Closed differences

[Professor Conan Edogawa]

When he'd been told he could watch Hina duel, Conan hadn't quite understood what people were saying. As a matter of fact, when people kept telling him about Hina, as in his daughter Hinata Edogawa, winning the Duelling Tournament last year, he thought they'd been pulling his leg. Or that maybe there was a translation issue. Or that maybe someone used his daughter's name. He never thought, that they actually meant that Hinata really did win the Duelling Tournament. So today, he'd gone to the Duelling Chambers to watch his daughter go up against one of her classmates. He most certainly did not expect whatever it was that he saw. Because what he saw was not his sweet, little, innocent angel. It was a... mad woman hell-bent on destruction. And he didn't know where that came from. And here he thought, that little Hina had escaped the genetics of his and Taylor's temper. Apparently not. He would have scarily watched more of what his daughter was doing - last he checked was attempting to bludgeon her classmate over the head with a piece of debris - if it were not for the fact that his younger daughter, had run out of the duelling chamber hurriedly and seemingly in tears. And so, he went to hurriedly follow after Rose - he was pretty sure Hina didn't need him anyway at the moment - but Rose looked like she definitely did. "Peanut, baby, what's wrong?" he said as he finally managed to catch up and overtake her, placing his hands on her shoulders gently as he bent down to face her on her level.​

 

[Rose Edogawa]

Rose had barely made it down the corridor in the dungeons when she heard Touchan behind her. She didn’t want him to see her crying but something told her he would know anyway. She sniffed, wiping the tears away from her face with the sleeve of her robe, even just to give herself a little bit of peace. The evidence slipping into the fabric so it wasn’t so glaringly obvious. She didn’t want to talk to him, to anyway - she didn’t even know how to explain what she was feeling, really. It wasn’t just about the fact she lost to Ravage, she could deal with that, though it stung well enough. It was everything else, the way she’d been forced out of the duel so quickly, too quickly, how she had been used almost as a tool for his amusement - that’s what it had felt like, even if it wasn’t true. He’d given her a quick end he said.

It was the way Hina now duelled, looking like she was ready to kill that sixth year, like she barely thought about what she was doing and reacted instead, strong and confident. It was the fact she reminded her so much of Ravage. And she didn’t even know why that upset her really, as if she was suddenly unsire if her sister would have treated her the same if it was her on that stage and not the boy. Would she have seen her like a joke? Someone to be disposed of quickly? Like she wasn’t even worth the effort of the spell? Maybe she was being harsh on Ravage, he’d tried to help her, hadn’t he? But wasn’t it more to just make her nervous, throw her off? He’d flung her off the stage like she was nothing after all.

She stopped when he caught her, breath in unever coughing as she hiccuped. He crouched down to her level a little and she pulled her face away from him. She didn’t even want to look at him right now, running out like she had - ridiculous behaviour. She’d had to run though, she felt like she was going to explode if she’d stayed in there any longer. She couldn’t have just stood there, watching. Wondering what was going to happen next. She didn’t want to support that version of her sister - why did she even move like that? Why was she reminding Rose of Ravage? Did they practice together? Were they friends? Why would they be friends? It didn’t make any sense to her.

“I-” she frowned and sucked in a breath, trying not to start the tears again. She was being so stupid. “I got knocked out, right away, first round, like two spells in,” she said, trying not to relive that embarrassing display. “And Hina - she -” her face twisted again, like she couldn’t decide if she was angry or just devastated about the whole situation. She didn’t even dislike Ravage, she just didn’t understand. That was the worst part, perhaps. “She’s—she’s just like them. Like Ravage. She wouldn’t even have to try to take me down, I bet.” She was a sixth year, that was true, but if Rose had been a sixth year too, they could have been up against each other, and she couldn’t even beat Ravage, what treatment would Hina have given her? “I don’t know why I bothered, I don’t belong in there, or here. I should go back home. I want to go home.”​

 

[Professor Conan Edogawa]

A lot of things were bewildering to Conan at the moment. He had barely managed to process that Hinata, somehow in her six years here in Hogwarts, had become such a destructive dueler. He still worried about her because she had an awful sense of direction, and she had trouble speaking her mind more often than not, but apparently, put her in a dueling platform and he could see the confident woman she would grow into. He probably shouldn't have been surprised considering Hinata had Mikael for company throughout her years in Hogwarts and while he didn't know much about Mikael's duelling capabilities, he did know that his sister had taught her children the basics. But he was also very bewildered by the sudden turn of Rose's thoughts towards her sister. Perhaps it was a little bit difficult to process, not just for him.

Growing up, he was used to Ai being his equal when it came to Karate, though his sister had far surpassed him when it came to their magical education. And Ai already had a pretty violent streak growing up. If she had gone on that platform and duelled Jeremiah like her life depended on it, he would not have been surprised by the viciousness his sister would show. His children, however, were an entirely different matter. While some of them took martial arts, Hinata had taken more to gymnastics. Nothing violent and mostly dancing. She was one of Conan's gentlest children and would openly care for the younger ones. It must have been jarring for Rose. Especially since she had also apparently joined the tournament and suffered an early defeat.

