(74) The Talk – Part 3 – A Mother’s Love

A couple moments later and a tall woman with dark-purple hair enters the camera’s view. She sits down on the chair beside Liam, her face is a lot paler than before.

Liam doesn’t miss this color change and hurries to question her about it.

“Honey, are you alright? What did the medics say?”

She meekly responds, her voice breathy.

“They said it was a sudden drop in blood pressure. I’m fine, just felling a little weak, that’s all.”

The purple-haired woman turns from Liam and then looks directly at the camera.

“More important than that. How are you doing, sweetheart? You look so grown up I had trouble believing it was you for a second.”

I take a deep breath in.

“I’m doing fine, mom, you really should stop overworking yourself like that. Da— Liam says you have been working too much lately. That’s not healthy.”

She stifles an amused laugh, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

“Fu, fu, what is this now? Love, it should be me having to worry about you, not the other way around. But really, I’m fine… There’s just a lot going on lately…” She trails off, her eyes growing distant and she continues in an incoherent and distressed tone. “My god! What am I doing? Talking so casually to you right now, you probably hate me, don’t you?!”

I hastily counter. She already fainted once, no need for repeats.

“Mom, calm down. I’ve already discussed this with Liam.” I glance at him, my lips turning into a frown. “We can all agree he was the one who made that decision. You had nothing to do with what he did four years ago.”

She gazes at the floor, closing her eyes tightly. “But that’s not true! I could’ve just… Protected you, and I didn’t! I let him walk over me and do this to you!” She presses her hands against her face, sobbing into them.

Liam gets up from his chair, leaning down to Miranda and embracing her. He whispers something into her ear, but I can’t make out what he’s saying over the video call.

Whatever Liam says, it makes Miranda put her hands around his neck and press her face against the collar of his white inner-shirt. Even with her heavy makeup, it doesn’t stain the shirt, a blessing of modern technology, but Liam takes this as a sign to hug her tighter and elevate his voice.

“Calm down, calm down. You already know she doesn’t blame you. This was my fault.”

Liam keeps repeating variations of this while patting her back. Only stopping after her sobs become unhearable to me on the other side of the call.

Then he stands up again, looking over his shoulder and saying.

“It seems like my presence here is only acting as a sticking point for both you and your mother. It will be better if I leave you two to speak alone. Would that be okay?”

I grumble, my eyes looking at the ground. ‘He’s running away… Unfortunately, what he says is true. Mother can’t move on with him reminding her of what happened.’

“Grr, fine. But I’m not done with you, Liam. We need to finish the terms of our agreement later on.”

He frowns lightly, furrowing his brow. “I see… Well, I’m accepting your outline for now. Let’s go with that, for starters.”

“Yes, oh, and tell your little pajama crew to never again enter this room or follow me or my friends around as long as we’re up here. I don’t want to have to explain your little side business to them.”

“And I also don’t want you to.” He continues. “I will take my leave for now. This has been an informative conversation.” With that, he exits the frame, leaving mother — Who by now has stopped crying and is just sitting back on her chair — alone with me.

We look at each other intently. Waiting for the other to speak.

Seeing as Miranda is still a little shaken up, I start.

“So, mother, how have things been going in the city while I was away?”

She perks up; her face betraying a seldom startle.

“Oh… Well, things have been going very well. Just this last year, our market cap has grown over 40%! It’s incredible what a little global turmoil can do for weapon sales. But that’s not that important right now… How have you been doing? Last time I saw you… Well, you know…”

My mouth forms a light smirk.

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that part… Well, after… THAT… I mostly spent my time trying to survive and duel as much as I could. Other than that, I try my best not to remember those four years… For me, my life truly started the day I woke up in the NWDA hotel ready for the tryout duel that would dictate if I joined the NWDA or not. So 31st of August 35MT, everything else is irrelevant.” I try my best to navigate the emotional mine-field that is this discussion.

Her expression turns somber and she nods.

“Sweety, if you want to vent I’m here. You don’t need to sugarcoat it… I can only imagine how much you suffered.”

I inhale deeply through my nose, my eyes closing. Before I open them again, I let out a deep sigh through my mouth.

“Yes, mom. That part can rest with the other tragedies.”

A moment of silence passes.

“Then… How is the NWDA treating you? I heard they’re one of the best academies in Dragoon city, but they’re also very secretive. Their GlobalNet page looks like it was designed by a teen-year-old.”

