2026-09-23: The Trial of Trusting Tomoki
- Log: The Trial of Trusting Tomoki
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin, Tomoki Hasegawa
- Where: Aoba General Hospital
- OOC Date: 2026-09-23
- IC Date: Mon Jan 14 2013
- Summary: Tomoki comes to visit Yua, and they discuss Coming of Age day as he gains more insight into her trafficking... and into the murder she committed.
- Content warning: References to trafficking, abuse, murder.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
The next day has dawned; it's Coming of Age day, but of course, Yua (and Miho!) are staying firmly in hospital. Luckily, Tatsuzou Sudou's speech was televised across the nation...
("He frightens me," Yua says, softly, as she and Miho watch it, and does not speak to the ritual which gave her that fear.)
The room is, at least, looking more homey for Yua. She has some flexible straw on her bed, where she is busy weaving one of her clever little baskets; there's a portable DVD player on the bedside table, with a stack of Destiny DVDs on it. You know, all the classics: Lady and the Scamp, the Lion Queen, Rose Red, Sleeping Princess...
Right now, though, it's the coverage of Coming of Age day playing on the courtesy television bolted to a swinging arm abovehead, for Yua and Miho and Hiroki, too.
(Hiroki, who is not in Yua's arms, right now, but Miho's.)
There are more things Yua needs from home, though, and they've sent someone on a quest to bring Yua's weighted blanket here. That person, today... is Tomoki!!
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The next day...
Miho inclines her head, and squeezes Yua's hand at that time. He is the enemy, after all.
Miho has done her best to make this place better. She remembers her own Coming of Age Day, of course, unlike Yua. It's... different.
Miho is holding Hiroki, and is happily doing so; she watches him, looking down his way as she continues to apply consistent pressure.
But soon...
Knock knock. "It's me!" Tomoki says, and steps inside. "I have the blanket," he reports proudly. He's in his usual--jacket and trousers and nice shirt.
"How's it going?" He asks. Then he pauses, and looks at the two of them, and Hiroki. "...Aww."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua can just about reach Miho on her chair beside the bed if she dangles her arm down, though... sitting up and reaching is still beyond her. Luckily, the bed tilts up to let her be upright without having to put all that effort in, so it's really just the reaching that's a struggle.
Luckily, Miho can reach over to her, instead. (And can, thanks to the innovation of baby wrap.)
"Oh, Tomo-kun!" Yua chirps, as he enters. ("Hands!!", she reminds him, parenthetically. Miho may need to explain.) "-- come, come! Come and see!"
This will be the first time he will have seen Hiroki, after all; Yua and Hiroki were being stabilised for most of Saturday, and Sunday she was too weary to have many visitors. Assuredly, everyone wants to visit, but Miho has kept firm control of the outpouring to ensure her poor wife doesn't end up feeling like an exhibit.
Hiroki, as it happens, has dark Okinawan skin but -- when Tomoki gets close enough to peek at the space between Miho's breast and the baby -- his fiancee's vivid hazel eyes; the few wisps of hair on his head are also green, though it's a little hard to tell. He's very small, and still has his own set of various lines and drains attached to him; the nurses placed him at Miho's breast, and they've been instructed that they shouldn't try to reposition him without help, though of course the wrap is loose enough that he can do a little exploring of his own. Right now, though, he's quite attached.
"Mimi's actually better for him right now, did you know?" Yua says, her voice warm. "He's so little, he doesn't know how to drink yet, so he'd forget to breathe and he'd drown... it's okay when I've pumped, but Mimi doesn't have to worry about that at all! He still thinks he's eating, though," she adds, "because they take my milk and feed it to him through that garage tube," gavage tube, "so he's learning how to have a full tummy!!"
She pauses, and hits her pain button, before she leans forward. "Blankie?" She asks, a touch piteously, and just hoping that he understands to put it over her shoulders. "They cut a big hole in me," she adds, holding her fingers about six inches apart. "Thiiiiiiiiiiiiis big. So moving hurts a whole lot..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho can, and will!
"You have to sanitize your hands," Miho explains to Tomoki. "Oh, right," he says. "Germs and all. You were telling me about that." So he does that before he comes over to see, and then... he does see! He gets close, and smiles. Miho smiles at him, too.
