Japan

She kept the blanket pulled up around the entire lower half of her face; it rather red from her comment about the fact that Ryu was still important to her, despite the fact he was confusing the Hell out of her with his lame explanation. Kiku looked up at the man with her deep red eyes, head tilted down ever so slightly. She wasn’t lying when she said that he was still important to her. That was something very true indeed, though, Kiku wasn’t going to be a fool in love . . . Ryu had changed, a lot. He wasn’t the same boy that she remembered from all those years ago, and even though she still barely understood how it was that he was even real, the fact remained that the violet-haired man before her was the person who had made a rather important promise to her.

Oh, he still owes me a proper explanation for this insane situation. But I’m willing to let all of it go for now, I’m just happy enough knowing that he’s here. she thought, sighing to herself while shutting her eyes, blanket still covering her whole body. Kiku felt bad, now that she had more or less had managed to come fully out of almost falling to frostbite, the brunette found herself feeling unwell. Her head was starting to hurt some, throat feeling raw, and she wasn’t sure, but she thought that her nose just might have been starting to get runny. . . . With an exhale, she adjusted the blankets around herself some more before opening her eyes up and looking at Ryu again.

Is he blushing from what I said? Kiku had to stifle a single laugh that was trying to work its way up and out of her lungs when she realized that she had made him go red in the face. Given the fact that he seemed such a jokester now, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to know that Ryu was still capable of embarrassment. That’s something I’ll have to remember, if I let myself turn into an emotional pile of goo and act all sweet toward him, he’ll get flustered. Yes, Kiku was a tsundere, and she hated it when people knew she cared a lot, but she wasn’t beyond using her charms and such to get at someone if she felt it were necessary. And given how her ‘Prince’ was now, Kiku had a feeling she might have to be doing that an awful lot.

”D-don't be ridiculous." he half mumbled that, trying not to show his embarrassment. Boy oh boy, was Ryu ever the bad actor when it came to hiding how he was really feeling. . . . This caused Kiku to smile smugly underneath the blanket before the man continued to speak, still poorly disguising himself. ”You better get inside and warm before you catch something. You look a bit..." he paused, and looked at her rather intently, as if he was thinking about something other than what he intended on saying, "ill." Ryu finished.

Kiku was planning to say something along the lines of, ‘I’m feeling fine Ryu.’ But the man had already had his hands on her shoulders, turning her around, and guiding/forcing her into his and Nikolas’ apartment without giving her a chance to protest or say anything about maybe just going back into her own home. Okay, so she really wasn’t feeling well herself, but it wasn’t like she was going actively voice the fact that she was feeling so icky . . . and no, she really didn’t want to go back into her own home and be alone again, leaving Ryu’s company after finding out what she had just did. It isn’t like I want him to know that now though! she thought, clenching her eyes shut in embarrassment, No, I’m not in love with him or anything, but the fact that he is him, that’s enough to get to me.

≡≡≡≡≡≡

Evande looked at Nikolas when she heard his laugh, one that rang empty, nothing behind it but bitterness it seemed. . . . Her words had drawn it from him, perhaps she had sounded naïve in her musings, she had her moments of naïveté after all . . . okay, so she had a LOT of them, not just a few moments. I’m speaking of things I don’t understand again, I need to learn when to keep my mouth shut, and to cease talking when it is I am ahead of the game. she told herself, feeling embarrassed, her face went the color of a cherry when she realized that she had sort of just managed to stick her own foot in her mouth again, like she always did. Nikolas was another part of her, she and him were the same age in this lifetime, physically, but spiritually speaking. Evande wasn’t sure about that, but she was certain that her soul and his weren’t that far apart in age, if even at all. . . . What he had told her about the whole situation that composed the intended circumstances of their existences, well, the exact details of that were still confusing to her.

So, while the otaku was pretty sure that both of their souls were similar in age, she felt like she were nothing more than a immature, little child compared to Nikolas at the moment when she thought about it. He had all these memories of his own previous lives, countless years of recollections and experiences . . . and what did she have? All Evande knew for certain were memories of her own current life, a boring and mundane life spent absorbed in fictional worlds, very little real experience with anything . . . and of course, she also had several memories from Nikolas’ life that were of questionable content, to put it lightly.

Bits and pieces of her former lives were lodged in her head, but she couldn’t access them or anything, she just knew they were there. Compiling the situation together, Evande only had nineteen years of memory in her own head while Nikolas probably had hundreds of years, probably more.

"It's not that bad, being a living puppet. You get a lot of time to ...think and stuff." Nikolas said, sounding rather indifferent upon the matter. Sounding like he didn’t care. This made Evande bite down on the inside of her lower lip, she felt herself getting tense for some reason, very uncomfortable.

He was just . . . before, he was so agitated about what he was relaying. And now he’s. . . ? Evande found herself questioning. R-Right, she started again, I don’t know him, he’s another part of me, but I don’t know anything about him. Who am I to question him. . . ? To assume anything? she swallowed, though her throat was dry from how she was feeling. I shouldn’t assume a thing, yet . . . I have this sensation that he’s lying to me again.

"Until you can't work out whether you're actually there or not. That's when you have to think about things a lot more and keep all your memories in check." The bespectacled woman felt a hand on her head, but she didn’t move, or do a thing to show that she was even aware of it, she just remained immobile, her arms around Nikolas, her face blank. She was lost in her own head. Thinking about the fact that she sounded like an idiot with what she had said earlier. Everything about that last line of hers just screamed stupidity, and it made her sound like she really were a child. . . . Then there was the fact that she wasn’t sure if she should trust the feeling she got about Nikolas lying to her again, hiding the truth about the situation. The fact he seemed so damn casual. . . ! The pink-haired woman didn’t know what to think at all.

When she heard Ryu suddenly shout, “Get a room!" at her and Nikolas, jokingly of course, Evande looked up at the tall man, seeing him holding onto Kiku’s shoulders, a mischievous smile on his face. Without a word, Evande withdrew her arms from around her alter, and hid her hands under the surface of the kotatsu, clasping her hands together upon the tops of her bare legs. And while Ryu and Nikolas spoke of something to do with their past lives, Kiku herself had her eyes upon the otaku ‘freak.’ The lower half of her face remained hidden to the world with that blanket of hers.

While her thoughts concerning Ryu were still the forefront thing on her mind, the little woman couldn’t help but observe her neighbour’s strangely still and sullen appearance, well, at least she wasn’t unconscious this time! Hmph, it looks like Sterling there is regressing back into her shell for some reason. she thought, keeping her eyes on the tall woman.
Realizing she was being stared at, Evande looked up suddenly with a questioning look upon her face, her brown eyes slightly wide. Yet, when she realized that Kiku was the one staring at her, she merely shut her slightly open mouth and looked back down and away from her; just staring at the surface of the kotatsu, her face looking as though it were holding nothing but doubt in it. I don’t know what I should do. she thought with a heavy sigh.

Kiku found herself tensing up at this, getting irked at the woman’s insecurities. Damn it, the Otaku’s going to make me get mad isn’t she?! Acting like an uncertain little child like this, gah! she huffed in annoyance, a look of the same sentiment overcoming the little tsundere’s face as she let the blanket drop back down around her head, revealing her pale features in full. What reason did Evande have to act like such an insecure thing?! She was tall, imposing, and had a pretty good body! I really don’t feel like acting like a bitch right now, but if she doesn’t freaking snap out of this in a minute, I’ll give her a damn earful. . . . With this set in her head, Kiku walked on over to the couch, and sat herself upon it, blanket still held around her shoulders tightly, a look of determination and certainty upon her flesh.

"Niko... What have you done to your room...?" At hearing this though, both Kiku and in the direction of the violet-haired man’s voice, of course, Evande knew full well what had happened to Nikolas’ room, she had seen the condition he had put it in without even realizing it. The pink-haired woman though sighed, hearing the forming lividness in Ryu’s voice. Yeah, anger, that’s just what they needed right now.

Kiku herself was eyeing Nikolas a bit, curious herself. She had heard what Ryu had said about that ‘Blaze’ person, but was the memories associated with him bad enough to have caused the boy without the ability to tell his own shirt size to destroy his own dwellings? So, in her own curiosity, the brunette hopped off the couch and went to join Ryu in viewing what could be deemed a disaster zone. When she poked her head around the doorway and into his room, Kiku’s eyes widened at the sight, and all she could muster up was a simple, “Whoa.” Before she found herself coughing some into her blanket.

Evande herself just exhaled and looked back to Nikolas as he uncomfortably said, "Major freakout..."

The otaku’s eyelids lowered some at hearing the tone in his voice, and seeing the fact that he just looked dead tired in the face. No matter what she thought, no matter if she were inexperienced compared to him . . . Evande couldn’t just let herself continuously dwell over things. There would always be things she knew and things she didn’t even if those things came from a difference of hundreds of years of experience, so be it. Like I’ve said before, I can’t go and just dwell on things, and it isn’t like running away is an option either at this point. she thought, looking back to Nikolas. Even if she wasn’t sure of what the hell she was doing anymore, or even sure or herself and what experience she had. . . . Lacking as much as she was compared to Nikolas, she only had her current life under her belt for reference, and she was deficient in so much with it. Evande just had to go with her gut instincts, and her feelings, she couldn’t doubt herself.

With a sigh, the otaku pushed on the bridge of her glasses again, and a flustered look came over her face, “Ryu, I don’t think it’s of any use to go and get irate now. . . .” she spoke somewhat timidly, looking down at the surface of the kotatsu with her face going red. She was so not used to doing this. Sure, she was capable of speaking her mind in front of one person, but in front of three . . . it was just not a comfortable situation for her. Evande swallowed back the anxiety, her heart hammering in her chest; she looked back to Nikolas, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry for speaking so haphazardly before, about . . . that.”

She shook her head, “It’s not my place to speak in such a manner, as if I know everything. I only know the most basic parts of this situation, and unlike you, I remember only this current life of mine,” Evande lied a bit there, because she did know more than that, it just wasn’t relevant information she felt. “Yet, even with my naïveté, I-I don’t think I was wrong about what I said.” Face going redder, she took in a deep breath to calm down some, “And . . . part of me feels like you were not only lying to me about that state of living being bearable, but to yourself. . . .” the woman said that last part quietly, just loud enough for Nikolas to hear. And despite the embarrassment she felt, and the uncertainty of speaking up this time, she remained seated where she was, with her face red and a serious look etched upon her features. I feel like such an idiot. Evande just sighed after this though, letting her tense shoulders drop down some, relaxing, and resting her head on Nikolas’ shoulder again. Like him, she was tired. . . .

From the hallway, Kiku had her head poked around the corner, watching both the otaku and Nikolas. She found herself coughing again, but resumed a normal stance with a rather annoyed look upon her features, “Yeesh . . . those two really should get a room. . . .” she murmured quietly, shaking her head. Taking in a deep breath though, she did her best to stay calm, keeping her blanket wrapped around her small body loosely. Kiku tilted her head upward, and looked back at Ryu with a slightly coy smile on her face despite feeling bad. He got flustered when I said he was important to me still, she reminded herself. Yeah, she felt like having just a bit of fun with this.

Purposefully, the brunette let out a slightly dramatic sigh before she spoke up, “Those two seem so lovey-dovey all of a sudden don’t they?” Kiku asked the man, frowning just a bit in a rather disappointed manner while looking off to the side. “I-I guess I can’t expect that out of you, can I? Even with what you promised me when we were kids. . . .” her voice wavered a bit, almost sounding like she was going to cry.

But after a few moments of this, she stared back up at her alter, pulling her blanket up around her mouth with a little timid, but certain, laugh. “Oh well, I suppose that just means I’ll have something to look forward to, won’t I Ryu?” Kiku giggled again, before taking in a breath and adding one last bit that was meant to tease the violet-haired man and get him flustered, “. . . .among other things of course~” Yeah, the brunette meant for that to sound like it had a second meaning, and she did one HELL of a job of making herself sound rather eager there. Ryu had teased her before, so it was her turn to repay him, even if he was the boy from her memories.

"Right?" she asked, looking at him with a smile.

“Ryu, I don’t think it’s of any use to go and get irate now. . . .”

The boy shrugged, before looking at Kiku. She was definitely shocked by the state of Nikolas' room, and when Ryu finally looked back to said boy, Evande had her head on his shoulder again. “Yeesh . . . those two really should get a room. . . .” Kiku said all of a sudden. When he saw her smile, his cheeks slightly tinged pink. Argh! I can't annoy her when she's feeling ill! That's just so... so... Ugh. Ryu thought, giving up on trying to find a word that would work. Kiku let out an (over) dramatic sigh, and Ryu started to see what she was getting at.

“Those two seem so lovey-dovey all of a sudden don’t they?" Kiku said, frowning while looking away. So she wants to play this game? "I-I guess I can’t expect that out of you, can I? Even with what you promised me when we were kids. . . .” She sounded close to tears. After the giant show she'd made the day before about not liking him yesterday, he convinced himself he wasn't going to join in the game. But... she was challenging him, right? And the purple-haired boy just couldn't say no to a challenge.

He stared deeply at he as she did him, and she covered her mouth with the blanket and laughed. Option one, gone. “Oh well, I suppose that just means I’ll have something to look forward to, won’t I Ryu?” Ryu stayed silent, working out various things he could do to get back at her. “. . . .among other things of course~” The boy's thoughts short-circuited as his face went a rosy red.

"B-b-b-but..." Ryu stammered, not being able to figure out any words. Why would the daughter of such a family be saying things that were so indecent? When he searched his brain for thoughts, they were all escaping his grasp. But then one allowed itself to be caught, and the bright blush vanished from Ryu's face as he grinned down at her. There was a look of malice in his face as it lit up happily.

"Right?"

"Right." Ryu laughed, a provocative smug smile taking over his face. He got closer and closer until his nose was less than a centimetre away from hers. He'd just eaten a mint, so it was okay. "So right now," he started quietly, staring deep into her eyes and leaving a giant pause ", we're going on a date!". Ryu pulled her away from his apartment and pushed Kiku into her own. He looked at the small girl, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he stared her down. This is war. "Dress up real warm!" he shouted down the hall, going back to find his keys.

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

“I’m sorry for speaking so haphazardly before, about . . . that.” Evande said, rather apologetically. Nikolas tilted his head to the side. “It’s not my place to speak in such a manner, as if I know everything. I only know the most basic parts of this situation, and unlike you, I remember only this current life of mine,” Well, that was true, but she still had the fuzzy images of both their lives. Trusting the Gods, those would probably be revealed one by one. “Yet, even with my naïveté, I-I don’t think I was wrong about what I said.”

“And . . . part of me feels like you were not only lying to me about that state of living being bearable, but to yourself. . . .” she said, and Nikolas' eyes grew wide with shock. W-what...? His breath quickened a bit, before he forced himself to calm down and not get freaked out by this. But... How can she tell? He shuddered a bit. Maybe... Maybe he was getting too close to her. Well, he couldn't really help that; they were two halves of a whole.

"I-it really wasn't that bad." Nikolas muttered, unsure of what he was saying. His thoughts were whirling round and round; the world was making strange motions. Like a TV with a bad connection, the image that Nikolas was seeing was blurring every couple of seconds. She looked tired, and her head was back on his shoulders and Nikolas tried to keep sitting up, but his back soon gave in and he found himself lying on his back, staring at the ceiling and trying to work out what just happened.

"S-sorry... I'm just... tired." he muttered, his face going pale as he let out a small yawn, like a cat's. "I just need to lie down." It was strange. Over the last two days, he hadn't felt as sleepy as he did at that exact moment, where he was crawling over to the couch. He climbed on, like a small child, and lay back, mumbling a few words to himself. The lights were suddenly turned up, and Nikolas made a groaning sound as he covered his eyes with his arm.

"Ryu, can you turn it down?" Nikolas mumbled, glancing at Ryu search around. Ryu got closer, judging by the sound of footsteps, and Nikolas felt himself being lifted suddenly. "Put me down... You're giving me a bad head rush..." the boy's voice was close to a whisper, and Ryu found what he was looking for down the back of the chair.

"Get some sleep." Ryu said quietly as he was turning the lights back down. Nikolas shook his head. "Take some paracetamol then."

Nikolas watched him leave, before mumbling to himself. "What to do, what to do, what to do..." he said quietly. He searched his memories for something he could take instead of paracetamol, but the only good doctor he'd ever known had been Ryu, and that was before he got his fear of doctors. He'd made him eat this cooked rice with lots of herbs. But I can't cook, and we have no rice...

"Erm, you eat the sushi in fridge if you want. I'm not hungry. . ." Nikolas rolled over so he was staring straight at Evande. "But you don't have to stay if you don't want to." A small, sad smile on his face. There was a box next to the couch, mostly filled with Ryu's mangas, but Nikolas wanted to stay awake while Evande was there, at the very least. Leaning over the arm lazily, he opened it and searched through, picking out various volumes of Kuroshitsuji, before remembering what Evande Sterling spent most of her afternoons doing.

"If you wanna search the box, go ahead. It's mostly books, but Ryu reads some shoujo manga..." he sighed. Being a boy and reading shoujo... The sad bit is that Ryu likes to call himself a man.

Kiku had been expecting one of two reactions from Ryu, complete embarrassment, or a rebuttal, grasping the fact that she was teasing him back as he did to her. Well, the first of the two had happened before she had simply let the last of her words slip from her mouth, the man’s face had gone red and he seemed to have lost his ability to speak before a twinge of malevolence had gone along and snapped his brain from having a computing error, and made him smile, evilly of course. Still, even if she had anticipated him possibly going right on ahead and poking fun back at her, that didn’t keep Kiku Kurosawa from going rather red in the face when Ryu had went ahead and stooped on over, and looked her right in the eyes.

Suddenly, the tiny woman found herself rather glad that she still had the blanket pulled up around her mouth considering how close their faces were. . . . At this sudden proximity, the brunette’s heart skipped a beat in her chest and she swallowed back some level of anxiety she felt welling up in her stomach, as her pulse hammered in her head. Okay, I don’t think I was quite ready for him to be this close! she thought, resisting the urge to squeak in embarrassment. And as much as part of her wanted to clench her eyes shut and look away, Kiku fought not to, she would not let herself look so timid in front of him, she did not desire for him to think of her as being frail or weak.

Evande heard Nikolas’ breath quicken, and she could tell he was forcing himself to calm down . . . probably wasn’t expecting her to say what she had said about him maybe lying to her about how he felt regarding being a ‘living puppet.’ Since she had been on her own for so long, such a solitary person, not really trusting others enough to let them into her heart, Evande had become an amateur people reader. She was rather apt at knowing when she was lied to, or when a person’s tone of voice, and body language betrayed their spoken words. The pink-haired woman remained as she was while her alter seemed to be reflecting over something, perhaps trying to figure out how it was she had managed to call him out on his lie.

"I-it really wasn't that bad." she heard him murmur out, again, sounding uncertain of himself.

She sighed, He can try to convince himself all he wants, I’m sure that somewhere inside of himself he knows it wasn’t a fair existence. . . . And she decided to leave it at that, her opinion left known only to her own mind for now.

”So right now,” Ryu started speaking, his voice rather quiet, yet possessing an edge that was meant to elicit some level of anxiety from Kiku. Given her statement, she supposed that he was trying to get her scared or something, thinking that he took her serious before delivering the truth, a joke or something. ”we’re going on a date!” he half announced, looking rather contented, before he stood back up and started walking back down the hallway.

At hearing this, Evande’s eyes opened and she sort of just blankly stared ahead, looking forward at the wall in front of her trying to figure out if she had just heard what she thought she had, or if fatigue was getting her ears to play tricks on her. . . . .did I just really hear Ryu say that he and Kiku were going to go on a date? the otaku questioned hesitantly. Weren’t the two of them alters, like her and Nikolas? And also, wouldn’t Kiku be against going out on a date at all, with anyone? On several occasions, Evande had heard the brunette musing about the fact she had some wonderful prince she was waiting for, that he was the only guy she would ever love. . . . Kiku always went on about how they he had been so wonderful, promising that he would return for her someday, and would marry her. The pink-haired woman’s brown eyes blinked somewhat lazily, I’m not sure if I . . . really want to know. she sighed quietly to herself, things were complicated enough for her at the moment, and worrying about what went on with her hypercritical neighbour was just something that would make things harder on her.

Evande knew Kiku well-enough to know her taste in fashion, given the fact she went ahead and insulted her on even occasion she could, and even if the tiny woman did want to date, Ryu didn’t seem like her type . . . alter or not, plus there was the memories she had recovered of him and Nikolas. . . . Sighing, Evande pushed the matter from her mind, for one, she did not feeling like having a spontaneous nosebleed again, and two, she didn’t want to wind up a sputtering, embarrassed mess as her perverse brain plagued her with icky thoughts and H-rated memories.

When Kiku didn’t move, just standing where she was, blinking in bewilderment as she tried to register what he had just said in her head, Ryu grabbed onto the sheet she still had wrapped around her body and pulled her along with him, and out of the apartment. Wh-What? she questioned, Wait, d-did he say, we-we’re going on a date? Kiku realized what he had said. Okay . . . so she was expecting him to try to get a rise out of her or something, get her riled up again by being sarcastic or cracking one of his lame jokes . . . but she was not quite expecting him to go and say that of all things! Much less act on his words!

He opened up the door to her apartment, and pushed her inside with the hand he had been using to pull her on behind him, when she was inside her own dwelling again, her face was red, and the bedspread she had, had around her body for a while now was no longer covering her mouth up. Kiku turned on her heel, looking at Ryu rather uncomfortably. Yet there he was, staring right back at her with those strangely bright green eyes of his, a glint of delight in them, as well as a smile on his face as he turned and left.

She had no words to say to the man at the moment, Kiku was so flustered that she couldn’t even muster up a protest! . . . .did she want to? Maybe not, b-but that doesn’t mean he needs to know that! she told herself, feeling utterly mortified. Okay, so it was true, Kiku was perfectly happy about this, even if Ryu had said they were going on a date out of a matter of spite, to just tease her, the brunette was indeed embarrassed. Yet still, she was somewhat excited about it too. Quietly, she turned and headed down her hallway to her bedroom.

Sure, she wasn’t in love with Ryu, given the fact that he was such a different person from how she remembered him when they were kids; something she still didn’t really understand, and there was the matter of the fact he was still lacking some fashion sense, but. . . . He was always the person who showed me kindness, Kiku thought, releasing a deep breath, coughing some again. Sick or not, she wasn’t going to let it get to her, Ryu meant for this date to be some sort of way to get her riled up and flustered, angry and stuff for daring to try and get a rise out him.

"Dress up real warm!" she heard him shout, to this Kiku looked back at her door before entering her own private room. To this she could only conjure up a rather gleeful smile all her own, her cheeks still flush, if that were from embarrassment, or a possible fever, who knew.

“Ohhh, I’ll not only dress warm, but I’ll make sure I look so good that you won’t know what hit you Ryu. . . .” Kiku said quietly to herself with a giggle, letting the blanket slide from her form and to the floor as she went to her closet. Sure, the date was one made out of mischievousness, but Kiku was going to make it enjoyable for herself, and also make sure Ryu realized the fact that she wasn’t one to be messed with so tactlessly. . . .
☼☼☼☼☼

Evande didn’t have a real reaction when Nikolas had finally fallen to gravity’s effects, she could tell he was exhausted. However, the otaku had realized what was happening to him before he did it seemed, as she managed to keep herself relatively upright as he collapsed onto the floor. He looked at the ceiling, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened to him it seemed. The expression on the blonde’s face was kind of endearing in its own way as far as Evande was concerned. And she found herself smiling a bit, holding back a bit of a laugh. Even if he looked tuckered out as could be, it was still a rather comedic look that looked rather foreign on her other self’s face.

She heard him apologize about that, saying he was just tired. Yeah, she didn’t need to be told that, she could see it very well for herself. I’m tired myself, but what do you do? Evande thought with a shrug as Nikolas climbed onto the couch like a kid would, getting comfortable and mumbling something incoherent to himself. Evande herself yawned, and stretched a bit as Ryu entered the apartment again, and flipped on the lights, Kiku not with him this time. The pink-headed otaku lowered her arms back to her sides, and looked at him for a moment before adjusting her glasses on her face, she watched him looking for something. Are he and Kurosawa really going out? she questioned, though she nearly yelped when Ryu lifted Nikolas off the couch.

Her brain going somewhere she really didn’t want it to, Evande quickly turned her gaze away from the two boys, face going red as a look of mortification plagued her features. I don’t need another nosebleed right now! she thought nervously, and did her best to try and focus her thoughts on other matters . . . like thinking about her manga and such. Fighting scenes, brawls and things of the like; doing her best to keep any form of romance out of her head, even the light stuff. She knew full well where those thoughts could lead if she lost her focus for even a moment. Evande started humming something to herself quietly as she heard Ryu and Nikolas talking to each other, though she was doing her best to not pay attention to the two of them together because of what she knew regarding a previous relationship of theirs.

When the lights went out again, Evande’s eyes opened and she watched as Ryu left, presumably going to fetch Kiku. That is still weird. . . .

"Erm, you eat the sushi in fridge if you want. I'm not hungry. . ." Nikolas’ voice caught her attention, and she turned her gaze back to him, blinking questioningly. Oh . . . right, she hadn’t actually eaten had she? Well, it didn’t matter, she wasn’t hungry anyway. He was looking right at her from his place on the couch, having a rather melancholy smile on his face. "But you don't have to stay if you don't want to."

A questioning look formed over Evande’s face at this, and she just stared at him with those brown eyes of hers, hidden behind her glasses. What was with that smile. . . ? she questioned, finding herself fiddling with her glasses again. He doesn’t want me to feel like I need to stay here if I don’t want to, but I think he also genuinely forgot that I’m stuck here because I locked myself out of my apartment. . . . Evande watched him lean over the armrest, digging into the box that lay beside the couch and pulling out several volumes of manga.

At seeing manga, Evande’s face lit up brightly, and all traces of fatigue were gone from her features, curiosity started to gnaw at her, she wanted to know what sort of manga was in the box now. . . . "If you wanna search the box, go ahead. It's mostly books, but Ryu reads some shoujo manga..."

She didn’t need to be told twice, in fact, Evande was sort of already going through the books in the box before Nikolas even finished what he was saying. There was a rather excited smile placed on the woman’s face as she knelt there, sorting through the various books and manga, the problem was that she seemed to have more or less read everything that was in the box. Realizing this little fact, she found herself letting out a bit of a nervous laugh, going ahead and messing with her glasses again. “Heheh, um, it looks like I’ve already read everything that’s in here Nikolas.” She told him, feeling rather silly, moving away from the box, and sitting with her back against the kotatsu, face a little red, facing him.

“Penalties of being a manga aficionado, if someone offers to let you look through their collection, and they’re just casual readers, you’re more likely than not to have read them all, or worse yet, actually own them.” Evande giggled light-heartedly, a smile on her face, “I’ve read so many manga that it’s kind of funny . . . I’ve even read lots of obscure titles, like, Ar tonelico Arpeggio!” she sighed, “I even went so far as to learn parts of the language used in that manga, I can even speak it to an extent. . . .” Evande admitted. “ Like, ‘Faura, cexm here, shellan mea. Fowrlle art fluy, presia sonwe.’”

