Chapter Text
Things had been peaceful, if awkward, in the week since Setsuna had been revived and Rin had been awakened. Things with Setsuna were fine–better even– than they had been before. Setsuna had opened up a lot, and she was so much warmer to them. It was the Rin situation that was awkward.
Towa really didn’t know how to feel about Rin. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to get to know her, but every time Rin did something motherly, Towa felt a little uncomfortable. She had a mother, and it wasn’t Rin, and maybe someday she’d accept Rin as a second mother but right now, she didn’t know Rin. Maybe it wasn’t fair of her, but Towa couldn’t help but feel like Rin was trying to take Moe-mama’s place, even though as far as she knew, Rin didn’t even know about Moe-mama.
The problem was, Towa didn’t know how to tell Rin about her mama. What would she say? ‘Sorry, I don’t think of you as my mother’ sounded so cold, and it made Towa feel guilty. It wasn’t Rin’s fault. Rin clearly loved her daughters so much, and wanted them so badly, but Sesshoumaru had taken them from her. Her only mistake was trusting her husband to do what was best for them. That made her naive perhaps, but well meaning nonetheless.
Setsuna was warming up to her much quicker, something that Towa hadn’t expected after months knowing Setsuna to be closed off and cold. She was being less cold lately in general, but with Rin– despite being a stranger to them– she was surprisingly quick to bond with. Maybe because while Shiori had been like a mother, she hadn’t explicitly been her mother, and she had never called her that.
Of the two of them, Setsuna was the only one to call Rin her mother. She’d started using ‘Haha-ue’ right away, but Towa could still only bring herself to call her Rin-san. She knew Rin noticed and was hurt by it, but she couldn’t bring herself to call her mother.
“You okay, Towa?” Moroha’s voice pulled Towa out of her thoughts.
Belatedly, Towa remembered she was supposed to be helping make dinner. They were in Moroha’s house, making use of the cooking pot– Moroha was excited to try every kind of recipe they could– and Towa had been cutting vegetables when she’d started zoning out. She was lucky she hadn’t accidentally cut herself while she wasn’t paying attention.
“Just… thinking about something,” Towa said sheepishly, returning her attention to the vegetables. “Sorry.”
“What about? You looked like it was really bothering you,” Moroha pressed.
Towa hesitated. She felt a little guilty bringing up to Moroha– who had no mother– that she was struggling with having two. It felt like she was being ungrateful for what she had. But Moroha always said she wanted to know whatever was bothering her, and she needed to talk to someone about it.
“I was thinking about Rin-san,” Towa finally admitted. “I’m not sure what to do, she’s always trying to act like our mother, and it’s making me really uncomfortable because I have a mother. But I don’t want to hurt Rin-san’s feelings, and I want to get to know her still and maybe eventually I’ll be okay with her being my mother too.”
“I think it’ll hurt her feelings more the longer you let it go on,” Moroha frowned. “If she starts thinking everything’s fine, it’ll catch her more off guard. You need to tell her as soon as you can.”
“You’re probably right…” Towa sighed. “I feel so bad for her though.”
“It’s not your fault you have a mom. It’s just an unfortunate situation all around, but you aren’t responsible for her feelings, and when it comes down to it, she cares about you and wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“That’s true… Thanks, Moroha.” It made Towa feel a bit better. “She asked us to come over for dinner tomorrow. Maybe I’ll tell her then… Oh, I almost forgot, she wanted me to invite you too.”
“Wait, she did?” Moroha’s eyes widened. “Me? Why?”
“Because you’re her niece?” Towa shrugged.
“Right… Well, I guess that sounds nice,” Moroha still looked a little uncertain. “If she asked then I guess it’s not weird.”
“She always asks about you whenever I see her. I think she really wants to get to know you, too,” Towa told her. “Kaede-baachan said Rin-san and Kagome-obasan were looking forward to raising us together, so I think she just… wants to get to be your aunt.”
“I guess that makes sense… Yeah, I’ll come,” Moroha nodded. “I think I could live with having an aunt. You seem to understand what she thinks pretty well.”
“It’s not hard. She’s very open and straightforward,” Towa started moving the vegetables into the cooking pot. “Kaede-baachan and Chief Kohaku both said before that I reminded them of her.”
“Is that weird for you now?”
“A little… It’s not like I don’t like her, or anything, though. She’s nice, so I don’t really mind being related to her.”
