The Carnelian Sparrow

Chapter 13

Yui had no expectations as she knocked on the front door of the Rinju family’s little house. Alice had assured her that there was nothing to worry about, since Esther had only just returned that morning, and she would likely stay locked up in her room the whole time Yui was there.

This had become something of a ritual for Yui by now. Her one little corner of peace despite the fights she used to get into, despite fighting Witches in more recent months, and all the drama that came with high school. Not to mention the band now eating away at the last bastion of her free time.

Her wounds had healed nearly completely, though if one knew where to look, the shadow of a scar remained. Yui was, in a way, finally taking Alice and Midori’s advice and relaxing, but the shadow of Esther even just being in the house during Yui’s weekly tea time didn’t put her at ease. What didn’t help was that Marian Rinju’s car was nowhere to be seen in the driveway.

As if to answer Yui’s thoughts and concerns, the front door opened, with Esther standing on the other side. Expecting a snide remark or hostility, Yui braced herself, but Esther’s warm smile caught her off guard. “Ah, Yui. Right on time. Please come in, won’t you?” She held the door open, standing off to the side to let Yui in.

Seeing Alice in the background, Yui let her hesitation go, and stepped past Esther with a polite nod. Kicking her shoes off into the corner of the entryway, she made her way into the dining room, looking around. “No Mama Rinju this time?”

“No. Mom got called into work for some kind of emergency.” Alice took a seat at the table, and a kettle could be seen on the stove behind her in the kitchen. Steam was starting to form and leak out of it. “It’s just us three tonight.” Her voice was laced with an uncomfortable tension, the same that Yui felt before arriving. Esther’s warmth, somehow, was not putting either other girl at ease.

“Chamomile this time, Yui.” Esther gave both her sister and her visitor a warm smile again, fluttering about with setting tea cups on the table, one for each of them.

“Er, thanks, Esther.” Everything within Yui was screaming, wanting to confront Esther about this inviting warmth. She held herself back, however, not wanting to upset Alice. She looked uncomfortable enough as it was, but seeing them all get along would inevitably help put her mind at ease.

It was Alice, however, that took the initiative. “…Esther, didn’t you kick Yui out last time she came by? What happened to that? N-Not that I’m complaining, or anything.”

Yui tensed up, but Esther simply chuckled. “Don’t be silly, Alice. It’s far better to have someone reliable like Yui around to help keep an eye out, isn’t it? Especially with all of my, erm… let’s just say ‘research’ trips.”

Once again, Yui tensed up, internally screaming every snappy comeback she were capable of, but seeing Alice take a couple deep breaths silenced her for a while. “Yeah, well… you can always count on me,” she managed to mumble out.

Soon after, the kettle began to whistle, and Esther practically bounced toward it, pouring three cups of tea. One for herself first, then Alice, and finally Yui, keeping the image of a perfect host the entire time.

Yui didn’t hesitate this time. Taking the opportunity to show Alice even more calm, and perhaps one-up Esther in this silly passive aggressive game, Yui gave a polite nod, reaching for her cup and taking the first sip. As expected, this had the intended effect on Alice, who visibly seemed to calm even more. Alice was next to reach for her cup, followed shortly by Esther.

Not poisoned, Yui mused as she took another sip. “Hey, not bad. Thanks.” The trio then sat in an awkward silence, yet a calm one. The tension in the air had loosened a fair bit, though glances between Yui and Alice showed that neither were abandoning their thoughts about Esther. They agreed to get the truth out of her, after all, and though this wasn’t the intended time, both girls seemed to be on the same page.

Esther, however, beat both of them in the race to break the silence. “Say, Yui. Would you indulge me for a moment?” Not waiting for her reply, given Yui was halfway through another sip. “If you’re not opposed, would you mind giving me a little spar out back?”