But Tomoki can see; "He looks like you," he remarks to Miho, "But I bet he'll have a lot of your personality," he offers Yua. His words are soft; quiet. Maybe it feels to him like if he's too loud he'll disturb just a little guy.
"I didn't," Tomoki answers.
"Gavage tube," Miho supplies, but Tomoki still doesn't know what it is. Tomoki says, "Well, as long as he's getting what he needs, that's great!"
Then he laughs, and moves to put the blanket over Yua's shoulders. "Here you go..."
"You two look really natural with him," he says after that. "It's perfect."
"...And he is really small," Tomoki agrees. but then, "Man, that's a big hole. Guess they had to get a whole baby out, though. Hope you heal soon."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mm, mm," Yua smiles, when Tomoki connects the Hiroki dots. "Are you happy, Mimi?" This, she asks of him looking like her. She explains, then, to Tomoki: "It's because he came from Mimi's egg! But we found a donor from Okinawa, so his skin's darker, too... sometimes he gets fussy when I get upset, but Mimi's heartbeat is super slow, so he's always really calm when he's with her!"
(Miho, after all, is an Olympian; prime athletes tend to have lower resting heart rates than the people around them.)
Her own voice is peppy, but not particularly loud; she just can't stop from expressing ten emotions all at once.
"Thankyu~" She chirps, as she feels the comforting weight of that blanket over her shoulders. (Yua misses hugs. Hugs are SO hard right now.) She reaches down, for Miho's hand, when he compliments how they look with their baby. "Hear that, mama?" She asks Miho, bubbling with warmth.
"He's so small because he's ten weeks early," she adds, looking back to Hiroki. "But even if he was six weeks earlier than that, they'd still save him! Baby care on the mainland is really impressive!" Is the care as advanced or reliable in her home village, an island which even with its explosion of tourism is still struggling to count a thousand people? ... almost certainly not; Miho knows that Yua's mother lost two children of her own, out there.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I am," Miho says, inclining her head and staying otherwise still in that particular way of hers that's very helpful in this situation.
She is an Olympian.
"I see..." Tomoki nods along. "Well, that's great. It's a good combo of features, too. He's already a handsome little guy." That's whwat you say about boys!
And Yua reaches for Miho's hand, and Miho takes it.
She squeezes.
"I do," Miho answers. "Thank you, Tomoki. I'm glad you think so."
Tomoki listens, though, to Yua's special interest. "I see... That is impressive. I'm glad. ...If something goes wrong, it's good that baby and mother can still have chances, both."
Yes, controversial opinion: living is good.
"Have you gotten pictures yet? I can take a few while I'm here, if you want."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"He's so handsome! He's gonna have Miho's cheeks, I just know it! My proper little nobleman...!!" Miho's sharp features are, of course, Yua's favourite, in the way that all things Miho are Yua's favourite.
(Yua's cheeks, as it happens, are rounder; far more heart shaped than severe and angular, which makes it easier for Yua to pull off such a high femme look... though it's a little more difficult right now; she can't wear her lipstick and smooch Hiroki, and so, for once, her dark skin is undecorated, and the braid tumbling down her side is only neat because Miho has spent the time she needs each day unspooling it all and carefully brushing it out.)
Yua smiles, squeezing Miho's hand. "It was really scary for poor Mimi, so you've gotta be nice to her," she says, dobbing her seishitsu in with only the best intentions. "Since they managed to cut Hiro-tan out before he stopped breathing, but then I was bleeding a whole lot, and for a long time... it happened after lunch, but I didn't get to see Mimi and Hiroki until late at night. But Mimi looked after Hiroki, after they fixed him up... even though Mimi had to wait when Mimi wasn't sure. Mou, since then, Mimi's been making sure no one does anything bad to me... you're really amazing, Mimi," and at some point she stopped talking to Tomoki and just started praising Miho to her face, but of course Yua is deeply, madly in love and one can't blame her for orienting to the person anchoring her to this world.
And then: "Yay! More pictures! More pictures!" Apparently, there's never enough of them. This time, the cheeses she lists are things like Gouda and mozzarella. It's only in the lacuna between one of those photos that a reporter adds more coverage on Coming of Age day... and Yua looks back up to the television, playing footage up there.