Moroha read between the lines, “Still bothers you to be related to Sesshoumaru though, huh?”
Towa winced. Besides her anger at Sesshoumaru for his parenting choices and not making seals for herself and Setsuna, she hadn’t forgotten Zero’s words during their fight. She still hoped desperately that Zero had merely meant he’d chosen to do nothing to save Inuyasha and Kagome and not that he was involved in their deaths, but she didn’t have any way to know yet. She still needed to talk to Setsuna about it…
And she was absolutely not sharing her suspicions with Moroha until she knew one way or the other. Moroha deserved the truth, not unfounded worries.
“I’m still pissed at Sesshoumaru for not sealing us,” Towa said, which at least was still true. “It’s hard to forgive him when it almost killed you. And what if Miroku-houshi hadn’t been there when Setsuna transformed for the first time? She could’ve killed the whole hanyou village.”
“Yeah, that’s a pretty hard ask to forgive,” Moroha winced. “Are you gonna try to confront him over it next time you see him?”
“I… maybe,” though now Towa had other things she wanted to confront Sesshoumaru about more. “If I ever get a chance to. We’ve only seen him twice after all…”
“Maybe he’ll be around more now that Rin is awake,” Moroha suggested. “D’you think he knows she’s awake, yet?”
“I don’t know… I guess we’ll find out eventually. I’m not going to worry about it too much.”
That was half a lie, because Towa was going to worry instead about whether or not her birth father had murdered Moroha’s.
The next day, the three of them went to Rin’s house together for dinner. Setsuna, in a reversal of form, was the one who seemed most at ease, while Towa and Moroha both felt nervous for different reasons.
“Thank you for coming!” Rin beamed at them as they entered the small house. She set down the ladle she’d been using to stir stew in and rushed up to hug Towa and Setsuna. Then, she turned to Moroha.
“Moroha-sama, it’s so good to see you!”
“Uh, y–yeah, good to see you too. Was a little surprised to be invited…”
“Well, you are my Sesshoumaru-sama’s niece, and my daughters’ cousin, so you’re family too,” Rin smiled at her warmly. “You’re always welcome in my home.”
“Thanks,” Moroha started to relax a little.
“The food is ready. Why don’t you all come sit down?” Rin herded them in to sit, before sitting down herself and beginning to serve out the food.
“How was your day?” Setsuna asked Rin as they sat down. “Did you get that kimono finished?”
“Yes, I did,” Rin handed a bowl to Moroha first. “I think it came out well. The family was very happy with it.”
“Right, Setsuna mentioned you were taking up seamstress work,” Moroha recalled.
“I am,” Rin nodded, passing a bowl to Setsuna next. “I like to keep busy. I’m going to go back to helping Kaede-sama too, but there isn’t always a baby to deliver! Oh, that’s right, you’ve been training as a priestess with Kaede-sama, haven’t you? Has she been having you help with deliveries yet?”
“Er, no,” Moroha looked slightly alarmed at the thought. “We only had a little while, because we needed to get to saving Setsuna. She was just teaching me things about my spiritual powers, there wasn’t time for learning medicine. She hasn’t been training me this last week because we just got back, but starting tomorrow she’s going to be teaching me again.”
“Oh, I see. Well, you’ll probably start learning medicine soon, I imagine. There are things priestesses can do to heal that normal people like me couldn’t do,” Rin gave a final bowl to Towa before getting her own. “With your power, I’m sure you could be as good a healer as Kikyou-sama was!”
“Was Kagome a good healer too?” Setsuna questioned.
“Yes, but she’d had less time to learn before she…” Rin faltered, glancing at Moroha with a worried look.
“It’s okay to talk about them being dead. I’ve lived with their deaths my entire life already,” Moroha told her.
Rin’s face fell a little, sadness in her eyes, “I understand. It feels more recent for me, because it happened while I was already asleep. I only found out after I woke up…”
“Must be hard to suddenly have to grieve for them,” Towa murmured with sympathy. “You were close to them, right?”
“I was. Not as close as Sango-sama or Miroku-sama were, but still close,” Rin sighed softly. Then she turned her gaze back to Moroha. “If there is ever anything you need, Moroha-sama, please come to me. You are My Lord’s niece after all, and your parents would’ve done the same for my girls.”