The otaku squeaked when she realized what it was she was doing, going on and on about herself. . . . Every serious matter at hand seemed to have faded from her memory as she had gotten very comfortable upon finding out there was manga nearby. Her face went cherry red, I wonder if he even cares what those sentences mean, it’s not like they are relevant to anything. . . .

“A-Ah, I’m sorry! I’m prattling on and on here, even speaking in a fictional language,” Even if Nikolas was her other self, she felt like she were making herself out to be a fool before him. “U-Um, yo-your head, is it hurting you?” she asked, jumping topics. “I, um, I saw you run into the doorframe earlier, a-and well, I know that can hurt k-kind of bad. P-Personal experience." Evande shook her head, and looked back up with a bashful smile. "Anyway . . . I think I might have heard Ryu saying something to Kiku about, um, going on a date or something. . . ?"

☼☼☼☼☼

It only took Kiku five minutes to get herself dressed and ready to go, like Ryu had told her to do, she had dressed up warmly. And also, she had made sure she was dressed up rather nicely on top of that; topping off the outfit with a little bit of eye shadow and clear lip gloss even. She had her keys in her pocket, and quietly she shut her door behind her as she waited for the violet-haired man with a small smile on her face. Oh, she was going to have fun on this date, and make sure she got Ryu flustered as hell for acting like this was nothing.

I wonder if he’ll be expecting this out of me? she thought to herself, giggling a bit.

When Ryu walked out of his apartment, Kiku headed right for him with a rather excited smile upon her face; though her cheeks were still slightly flush. “You’re late~” she chided, jokingly of course. “I was starting to wonder if you were just messing around with me before, because if you had been then I would have wasted my time in making sure I looked nice for my first date, and you of course. . . .” the woman pouted a bit at this. Even if Kurosawa could act like a prissy thing at times, she was more than capable of acting like a rather ingenuous little woman when she wanted to. Without hesitating, the brunette went ahead and clung onto Ryu’s arm, smile regained, “I’m ready to go whenever you are Ryu~”

“Heheh, um, it looks like I’ve already read everything that’s in here Nikolas.” Evande laughed, blushing a bit. Nikolas just stared as he put down the manga in his hands, rolling to face her again. “Penalties of being a manga aficionado, if someone offers to let you look through their collection, and they’re just casual readers, you’re more likely than not to have read them all, or worse yet, actually own them.”

The boy shrugged, not being able to get much motion into his body. So sleepy... “I’ve read so many manga that it’s kind of funny . . . I’ve even read lots of obscure titles, like, Ar tonelico Arpeggio!” They both sighed at the same time. “I even went so far as to learn parts of the language used in that manga, I can even speak it to an extent. . . .”

“ Like, ‘Faura, cexm here, shellan mea. Fowrlle art fluy, presia sonwe.’” Evande said, before squeaking out of nowhere. Was she embarrassed about talking more than usual? Nikolas didn't mind, her voice was nice to listen to, rather than Ryu's annoying banter. But he knew how to respond almost immediately, and the words left him mouth before he could even try and stop them.

"Mea paul yor... Mea nille yor." Nikolas responded quietly. She was his alter, and when their soul were still connected, he literally learnt everything she did, but at a different angle. So when she was learning the language, Nikolas was so annoyed of being confused by it that he did the same. She seemed rather red.

“A-Ah, I’m sorry! I’m prattling on and on here, even speaking in a fictional language,” she stuttered. Nikolas just shrugged again. “U-Um, yo-your head, is it hurting you?” she said, and he nodded slowly. Was there anything else to say? "I, um, I saw you run into the doorframe earlier, a-and well, I know that can hurt k-kind of bad. P-Personal experience." More shrugging. "Anyway . . . I think I might have heard Ryu saying something to Kiku about, um, going on a date or something. . . ?" Nikolas stared at her, a confused look on his face. Then it clicked. He must be messing around with her. Well, he better not go too far.

Nikolas stayed silent for a minute or two, just staring right at Evande. "I guess... he's just messing about... They only met yesterday after..." Nikolas voice faded as his eyes closed, before he opened them suddenly again, sitting bolt upright before groaning loudly and lying back down. "Ah~ Sorry!" he said quietly with a dreamy voice. "If I doze off, just prod me. . ." Nikolas sighed, finally falling into sleep, his hair half covering his peaceful face.

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

Ryu looked to the side as he heard someone walking towards him. A small girl looked quite excited, slightly red. “You’re late~” she joked, and Ryu's face went slightly pink. Her cute outfit took a while to get used to. “I was starting to wonder if you were just messing around with me before, because if you had been then I would have wasted my time in making sure I looked nice for my first date, and you of course. . . .” Ryu shook his head. Talk about bipolar... He had it all planned already, the places he was going to take her.

She clung onto him, and Ryu looked away as his face went a bright scarlet. “I’m ready to go whenever you are Ryu~” She was trying to get a rise out of him, obviously. But he knew exactly how to get a rise out of her too. Earlier, when he'd gotten closer to her face, she obviously blushed. So if he said things that are kinda flirty, wouldn't that do the same thing? Ryu smiled, guiding her down the stairs.

"Is there anywhere in particular where you want to go?" Ryu took his arm and put it round her waist. He'd have to go into 'Boyfriend Mode' if this date was to continue. "I mean, I know this is a date, and guys should come up with where to go and all that, but," Ryu left a pause. ", I'd like it if you chose where we go. B-by that, I mean, you're still kinda special to me, so..." Ryu grinned in embarrassment. "Lead the way, Mrs. Kurosawa!" He whispered into her ear, maybe a bit too close than normal, but he touched her forehead with his hand.

"You're a bit cold." he said, worried. Okay, his hands were abnormally warm, as usual, but she was still cold. "We'd better get inside quickly."

Nikolas just stared at her, a rather dazed expression on his face, looking terribly exhausted. Not that Evande expected anymore out of him, he was tired to begin with, and her rather random rambles were all over the place. If anything, she felt terribly silly to have gone on as she had, saying so much when he probably just wanted quiet, but. . . . It was nice to be able to talk as she had, going on for so long without feeling awkward and weird. That was normally how she felt whenever she spoke anything at all, that was why she always seemed to have a irritable and mean expression upon her face when in public, namely because she didn’t want to feel awkward. And that expression kept people from addressing her at all, you don’t have someone talk to you, then you don’t have to worry about feeling like a fool for saying something weird.

Even if she felt somewhat silly anyway for how she had gone on, Evande didn’t exactly feel like a fool. It had been ages since she had said so very much to someone in one go, years, actually. She couldn’t even get that many words out to her own flesh and blood parents when on the phone; she was only capable of talking to them in an extended fashion by means of e-mail. Though the otaku’s face was still red, she maintained a bit of a smile, unable to resist the laugh that came from her lungs when she noted the fact that Nikolas sort of just seemed completely dead to the world. The fact that he was staring at her though did make the woman feel slightly uncomfortable, even if she knew that he probably didn’t even realize he was doing it.

She shook her head before finally hearing him say something after another minute had passed by in the silence, ”I guess... he’s just messing about... They only met yesterday after...” his voice sort of flittered in and out, it was quiet then there was a pause, as he began to fall into the clutches of sleep. Finally he just stopped talking as his eyes just shut, and Evande thought that the blonde had finally fallen asleep. The otaku would have been perfectly fine with this, after what happened with him today, she felt like Nikolas deserved to get some sound slumber.

As far as she was concerned, she was a big girl, she was nineteen and perfectly capable of entertaining herself, even if left to her own devices in another’s abode. . . . I just HAD to lock myself out of my apartment didn’t I? she thought, a little bit irked with herself for being so silly and stupid. Oh well, it’s okay, I’d probably be here anyway, even if I hadn’t have had one of my ‘moments.’ Evande shrugged to herself, before Nikolas opened his eyes up rather suddenly, a look of shock on his face as he sat straight up, as if someone had slipped an ice cube down the back of his shirt.

Evande flinched at the sudden occurrence, moved her wide-eyed gaze back to him, and just blinked in surprise as he groaned and sort of just dropped back down. He sat up too fast, and with his headache. . . .

”Ah~ Sorry!” she heard him apologize rather quietly, his voice faraway sounding, as if he were totally just out of it. Which was to be expected since he had just jolted himself right out of sleeping; everyone always sounded like that after waking up. Evande smiled and shook her head some at this, honestly, she sort of just wished that Nikolas would sleep and not simply keep himself up because she was around. The woman watched her alter fighting off the clutches of sleep, doing his damn best to actually remain conscious. "If I doze off, just prod me. . ." he murmured before sighing.

As if Evande would bother to actually do that; honestly, she was fine with him sleeping. He needed it. Come on now, just sleep already. . . . she thought with a small sigh. When the boy’s head finally lolled to the side, and it seemed as if he had drifted off into a light, yet serene, slumber, the otaku ascended to her feet. She stared at him sleeping, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, his hair covering one of his eyes as he simply slept gently. It was probably on the creepy side that she was just simply looking at him like this, watching him snooze. But, Evande couldn’t help it.

The weight and reality of the day was finally sinking on her. Letting out a long, drawn out sigh, Evande found herself feeling rather weighted down. In a matter of hours, her whole world was flipped on its head, and before her was the honest source of this change. Her life was normal until last night, when she had fallen and twisted her ankle; in her injured state, she had let her defences down, and allowed a connection between herself and Nikolas to form without her knowledge. Yesterday, she wanted nothing to do with any of this, with getting involved with people because she wanted her life to remain simple, normal, safe. . . . Evande had wanted to remain alone, so that she didn’t have to worry about getting hurt again.

Yet, with that aching familiarity that plagued her when it came to the boy who turned out to be her alter; she hadn’t been able to help herself from it. There had been a need to help him, and to be near him. I still don’t completely understand all of this, why it’s happening to me . . . or even if I really want this to happen. she thought, feeling her body tense up with a firm level of uncertainty. Truthfully, parts of her felt uncomfortable with this, all of this still. Of course they would, after all, for six or so years she had kept her nose out of the business of other people, kept others from getting involved with her and now. Now, she was diving headfirst into a situation from which she could not escape.

Crossing her arms over her diaphragm though, Evande couldn’t deny the fact that there was some sense of relief in her heart when she was near him, some happiness. . . . She was glad to be around him, it felt like she was suppose to be. Even if it was against the nature of her heart to want to be near people, the bond she and Nikolas shared implored her to be around him, and of course, she assumed that was because of the fact he was another part of her. A piece of her that had been missing for a long time. . . . I’m suppose to be here . . . he is too. Evande told herself, her expression a rather serious one, Even if he told me that we were one in the same, and we had been bound to each other for eons, something makes me feel like the both of us should be existing here and now, at the same time instead of just one of us. . . .

Even if part of her did not desire this connection between herself and Nikolas, and to just return to her ways, to her safe life, at the same time Evande also didn’t want that. She wanted to remain with him, despite knowing having actually known Nikolas for a little more than twenty-four hours as himself, and not as a part of her. Evande actually found herself content in his presence, comfortable and such, something rather uncommon for her really, and that contentment she felt wasn’t necessarily of the fact that she and Nikolas were halves of each other. . . .

Gah, what am I thinking about now? Evande got after herself with a sigh, shaking her head to get her mind back on track. I still do not know much about him, but, I do know that I like being around Nikolas, and that I want to make him feel better when he gets upset. . . . Exhaling though, the otaku just decided that she was too tired for all of this thinking, and that her fatigue from the day was making her brain work rather weirdly. These thoughts weren’t normal of her, even considering the events of the day. . . . Quietly, without thinking about anything in particular, Evande looked back to Nikolas who she assumed was still fast asleep, his face as tranquil as could be.

Again, a small smile played over her lips, I think I’ll go hunt that blanket of his down from his room. . . . she decided, taking quiet steps toward the hallway, heading for Nikolas’ wrecked room. She poked her head on into the dark room, and moved one of her arms out from over her diaphragm and felt around for a light switch, and upon finding one . . . she went ahead and flicked it on, only to grimace at seeing the state her alter’s room was in. Still wasn’t pleasant to look at it, knowing what had set him off. Simply shaking her head to it though, Evande spotted the bedspread from Nikolas’ bed lying on the floor, partly over his mattress. So, she went ahead and picked it before shaking it out to make sure there wasn’t anything within it, she had seen the broken lamp earlier and knew that glass shards loved to lodge themselves in fabric.

I’ll help in cleaning that up tomorrow. . . . she thought, leaving the room with the blanket in her arms, clicking the light switch off and going back out into the living room where she tossed the bedding up into the air, letting it spread out and gently float down to cover Nikolas’ sleeping form before letting go of it. Making certain that the thing was covering him up properly, Evande smiled a bit before heading back on over to the kotatsu. She didn’t exactly have anywhere else to conk out right now, and given how she would sleep in Junior high sometimes . . . the kotatsu wouldn’t be such a bad place to shut her eyes for a while.

With a small yawn, Evande sat herself down, crossing her legs over each other and scooted herself under the heated table before she took her glasses off, folded them and set them down on the surface of the thing. She rubbed one of her eyes before she quietly said, “Good night Nikolas, sleep well and have some good dreams, you deserve them.” while looking at her other self. And with that, she crossed her arms and placed them on the kotatsu’s surface and rested her head upon them, shutting her eyes and letting herself drift off into a light snooze.

☼☼☼☼☼

Kiku couldn’t help the giggle that surfaced from her lungs when she noticed Ryu’s bright red face, oh~ How his face clashed with his unnatural hair color. It was kind of cute in its own way, though as the fashion expert she claimed to be, Kiku Kurosawa disapproved of it slightly, only slightly though due to the fact that Ryu was a childhood friend, in a sense. This was really her first date, and she felt anxious and nervous, yet she still had the desire to get her vengeance against Ryu for teasing her before. He needs to remember that I’m not one to be taken so very carelessly. she thought as she was being guided down the stairs by her alter.

At the same time however . . . the brunette noticed herself feeling slightly lightheaded, and a little woozy. Not because of the fact that Ryu was putting his arm around her waist, but it was more as if she were starting to feel ill again. No, no, no. . . . she thought, not wanting that to happen now. She had been asked about where she might want to go, if she had anywhere in mind . . . and while she did, Kiku was unable to even get any words out of her mouth as her vision began to blur in and out. Everything else was kind of nothing more than a blur to her. The woman’s deep red eyes were going vacant, a dull expression had overtaken her face as she walked along with Ryu speaking to her, his arm still around her waist. Quietly, the brunette maintained her grip on his arm as she had taken to clinging onto it before, but her grasp upon it was loosening to the point that she was barely holding onto it as she felt herself growing faint. Kiku was fighting it off, doing her best to stay conscious and awake, she didn’t want to pass out.

I-I still owe him revenge and . . . this is my first date! she chided herself with a small groan. The fact that Ryu had just whispered something in her ear registered to her, but . . . Kiku couldn’t find herself getting embarrassed from it at all given that she was working all her focus into trying to stay awake as her body felt further and further away. In her chest, her heart was fluttering away, skipping beats left and right, and her breathing was speeding up with the rapid pulse. Ohh . . . I don’t feel so good.

A hand on her forehead snapped her from her thoughts a bit, long enough to really register words in her brain again, "You're a bit cold." she heard Ryu say. His hand was very warm . . . it felt nice. ”We’d better get inside quickly.”

At his words, Kiku looked up to Ryu with a rather weak smile, her face having lost its color, the only bit of it remaining was her flushed cheeks. The little tsundere was losing herself to the feeling of fainting, a cold sweat was beginning to break out over her face as her breathing began to sound slightly strained. “I-I’m okay. . . .” she said quietly, voice soft, weak and faraway. The brunette tried to smile at Ryu again, slowly losing her normal thought process. A silly laugh came from her as she tightened her grip on his arm, leaning against him as his arm was still on her waist. “You know you’re really warm Ryu. . . ?”

A weak sigh came from Kiku’s lips as she sort of let her small self be supported against the man, “It feels nice,” she murmured, shutting her eyes as she felt her legs weakening beneath her. “I-I’m sorry Ryu . . . looks like I’m not going to be able to go on this date after all.” Kiku apologized to him weakly before letting out a long breath, and nearly collapsing to the ground below her.

Nikolas' dream was going badly, but he heard a voice in the distance. At first, it seemed foreign and unknown, but it slowly became familiar. “Good night Nikolas, sleep well and have some good dreams, you deserve them.” The words were slow and drawn out in his dream, and Nikolas saw someone, a blur of pink, but then the ground fell through and he landed in nothingness. Glancing around for about five seconds, he sighed. All of a sudden, a red-head appeared, out of nowhere. He was pushed down, and the ground merged into water. He saw the blur of pink again and her tried to reach out, but the dream ended at that.

Nikolas woke with a start, gasping for air. What the...He didn't sit up right away; it felt like his head had gotten heavier and he was going to fall if he even tried. Evande was still there, lodged under the kotatsu, and Nikolas smiled. She seemed to have dozed off too. He looked down, only to see he was covered in a blanket. My blanket. Nikolas recalled as things in the apartment began to become more familiar. He looked at her, quickly before looking away. But upon remembering she was asleep, he looked back at her. A few years back, she'd coloured her hair from a pretty blonde to startling pink to fit the stereotype the kids at her school had given her, but it still suited her.

Now that I'm awake, there's no point in going back to sleep. Sitting up, his head started throbbing. Almost laying back down, Nikolas sat there for a few minutes, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light. But after looking at Evande, he decided he'd better get up and make some tea or something. Standing up, finally, he sway over and had to rest on the back of the chair for a while before finally trying to walk. Sure, his steps were all over the place, but he finally got to Ryu's door. Peering in, he switched on the light before covering his eyes abruptly. The light in there was brighter than in the other rooms, and it wasn't adjustable. He opened the door and finally found what he was looking for; Ryu's blanket. He switched his own for Ryu's, and slowly stumbled over to Evande, before placing the thing on her sleeping back.

I need something to drink... he thought, going back to thinking about his dream. He made his way to the kitchen, if it could be called that, and put the kettle on, getting a cup down from one of the higher cupboards, prepared to make tea. Having a bad memory, he stood there for a while before actually remembering what he was going to do in the first place. The only things he could remember well were the things he went over and over in his head.

Pouring the hot water and milk, he sat took it back to the couch, sitting down and sipping. He looked back at Evande, then back at his tea again. He was so tired, but right now, he couldn't really get a wink. How long had he slept anyways? He frowned as he thought back over what had happened in the last few days. It's so weird. I know her half-by-heart, but everything she says and does seems to surprise me. The boy sighed heavily as he was being pulled back into sleep. He wrapped Ryu's blanked around him before sighing. Had this guy already gotten pocky crumbs on it?

It wasn't ideal, the way things were now. To be honest, it was easier the way it was before, not knowing each other, but meeting Evande had proven to be a good experience to Nikolas. He thought back to what she said earlier, about him lying to himself, before he thought back, staring at his tea. It was ages ago anyway. He sipped at it. Though I must admit that guy's the root of most of my nightmares. But when I think about it, I can't even remember most of it. Apart from being crawled up in a corner of a strange room most of the time. But other than that... Nikolas spilt his tea as he fell back into sleep, the hot liquid splaying across the floor.

Sleep had come to her easily, despite how she was attempting to lull herself into a state of slumber. Even with her head on her arms, sitting up, Evande was out like a light in a rather short amount of time, the strain of the day, the early morning and the lack of sleep from the previous night had taken their toll on her, she was far more tired than she realized it seemed. Though Evande had been notorious for being able to sleep almost anywhere at any time in junior high school, the fact she was able to just up and fall asleep with her head on the kotatsu spoke volumes about just how exhausted the otaku really was. Normally, she was a very light sleeping, awakening to the slightest noise, jolt or anything, yet tonight was an exception, barely anything could rouse her. . . . From the outside that is. What sleep brings, the things we see in our dreams, fantasies, nightmares . . . memories, those can stir even the most sound of sleepers.

Evande dreamed, no . . . it wasn’t a dream, more like, she was recalling something she had long since forgotten, something melancholy, heartrending and tragic. It felt like she had become another person, but at the same time was still herself, everything she saw was through her eyes—it wasn’t like how Nikolas’ memories felt, where she was just watching things happen and she had no control. Everything was her experience, every detail, the sights, sounds, smells and sensations. . . . All of things she experienced were upon her own five senses.

In this remembrance of hers, she was no longer known as Evande, she was made to go by another name. The name felt as if it were a title that did not belong to her, it felt wrong, utterly foreign and ill-placed. She was called Kassia Boucher, and she lived in a world very different than the one Evande was used to. The otaku was used to tall buildings, jam-packed cities, seeing airplanes in the sky, seeing smog during the hot summer months and the night being noisy with the sounds of cars going down the nearby streets. . . . The world Kassia lived in though, was a time much more simple that the era of technology—in fact, there was nothing of what is considered to be technological marvels in the present day.

Kassia’s life was something Evande experienced through the woman’s eyes, through eyes that felt much like her own. She led a lucky life from the get go, born to a wealthy family of European merchants who immigrated to Japan, they were able to afford things most could not, she was never hungry nor was she ever wanting for anything yet . . . she was not happy. She stood out against her peers for the fact that she had a trait much in common with Evande, vivid blonde hair that was very different from the black hair the children her age had. There were times where she would wind up crying to herself quietly underneath a single, lone tree that adored a rather barren hillside in a nameless field outside of her city because of how she was treated. Much to her parent’s disappointment, Kassia was very timid, sensitive and an easily frightened girl, the jeers and the names she was called by the other children often left her in tears.

Yet, she was a kind young girl, no matter the pain she underwent, even the times she was shoved for her differences, she merely ran away crying, doing nothing to strike back. Even though she was not liked because of her differences, Kassia was always willing to be kind to others . . . going so far as to embrace a boy she narrowly knew when she found him crying after his father’s passing, his name was Nori. He had been one of the ones who had seen her as an outcast, often calling her names, tugging on her hair and pulling on her European inspired dresses because they were so weird compared to the traditional clothing he and everyone else wore. Though he was one of her tormentors, it pained her to see anyone in tears.

It was under that lone tree she cried under often herself that Kassia found Nori, hiding as he mourned his late parent. Upon hearing footsteps approaching him, Nori looked up and looked upon the girl he and his friends tortured standing before him, a look of empathy upon her face. He didn’t have time to say anything before she simply hugged him while his guard was down, Nori, confused and overwhelmed, simply found himself holding onto Kassia, crying into her shoulder without any words. After his tears had dried up, Kassia looked at him with a gentle smile, and said, “Even if you torment me, Nori, know that it doesn’t matter, you can always cry on my shoulder and I’ll never tell anyone of your tears.”

After this happened, Nori and Kassia became close friends, the boy stopped harassing her and implored the other children to do the same. Though it was of to no avail, Nori would often cheer Kassia up underneath that lone tree whenever she cried by painting his face to look like a jester’s, and balancing himself on top of a large ball that he would always fall off of on purpose to rouse a smile to her lips. . . . As the two would grow up, he would always maintain a smile on his face for her, never letting it go, never showing his own sorrows, though Kassia knew well of this. . . . She grew to love Nori while her parents arranged for her to marry the son of another wealthy European-descended.

This man knew well of Kassia’s love for Nori, and it enraged him that she would dare love a common blooded man. She was suppose to become his wife, and often he reminded her of this, leading Kassia to bear a melancholy expression upon her face, yet still, she never stopped showing her concern and adoration for her childhood friend. When the three of these people grew older, shortly before Kassia was to be married, she would always go see Nori who performed his jester-like feats for the people of the town they grew up in. These feats of his going so far as to make him part of a small little circus that came together each year at the beginning of summer to celebrate the warm months. . . . The man Kassia was suppose to married arranged to have an ‘accident’ happen while Nori was performing, one that should have proved to be fatal to the jester.

Not only would Kassia see it happen, but so would the entire town. He would fall from high in the air. Upon seeing Nori’s plummet to the ground, Kassia would be at his side in a heartbeat, gently holding the man she loved in her arms as he looked upon her with that same smile of his. Ensuring her that he was okay while he was bleeding, Kassia would wind up crying over him, rousing him into shock upon feeling her tears hit his face. She would tell him that it was okay to cry when in pain, she would be there for him like he was always there for her when they were kids. Finally, then and there, he was unable to hold back the tears and the cries as pain overwhelmed him, and much like when Kassia had first comforted Nori as children; he cried into her shoulder, before confessing his feelings to her. . . . She doing the same.

It would be soon after that Nori would succumb to his injuries, and perish, leaving Kassia heartbroken. After Nori’s death, she refused to marry and lived out her years alone, with only her memories of him to give her any solace.

Upon feeling Kassia taking in her last breath, Evande would awaken from her slumber with a start, shuddering as she took in a harsh inhale of air, as if she were breathing for the first instance after holding her breath for a time too long. Her brown eyes opened, and she felt tears forming in them as her head rested upon her still crossed arms. She did her best to make sense of what she had just seen, yet everything was disorienting, and completely confusing to her. The otaku found herself unable to think straightly, knowing that the only clear thing she felt now was the urge to cry, but it was not as if she was crying for another. It felt like she was crying for herself.

Not remembering where she was, or the circumstances of her current place of rest, Evande’s eyes shut and she suddenly found herself sobbing rather without control. It felt like her heart was broken, like she was alone again, as if she would always be alone. N-Nori. . . . she thought quietly, feeling like she knew the departed soul herself. Evande’s frame shuddered with the sorrow that travelled through her, her crying getting slightly on the noisy side, though she was not aware of this.

The otaku forgot about Nikolas being in the same room, or about the fact he had been asleep while this happened, how long she cried, and exactly why, Evande didn’t know. It was only when the urge to just full out sob had begun to wane that she began remembering everything that had happened to her, where she was and the things that occurred in the last some odd hours.

A sob still shuddering through her form now and again, the stray hiccup or shaky breath coming from her lungs, Evande’s mind sorted back through everything she had seen in her ‘dream.’ To Kassia and Nori, their tragic love. . . . P-Past life? she questioned, remaining as she was, head still resting on her arms. The pink-haired woman took in a deep breath, and shut her eyes, pressing her face a bit deeper into her arms, I suppose ‘Kassia’ was whom I was known as in a life long ago. Evande gathered, still feeling the vestiges of sorrow clinging upon her soul. A life where I was in control, and not Nikolas. . . .

Though without her glasses, Evande could still see well enough to identify people, so she opened her tired brown eyes and looked upon where her alter was, I hope that my frantic crying didn’t wake him. she thought, sighing to herself sadly.

It was strange. After having a think about Evande and alters and all that, the dreams got much better. It was generally just sitting in a field, but the field was nice and flowery, like in story books. Or ancient Japan. Nikolas sat in the middle of this field, surrounded by miles and miles of just... field. And it felt nice not to have a nightmare every once in a while.

But soon, a sobbing noise started to fill his ears, and it resonated throughout his world of peace, and the clouds started rolling in as Nikolas got closer and closer to conscienceness. It wasn't as if he woke up quickly, it was long and drawn out, until he was finally back in his own living area, staring at the pink-haired girl sobbing. Being in the state he was in, he didn't know what to do and just stared on with shock. He covered his mouth and nose slowly as he felt a wave of melancholy come over him when it registered that his alter was fully feeling sadness and all he was doing was sleeping. 