“Er… I mean, sure, but what good’s it gonna do you to kick my ass again?” Yui was, as always, blunt and honest. Especially after the last time they fought, Yui wasn’t in a rush to get beat down again, and if Esther used her powers…

“Just a little contest. I won’t even transform. Please?”

Alice looked between the two, her eyes starting to wide, but Yui simply shrugged. “Y’know what? Sure, why not? If it’ll make ya feel better to punch down…”

Esther giggled quietly into her soon-to-be empty cup. “Thank you. Alice, do you want to watch? I promise, it really is a friendly contest this time.”

Neither of them seemed to beat around the bush with Alice. Everyone here knew that Yui and Esther fought underground by now, and everyone knew that everyone knew this. Alice sighed and paused, kicking her legs under the table. “Eh… sure, I guess. Just don’t get competitive, okay?”

The bout lasted even less time than the underground fight against her grandfather. Half a minute and some change later, and Yui was flat on her back in the grass, staring up at the sky, a bruise on her shoulder beneath her shirt. “Fuckin’ hell, I couldn’t even get close…”

Esther simply nodded, showing no outward emotion to break her facade. “You got one decent hit in this time. I’ll be feeling that one in my ribs for a week.”

Alice sighed and reached down, helping Yui to her feet. “Feel better now, sis?”

Nodding again, Esther looked Yui up and down. “Your form is tightening. You have some experience, both with Witches and with other people, but you’re still letting people slip past your guard. Feints especially seem to still be your biggest weakness in a one-on-one fight.”

Ignoring Yui’s muttering, Esther continued. “Were we transformed, Yui, I think you would have stood more of a chance. Your weapon doesn’t afford a lot of room for a brawler like me, when used properly anyway. With a little practice, the second-eldest Magical Girl in Mitakihara—”

“So aside givin’ me pointers, what was the fuckin’ point of all this?” Yui had had enough by now, staring straight into Esther’s eyes with the dam of her patience finally cracking and spilling over. “Like, we both knew who was gonna win this, and if ya wanted to train me, you would’ve not spent all week trying to push me away from Alice. What gives now? An’ don’t bother lying, ‘cause we all know all of this shit by now.”

Alice leaned against the tree beside both of the other girls, shrinking back a bit. “I want to ask about that too. Why did you spend so much time and effort trying to push Yui away, just to… embrace her as one of my protectors now, all of a sudden?”

“It doesn’t make one bit of sense. Ya beat up Pops ‘n’ me for some quick cash after bein’ gone for like a week, ya drop this ‘stay away from my family’ shit, an’ now you’re servin’ me tea and givin’ me tips? Like, what gives?”

“A-And where have you been going, anyway, Esther? You still haven’t told me. You never tell me where you go… and your trips keep getting longer and longer. What would I have done if Yui listened to you in the first place?”

The barrage of questions finally cracks Esther’s mask, and her smile finally fades. “…The truth, then.” Despite her voice lowering, it still held no animosity. Perhaps this was what unsettled Yui the most, though Alice was listening intently. “The full, unguarded truth.”

“Let’s start with the obvious. Yui, you know what I wished for by now, right?”

Alice shuffled uncomfortably, opening her mouth to apologize, but Esther held out her hand in a comforting gesture towards her sister to stop her. “Don’t. Yui knowing this saves me some time. I would have told you by now, anyway, and I’m surprised it never came up sooner, given our history.”

“Y-Yeah. You wished for your mother’s bastard of an ex-husband to suffer, right? What, the daughter of a mob boss is supposed to judge that sorta thing?” Yui faltered slightly, but stood her ground.

Esther shook her head. “It wasn’t a moral reason I never told you. Quite frankly, you never asked. It never crossed your mind, did it? You wanted to beat me -first-, and then learn about my powers after. It’s a rather damning flaw of yours, truth be told. That sort of thinking might get you killed out there someday.”

Not waiting for Yui to argue, Esther continued. “But my wish is really important to all of this. If I hadn’t made it in those exact words, I never would have learned the truth about my family. Our family,” she added, sparing a glance to a very nervous looking Alice.