Moroha flushed, “That’s really nice of you, but I’ll be okay. I survived a long time on my own.”
“So did I,” Rin admitted quietly. “But that doesn’t mean you have to keep surviving on your own. It’s nice to have someone to care for you.”
“I… Y–yeah… It is…” Moroha admitted, cheeks growing more red. She glanced at Towa and Setsuna, before becoming suddenly very interested in her food and ducking her head over her bowl.
“She’s surprisingly shy sometimes,” Setsuna whispered to Rin with a small smirk, though Towa was sure she knew full well that Moroha could hear her. “Don’t worry, we’re looking out for her too.”
“I–I’m not shy!” Moroha protested.
Rin giggled, a warm smile spreading over her face, “I’m glad you three grew so close in the end, even if things went differently than we wanted. We hoped you’d be good friends and watch out for each other. Inuyasha-sama wanted that more than even Kagome-sama or I…”
“Really?” Moroha’s embarrassment was forgotten as quickly as it had come. She raised her head and leaned in a little with interest. “He told you that?”
“He didn’t tell me directly, but Kagome-sama told me that he’d admitted to it. I think because Inuyasha-sama knew what it was like to be a hanyou on his own, he hoped you three would be able to find a sense of belonging with each other.”
“We did in the end,” Moroha said quietly. “I hope that makes his spirit happy…”
“I’m sure Inuyasha-sama is very pleased to see you three together,” Rin put a hand on Moroha’s arm gently for a moment.
Silence fell for a minute, no one sure what to say after such a solemn turn to the conversation. Finally, Moroha grew tired of the silence first.
“This meal’s great. Can I get the recipe?” Moroha plastered a smile on her face, ignoring the melancholy from before. “Now that I’ve got a house and cooking pots of my own, it’s been nice to make real meals instead of just roasting stuff on the fire.”
“Of course! Maybe I can show you how to make it, even, since you’re still new to cooking with a pot?” Rin suggested.
“That’d be great! I’ve mostly been figuring stuff out, but it won’t hurt to have help. I’m sure I can learn a lot from you.”
“If you’re free in a few days, I should have time to show you. Then Towa and Setsuna can come try it after we’re done!”
“Yeah, I think I’ll be free unless we get a mission from Kohaku,” Moroha nodded.
“Oh, are you starting to go on missions again?” Rin questioned.
“Yes,” Setsuna answered. “Chief Kohaku insisted we take some time off to recover from everything, but as of today he’s agreed to put us back on missions.”
Rin chuckled, “Is he still better at giving breaks than taking them? He used to be nearly impossible to force to rest when he was wounded.”
“I’ve never noticed,” Setsuna blinked. “But now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him take a break from work. He doesn’t get injured very often though.”
“Well I’m glad of that at least,” Rin said. “He’s really grown into a great leader, hasn’t he? I knew he would be someday.”
“He’s been a very good mentor,” Setsuna agreed. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and he’s very wise. It’s weird to think, though, that I trained with him for so long without even knowing that he knew you. He didn’t say anything even after finding out Towa and I were Sesshoumaru and your daughters…”
Towa winced again at the mention of Sesshoumaru, but thankfully nobody was looking her way.
“Kohaku had a hard life, and it’s made him guarded at times,” Rin sighed. “He’s had to lock his pain down to survive it, so it’s not surprising he didn’t mention it. It takes him a while to come to terms with things enough to talk about them.”
“He did tell me, but it was after I reminded him of you, and I noticed he looked sad…” Towa said. “I get why he didn’t say anything before, with what Moroha’s told me about his past…”
“Now I feel left out of the loop,” Setsuna frowned. “How did Moroha know so much about his past anyway?”
Moroha sheepishly explained, “It’s to do with the Shikon no Tama. I didn’t think about it, but maybe it wasn’t right to tell Towa all that about him… I was just telling the story about everything to do with the Shikon no Tama and that included what happened to him.”
“I think he’ll understand that you can’t really tell that story without including him,” Rin assured her. “As long as you don’t tell the other Taijiya or villagers. The Shikon no Tama is almost as much your story as it is theirs, because you three are all here today because of what happened with it…”
“I get that Moroha is, I know that much, but I didn’t know about us,” Setsuna’s eyes widened.
