Shirogane's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise not so much at the nature of the question, but at that lack of gentleness. "...my mother, actually." He frowns a bit at the thought of the woman; she likely would have been ashamed of how her only son had turned out. "She died of the consumption several years ago."

He wonders if he should ask the same of her to carry on a polite conversation...but the topic's sensitive enough that he hesitates to do so.