After the show, we’re slowly walking out of the park and Mii comes up to me smiling to ask, “Is it still alright if I invite him?”

“Of course. I take it that everything went well?” She nods vigorously with a huge smile. “How well?”

Her eyes sparkle as she says, “He told me that he’s liked me for a long time and asked me to be his girlfriend.”

Letting go of Ryu’s hand, I hug her and say, “I’m so happy for you. By the way, have him tell his parents that it won’t cost them anything for him to come along.”

“Thank you Sora. Thank you so much!”

“You’ve nothing to thank me for, this is all your doing.”

“Not for this, for everything. If it weren’t for you, I’d be at home being bullied and crying. I’ve been a lot happier since I met you and your sisters.”

I let her go and step back. “We’ll get the other issue solved one way or another. By the way, remember you’re staying the night at our house.”

“I remember. It sounds like a lot of fun.” She skips back over to Hiroki and I move between Ryu and Chinatsu.

“You two are on your own after we get home. Mii is staying the night and since it was my idea, I’ll be staying with her, so you two have fun.”

After we’ve dropped everyone off and make it home, we exit the SUV and walk to the entrance. Sofi and Honoka go on in. Ryu picks me up and I wrap myself around him for a goodnight kiss. For the next several minutes he gives me a kiss that makes my head swim and my heart pound.

Once I pull away, I nuzzle his neck and whisper, “Honey, you made me get my panties wet again.”

He chuckles and says, “Good, that means I’m doing it right.”

I grin for a moment and nip his neck. “You’re a naughty man. Put me down and go have fun with Chinatsu. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

“Sora?” I look at him. “I love you.”

I smirk. “I know. How could you not? Look at me.” I giggle at his expression and tell him, “I love you too. Goodnight.”

He gives me a soft kiss and gently sets me down. “Goodnight, Sweetheart.” He looks at Miyuki and tells her, “It was nice seeing you again Mii, have a good night.”

He takes Chinatsu’s hand and they walk out the gate. I turn to Mii, giggle at her expression and ask, “What?”

“I’ve, uh, just never seen anything like that before.”

“Like what? A deep kiss? You’ll probably be doing them with Hiroki before too long. Although, I must admit, there are issues associated with them for me.”

“I’ve never even kissed anyone before. Issues?”

I grin. “Nothing that a panty liner won’t take care of, but I forgot to put one in this evening. Come on, let’s go in.”

Inside, we take off our shoes and announce ourselves. Dad’s voice comes from the living room as he says, “Welcome home. Would you and Miyuki come here please?”

I call out, “Sure, Dad.” We walk into the living room to see Mama, Dad, a male and a female police officer, plus Hiro. Dad tells us, “Have a seat.”

I sit on a floor cushion and pat it in front of me for her to sit there. Once she sits, I slip my arms around her and whisper, “Don’t worry, I’m here for you.”

She jumps when the male officer says, “Ms. Yoshida…”

I break in and say, “I’m sorry, but you’re making her even more nervous. Would you mind if the other officer talks to her?”

“Of course.” He looks at her and she says, “Ms. Yoshida, we understand that your brother and his friends attacked you?” She nods. “I hate to have to do this, but I need you to tell us exactly what happened. The time, the day and where it occurred.”

I can feel her shaking, so I hug her tightly and whisper, “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe. Everyone here is on your side. Take a deep breath and let it out.”

She takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. Looking up at the officer, she says, “It was about 4:00 on the 26th of this month in my room. I had just gotten home, so I was relaxing since it was the last day of school when I heard the six of them come into the house. I hid under my bed hoping they would think I wasn’t there and leave.”

She looks at the floor and I pull her a little tighter against me, then whisper, “Go on, you can do this.”

She looks back up at the officer and continues, “One of them said, ‘Shit, she isn’t here,’ and Shin told them, ‘Yes, she is, she has nowhere else to go. Look at her bed, it’s been laid on.’ They searched my room and found me under my bed and dragged me out. They started out telling me how ugly I am and pushing me around, then someone said something I didn’t catch and they started tearing my uniform off of me.”

She squeezes my hands as she tearfully chokes out, “They ripped my bra off and stopped there to make fun of my childish figure. Then a couple of them grabbed my arms while some others started poking my breasts and pinching my nipples hard. A couple of them even touched me down there saying, ‘Look how much of a child she is, she doesn’t even have any hair’.”