“Well… The island is small, but they use the space well. They have a rank system for students that determines which dorms we live in and what benefits we have. I’m currently in the second lowest rank, but I should rank up as soon as I return.”

“What? They don’t have you living in a cramped shared dormitory, do they?”

Laughing a little, I respond.

“Haha, no, not anymore. But for the first month, before I ranked up, I shared a dorm with three other girls. It was fun having people around all the time, but I really prefer the privacy of an individual suite.”

She sighs, shaking her head.

“I can’t believe they put you in a dorm. If you want, I can contact the Director and demand you he gives you proper accommodations.”

I laugh, shaking my head back.

“That’s unnecessary. When I rank up, I’ll be staying at the same place they put those ‘Advanced’ students. Besides, it was just for a month and I became good friends with my roomies.”

She lets out an exasperated sigh and tells.

“Goodness me, you really are optimistic. Very well, if you’re satisfied with your conditions, then I’m also satisfied. How have your classes been?”

I can’t help but laugh again.

“Honestly? Easy. I already know most of what they teach.” I look back on my first day for an example. “On my first day, there was this duel theory professor who wouldn’t stop bothering me and trying to prove that just because I am a natural Penta-Summoner, I still needed to learn about theory to be successful. The thing is, while that’s true, the questions he was asking were trivial and he just made a fool of himself. At the end of the class, he used the excuse of demonstrating his theory to duel me… That didn’t end well.”

“What? Don’t tell me he hurt you!?” she demands in a hasty tone.

“No, no, no!” I rush in to correct. “Quite the opposite actually, I crushed him. It was a first turn victory, all that talk of strategy, and the man didn’t even have a way to stop my FTK combo. He ended the class after that, and I had to give a presentation to the entire academy explaining how I did it. I received the ‘Best upcoming duelist’ award for it.”

She leans back, blinking in confusion.

“My, you were not even a day in and already getting awards. I will admit that I know the bare minimum about dueling, but that’s still impressive. Did you receive anything else with the award?”

I put on a smug smile and tell.

“Yeah, a DC credit. Basically, I could get a single item regardless of the price from their dueling supply store.”

“And what did you spend it on?” she asks curiously.

“Oh, not much, just the most supped up duel runner money can buy. It’s arriving later next month.”

Her face pales immediately, and she stammers.

“Y-Yuumi, that’s incredibly dangerous! Do you know how many duelists are critically injured in duel runner accidents?!”

I find her worry amusing.

“Don’t worry, mom, I’ll be careful like always. I also don’t want to get maimed. They have a private race track and turbo dueling courses. I’ll be joining it as soon as the duel runner arrives. They also have an action dueling field and I’m already in that course.”

The mention of action dueling leaves her mouth gaping, but she quickly composes herself and says.

“My… Action dueling and turbo dueling? Be careful, love, you might have many talents, but try not to spread yourself too thin. You’ll end up falling behind the rest of the students if you can’t focus.”

“Fuh, Fuh, yes mom. I know.”

She gives me a tender smile before continuing.

“Well, it’s happy to know you're adapting to academy life well. I still world’ve preferred if you transferred to a city side academy… You would live with us then. Still, if you are happy at the NWDA, then that’s your choice and I will respect it.” She pauses, drawing in a deep breath. “Saying that, Yuumi, what were you thinking joining the cheer club!? Do you know what those girls do in front of so many people!? It’s shameful!”

I stagger. With Miranda being so calm and supportive until now, I wasn’t expecting her to suddenly reprimand me so fervently.

“M-Mom?”

“And then the outfits! How can those girls dance around in thongs and not feel any shame?! With body-mods, no less! Don’t tell me you’re intending to do that as well!?”

I recoil on the couch, gulping. “W-Well. I still haven’t designed my performer avata—”

“‘Still?’ So you’re intend to?! My god Yuumi, I know you haven’t exactly had good examples to follow but you have to realize what those girls do up there is not acceptable. They’re akin to personal dancers… Just more qualified.”

Unfortunately, that’s something I just can’t pass without rebutting.

“Mom… Please don’t talk about my friends like that. They may be slutty and sometimes a little too much, but in the end, me and them do this for a simple reason. We enjoy it. We enjoy grabbing the audience’s attention, we enjoy dancing and experimenting with our looks. Please don’t judge us just because some people take it a little too far.” I say remembering the ‘Dream achievers,’ who are the epitome of taking things too far with their reverse bunny girl outfits.

