The tension broke.
Luka started asking about specific training regimens. Natalia answered, her voice steady and confident. Emi offered more cookies. Akari made a joke that actually landed. Skylar even joined the conversation without her usual sarcasm.
The afternoon stretched into evening.
Kimiko asked about classes, about professors, about how we were eating and sleeping and managing stress. Normal mom questions that somehow felt loaded with meaning I couldn't quite parse.
She asked Emi about her healing Aspect with genuine curiosity.
She complimented Celeste's tea ceremony skills.
She got Skylar talking about music, and I watched my mother navigate the punk girl's defenses like she'd written the manual.
She even got Akari to drop the performance and talk about her sister, about family pressure, about expectations.
It was surgical.
Precise.
And by the time the sun started setting, Kimiko knew everything she needed to know without anyone realizing they'd been interrogated.