"Mou... Coming of Age day..." Yua sighs, her smile growing a touch sad. "... they didn't give us a speech or a party," she says, softly. "They just took my eye... or... was that the year after...? I'm not sure... but it was after they showed me the broadcast of Mimi at the Olympics, so... maybe that time." A light pause, as she adds: "We didn't get calendars, so..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Definitely," Tomoki agrees, though he is no expert at babies. It's important to encourage in this situation though.
Miho loves brushing out Yua's hair, as it happens.
"...It was," Miho admits. But Yua explains the details...
"Miho, you're very brave. ...Putting your feelings aside for Hiroki-tan there is very like you... But I'm glad you came through all right, Yua." He talks to to both of them. He knows Miho's gotta leave sooner or later...
"Great job, Miho!" Tomoki says, and grins. "You can tell me more about it later too, all right?"
"Yes," Miho answers Tomoki. She squeezes Yua's hand, too. "Don't worry, Yua. I'm doing well."
Pictures! Tomoki accepts the cheeses and prepares to get a cheese plate later. But after a few pictures...
Miho frowns, looking to Yua with concern. Her body stays calm, of course, but...
"That's terrible," Tomoki says. "...Say. Why don't you have your own, one of these days? Just a little celebration. I celebrated mine with a drink... when you can drink again, you can do the same, if you want."
Miho looks to Yua. "We could invite friends," she offers. "It's a community holiday, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"It's scary in hospital," Yua admits, though she squeezes Miho's hand in turn, glad that Miho's bearing up all right under it all. "But Mimi's here with me. And, and she promised she'd come and visit all the time even when she needs to go back to work and stuff! You've gotta, okay? Hiro-tan needs Mimi time!!" Once more, effortlessly, she segues from talking to Tomoki to Miho midway through her sentence. Yua is terribly anxious about being alone in hospital, despite the thousand times Miho's reassured her...
... but perhaps that makes more sense, when Yua speaks on Coming of Age day.
"Oh, Yua-mama won't be drinking for a while yet," Yua smiles, to Tomoki. "Since it can get into breast milk... and I'll be feeding Hiro-tan! But... mm... I do like friends..." She tilts her head, looking to Miho, thoughtfully. "Maybe... maybe that would be good... mou, but what if everyone just calls me childish?"
You'd think Yua would be above those worries, with the stack of Destiny movies behind her, but apparently not.
"And it's hard to talk about why I didn't just go the first time, too..." ... though thanks to Kimitake, her history is in the public record, now.
Well, one version of it, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Scary...
"My older sister was stuck in the hospital a while back," Tomoki offers. "She didn't like it much, either. She doesn't exactly have the reasons you have... But I think anybody could relate to how confining it has to be, right?"
Miho is here! "I will," Miho assures Yua. And Tomoki smiles. "Hey, you can rely on that."
Yua won't be drinking for a while still! "Aaah, then I guess that part'll have to wait," he says, considering. But friends are good. As to childish--
"It's not like you're asking us to celebrate your seven-five-threes," Tomoki points out. "And a lot of people are aware you'd have missed yours, even if they don't know the full story. ...I think if anybody called you childish, Miho'd beat me to throwing them out about it."
Miho nods. "That's true, I am faster."
He grins. ...But the grin fades. "Then, we tell people not to ask," he says.
Miho looks thoughtfully at this solution. "...Direct," she concludes, "But perhaps that directness is warranted. We can ask such a thing of friends."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I'm stuck," Yua agrees, holding up her free hand sadly. (The IV tubing dangles from it; bandages around her hand keep it securely in place, despite the way she can yank at it under pressure.) "Even when I stand up for exercises, Mimi needs to untangle me... like when Tiger gets into the Christmas tree!" Tiger is a truly massive cat; no tree can withstand him, no tinsel deny him.
(Even when he's a naughty kitten, though, he's still their boo-boo baby. Yua wonders how he'll adapt to a real boo-boo baby...)