He almost reached out, but the sight was slightly overwhelming to wake up to. I wonder... what could have happened? he thought slowly, finally mustering up the energy to get up. When he stood, he almost slipped over. "What the..." Nikolas looked down at the spilling of his tea and sighed. He'd forgotten to drink it fully, hadn't he? Shaking his head at himself slowly, Nikolas proceeded to sit next to Evande, staying quiet but staring at her from the side. The dim light and his messy hair meant that his eyes were covered in hair and all you could see was the blue gleam shining off them. His hand tried to flatten it, and succeeded within a few tries, before reaching towards Evande's face and wiping at the tears.

"Ryu always says pretty ladies shouldn't cry." He said in all honesty, feeling a bit ashamed of his womanising roommate. "He's right, but I just wish he'd make it sound more normal, like 'A lady should always be comforted when crying', but when I said this to him, he told me to go back to the Meiji Era." Nikolas sighed, before looking up at his alter, a sort of painful smile on his face. God, I just feel like going back to sleep he thought as his body felt heavier than a bag of rocks. When he looked at her again, she just looked so sad.

"Evande...?" Nikolas poked her. "This... this is just a guess, but did you have a dream about a past life?" He stared at her, looking at her as he felt his body tipping forwards dizzily, before he stopped himself, shaking his head vigourously. This only made his headache worse. "Cause you know, the living usual have dreams about their past lives, if they have any." His voice was drowsy as the world whirled round, until his head landed on Evande as he shivered.

Why can't I get up? he thought, a chill running up his spine. Nikolas opened his mouth to say something but he made stuttering noises instead as his brain practically froze over. No thoughts entered his head as he stared right up at the girl. Nikolas managed to sit up, maybe a bit too quickly, and the world went dark within a matter of seconds. Why is this happening? This can't be fair. I'm not even worn out; not extremely anyways. 

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯  

Ryu looked at the girl, who was getting paler by the second, leaving only her rosy cheeks . “I-I’m okay. . . .” She said, and Ryu eyed her suspiciously. She obviously wasn't, so why was she pushing herself?. “You know you’re really warm Ryu. . . ?”

“It feels nice,” Her voice sounded weak and soft, and the violet-haired man regretted taking her out, considering the fact she was probably getting some sort of cold. “I-I’m sorry Ryu . . . looks like I’m not going to be able to go on this date after all.”

"Huh? . . . Woah!" Ryu caught the girl just as she was about to hit the ground. He stared at her, before sighing and placing her on his back, ignoring the dirty looks he was getting for carrying a cute young girl, currently out, on his back down the streets. That wasn't the greatest thing ever, but still. Ryu made his way up the apartment stairs in silence, regretting not being able to go on a date with Kiku, but maybe it was for the best.

Strange, there isn't a single sound inside. Ryu thought, stopping outside the apartment. How was he meant to get in with a girl on his back if the two had gone out while waiting for the locksmith? Ryu resolved to knock at the door, waiting for any kind of answer.

The lines between reality and her past life began to blur in her mind, Evande felt like she were slipping away, losing what connected her soul to her body almost. . . . It was a sense of detachment, spreading numbness from the core of her being, slowly eating away at all of her until it reach every bit of her very existence, pulling her away from the world she knew and plunging her into the depths of the very back of her own mind, giving her body over to the control of another. At the very same time however, it wasn’t this. What she felt was strange, while it did indeed feel like she were being pulled from herself, she also felt like she was not, it felt like she were coming under her own control, but as a part of herself she had long forgotten the subsistence of.

Tears did still indeed slip down her cheeks, but the look in her brown eyes was almost vacant, dejectedness still etched itself upon her soft features, yet her eyes almost made her look like a doll. . . . She didn’t understand herself, or what was happening. The things she felt were nothing but contradictions of each other, feeling like she was losing a part of herself yet also experiencing a sensation of being in control? Memories began to cross the threshold in Evande’s mind, recollections from Kassia’s life began to enter her brain, becoming as real and as vivid as everything she knew from the last nineteen years. The information was presented to her bit by bit, slowly. The things the woman had gone through, the pain in her heart at losing Nori. . . . It echoed within Evande’s own knowingness, her own mind.

Through her disorientation, Evande was able to perceive Nikolas’ form moving, though things were a touch out of detail thanks to her lacking glasses, she could still see well enough in the dim room to see her alter getting to his feet, almost falling over. She heard him let out a half-question, looking to the floor as he sighed. He shook his head, and sat himself down next to her. As if her body were reacting on its own, Evande raised her head up and looked at him, though she couldn’t see him as well as she would have liked. A few stray tears still fell from her face, though her sobs had completely ceased. She couldn’t say anything, her brain just felt like it was having trouble figuring out how she should speak, which manner was proper.

When she felt Nikolas’ hand brush her cheek, wiping away the remnants of her tears, Evande tensed up, feeling her heart skip a few beats in her chest without warning at the sudden contact. A sort of hollow feeling began to form in her chest though, a feeling of misery as she felt Kassia’s aching solitude ring through her body. Evande knew she wasn’t alone, yet, she had never once felt this isolated from the world, even with Nikolas right next to her, she felt like she were entirely by herself. Just as Kassia felt for the entirety of her unhappy life.

"Ryu always says pretty ladies shouldn't cry." she heard Nikolas speak, a tinge of what sounded like shame in his voice, ”He's right, but I just wish he'd make it sound more normal, like 'A lady should always be comforted when crying', but when I said this to him, he told me to go back to the Meiji Era." A strange nostalgia hit her right in the heart when he spoke like that, there was familiarity in her soul that didn’t seem the same as what she had in her already when around Nikolas. It felt like it was coming from somewhere else in her than the unnatural source that bore their connections as alters. Perhaps Kassia. . . .

Evande sort of crinkled her nose up in confusion at this, eyes going downcast, her expression easily being able to be mistaken for one of returning sorrow. Everything has become obscure, I don’t understand these things, Kassia’s memories are leaving me but as a bewildered woman. she thought, trying to understand it as her past life slowly began to become clearer to her.

"Evande...?" she felt Nikolas poke her arm. She let out a surprised noise upon hearing her name; at least from him, in the time they had known each other, he had not actually used her name. A look of uncertainty, Evande turned to face him, arms off the kotatsu while Nikolas’ blanket remained around her shoulders. Though she still couldn’t see well, the pink-haired woman did her best to look at her alter. "This... this is just a guess, but did you have a dream about a past life?" he asked, hitting the nail on the head with his very first guess as to what was wrong with her, what had gotten her so very distressed.

Still unable to properly speak up, Evande merely nodded to him, confirming his guess. Kassia’s memories were still affecting her ability to form words and to think as she should have been, only instances allowing her to form coherent thoughts. The ache of aloneness still was gnawing away at her bones, making her feel as if she could break into tears again.

"Cause you know, the living usual have dreams about their past lives, if they have any." Nikolas continued. Evande was able to hear fatigue in his voice still, and how she regretted having woke him up with her crazy sobbing, all of it done over something that had happened so long ago, in life that had since ended. Though, the power it held rang strongly into the present, that was for certain. . . .

Because she could not see well in the dim lighting and without her glasses, Evande didn’t know Nikolas had lolled forward in his seemingly exhausted state until she felt the boy’s weight against herself, his head coming to rest on her right shoulder. At the suddenness of the weight, the otaku let out a gasp of surprise, feeling herself nearly tumble backward before her back tensed up, spine strengthening itself enough to provide support for the woman and her alter’s dead weighted upper half that had fallen upon her. The grip Kassia’s memories had upon her broke for the moment as shock overtook her, as she tried to understand the fact that Nikolas was now more or less . . . laying on her. She felt her cheeks flush red, as she moved just her eyes to look at her other self’s head without a word, heart aflutter in her chest as embarrassment began to consume her.

First off, she became embarrassed because she had a guy sort of laying on her, and second . . . well, part of Evande’s mind jumped to a place she didn’t want it to go to as the situation was awkward and Nikolas seemed sort of out of it. To say all that needs to be said, it involved a memory from the lifetime where Ryu had kidnapped Nikolas and sort of forced him into being his lover. The fact Nikolas seemed out of it and disoriented reminded her of the fact that . . . he had been the uke in that lifetime and made her go rather red in the face as she did her very best to shove the memories back down where they belonged. Now was so not the time for her to be thinking about that sort of stuff, whether she was apparently a closet pervert or not! Plus, I do not need to have a nosebleed!

Mortification still grasped at her as she heard Nikolas try to say something, albeit failing rather badly. All he seemed to be able to manage out were but stutters, perhaps he was embarrassed as well, or just so tired he couldn’t think straight. The reason didn’t matter as Nikolas sat himself up rather hurriedly, and Evande blinked. By some miracle, her vision became clear enough for the moment to see her alter almost falling over backward, obviously not feeling well enough to even keep himself sitting up on his own. “Nikolas!” she cried, voice sounding almost strained, like she were trying to keep it quiet.

Face still red with embarrassment, the otaku leaned forward quickly, and latched onto Nikolas’ shirt with both of her hands, pulling him forward with a bit of a grunt, she was really not strong enough to be doing this. . . . An anxious look upon her face, she found herself having moved forward a bit before sitting on the floor again, this time having seated herself upon her legs, as she managed to get Nikolas’ weigh momentum to tip in her favor, so she wasn’t straining herself in trying to keep him from going backward. He must still be very tired. . . . she thought as she let out a breath, wrapping one of her arms around his back, holding onto him as she let his head again rest against her right shoulder. A shiver of embarrassment ran through Evande as her face went red again, how awkward this was. But, she didn’t know what else she could have done, she wasn’t strong enough to lower him to the ground without either falling on him or letting him hit his head. . . .

As fast as it had happened, Evande’s vision went back to being blurry as it had before while she felt her heart pounding away harshly in her chest. She shook a bit with embarrassment, yet did her best to continue supporting herself and Nikolas, keeping the both of them sitting upright. And, she found herself biting at her lower lip a bit, while this situation was rather flustering for her; it felt . . . okay. That sense of nostalgia she had experienced with Kassia’s memories and him earlier came flooding back, along with the aching solitude, the pain of being so alone for so long. . . . Her eyes shut with a slight whimper, and she felt tears rimming them again.

Heart pounding in her chest, Evande felt both awkward, and as if she needed to have someone this physically close to her for the moment, it almost felt like if she didn’t have Nikolas this close to her, he’d either fade away or she would perish from Kassia’s inflicted loneliness. Hearing blood pounding in her ears, Evande trembled again as she moved the hand that was still latching onto her alter’s shirt and gently set it upon the side of his face, not moving it at all as she simply left her hand there, barely even pressing it into his flesh.

Nostalgia flooded her senses, and she whimpered quietly, clutching onto Nikolas tighter with the arm she had around his back, gripping onto his green shirt. It . . . felt like Kassia’s last moments with Nori, something was telling her to hold onto Nikolas as tightly as she could, or else she would lose him, and though she didn’t completely comprehend what she felt. Evande did just that, moving the hand she had placed against his face, and using it to cradle his head against her shoulder as a cold chill set in upon her at the notion of him vanishing. She didn’t want that! “I don’t want you to leave. . . .” she lamented, not knowing if Nikolas was even awake.

Again, tears pricked her eyes and she frowned through her embarrassment, entirely channelling Kassia’s pain as she shut her eyes. “I can’t stand being left alone again,” she murmured, warm tears trickling down her flushed cheeks, “Please, Nikolas, stay with me. . . .” Evande pleaded quietly, her tears falling onto her alter’s face.

☼☼☼☼☼

Kiku was not entirely unconscious as Ryu placed her upon his back after she had nearly collapsed to the ground, the truth was that she had become so weak that her body could no longer support itself, nor could she speak. She was very much awake and aware, just unable to relay that to anyone at all. Her face was flush with fever, and she felt terrible . . . like she needed to sleep, but couldn’t. She could feel Ryu’s strides as he walked, she didn’t know where he was going, but could only assume he was taking her home like anyone would.

This gave her time to think a bit, time to consider what was happening to her now. . . . In the last few days, her life had been flipped upside down, first off she had thought she had imagined the love of her life who turned out to be one of her new neighbours. He enjoyed teasing her excessively, and then she remembered back to last night, when she had first met and questioned him about matters pertaining to the weird things she had caught Nikolas saying after diagnosing Evande with a concussion. How she had acted so horribly to him. . . . Yeah, even Kiku had a consciousness when it came to how she acted if the person mattered enough to her.

How she regarding Evande and Nikolas mattered very little to her, but the fact was that she had been terrible to Ryu when she didn’t realize who he was. . . . I-I always claimed that he was the most important person to me, that he was the guy I loved, yet when he came back into my life, I didn’t even remotely realize who he was beyond a sense of familiarity. she admitted to herself, ashamed.

She had been so mean to him and yet, he still treated her like he had when they were kids, when she had known him before their promise. Teasing her, but doing so in a loving sort of way, in a way that made Kiku not feel so alone. It was playful teasing, silly little antics to get at her, but to remind her that she wasn’t alone. It always made her feel better, happier. I owe him an apology. she sighed quietly as Ryu continued to walk; her body was limp against his. She thought back to the times they spent together as kids, the fun they had, yet she still didn’t understand the whole meaning behind him being her ‘alter’ or ‘second personality.’ She just knew that he was the boy she knew as a child.

As a rush of warm-ish air hit Kiku, she tensed up and realized they were back at the apartment building, heading up the stairs. She felt Ryu adjusting his hold on her as he moved one of his hands away from her. It was kind of quiet, but Kiku heard him knock on a door. Groaning a bit, and shuddering as her body adjusted to the temperature in the hallway, Kiku let out a tiny moan as she sort of pressed herself against Ryu’s back, opening her eyes weakly.

There was no answer from the apartment, no noise, or anything. . . . The door probably wasn’t unlocked, so it made sense for him to knock with her on his back. Yet, after a minute of silence, Kiku moved again, and opened her mouth to try and speak, “M-My apartment . . . left, th-the door unlocked.” She said softly, shaking a bit. “Always leave it-it unlocked. . . .”

Nikolas' eyes opened slowly, butterflies in his stomach. His blinks were long a drawn out as he glanced around the unfamiliar room. Where am I anyw- Oh, yeah. The things in the room became familiar, the small TV, the cheap laptop, the kitchen. He shivered, but when he did, he felt his body was being held tightly to whoever he was up against, which was a bad idea when Nikolas was this tired. He tended to be overly... clingy. And that person seemed to be holding his face.

“I don’t want you to leave. . . .” Nikolas finally realised who the girl was, but couldn't do anything in his tired state. “I can’t stand being left alone again,” Evande said quietly, and Nikolas' hand touched his face as he felt tears. But after a second, he realised they definitely weren't his, but instead, they were his alter's. “Please, Nikolas, stay with me. . . .” Nikolas looked up at her as she cried, a thought striking his mind. Had he done this to her? Would it have been better if he'd never talked to her for the first time two days ago? Nikolas thought this a lot recently, but he'd always felt that knowing Evande was just... right.

His clingy trait was almost completely taking over as he snuggled into Evande's shoulder, wrapping his arms round her. I should stop soon, but she's so warm~! he thought, feeling a sort of aching feeling every time he looked up to see his alter crying. It wasn't the fact that she was his alter, it was just the fact that even in two days he felt closer to her than anyone, though she was maybe on the same level as Ryu; so he didn't like seeing her cry. He had a sort of dazed look on his face when he looked at her, like he was in a daydream, and he wondered if the past two days had been real or if he'd finally gone crazy. It could have easily been the latter.

"Don't cry." he said, rather sweetly, cuddling up closer so his forehead was touching her neck. "I don't want you to cry. I'm not leaving, so don't cry." He went back to what happened earlier. She had nodded when he'd taken a guess at what she'd dreamt of. So it was one of her past lives that put her in this state? Which could it be? Nikolas patted her back with his hand sleepily, but he felt like he'd slept enough for the day, and his headache was slightly clearing, but the clinginess stayed. He was like a small child or a lost puppy cuddling up to the closest thing he knew, which right now was Evande.

His body felt limp as he was practically laying on the woman, his arms wrapped round her. There wasn't really much going through his mind at the moment, apart from the fact he felt kinda cold and Evande was nice and warm. What had happened after it went dark anyways? It felt like he'd closed his eyes for five minutes, but it could have been longer than that. He didn't mind waking up to being held, but he obviously wasn't being held so tightly out of necessity, but judging by what Evande was stressing over, he was being held to... stay there? Nikolas didn't really understand how he could disappear all of a sudden, but there was nothing he could do. The blonde yawned slightly, being crawled on by a certain cat.

"Hey girl." Nikolas mumbled as the cat sat herself on Evande. "Am I too cold for you or something?" The cat fell asleep almost instantly and Nikolas looked up at Evande, the weird sort of adoration in his eyes that there always was when he was half asleep. "D'you mind telling me what your dream was about? If you do, then fair enough. But I already know most of your lifetimes, apart from the ones where I was still in shock from stuff." Nikolas' eyes drifted up to his own hair. "It needs cutting. It's getting really long." The boy mimicked a voice that sounded neither like his or Ryu's, and then let out a sight 'Tsk!'.

It is growing out though. When he's tired, his thoughts tend to drift and therefore went from his alter's source of sadness to his own hair, and now to the fact that he needed to clean his room. Obviously, he could do that at another time, maybe tomorrow or tonight. Nikolas remembered his question and looked up to stare at Evande, smiling a bit. "Not leaving."

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

Ryu was starting to get worried as he only heard the two inside speaking softly and the door was not being answered. He adjusted Kiku on his back and rooted for his keys, but he couldn't work out which pocket he'd put them in. He sighed deeply, knocking again, but Kiku spoke up. “M-My apartment . . . left, th-the door unlocked.” Ryu turned his head slightly so he could actually see the girl; this was the second time in one day he had to carry her home. “Always leave it-it unlocked. . . .”

"Keys weren't invented for nothing, y'know." Ryu told her, feeling her shaking on his back. He was slightly surprised that she was actually awake, but he didn't really let it show. It wasn't exactly breaking news. His eyes drifted over to her apartment, and seeing no other option, he made his way for the door. Sure enough, it was unlocked. Ryu looked around her room, like he had earlier and walked the exact route he had earlier, setting her down in bed. "Kiku, is there anything you need?" he asked softly, touching her forehead with his hand. Definite fever. He had a bit of an idea. "Wait here."

Ryu left Kiku's apartment and stood in front of his own, searching himself up and down. They were in his back pockets; his keys. He opened the door quietly, making sure not to make any noise, even making his presence almost impossible to feel. But he saw the gleam from Nikolas' eyes move, he was looking in his direction. Ryu sort of glided away and went in the room to get what he wanted, and the ingredients for soup. He winked at Nikolas, but there was not growl a or shout in response, even though it had been acknowledged. Ryu shrugged and left, suspicious. He re-entered Kiku's apartment and set down the ingredients.

"Hey, Kiku, I brought my guitar! Remember when you used to sing for me when I played my guitar?" Ryu laughed a bit, setting himself down and trying out the strings, before playing the opening to a song. He sang along to the words quietly, maybe playing a few of the notes wrong. He stopped singing but continued playing after a while. "You hungry? I'm gonna make soup. It's like this type that the Japanese military used to eat years ago to replenish strength."

Maybe it was foolish to allow herself to become so very overwhelmed by memories of a life long since passed, maybe it was. Yet still, the things that she recalled, that all-consuming isolation Kassia had felt. . . . In her whole nineteen years, Evande had never felt anything quite like that, nothing so very miserable, though she could connect quite well to the pain, it was easy when you had endured six years of remoteness from the world yourself. Though a mere six years was, it was nothing compared to a lifetime of it. . . . But then, Kassia’s life was hers, wasn’t it? All of the memories locked in her skull were technically hers, right? They were the recollections of a life that ended decades ago, but, they were still hers.

Everything from Kassia’s life was laced with strong emotions, sentiments and feelings that simply overtook the woman’s better sense, even cutting through the embarrassment she felt at . . . practically clinging onto her alter. And, considering that embarrassment was something that normally completely overpowered Evande, that was saying something about the power held in the things she remembered.

She remained as she had been, using one of her hands to cradle Nikolas’ head to her shoulder, the other gripping onto his shirt tightly, tears still falling down her cheeks from the sense that she was going to be all alone once more. Her brown eyes had shut while a simple expression of downheartedness remained upon her face, her heartbeat had quelled, yet the feeling of anxiety remained within. However, when Nikolas began to stir, sort of nuzzling her shoulder with his head while wrapping his arms around her middle, her eyes opened with slight shock, heart jumping to her throat. He was awake, and he was going to be all right it seemed.

That alone was enough to begin peeling away at the hold Kassia’s memories had on her existence; the feeling of relief awoke in Evande, as the fear of him vanishing had lessened with the memories of Nori’s demise, of being left alone. As Evande’s better senses began to return to her, her awareness purified of the taint brought by the recollections of a past life, a rather dazed look overtook the otaku’s face. ”Don’t cry.” she heard Nikolas say.

Cry? she questioned, the sensation of warm tears trickling down her face registered in her mind. Her first coherent thought, I’m . . . crying. A dull ache formed in the depths of her stomach as she realized that, part of her felt sort of numb though, as if nothing was really being made clear in that confused head of hers. When Nikolas’ forehead pressed against the side of her neck though, Evande snapped out of this dazed state as what she was doing, what had happened came back to her.

The woman’s face flushed a more apparent shade of red as she realized . . . she was holding onto Nikolas, "I don't want you to cry. I'm not leaving, so don't cry." And, he was holding onto her. She felt him pat her back, trying to comfort her as he still thought that she was upset by Kassia’s memories.

Really though, at this point, Evande was more simply mortified at herself, sure, she had hugged Nikolas earlier that day, but that was to comfort him after he had told her the morbid reality of one of his past lives. This time around, she’d . . . she’d latched onto him herself without proper reason. Even haunted by pain, Evande couldn’t completely believe that she had gone and actually. . . . She found herself shaking with embarrassment, unable to form any thoughts beyond ones that reprimanded herself for letting this happen. Nikolas was her second self, as she was to him, but he was still an existence separate from her, and what had Evande gone and done? Gotten super clingy to him when she barely knew anything regarding his past or life.

Two days ago, Evande started thinking, Just two days ago I could not have been in a situation that was more opposite of this. The tears had ceased falling at this point, and she did not move to try to stop holding onto Nikolas. Everything’s flipped over hasn’t it? I mean, I’m clinging onto someone; a guy no less! Even if I’ve got some abnormal connection to him, I’m still. . . . Really, the situation was a bit on the funny side, like ironic funny, when you looked at it from the way Evande was. She was suppose to be an anti-social otaku, someone who did not want anything to do with anyone at all, preferring fictional things to reality. As she had been for the last six years, she should have been immersed in a manga or something, lost in roleplaying, or reading fanfiction; playing a video game even-! And yet, where was she? In the apartment of a guy who was apparently suppose to be another part of her, with him more or less lying on her.

This was so not how things were suppose to be going for her this weekend. She was suppose to just come home, feed Kiseki and then go about doing her usual routine of manga, anime, games and Internet life. . . . Stay inside for three days, and then go back to her workweek with the pigs at her job.

That was suppose to be her life, she was never ever going to wind up in a situation like this. At least, that’s what I always told myself. she sighed softly as Panda edge onto her lap. Evande had thought that if she avoided people, that she could avoid the problems they brought with them. Maybe she could have had a very peaceful life if she just stuck it out on her own, and didn’t try to make friends again. That was what she had desired, a simple life without problems.

Of course, Fate had seemingly decided that things were not going to be so straightforward for her. The things that happened in her manga, to her favorite characters, they weren’t not meant to happen to her, but they were. Evande was caught up in something she couldn’t explain, and in so far deep that there was no backing out of it now without someone getting hurt. Sure, honestly, the otaku wouldn’t have entirely minded going back to her ordinary life, manga and such, but . . . she couldn’t lock her heart up again, and keep herself so far from the world. If she went back to living like she had and shoved Nikolas out of her life now, forcibly cut the ties they now had, it would hurt. Even though it hadn’t even been a full two days, Evande knew she had formed a bond with her alter that went deeper than just their pre-established connections.

If she made an attempt to sever that connection, and return to her normality, that would mean returning to her ways of isolation. Not talking to people, to anyone, ignoring the weird, and being alone. Meaning, I would have to pretend Nikolas didn’t exist. she thought, shutting her eyes. Returning to her average life meant she would have to act like none of the last day or so had ever happened, And, I don’t think I could do that. Doing that, acting like none of his had occurred. . . . It wasn’t something Evande was capable of anymore. If it meant having to be alone again, and if it meant . . . possibly hurting Nikolas, Evande knew she couldn’t up and make her life go back to normal, not now.

The notion of being alone again caused the pain from Kassia’s memories to stir up a bit in her mind, and sent a dull ringing of protest through the otaku’s body, at which she found herself wincing against. I really can’t go back. Evande realized this, even though she had known for a while now that there was truly no turning back against this. . . . The whole weight of the situation finally was settling in upon her shoulders. It, it actually scared her to think about having to return to being alone again, to cut Nikolas from her life. With Kassia’s memories backing up her fears, Evande was truly unable to ever revert to her old ways again. Understanding this, Evande suddenly felt very heavy, she felt weak to the world. Vulnerable and ill equipped to face what lay ahead of her because there was more to worry about than herself now. She had someone she was going to hold concern for.

It felt like her heart had dropped into her stomach again as these sentiments fully surfaced within her; the feeling was a nervous one, scary, since she was so used to being on her own. But, being on her own was in the past, looking at where she was now, that much was obvious. If she were really, truly mortified of having Nikolas as close to her as he was . . . Evande would have made some motion to get him off her, and abruptly apologize for her actions instead of musing over the situation and her feelings while still clinging to the boy.

During all of her musings, Evande had missed Nikolas asking her about what had sent her into tears, and seeing if she wanted to talk about it . . . as well as him mimicking a voice she wouldn’t have known about his hair getting too long. She still couldn’t see greatly, her glasses were still on the kotatsu next to her, and everything looked rather fuzzy, which might not have been the worst thing in the world right now. Evande had a sinking feeling that if she could see correctly, she’d be completely overwhelmed by her embarrassment at being able to actually see Nikolas being so close to her. The otaku was unlucky with her eyesight; up close or far away, everything was out of focus, she was neither farsighted nor nearsighted. ”Not leaving.” Nikolas said, finally breaking Evande from her thoughts.

She jumped a bit, as she came back to reality. Her eyes went to him, face going stark red as she remembered the reality of her situation, yet she sighed softly and just let it go on by. . . . Evande was already sure that this was not the last time this would be happening to her, so she was going to have to get used to it or else risk having a permanently red face. While not a clingy person in any form, even when tired, the pink-haired woman wasn’t exactly a touch-me-not, but she still wasn’t all for being close constantly. Nikolas seemed to be rather like this at the moment though, maybe because he was half-asleep or something. Whatever . . . even if I’m not one who really likes much physical contact, normally, I don’t think this one time will do me in. she exhaled in slight defeat, moving the hand that had been cradling her alter’s head against her, and wrapping it back around his middle, holding onto him with both of her arms.

