Severance

Ranko sat up, whirling on her backside, her mother's bombshell statement pumping her with a previously-inaccessible reserve of adrenaline. She wobbled a bit, the sudden hard spin making her dizzy. "WHAT?! Mom, you can't do that! You just can't!" Even Akane gasped.Hana nodded. "I can, and I will. You will always be welcome here anytime, Ranko. You'll always be my daughter, this will always be your home and your family, and we will always love you. That won't ever change, any more than it did when Ayako left. But you have to put something down. You have to. We've warned you for months and you've kept pushing, and look what happened. I can't make you drop classes or cut back on the other things you're doing, but this I can force, if you make me. Please don't."The bar's owner frowned, wrapping her arms carefully around Ranko's shoulders again and giving her a squeeze. "If I have to fire you to make you take care of yourself, sweetheart, it'll break my heart, but I will."Ranko's tears would not come when her hands were burned to a crisp in the pizza oven, but now, they flowed without hesitation. "Mama, please. You can't. This place is everything I am. You and the girls and the band and… please!"Yui took Ranko firmly by the wrist as she gesticulated wildly, dropping the piece of white gauze on the floor. "Hey, little sister. Do you mind? Trying to bandage you, here."Hana nodded. "I want you to stay, Ranko. We all do. More than you'll ever know. And if you want to stay, all you have to do is drop something else instead. What you drop is up to you. But one way or the other, your load is getting lightened, right now. Tonight. Before it's too late and you really hurt yourself."Akane looked down into her lover's eyes. Her heart broke for Ranko. She knew how hard she'd tried, how hard she fought to stay on top of everything, and she knew how devastating it was to hear what Hana had said. But Ranko's mother was right. It was time for tough love."Ranko, why not drop the homeschool courses? You could always pick them back up in a few months if things settle down for you, or just do them later in regular school later instead." Akane wished she could take her girlfriend by the hand, but Yui was still coating both of them in burn cream and bandaging them."But I can't! I won't graduate!"Sighing, Akane made herself smile for Ranko's sake. "Sure you will. Just not yet. I'll get another semester or two of watching a cute cheerleader bounce around my apartment, and the people out there will keep getting to hear you sing. You'll still get to help your sisters, and you get reintroduced to the pillow you haven't seen in a week. Sounds like everybody wins to me.""But…" Ranko looked down. The coursing adrenaline was doing battle with the overcaffeinated pulsing in her head, and it was very hard to concentrate. "I don't want to let you down. Any of you. You've all believed in me so much and I…" She winced, rubbing her temples. "Nobody's ever put that kind of faith in me before, and I can't bear the thought of not living up to it. You all believed I could do it, and now if I don't follow through, I'm afraid you won't believe so much the next time. I've never wanted to make people proud so bad in my life."The redhead sniffled, scrunching her nose for want of an undamaged hand to wipe it. "I'm used to disappointing people just by living, and I feel like I'm finally to a place where I know the people who felt that way about me were wrong. But… if I fail now, you will all be disappointed and I will deserve it."Hana shook her head. "Kiddo, you're not going to let me down. Never. I am so, so, so proud of you. You have no idea. You're incredible. But the hardest part of being incredible is knowing that even the most incredible people have limits. I don't care if you don't graduate high school until you're my age, as long as you're healthy and happy. The only thing that will disappoint me is if you don't have as full and good of a life as you possibly can because you're wasting it killing yourself like this. You're doing everything, but you're enjoying nothing. Baby, the only one who expects all those things out of you is you. All I need from you is to see you smile once in a while again."Yui finished taping the gauze around Ranko's left palm. "The girls and I are proud of you too, little sister. Even when you're being an absolute blockhead. And another thing – we know you can do any of the things you're doing. You've proven that, and you've done it on hard mode while you're juggling all this stuff. You have proven every single one of us who believed in you right, Ranko. You can do anything you set your mind to. You just can't do everything you set your mind to, all at the same time."Akane smiled gently, leaning forward and kissing Ranko on the cheek. "You know I will always be proud of you, silly girl. Absolutely, positively, always. But you have to know this can't continue, honey. I hardly ever get to see you, you don't sleep, and it's dangerous for you. So, if you're going to insist on putting me and everyone else first, then would you please do something important for me, and take better care of my favorite person in the world?"Ranko looked up at Hana pleadingly. "And if I drop the homeschool classes, I can keep working here? I can keep singing? You promise?!"Hana nodded. "As long as you're feeling better. Honestly, you're overworking yourself so much, I'm not entirely sure you won't need to drop more than that, but it's a start and I'll take it. You're starting in a few days, though. Tonight, you're going to get some sleep, and you're going to take a few nights off to rest and let your hands heal.""You're not going to make me miss next Wednesday, are you?" Ranko looked up hopefully. They had a special event planned at the bar, and she'd been working on her show set for over a week.Hana smiled. "As long as you can hold a microphone, I'll let you do it. But I don't want to see you so much as try to pick up an empty glass in this place until then. Deal?"The bar owner's youngest daughter nodded weakly, looking over her uselessly mummified hands. She really didn't have a choice, even if she wanted to fight it. She knew she couldn't do much, if anything, with her hands wounded and bound, and Hana could have demanded nearly any concession from her and gotten it. Other than Akane, getting to stand on that stage and sing was the most important thing in her life. "Deal." She managed a weak smile. "I'd offer to shake on it, but…"Hana laughed, smiling widely. She was so glad she'd finally gotten through to her daughter, and not had to break her heart. This is the hardest part about being a mom, I think."So, I guess I'm just supposed to go home tonight?" Ranko tried to stand, but with her balance still off somewhat and without her hands to push off on, she struggled to find leverage to get off the floor.Akane stood, leaning down and bracing Ranko's arm as she helped her girlfriend to her feet. "Better plan: why don't we sleep upstairs? It's a shorter walk."Bobbing her head, Hana smiled. "That's a marvelous idea, Akane."Ranko leaned on her lover, yawning. Just the idea of going to bed was making her body start shutting down. "Okay. Thanks, mama. Thanks, Yui."Hana smiled, stepping forward and kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Of course, baby. I'm sorry I had to scare you like that. I just had to make you listen. Go rest now, okay?"Akane turned toward the stairs, letting Ranko lean on her, mindful of her wounded hands."Oh, Akane?" Hana reached out, putting her arm over Yui's shoulder. She wanted to make it very clear that what she said, she said with the consensus of Ranko's entire family.Still bracing Ranko, Akane turned her head to face the bar's matriarch. "Yes, ma'am?""You know we all love you, right, kid?"Akane blushed furiously. "Yes, ma'am, I suppose I do."Hana smiled. "Good. Then you know I come from a place of love when I say, if you don't get off your ass and find a way to help that girl, you and I are going to have words pretty soon."