"Take you down?" Conan asked shocked, because clearly this was more than just Rose being shocked about Hina's performance. "Peanut," he sighed as he placed his hand underneath her chin to try and have her look at him so she could see how serious he was. "I know Hina looked... well, she did look a little terrifying didn't she?" he said with a wince and a slight chuckle before he became serious again. "But I also know that your Hina-nee would never ever hurt you or want to frighten you," Conan said as his hand went to stroke her hair gently. "She's just... a little different I suppose, like how you're much more confident when you're zooming through with your broom. You and Sayuri look terrifying too when you race. But would you ever hurt Sayuri if you're really up against her?" he said with a small smile. Hina, unlike his other children, wasn't the most confident on a broom. She could stay up in the air, and she liked to fly around sometimes, but sometimes she was just a little too nervous when the roughhousing in the air would begin while the others just got a little rowdier.

It honestly broke Conan's heart a little when Rose admitted that she wanted to go home. "Oh peanut, I know," he sighed sadly as he pulled her into his arms in a tight hug. He wanted to tell her yes, but he knew that it would be incredibly difficult considering the boys were barely a year old. Taylor wouldn't be able to focus on Rose if Rose wanted to be homeschooled. "How about this? You finish the end of this year and you and me and Kaa-chan will talk about taking you out of school yeah?" he said as he hugged her just a little tighter before pulling away to brush hair out of her face. He needed her to understand that he wasn't telling her no just cause he wanted to. "It's nearly the end of the semester and your exams are right around the corner and Mahoutokuro's school year just ended. Kaa-chan wouldn't be able to focus on your studies either," he explained sadly as he bit his lip. They'd have to talk as well about the other kids' schooling to see if Jonah and Eli and Yuri would join Rose in transferring out. And ask Hina as well, though he doubted she should because she would be taking her NEWTs. And should Conan quit his job and teach at Mahoutokuro instead as well? There would be so many things for him and Taylor to discuss. "I'm sorry Peanut, but I promise, if you still want to transfer for next year, then Kaa-chan and I will see what we can do about transferring you to Mahoutokuro in time for the second semester there," he said as he kissed her forehead before pulling away and showing her his pinky. "Pinky promise," Conan said way too seriously, but hey, he can't be giving vows to kids so pinky promise it was.​

 

[Rose Edogawa]

Rose had barely moved when Conan placed his hand under her chin, her lower lip wobbling as she tried to process evrything her emotions were doing to her currently. He was wrong, Hina had already taken her down - not in a physical duel, but in a way that mattered. She’d stolen something from her, but Rose didn’t have the capacity to explain that right now. “I wouldn’t hurt Sayuri,” she snapped, sharper than she intended, but her hands curled into fists at the accusation. She wouldn’t hurt any of her siblings. “This isn’t about racing, Touchan! It’s not the same! I-” her breath hitched, and she angrily wiped at her eyes, frustration bubbling up inside her like the panic usually did. “I didn’t even know Hina could do that! And I - I lost! In the first rounds! And she just - she just -” Rose flailed her arms, her voice cracking before she clenched her jaw tight. She wasn’t going to cry over this, how stupid.

She knew she wasn’t the best out there when it came to duelling, she’d never really been all that interested in that kind of magic, but she thought she knew her sister. She had thought Hina was like her, and she was a Hufflepuff, she should have known better, Auntie Ai was one too. “She could hurt me,” she said then, her tone dropping more to a whisper. “Maybe not on purpose, but what if… what if one day I do something and she’s mad at me for it? What if-” she stopped, her throat closing up and again and she hated it, she hated feeling wrong about everything. She hated this stupid school.

And then Touchan was hugging her and he was making her feel worse because she believed everything he was saying. She wanted to sink into him and his words and his promise and her chest tightened and ached. She could never express herself properly in english - she hated english. She missed Japanese. She missed her siblings, they were all so seperate. None of her roommates cared about her really and the only friend she had was Amory. “I don’t wanna be here anymore,” she said, shaking her head. She cured her fingers around his pinky, but it didn’t feel like enough for how she felt. “I don’t wanna wait, I hate it here.” It wasn’t just Hina, it was everyting, though she certainly didn’t help. The pressure, the expectations, the way everyone was watching, waiting for her to mess up. She missed everything being easy for her to understand. She was so smart in Japanese.

But she knew the answer, he was right, Kaachan had the babies, Mohoutokuro had already finished the terms, and she was stuck here, trapped in a school that just didn’t fit her. Still, she knew he was right and she trusted him to keep his promise. “You have to keep it Touchan, I’m not staying another year.”​