Chapter Text
I was now future me.
Of course I had to wake up first, of course I was the one who had to suffer the embarrassment. What was I supposed to do exactly? Sora was spooning me in my own bed, gripping me against her chest, giving me no reason to want to get up beyond not wanting to take advantage of my sleeping houseguest.
She was my houseguest, one who didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go. Taking advantage of her was the last thing I wanted to be doing.
If I was being FULLY honest with myself, of course I was attracted to her. She was a version of Sorawo who had more empathy, was more willing to engage with her surroundings. Engage with me.
But thinking of her as an extension of Sorawo wasn’t something I’d done in a while, she was her own person. Completely and entirely.
Another reason it could work out…
I was getting my hopes up over nothing I’m sure. There was no indication she felt the same, or ever would.
Sora yawned behind me, starting to stir awake, only to squeeze me tighter. She didn’t want to let me go, and god I didn’t either. This is pathetic, I’m pathetic.
I relished in the moment until Sora woke up, though she didn’t seem too phased by what she’d woken up to. That’s probably for the best.
Today, the whole household was on route to DS Lab. It’s been four months since we’d first brought Sora in for a health checkup, and the nurses wanted to do a follow up. Maybe her condition had changed? Kasumi came along so she could go on a little trip, maybe say hello to the nurses.
Speaking of, she really could say hello now. Words such as Hello, Goodbye, Yes, No, and Thank You were now a part of her repertoire, making basic communication just a bit more reasonable. I was attempting to get her to say Sora, but she just started calling her Mom instead.
Mom and Mama, taken from Toriko no doubt, though I sure as hell wasn’t in the military. I’m not sure if Kasumi understood the implication of referring to us like that, or the relationship the Mom and Mama she got the words from had.
Now back in the DS Lab, Kasumi finally had the manners to not try to steal things left and right. She wasn’t going to wander off and invade the artifact warehouse, instead content to walk alongside me. Though I still held her hand so she would know not to wander off.
Eager to flaunt her new vocabulary, Kasumi said hello to absolutely everyone we passed. It must seem like a miracle to them, who’d taken care of a somewhat feral Kasumi, to see her so well behaved.
Maybe I’m not half bad at parenting. Good job me. Good job Sora too, I’m doubtful I’d have gotten this far alone.
“Hello Kozakura-san,” Migiwa greeted me near where Sora was led into the medical examination room, “I hope your life as a mother is going well.”
“Hello.” Greeted Kasumi, with a small wave.
“Well hello there, do you remember me?”
“Yes.”
A bit of warmth flickered onto Migiwa’s face, aww how sweet. “She’s played with kids at the park a few times, I think she might be alright to enroll in school come April.”
“That shouldn’t be an issue. I wish her the best. As for the other Kamikoshi…”
“I’m doubtful anything’s changed. She’s a skin level copy, but that’s about all she is. Very different personality.”
“I suppose you’d know best regarding how she acts. Has she spoken?”
“No… though it seems like when she’s in the Otherside, she can write. That’s the only language she can communicate.”
“And have you observed this fact directly?”
Ah, he was asking if I’d been there recently. I know I’m no field agent, but that place doesn’t seem to care. “Unfortunately, yes. Kasumi is able to prevent us from getting sucked in by accident, but the other day she’d fallen asleep while we were out and uh… yeah.”
“Sorry.” Kasumi piped up. Another word for her to say, though I wish this wasn’t the circumstances.
Before I could reassure her that she wasn’t to blame, Sora emerged alongside an exasperated nurse.
“Same results as before, we were hardly able to test her.”
“Congratulations on being an anomaly Sora-chan.”
She giggled with a sheepish grin, like I’d just praised an accomplishment of hers. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling along with her.
“Let’s head out before we get sucked into something crazy, I’ll get us all dinner.”
“Yes!” Kasumi half shouted. Someone was excited. Though if she could speak, I’m certain Sora would’ve sounded even more excited just based on her facial expression.