But one again -- for the third time today, and who knows how many times since they got here, to the point that Miho once had to patiently explain to a nurse that Yua's anxiety was not a sign that she had new-onset confusion characterised by amnesia -- Miho assures Yua that she will visit, and Yua sighs, squeezing her hand. "Thankyu," she murmurs, softly. "It's weird... I know Mimi won't ever let me down, but... it's like I know and I don't know, when I get scared."
Yua doesn't quite have the language to talk about the gap between knowing and internalising something, when the scars of trauma have ripped those two concepts far apart, and it just leaves her feeling like she's needy.
She does giggle, though, when Tomoki admits Miho is faster. "Mimi's the fastest!"
But then -- direct men have direct solutions, and Yua blinks, tilting her head. "... you can do that?" She asks, and the question mark above her head is audible. "I mean, I told my students to do that, or, uhhh, not do that, but... that's different, right? I'm like... their boss! If it's friends, isn't it bossy...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"So you are," Tomoki agrees sadly. Then he grins. "That cat is amazing at tangling things up," he admits. It's not just the tree, even! He's just a very talented cat.
(He'll be fine. Miho has him disciplined, as cats go.)
Again... But it's all right. Miho doesn't mind. She squeezes Yua's hand back. "I won't," she says. "You can always count on me."
"The mind tends to forget things, when we're afraid," Tomoki says. "Things that are easy or solid in normal times just go right out the window when you're scared." He pauses. "That's why stunt performers are important, too--not every actor can put that aside."
Can he? Don't worry about it.
Miho is the fastest.
But indeed--it's a solution a polite woman might not think of. "You can," Tomoki says. "It's not bossy, it's just one of the rules of the party. You expect people not to put their feet on your couch, or take more wine than you're offering, right? Same kind of thing."
"Your house, your rules, and all." Miho's house, as the case may be, and he nods firmly to her.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"He's surprisingly acrobatic!" Yua grins. "That's why we have cat shelfs in the gym... he kept trying to climb the rowing machine before we gave him stuff to exercise with too!"
Tiger: always getting into everything. Luckily, Miho's trained him out of climbing around in their walk-in closet... Yua likes wearing black, you know?!
"Mimi saved me," Yua reminds herself -- and informs Tomoki, unwittingly, as she clasps Miho's hand. "Back when they broke me, so all I was good for was wearing that hood which made the sounds go away and the light go away and the smells go away... and it was like I wasn't even human any more..." ... without the context of the supernatural, that might sound dire for a different reason. Well... it was still a violation.
But... Tomoki knows a thing or two about stunt performers. "Oh... it is like that," she blinks, as she thinks of the stunt performer she was trying to help, lately. (Guilty conscience.) "Mm, mm... it's harder when I'm scared."
He speaks of rules, though, and Yua nods. "... oh, yeah! It's Mimi's rules! They can't break Mimi's rules!" Miho's rules are Yua's rules, after all. "Mimi wouldn't let them! Mimi would crush them! Mm, mm! Mimi would make it okay."
Yua smiles, to Miho, though her gaze is still thoughtful. "Mm... hey, Tomo-kun...?" She starts, looking to him; and of course they've spoken about this already, agreed that Yua should get to be the one to decide if he hears about this, but there simply hasn't been a moment to tell him. "I guess I'm talking about stuff that happened back then, but... you remember how I told you how one of the people who kidnapped me came back to... do stuff that was bad? Um... well... she won't bother me any more," Yua says, her gaze darting away, a touch evasively. "She... died, so..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Is it a surprise, when a cat is acrobatic? Well, maybe it wouldn't be, if we didn't constantly tell cats in a surprised tone that they were cats.
Maybe.
"More gyms should have cat shelves," Tomoki thinks. He likes cats.
But Tomoki hears it--Miho saved her, and he always imagined something along those lines would be the case... one way or another. You don't attach to someone that hard without a reason. ...it is disturbing, though, hearing that. Tomoki grimaces. "It's good you're out of there."
But it is like that! "Yeah."
Mimi's rules... Tomoki smiles, looking at Miho. He could demand it too--but it is her house. "Sure would."
"Of course." Miho is pleased at this talk of Miho crushing.
But?
"I remember," Tomoki says seriously.
"Did she?" he asks, and without a moment's hesitation says, "Good."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua just wants to ask Tiger who a kitty baby is, is that so much to ask?!