She looks down as tears begin falling and almost whispers as she haltingly continues, “One of them pulled out his penis and said, ‘Maybe I should make her a woman.’ The rest of them laughed and someone said something like, ‘Who would want to screw something that looks like that?’ They kept this up for about half an hour before Shin told them, ‘My dad will be back soon so we should leave’.”

She looks back up at the officer and says, “Then they left and I curled up on my bed and cried. I got up after a while, cleaned up my room, hid my torn uniform, and then I dressed so Dad wouldn’t know.”

The officer asks, “Why didn’t you want him to know?”

She wipes away her tears and says, “Regardless of anything else, he’s still my family and Dad would kill him for doing something like this. Even if he didn’t, the court would order him hanged.”

“Ms. Yoshida, I take it you’re fertile?”

She nods. “I found out just over a year ago. I was so happy and I told Shin, even though they said at school to never tell anyone. That’s when all of this started and it’s just gotten steadily worse.” Mii looks at Hiro and when she sees his expression, says, “It’s not your fault Dad. How could it be? You didn’t know. I couldn’t tell you, they’d kill Shin.”

Hiro asks her, “Miyuki, do you think I love Shin more than you?” She shrugs. “I don’t. You are and always will be my baby girl and I love you more than anything. I wish you’d have told me about…”

I snarl, “Hiro, don't you dare turn this around on her! She was 11 years old when this started! She knew what would happen to him if she told you!”

He sighs and nods. “You’re right, Sora. Miyuki knew I’d call the police, exactly like I did today.”

Mama tells Hiro, “You’ll have to forgive Sora. She’s extremely protective of family and friends.”

Hiro says, “There’s nothing to forgive, in two days, Sora has done a better job of protecting Miyuki than I have in years.”

I gently say, “Hiro?” He looks at me. “That’s not true. I know very well how much you love Miyuki. You’re the same as my dad, you’d do anything to protect your family. The thing is, sometimes an outsider can see things more clearly since they aren’t as close to the problem.”

“Thank you, Sora.” I shrug and smile at him. He looks at the officers, “So, what now?”

“We’d like you to act as if nothing has happened. We’ll turn our report in to the detective division and they’ll bring them in for AI questioning.”

Mii asks, “What’s that?”

I tell her, “AI questioning is where they use a level 2 police AI to check if people are telling the truth when they answer a question. The AI’s testimony is admissible in court as well.”

The female officer says, “She’s exactly right. Anyway, after questioning, the detectives will decide whether to recommend charges be filed and arrest them. Now, If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be leaving. The detectives will be in touch soon.” They get up and leave.

I look at Hiro. “Hiro, I’d like Mii to stay with us for the time being. I’d rather not take the chance of her running into or being cornered by them. She’s safe here since we’re surrounded by tons of armed security.”

He looks at my dad. “Is that alright?”

Dad nods. “Of course it is.”

I look at Dad and say, “We’ll need to go back to Mii’s place one more time. All of her clothes are there.”

Dad replies, “Okay, but you’ll be taking extra security with you.”

I grin. “Of course. I’d already planned on calling Jason’s and Igor’s teams to come with us.”

Mama looks a little worried as she asks, “Who’s us?”

“Mii, Nee-chan and I.”

Mama asks, “Why do you need to go?”

I adamantly state, “Mama, I’m not letting her out of my sight. Mii’s been through enough and I’m not going to let anyone else hurt her.”

Hiro says, “I’ll make it a little easier. I’ll pack up her clothes and bring them by tomorrow morning.”

Dad nods in agreement. “That would be the safest option.”

I say, “Hiro, thank you for letting her stay.” I whisper to Mii, “Go tell your dad goodnight.”

She gets up and walks over to Hiro. She hugs him and tells him, “Goodnight, Dad. I love you.”

“Goodnight, baby girl. I love you too.”

“Goodnight, Hiro. Try not to worry about Mii, she’s as safe as she can be here.” Looking up at Mama and Dad, I say, “Now that this is settled for the moment, we are going to get our nightgowns and bathe. This has been a long day.”

Standing up, I hold out my hand for Mii, who takes it and I lead us up to our room. I delve into Chinatsu’s drawer and pull out a nightgown for Mii and get of mine out of my drawer. Setting them on the desk, I look at Mii.

“Turn around and I’ll take the choker off.” She turns around, I unclasp it and put it up. Picking up our nightgowns, I take her hand again and lead her to the bathroom. “Go ahead and start undressing, I’ll start the bath filling.”