“The Rinju family is cursed, Yui. It has been, for a long time now. Countless generations. I have no idea how far back it goes, besides ‘very very long ago’. I haven’t yet figured out what caused it, either, but I know firsthand what the effects are. So does Alice, even if she doesn’t remember.”

Alice shifted nervously and uncomfortably, and Esther spoke despite this after a cursory glance. “Let me tell you a story, Yui. Once upon a time, we had a father. A real one. Tomozaku Rinju never really had much in the way of success. Not financially anyway. But he did have a special kind of love for his family.”

“One day, he gets back from a business trip overseas. He had himself a nice, long conversation, a pleasant one with a flight attendant who was thinking about moving to Japan. She was already acclimated to the culture, given her vocation and her usual routes with her job, and he was lonely, but never thought himself the type to ever actually find someone.”

“They get along well enough, and scrape enough money together to buy a little house and start a little family. Two little girls. He doesn’t seem to object to his wife giving them names from her homeland. In case you were wondering how two girls born in Japan had English names in the first place.”

“But he was a loving father, if not a little awkward and quiet. Played with us, kept us fed and happy. Over time, he found another love, one at the bottom of a bottle. I once thought that this was what made Tomozaku a fiend, but no. Even as a hopeless drunk who lost his job, he was still kind to us.”

“It was about the time that Alice entered elementary school that the serious changes began setting in.” Alice shuffled again, shrinking down until she was sitting under the tree, hugging her legs as Esther spoke. “Raised tones turned into raised fists. Late night arguments with our mother became nightly, then daily, then outright constant. Mom started getting real quiet, and started wearing makeup around the house to hide the bruises.”

“It only escalated from there. I don’t think I have to tell you both just how bad it got, or what -exactly- he started doing. First to Mom, then to me later down the line.”

Yui flinched, and the sour expression and budding rage told Esther all she needed to know. Yui knew, of course. She gleaned enough from conversations with Alice and Marian over the years to piece everything together, but to have it confirmed directly was like a punch to the gut.

“One night, after he left my room, that was when Kyubey first appeared. And in that moment, I was vulnerable and foolish enough to give -anything- to escape. But then I stopped and thought about it. Why run away from it? Why not pay that monster back for everything he had put my mother and I through? So I wished for him to suffer for as long as he was near me. If I could see him, he would suffer. And so Kyubey granted my wish without a moment’s hesitation.”

“And he really did suffer. His movements became slower. Sluggish. Spent more time in the bathroom. Coughing fits. I never confirmed it, but I swore I saw dried blood in our sink once or twice. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. I thought it would be enough for him to run away. It was how he lived before this, after all.”

“Unfortunately for me, the wounded animal was cornered, and I never knew just how hard he would lash out. He never really knew just what was causing his declining health, but he took it out on me, as if I had caused it somehow.” Before Yui could interject, Esther stared her dead in the eyes. “And it was. But he shouldn’t have known that, right?”

“Well, I decided to stop denying it. He thought me some sort of witch who cursed him somehow. I just told him the truth. I expected him to think I was insane or something, but his eyes told me that he believed me. Maybe his family dealt with Kyubey before or something. In any case, I told him that he had two choices now.”

“The first, he could double down and try to fight, but knowing what I was, he would suffer and likely die if he tried, and none of us would face any legal repercussions over it. His death would be ruled poor health, just like every other absent father of the time period before him who drank themselves to death.”

“The second? He could turn himself in to the police, confess his crimes, and if I never saw him again, he could at least live out and recover in prison. I don’t have to tell you which he chose, Yui. You know damn well that the fucking coward fled to the safety of prison.”

Esther had stopped talking for a moment. Yui’s fists were in tight balls, and she was struggling to keep her breathing calm. Alice, however, had been crying in her huddle beneath their tree, finally looking up after Esther had gotten quiet. “Why… why didn’t you tell me the full truth?!”