(Maybe she can go home tomorrow...? ... the doctors said it probably won't be tomorrow.)
"I'm glad too," Yua says, quietly, of the horrors.
And, well, he could demand it, but he would risk bringing all the fury of Yua upon him, because Yua is quite sure that Miho is the boss. Listen to how satisfied she is to hear the tales of her conquest!! ... even if it's theoretical conquest and Yua's friends probably aren't mean enough to make Miho crush them.
"Mm," she hums affirmation, when Tomoki asks, and affirms... and with feelings like hers, perhaps it's no wonder she looks to Miho for guidance, hearing his firm reply. "Hey, Mimi...?"
She doesn't say what she's asking, but she just trusts Miho to know that she's trying to figure out whether she should tell him that she killed her.
(That's her fiance, after all. Yua would feel... a little bad if she scared him off.)
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The fury of Yua...!
It isn't necessary here. Not like it was there. But Miho, when Yua looks for guidance, looks back at Yua and inclines her head. "Yes," she says. "You can tell him."
Tomoki looks between the two of them, a question mark practically visible over his head.
It might not!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua swallows, and gestures Tomoki to come closer to them. Her voice is low, though the door's closed, and there's not too much risk of them being overheard... though she has seen Miho searching for hidden bugs, and she knows from Miho what those bugs are and that they're just like her hair clip, too.
(The most horrifying thing was that there was one, stuck to the bottom of her food tray... and she has no idea who put it there, or when they would have done so. Luckily, Miho got rid of it right away!!)
"I killed her," she admits, then. "I -- I stabbed her twelve times -- after Mimi and my friend found her and cut her down. I know that sounds really bad... but it wasn't even just me she was hurting, Tomo-kun. And she wasn't someone the law could touch that easily, either... um, it's okay," she adds, shaking her head. "Mimi got rid of the body, so... we won't get in trouble, I don't think."
If their superiors were going to complain about it, they'd have done it already, right? ... unless they wanted them to twist in the wind...
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tomoki does come close. As to the bugs, Miho has her suspicions, and will be digging further. But right now--
Tomoki's eyes widen in surprise. ...Admittedly, that's as much at the idea that a pregnant woman can stab someone that many times as that Yua did it at all, or as much as Yua's cute demeanor belies the iron within.
"Wow," he says, and Miho watches him carefully.
"...Well, if the law's not going to trouble you, good," he settles on. "If I thought the police could handle all your problems... Well, they'd have done it by now."
"Good," he says again. "This world could use some justice." He looks to Miho. "I'm not going to tell anyone," he says firmly.
Twelve times is a lot, but from what she said that woman was doing...
"...I had a friend in university who something like that happened to. She ended up dropping out. I don't have contact with her these days..."
"But I think the people who do such things should get what's coming to them more often than they seem to."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I only meant to do it once," Yua says, "but it didn't work, so I tried again... I'm not very good at stabbing people." That's -- that's a good thing, Yua. Don't sound sad when you say that. Not being good at stabbing people is so normal????
She sighs, and says: "... this is the sort of thing Kimi-san works on, but he couldn't do anything officially... I guess there are bad people in the force, too, so it's not as easy as saying something bad's happening."
Technically, every part of that sentence is true, but she still knows that the framing of the sentence -- and that 'too' -- make it into a functional lie.
She smiles, though -- a touch thin -- when Tomoki promises to keep it secret. "Thankyu... oh... it isn't strange for me to be cute when I've done something like that, right...?" Isn't it a super lie for her to be all cute and also a murderer??? That's not just lie jail, that's sending her straight to SUPER LIE JAIL!
"Mm... most of the time, no one does anything," Yua nods. "No one did anything to her when she was inappropriate, either... I knew she'd hurt me if she kept seeing me, and... I was right. It just took her longer to do it." She scowls, troubled. "I don't know how anyone could do something like that to someone like that... it makes me so mad."
Pause.
"Mimi, give me a prize," Yua says, a touch whining. "I want to yell about that, but I can't, because Hiro-tan's napping..."
Why does Yua get a prize for doing the bare minimum of emotional restraint when Miho is over here living her best restrained life??? Mostly because Yua's capacity to emotionally self-regulate is in tatters.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Tomoki does not quite have the stomach to imagine the murder in depth in bloody detail, but he's a good enough actor not to squirm. Still, he can't help but say, "Most people aren't, I think. Stabbing people's a skill that has to be taught."
