Chapter 41.1

 Asami came barreling from her bedroom down to the living room, combing her slightly dishevelled hair while muttering, "I'm late, I'm late." under her breath. Her father was sipping on coffee while reading a holographic news feed and her mother was next to him, sitting gracefully in a kimono while placing rice in his bowl.

"Morning!" Asami said in Japanese before sitting on the table with her parents. She grabbed her bowl of rice and dug in, relishing the traditional Japanese breakfast she was having. There was rice, miso soup, and tamagoyaki along with natto and kobachi at the side.

"Hey, Chibi," Mr. Chiba said with a smile before turning back to his newspaper. Asami gave him a resentful gaze, still hurt over how he tricked her yesterday, before huffing and looking away.

"You're late," her mother, Mrs. Chiba, said in a bland voice and Asami shrugged while chugging her bowl of soup. After a minute of stressful silence, Mrs. Chiba spoke again, in a more casual voice. "Have you found someone you like?"

Asami almost choked at her mother's question. She shifted uncomfortably while looking away from her mother's prying eyes.

"How about your teacher? What was his name? Sēji?" Mrs. Chiba continued.

"It's Sage, mom, Sage! And, eww, no!" Asami said while shuddering. She would tease Jason only to annoy Alina but in truth, she viewed him as a friend. To him as well, Asami was more of a guy, something made obvious over the fact that they would talk about women like two horny teenage boys.

"What's wrong? I've heard that he has many women," Mrs. Chiba said. "That would also help with your … urges."

Unlike her father, Asami's mother had refused to accept that her daughter was a lesbian. To that end, she thought Jason was the perfect match for her as Asami would get both him and his lovers.

Asami's father spat out his coffee but looked away without protesting when he saw his wife's glaring stare and ice cold smile. Unfortunately, he couldn't not accept what she was saying, not if he didn't want to sleep on the couch alone for two weeks.

"Mom …" Asami felt hurt and confused. She knew that she had disappointed her mom with her sexuality but that was not something she could control. Why couldn't her mom accept her for who she is?

"I'm … I'm done eating," Asami stood up without finishing her breakfast and quickly left after putting her shoes on and carrying her school bag away.

"You shouldn't try so hard," Mr. Chiba finally said with a sigh.

"We need a grandchild," Mrs. Chiba said stiffly.

And she can't have that with another woman? Asami's father thought but said nothing. Technology for queer couples having children had been developed for almost a century now, but he knew his wife was from an ancient family thus she was very traditional, more so than even him. He thought back to how difficult it was for the two of them before they married, remembering fondly how she nearly killed him for merely holding her hands or kissing. Shaking his head, he returned back to the news with a small smile.

Those two will figure things out soon, He thought; Mr. Chiba didn't want to meddle with their issues as he was sure that he would simply make it worse.

***

"Hey, sis. You alright? It's not like you to be late," Jared looked at Emily who was using the bathroom's mirror to fix her makeup. This morning, she had woken up very late and that was why she was rushing.

"I didn't get enough sleep last night," Emily said as she used eyeliner around her eyes. Jared winced as he watched her; do girls really have to poke their eyes with pencils just to look pretty? It was painful just to look at.

"Ooh, was it because you were thinking of a boy?" Mia stuck her head out from the kitchen and grinned as she spoke teasingly, her eyes gleaming with gossip.

"What? No!" Emily blushed and quickly placed the finishing touches before getting her lipgloss out.

"Eh? What's this?" Mia came out of the kitchen when she saw Emily's reaction, mildly surprised and amused. "I was just joking but it looks like I was right! Soo, who's the lucky guy?"

"There's no lucky -" Emily rolled her eyes.

"Her teacher," Jared cut in with a bland voice. He still didn't like Jason, which was evident from his disapproving tone.

"Jared!" Emily glared at Jared who flinched ever so slightly at her piercing glare. "You brat, shut it!"

"Ooh, juicy," Mia said with sparkling eyes. "Forbidden love between a student and a teacher! How romantic! Wait, how old is he? Don't tell me he's a fat old man?"

"No, he's a tall muscular guy in his tweens," Jared said and Emily threw his toothbrush at him in order to silence him.

"He hot?" Mia asked with a grin.

"So hot that he's surrounded by girls. All the time," Jared said with a sigh.

"Well, those are some pretty lousy odds," Mia said while looking at the blushing Emily. "For them. It's our sis that'll win him, no doubt about that."

"I still don't like him," Jared muttered. "He's just playing with her. Besides, she's a high sch-"

"Oh shush," Mia said while whacking the back of his head lightly. "All the good, capable guys always have women surrounding them, it's the law of attraction. All that matters is that she likes him."

"Alright, that's enough from you two. And Mia, stop it with those lines you got from a drama show, it's embarrassing," Emily said. "Let's go and eat … break … fast."

Emily's eyes landed on the TV and she froze when she realized that the news was showing the building where Jason's penthouse was located. She noticed the headline signaling that they were covering yesterday's incident and quickly realized with a start that it was Jason's penthouse that was hit by a missile.

Quickly, she pulled out her phone to check her group chat she had which included Alina, Asami, and Michelle. She sighed with relief when she saw how Alina was reassuring the group that she and Jason were fine, and Emily closed her phone's screen with guilt; she was so preoccupied with taking drugs last night that she didn't even concern herself with her friends.

Before she could ponder on her mistake, she saw the news screen changing. It was back to the anchor host who mentioned that they had a special expose that revealed the truth behind the missile strike. In a few minutes, she showed redacted reports that highlighted the fact that the missile was fired from an AEM facility along with the information that these weapons were created and supplied by RogueTech. The reports also revealed that there were more weapons aimed at the city, by order of the leaders of the city, The Council.

"My God," Emily muttered. She was surprised that Sanctuary would do this as it was a complete violation of human rights especially when she considered that they were already monitoring the public through SecDrones. She never thought about it, but this was one hell of an authoritarian city.

"Wow, this is actually trending," Mia said while showing her phone to her two siblings. Her social account was buzzing with furious people that were livid with AEM and the Council. Emily noticed that there were also people using this moment to bring up the injustice of the city's system to those weaker. As a low-level Esper herself, she was able to sympathize with them.

But things are going to get messy, Emily thought as she quickly handed Mia and Jared pieces of jam and toast before all three hurried out.

"Don't hang out late at school - hey, I'm serious. Come home soon," Emily told the two before they parted ways. "There might be protests and I don't want you two getting caught in the middle of this mess."