It was then she heard . . . something. The slight latching of a door; seemed Ryu was back, though it also seemed like he was trying to be really quiet. Evande acted as if she did not know the man had entered the domicile, and simply remained as she had been, quiet. She would not speak until she heard him leave; though it took a few minutes, Evande finally did hear the front door shut again, and with that she let out a breath, relaxing a bit.

Shutting her eyes, Evande tightened her arms around Nikolas a bit, and rested her forehead against his shoulder, a very small smile going unseen on her face as she began to speak, timidly. “I . . . suppose it’s sort of funny. What I’m doing right now, letting myself be this close to anyone, you’re a part of me, like you said, so you know what I mean, I guess.”

“I dreamt of a life where I was called ‘Kassia’ tonight, Nikolas.” She told him quietly, “And I felt everything she had. The pain of losing the one she loved, the isolation she put herself through after that. . . .” Sorrow began to lace her voice, “And I know something because of those things, I know that I can’t. . . .” Evande’s voice wavered as she found herself unable to finish.

Even if it seemed silly, Evande wasn’t able to finish relaying her realization to him as she was, not in her native tongue. Earlier, he had understood her speaking in Hymmnos, that ridiculous fictional language from the Ar tonelico manga. . . . ”Fou yant wa faf murfanare cietta na coall tou manafeeze how beng, Nikolas.” (Even though I am a little scared, I will tolerate this frightening feeling, because I cannot return to living like before, Nikolas.) she told him. “That would be selfish of me. Pretending like nothing had changed, and that I had never met you, that would be selfish . . . and even the idea of it scares me.”

☼☼☼☼☼

Kiku heard Ryu sort of chide her for leaving her door unlocked, yeah, keys were invented for the purpose of unlocking things. But, the tone in his voice made the tiny woman smile a bit as she shook, still feeling weak like before. The tone in his voice was sort of deadpan, obvious, but it still made her smile. He hadn’t changed much since they were kids, had he? Okay, so he now had a hair-color that would make a flower envious, but Ryu was still pretty similar to how she remembered him as kids when it came to her. If ever she did something that could get herself hurt, he would always give her a little lecture at times, or just talk to her with that same tone of voice for a while.

How could she have not realized that he was the boy from her past before? God, she was a fool wasn’t she? So wrapped up in her own thoughts that she had made herself build up a fairytale version of him in her head, expecting perfection when what she had in her memories wasn’t perfect, but something she looked upon fondly. Those memories had sustained her as she went about being alone, being the prissy little thing that drove her family to request she move away from home for the purpose of ‘gaining life experience.’ Though Kiku didn’t doubt that side of her would return again soon, even when around Ryu, it would be okay, wouldn’t it? That had always been a part of her, even when she was a young girl. It didn’t drive him off then, and he had treated her like he always had even when she regarded him with disgust because of his appearance.

I really need to apologize to him. . . . she reminded herself as she realized they had entered her apartment. The air always smelled of cinnamon or vanilla in there due to Kiku’s love of potpourri, it was a telltale sign you had entered her dwelling. The air was warm in her home, as it always was, and the familiarity the smell of the air had for her made her want to relax a bit. Though, she groaned a bit as Ryu moved her off his back and onto her bed due to some slight aches she was developing in her joints. Feeling the comfort of her bed beneath her, Kiku sighed and remained as she had been left, laying on her side limply. She remained in the outfit she had put together for the date she and Ryu were suppose to have gone on, face pale while her cheeks were red.

Quietly, the brunette opened her eyes when she felt his hand on her forehead again, checking her for a temperature. "Kiku, is there anything you need?" she heard him ask her, his voice quiet and serious, concerned within it. Hearing this, Kiku just gave him a weak smile, grateful for his treatment when she probably didn’t deserve it. ”Wait here.” he told her before suddenly leaving.

Honestly, at this Kiku let out a weak laugh that was quiet, smiling to herself as she coughed, Wait here? Oh Ryu, where would I be able to even go in this state?

The tsundere didn’t move as she waited quietly, letting her body sort of sink into her too-soft mattress as she did her best to relax, taking in measured breaths as she ruminated again. Where was her life going now? She had joked around with Ryu earlier, made a comment that had an obvious second meaning to it, causing him to just go beet red in the face. It startled the man, hearing her say something like that, almost keeping him from any rebuttal. Kiku had noted that it had taken him more than just a few moments to respond with his comment about them going on a date. Sure, she was positive that was suppose to fluster her and make her just as embarrassed as she had gotten him . . . but he had at least seemed serious enough about it when they had actually tried to leave.

What was that suppose to mean? Did he still care for her like . . . that? Maybe he did. It wasn’t like Kiku wouldn’t have minded that, even if she herself was not in any way in love with Ryu . . . she wouldn’t have minded if he still cared about her like that, it might have been nice. Obviously, she still cared for him herself. Regardless, where is all of this suppose to lead? she asked herself, deep red eyes shut to the world. He’s come back into my life now, but, but where is my life going to go now?

Before she could think anymore, she heard her front door open again, and something being set down in her ‘kitchen,’ which was just a part of the entranceway, the appliances all lined up against the wall next to the front door. Upon hearing him return, Kiku forced her eyes open and moved them to see the violet-haired boy coming back into her room with a smile on his face, carrying something with him. "Hey, Kiku, I brought my guitar! Remember when you used to sing for me when I played my guitar?" he asked her, laughing a bit. Hearing him say that, reminding her of their old antics, of her terrible singing as a child, Kiku smiled a bit and laughed before shaking with a small cough. She used to love singing, though she had been really bad at it.

Exhaling softly, she heard Ryu testing the strings on his guitar, making sure everything was tuned properly so whatever he was going to play wouldn’t sound completely butchered. Kiku watched him with a nostalgic smile, and listened to him play a tune she wasn’t familiar with, singing part of the song. He wasn’t a great singer, just like her, and Kiku was sure he had gotten a few of the chords wrong, but the gesture was more than appreciated, it was very sweet. And sort of old-school, and a little cliché of him. . . . But Kiku kind of liked that.

After a little while, he stopped playing before he spoke again. ”You hungry? I'm gonna make soup. It's like this type that the Japanese military used to eat years ago to replenish strength."

Kiku coughed some again as she tried to muster up some strength to speak, “I-I could eat. . . .” she said timidly, voice weak and slightly hoarse. “Th-Thank you, for what you’re doing. . . . And I mean everything here, not just offering me something to eat.”

It was almost impossible to comprehend that girl, even for her alter. Nikolas sat in total confusion as he thought carefully about things. He was currently hugging a girl, she was hugging him back. That alone made him go some weird type of cross between red and pink. There wasn't much going on, but Nikolas was edging closer to hyper and further away from clingy, so the fact he was hugging her was strange in itself. This could be a dream.

Maybe I'm finally going crazy. Nikolas thought miserably. There had been a million times where he'd thought that during the last two days, and more recently in the last hour, but the thought still hit him like a dagger. It would really be weird if he'd thought it all up, but it was strange meeting Evande. He always had the opportunity, when she was a child, but what would he say? Just cheer her up? She was fine in her childhood; it was in high school that her friends ditched her due to jealousy.

The boy didn't understand how she was about the only one who could drag him away from his thoughts, apart from when Ryu got indescribably close for no apparent reason, but it seemed to happen anyway. “I . . . suppose it’s sort of funny. What I’m doing right now, letting myself be this close to anyone, you’re a part of me, like you said, so you know what I mean, I guess.” Nikolas shrugged. He was another part of her, but he really couldn't understand why she was so close either. It wasn't bad though.

Evande seemed to know a lot more on the matter than Nikolas, though he didn't even know how that was possible, since he was the one with most of the memories. But maybe she was just better at getting used to situations. “I dreamt of a life where I was called ‘Kassia’ tonight, Nikolas.” Nikolas looked at her in shock. K-Kassia...?“And I felt everything she had. The pain of losing the one she loved, the isolation she put herself through after that. . . .” Her voice had a strange emotion that Nikolas didn't understand, but he was busy racking his brain for answers. "And I know something because of those things, I know that I can’t. . . .” Evande’s voice wavered and Nikolas pulled away, staring her straight in the eyes.

Would she be able to finish? Who was Kassia again? Nikolas was panicking. Sure, his memory wasn't great, but since even before the Blaze problem, he'd forget things after trauma. He'd just start forgetting who he was, and if he was an alter at the time, what his previous lives were like. After the problem with Blaze, it took ages for him to recover. Ryu was always worried that if something happened, he'd just go into a 'forgetting phase', since that was his way of dealing with things.

Even if he didn't want to. Mostly, he didn't want to. The boy was panicking, his breath quickened as he started to shiver, not even catching what Evande was saying. Well, he heard her, he understood her, but it just wasn't processing in her mind. "Kassia, Kassia, Kassia. . ." he kept muttering, under his breath. It didn't seem to help; no person called Kassia was in his memories.

“That would be selfish of me. Pretending like nothing had changed, and that I had never met you, that would be selfish . . . and even the idea of it scares me.” Evande said and Nikolas suddenly remembered, sighing. He let his body fully relax on Evande as he calmed down, not worrying anymore.

"Kassia... and Nori, right?" Nikolas needed to confirm he was right; if he wasn't, there'd be serious trouble. Ah, I'm meant to offer upset people a drink or something, right? He stood up, finding his headache was almost completely gone, and he rejoiced, punching his fist in the air victoriously. "I can beat any headache!" he said, a grin forming. He had to look around the place before he finally realised what he was going to do in the first place. Tea! Or hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is better. Did Ryu even buy that? The childlike boy made his way to the kitchen area. I have to come up with a name for this place. It's not a kitchen, but it's not just. . . nothing.

Flicking the kettle, his mind wandered back to earlier. Why had it taken so long for him to remember who Kassia was. Sure, it was long ago, but one thing Nikolas was good at remembering had to be names. He sighed, noticing that without the kotatsu, their apartment had no heating at all whatsoever. It was to be turned on within the next week, but the night before had been freezing. Maybe, since Evande was remembering things, Nikolas was partially forgetting them...? That would be really aggravating. Nikolas looked at the kettle with a frown, jumping as it suddenly clicked, telling him the water was done; hot chocolate shall be served. Wait. Hot chocolate is made with milk. Nikolas face palmed, feeling a bump on his forehead.

Man, I feel even dumber now. Nikolas got the tea bags. "Hey, Evande, are you okay with normal tea?" The male-tsundere searched through the random teas Ryu seemed to have bought, shaking his head and trying to find the one he'd just offered in the madness. There were tea biscuits there, and he took them down from the cupboard, getting a tea pot out. Nikolas stared at it for a while. Why the heck is this here? he sighed, looking at the teapot. There were these strange swirly designs, green, orange and yellow on a white background. It didn't look professional at all; it looked like the works of a small child. A small smile came across his face as he smiled. Nikolas poured the tea into there, putting milk in a small pourer, carrying sugar, cups and spoons too. Obviously, it was a recipe for disaster, but Nikolas was way to oblivious to notice.

He tripped on something, and the boiling hot water spilled all over his feet. Nikolas looked in surprise, before looking back to Evande. "Sorry, did I spill some on you?" he laughed, pulling off his socks. Sure, he could still feel the burning heat, but for some reason, he didn't think of taking care of it. Instead, the boy just sighed. It seemed against his fate to have tea today. Sighing, Nikolas placed the remaining tea on the table, grinning a bit. There was about enough for two people, so all was fine. Right?

Nikolas smiled as he poured the tea into both their cups, tilting his head. "Umm, how d'you like your tea?"

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

Ryu sighed. Maybe life was really this simple this time. Or maybe the gods were too busy plotting something to be bothered to mess up their lives or whatever they do up there. Then again, he didn't have to bother with that unless something turned up, right? The boy shrugged to himself; what else was there to do? Go up and confront them? No, that was impossible. The only way you can talk to them is if they call you, and usually, you're asleep when that happens. There was nothing to do on the matter.

Kiku coughed again and the boy was brought back from Planet Ryu, a faraway look on his face. “I-I could eat. . . .” Ryu shrugged. Even if she said she didn't want to eat, he'd just annoy her until she gave in. It'd known that ill people have to eat healthy food. Maybe he should make some of that lemon and honey drink? No, they had neither in his apartment and Ryu didn't want to intrude. “Th-Thank you, for what you’re doing. . . . And I mean everything here, not just offering me something to eat.” Was Kiku Kurosawa being timid?

"Y-y-you don't have to thank me!" he stuttered, leaving the room in a huff. His face was stark red from embarrassment. Ryu frowned as he walked over to the 'kitchen' and put the food at the side, getting the pot he needed. He turned the fire on, after realising it was literally the same functions as his own, and put the vegetables in. What did he need to do again? He needed to chop up the herbs he'd brought along, but that could be done quite quickly. Ryu finally felt his face cool down as he chopped the herbs to death, almost turning them into dust. He frowned, chucking them in. Why was she the only one who could get under his skin?

Not fair. He was almost done, the soup was at a good consistency, just a bit longer. Should he add in meat. . .? No, that would be hard to chew and swallow. He needed something easy to eat, and he'd chosen soup; the most obvious choice of all. He found a bowl and poured it in, bringing in back to Kiku with a spoon. He'd let it cool, so it wasn't hot or anything and he looked at her. "Kiku~? I brought you food!" Ryu said in a hushed voice. Sometimes (rarely) Ryu could be quiet and the world would rejoice, and this was one of those times. "I'll stay here while you eat it, but you seriously have to get some sleep, so I'm leaving after that, okay?"

Ryu sat on the end of her bed, smiling. He then looked away, a small sigh escaping. "What am I going to do with you, Kiku Kurosawa...?"

He was nervous, tense and apprehensive as she had spoken. And no, she couldn’t tell this simply because she was an expert on reading people . . . Evande could tell Nikolas’ unease because she was half-clinging onto the boy, he had been a bit tense when she mentioned Kassia’s very name. Perhaps he had not remembered that particular lifetime or something, well, that did seem a possibility. When the otaku heard her other self sigh though, in relief, and let himself rest against her again, she knew that he could recall the lifetime, though it seemed he had some difficulty. It would have been okay had he not remembered, all Evande wanted was to just . . . talk. It was enough to just to have him listen, even if she were iffy and nervous on spilling her guts about how she was feeling, about the fact she was scared to even think about going back to living as she had before.

Even saying it to him, to Nikolas, admitting what she knew mentally, in a vocal manner was frightening. She had kept herself alone for the last six years, and even with the dull pain still resonating throughout her body from Kassia’s memories. . . . Suddenly going around and saying that she could no longer live upon her own terms, and without regard to others was not something that totally sat well within the woman’s heart. She had spent a little less than a third of her own life living by her own means, by her own choices, without having to worry about others. . . . Shifting her life so quickly, it was almost a numbing experience. At the same time though, it felt like . . . a good one, it felt like something she needed to do. Scary or not, it felt like it was just . . . just right.

All of this, everything that was happening to her, it was still strange as hell . . . everything was so weird! Nikolas’ existence, him being some other part of her, and herself being some part of him. . . . The fact that she was so quickly okay with latching onto a life with others in it; it really was just bizarre. Given the fact that Evande had always said she just wanted a peaceful life alone, nothing troublesome in it . . . it really was strange. “You’re right.” She said to him quietly, removing her arms from around her alter before he suddenly stood to his feet.

Evande still couldn’t see anything, her glasses remained off for the moment, but she knew she was still blushing from hugging her alter. . . . .whether he was her ‘other self’ or not, someone who was suppose to be a part of her, Nikolas was still a guy, and he was living separately of her at the moment. The fact was, even if hugging him should have been a little bit like hugging herself, the fact that he was a split existence from her was enough to make Evande go red in the face. She didn’t know what embracing him qualified as . . . she just knew it was flustering. Did it sort of qualify as hugging yourself? Or was it on the same level as holding onto another person. . . ? She heard him cheer on about being able to beat any headache, but her face remained red as she lost herself in her own thoughts, Panda still sleeping on her warm lap.

The hold Kassia’s memories had on her was almost fully gone, the pain nearly receded back into the recesses of her mind . . . the recollections of a life long since over falling into line in Evande’s mind, becoming as natural feeling as everything from her own nineteen years. As this happened though, Evande found herself drawn back into thinking as her normal self. Totally mortified of her actions, of the fact she had clung onto Nikolas in such a desperate manner . . . the fact she had allowed memories of a dead person to get the better of her!

While Nikolas wandered off to go make something in the kitchen, Evande let her neck droop down some, casting her eyes to the floor she could not see, bangs covering said eyes. She thought about everything, rapidly going over every aspect of her quickly changing life. This was somewhere her mind had wandered several times in the last day, thinking over the fact that her life had totally transformed into something which could not be reverted into what it was before, the fact that she was actually feeling okay about it all! Why? Why was it she was so quickly able to be contented with that. . . ? That wasn’t normal; a normal person wouldn’t be so calm about rapid change. But, I’m not normal am I? she questioned, a tiny flicker of an ironic smile happening upon her face as a shiver went up her spine. It was chilly.

Nikolas’ blanket was still around her shoulders, and it was keeping her back warm enough, but her legs and arms were cold. Her alter’s apartment didn’t have its heat turned on yet, did it?

All of this was so . . . not normal! Not right! She shouldn’t have been okay with this, she shouldn’t have believed so easily that Nikolas was really a missing part of her, no. Evande should have thought that he was either crazy, or that she herself had gone insane. But, no . . . she was comfortable, hours after hearing this information, she was comfortable with it. Questioning, sure, but secure. Despite everything in her life, all that she had turned her existence into, Evande Sterling found herself happy with the prospect of what a not so ordinary future held for her. Even if it was uncertain, and it wasn’t something she could control herself . . . the idea of it was not so scary, simply because she might not be alone anymore.

As she had said, pretending that everything she had gone through in the last two days, never having met Nikolas, trying to return to a normal life, that would be selfish of her to do. And, it was not something of which she was capable anyway. The idea of having to always be alone wasn’t a thought Evande found herself liking, at all. The mere prospect, it sounded unpleasant and the otaku felt like she wanted no part of it again. The reason she was latching onto the idea of what lay ahead of her now so easily, maybe it really as because she had actually been really lonely these last years. Even if she swore she wanted nothing to do with people, maybe inside she really was in pain from being isolated . . . and when she had her guard down, she was liable to attaching to most anyone she felt she could trust like this.

The pink-haired woman sat as she had quietly, her eyes shut while there was an ironic smile on her face, one that just revealed her thoughts regarding the current situation. Yes, she was still embarrassed at herself for clinging onto Nikolas as she had, but she was also fairly content. Completely comfortable in her current state of existence, and positive of her alter’s presence. That meaning, she still found herself feeling like both Nikolas and herself were suppose to be existing as they were now, both alive at once instead of one of them being locked away as someone who only awoke under certain circumstances. I . . . still don’t know the reason he’s here do I? Evande realized, opening her eyes as her face took on a blank expression. Nikolas never told me what happened to change something that has been the same for countless lifetimes.

With this thought in mind, Evande sat herself straight back up, and reach her hand out to feel for her glasses on the kotatsu. Why . . . why was Nikolas here now? Never mind Kassia and Nori. she thought, finally finding her glasses, I think the reason for him actually being here now is more important. Unfolding the metal frame of her spectacles, Evande slid them back onto her face where they belonged; everything before her becoming clear again.

"Hey, Evande, are you okay with normal tea?" Nikolas called to her from the kitchen area. At hearing her name, the otaku turned her head in the direction of his voice and blinked. He was making tea?

Shrugging uncertainly, she simply replied, “Yeah, it’s fine.” In her nineteen years, she had never been much of a tea drinker, but it would be rude to decline tea when it was already being made. Not that tea was the most pressing of issues at the moment. . . . Other things were more important than a hot drink. So . . . how was she going to bring this up? How would she even ask him about that? Sheesh Evande, it’s not like this is as awkward a topic as . . . o-other matters. she told herself, face going stark red as she thought about what the last bit of her chiding meant. Evande physically cringed up in embarrassment as she thought back to what fragments of Nikolas’ life she had recalled that afternoon. From tears to morbid embarrassment in fewer than twenty something minutes, was that a record?

Evande simply found herself sighing in a rather forlorn manner, shutting her eyes. I called myself a pervert earlier, but now, I’m not really sure that’s t-the case. . . . Groaning rather quietly, Evande brought a hand up and placed it upon her forehead, her face went redder though as she was plagued by several instances of the H-rated memories. Evande’s form tensed up at this as she was forced to see things she really, REALLY wished she didn’t have to. I swear, I will NEVER pick up another yaoi manga as long as I live! she mentally swore.

Matters that are more serious were more or less forgotten as Evande was rather consumed by her mortification and embarrassment, while she was not one to normally dwell on matters, embarrassment was something that often got to her, and stuck to her. Seriously, the poor woman was learning things regarding her alter that she did NOT need to know! Damn all that is holy, I don’t need to know these things!! Geez, someone really loved to torment her, didn’t they? Of all the things for her to remember first . . . it had to be something that actually had induced a nosebleed upon her earlier. If these memories did anything to Evande, other than embarrass her and sort of make it hard for her to look at Nikolas, it was the fact that they sort made her feel rather hostile toward Ryu.

There were enough memories of THAT lifetime for Evande to know the circumstances . . . surrounding the whole matter. What Ryu did, kidnapping Nikolas, then. . . . Did anymore have to be said there? The violet-haired man was the cause of every embarrassing H-rated memory Evande now found herself with. Everything there was caused by him. How could she not feel bitter about that? Yeesh, I wonder if Kiku will remember that lifetime from Ryu’s perspective. she thought, feeling a laugh happen up through her. Evande could only imagine the small woman’s reaction to that, and if it would be as bad as what she herself had undergone that day, with the nosebleed and stuff. At least I’m not spontaneously bleeding now. . . .

Letting her hand drop from her forehead, Evande looked back up with an exhale. Should she confess the fact that she knew about . . . that lifetime with Ryu and stuff to Nikolas? The memories were his, not hers, after all. Quietly, the otaku brought her gaze to the blonde who was still tinkering about in the kitchen. Considering the circumstances about the memories, them not being hers . . . it would probably be the right thing to do, telling him that she knew. Thinking this though, Evande found herself wanting to curl up into a ball and not; doing so would be so awkward!

Trying to tell him that she knew that he was a freaking uke would undoubtedly be the most uncomfortable way to begin a conversation in her memory. Of course it would be! How the hell would anyone start that discussion with their alter? It’s not like I can just go, ‘Hey Nikolas, guess what! I know that you’re an uke! Want to know how? I have the memories of your life where you were Ryu’s lover!’ No, I cannot do that.

Shaking her head, the otaku sighed and planted her palm to her face. She would have to bring that topic up later, now was not the time to mention it to Nikolas. When she found her head suddenly soaked with something rather hot, Evande nearly shot up to her feet with a yelp, scaring Panda enough to get the poor kitten to scramble off her lap. She remained sitting though looking up with wide eyes, shocked back to reality. "Sorry, did I spill some on you?" she heard Nikolas laugh, Evande only responding to her alter’s question by staring with her eyes wide.

Her thoughts could not have been more opposite of what they were when he had gotten up, or in a place more different. She had gone from melancholy, and serious about how she could not go back to living on her own, to the H-rated memories in her head, and whether or not she should bring them up.

Even shocked though, Evande made her final choice regarding the matter upon hearing the blonde boy laugh after spilling hot water on her and himself, she wasn’t going to bring it up right then. . . . He was in a good mood now, and talking about such awkward matters could just spoil that. The thoughts about before, questioning why it was the cycle of countless eons had been broken, they didn’t matter so much now. The only thing that was important for the moment, was the fact that things seemed okay. Confusing, weird, and awkward, but . . . okay. Things were good enough that Evande was at ease, at least, enough so that she could push some thoughts and questions back into her mind no matter how strong the urge to speak of them was.

As Nikolas sat down after pouring the tea, she smiled at him, though her face was still a little red. ”Umm, how d'you like your tea?" he asked her, tilting his head to the side in a manner that was somewhat childlike. The tone in his voice no better, yet Evande found it charming, in a way. Evande found herself bringing her hand up to her mouth, giggling a bit with a rather happy look on her face as her initial response.

Clearing her throat though, Evande removed the hand from her still smiling lips and responded properly. “As it is from the pot is perfectly fine.” She answered, taking hold of a cup, making sure to take the one with a less tea in it, the otaku was sure that Nikolas was more apt to drink tea than she. A small smile stayed on the woman’s face as she gripped onto the cup with both of her hands, and pulled it into her lap. “Thank you for being concerned.” Evande looked down at the steaming liquid, “I guess I got really overwhelmed from seeing what I did in Kassia’s memories, but I think I’m fine now, everything from that . . . lifetime is fitting into where it belongs in my brain.”

“I-I’m sorry I woke you up with my crying and all.” she apologized meekly, sipping on the tea a bit.

“All of this, everything that’s happened in the last two days . . . it’s bizarre,” Evande started, looking up at Nikolas seriously, “The efforts of the last six years of my life, not getting attached to others or making friends to try to keep the weird from my life, so everything would be peaceful; it sort of seems like it was all for naught.” The otaku paused, before she returned to smiling, “But, even if it seems like I should be angry or upset about that, I’m not, I'm really not." Evande laughed a bit.

"Actually Nikolas, I think I’m both relieved and happy that all of this happened, sure, I don’t know anything about why things are suddenly different in regard to what you told me, yet I don’t really find myself caring right now.” She set her tea back onto the kotatsu, the cup clinking against the surface of the heater, before she pushed her legs back underneath the thing. Evande gripped onto the edges of the blanket around her shoulders and pulled it together around her front, she needed to be warm. . . . A soft sigh came from the woman's lips as she let herself relax a bit, letting her body loll to the side a bit until she found herself tipping over.
☼☼☼☼☼

Kiku found herself coughing a bit again as she laughed at Ryu’s reaction to her thanking him. Stuttering, following the fact that he had gone red as a beet in embarrassment; no, she had not missed his blush. Seems even when she wasn’t trying, she was more than able to get him all flustered. The little tsundere’s personality had gone ahead and fully flipped over to her ‘dere’ side. She was just feeling too bad to bother acting harsh; it seemed like such a pain to even bother with right now. . . . No, no, this was fine for now. Sighing happily enough as Ryu went off to her kitchen area, Kiku relaxed, letting her body sink into her mattress as she opened up her deep red eyes, smiling just a bit. The brunette just felt rather at ease now, how could she not? Even as sick as she felt, Ryu was there with her.

And I’m still able to get him all uncomfortable. she giggled to herself. Sooner or later, she would return to being as she was before. Prissy and rather off-putting, even to him at times, it was just a part of who she was, it was a part of who she always had been. And Kiku knew this, she knew she would eventually be as herself again . . . and she just hoped that didn’t steer Ryu away from her. Sure, it hadn’t earlier, but anything could happen, and she didn’t want that. It scared her to think she might drive him away with her ways, it never had as children, and it didn’t yesterday, simply, Ryu had treated her as he always had. Nothing had changed, save his hair.

