away. That girl would rather cling to her brother than leave. Based on all that had happened with his sisters so far and his mother’s nonchalant replies, he knew that something awful has happened to them. Just like with Yumiko two months earlier, Daisuke secretly went to the police after school to report Kirika missing. His brothers wouldn’t even tell him anything when he asked.

“Please make this easier on yourself,” Nobu told him in the early morning hours, “Don’t ask unnecessary questions.” Daisuke couldn’t really take that answer sitting down when who knows what could have happened to Yumiko and Kirika.

“But who would do such a thing to Yumiko-chan?” he asked. “And where is Kirika-chan?” Nobu gently placed his hands on his shoulders.

“I can’t answer that for you about Yumiko-chan,” he said. “But I’m sure that Kirika-chan will come back home to us one day.” That tone in his voice alone told him that was a lie. The youngest brother was still determined to learn the truth.

But Daisuke wouldn’t have all the answers until the early summer of the same year.