I head back into the dressing room after starting the bath and find Mii standing there in a daze. I think, ‘Well, it’s not that unexpected.’

Moving around behind her, I untie and unwrap her obie. Slip off her yukata top and skirt, then remove her bra, panties and stockings. I quickly undress myself and lead her into the shower. I have her sit down, turn the water to a more comfortable temperature and wet her down. Grabbing the sponge, I put some body wash on it and work it in, then begin to gently wash her. I rinse her off, wet down her hair again and wash it. After rinsing it out, I put conditioner in her hair and wet myself down and quickly wash myself. I rinse myself off and then the conditioner out of her hair. Then I wind her hair up and pin it into place.

“Mii?” She doesn’t respond, so I move around in front of her, kneel down and gently touch her cheek. “Mii?” She looks at me and I tell her, “Go ahead and get in the tub, I’ll be there shortly.” She nods and gets into the tub. I wash and rinse out my hair. Winding it up, I pin it into place.

After I get into the tub beside her, she turns to me and asks, “So, what now?”

“You’ll be staying here with us.”

She shakes her head and says, “No, with my brother and those boys.”

“I don’t know for sure, but since they’re minors and they didn’t physically hurt you, they’ll probably get some prison time and mandatory counseling.”

“Do you really think so?”

“It seems the most likely scenario. Mii?” She looks at me. “You know that none of this is your fault, don’t you? Anything that happens is the result of their decisions. The only thing you ever decided was attempting to protect your brother.”

She quietly says, “And I failed.”

“You can’t protect people from themselves.”

She looks back to me and asks, “What does that mean?”

“It means people have a choice. You can show people two paths. One to be a productive, caring person. The other to be self-destructive by hurting people and the like. You can try to guide them onto the proper path, but they have to choose which path they will take in life. It seems your brother and his friends have decided on the latter path.”

Her voice cracks as she asks, “Why do people do things like that?”

I frown and shake my head as I say, “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

I can hear the pain in her voice as she asks, “I didn’t do the wrong thing by telling the truth, did I?”

I pull her to me to hug her and say, “No, Mii. God, no. Lies are malignant things. Even what they call white lies are harmful.”

She pulls back to look at me with a confused expression. “How so?”

“Suppose you have a great job, a home and a family. The thing is, you also love to sing and dance. Everyone around you has told you over and over that you’re the most talented singer and dancer in history.” She nods. “In truth, you can’t sign or dance at all. So, based off what you were told you decide to leave everything and take the huge risk of moving to Los Angeles to be discovered, which you never will be. So, did those ‘little white lies’ help or hurt you?”

“I’d have to say they hurt.”

“Exactly. Their lies to save your feelings, those ‘harmless little white lies,’ just lead you to destroy your perfectly good life where you were. All lies are pernicious.”

She looks a little lost as she asks, “What does pernicious mean?”

“Pernicious means very harmful, but usually in a not easily seen way.”

She nods and asks, “Sora, you’re really smart, aren't you?”

“They tell me I’m a genius.”

“Sora, why would someone like you want to be friends with someone like me? I mean, look at you, you’re gorgeous and you’re a genius on top of that.”

“Someone…” I bite my tongue to stop myself from jumping on her. “Mii, the question you should be asking is why anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with you. I showed you earlier, didn’t I? You’re not gorgeous, but you’re certainly quite lovely. When someone can break you out of your shell, you have a bright, bubbly personality. You’re also gentle and caring. These are just the obvious things. Believe it or not, I like you quite a bit Mii.”

She smiles sunnily. “Thank you. I like you too.”

I stand up and hold out my hand to her, “Come on. Let’s get out and get something to snack on.”

We get out and dry off. When we walk into the dressing area, we find Mama is there. I ask, “Do you need me for something?”

She smiles at me as she says, “No, I just thought I’d help you girls blow dry and brush out your hair.”

Mama blow dries and brushes out Mii’s hair first and then sends her to the kitchen to get something to snack on.

I look at Mama and ask, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

She grins and asks, “Very little gets past you, does it? It’s nothing really. Only that I’m very proud of you. I heard your talk with her. I came in to see if she might need me and there you were telling her pretty much what I would have.”

I shrug. “All I told her was simple common sense things. She still has to come to terms with the fact that what she said may put her brother behind bars, but it’s not her fault, as I said.”