She thought back to her childhood, to when he would see her, when they would be together. Those time were always great, he always was there for her, making her smile and bringing her out of her doldrums, and back into a state of happiness. But she still didn’t understand how it was that everyone around her always pretended that he wasn’t real, regarded her ramblings about him and their promise as childish imaginings. No one ever acknowledged that Ryu was real, no one at all. Obviously he was; he was in her kitchen cooking something for heaven’s sake. Earlier he had said something about himself being another part of her or something, he’d said something weird and majorly confusing. It was something she didn’t understand, so she had disregarded it at the time when she came to understand who he was.

However, that question about what that meant and how it was no one but her remembered him from her childhood was fated to arise again at some point. Not now though, now as a bad time given how tired she was. Even tired, I’m staying awake for now. she thought, forcing herself to sit up so she could take her boots off. She tossed the things to the floor after she did this; her face was flush with color still, and she felt a little dizzy, but she remained sitting up. When Ryu called her name, and said he brought her food, she looked at him and smiled a bit.

"I'll stay here while you eat it, but you seriously have to get some sleep, so I'm leaving after that, okay?" she heard him say, causing her to stop smiling, and regard him with a melancholy look. Well, he wasn’t wrong, she knew that. But still . . . she didn’t want to sleep yet, nor did she want him to leave. He sat down at the foot of her bed, Kiku was able to feel the mattress adjusting his weight. "What am I going to do with you, Kiku Kurosawa...?" he murmured quietly, probably talking more to himself than actually questioning her.

Even still, Kiku scooted herself from her bed, and came to stand on her own two feet rather uncertainly. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if her legs would support her or not after what had happened earlier, but they did, enough strength in them for what she wanted to accomplish at the moment. A small smile over her features, Kiku took the bowl of soup from Ryu and placed it on the desk that was just across from her bed, not far away from it all. She coughed again, weakly, but she continued to carry the same expression on her face as she turned around to face the violet-haired man. “Even if you said I don’t have to thank you, I do.” She told him; moving and dropping herself back down onto the edge of her bed, sitting next to Ryu with as she exhaled.

Staring at her stocking covered feet for a moment, she laughed a little bit without coughing, “I’ll eat in a second, I promise. But first. . . .” she trailed off, looking to him. Kiku simply gave him an honest smile; she figured it was best to act like this while she wasn’t held back by her pride. Without warning, the tiny woman had raised her arms up and wrapped them around Ryu’s middle, and clung onto him. “I’m sorry about acting so terribly yesterday night. . . . Considering the fact that you knew who I was, I should have known who you were, even with the fact you have hair such a bright color that it would make a flower envious now.”

Sighing a bit, she held onto him tighter and set her head against his side. “I kind of think it might suit you now though, even if it is still a little weird. . . .”

His own world was much more fun than this one. When Ryu's mind wanders, Nikolas would always say he's 'in his own world', and Ryu always believed that his own world must be a lot more fun than the one he's on at the very moment. He was giggling stupidly to himself as he imagined Kiku prancing around in a clown costume, but the person in question's voice made his imagination dissolve as he turned to look at her. “Even if you said I don’t have to thank you, I do.” Ryu shrugged, sighing. She was smiling, but he wasn't phased. She smiled a lot more as a child.

“I’ll eat in a second, I promise. But first. . . .” Kiku smiled honestly and Ryu had to look away, since he felt his face burning up, if only slightly. But there was sudden movement, and Ryu looked down to see the small girl wrapped around his stomach. His face went so red he wasn't even able to open his mouth and stutter for once. Instead, he just put his arms around the small girl, but he had to stare at the wall stubbornly so as not to see her face. That would probably make him go a brighter colour than he ever had.

“I’m sorry about acting so terribly yesterday night. . . . Considering the fact that you knew who I was, I should have known who you were, even with the fact you have hair such a bright color that it would make a flower envious now.” She said, and Ryu made a sarcastic gasp, taking one hand of the girl and twirling said hair in his fingers happily. Sure, he'd done it drunk, but he'd gotten rather used to the violet colour, and even slightly attached. If his hair went back to it's usual black, he'd have to dye it another crazy colour just to feel normal. Should he get blue hair. . .?

He was twirling his hair around his finger when the girl spoke again. “I kind of think it might suit you now though, even if it is still a little weird. . . .” The girl was holding him tighter and her had was on his side.

Ryu scoffed. "It's not just flowers that are envious of my hair, Kiku," he said proudly. "It's butterflies too." The boy looked overly serious at the fact he'd just stated. Maybe what he was saying was true; butterflies were probably jealous of the vibrant purple, but there wasn't really much to do (or say) about that. Ryu looked from the small girl to the soup, which the steam was reducing. Ryu poked Kiku on the head, a small smile on his face. "You better eat up soon; the soup's cooling down." The boy tightened the hug for a quick moment, before letting her go and putting the soup on her lap.

She has to eat. Ryu told himself. After that, I should go. . . Ah, Evande's still in the apartment, right? So I guess I'll go find some park. The boy nodded to himself, a lazy grin spreading across his face. He chuckled quietly. Nikolas would like a park. He likes screaming in them when he's annoyed, right? Ryu was now giggling quietly, with the imagination of Nikolas punching at a tree in anger. But he looked back at Kiku, a bit of surprise in his eyes. He'd forgotten she was even here, which was ridiculous when he thought about it; this was her apartment.

"I think. . ." Ryu stopped himself, going back to the subject from before. "I think my hair would look pretty weird in blue." he sighed. He did want to try blue, it was getting overly tempting, but no. Pink would be hilarious; it would annoy Kiku so badly that he got the same colour hair as Evande. Maybe he should get pink and something? Like Flick. . . Or Evande. Ryu was getting lost in his own world again, staring off into space with a goofy smile on his face. He used to do that a lot more when Kiku and he were both children, but she probably couldn't even remember. Oh well. A smile spread across his face as he slowly came back to earth, whistling Yankee Doodle. The truth was, the thing Ryu was actually going to talk about how when they were kids, some of the other kids around the area could see him, their wild minds and imaginations somehow allowed them to, so that's probably why she thought he was real. He'd worked out a while after that all the kids who could see him had alters too, but as soon as he disappeared, they forgot about him completely.

What can you do, eh? Ryu looked outside. Wait, is it. . . dark? Already?

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

“As it is from the pot is perfectly fine.” Nikolas shrugged as Evande took her tea and started drinking it. The boy himself started pouring milk, adding a few sugars. “Thank you for being concerned.” She looked down at her steaming cup of tea and Nikolas looked at her, sipping his tea carefully. “I guess I got really overwhelmed from seeing what I did in Kassia’s memories, but I think I’m fine now, everything from that . . . lifetime is fitting into where it belongs in my brain.” Nikolas smiled apologetically. He sort of felt it was his fail that Evande was remembering all these memories.

“I-I’m sorry I woke you up with my crying and all.” The boy stayed silent as he set his tea down. The kotatsu was nice and warm under, but Nikolas' toes were already scorching. So his hands were there instead.

Eyes wandering around the room, they fell back on Evande as she began to talk again. “All of this, everything that’s happened in the last two days . . . it’s bizarre,” Evande looked serious, so Nikolas stopped smiling abruptly. Maybe it would seem rude if he were smiling and seemingly laughing at what she was saying, even though he wasn't. “The efforts of the last six years of my life, not getting attached to others or making friends to try to keep the weird from my life, so everything would be peaceful; it sort of seems like it was all for naught.” She paused, and the boy's eyes filled with fear of losing her, before icing over quickly. “But, even if it seems like I should be angry or upset about that, I’m not, I'm really not." Nikolas sighed in relief, a warm look returning.

"Actually Nikolas, I think I’m both relieved and happy that all of this happened, sure, I don’t know anything about why things are suddenly different in regard to what you told me, yet I don’t really find myself caring right now.” Nikolas stared at her, before tilting his head in the opposite direction from before. He was confused as hell for the billionth time in the last five minutes, but it was as if he suddenly turned into a ninja when Evande started falling back; he grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it under her head before it even hit base. Nikolas stood up, ran his hand through his hair and found a black box lodged carefully at the very top cupboard. Ryu had obviously tried to hide it, to no avail. I don't want to do this, but. . . The boy felt his old thief traits coming back. Oh, fun can't harm you. He laughed quietly, tiptoeing his way across the hall with his box. Had the girl actually called the locksmith in the whole time she was there?

Nikolas carefully looked at the lock. He hadn't lock picked since. . . well, since the time him and Ryu were together-together. Ryu had convinced him that practically kidnapping him and letting him do whatever he wanted was justified since Nikolas was caught in the act of robbing the purple haired boy's house, whose hair at the time was a chestnut brown. He inserted the torsion-wrench and the half-diamond shaped pick, before fiddling for a couple of seconds, and a click came suddenly. Man, that skill's gotten rusty. The blonde opened the door, before going back to pick up Evande. He left his blanket on her, before placing her down on the couch in her own apartment. He went and grabbed the blanket in her room too, spotting her cat. Fighting the urge to fawn over it as it circled his legs, maybe for food, Nikolas made his was back over to Evande.

He sighed, kissing her on the forehead, before leaving, closing the door behind him. Nikolas took his lock-picking set back to his own apartment, shutting the door. He lay down in exasperation, hitting himself. Nikolas turned over, Panda crawling onto him as he finished his tea, finally. "Hello my little Panda." Nikolas laughed as the cat nuzzled him. "Mommy's a bad boy. He shouldn't get close to the nice lady, but he can't help it because he is very bad." Panda looked over attentively, before head butting him. "What? Is this your way of punishing me? Don't do that again; you might hurt your head." Nikolas looked at the little cat, before standing up.

He threw on his jacket and his sneakers, walking down the stairs slowly, before running back and leaving a note.

Stupid bastard,
Gone out. Call me later if you want to tag along.
Niko

Nikolas looked at it, before adding a 'las' on the end. He went all the way down the stairs this time; leaving the door unlocked was fine if Ryu was in the building, right? When he got to the door, he looked out. "When the hell did it get dark?" he thought, glancing around at the snow covered streets. The floor appeared crystallised almost, and only a few people were walking the streets. What? The boy glanced around, before seeing something following him. Nikolas picked up the black and white cat, putting Panda around his shoulders and she shivered quietly. He sighed. If there was one thing he was going to do tonight, it was getting drunk, if even slightly. And for that, he needed a companion. So he texted Ryu quickly, telling him to meet him soon; and they may buy some hair dye again.

She laughed at him when he said that butterflies were also envious of his hair. . . . Really, it was a really silly statement to hear anyone say! Much less a guy who was in his upper teens. . . . He really . . . really hadn’t changed. Had she? Maybe she had, but probably only in the way of becoming more of a prissy know-it-all thing driven by her pride and stuck up views. Thinking about it like that . . . what she had become was sort of pathetic, nineteen, and living like she was, it bordered on being pitiable. The last ten years of her life hadn’t taken her anywhere grand, they hadn’t been interesting, and they had been rather lonely in hindsight. While this was a fact Kiku would dare not mention aloud, deep inside she knew this was the truth.

Since she was nine years old, her life had not been anything noteworthy, instead it was just a simple existence. She never claimed unhappiness, nor did she ever say she wanted anything more in that timeframe, but, still. She lived from nine to nineteen clinging onto the vestiges of an innocent childhood promise that probably had little merit to it at the time it was made. . . . Even ill, Kiku realized that promise between her and Ryu as probably just a ploy to keep her from tears upon their farewell, when he claimed he was ‘moving.’ With that promise though, Kiku had grown up, and became bitter toward everyone around her because they never seemed to genuinely care for her, at least, that was how she perceived matters. Eventually, her bitterness surfaced as her sour behaviour toward others regarding appearances.

If they didn’t live up to her standards, they weren’t worth the time, and that more or less meant everyone around her since no one but herself, and her idealized version of Ryu, could actually stand that high in her mind. It was shallow, and lonely, living like that. Living ten years focusing solely on outward appearance to express her resentment for people, that really was her life. Even if Ryu had come back . . . did it mean anything was different for her now? Of that, Kiku really wasn’t sure. The brunette opened her eyes when she felt Ryu poke her cranium, smile leaving her face, a dazed expression over her features. She was getting a little out of it thanks to her fever. With a questioning look, she stared up at the violet-haired man and blinked when she felt him quickly tighten the returned hug before letting go of her, she doing the same. "You better eat up soon; the soup's cooling down."

Her expression was rather idle at this point, but she nodded in agreement as Ryu set the bowl on her lap. A rather small yawn escaped the sickly girl’s lips, forcing her to shut her eyes for a moment before actually starting to eat, as she was instructed. Not really minding her manners, Kiku simply grabbed onto the sides of the bowl, holding spoon in place, and sipped at it like that. It seemed to more or less be a broth with boiled down herbs in it anyway. Sure, there was a bit of a random vegetable in there, but it was diced up so finely that there was no real reason to be concerned about having to actually chew. . . .

Truthfully, Kiku didn’t really care what it was she was ingesting now. Food was food, and whatever Ryu had made tasted fine. This . . . had to be the strangest day of her life. I have no doubts about that . . . today is the oddest day of my life. she told herself, bringing the bowl down and away from her lips with a soft breath. Sighing a bit, she stared forward rather blankly. The last twenty-four hours were the most bizarre of her nineteen years—even stranger than when she has first met Ryu as a child, easily. She didn’t understand it still, how it was possible for him to actually exist, no one remembered him in her childhood but herself. Even the other children who she swore had seen him at some point in time, as she grew up, no one could recall him at all . . . even her own memory of him had faded to the point of forgetting his name and face.

How much longer would it have taken her to completely forget his existence then. . . ? A rather dull expression still on her face, Kiku blinked quietly as she thought about this, about everything. That promise, the very thing which kept Ryu alive in her memories at all, she understood easily now that it was simply something Ryu had used to keep her from being upset when she found out he had to leave. But, where did he leave to? That’s all it ever was, while Kiku didn’t doubt that the boy had indeed really cared about her when they were children, the promise had always just been a simple exchange of words. It was never love, or anything of the sort. What Kiku had felt regarding that promise was a desire to have someone to attach herself to, to have a person in her life that she could call a friend again. The memory of a childhood friend who had cared about her, that’s what it had always been. . . . I don’t know what love is, how could I? she chided herself, a tiny forlorn smile coming over her lips as a bit of a sad look shined through her deep red eyes.

Yes, she would be a very different person come the morning . . . but as she felt now, Kiku Kurosawa was able to admit things to herself that she normally never even would think about. Such as the fact that she never understood the concept of ‘love’ at all. I made myself think I understood it, that promise, it was something I was probably meant to forget as I grew up. It wasn’t a gesture of affection, just a tactic to keep me smiling. . . . Sighing to herself, Kiku raised the bowl back to her lips and continued on ingesting the lukewarm broth. Ryu was as deeply embedded in her memories as her hatred of sweets. She could remember his presence even back when there were no visual memories to accompany the things she knew. . . . How? How was that even possible?

If she could remember him being with her that far back, then why was she the only person to ever . . . ever know that he existed? Yes, she remembered him saying some nonsense about being her second personality or something earlier, but that made no sense to her still. As far as Kiku understood, Ryu was still her childhood friend. . . . What did that mean to her now anyway? Understanding that the promise made between them so long before was just a simple exchange of words with no real meaning behind them . . . what did Ryu’s presence in her life now mean to her?

What did her future hold for her. . . ? Was she going to continue on living as she had been before, just . . . passing her days reading, and shopping online while being alone? No, it wasn’t that simple now. Ryu’s sudden emergence in her life again meant that things weren’t going to just be as they had been before, with him back in her life, Kiku knew that there was going to be more to her existence then what there had been before. There was going to be something more at the very least. Perhaps not what she had anticipated for the last decade in the ways of what their promise had entailed, but at least, Kiku understood there was going to be more to her life than just idly going on by. Things were going to change, and that was out of her control . . . but there were still a few things that would be in her grasp and realm of rule.
Maybe I’ll even try to get along with Sterling and that Nikolas. . . . she thought, swallowing the last bits of the soup from the bowl quietly as she pulled it away from her lips.

"I think. . ." Kiku looked at her childhood-friend when he began to speak again, staring at him with a blank look on her face. "I think my hair would look pretty weird in blue." Ryu finally said, sighing. At hearing this weird vocalization, Kiku tilted her head to the side in confusion. So . . .weird to say that, even for Ryu. Besides that, Kiku had an inkling that he wanted to say something else, speak of a topic not regarding his weird hair color. The tone in his voice is what made her think that.

She just stared at him for a little while, as he went off into his own little world. Her face still flush with fever, eyes still dazed from her illness, Kiku looked upon her second self with no inkling of what he really was. The only things she could even think about regarded where her life was now headed and what all of it meant. Blinking with an almost confused look on her face, Kiku opened her mouth to speak, “D-Did you want to say something else Ryu. . . ?” she said kind of quietly. “It almost seemed like you were going to say something else before your comment on dying your hair blue . . . but opted out of saying it. . . .” Kiku moaned softly though as she finished that last bit up, and idly rubbed at one of her eyes.

Everything was getting very confusing wasn’t it. . . ? So . . . so very perplexing. With this thought in mind, Kiku’s vision blurred in and out as she yawned, body lolling to the side rather peacefully as she fell into a rather soft and yielding slumber while mumbling a quiet “G’night.” to Ryu. The small girl’s body hit her mattress with a bit of a ‘thump,’ the empty soup bowl still in her hand as she began to completely fall under sleep’s spell.

☼☼☼☼☼

Evande found herself waking up when Nikolas had kissed her forehead after leaving her apartment. Rather dazed and confused though, she didn’t quite realize who it was that had done that. The otaku’s eyes didn’t full even open until sometime after Nikolas had left, and even then she didn’t realize where she was or what was going on. It took a ‘meow’ and a sudden weight on her stomach to jolt the woman back into awareness. As Kiseki hopped onto his owner’s belly, Evande let out a grunt in response, eyes opening completely at last as she questioned her whereabouts. “Uhh . . . what happened?” she mumbled quietly, looking up at her dimly lit ceiling confusedly. There was another meow from her stomach though, which caused the pink-haired woman to cast her gaze downward at her cat.

Spotting the feline perched on her diaphragm, eyes staring intently upon her face, Evande blinked as everything began to register in her brain, “Kiseki. . . ?” With this, Evande looked around her, still rather dazed, and realized she was back in her own apartment. Were the last two days . . . a dream? At this very thought, the otaku’s heart sprang to life and a wave of panic set in upon her. A jolt shot through her, and she found herself instantly awakened. Eyes wide, and mouth sealed shut, she found herself questioning whether everything had been a dream; Nikolas and Ryu that is. Oh God, it can’t have just been a dream. she thought, sitting herself up straight, Kiseki moving himself with a mewl to Evande’s lap. At even the mere notion of everything she had been through in the last two days simply turning out to be a dream, Evande found herself afraid, very afraid, even teary-eyed over it.

Heart skipping beats in her chest, and herself shaking, Evande just looked around, unable to think completely straight. What was the day? She didn’t know . . . she had to know in order to be certain that what had happened to her, that Nikolas, had not been something she had simply imagined. It couldn’t be like that, could it? No, no, no, it couldn’t! But, she had locked herself out of her apartment hadn’t she? And before, she’d sort of passed out after drinking tea with Nikolas. . . . So how had she wound up back in her own domicile, on her couch? No, it can’t just have been my imagination. she thought, letting out an exasperated breath as she began fighting to get out of the blankets placed over top of her. At realizing that there were two blankets placed over her person, Evande’s eyes went a little wide and she froze. “W-Wait. . . .” she murmured quietly, looking down at the sheets bunched up around her stomach, noting that there were two distinct colors present there. Her own white bedspread . . . and a black one. That’s definitely not mine. Evande thought, sighing quietly in relief as she realized that the sheets were her alter’s from earlier.

That was enough proof for her to fully realize that everything in the last two days was not of her imaginings. “Too bad that can’t include those damn H-rated memories though. . . .” she mumbled, face reddening. Breathing out softly, Evande looked down to Kiseki who was still upon her lap, looking at her. He meowed and tilted his head to the side when she made eye contact with him.

Evande smiled at her cat and sighed again, before reaching her hand up and scratching the feline’s head. “You ought to pity your mommy Kiseki; her life’s been turned upside down in the last twelve hours, completely, and she’s also been cursed with rather icky, icky memories too.” The cat responded to her words by licking her hand. The otaku laughed at this and drew her hand back to her side with a smile upon her blushing face. Well, I know that everything that’s happened to me in the last two days was real enough, but one question remains . . . how did I get back inside my apartment?

She wasn’t really sure of that one, and in her head there was no explanation for it. Either Nikolas knew how to pick locks, or she’d been dim-witted enough to assume she had actually locked herself out of her apartment when in reality she had just left the door unlocked while leaving her keys inside. . . . Deciding to give Nikolas the benefit of the doubt though, Evande assumed the latter of the two because it didn’t seem too far-fetched for her to have gone and left her own door unlocked. Yeah, that’s probably what I did. . . . Nikolas probably just decided to see if that was the case after I zonked out on him.

Whatever, it didn’t matter. . . . She was back inside her own place now, right? “I don’t feel like sleeping though. . . .” Evande thought aloud, staring blankly ahead before reaching her hand out and flipping a light switch on the wall behind her, turning the overhead light on. Her eyes shut to the sudden brightness, but they adjusted quickly enough. It was late, it was late and Evande knew that, yet still, she didn’t want to sleep anymore. So . . . what was she suppose to do? She didn’t feel like getting on her computer, nor did she even feel like indulging herself in anime or manga. “Maybe I’ll go ahead and sketch something, I haven’t done that in a while.”

Saying that, the otaku gently moved her cat from her lap, who protested with a mewling noise, and got to her feet before heading to her room to pick up what it was she even used to draw pictures. . . . A sketchpad, and a container of pencils used for shading and shadowing things in black and white.

Making her way back out to the couch, the pink-haired woman sighed quietly before dropping back down into the piece of furniture and digging out what it was she sought from her container of pencils. Flipping her sketchpad open to a fresh page, she set the pencil down on the paper and got to work . . . what it was she was even beginning to draw, Evande herself didn’t actually know. . . . This particular picture was something that was just beginning to form itself, where it was going to end up, even the artist herself didn’t know.

Well, that’s not entirely true, Evande did have a vague feeling about this particular picture. Within the matter of a minute; something coherent was already forming, the most basic shape of a person, and the otaku was receiving a familiar vibe from what she was getting down on the paper. I’m . . . drawing Nikolas? she questioned herself, her eyes slightly wide as she continued to work. . . . I guess, I guess I am drawing him. she realized, expression softening as she went on drawing, not slowing down one bit. Exactly how she was drawing her alter, and from what lifetime of his this picture would represent . . . Evande didn’t know, but she could only hope that whatever came from her, it was something good, hopefully a pleasant image for the boy.

The last thing Evande wanted to happen was for her to wind up sketching out one of Nikolas’ lives that drudged up bitter recollections. . . . Well, whatever she may wind up getting down, only time would tell.

“D-Did you want to say something else Ryu. . . ?” she said kind of quietly. “It almost seemed like you were going to say something else before your comment on dying your hair blue . . . but opted out of saying it. . . .” Ryu shrugged, a nonchalant look on his face.

"Is that a no to the blue?" he grinned maliciously. His phone made some weird 'Ding!' noise, and Ryu guessed he must have gotten a text from someone. Well, the two people that had his number were Nikolas and the landlady, and it was hopefully Nikolas. To be honest, the landlady could complain about the incessant knocking down of furniture or shouting when Ryu and Nikolas would fight, but she hadn't even said a word. In all actuality, she hadn't even been seen once the whole time they were there. It could even be a landlord for all they were concerned. Well, a man called Karen. That was probably just Ryu's mind running off somewhere again. Right?

The small girl looked tired as hell when he looked at her. It seemed she'd finished her soup, quite quickly too. “G’night.” It was quiet, but Ryu just about managed to hear the soft voice as she fell asleep. He grabbed the bowl as it started to slip out of her hands and towards the floor, and he patted her head gently. She was too cute when she was sleeping, and he sat at the end of her bed, smiling, cupping her face in his hands as she slept. So small. . . He rethought everything that had happened over the last two days.

Ryu took the bowl to the kitchen area and sighed. Their meeting was so weird, and now that he thought about it, Kiku had apologised. Kiku. Ryu pondered over that; was it just because he was her childhood friend? At the time, they were both young and innocent, but when he'd told her he was moving to somewhere far away, the tears in her eyes were too much. So he'd made a promise to her, one that was intended to never be broken. But Kiku took it a lot more seriously than he thought she would. When she committed to him and didn't go out with any other man, Ryu felt a bit strange. He sort of felt respect, but he sort of wanted to tell her to continue on with her life, like he'd expected her to. Maybe he was being childish, but that was how he felt. He quickly dialled the number he wanted as he left the tsundere's apartment without even one sound.

"Yeah?" The voice from the end sounded annoyed, but not with the person on the other end. More at the world. Yep. It's Nikolas alright. Ryu felt a smile spread across his fact at the aggravated voice on the other end of the

"You texted me? I'm coming down the stairs now." Ryu lied, going back in their apartment to grab his coat. He shut the door when he heard Nikolas shouting.

"No! Don't shut the door! I don't have my keys. . ." The blonde sounded desperate. He'd always had a thing with keeping his keys on him at almost all times, but for him to forget over something so simple as going out was strange. And the door was already open when Ryu tried to unlock it earlier, so had Nikolas left it open or something? He heard the voice on the other side sigh deeply and groan, before hanging up.

Ryu peered out the door when he finally spotted Nikolas, his face very red. Is forgetting your keys that embarrassing? Nikolas took something from around his neck and placed it on the floor. Panda? The tsundere was telling her to stay put this time since 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' are going out to have fun. Panda trotted up the stairs reluctantly, and began trying to get into Evande's letter box; somehow. Obviously, that wasn't happening.

A big grin spread across the boy's face as he and Nikolas walked down the streets, in search for some sort of bar.

☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯

You would think that after centuries and centuries, this guy would get used to drinking. Nikolas sighed, almost tipping over as the purple haired boy swayed while leaning on his shoulder. He was feeling lighter than before, probably the effect of the drinks, but Ryu was all over the place after beating someone at a 'Yard of Ale' competition. Twice.

So Nikolas had to become the guardian for this man with a bag of hair dye as they made their way back, neither of them remembering that they didn't even have their keys. Ryu just kept messing around and talking constantly without even stopping once. That was sort of annoying, considering how many subjects Ryu had to speak about; infinite. Nikolas was starting to get annoyed when they were outside the apartment, where he remembered. Shit! Our keys! The blonde began to growl, but Ryu just fiddled with the handle, where it clicked and the door opened. Nikolas looked at him in surprise, but he just shrugged, a delighted look on his face. The blonde sighed and sat down when Ryu made his way to the shower, probably to use one of the million hair dyes they ended up buying in the end.