“Actually,” Migiwa started.
“I’m not taking in anyone else, we’re full.” We had plenty of space, but I’m not sure if I could mentally handle it. Especially not when I had a pretty good idea of who he’d be asking for if that was his goal, I’d heard her voice rattle around in my brain enough for a lifetime.
“Not that. It concerns Runa Urumi though.”
Shit. Thinking about her summoned her into the conversation, scary stuff.
“Just give it to me straight.”
“As of now, we’ve been able to confirm five functional fourth kinds, including Sora Kamikoshi into that tally. The other two have already had a few chats with the girl, and we’re hoping that our best chance of rehabilitating her is to help her form some community with those like her.”
Right. Migiwa was aiming to release Runa back into the world, but that meant working to make her not go off the rails again. As much as I’d loathe to meet her today, it would be much worse to meet a released Runa who hadn’t quite turned a new leaf.
“Fine. You want us to talk to her?”
“If you could, at least an introduction.”
“Fine, but you’re paying for our dinner later.”
The door guarding Runa Urumi was so heavily reinforced, you’d think there was a bomb behind it, not a 16 year old girl.
I wonder what Kasumi would be like at that age. I guess I’ll have to wait a bit past a decade to find out.
“Now Kasumi, it’s good to look up to your elders as role models, but please don’t for this one. She’s a bad influence. Literally…”
Kasumi nodded. If I recall correctly, Runa and Kasumi had briefly met before. Not for long enough to properly introduce themselves, but at least there’d be no unfamiliar faces entering.
Runa perked up as the three of us entered. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with this, but being with her throughout the exorcism at least gave me a bit of comfort, she felt more known…
“Ah, Kamikoshi-san! Kozakura-san! You’re that kid from before, right? Welcome!!! Thank you for using the door this time little girl.”
Runa offered up her single chair to Kasumi, who took it without a second thought. Sora was still on guard, watching for any signs of the Voice.
“Hello Runa-chan,” I grumbled, “Here’s the deal. There are five people now living out in the world as fourth kinds. You’ve met two, so I’m here to introduce you to the other two.”
“Wow, more gifts from the Blue World? Kozakura-san, you’re so nice to me~”
“They’re not for you to have, they’re for-“
“More friends, right? I used to have so many friends, but Nishina-san made them all hate me.” Runa faked a pout. “It’s ok though, I love making new friends. Where’s the other one?”
The other one? “Do you mean Toriko?”
“No silly, the other gifted one. Me, Kamikoshi-san, Nishina-san, this girl… whose the fifth.”
Ah, right. I guess no one was really filling her in the past few months. “This isn’t Sorawo-chan, she’s the fifth.”
“Eh?!?! No way… a shapeshifter?”
“What? No!”
I explained Sora’s doppelgänger status, her shift to humanity… though Sora herself looked a bit awkward through it all.
“So you were really born over there?!?”
Sora nodded and shrugged simultaneously. With Kasumi, I always figured once she improved at communication, she might be able to explain where she’d come from, but Sora didn’t seem to understand herself even.
“And this one is Kasumi, Sorawo-chan found her in Otherside as well. I don’t think she was born there.”
“I see I see.” Runa frowned, though the scars running up her cheeks still gave the illusion of a smirk, “So what, now there’s four people running around, blessed by the Blue world, and I’m still stuck here? I helped exorcize Satsuki-sama, I’m a good girl now, right?”
She looked at Kasumi for approval. “No.”
Runa scoffed, “Jeez, you start one cult and this is how everyone treats you? I'm missing out on my precious high school years. Plus, don’t you need someone to babysit Kasumi when you go out? I’d be a great babysitter, I’ll work for free!”
Trusting my daughter to Runa screamed at me as a monumentally bad idea.
“Maybe. But I’ve already got Sora-chan for that, seems a bit redundant.”