With a sigh, Esther turned and knelt down beside Alice, brushing hair out of her face. “You were so young, Alice. You always were. I… Mom and I both tried our damnedest to keep that bastard away from you. Part of that meant not letting you find all this out until you were ready. You loved him, all the way up until the day the police came for him, and you overheard his charges. I didn’t want you to hurt over it. I’m sorry, Alice.”

“Mom wanted to protect you from the abuse, but I couldn’t let you piece together the full picture, not like this. I didn’t want you to hate yourself for loving him, even after everything he did. I still don’t. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

Alice simply nodded, burying her face in her arms again. Esther stood back up, looking at Yui, who finally spoke. “So then, you’ve been runnin’ around this whole time, lookin’ for clues on this curse your mom’s ex suffered from?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t pieced the rest together by now, Yui. Then again, maybe not. See, the Rinju family curse isn’t so simple to just target the firstborn child. It latches onto vulnerable souls born from the cursed. Man or woman, anyone can suffer. Men turn violent, committing horrible, unspeakable crimes on those around them. Women meet with Kyubey, and I don’t think I need to explain why that’s a bad thing.”

“…So then that’s why it’s after Alice so goddamn hard? She’s carryin’ this curse now?!”

Esther’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not a problem, so long as Alice never makes a contract. But you and I both know where our lives lead and end. If that were to happen to Alice—”

Yui shuddered and shook her head. “Y-Yeah. I get it, I get it. An’ here I was just tryin’ to keep her out of a life of combat. But uh… wait a sec, Alice knew about magic from awhile back. Before that bastard got pinched by the cops. How’d that happen?”

“Oh, um… I can answer that.” Alice took a minute to bring herself upright again, though she still leaned against the tree for support. “I found Kyubey talking to Esther one night. Mom and da— …the fighting got really loud, so I went to hide in Esther’s room.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hide them from one another fast enough. I did get Kyubey away, but I had to have a difficult talk with Alice.”

“That’s not too far from when you made your wish, Yui,” Alice meekly added. “I was surprised at how easy it was to figure out, and you were always surprised at how easily I accepted it, but it just kinda worked out. Harder part was… figuring out why Esther was hurt and upset all the time. But I never knew it was that bad…”

“It wasn’t an easy conversation. All I told Alice was that Tomozaku was heavy handed in discipline, and I was ‘emotional’ enough to wish for revenge. Alice wanted to know more about magic, and me telling her about it seemed to calm her down. It was a distraction from the harsh reality of living in an abusive home, but avoiding the actual abuse.”

Esther sighed again. “But I knew how crafty Kyubey was. You did too, Yui. It was always a blessing, that she had someone like you in her life to help keep that damned thing away from her. Once I felt safe enough, I set out to learn more about the Rinju curse.”

“I found our family tree in a public library. I visited older villages and investigated tales of families torn apart by seemingly supernatural disasters. Suicides, homicides, that sort of thing. Found trails from our ancestors, but no clues beside that.”

Yui folded her arms. “So you trusted me, then? To keep Alice safe while you were away”

“Not entirely. I knew how close you two were, but in our spars, I knew you were rash and impulsive, especially when it came to a fight. I could only go so far, be gone for so long before I would need to return and make sure that my baby sister was still in one, perfectly human piece.”

“It could have left me in these dead ends, but Kyubey met with me one day while I was out of town. I asked about the Rinju family curse, and as I suspected, it knew everything. Didn’t tell me everything, naturally, but it confirmed to me that the curse was real, that it went back countless generations, had a definite way to cure it without bloodshed, and…”

“…Kyubey told me that its goal was to get a contract out of Alice. Because the curse over all these innumerable years was concentrated on her. Yui, you know what that means, right? If Alice makes a wish… if she forms a contract with Kyubey—”

“Nothin’ any of us can do if that happens. Yeah, I get the picture. We’re strong, but… yeah, no. I was always on board keepin’ the cat bastard away from Alice, but you better believe I’m on overtime here. Esther, you can count on me to help keep Kyubey away from Alice.”