“The events that led to Sesshoumaru-sama and I meeting were because of the Shikon no Tama,” Rin told her. “Things would have been very different if the Shikon no Tama didn’t exist. I feel a little bad, because it caused a lot of suffering too, but I’m grateful it existed. I was miserable before I met Sesshoumaru-sama, and you girls only exist because of it.”
“I see… Then, Moroha, can you tell me what happened?” Setsuna turned to their cousin with a frown.
“Yeah, I guess so. If you don’t think Kohaku’s gonna mind telling his part of the story…” Moroha glanced at Rin once more for confirmation, only beginning to speak again when Rin nodded. “Okay. It all started with a priestess named Midoriko…”
Towa had heard it all before, of course, but it was interesting to hear again. Rin added in details that she knew first-hand here and there, though it sounded like Sesshoumaru – and thus Rin– had not been present for many of the main events.
She did, however, share the events Moroha didn’t know as much about– Meeting Kohaku, the wind sorceress Kagura, Kohaku joining Sesshoumaru and Rin after Kikyou died, meeting Sesshoumaru’s mother, and the journey to the Underworld that had led to Sesshoumaru gaining the full Meidou Zangetsuha. Rin had been unconscious and then dead for a lot of the last one, but Kohaku had told her about it afterwards, describing how Sesshoumaru had used Tenseiga to purify the souls of the Underworld and give them peace. Then, when Tenseiga had been unable to save Rin a second time, Sesshoumaru’s mother took pity on her son and used a ‘Meidou Stone’ to bring her back.
“So… our grandmother is out there and alive right now?” Setsuna asked, after Rin finished with that part of the story.
“I assume so. She looked like a young woman still, and she was very powerful, so I don’t think she would’ve been killed or died of age…” Rin said. “I never saw her again, though.”
“I see… Sounds like she wouldn’t have much interest in us though, if she doesn’t think very highly of humans,” Setsuna frowned. “Nevermind, what happened after?”
When Moroha got to the part where Sesshoumaru passed the Meidou Zangetsuha over to Inuyasha, Rin volunteered to describe it in more detail– she’d been there and seen it, through some sort of projection that Totosai’s cow Moumou had been capable of creating. From how Rin told it, Sesshoumaru had gone along with a plan of Naraku’s, but was planning all along to give up the Meidou Zangetsuha to Inuyasha as soon as he’d proven himself. And when he had, he’d willingly broken Tenseiga over its sibling blade to transfer the ability. He’d had Tenseiga returned to him afterwards, once more simply the sword of healing.
A mess of feelings twisted in Towa’s stomach as Rin told this story. It painted Sesshoumaru in a good light, but Towa had to wonder if part of it was that Rin believed Sesshoumaru so deeply to be a good person. Of course she did, he was her husband, and she was the one person he definitely, truly cared for. Kohaku had also seemed to believe he cared, though…
But Zero’s words still lingered like a festering wound in her mind. ‘Your father chose’...
She needed to talk to Setsuna about this and they needed to get to the bottom of it. They had to know the truth, but Towa also needed to find a chance when Moroha wasn’t nearby so she wouldn’t overhear. Maybe when Moroha went to Kaede’s house tomorrow…
It was getting late by the time Moroha finished telling Setsuna about the events surrounding the Shikon no Tama. They had long since finished their food, and it was definitely time to start heading home.
“Thanks for dinner,” Moroha said as she got up, followed a second later by Setsuna.
“We really appreciate it, Haha-ue,” Setsuna smiled warmly at Rin.
“Of course!” Rin beamed at them, taking one hand each of Towa and Setsuna’s to squeeze lightly. Towa had to fight the urge to squirm away, and she was relieved when Rin let go.
Moroha threw Towa a pointed glance as they made their way towards the door. Towa swallowed and paused, letting the other two leave without her.
“Rin-san, can I talk to you for a minute?” Towa started. She tried to calm her racing heart, but she was nervous, and even with Moroha’s reassurances she felt a little bit guilty.
“Yes, of course,” Rin smiled at her, which made her feel worse. She stepped back towards the fire to sit down again, joined by Towa a moment later. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
“I… I’m really sorry, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, and I do want to get to know you, I promise, and maybe eventually I’ll feel differently, but it–it makes me kind of uncomfortable when you act so much like my mother,” Towa stammered, practically flinching as she got the words out. “I–I was adopted when I was younger by a really good family. Kagome-obasan’s younger brother, actually, and his wife. So you see I… I have a mother.”