She looks off to the side. Looks like this wasn’t the answer she hoped for.

“I don’t know, honey. Are you sure you really want to do what they do? Your status as a natural penta-summoner puts you on the radar of jealous people who wish to embarrass you. Being part of such a club only makes it easier. What I’m really woried about is them taking advantage of you.”

Shaking my head, I reply.

“I would never accept doing something if I wasn’t comfortable. Nobody is taking advantage of me if I have something to say about it. You can make sure of that.”

The purple-haired woman sighs. “Well, it seems that I can’t convince you otherwise, so will hope it is as you say.” Her expression changes to a light smile as she asks. “With that out of the way, I have to ask.” She leans in. “Yuumi, have you had any sexual interactions?”

The sudden question makes me recoil on the couch and I immediately blush a deep red. “M-Mom, s-should we really be talking about this?”

She crosses her arms and nods. “Of course we do! You turned 18 this year, and I know how girls your age act! Don’t even think about acting like you don’t know what I mean!” after stating that, she blinks and sombers up slightly. “Wait… D-Did anything happen to you before you arrived at the acade—”

“NO!” I hastily correct, not having her worry for a second that I was… You know…

Miranda lets out a deep sigh of relief, her head falling to the side slightly. “Thank god… I don’t know how it took so long for me to think of that… So that means you’re still pure?”

I blush intensely, looking to the side.

Mom doesn’t miss that. As her eyes open wide and she shots up from the armchair. “Who’s the boy!? Tell me his name right now or help me god I will find it myself!”

The mention of a boy doesn’t help my blushing situation, but doing my best, I’m able to say. “M-Mom… I’m lesbian. A-And… It wasn’t even a serious thing… I was just curious.” I close my eyes after saying that, bracing myself from the inevitable backlash I’m going to get from this.

“Oh… That’s ok then. Don’t scare me like that, Yuumi!”

… Or not.

Confused, I ask. “Really? Even if the girl is one from the cheer club?” I’m not giving out more details than that.

She sits back down, shrugging. “Teenage boys are evil, sweety. They break your heart and move on without looking back. Girls won’t break your heart like that.” Mom leans further back. “And if you say it wasn’t serious… Well, if your partner knew that beforehand, then that’s fine too. Either way, I’m glad that you had your first experience at your own pace, and how you wanted it. You won’t believe the amount of girls nowadays who rush into things because of someone else and end up emotionally scared for life... I’ll admit, that was one of my biggest worries.”

‘She… She genuinely doesn’t mind? Is this a culture thing? Have people evolved to where they don’t look down on casual relationships?…’ I try to look back on my memories to answer that, but seeing as Yuumi was only 14 at the time her education halted, I’m drawing blanks instead.

After a bit of time passes, mom seems to remember something.

“Yuumi, now that we’re on this subject, have you gotten your contraception and STD nano-mod shot?”

“What’s that?” I ask, not having heard anything like that be mentioned before.

“Well, it’s a nanobot bodymod that puts you in control of your reproductive cycle. You’ll still have periods, but you’ll be able to control if the egg is fertile or not… Normally girls get it as soon as they have their first period just for safety, but as you weren’t allowed to leave the mansion, we thought it was unnecessary. If you haven’t gotten it, you really need to, even if you’re not interacting with men… You never know…”

“You don’t have to explain anything. I’ll be sure to get my shots in order as soon as I return to the island. Is there anything else I might’ve missed?”

She scratches her shin before responding. “Well… There’s a lot, but some of them are optional. If you want, I could send you a list of every health related bodymod that the doctors recommend for someone your age.”

“Oh, please do! Oh my god, that would be so helpful!” I gleefully tell.

Miranda smiles. “Alrighty then. I’ll ask our in-house doctors about it.”

—

With that dealt with and after some small talk, mom eventually excuses herself.

“Well… It has been a pleasure catching up with you, honey. But it’s almost lunchtime and I have to get to work afterwards. I hope you come to visit soon.”

I frown, I was actually enjoying chatting with her, but looking at the clock, it’s almost 12PM. “Believe me, mom, I won’t take long. December marks the start of winter break and I have most of the month off. I will travel to the city then.”

Laying back, she sighs. “Good to hear. Well, I hope to see you then. Bye, love.”

“Bye mom.” I reply, the video chat window disappearing right after.