estirose

(Also vaguely related to my fic "Working Through the Novel" which establishes Miku as a supernatural/horror novelist.)

Piece of the Puzzle
by Estirose

"Hi, I'm looking for Amakura Miku?" the girl asked, folding her hands. She had turned up at the doorstep of Himuro Mansion, much to Mio's surprise. "I might be related to her?"

Mio mentally shook her head. Sometimes they got unannounced visitors that didn't realize that Himuro Mansion was now inhabited by the Amakura family. Or they got some visitors who knew where her aunt Miku lived and wanted to meet her. The fact that this girl had used her aunt's married name instead of the name she wrote under gave her some credibility; but still, she was anxious. "Please wait," she said, closing the door.

She slid the door that stood between the entrance and the rope hallway open, quickly turning a corner at the mirror and opening the door to the fireplace room. "Aunt," she said, "There's a girl who claims to be related to you."

Her aunt Miku looked up, startled. The room was full of modern appliances, the fireplace in the center still there but seldom used. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll see her." With that, Miku had gone through the door to the hallway. Mio knew that she'd be using the entryway to talk to her guest; few got farther than that room.

Miku herself wondered why someone had come. Himuro Mansion was still out in the wilderness even by the day's standards, and few people braved going to her home. She opened the door to their visitor, ushering her to a chair set up where the hole in the floor used to be. "My niece says you're related to me?"

"I... I might be your niece too." The girl, a slight young woman in a ruffled top and a necklace similar to what she and Mafuyu wore, took out a manilla envelope. "I was trying to find out more about my mom - she died when I was little - and I ended up finding out more about my Dad instead." She fished out documents, worn from the progress of time. "This is a picture of my Dad with my Mom, according to my aunt."

It was, Miku realized, a picture of Mafuyu with a woman she didn't recognize. "What else did you know about them?" she asked. She hoped that Mafuyu would come and check out their visitor as he often did.

"My Aunt says they were in the same class together at University, and they had the same surname, and... I happened." The girl's words were hesitant. "My Aunt didn't want to talk about him, but I ended up with Mom's diary entries and she talked about Dad, and I thought maybe I'd find out more about her by learning more about him."

"I... don't know anything about your mom or her relationship with my brother," Miku said. For all she knew, this girl's mother could have lied about her father being Mafuyu. Or maybe her aunt made the mistake. "What does it say on your family record?"

"It's blank. Mom said that Dad had disappeared so he couldn't be on my record and she refused to give details. When I heard he'd disappeared here, I had to go look, just in case I got more clues. I mean, I'm at peace now with my mother's passing, but now I want to know more about where I came from."

She was young enough that she might have spent a little time trapped in the Manor of Sleep. Just because Miku hadn't seen anybody that young except the little shrine maidens didn't mean that she hadn't.

"Ah." She took a deep breath. "I can tell you my brother disappeared here, but not much else. I keep it up in his memory."

As if on cue, Mafuyu appeared through one wall, quietly observing. Even now, he was protective, especially since Kei was out finding new folklore for her next supernatural novel. The girl gave a small squeak, staring at Mafuyu - or at least where Mafuyu was.

"Are you all right?" Miku asked, having had much practice in pretending her ghostly brother had not stepped through a wall to check out their latest visitor.

"Ah... are you my Dad?" the girl asked, not to Miku, but to where Mafuyu was standing. The fact that she could see Miku's brother at all told Miku the girl had a sixth sense, and those were incredibly rare.

"Here, come take a look at this photo," Miku said. If the girl could see Mafuyu, there was no sense in pretending he wasn't there. "What's your name?" she asked the girl.

"H-hinasaki Miu," the girl answered. Oh, yes, the girl's mother was also a Hinasaki.

Mafuyu looked at the picture from where Miku held it up. "Oh, that's Kimiko! Yes, I knew her. I...."

"Have a child that you didn't know about?" Miku asked. She was starting to look through the things that Miu had brought.

"Apparently so, though I didn't know Kimiko was pregnant." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miku."

She sighed. "It sounds like you'd stepped under falling rocks at that point." It was something she still found frustrating, and something they didn't talk much about.

"You died how?" Miu asked, wide-eyed. "Ah...." She did look a little like Mafuyu, the way she moved her head.

"It's a long story." Miku closed her eyes. "Mafuyu, just tell her about her mother. Anything you can."

Mafuyu, settling down in the third chair, did just that. Miku relaxed a little as she went through the family documents, thinking about all the things that she'd have to tell Miu at some point if the girl was truly a Kurosawa-descended Hinasaki. It wasn't going to be fun.

But family was family, and Miku took care of her family.