Esther visibly relaxed, hearing the determination in Yui’s voice. “Thank you, Yui. Seriously, thank you. That means more to me than you realize.”

“But you kept on searchin’, right? ‘Cause trust me, it doesn’t take a week to talk to the genie cat.”

“Well… how to put this? Yui, as delicately as I can say, you’re familiar with the concept of criminal underworlds and shady organizations, right?” Taking Yui’s murderous glare as an answer, Esther nodded. “Well, it stands to reason that people in our line of work would team up as well, form those same… circles, so to speak.”

“I haven’t signed any contracts, or pledged loyalty to any of them or anything. But I’ve been getting desperate. If I can’t dispel our family’s curse, Alice will be hunted forever. And we all know that life never gets any easier. My all consuming goal is to break our curse so that Alice can live a normal life. And Yui, you better believe that I’ll do -anything- to make that happen.”

“The part I don’t get, an’ neither does Alice, is that you told me to stay away from Alice. Why is that?” Yui folded her arms. This was the one thing that didn’t make sense to Yui. “You started countin’ on me to keep Alice safe, so you tell me to back off? If I’d listened, that’d be game over, you realize that, right?”

Esther gave a sad, sarcastic kind of smile. “Well, I have two reasons. On the one hand, have you ever been the type to ever do as you’re told? Worst case scenario, you’d still watch Alice from the shadows. Your little bluff at that arena shook me, sure. But I have learned how to pull my punches. Even if it went wrong, I knew there was no way you would have honored your side of the bargain either way.”

Yui glared again. Did Esther just imply that she let Yui win that bet? She still remembered those burns lasting as long as they did.

“But the other reason is… well, I finally have a lead. And if this goes sour, it risks bringing the wrath of an underworld on my head. I didn’t want you getting caught up in that—”

“Don’t do me any fuckin’ favors, Esther,” Yui spat. “You don’t know what my family did, or went through. Don’t pretend, and don’t pull this savior bullshit with me.”

Surprisingly, Esther didn’t confront this. She looked away, rubbing her shoulder. “…I’m sorry, Yui. But this lead, it’s the most promising avenue I’ve found yet. And I cannot back down now.”

“Then let’s stop pretendin’ to be enemies and deal with this together. You, me, and Alice.” Yui’s expression softened.

“I can’t. Yui, I have to do this on my own. Alice can’t make a contract, and this is a family affair. No, Yui. I have to do this alone.” Esther’s voice was becoming increasingly desperate and a little crazed. “Now that you know all of this, Yui… you have to promise to keep Alice safe while I pursue this lead to its conclusion, and in return, I’ll absorb all of the consequences.”

“I refuse.” Yui’s reply was instant, and Alice stared at Esther, telling her in her expression that she agreed with Yui. “Your head’s not on right, if you think you can just fight the world on your own. ‘Specially the criminal underworld. Nah, you’re goin’ about this all wrong. We need to do this -together- or nothin’ is gonna get fixed. Deep down, Esther, you have to realize that.”

“You can’t be serious!” Esther’s voice snapped up in volume, causing Alice to flinch. “If we go together, Kyubey has nothing stopping it from getting a wish out of Alice! Don’t you get it? It’ll do -anything- to get my sister’s soul! I was wrong to depend on you after all, Yui.”

“Were you, now?” Yui reaches into her pocket, pulling out an unsealed envelope. “If you got this whole underworld business all figured out, then how did Pops get this off of ya that night?” Esther’s eyes widened as the color left her face. Her gaze was fixed on the paper Yui held in her hands, recognizing it in an instant. “And you better believe that I’ve read it. It’s a rendezvous. Was interestin’ to learn why you needed the money so bad.”