As he sat down, he felt this sting through his chest, just like that time in the doctor's, when Evande had asked him who he really was. It wasn't bad, it was just an ache, a dull feeling. His heart sank to his stomach when he thought that she may be remembering something from either hers or his lifetime, but he concluded it was impossible. He just sat and turned on the TV, sitting like an upturned turtle on the couch, before shivering suddenly. Man, it's really cold in here. . . Nikolas thought as he crawled under the kotatsu, glancing around for Ryu's blanket. He didn't find it; had Panda dragged it somewhere? Well, Nikolas was going to need it if he was going to sleep. He sat through the whole of the program on, about another half-an-hour. He stood up, swaying a bit, before walking across the hallway.

She's probably asleep he thought after knocking the door once. Nikolas sighed and walked straight into Ryu's room, stealing the blanket. Ryu himself emerged from the bathroom, delighted, and Nikolas didn't realise why until he saw his hair. The right side was bleached a pale white, and the left was a bright pink. And at the back, underneath the pink and white, it was his natural black, somehow. The blonde shook his head. With the intention of dyeing his hair one colour, he ended up with three.

Nikolas turned off the kotatsu, since he didn't want their electricity bill to be monstrous when they saw it. He crawled under the covers, and for some reason, Ryu climbed in too. Maybe it was the drunkenness, but Nikolas just shrugged and shared the only blanket in the freezing cold, but he slapped Ryu and told him to go fetch a towel, since his hair was still dripping wet. Ryu shrugged and got one, before crawling back into the warmth. They were both so busy trying to sleep that they didn't even realise Nikolas had left the front door wide open. Panda crawled onto Ryu's head while he snored away, and Nikolas lay there for a while, on his side, just like Ryu.

Why did things have to be so difficult? Nikolas remembered arguing as much as possible with the Gods when they explained their plans of Ryu and Nikolas going to live at the same time as their alters. He was absolutely furious, and he was punished for it too. But this was one thing he'd never stop arguing about. He'd found it weird when both girls were born with their original names, instead of some one made up by their parents. Nikolas' original name was, naturally, Nikolas, so he uses that name whenever he's not living. But when they'd told him he'd be meeting his alter, and living alongside her, he just flipped.

Those bastards. Nikolas sighed as Ryu mumbled to himself. Well, might as well sleep. he thought, his eyes dropping closed after a couple of minutes, not even noticing the open front door.

It was morning, mid-morning, to be precise, and Evande had been up the whole of the night, well, she had been up ever since she’d woken up to thinking that the last two days of her life might have been nothing more than a crazy dream of hers. . . . Since then, she had been wide-awake, sketching away like a mad woman for hours on end, not stopping at all. She had fervently continued her work, constantly changing pencils, or quickly using the tips of her fingers to properly smudge at the picture; making certain she captured the unknown image perfectly on the paper before her. Even as her pencils traversed the sheet of paper, Evande still hadn’t the slightest idea what it was she was drawing exactly, only knowing from an otherworldly, unnatural feeling that the final product was strongly connected to Nikolas.

Even seeing the image being born before her eyes wasn’t enough to jar her mind and to force the dormant memories from their slumber, the connection the picture had to Nikolas remained a mystery, the knowledge to even draw it was coming from an unknown place in her heart. Strange as that sounded, it was the only explanation she had. Well, maybe it didn’t sound so strange given the day’s preceding events. . . . Heaven’s sake even, she had another person’s memories in her skull, and also seemed to be recalling past lives all her own. So, not knowing where the information came from that allowed her to recreate the picture before her wasn’t so bizarre. It was just another oddity to chalk up onto the ever-growing list.

Evande had remained at that task until daybreak, until the first rays of the sun began to peek into her dwelling. Having one hit her right in the face was enough to break her from the trance she seemed to be under while sketching so quietly. Upon realizing it was morning, she consciously looked down upon what it was she had produced in black and white pencil . . . and didn’t know what to make of it. It was a person, definitely Nikolas—something in her gut told her as much. But . . . that’s all she knew still. Nothing came to her, no story behind it or anything. After staring at it for some random increment of time, Evande relented to her perplexity with a quiet sigh, and set the sketchpad down on the armrest of her couch before she ascended to her feet and stretched her tense muscles out.

The otaku was quiet, simply standing there after letting her arms fall back to her sides, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. She thought about what it was she was going to do that day, and also about how different things were from just a mere twenty-four hours prior. The day before, she had been waking up, certain that she was going to be carrying out her weekend normal from then on, avoiding Nikolas and Ryu at all costs before. . . . Everything sort of spun out of her conscious control. Without a second thought, she had acted without thinking, helping Nikolas out with his broken wrist, and connected herself to him, and then willingly gave into the urge she had to help him.

And here she was now . . . a day later, and rather different. Unlike the previous day, she was content with the idea that she was now living, not fully knowing what the day had in store for her . . . and also knowing that she was connected to something real. From this idle thought, she went on ahead to separate her own bedspread from Nikolas’ black one, proceeding to then throw her alter’s blanket in her washing machine so she could return it to him clean and such. While that was happening, Evande went about cleaning up the broken plate that lay in front of her door from yesterday morning, along with her forgotten breakfast. She was careful about it, picking up the glass shards, last thing she felt like doing was leaving herself with a cut on her hand when she still had other things to do and worry about. Of course, during this time, she fed her little ninja-kitty his own breakfast, putting off making her own. After all of this, and putting the blanket into her dryer, Evande decided it was time for her to go ahead and take her shower for the day, officially get her life started and whatnot.

However . . . while the otaku was preparing for this, she also decided upon another course of action . . . it was the middle of the month, and it had been about four weeks since she had last gone ahead and done it. . . . Her hair color was starting to fade, and her blonde roots were beginning to show under the pink. It was time for her to go ahead and touch up the color in her hair, as she did routinely for the last five years of her life. Evande was very good about this sort of thing, it was compulsive, a habit she had formed ever since she had made that starling choice of hers. The need to make sure her hair remained pink was strong. Without a second thought, the otaku went ahead and carried out her normal routine of applying the dye, then letting it soak into her hair before washing the excess out in the shower well. Why should she have had any reason to do otherwise when it was the same thing she had done twelve times a year for the last five years? Well. . . .

The reasons Evande might have wanted to be a little bit more careful of herself this particular time came to be very apparent as she began to dry her hair out in one of her lighter colored towels . . . and a rather dark substance seemed to be appearing on it. As her brown eyes came to register what she was seeing, a numbingly powerful shock shot through Evande . . . a spark of surprise that was even stronger than anything she had faced the previous day with Nikolas and finding out his identity. Pushing her glasses up her nose, Evande simply held her towel out in front of her, a look of horror upon her features as she tried to understand just what it was she was looking at before her.

Blinking, mind blank, Evande’s breathing turned panic-driven as time ticked on. Finally a true reaction came from her in the form of her chewing on her bottom lip as a very evident look of anxiety expressed itself on her face, a shrill whine resounded from her throat as her grip on the towel tightened considerably. No, no, no, please tell me that I did not. . . . she mentally pleaded to the heavens to not let it be true. Holding a breath in her lungs, the otaku took tentative steps toward her condensation-covered mirror, and wiped some of the beaded water away from its reflective surface to see what exactly what it was she had done to herself, to her hair. . . .

And she froze as soon as she saw, brown eyes wide as her mouth was drawn into a thin line. . . . Shaking, Evande reach out and touched the mirror, the reflection of her now black hair. Her whole head; bangs and all, was now a deep shade of . . . ordinary black.

Holy hell, what had she done to herself this time?! “I-I . . . I must have bought the wrong hair dye. . . .” she murmured quietly to herself, retracting her hand from the mirror, letting it fall back to her side. Evande just stood there, looking at herself and her sodden black hair. It was quite a jolt to see herself with dark hair again after so long . . . after eight years. Is . . . is that how long it’s been since my hair turned blonde? A questioning look over took the woman’s features at this, Has it really been eight years? That meant . . . the last time she had hair so dark was when she was only eleven, when she was still a child. Way back when she had still taken after her mother; looking one-hundred percent Japanese. Yet, as she began to grow after that, her father’s blood began to take its hold of her, and quickly her hair lightened, becoming a fair shade of blonde in a manner which seemed unnatural.

It seemed like it happened too fast to be normal, but it had happened, simple as that. Following that incident, she began to grow up faster than her friends, and in Junior High school she was abandoned by them . . . till then, she had been living with her blonde hair for a year or so, thinking all was fine. But when she entered ninth grade, she had gone ahead and just dyed her hair pink to save herself some pain. That way she was just the otaku-freak, and not the otaku-freak with blonde hair.

Since those nearly forgotten days, Evande never once thought that she would see herself again with black hair. She never thought she would look . . . like a normal Japanese citizen ever again, not when she wasn’t one. “Eight . . . years.” Uncertainly, she looked back to her reflection—to her scared face, to a pale face surrounded by damp, dripping locks of black hair. The face in the mirror was that of a stranger’s it felt like, she didn’t feel like she was looking at herself anymore. Still, she knew she was, she knew that the woman in the mirror was her; even with the drastically altered hair color. The pink hair had sort of been her defining trait, something that was like a safety net for her in a weird way . . . even if she had wanted normalcy, the odd hair color was something she felt secure in.

But with black hair, with what really was a normal hair color, she didn’t really feel safe as she had before. Evande sighed a bit, shook her head and broke her gaze away from the mirror. It-it was just a hair color, a little mistake . . . that’s all it was. Black hair or pink, she was still herself—she had no reason to go and sound so shallow about her appearance, right? “It’s not like I should really care, I’m myself with or without pink hair. . . .”

After all, there were more important things happening around her now than a mistake made in her hair coloring. Nikolas, Ryu, the past lives, why it was a cycle of countless millennia was broken so suddenly. . . . All that stuff. Those matters were far more significant than what color the hair on her head was, that was something that could be remedied in a few hours, but what the matter of Nikolas, that was not so simple. Sighing to herself, Evande proceeded to get herself dressed; dark gray tee shirt and blue jeans, doing her best to move passed the dark pieces of hair that now draped about her form like a depressing curtain. Oh, if it were only so simple for her. . . .

It’s just my damn hair, there are other things to worry about Evande! she chided herself with a huff, straightening her clothing out. Pulling a ponytail holder out from one of the drawers in her sink, Evande pulled her hair to a gathering at the bottom of her skull, and bunched it together there so it would not get in her way for the remainder of the day. Really, her hair was the last thing she needed to worry about now. Even the matter of the H-rated memories that were stuck in her skull was more important than that.

Thinking about those, Evande’s pallor face went red and she groaned and planted the palm of her hand to her forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. . . .” she chanted as she left her bathroom, heading for her dryer, which had since turned off, signaling that Nikolas’ bedspread was officially clean. Murmuring incoherent things to herself about those tainted memories of her alter’s, Evande took the black duvet out of the machine, noting the fact that it was still rather warm before she went ahead and folded it up into a neat square. Evande sighed to herself as she went ahead and moved to set it on her couch, “I hope Nikolas doesn’t mind his sheet smelling all flowery. . . .”

The newly rendered black-haired woman breathed out deeply, finding herself exasperated due to her hair. Yes, that was something that would be bothering her an awful lot. Rolling her eyes at herself, Evande turned on her heel and headed for her bedroom—she needed to return Nikolas’ bedspread, thank him, and also . . . there were some things of hers left there; her boots and coat. After she had been brought home in the middle of the night by her alter, her belongings had been left over in his apartment. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to him today,” she thought aloud, “But I know that there is a lot left for us to talk over.”

Without making another noise, the otaku slipped a pair of black flip-flop sandals on her feet, normally she would have just put her boots on, but she didn’t have those now did she? She treaded back on to her couch, lifting Nikolas’ duvet back up and into her grasp, before looking to her newly rendered picture . . . the one of Nikolas that she had no information regarding. Should I show that to him. . . ? she questioned, blinking. Well, there were some potential drawbacks to her going ahead and showing that to him. One; if the picture was an image of a life he didn’t want to remember, then she could make him upset. And that wasn’t something she felt like doing to him. . . .

Nikolas had been dealt some bad hands in some of his lifetimes obviously; Evande clearly remembered what she had been informed of yesterday. The life of his where he had been used as a test subject, it had been bad enough for him to try to fool himself and her into thinking it wasn’t so terrible. I called him out on it too, even with my naiveté, I know that even he gets that it wasn’t right, having to go through that. But, the picture, it wasn’t from that lifetime . . . of that much Evande could tell. She knew nothing about it, and if it was from that particular existence of Nikolas’ she felt that she’d be able to sense it in some manner. Standing there, quietly, she ruminated over it, before nodding to herself, deciding to take it with her.

With Nikolas’ sheets in her arms, sketchpad on top of it . . . Evande started for her door, opting not to take her keys with her, as she would only be across the hall and her door would remain unlocked. At least leaving her keys behind was a conscious choice on her part today. . . . Opening and shutting the door behind her, Evande found herself indolently yawning at random before she turned around, only to find herself seeing that . . . Nikolas and Ryu’s front door was wide open. Her mouth shut itself and she tilted her head to the side questioningly, now . . . what the hell?

Okay, so she knew those two men were strange . . . very strange given some of Nikolas’ memories she had stuck in her skull, but to go and leave your damn door open all night? Really? Face tinted pink, the otaku could only wonder what sort of scene she was going to walk into if she went inside willy-nilly. She had a feeling that whatever she was going to see, it was going to make her embarrassed as hell. There was no doubt in her mind about that; if there was one thing her alter seemed to be great at, it was making the blood rush to her face with Kurosawa’s second self. “Oh Lord,” she sighed, “I am so going to regret this in a few minutes. . . .” Evande mumbled to herself, trekking on ahead regardless of her worries and idle thoughts.

She slipped her sandals off in the entranceway of the apartment like a good little neighbor before proceeding into the main room, passed the kitchen area. And as soon as she did, the black-haired woman froze and made an uncomfortable noise when she happened to spot Nikolas and . . . Ryu, who apparently had also gone and dyed his hair an odd variation of colors. Guess I wasn’t the only one who had bad luck with the hair dye in the last few hours. . . . she sighed, face going red again. The two boys were sharing a yellow blanket it seemed, kind of sleeping under the kotatsu. Well, their apartment was uncomfortably cold Evande noted . . . but still. “I have the feeling these two are going to inadvertently mortify me to death.” Shaking her cranium back and forth with a ‘oh God, help me’ look on her face, Evande proceeded over to Nikolas, and stood over top the snoozing blonde for a moment, putting a rather blank expression over her face, she went ahead and knelt down next to him.

Evande had a sinking feeling he was going to be startled as hell when she woke him up, he probably wasn’t going to be expecting her of all people to be the one to rouse him. On top of that, he definitely wasn’t going to be expecting to find her with black hair all of a sudden when she just had pink hair the night before. Blinking, she moved one of her arms from around his blankets and proceeded to poke the boy’s side. Oh, she was going to be waking him up. . . . And honestly, a little part of her had this urge to not only wake him up, but also to embarrass him, for whatever the reason. Though it might have seemed a little unlike her, Evande couldn’t help the mischievous sentiment that was gnawing away at her core.

Ryu and Nikolas had caused her to have a nosebleed yesterday afternoon . . . even if they didn’t know it; she felt like she deserved some retribution for that. Yeah, she would be getting some payback for that one. . . . At some point, but, not quite now. However, when it seemed her poking efforts weren’t quite doing the trick to wake her alter up, Evande withdrew her hand, rolled her eyes and stooped over, deciding it might be best to try a vocal approach. A small smile on her face, she quietly began to speak, “Nikolas~ It’s time for you to wake up sleepyhead.” She whispered that right over his ear, purposefully sounding sweet and cheerful. It was funny to think about in a way . . . the fact that Nikolas was the one between the two of them with the majority of the experience and recollections regarding lifetimes.

Quickly the otaku sat back up, maintaining that smile on her face, sheets and sketchpad still on her lap.

Nikolas' sleeping was fine throughout the whole night, but he heard footsteps. Now, this was bad for someone who's overly paranoid in the mornings when he first wakes up, but he felt like he couldn't open his eyes. He felt prodding, but it felt as if he weren't in his body, and the poking was just a distant feeling. He gasped loudly as he heard someone speaking extremely close to his face, and he was suddenly very awake. “Nikolas~ It’s time for you to wake up sleepyhead.” His arms flailed about for a second, aiming for the person as his croaky voice said the name 'Blaze' quietly and angrily, but he failed to even land one hit. His eyes were blurry as he relaxed and tried to break free, so he rubbed them quickly. Black. . . hair? . . . Ryu? Were all the past days a sream, a lie?

He was dazed as he stared. Brown eyes? And that face shape? Is that. . . Evande? His blue eyes stared at her lazily. "Am I the only one who 'asn't dyed their hair?" he asked, his accent going back to something from lifetimes ago. He sounded kinda rough, but he blinked a few times. "Oh, sorry. I can't make you tea." His normal voice was back as he pulled up the yellow sheet to show that Ryu had a very tight hold around Nikolas' stomach area. Ryu stirred from the cold, and when Nikolas looked around, some throbbing headache came in. Ryu pulled even tighter around his waist and Nikolas gasped. "Ah. . . Ryu, stop, I can't breathe. . ." he moaned, his voice sounding raspy. The pink haired boy just pulled even tighter and Nikolas started kicking frantically. "Ryu, let go; you'll suffocate me. . . Agh, b-bastard. . ." Nikolas groaned as Ryu released his hold slowly.

Oh god. I don't need tea; I need coffee. he thought resentfully as Ryu rolled over, somehow pulling Nikolas along so the blonde was now squashed. "Get off me, you creepy. . . thing." He growled. The boy took in air quickly, before flipping up, knocking the pink and white haired moron off him and onto the floor, but Ryu was so hungover he barely woke up. Nikolas sighed at the man half-asleep on the floor, before picking up the blanket and throwing it on him randomly. "I know we live together again, but this time is different. I don't have to take care of you." Nikolas practically seethed in resentment, and Ryu groaned, sitting up.

"Niko, make me coffee." Ryu said, standing up shakily and making his way to the bathroom. Nikolas stared at him in disbelief.

He glared. "Hell no! Make it yourself! G-go die in a hole or something! B-b-burn!" The blonde shouted at him, at a shortage of words and insults, and Ryu chuckled, before walking into the door. "Ha!" Nikolas turned his attention back to Evande. "Hey. . . How did you get in here? Wow, can you lock pick too?" He laughed quickly. "I-I mean, it's not something to talk about, but it's not like I use it for stealing anymore." He poured the instant coffee into two cups and grinned at her, before remembering. "Oh, you probably got in through the open front door." Nikolas shook his head at himself.

Why was she inside anyways? Nikolas looked at the sketchbook in her arms, before walking over and kneeling next to her. He looked at it. Was that. . . him? The boy looked closer at the picture, and saw that it was definitely him, but that was from ages ago, that scene. His eyes widened as he leaned over and stared at the picture, not even taking his eyes off it once. How. . . did she. . .

The umbrella, if it were in the picture, would have been blown away in the wind in the background. Nikolas' name at the time was Dane, and he was a university student before he quit since he had to take care of his little sister. That day, if he remembered correctly, was the day she'd gotten run over, his little sister. Nikolas felt something creeping up his throat; maybe it was the drinking, or maybe it was just in memory of that day that made him feel so sick. The blonde's face turned a deathly white, slightly tinged green as he remembered the strange entangled shape of his sister. His coffee dropped on the floor and his trousers, one cup staying upright while the other toppled over.

Ana had come with a lunchbox outside his work office, and Dane had told her to just leave it at reception; he could get it later. But, as he'd guessed, the girl was still outside even after half an hour of waiting in the pouring rain, and Dane was not planning on satisfying. When he looked out the window, he saw her walking out across the street, without his lunch, so he'd sighed happily and gone downstairs. While opening the door to the reception, he heard a loud scream, along with the screeching wheels of a car. Dane immediately ran outside, seeing his sister's pink umbrella flying off into the distance, and the boy had felt so incredibly sick he just threw up and fainted. Nikolas glanced at the picture, before looking away quickly, smiling. His sister Ana had made it, but Dane was sent in a state of shock for a couple of months; he had to quit his job, so his sister took over. That was two lifetimes ago. He thought, smiling when he remembered how nice his sister was. He missed having siblings. . . Ryu does not count!

Nikolas remembered something. Hey, every time me and Ryu are close, Evande goes a strange colour. . .? Did she. . . have a nosebleed from her strange imaginations (which I've, unfortunately, had the fortunate chance to see them. He'd always known it she blushing, but he couldn't work out why so he sat there pondering it for a second. She had made him blush before for getting close, or saying something out of the ordinary; it was time for payback. No one makes Nikolas blush. Ryu came out of the bathroom and sat next Nikolas. "Hey, what did you do?" Ryu sighed, holding his head in one of his hands. He was looking at the coffee spill on his legs.

"Ryu!" Nikolas shouted. "Don't look there!"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I've seen you naked millions of times." Ryu teased, a mocking look in his eyes though he kept a straight face. Nikolas looked away abruptly. Oh, Evande. This is what you get for thinking dirty thoughts about me and Ryu. . . he thought, and he decided to go all the way. Nikolas was meant to be Evande's other personality, but he had a few traits of his own, all from different lifetimes. And he tended to flick to them slightly every once in a while, like now. This time, it was a trait he acquired in the time him and Ryu were... Ugh, lovers.

Nikolas yawned, as Ryu crossed his legs. It seemed Ryu got what he was trying to do. So he's trying to get back at Evande? The pink haired boy picked Nikolas up lazily and sat him on his lap, bridal style, and he almost burst out laughing at the look Nikolas was giving him. It was almost sweet. Ryu had his legs crossed and Nikolas was sitting sideways in between his legs. But Ryu was at his limit as he literally fell asleep on Nikolas' shoulder, and the blonde looked back to Evande. He went a slight pink. "Ah. . . s-sorry. He's just really, really tired from last night. He's a bit hungover too." The boy shrugged. "Anyways, do you want that coffee?" The male-tsundere pointed at the drink that had landed upright on the floor, giving her the innocent smile of an angel, though he didn't like it, he was definitely making himself out as the uke, since he'd never pass for seme. Wait, why do i know those terms?

No, it didn’t quite escape Evande’s senses that Nikolas had indeed thrown a few blows her way when she had leaned over to wake him up, she’d just been fast enough to avoid getting struck by him. But, it wasn’t really something important, more like she simply chalked that up to him being weird about sleeping. Given what I’ve learned about some of his past lives, can’t say I really quite blame him for that one. she told herself with a sigh, going on ahead and adjusting her glasses by habit. And . . . she’d heard him say the name ‘Blaze,’ which had little meaning to her, given that she had not heard the tiff between Nikolas and Ryu the previous day, what had set her alter off to destroy his own room. A question of curiosity bubbled up in Evande’s mind at this, for now though, there wasn’t enough of a reason to go ahead and press that particular issue.

He was awake though, and staring at her now, possibly not recognizing her right off the bat thanks to the cursed change of hair color. It wasn’t as if the change was intentional after all, but he just stared at her before speaking with an accent she didn’t quite recognize, “Am I the only one who ‘asn’t dyed their hair?” This made Evande sort of tilt her head to the side, a questioning look on her face. So . . . he knew that Ryu had gone crazy with his hair dye then. Seriously, those two were weird about each other.

Evande just sighed to herself with this simple thought, as if she weren’t already very much aware of why that was. Even if it were embarrassing as Hell for her to know it, the truth was that she was actually beginning to get used to the damn memories of Nikolas’ in her head, those tainted recollections stuck in her brain. Her mind lately seemed to just LOVE jumping into the gutter so fast thanks to the two boys that her not somehow growing immune to them would lead to her having a permanently red face. Still though, that wasn’t enough to keep her face from going a slight pink when Nikolas pulled the blankets back to reveal a still very much asleep Ryu clinging onto Nikolas as if for dear life. Honestly, this just left Evande to plant the palm of her hand to her forehead with a small groan. Inadvertently, they were going to be the death of her! Whether it be by embarrassment, or some other freaking means. . . .

Mentally cursing random things with the palm of her hand still pressed to her forehead, Evande just chose to ignore the whole scene playing out between her alter and Ryu, really, she just didn’t care right now. If the two were weird then . . . they were weird! What could she do? Not like I know how long these two have been like this, even remembering what I do. she sighed to herself quietly.

Pulling her hand away from her forehead, and then pressing upon the bridge of her glasses again, Evande went ahead and let herself tune back into reality with a rather exasperated look upon her features. The otaku found herself becoming a rather passive observer lately. . . . She watched Nikolas throw the yellow blanket over top of Ryu, whom was still half conked out on the floor before seething, "I know we live together again, but this time is different. I don't have to take care of you."

Evande shook her head, the action going unnoticed. She already knew the history behind these two, the whole . . . ‘lovers’ situation from centuries ago, and about the fact that she seemed to be a closet pervert or something due to where her imagination had taken her the previous day, even before knowing the situation at hand. . . . Today was just one of those days where Evande felt like she just was going to find herself rather apathetic to a lot of things that would normally get her very emotional; she’d already had her shock for the day in the form of the her now black hair so, little else was probably going to get to her for the time being. Even Nikolas and Ryu’s shounen-ai like antics!

"Niko, make me coffee." she heard Ryu speak his first official words of the day, and he sounded like a little kid while doing so! Evande just continued to idly watch the two moving herself into a more comfortable position because she knew this could probably go on for a while. . . . Kind of like a tennis match.

This is what her life had surmounted to, in her nineteen years, she never would have imagine that this was where her life was going to take her. She’d been a normal child, an awkward teen, and then a full-blown otaku by the time she was fifteen. And never in any of those phases could she have imagined that her life would take this sort of turn. Perhaps the otaku phase is at its end or something, and this is the fourth part of my life. she wondered, I guess that makes some semblance of sense. . . . Evande sighed quietly, rolling her eyes at herself. How could this be a new ‘phase’ of her life? Finding herself with a guy who was evidently her ‘second self?’ That wasn’t a phase, that was a massive change, a whole new chapter . . . because it altered how it was she had to live her life completely. She was being made to remember things that weren’t of her current existence, Kassia’s life, and the whole thing with Nikolas’ life as an uke. . . . Yeah, that wasn’t the beginning of a just a phase. That was something else entirely.

Her face went a little red at thinking of Nikolas as an ‘uke’ though. Stupid Ryu, geez, he was a bigger perv in that lifetime than I am in this one. . . . Evande’s body shuddered in repugnance. Though, I’m not sure if I qualify as being a pervert since I don’t derive any pleasure from the things my mind drudges up. . . . Did she qualify as being a pervert when those remembrances and imaginings of hers just were mortifying? Maybe she would qualify as being dirty-minded, but she probably wasn’t exactly a pervert . . . no. No, she wasn’t. Like it really mattered, both titles were not something one wanted to be branded with. Normal enough people at least.

In her thoughts Evande had missed Nikolas’ rather pathetic attempt to insult Ryu, and Ryu walking into the bathroom door. Not that either would have fazed her as she felt. "Hey. . . How did you get in here? Wow, can you lock pick too?" Evande looked up at Nikolas when he finally addressed how it was she had gotten inside his abode. He was just now thinking that . . . and had he just said ‘lock pick?’ A questioning look on her face, the bespectacled woman just stared at her alter whilst blinking, silent. "I-I mean, it's not something to talk about, but it's not like I use it for stealing anymore." Yeah, she really didn’t have any thoughts regarding that matter, but at least she now knew how it was he had gotten her back into her apartment in the first place. Seemed that she really hadn’t just left her door unlocked. . . . Her eyes didn’t leave him as he moved about the apartment, going ahead and making coffee for both himself and Ryu. "Oh, you probably got in through the open front door."