“O–oh, I see,” Rin’s expression was full of so many emotions. Understanding, sorrow, disappointment, love… “I’m… I’m sorry I was making you uncomfortable.”
“I know you didn’t mean to!” Towa said quickly. “I’m just– I’d like to get to know you, first, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay,” Rin said quickly, eyes wide and earnest and a little bit teary. She automatically went to take Towa’s hands, then stopped, pulling them back to clasp at her chest instead. “I… I won’t lie and say it doesn’t disappoint me a little, but you have no idea how happy it makes me that you had a family like that. All I wanted was for you two to be safe and happy, even if… even if that couldn’t be with me. So… Even if I’m a little sad that you don’t see me as a mother right now, I’m even more happy that you have a mother you love.”
“Thank you…” Towa let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, and gave Rin a small smile. “And I hope I’ll see you as my mother too, eventually. There’s no reason I can’t have two moms. I’m just… not there yet.”
“I understand. We don’t have a bond yet,” Rin gave her a small smile, a little sad, but genuine too. “I know that’ll take time. Maybe… We should start with just talking.”
“I’d like that. I’d like to know more about you,” Towa said honestly. “Besides just what happened with the Shikon no Tama.”
“And I’d like to know more about you. Maybe you can tell me about this wonderful family of yours,”
“I can do that,” Towa smiled more broadly.
“It’s a little late tonight, I suppose, but maybe tomorrow you could come by in the afternoon and we can talk a little?” Rin questioned. “Would that work for you?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you for being so understanding…”
“I just want you to be happy,” Rin’s voice was wholly sincere.
_______________
“How’d it go?” Moroha asked, when Towa returned to the house. Setsuna was sitting on her own sleeping mat already, ready for sleep, but she gave a curious look to Towa as she came in.
“It went really well,” Towa said, coming to sit down with them on her own sleeping mat. “She was very understanding and didn’t want to make me uncomfortable. I’m going over tomorrow to just talk to her for a bit.”
“What did you talk to her about?” Setsuna questioned.
“I told her I was uncomfortable when she acted like my mother, because I have a mother already… I want to get to know her better first, and maybe I’ll eventually feel differently about her.”
“I understand,” Setsuna nodded, to Towa’s relief. She’d been a little worried that Setsuna wouldn’t get it. “It isn’t easy to view a stranger as a mother. I’m sure it’s harder if you already had one.”
“You seem to have no trouble with it,” Towa sighed.
“I do,” Setsuna admitted. “It’s just not as hard for me. I also… I also felt a bond with her from the beginning. Her heartbeat, her voice… it was familiar. I remembered them.”
Moroha sat up straighter, perking up, “You do? Then maybe hanyou can just remember things from birth–or before birth in your case. I didn’t think to ask in Shiori-san’s Village. When that moth youkai was messing with our heads, I remembered my parents from when I was a baby. I wasn’t sure if it was something all hanyou could remember or not…”
“It’s pretty common,” Setsuna said. “Not everyone has memories that early, but plenty do. It depends.”
“Good thing we’ve got you to answer all our hanyou-related questions,” Moroha joked. She flopped back onto her sleeping mat. “Would’ve been nice while growing up to have that much information. Myouga-jiichan knew a lot, but not as much as you probably do.”
“The benefit of knowing more than one hanyou…” Setsuna stretched and moved to lie down too. “Shiori-san knew a lot already, and the rest we all found out together, comparing our experiences.”
“That sounds nice,” Moroha rolled onto her side to look over at Setsuna. “Everyone was really nice there. They accepted us right away.”
“Of course they did, we have to look out for each other…” Setsuna paused, then turned to Moroha. “I should have told you both about the village a long time ago. Especially you, Moroha, and I never even got a chance to show it to you before I died. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I know you were going through a lot of your own,” Moroha assured her.
“In the end you were going to show us both, so that’s what matters,” Towa added. She lied down to join them. “And you had enough time to show me and that saved our lives!”
“If you’d been the one poisoned instead of Moroha, you’d have both died,” Setsuna sighed softly. “I appreciate you both being so forgiving, but I still screwed up. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to face Shiori-san. The only thing she ever asked in return for raising us was to tell other hanyou in need where to find the village. I should have told Moroha the second I found out about her debt.”