“Aww but what about date night! Are you not taking her out on dates? How cruel Kozakura-san!!!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Pfft,” Runa barely held back her laughter. Cheeky brat… “Come on, I’ll be a cool older sister for Kasumi-chan, right right? I’ve always wanted a little sister you know, but my mom was too stupid getting wrapped up in her superstitions and she couldn’t get any action. Absolutely no appeal to the very end.”
Her sense of humour was worse than Sorawo’s, but the hurt behind her words was palpable. She was coping, there was probably a lot of shit from her past she’d never really worked through, and I doubt sitting in this empty room was helping.
Like Kasumi, she needed a chance to live her life as a normal kid, regardless of how on edge I was in her presence.
“Well, when you get out you’ll have to be a good role model for her, otherwise you’d be a bad older sister.”
Runa saluted, a genuine sort of joy filling her face. It was far from the empty jovial facade she put up.
“We’re leaving for dinner now. Say goodbye Kasumi.”
“Byebye.”
Migiwa couldn’t keep her here much longer… and maybe it felt crazy to think, but maybe he didn’t need to. She felt as ready as she’d ever be for the world.
I recalled something Kasumi had said, parroted from one of the others. Something about bringing Runa into a family. A series of orphan girls, all supernaturally inflicted with strange abilities, felt like a pretty strong family bond. Or maybe it sounded like a tv show, I was too hungry to care at this point.
I took my own family off to find somewhere with decent meat.
I really should be moving around more, sitting at my desk for so long can’t be good for me. A passing thought like this would cross my mind every month or so, and I’d never do anything about it. Such is life.
Except now I had someone to encourage me a bit.
Sora found me the moment my work was done, dragging me to my feet. Whatever she wanted, it seemed urgent, though not quite an emergency.
“Yeah yeah I’m coming, you don’t have to drag me Sora-chan.”
She gave me a look that was so clear to read, ‘Yes I do have to drag you’. She wasn’t wrong…
She brought me to a largely empty room on the second floor, only containing some empty shelves, chairs, a table… but it wasn’t lived in. Maybe I did have room for Runa after all, that was another scary thought.
Kasumi was already waiting in the room, as Sora ushered me towards her. She took both our hands, and before I could realize what was happening, pulled us into the interstitial space.
Creepy how little the room changed when dragged halfway to the horrors dimension. If anything, this version of the room looked more alive.
A large wooden dresser had been toppled over to barricade the door, but beyond that the room was filled with paper, journals, and writing supplies.
An open notebook sat on the table, words clearly visible. Sora held it up, writing a new line on it.
“This is my writing nook, Kasumi brought me here on my first day.”
Right, in this world Sora could write just fine. Had Kasumi taken her here often? The lines of journals on the shelves, a couple of them seemed to be diaries, records of her time here, labeled by month. Others were conversation records, things she wanted to say or did say to Kasumi in their time here.
“So, we can talk here, huh?”
So many questions… there were day to day communications we could do nonverbally, but ultimately most of my questions were things that couldn’t be answered with body language alone.
“Ok… I’m gonna just go through some questions I had, alright? I can start simple, was there a name you had before we sorta… gave you one?”
She shrugged, “Sora is fine. My memories from before I separated are cloudy at best.”
“On a scale from being Sorawo-chan to being your own person, where do you think you land?”
“Both ends? Before the separation, her experiences and my own were one and the same, though through different perspectives. We’ve diverged a lot since then, also I’m not that great with philosophy.”
The separation, that’s what she’d called it a couple times, like she’d undergone osmosis or something. A shadow cut from its owner, like in Peter Pan. I think that’s how the story went.
There was a question I felt like I shouldn’t ask. How do you feel about me? If I asked her to go further than housemates, how would she react?
Also Kasumi was here, I couldn’t stand embarrassing myself in front of her.
“What’s the deal with you and Toriko? I know her and Sorawo-chan are like…”
She feigned a sigh, “Complicated, unclear, I don’t really care at this point.”