Thank you for the news bulletin, Captain Obvious. Evande thought, feeling sarcastic, having to resist the urge to give him a mock salute. She sighed, moving her ponytail over her shoulder and beginning to fiddle with the ends of her dark hair. . . . .having black hair again was something she was going to not be used to for a while. When Nikolas knelt down next to her, looking at the open sketchbook, at the picture she had drawn from some unknown memory of his, her brown eyes went to him. The look of shock on his face was undeniable, and leaned over and stared at it intently. Probably wasn’t expecting me to know anything about one of his lives I suppose. . . . she realized, but when she noticed his face quickly turning pallor, she felt her heart sink into stomach. Just what had she drawn. . . ?

The dropped cups of coffee didn’t escape her attention either, but, she couldn’t help but wonder what it was her drawing had made Nikolas remember. She had drudged up something horrible for the boy, hadn’t she? Guilt weighed down upon her at that, and she softly sighed . . . bringing the sketch was a mistake. Yet, when she saw the small smile upon his face, and felt a little relieved. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake. . .

When Ryu came out of the bathroom, he plopped down right next to Nikolas, a look on his face that bespoke of the fact he wasn’t feeling one-hundred percent. The now multi-colored-haired man sighed, and looked at the coffee spill on Nikolas’ legs, ”Hey, what did you do?”

This . . . is going to lead into something isn’t it? Evande rolled her eyes, remaining silent.

”Ryu! Don’t look there!” Nikolas started, not seeming quite himself in those words. . . . The fact he was lacking his usual tone regarding Ryu being peculiar, made Evande stare at him with an odd expression. There was an edge in his voice that bespoke of something . . . false, and did the otaku ever note it.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I've seen you naked millions of times." Ryu half-joked, looking every bit as serious as he had before, face still straight.

. . . .as if I didn’t already know that. Evande dully blinked, and her face went a bit pink at that, but she gave no clear reaction to it other than this, she just absentmindedly continued to stare at Nikolas and Ryu, even as the blonde was pulled into the latter’s lap. Yep, this is leading somewhere. she sighed, shutting her eyes. What the hell was Nikolas getting at, and why was he acting the part of an uke? Was he trying to embarrass her or something weird? Wait . . . he is, isn’t he? Without making a sound, Evande glanced back to the two boys, noting the fact that Nikolas was definitely not acting as she had seen him do so in the last few days. As far as Ryu was concerned at least. She didn’t get why it was he was trying to invoke a reaction out of her, nor did Evande care. It wasn’t going to work as she was now.

Ryu fell asleep with his head on Nikolas shoulder, the blonde’s face turned a shade of pink at this with Evande simply yawned herself and proceeded to move the black sheet and sketchpad off her lap and set it on top of the kotatsu. Not going to work Nikolas.

"Ah. . . s-sorry. He's just really, really tired from last night. He's a bit hungover too." he shrugged, "Anyways, do you want that coffee?" he asked, a rather sickly sweet tone lacing his voice as she smiled, trying to look innocent, pointing at the one cup of instant coffee that had landed upright after he had seen the sketch she had done. Evande merely stared at him with a rather bored look on her face, though she moved herself with a sigh and placed her back upon the kotatsu, staring ahead blankly. Was he going to keep acting like this all day. . . ?

Had this been me yesterday, before I dyed my hair the wrong color, I probably would have freaked out and fainted, with a nosebleed, she thought, her cheeks indeed a little pink. But I’ve had my emotional shock for the day. . . . Evande huffed, and shook her head. I guess it’s time to give Nikolas his. If her alter wanted to try and get a rise out of her, really, it wasn’t wrong of her to return said sentiment, was it? The otaku took in a deep breath and proceeded to sigh in an almost mournful manner. “. . . .no Nikolas, I don’t really drink coffee.” She told him, her voice dull. Absentmindedly, she began to fiddle with the end of her ponytail again, face still slightly flush.

The otaku remained silent for a minute or two, staring off into space, seemingly in thought before she turned and looked back at Nikolas, an unassuming glint in reflected in her brown eyes. Still holding onto her ponytail, she abashedly looked away, face going a touch red for reasons she did not voice. ‘H-Hey . . . Nikolas,” Evande started, an edge of anxiety in her voice, quietly beginning to fidget in place where she sat, “You know . . . there’s something I need to tell you, something really important.” Not completely sure where she was pulling this ruse from Evande found herself just going with it, oddly comfortable.

She moved herself toward Nikolas with an evidential blush upon her face, nervously she looked away from him for a moment before she turned back to him, the most sincere look on her face. “Y-You see . . . there’s someone really important to me,” Her voice was candid, and honest. Though she wouldn’t be shocked if Nikolas were onto her ruse by now, she didn’t care . . . there was still a bolt from the blue to come at the end of this. “Someone I need to confess something to, r-regarding some feelings that have recently developed.”

A tiny whimper of embarrassment came from Evande’s throat at this, while she inwardly flinched. “I don’t know where these came from, but they sort of just showed up . . . you see, I-I’ve sort of come to like a person sitting nearby me right now.” She moved a little closer to him, “And he’s really close by. . . .”

“And also, there’s something else he needs to know. . . .” she said softly remaining quiet for a moment before returning to a normal sitting position, a serious look on her face, “He needs to know that suddenly acting like an uke isn’t going to embarrass the hell of out me right now.” Evande stated rather blatantly, “In case you’re wondering Nikolas, I’ve already had the displeasure of remembering a certain lifetime regarding you and Ryu being lovers; and I already know who was the seme and who was the uke!” She sighed and crossed her arms as her face went a stark shade of red at this.

With this, she looked back to her alter, “Also, I’ve already had my emotional shock for the day in the way of dying my hair the wrong color, so you acting like this isn’t going to get much of a reaction out of me. Especially when I have images burned into my brain that do a good enough job of that as it is.” The black-haired woman ascended to her feet with a bit of a grunt, using the kotatsu to help her against gravity’s clutches. “I washed your blanket, warning to you, it smells really flowery, and also . . . I came back over here to get my coat and boots back. . . .” she murmured, pointing to the black bedspread placed under her sketchpad still.

“Oh . . . and I was privy to knowing about the situation regarding you and Ryu most of late yesterday afternoon and night, and it didn’t do much to hinder how I acted toward you, so don’t you think it’s a little unfair to try and get me all flustered on purpose?”

And once more, during all of this . . . Kiku was still conked out in her apartment, snoozing away.

Nikolas stared at her. No rise? he thought miserably. He just about caught that Evande said she didn't drink coffee, and for some reason, he found that rather odd. Maybe it was because he was a waiter at some point, and most people like coffee so he'd gotten so used to the fact that people wanted the beverage. But he took the cup on the table and sipped at it. There was a minute or so before she spoke again, where Nikolas spent most of it staring at her sketchpad. "H-Hey . . . Nikolas," She sounded a bit anxious. “You know . . . there’s something I need to tell you, something really important.”

"Y-You see . . . there’s someone really important to me,” She sounded honest, but Nikolas' eyes flickered to another part of the room. He didn't trust her, but that wasn't really a personal thing. It was just something he couldn't do after only knowing someone for less than three days. No matter how much he wanted to. “Someone I need to confess something to, r-regarding some feelings that have recently developed.”

Heh. She's embarrassed. He heard her whimper, and he sighed. “I don’t know where these came from, but they sort of just showed up . . . you see, I-I’ve sort of come to like a person sitting nearby me right now.” As she moved closer, Nikolas gave her such a glare that the approaching Panda, hoping for a cuddle, tiptoed off quietly, hoping she hadn't been seen. “And he’s really close by. . . .” A heavy sigh came out his mouth; it was when people acted like that that got on his nerves. Sure, he'd acted it earlier, but. . . Well, she's just being ridiculously strange.

“And also, there’s something else he needs to know. . . .” She stayed close, before going back to sit down properly. “He needs to know that suddenly acting like an uke isn’t going to embarrass the hell of out me right now.” She said, but Nikolas' didn't turn to look at her. “In case you’re wondering Nikolas, I’ve already had the displeasure of remembering a certain lifetime regarding you and Ryu being lovers; and I already know who was the seme and who was the uke!” The muscle under the boy's eye twitched slightly at the word 'lovers', but he wasn't in the least embarrassed, despite how red it had made the girl admitting this.

The boy looked up to the heavens, angrily demanding for answers. Why is she remembering my lifetimes? he thought, aggravated at the whole situation. “Also, I’ve already had my emotional shock for the day in the way of dying my hair the wrong color, so you acting like this isn’t going to get much of a reaction out of me. Especially when I have images burned into my brain that do a good enough job of that as it is.” Burned? Hardly. Nikolas glanced at her, still not really getting used to the black hair, and relaxed onto Ryu, sort of using him as a cushion without even realising.

The girl stood up, and Nikolas felt stuck to the ground somehow, staring over at a spot in the floor that suddenly became very interesting in the last few minutes. "I washed your blanket, warning to you, it smells really flowery, and also . . . I came back over here to get my coat and boots back. . . .” Nikolas' eyes lit up. F-flowery? he thought happily, though no smile was apparent on his face.

“Oh . . . and I was privy to knowing about the situation regarding you and Ryu most of late yesterday afternoon and night, and it didn’t do much to hinder how I acted toward you, so don’t you think it’s a little unfair to try and get me all flustered on purpose?” Nikolas looked down, his hair covering his face as he stood up. He shook it off, showing an evil grin forming on his face as he giggled slightly.

His voice was dark as he finally spoke. "Ah, life is unfair." he said, a slightly vicious look in his eyes. "If it's not, you're not playing the game right. . ." Nikolas trailed off into slight laughter before stopping abruptly at the slight tinge of his scar. He winced, grabbing it instinctively before turning around quickly. "Evande, I think you should go." he said worriedly, feeling some sort of panic attack coming on or something. He was generally quite paranoid in the mornings, but he didn't really like speaking to people in the way he just did; it freaked him out how much it resembled someone he knew.

Running his hand through his hair, Nikolas glanced around the room quickly before heading into the bathroom and washing his face with cold water. Ryu was awake, he had been since Evande said something about some situation between him and Nikolas, and he stared up at her from the ground, his green eyes searching the room.

She awoke with a terrible jolt, entire body tensing up as she could barely manage a rather startled intake of air. Deep-red eyes wide open; Kiku Kurosawa perplexedly stared ahead at her half-open closet door, her heart fluttering away frantically in her chest. From time to time, a notable shudder travelled through her form as she herself seemed to be absent, consciousness missing. A glint of fear seemed to run through those eyes of hers, along with something resembling mourning. Without seeming to notice, she blinked, a tear running down the side of her face, soaking into her bedspread. Reality seemed to flitter in and out, everything so far away, so not existent. . . .

It felt like her soul had come loose, as if it had managed to slip out of its mortal flesh while she was asleep, and wandered around all of creation. Her whole self felt heavy, just really . . . really heavy. Even though she was safe in her own room, it looked as if she didn’t recognize where she was. The fact that her consciousness didn’t even seem to be a certain thing at the moment only made it all the worse, the sensation of not knowing where she was. In and out, in and out; it just didn’t seem to want to stay.

Her mind in a daze, Kiku did the very best she could to try to get a grasp upon some semblance of composure, of something that could make sense of her current situation. A cough coming from her lungs, the brunette found herself groaning a bit as things began to clear up in her head somewhat. That fear remained in her bones though, along with an aching sort of feeling that ate away at her knobby joints and made her dread even trying to move. That’s right . . . I’m sick. . . . she remembered, sighing quietly. As sleep had been a less than peaceful event for her, Kiku had more or less been unable to have much mental clarity upon waking up.

Truly, slumber had been a violent thing, her dreams nothing more than terrible nightmares. Yesterday . . . what happened yesterday? Kiku groaned, forcing herself up into a sitting position, body protesting with every little bit of movement she made. I . . . don’t remember much of yesterday, or last night. Placing her head into her hand, she tried to remember the happenings of the previous day, a dull throbbing beginning in her cranium. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember yesterday, all she seemed to be able to recall were the sorrowful events of her ‘dream.’

The tiny woman couldn’t even remember how it was she had gone and gotten herself sick . . . everything was just, gone. The hell was that about? Why was it that the last of her most coherent memories were of the night before the last, when she had gone to bed swearing she would figure out the weirdness regarding her new neighbors and the fact one seemed so blasted familiar to her? I can only remember a little bit of yesterday, going over to talk to the weirdo-Otaku, only to be attacked by her damn ninja cat, then . . . everything’s a blank. Kiku huffed at this, coughing from the suddenness of the exhale, Did that stupid feline make me have a head injury or something? Is that why I can’t figure out anything else about yesterday, or why the hell it is I’m sick?

“Ugh, even when you aren’t around Sterling, you still manage to make your freakiness rub off on me!” The tsundere groaned, letting herself tip forward into her mattress, mentally cursing the otaku’s existence for a few moments, Kiku simply lay there with her face flat into her bed. It had to be her fault again; everything weird that happened to Kiku was always her fault! That damn pink hair of hers is a magnet for the odd! Turning her face to the side so she could breathe, a rather sour look had overtaken the ahoge-bearing woman’s pallor features. She still looked ill. . . . Skin ashen, cheeks flushed with fever; she was not looking very good, and the fact that she couldn’t remember yesterday was just making her feel all the worse in the way of pissing her little self off.

Sure, the heavens let her remember her tear inducing dream with starling clarity, but they go and wipe her memories of the previous day . . . brilliant! Just brilliant. . . .

What was with that weird dream of hers anyway? It seemed more like the plot of some tragic, overly mushy love story than something suitable for a dream. It was simply defined enough, Kiku had been made to see the whole story through the eyes of a woman named Mao, and Mao was in love with someone she knew from her childhood . . . but her family went into a terrible debt because her father had gambling problems. So, in order to stave off the debt collectors, Mao’s mother and father had sold her to a brothel where she would work off their debts in the way so common for girls her age in similar situations. . . . However, as Mao was being forced away by those she was sold to, the boy she loved with her whole heart came to find out about what was happening.

To try and spare her the Fate placed upon her, he attempted to fight her buyers off, only to be stabbed through the stomach, and left for dead. Mao seeing everything, screaming in desperation, heart breaking to pieces. Writhing, and struggling against her captors, Mao tried to fight her way back to her love’s side, but to no avail. She was far too small and too weak to out power them, and she wound up being forced to the brothel. Upon being deposited there, left in a room with things used to make the women physically attractive and appealing, Mao had forced her fist through a nearby vanity mirror . . . and ended her life shortly after.

It was a tragedy, but to Kiku, it seemed more annoying than anything else, because that was all she could remember at the moment. It seemed like the memory of that dream replaced all recollection she might have had after being attacked by Sterling’s ninja cat. Did her brain have some maximum capacity limit on how many memories she could store or something. . . ? To this notion, Kiku just groaned loudly and huffed. Really, it wasn’t fair for someone of her caliber to be forced through such weirdness. She deserved a more normal life, with normal people living around her . . . not some pink-haired otaku freak and two new guys who spoke of things and acted like they’ve lived more than one life.

As if, she rolled her eyes at the very thought, People only live once, and unlike what the Hell that purple-haired idiot said the other night, no one has a second personality. Kiku thought back to her little confrontation with the one known as Ryu, and the fact that he sent a jolt of familiarity through her. “Ugh, I shouldn’t even just feel like I know someone so damn stupid. . . .” she sneered in disgust. Really, she shouldn’t have even felt like that . . . it just wasn’t right of her to given her family background. Besides, why was it she felt like she knew a man of all people when she didn’t associate with any of them due to her promise ten years ago?

Nearly hissing at herself, Kiku forced her sickly body up and to her feet, ignoring the fact that she felt dizzy as hell and attempted to force herself to go about her usual morning routine. So what if she were sick? She had things to do, things that were more important than a case of the sniffles. . . . Teetering toward her bathroom, Kiku managed to keep herself upright for part of the trek there . . . only to tip over from the lightheadedness plaguing her body, as she fell, the brunette let out a shrill cry, reaching out for something to stop her plummet, only winding up knocking a picture off her wall . . . the thing shattering when it hit the floor.

☼☼☼☼☼

Evande sighed to herself quietly, pushing up on her glasses . . . okay, so that wasn’t the best way to break that particular bit of news to her alter, knowing about his rather scandalous life with Ryu. But, well, he sort of ticked her off with suddenly acting not as himself. Boneheaded move once more Evande, seems like your prided maturity is just going right down the drain lately. . . . she chided herself, recalling the fact she had chewed Kurosawa out in a fit of annoyance the day before, losing her cool then too. I so need to remember I’m suppose to be an adult. What was wrong with her these last days . . . even if Nikolas had sort of turned her whole life upside down, that didn’t mean she should go and suddenly act the complete opposite of her real self. What happened to how she had acted last night. . . ?

The otaku looked off to the side, maintaining a lax expression upon her face as she felt regret at how she had just acted, knowing she should not have indulged herself as she had and that she should have simply brushed Nikolas’ weird behavior off without a proper reaction. She should have treated it as normal and acted like nothing out of the normal was going on. The fact that he was getting no rise out of her, no questioning looks or freak-outs . . . that would probably have been enough to make him knock it off. Maybe then, she could have broken the truth about recovering memories of his lives as well in a manner more appropriate. Geez, when did I turn out to be such an idiot. . . ?

It was the fact that Nikolas suddenly rose up to his feet that caught her attention . . . as well as the fact that a rather unpleasant sentiment prickled up her spine. It felt familiar. Maintaining a calm expression however, as to not alert anyone of the feeling boiling in her blood now, Evande turned her head over and looked at her alter. He was smiling in a manner that was rather alarming, giving off a malicious aura, even giggling in a creepy manner that did not seem to at all fit him. Perhaps Evande did not know her alter well, but she knew and felt enough to recognize that this was not desired behavior. What she felt . . . was it a bit of fear? Was she actually a little frightened of Nikolas?

She sort of half glared at him when he finally spoke, his voice tilting upon what seemed to be some impression of a sinister edge, ”Ah, life is unfair,” There was a sharp glint in his eyes, something dangerous that almost seemed . . . merciless to Evande’s senses. This made the black-haired woman tense up slightly, but not enough to be notable to anyone but herself. ”If it’s not, you’re not playing the game right. . .” A creepy sort of laugh surfaced from the blonde’s lungs at that. This sent an unnatural chill through her bones; her skin went gooseflesh as she found herself feeling rather uncomfortable now.

Normally, Evande would have just up and runaway without delay . . . but, this was her fault. Even if Nikolas were frightening her a little bit at the moment, she didn’t budge from where she stood. She had caused this, and up and leaving would be wrong after acting like such an idiot. Besides, it wasn’t like running away was so simple for her anymore. Because of the choices she had made, she had connected herself to both Nikolas and Ryu the previous day . . . if she had just chosen to disregard the two of them in the first place, then she wouldn’t be where she was now. She could have chosen to do that, to ignore the two boys completely, and gone on with her normal lifestyle. But, she hadn’t done that, had she? She’d stayed, and chosen to pursue something she didn’t understand, something that very well upturned her whole life. There was no backing out of this. Even if Nikolas was making her feel uncomfortable, and a bit frightened, it wasn’t as simple as running away and leaving it all behind her. He lived across the hall from her, and she couldn’t just . . . abandon the last few days.

Even in her discontented state, Evande didn’t miss when Nikolas up and suddenly clutched onto his stomach, grimacing, looking slightly alarmed and shocked. He turned around before speaking again, his voice actually sounding somewhat normal for himself again, albeit it was laced with anxiety, ”Evande, I think you should go.” The woman didn’t move though, even with his ‘suggestion.’ Nikolas ducked into the bathroom rather quickly, leaving herself and Ryu in the room alone. Remaining silent and still, Evande stood as she had been before, letting reality sort of soak into her brain fully.
I am naught but an idiot. she sighed to herself, pushing up on her glasses. Evande needed to be more careful, she really did, and she knew that. I . . . wasn’t lying to anyone when I said I didn’t want to go back to living on my own last night, because I’m scared to do that. But, look what at I’ve gone and done.

Exhaling sharply, the otaku shook her head, “Why am I so stupid. . . ?” she asked out loud, not really looking for an answer. She needed to apologize for how she had acted, really, she did. Just because she had gone and made a mistake about her hair dye, it gave her no right to go and act so terribly toward anyone, even if they were acting out of character themselves, trying to annoy or embarrass her. Dully, her brown eyes looked down at Ryu, who was lying on the floor in a heap, and noticed that the multi-colored haired boy was very much awake, and sort of looking at her. Planting the palm of her hand to her face, she sighed, “Don’t answer that Ryu . . . I know I just acted like an ass, I don’t need someone’s reaffirmation regarding it.”

Removing her hand from her forehead, Evande looked away from Ryu, and started for the doorway. “I’ll be back in a minute,” Evande informed him, going back to her own abode for a moment. She really owed Nikolas an apology, and given the conditions she found both her alter and Ryu in, it was easy to deduce that neither of them had eaten breakfast yet. . . . Just so happened that breakfast food was the one area in cooking where she excelled. But first, she thought, I think it would be best to do something about their lack-of-blanket situation. Not saying anything aloud, Evande went back into her room and got into her closet, digging out two spare fleece throws she kept around for whenever it got really cold outside. She wasn’t using them right now, and considering the fact that it seemed like there wasn’t any heat in her alter’s apartment, the throws would be put to better use there than in her closet.

After pulling them out, and sliding her closet door shut with the side of her hips, the otaku made her way back to the kitchen area of her apartment, and began to ransack her fridge and cupboard, going through a mental checklist of the things she’d need in order to cook what it was she had in mind. Adjusting the fleece throws so they were being held by one arm, Evande went ahead and pulled everything she needed from her kitchen into her other arm, and by some miracle managed to actually hold onto all of it while turning and heading for her door. Upon actually getting to it though, she realized she had a little dilemma in the way of actually getting said thing open. “Okay, so how am I going to pull this one off. . . ?” the otaku asked herself, looking at her full arms then down to her bare feet, “. . . .guess I’m doing this the hard way.”

Balancing herself as best she could, Evande swung one of her legs up and hit the handle of her front door with the bottom of her foot, managing to get it to open before narrowly slipping out of the door after getting it to swing open just enough. After hearing the door latch behind her, Evande went ahead to go back inside Nikolas an Ryu’s apartment when she heard a loud meow come from her feet. Questioningly, she looked down, only to see Kiseki there, looking up at her with his bright green eyes. Evande laughed at this, “You little sneak, you got out when I opened the door.” To this accusation, the cat merely mewled in response, as if proud.

The black-haired woman laughed a bit with a smile, “You’re going to make mommy worried one of these days, but this time, she’ll let you tag along since she’s going to go ahead to try and make amends for acting like an ass and upsetting someone important to her.” Unaware that she could probably be heard while talking to Kiseki, Evande went ahead and just cooed that out to her black and white ninja kitty before starting off again, Kiseki going right ahead of her and into the apartment.

Entering the apartment again, Evande felt her face redden with shame as she quickly deposited the things she needed to cook on the empty countertop, and went ahead and headed over to the couch, dropping the fleece throws onto it without actually looking to see if Nikolas had come back out of the bathroom yet. Still, she quietly spoke in a rush about them, “Those are spare blankets of mine, I’m going to let you borrow them since you don’t seem to have any heat yet.” Before heading back to the kitchen to get started on the pancakes and cinnamon syrup she knew how to make.

She’d gotten used enough to doing this, so cooking said things was rather easy for her . . . digging a frying pan out of the cupboards and some other utensils, Evande got to work without making noise, moving almost like a machine while she cooked. It only took her about ten minutes in total, given the fact that she had the burner cranked up higher than necessary, yet somehow she had managed to prevent the food from turning into charcoal, and didn’t burn the cinnamon syrup she made.

Hopefully, making food would be enough of a way to begin apologizing for her terrible behavior earlier. . . .

Ryu stared at the girl, and was a bit shocked when she spoke. “Why am I so stupid. . . ?” The multi-colour haired boy looked at her, and he saw her eyes slide over, before noticing he was actually awake. No one ever noticed me. he thought jokingly, a small smile appearing on his face. He was about to retort, but she spoke before he could even start. “Don’t answer that Ryu . . . I know I just acted like an ass, I don’t need someone’s reaffirmation regarding it.” He blinked, before laying back down, face towards the floor. He groaned slightly; he didn't particularly like Nikolas when he was acting all weird, and to be honest, he usually became an annoying burden, getting angry at every little thing. Well, he was usually like that anyways, but it just got. . . worse.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Evande said, leaving. Ryu mumbled into the pillow, and at hearing her leave, Nikolas tiptoed out of the bathroom and lay back down on the couch, breathing heavily. He told Ryu quietly that Evande knew about that lifetime where they were together, but that didn't seem to be what was bothering him. Ryu sighed; Evande was right with what she'd said, but she had to understand that Nikolas was just like his little brother, despite said person denying this to the end of the world. The blonde breathed in deeply.

Ryu rolled over so he could actually look up. "I'm such a moron." Nikolas breathed, and Ryu laughed a bit, earning himself a glare. But there was a smile on the blond's face as he covered the top half with his arm, so Ryu dropped the subject and decided not to tease him. He seemed to be having slight trouble with breathing, but he was probably calming down now. The smaller boy sighed, but they both sat bolt upright when they heard something smash in on of the other rooms. Ryu got up and walked to Kiku's apartment door, knocking.

"Kiku~?" He said in a sing-song voice, wondering what had happened. Sure, she had a cold, but that was expected after walking around barefoot until every bone in her body was freezing cold. He sighed, a little smile on his face; he still didn't really know what had gotten her so worked up that she'd completely blanked out. But he didn't really need to know that. "Kiku, it's Ryu! Hey, hey, check it out, my hair's changed colour again! Come to our apartment when you're ready, or awake, or something!" Ryu called, but he ended up drifting to Ryu-world all over again, as if he couldn't stay even one second in silence without finding something to think about. He turned around as her heard mewling, and Evande talking to herself. But when he looked to her feet, he saw a black and white cat. That's. . . not Panda. he thought, creeping back into the apartment when he heard her saying something about somewhere important to her.

It seemed Nikolas' face was now covered with a blanket, and when Ryu peered under it, he saw Nikolas looking cross-eyed at Panda, who was sitting on his nose, looking annoyed with himself. Panda was mewling to the little mumbles he was telling her, and Ryu thought of how weird it would be if Panda randomly replied; how scared Nikolas would be. Ryu found himself silently laughing as he sat down, narrowly missing Nikolas' feet. He somehow got a little glare from the two, and they returned to their 'conversation'. Ryu looked up to see Evande coming in the door, her cat following. Panda jumped down from Nikolas' face, and he turned over, his mouth and nose covered by the arm of the couch. His eyes followed the little cat, not even noticing the two that had just entered until he saw Panda mewling at another cat. Ryu looked at the three, sighing and took out his phone, searching the internet.