“What, so I could run away from my debt? You know I wouldn’t have done that…” Moroha shook her head. “I had plenty of chances to escape. Hell, I could’ve stayed in the future, and at the time I didn’t even feel like I had anything to go back to. I was being… I honestly don’t even know what I was thinking, I was such a mess.”
Towa reached over, putting her hand over Moroha’s and giving it a squeeze. “No point worrying about it now, right? It worked out in the end…”
“Yeah… it did,” Moroha gave Towa a smile, and then yawned. “Anyway, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
“Sleep well.”
And with that, the three of them settled down and started to drift off.
The next morning, after breakfast, when Moroha had gone off to resume training with Kaede, but before the afternoon, Towa finally gathered her courage and caught Setsuna alone.
“I need to talk to you about something,” Towa said seriously.
“Okay,” Setsuna frowned, clearly reading the sombre mood. “What’s wrong?”
“Promise you won’t tell Moroha, but I think… I think Sesshoumaru might’ve been involved in her parents’ death,” Towa had to force herself to speak, hating even putting the thought into words.
“That’s… a serious accusation,” Setsuna’s voice dropped into a hush, as if afraid someone might overhear. She looked deeply worried now. “Why do you think that?”
“Something Zero said. We told you about Zero putting Moroha under a spell, challenging me to kill her anyway to save you. I said something about ‘Who would make a choice like that’ and she said… ‘Your father chose’...” Towa took a shaky breath. “I might be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. Maybe it just meant he chose to do nothing to save them instead. But I’ve had this awful feeling and… And Moroha saw two figures.”
“Two figures?”
“In her memory from when she was a baby, it was when her parents sent her to safety. She got a glimpse of Kirinmaru and someone else there– someone who wasn’t Zero. Moroha only saw Sesshoumaru once, she might not recognise him through a thick fog like was in the memory. And Kouga-san– he told me not to trust Sesshoumaru, and he said it was because he didn’t save them, but he looked so angry at the thought of him…” Towa looked down, trembling fists clenched by her sides. “If he’s the reason Moroha lost her parents, we need to know. Moroha deserves to know, and Rin-san does too. If he k–killed them… for her…”
“It would break her heart,” Setsuna murmured. “She’s not the kind of person who could stand someone dying in her place, and she cared about them. I think she’d want to know, though…”
“I don’t want to tell them anything while all I have is suspicions, we need to find out for sure,” Towa’s throat felt tight, her eyes stinging. She felt hands over her clenched fists, Setsuna taking her hands with both of hers.
“Breathe,” Setsuna ordered. “It’ll be okay.”
Towa choked down a breath, then tried another, a little more easily. She shut her eyes and focused on breathing, recalling Souta-papa’s advice to count from when she was small, until she could breathe evenly again.
“Sorry… I just…” Towa wasn’t sure what to say to explain herself, but her sister didn’t need her to.
Setsuna just squeezed her hands gently. “It’s okay. You’ve been really suffering over this, haven’t you?”
“I don’t want him to be a terrible person,” Towa admitted, voice lowering to almost a whisper. “I don’t even think of him as my father, so I don’t know why it bothers me so much.”
“Feelings aren’t rational, and it’s natural for you not to want to be related to someone you have reason to hate.”
“How are you so calm?”
“Practice. I’ve learned to stay calm in more situations, and…” Setsuna hesitated. “I’m more used to this time, and I’ve heard the stories from the other hanyou, youkai relatives murdering hanyou ones is very common. I’ve had ten years to learn to deal with that fact and that for all I knew, it could apply to my own family… And you haven’t had that time. Don’t feel bad about being upset.”
“R–right… You’re right…” Towa took a few more shaky breaths. “I’ll try…”
“We’ll figure this out. And you’re right, it could still just mean he chose not to protect them. We don’t know yet. What we do know is that now that Zero’s curse is broken, there shouldn’t be any danger from him, because Haha-ue is safe.”
“That’s true…” Towa nodded slowly. “So we don’t have to worry about him being a threat to anyone…”
“We’ll figure this out together, Towa, I promise. And if it turns out to be true, we’ll deal with it together, somehow,” Setsuna said firmly. “Let’s just find out for sure before we worry about that.”
“Okay. A–alright… Thank you, Setsuna,” Towa gave her sister a watery smile.
Setsuna gave her a reassuring smile back. “It’ll be okay.”
Towa believed her.