“I know, but I’m still proud of you. Okay, turn around so we can dry your hair.”

She blow dries and brushes out my hair. Then we head into the kitchen to find Mii, who has a bowl of ice cream and some cookies. Mama and I dish up a serving for ourselves and sit down with her.

I ask Mii, “What would you like to do tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. What can we do?”

“Well, let’s see. We could go see a movie, shopping, roller skating, ice skating, an aquarium, swimming, the spa or the amusement park at Playland. Any number of things. Pick whatever and we’ll do it.”

“Well, I did enjoy shopping with all of you yesterday, even if we did it at a breakneck pace.”

I chuckle. “We were kind of under the gun for time yesterday and we had to get a lot of things you needed. You still need more, but we bought the largest part of it.”

“Would you mind if we go shopping to get the rest of it?”

I smile. “Not at all. You’ll find that all of us enjoy shopping.”

We finish our ice cream, rinse our bowls and put them in the dishwasher. After I hug and kiss Mama and Dad goodnight. Mii and I head upstairs to our room.

Mii asks, “Where am I sleeping?”

As I’m turning down the bed, I reply, “In the bed with me and Chinatsu.”

“Isn’t that going to be a little crowded?”

I chuckle. “It’s a queen size bed. Plus, I’m used to being slept on and I don’t move around a lot.”

She shrugs. “As long as you’re okay with it.”

“I am. Why don’t you take the inside? I’ll take the middle. Chinatsu likes to cuddle with me when she sleeps, so this way she can. If you want to cuddle with me you can as well.”

“You don’t mind?”

I smile at her. “Mii, it’s easy to see you’re still apprehensive, so I don’t mind at all.” I lean forward and whisper in her ear, “Not to mention, who doesn’t like snuggling with a cute girl?” When I lean back, I see she’s blushing furiously and her eyes are wide, which makes me crack up. When I can stop laughing, I tell her, “Relax Mii, I’m teasing you, I wouldn’t do anything inappropriate. If you want to cuddle with me, you can, if you don’t, then don’t.”

She crawls into bed while I turn out the lights. I climb in, pull the covers over us, and she snuggles up against me. Rolling over to face her, I softly stroke her hair and tell her, “Don’t worry about anything. You’re perfectly safe here with us. We’ll never let another person touch you without your permission.”

In a small voice she asks, “You promise?”

I kiss her forehead and tell her, “I promise and I always keep my promises. Relax and go to sleep, it’s been a long and busy day.”

She scoots down, buries her face in my breasts and wraps an arm around me while I hold her close and stroke her hair. It isn’t very long before her breathing evens out and she’s asleep.

About half an hour later, Chinatsu quietly comes in and I partially roll over to hold my finger up to my lips in a shushing gesture. She nods, undresses, gets a nightgown out her drawer and puts it on. She climbs into bed and snuggles up against my back.

She whispers, “How’s she doing?”

“Better, now. Earlier she was still somewhat freaked out.”

“Understandable. If I had a brother that damn near raped me, I’d also be freaked out.”

“Chinatsu?”

“Don’t worry, I know, it’s fine. She can be our little sister and I’ll watch out for her as well.”

“Thank you.”

Chinatsu raises up to look at Mii and smiles. “She’s almost like a baby. It seems that Ryu and I aren’t the only ones who love your breasts.”

“She’s been hurt far too much, it’s time for her to start healing. If this helps her, I’m all for it. I promised her I’d never let another person touch her without her permission. I’ll be keeping that promise, even if it kills me.”

Chinatsu sighs. “Sora, it isn’t that I don’t understand, but I wish you wouldn’t make promises like that.”

“Chinatsu, I’m not going to fight with you about this. It’s done, you can help me protect her or not, it’s up to you.”

She sighs. “I’m not trying to start a fight with you and I already said that I’d help you.”

“Good, then let’s go to sleep. We’re taking her shopping tomorrow to get the rest of what she needs.”

“Okay. Sora?” I look over my shoulder and she gives me a soft, lingering kiss. “Don’t forget you have other people who need you as well. I understand wanting to protect Mii and I agree with your decision, but don’t forget that you need to make her stand on her own feet as well or she’ll become totally dependant on you.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, but she may never be able to after what she’s been through. That’s something only time will tell.”

She nods and says, “Goodnight. I love you.”

“Goodnight. I love you too.”