Miho nods along, though she does keep track of Tomoki's comfort level...
Tomoki nods though, as how Kimitake couldn't do anything. Yeah. A lot of the time...
Tomoki shakes his head. "You are who you are," he settles with.
But most of the time... That seems true. But Tomoki shakes his head. "I don't like it either," he says.
Miho agrees, "...Not at all. There are some people the world is better off without."
Miho squeezes Yua's hand. "I'll give you a kiss when it's time for Hiroki to go," she assures her of the prize.
Yes, it makes sense.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's okay, Tomoki. Yua doesn't have the stomach to have PERFORMED the murder in bloody detail!
... except that she was the one holding the knife. You see her whole problem, here.
"I don't want to deceive anyone," Yua says, and perhaps that is who she is, even though 'wants' is -- once again -- doing so much heavy lifting.
But... the world is better off, without Natari. Yua nods, hearing Miho say that... and smiles, when she hears Miho promise a prize. "Yay! Hearing that, I'm happy...!"
When they gutted her emotional self-regulation they replaced it with emotional lability, but at least that makes Yua seem remarkably well-suited to bouncing back from horrors.
"And... I'm glad I could tell you," she adds, looking to Tomoki. "I didn't want Mimi to have to keep a bad secret... you'll talk to her about her feelings, right? You'd better promise!!"
That's right, Yua is enforcing Tomoki as Substitute Feelings Listener again now she's been knocked down for the count. She can do that! She's very powerful.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Indeed.
"...Yeah," Tomoki says, understanding that Yua doesn't want to. "People are... complex," he settles on, and perhaps he said that in a movie once. He means it, though.
Tomoki nods. "I appreciate it, then. We both know Miho tends to keep a lot to herself..."
MIho says, "I do. ...But I'll tell you about it. I have some feelings I want to sort out..."
Then Tomoki says, "I promise, Yua. Don't worry."
Miho smiles. "...See, Yua? It's all right."
"Case in point," Tomoki points out--and then grins.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
People are complex. For instance: there's a mean part of Yua terribly jealous that anyone else could take care of Miho, even if they can't do it as well as she can. This part of her exists irrespective of the fact that most of her is more concerned about whether Miho will be okay rather than about who helps her be okay. And that's on top of the fact that she's decided Tomoki is okay, but there's still an extremely NOT polyamorous part of her which insists no one is okay, and not even her marriage is okay, even though hers is a fake marriage built on lies and bullshit --
But of course Yua could never voice all of those thoughts, not in the least because few would believe that Yua could ever say the word 'bullshit' and not have it be completely incongruous, even though Yua knows swear words, she just usually only says 'fuck' when no one's around but Miho!
What? You've never heard Yua say 'fuck'? The camera must have just missed it. She's definitely said 'fuck'. Maybe it just wasn't covered in detail for some reason.
Luckily, despite Yua's struggles to self-regulate, Miho's care has made her better at it over the past year. She can sit with that ambiguity without sulking and ruining her attempts to take care of her wife, using a champion or otherwise!
(... and if it sounds like she's feeling some ownership, well, there's a certain collorary to Yua insisting she's Miho's, which might even, on the whole, be more relieving than just talking like she belongs to Miho.)
"This isn't a safe place," she explains, instead, and if she sounds a little tense it must just be because she's talking about something very important to her. (Miho's feelings.) "People can listen in... and all kinds of people can walk in, too. Mimi needs safe places to talk best... and I won't be home for a long time, the doctors said." She can't hide being upset about that, though. She only has a certain threshold of not-showing-her-feelingsness before she starts wibbling. "I'm really happy Mimi wants to talk... but I know there's stuff I can't do here, even if it wasn't hard 'cause I'm really hurt."
She smiles, when Tomoki promises, and -- despite that ambiguity -- even manages to sparkle. "Okay! I'm counting on you!"
But Miho smiles, and Yua sighs, squeezing her hand. "Mimi's still taking care of me... I'm really lucky to have Mimi."
She's worried about her, but... Mimi's tough, right...?