“Or did you somehow think that I just never dug into -my- family’s history, Esther? I know where I come from. I know what we were about. And I can tell you right now that you have no fuckin’ idea what you’re getting yourself mixed up with. Gonna have to admit that you need me, aren’cha?.”

With a shriek, Esther lunged forward, a white flash taking her into her Magical Girl form. Yui, anticipating this, threw the envelope past Esther, over to Alice’s direction. Not seeing it reach its mark, Yui simply threw herself to the side, barely dodging Esther’s attack. The heat from Esther’s cursed, poisonous flames singed Yui’s skin, but she was quick enough to avoid a burn.

Yui transformed in a violet flash, several gold staves landing in front of her to block or redirect the next barrage of punches as white flames began to burn in places along the already uneven grass of the Rinjus’ backyard. Jumping back, Yui held a staff in front of her, creating a little distance.

Esther lunged again, only stopping herself with her fist an inch away from Alice’s face. Alice had jumped between the two girls, and held her arms out wide. In her left hand, she held the envelope that had once been addressed to Esther. “S-Stop! Esther, please… stop this! Yui’s right, you can’t do all of this on your own!” Esther quickly jumped back, falling to her knees as she realized what she almost did in a blind rage, but Alice continued. “I… I read that envelope too, Esther. Please, just… just this once, please stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your own!”

“Please… this is tearing me apart. Between having you gone for so long, worrying if you’re even going to come back, to watching you attack and fight with Yui like this… Esther, I can’t take it!” Tears began rolling down Alice’s cheeks, but she stayed in that protective position in front of Yui, who had dismissed her form soon after. “Between the two of you, only one of you is actually trying to be reasonable and helpful about all this!”

Esther took some time to compose herself, slowly rising to her feet. “You… neither of you understand a god damned thing. You don’t know what you’ve done. You have no goddamn IDEA!” Esther’s shout was accompanied by a sharp crack. She had thrown herself forward, punching a small hole into the tree Alice had been standing in front of moments earlier. A white flame illuminated the dent as Esther pulled her hand away.

“…Do whatever the hell you want then, Yui Arashi. God knows that’s what you’re best at. But if anything happens to Alice, you’re fucking dead.” Esther walked back into the house, slamming the door behind her.

“A-Alice, are you okay? That was crazy, you know that, right? She could’ve killed you!”

Alice shook her head. “No… Esther would never hurt me, no matter how mad she gets. After what we went through with Dad… not a chance she could ever hurt me. That’s how I knew I could protect you for once, Yui.” Alice took some time to calm herself with breathing exercises and muttering. “…You know you have to keep that date now though, right? All of this is for nothing if no one shows up to the rendezvous.”

“Whoa, are you out of your mind? Esther’s gonna be halfway to Kazamino or some shit by the time I keep that date. We can’t exactly leave you alone here, that part Esther was one hundred percent right about.”

“Then don’t be gone long, Yui.” Alice’s voice sharpened a bit as she turned to face Yui. “Because if Esther is gone too long, and I don’t have any information, not even you could stop me from finding Kyubey and getting those answers myself.”

Yui stared into Alice’s eyes for a pause that seemed to last for an eternity. “Fine. I’ll leave the morning of, and I’ll go meet with this ‘information dealer’ for answers. But do me a favor, never make that threat to me again, okay? This was your one freebie.”

Alice responded by throwing her arms around Yui’s waist, her resolve finally crumbling. “Thank you, Yui… if we can get to the bottom of all this, then maybe… maybe Esther can stop all this and just… come home again. I want my sister back…”

Yui wrapped her arms loosely around Alice’s shoulders and sighed, holding Alice as she seemed to melt. Alice didn’t have that much endurance after all, Yui thought. “Yeah, well… let’s just hope I’m up to a little dive into the shadows, eh? Maybe Pops’ll forgive me for breakin’ my promise.”