Ugh, fair enough. She’d said she wasn’t great with philosophy, but I’d imagine her entire sense of self was steeped so far in philosophical interpretation she was having a difficult time.
Sora tapped me on the shoulder, “Thank you.” She wrote, “When I came out from the ultra blue to here, I didn’t have a clue where I’d go or what I’d do. Thank you for giving me a home.”
Shit. As she showed me her heartfelt message, smiling in unfiltered gratitude, I wanted to kiss her right then and there, just get it over with. She was lovely and just… indescribable.
“Nah, don't mention it.”
How would I even word a thank you to her, just for being here. No clue…
For all the time I spent nagging Sorawo about her romance issues, I wasn’t faring much better.
I never thought I’d actively want to spend time outside of the real world, but here in this space we could hold a conversation, I could properly pick her mind. I could see if my read of her was correct, she was pretty open with her expressions after all.
We stayed for a few hours chatting away, as Kasumi (responsibly and non-supernaturally) coloured in the corner.
I couldn’t get her stupid fucking face out of my head. It had been a week since she’d invited me into her writing nook, and ever since there’s been something really wrong with me. Every morning met with her stupid smile, every meal sat across from her as she stupidly ate. Every night, her stupid wave goodnight.
I couldn’t take it. It was a different kind of madness than the one the Otherside forced into me, different from the itch that tethered me to the ultrablue. It was so much more… ordinary, maybe that made it harder to face. Phenomenon could be analyzed, we could treat it like an enemy to face. As weird as it was, me and the others were the closest things to specialists when it came to otherworldly happenings.
I was so comparatively amateur at basic romance, it was scary.
Only one way to stave off the madness. Winding up my arm, I let loose a punch across my face. Hard, as hard as I could muster.
“Fuck!” shit shit… that was stupid. It was necessary, but stupid. The madness was gone, and if I didn’t want another punch from myself, I had a limited amount of time to act.
Letting adrenaline do the work, I burst my way into Sora’s room. “Sora-chan, we gotta talk.”
She scrambled to close her book, as though it was something she wasn’t allowed to read. It’s just a regular novel, she could be self conscious about the weirdest things. She pointed to the door hesitantly, maybe asking if we wanted to head to her writing nook.
“Right here is fine. Sora-chan, I-”
The crash. The limited amount of time was up, I’d frozen up. But god damn, I’m in too deep. “Ok so like, would it be weird if like… s-since I’m glad you’re here and around and part of the house…”
I was losing her fast, her expression grew cloudier with each word. “So like because of that, if I’d caught some feelings like… I’m not sure if that’s alright, or if that’s putting pressure on the situation, or… what.”
This was going nowhere, time to abort. “It’s fine it’s fine, forget it… goodnight.”
Panicking, Sora’s arm shot out, hooking my own and pulling me down on the bed next to her. She scrambled on top of me, blocking my escape. Staring down at me, it felt like I was on the verge of going crazy, and she wasn’t using her eye, that was for sure. Just her normal gaze down upon me, blush dusting her cheeks as she weighed her options.
Please pick the right option. Please. I could only get it this far, she’d need to finish the job. Finish me off…
Foul thoughts begone…
Jerking up and down in indecision, she finally finally crashed her face down against mine, and the gates were open. She wanted it, I wanted it, and we didn’t need to speak to communicate the rest.
Her hands were unsteady, finding places to rest against me. Mine weren’t quite so reserved. I’d waited this long, I wasn’t about to let this shot go.
“And so uh… yeah.” I hesitated to say but… they needed to know. “Basically, me and Sora-chan are lovers.”
Sorawo looked annoyed, Toriko’s jaw had dropped. “Y-You’re dating who now???”
“I knew having a doppelganger was a bad idea…”
Sora stuck her tongue out in defiance, demonstrating clear superiority. Damn I loved this girl…
“It’s not two against one anymore Sorawo-chan, now get out of my house…”