The blonde looked up, seeing a pair of legs and glanced up, seeing Evande with about a million things in her arms. His eyes followed her round the room, not being able to see what was in her arms, but it seemed that she didn't notice they were there. It was proven when she threw some half-folded blankets on Ryu. “Those are spare blankets of mine, I’m going to let you borrow them since you don’t seem to have any heat yet.” Nikolas tilted his head sideways at her statement. More blankets? He looked up at her as she walked into the kitchen-area-thing to get utensils, and a frying pan, from the cupboards. Looking at the utensils questioningly, he stood up as she set them down. Nikolas climbed up onto the counter, but she just carried on cooking as if she'd never noticed him; it was warm next to the cooker.

The boy stared at her cooking. How hasn't it turned black? She's got it on one of the highest settings. He sighed. Then again, I guess it's just me who can burn everything apart from instant noodles. He was grateful that Evande was cooking; there was nothing instant in the house so he'd have to wait until Ryu got up. Which could take a few hours. He then looked up to her face, tilting his head to the left. "Evande, well. . ." he started, his voice trailing off into a simple whisper. "S-sorry." His voice was hardly heard, but nonetheless, Ryu turned his head slowly, evidently shocked beyond belief, before hunching over in laughter. Nikolas was soon behind the couch, and he punched him before crying out in pain. He looked at his hand, seeing the splint and remembering that he'd broken his wrist.

"Goddamn it Ryu!" His eyes darted over to Ryu, whose bad acting skills were in action. He was now trying to look sympathetic without laughing, but he had to leave the room and enter his own, despite his efforts. "Get back in here! . . . Ryu!" Sighing, Nikolas sat down on the couch in a huff, crossing his arms angrily. Panda was busy playing with Evande's cat, Kiseki. He looked at Evande. "I would help cooking, but we'd end up having to evacuate the building." He laughed, his eyes somehow sparkling as he went to get a drink, like the weird thing Ryu'd brought home. What was it called? Mountain Dew or something?

Groaning softly, Kiku pushed herself up to her knees, minding the shards of glass that now littered her hallway. Ugh, damn it all. . . . she mentally cursed, angry. Why the hell was she so sick that she couldn’t even navigate her own home? Really, what had she gone and done yesterday that made her feel so . . . yuck? Where was her memory?! With a huff, the brunette got herself up to her feet, coughing a bit. “Screw it, I’m just going back to bed.” She muttered, turning on her heel to go back to her bedroom, only to stop in place when she heard someone knocking at her door. This caused her to stop in place and to turn her eyes back to it, glaring. Who would even be bothering to knock on her door? It wasn’t like she had any friends who would dare do so anyway.

What? Did someone hear the picture break and dart over here to be my knight in shining armor? she thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Pft, like she needed someone to go and do that when she already had her own prince. . . .

”Kiku~?” she heard someone’s nonchalant voice call out from beyond said door. Kiku just froze when she recognized it as Ryu’s. In her mind, he was still an annoying guy she had tried to get answers out of before, only to realize that she recognized him in some weird way. He got on her nerves and she wanted nothing to do with him. "Kiku, it's Ryu! Hey, hey, check it out, my hair's changed colour again! Come to our apartment when you're ready, or awake, or something!" Kiku hissed to herself as she heard him go on, sounding overly excited for some reason she couldn’t have conceivably cared less about.

What would I care if he dyed his damn violet hair another weird color? she thought herself, continuing back to her bedroom with a rather sour expression on her face. For the life of her, she really couldn’t remember what had happened to her yesterday. “Well, whatever, it isn’t like I care right now. All I want to do is sleep without having some freakish nightmare.” She sighed, laying herself back onto the soft surface of her bed, shutting her eyes as she attempted to go back to sleep. . . .

☼☼☼☼☼

As she went about her business cooking, making sure not to burn the pancakes in the frying pan . . . Evande knew full well that Nikolas was sitting on the counter next to the stovetop, she just sort of choose to act as if she had entirely tuned the world out, save the quickly cooking pancakes and the simmering syrup. Honestly, that was kind of easier for her to do as things were, her face still red with shame regarding her earlier behaviors, she wasn’t yet ready to really speak for fear she’d screw up what she had to say and upset her alter again. And the otaku really, really did not want to do that again. She’d only known Nikolas less than three days, but he was sort of an important aspect of her life now, though that might have sort of sounded creepy if one didn’t know the circumstances regarding the two. . . .

It was true though, Evande had found her silly self getting attached to Nikolas rather quickly, something she could only chalk up to the fact that she had isolated herself from everyone for six years, and deep down inside had actually desired some form of companionship. Those mere six years when tacked onto what she had felt with Kassia’s sorrowful and lonely life . . . it was a weight she didn’t want to bear again. Those things were enough to make Evande actually fear the concept of having to go back to being alone. If that’s how things were, then it seems strange that she wouldn’t try to branch out more after all of that, to try and make friends with people besides her alter. Honestly, Evande still found herself untrusting of most people thanks to what happened to her in junior high school, the whole experience with being abandoned by her so-called friends.

It left her bitter toward the majority of people, as Kiku has said in her mocking the other day, she was tormented so she rejected the rest of the human race for fear it might happen to her again. Even if the brunette had no right to act as she had, and to mock her past pains . . . she hadn’t been wrong, and that’s what had upset Evande the most, and made her tell the girl off. The strange reality of that whole incident though was sort of funny, if Kurosawa had not gone and upset her so then she might have just gone ahead and shooed Nikolas and Ryu away from her and cut them out of her existence then and there, at least, she probably would have tried that. The otaku had a feeling that even if things had taken that route, she still would have somehow wound up bonding with her alter.

Obviously, the whole situation at hand was some divine set-up. If herself and Nikolas were suppose to be two halves the same whole, and had been this way for countless lifetimes, then the two of them suddenly existing at once was the work of some greater being. This revelation wasn’t exactly shocking news for Evande by any means, while she wasn’t the most religious woman on the planet, it wasn’t as if she didn’t believe in a higher power—it was more like she just never thought about it, thinking that anything divine had better things to go and do than to listen to her petty problems and worries. It’s just, she figured that all of this was the handy work of something she didn’t understand, so no matter what would have happened with meeting Nikolas, she simply guessed that they would have been pushed together in one way or another. Even if she didn’t know the reason, that’s just how she felt.

And . . . well, it wasn’t as if getting attached to Nikolas was something Evande was against, it was a nice thought to think that she might not have to be alone anymore. Thanks to feeling like this, the black-haired woman believed she needed to really be more careful of herself from here on in. Even if there were divine forces at place here, that didn’t mean she could just go and act however she damn well felt.

Sighing softly to herself, still ashamed she had acted so childish, Evande went ahead and flipped the pancakes in the frying pan with a forlorn look on her face, completely aware that Nikolas was watching her intently. Probably trying to figure out how I haven’t burnt anything when I have the setting turned up so high. . . . she smiled a bit at this thought, remembering what he had told her when she’d offered to cook him an omelet . . . ‘plate of black goo.’ Without missing a beat, Evande went ahead and stirred the syrup in its pot on the back burner.

As Nikolas went from staring at the cooking food to looking at her face, Evande felt herself tense up; she didn’t like being stared at directly, few did. Her face went redder before she heard him speak up, ”Evande, well. . .” he started, voice lowering into a whisper, edged with some semblance of regret. This caused Evande to look up and away from the food and right at him when she recognized the tone in his voice, she just looked at him with a glint of confusion in her eyes, why regret? ”S-sorry.” he apologized, his voice so low that Evande could barely even hear it herself, despite being so close to him.

The apology caused Evande to tense up, and to stop breathing. Why was he. . . ? Why apologize to her when she had been the one who acted so stupidly? Biting down on the inside of her cheek, the otaku barely responded to that, only a whimper came from her throat, one so low that it wasn’t barely audible. Her heart just sank into the depths of her stomach when he apologized, it made her feel all the more guilty for her idiocy, for going and upsetting him. Without a word, while Ryu seemed to be laughing over on the couch, Evande just turned her brown eyes back to the food, quickly moving any pancakes that were done from the frying pan and onto a nearby plate before pouring more batter into the metal cooking utensil. How many of these things am I going to make. . .? she questioned herself, mindlessly just going about the task. Truthfully, she probably had made enough food for herself, Nikolas and Ryu, but there was still some batter leftover and well. . . .

Sighing to herself, Evande went ahead and continued making more food, deciing that she would go ahead and just use the extra batter to make something for Kiku. The hypercritical girl was as much a part of this alter ordeal as herself, so why leave her out of the ‘fun?’ She heard some commotion coming from Nikolas and Ryu behind her on the couch, but ignored it. "I would help cooking, but we'd end up having to evacuate the building." she heard Nikolas laugh, guessing he was speaking to her.


Quietly, Evande looked up and at him with a blank expression, seemed he was in a better mood. . . . That’s good, she thought turning her gaze back to the stovetop, she reach over the hot surface and clicked the burners off before moving the last of the pancakes off the frying pan and onto the designated plate. “It’s fine, I’m done cooking already anyway, and I’m used to doing it on my own.” Evande said to him quietly as she went about looking through the things she had brought over from her own apartment. Finding that which she sought, Evande proceeded to empty the pot with the cinnamon syrup she had made into a syrup dispenser, dropping said pot into the sink along with the pan and things she used to cook.

Brushing her hands off against each other, Evande turned on her heel and walked passed Nikolas who was inside his fridge looking for something it seemed; quietly she moved his blanket and her sketchpad off the top of the kotatsu and onto the couch so she’d have a place to put the food. The otaku moved back to the kitchen area of the apartment, but stopped in front of Nikolas, deciding now was as good a time as any to apologize to him for her behavior. Tugging on her ponytail nervously, Evande sighed softly, “U-Um Nikolas? I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier, no matter what was going on, I shouldn’t have just . . . gone and acted so much like a child, I’m sorry I made you upset.” She murmured softly.

Her cheeks went a little red, “I-If I remember anything about one of your lives or something, I’ll make sure I tell you right away since those memories are yours and not mine.” Shaking her head a bit as she continued to prattle, Evande continued to speak, “A-Also . . . even though I was acting like an idiot earlier with that stupid act of mine, I do want you to know that when I said there was someone important sitting close by me. I meant that part of it, even if the rest of it was just a part of the whole ruse. You are significant to me.”

Sighing quietly, she turned on her heel and went to go and get the food she had made. Face still red, Evande walked by Nikolas again, heading for the kotatsu while Panda and Kiseki still were wrestling around with one another. There was a clinking sort of noise when the plate and syrup dispenser hit the device’s surface. Standing back to her full height, the woman blinked before setting her hands on her hips and opening her lips again, “Hey Ryu! Do you think you could go get Kiku for me? I made enough food for her to eat with us, but I doubt she’d come over if I invited her myself. If she’s still sleeping or something, you can get into her apartment with the spare key she keeps taped to the top of her doorframe.”

Evande knew that Nikolas wasn’t fond of Kiku, hell, she herself wasn’t, but Kiku was connected to Ryu like she herself were connected to Nikolas. And since Nikolas and Ryu lived together . . . it seemed best to her to try and get along as far as she was concerned.

“U-Um Nikolas? I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier, no matter what was going on, I shouldn’t have just . . . gone and acted so much like a child, I’m sorry I made you upset.”

 

His eyes stared straight at the girl. To be honest, he wasn't even paying attention and was too busy fanboying over the cats, a happy smile on his face. Wow, I must have looked like Fuko in Clannad when she thinks about starfish! he thought jokingly, before being completely shocked by what he'd just thought. Had he really just related his life to a ghost girl with green hair? Yes, yes he had. And he was getting all the more worked about it, before it finally registered in his head what Evande had said. Acted like a child? Made me upset? Nikolas' face experience a wave of total confusion as he tilted his head, only slightly though.

 

"But," His voice sounded more childish than he wanted to. It was like he was confused, and curious like he had to find out no matter what. ", you're not the one who upset me. I upset me. Wait, no. That's not how you say it!" Nikolas face palmed, before settling down. A small sigh escaped his lips as he watched Panda mewl at Kiseki.

 

“I-If I remember anything about one of your lives or something, I’ll make sure I tell you right away since those memories are yours and not mine.” She shook her head and Nikolas shrugged absentmindedly. “A-Also . . . even though I was acting like an idiot earlier with that stupid act of mine, I do want you to know that when I said there was someone important sitting close by me. I meant that part of it, even if the rest of it was just a part of the whole ruse. You are significant to me.”

 

W-w-w-w-what?! He thought, feeling himself being thrown into a black hole of confusion. His face turned stark red, burning up almost immediately. "B-b-but you've only know me for two d-days!" he attempted, completely and utterly flustered. He walked over to the couch and hid his face in black blanket, only ending up sneezing quietly. Now that he thought about it, there had been some small catch in his throat since the morning; had he caught a cold? No, no, it was probably just something in the air or something. However, he'd also just noticed that he was in his pyjamas. Had he changed into those?

 

A horrifying thought came to the front of Nikolas' mind as he imagined Ryu changing him in the middle of the night. No way! Nikolas thought, but he hadn't gone to sleep in his pyjamas, and Ryu did used to do it all the time, in that lifetime. Plus, said moron was completely smashed too. All arrows point to that conclusion! Nikolas thought angrily, punching the couch with the blanket over his head. He pummelled the wood thing with his good hand so badly, his hand was slightly bruising and the couch had gained a small dent. "Idiot! You stupid idiot! I'm gonna kill you, Ryu!" he yelled in english, which was strange since they lived in japan, and they'd so far been speaking that language. But he seemed unfazed until he realised his hand was starting to hurt. Stretching out his fingers, there was definitely nothing broken.

 

Nikolas stood up, making sure he was actually wearing his pyjamas and the blanket slid off. Well, sort of. He was wearing a huge grey top that barely stayed on either on his shoulders, and his normal pyjama bottoms. Ryu wasn't even there; he'd left as soon as Evande told him where the key for Kiku's apartment was. The blonde sat down in a slight state of shock, before he felt the aggravation starting to build up. A small growl escaped his lips as he stood up, swaying a bit and he walked out the door. He found Ryu just about to reach for the key on their neighbour's doorframe, when he was knocked straight down to the floor with a kick. "How dare you?!" The blonde boy yelled, and even though Ryu tried to punch back, or thrown him off, his anger was obviously getting the better of him.

 

"What are you so worked up about anyways?" Ryu questioned, while getting his face punched. Nikolas was so angry he was punching with two hands, not even bothering to tend to the pain in his wrist. All Ryu got was a growl. "Is it cause I changed you? You were shivering in the night so-" A harder punch made contact with his face before Nikolas got off, crouching on the floor.

 

He was glaring at Ryu. "You know I hate it!" Nikolas said, an angry look in his eyes. Ryu really had no idea what he was talking about, and that was evident. "You know I hate when people see my s-" he stopped at the strangely concerned look on Ryu's face, and he stood up to his full height. "Stop acting as if you care! Actually, stop randomly changing me when I'm fast asleep!"

 

"Hey, I was so drunk I could barely think straight, and as I said, you were shivering like hell, so I changed you and put your other clothes on top!" Ryu protested. "It was really difficult, you know! It's like you were a doll or something!"

 

Nikolas was walking back in the door. "You should have just woken me up! Now go get Kiku, and be quick about it, since breakfast is served." The blonde had calmed down quite a bit, and was feeling more depressed than angry. But then he remembered that he had food, which was a joy! Since Ryu was so hungover, the food would either burn or taste horrible, and those traits come to Nikolas' food anyways. He, for no reason, giggled happily before putting his hands together. "Itadakimasu!" he cheered, a bright smile on his face. He took one of the pancakes and sort of stared at it blankly, not at all sure what to do. Laughing nervously, he looked at the pancakes. "Erm, what do I do. . . with the syrup? I-I mean, I've had pancakes before, but not with syrup. . . Ryu always just put sugar or cinnamon." In the shape of a love heart he thought miserably.

Evande was getting the plates and dining utensils out when she heard Nikolas shout out that he was going to kill Ryu in English. Hearing that caused the dark-headed woman to look away from the cupboard she was looking through and to look back at Nikolas with a bit of a weirded out expression. The combination of the threat on Ryu’s life, and hearing Nikolas speaking English is what got her so freaked. So, it wasn’t a surprise that Nikolas could speak another language, but what was a surprise was the fact that he was going ahead and just . . . shouting about killing his roommate in it. Since when was Japanese not good enough for that purpose? From what I’ve seen so far, it’s suited the insults and such perfectly fine until now. the otaku sighed quietly, and shook her head. She was just as fluent in English as she was in Japanese herself, well, her father was from the United States after all, and considering Evande often did roleplaying and other such activities online, she needed to know how to speak and read the language, if she didn’t know it then, then that would just be pathetic.

Blinking a bit, she continued to look at Nikolas questioningly, who didn’t at all seem to notice the set of eyes on him as he went on his little tirade, punching the wooden frame of the couch as hard as he could with his unbroken hand. So, what could Ryu have possibly done to induce this much anger from the blonde anyway. . . ? Did Nikolas even have a right to go and be so upset when Ryu had even gone so far as to go along with his little ruse earlier when he obviously didn’t have to? Evande had been around since both boys had woken up, and as far as she knew, Ryu hadn’t done anything ridiculous enough to tick Nikolas off so much.

The former wasn’t even in the apartment at the moment anyway, Evande had spotted him darting out the door right after she told him where he could find the key to Kiku’s apartment, when Nikolas was embarrassed by what she had told him, the fact he was important to her despite the limited timeframe of knowing each other. The two of them had lived as one person for millennia, why would it be so weird for her to get attached to him so quickly? It didn’t seem so out there to her . . . but then, Evande knew she didn’t really possess any sense of what people considered to be reason. If she did, she probably wouldn’t have just cooked breakfast for her neighbors of two days, nor would she probably believe all that was happening to her.

Turning back to what she was doing in the first place; Evande went about getting the plates and forks needed to actually eat out from the cupboard and one of the drawers, keeping her mouth shut and her lips sealed. Truthfully, part of her just began to wonder something, with the whole alternate self situation . . . did each of the souls in that deal wind up having traits that were extremely different from the other? Evande knew that she shared some personality traits with Nikolas, that much was certain, but at the same time, there was a whole lot that was different. Hmm, maybe as I come to remember more of my past lives or something, I’ll change. she assumed. Being quiet, the otaku turned on her heel with plates and forks in hand, ready to peacefully return to the kotatsu. Only, she found herself having to back up into the counter to avoid Nikolas who sort of swayed/stormed out of the front door.

“. . . .oh Lord.” Groaning, the woman just went back to what she was doing, having a rather strong feeling she knew what was going to transpire between Nikolas and Ryu. “They’re going to fight, marvelous.” She huffed, setting the plates and forks down on the surface of the heating device, before setting herself down to wait for the other three, a slight look of annoyance was creeping across her face. Feeling this, Evande took in a deep breath and held it in for about ten seconds, trying to calm herself down. No, no; she couldn’t just regress into being a grouch again could she now?

I just got through with lecturing myself on this. I can’t go and act however I please. A rather dull expression played over Evande’s face as she absentmindedly began to fiddle with her low ponytail, which was still slung over her right shoulder. She couldn’t help the vestiges of aggravation creeping into her bones when her thoughts happened back to how Nikolas was reacting toward Ryu. Yes, Evande felt some bitterness toward him herself thanks to those unpleasant tainted memories lodged in her skull, because he was the root of the lot, but . . . still. “You don’t know much of anything about what’s gone on between those two still Evande, they have countless lives to go off of, but you have two days in this one, and the recollections of a life you shouldn’t even know about.” While doing her best to keep herself level-headed as she could, Evande took one of her hands and gripped onto the bridge of her nose underneath her glasses. All of this was really just—just crazy. . . .

♦♦♦♦♦♦

Disturbed from trying to slumber once again, Kiku opened up her eyes and instantly turned to giving a death glare to her innocent wall. Nikolas’ shout had gone and been what really had roused her from her light snooze. Damn it, she mentally cursed, forcing herself back up into a sitting position against her body’s will. Ugh, seriously, she was just getting more and more achy. “Why? Why can’t I just have normal neighbors? Or dreams that don’t apparently wipe out the memories I have of the previous day? Either one would be awfully freaking nice.” She grumbled as she forced herself to her feet, attempted to yawn, only to begin coughing because of the strain on her lungs. After the little episode ended, Kiku shook off the remnants of discomfort she felt in her chest from it and, while grumbling, shuffled toward her front door, running her fingers through her hair, working out any kinks she felt in it.

Even if she hated her new neighbors, she at least wanted to make sure she didn’t have bed-head while berating them for being asses in front of her door. A scowl on her face, the brunette sighed to herself while she undid the lock on her door, and quietly turned the handle, pulling the door open.

Nikolas had Ryu half-pinned to the floor in front of the entrance to her home, and was punching him . . . with an apparently broken wrist, and a shirt that was once more far too large for him. Ryu on the other hand seemed to have lost a bet or something, due to the state of his hair color. Kiku remembered what he had said earlier at her door though, it was purposeful. "Is it cause I changed you? You were shivering in the night so-" Ryu was cut off in defending himself by a solid blow right to the face that left even Kiku grimacing, despite her loathing for the man.

Nikolas got off him, but remained stooped over on the floor, sending Ryu a death glare while Kiku had a hand to her mouth, an obvious look of discomfort on her face, trying to figure out what the Hell the blonde’s problem was. Sure, both he and the giant annoy me, but, seriously? He just acted like an ass and hit Ryu pretty damn hard.

Ryu began to sit up before Nikolas started shouting again, in Kiku’s opinion, he sounded an awful lot like a child. "You know I hate it! You know I hate when people see my s-" Being where she was, Kiku wasn’t able to see the look on Ryu’s face, but her deep red eyes were able to clearly perceive the look of shock that was quickly displayed on Nikolas’ face in reaction to whatever Kiku couldn’t see on the former’s features. The bitter look seemed to return to the boy who doesn’t seem to know his own shirt size’s face just as quickly as the surprise though, he glared again, and just ascended to his feet before barking out an order again, ”Stop acting as if you care! Actually, stop randomly changing me when I'm fast asleep!"

Changing him? That’s really all he’s so worked up over? Kiku questioned, arching an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her diaphragm and leaned up against her door, the fact she still looked ill apparent as ever. Still going unnoticed, Kiku remained where she was, just silently observing the two with a look of skepticism on her face, even if she acted childish sometimes, at least she didn’t resort to punching the daylights out of someone over something so . . . stupid.

"Hey, I was so drunk I could barely think straight, and as I said, you were shivering like hell, so I changed you and put your other clothes on top!" Ryu protested. "It was really difficult, you know! It's like you were a doll or something!"

Already heading back inside his own abode, Nikolas stopped only to respond to his multi-colored hair roommate, again . . . just barking orders. "You should have just woken me up! Now go get Kiku, and be quick about it, since breakfast is served."

At hearing her own name mentioned, the hypercritical Kiku Kurosawa pushed herself up and off the door she was supporting herself of and stood up straight while watching Nikolas retreat into the open apartment door, her arms still crossed. Now why would they be wanting me? she silently questioned, eyes half-open in boredom. What happened yesterday? Shaking her ahoge bearing head, Kiku just sighed. Chances were that the happenings of the previous day were never going to be remembered, so why concern herself with them for now? There was the matter of Nikolas ordering Ryu to come get her for some reason. With a huff, she opened her mouth and spoke at last, “Well, someone’s certainly a bundle of sunshine in the morning.” she remarked, voice laced heavily with sarcasm. “Seriously, the hell was that about? Did he really just attack you for changing him into his sleep clothes when he was three sheets to the wind drunk?” Kiku’s hand went out to the side for the sake of gesturing while she looked at where Nikolas had vanished from sight.

Groaning, she found herself coughing again. “Ugh, damn it, how did I get sick. . . ?” she murmured under her breath, setting a hand to her beginning to throb forehead. She quickly removed it though, not wanting to appear weak in front of her neighbor. While she crossed her arms again, Kiku cast her gaze down to Ryu, and she found herself wincing instinctively. A pang of familiarity shot through her again as she felt a bit of consideration slip through her defenses all of a sudden at the sight she beheld. It looked like a damn good bruise was beginning to form on the side of the boy’s face from the last time Nikolas had decked him.

With a shake of the skull, Kiku vanished into her own apartment, and proceeded to dig out an ice pack she had stuck in her freezer since forever ago before wrapping it up in a towel and returning out into the hallway. A stern and slightly annoyed look plastered onto her pale face, Kiku knelt down next Ryu and set the ice pack against the side of his face.

Okay . . . why was she going ahead and doing this? It wasn’t like he was critically injured or anything like that, so she would have been perfectly fine just ignoring him and going back to bed or something. I don’t know why. He annoys me, and his hair is god-awful, and I can’t remember yesterday, but—but there’s that damn feeling that I know him. she thought, feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Hopefully, that was just perceived as her developing a fever really fast. . . . Huffing at getting flustered as she was when she had no reason to, Kiku glanced off to the side before she grabbed hold of Ryu’s arm and began to ascend to her feet, “Come on, let’s get your ass back into your apartment. And, hold that ice pack on your face would you? Mr. Sunshine’s little freak out’s leaving you with a wonderful bruise.”

♦♦♦♦♦♦

She sat in silence, looking through the sketchbook she had left on top of Nikolas’ blanket quietly, staring at a few of the things she had drawn only a few weeks ago. They were people she didn’t know, but had just drawn . . . much like what she had done the previous night with the sketch of Nikolas in one of his past lives. Evande felt connected to the people in her drawings, but she didn’t yet know anything about them, however, she knew she would probably learn soon enough. Maybe I was remembering things before this all even started. she thought to herself. Even though she was lost in her own thoughts, Evande was startled from them when she saw movement in her peripheral vision. Nearly jumping out of her skin, she quickly shut her sketchpad and slid it off her lap and onto the nearby floor.

Shaking the shock from herself, the woman cast her brown eyes up to see Nikolas with a slightly angry, yet miserable expression on his face. What happened with him and Ryu? she questioned, blinking with a confused look on her face.

When Nikolas giggled however, and suddenly clapped his hands together, Evande squeaked and jolted in shock, not expecting that out of him. Realizing her reaction, the otaku’s face went red and her head slunk down in embarrassment, okay, she really needed to work on her reactions. Almost whimpering, she pushed up on her glasses again as Nikolas sat down, cheering "Itadakimasu!" causing Evande to look up at her alter with a questioning look on her face. There was a pleasant grin lighting up his face, and coupling that with the fact he just shouted ‘Itadakimasu!’ made Evande just smile.

God, he looks and sounds so much like a child right now. He’s still got bed-head, his shirt is way too big for him, and that smile on his face makes him look like he’s naïve. she thought, holding back a laugh, Honestly, how is it possible for someone to go from creepy to apologetic to pissed off to childlike in about twenty minutes flat? The dark-headed woman sighed and pushed up on her glasses again before looking back to him. It was really weird to think that Nikolas was her alter for heaven’s sake, and the one between them who remembered countless years worth of events when he acted like this. Though, it made her happy to see him acting like this . . . so lighthearted. Knowing as little as she did, she still had a feeling that more than half the time when he acted happy or anything that it wasn’t sincere.

Silently she continued to watch him, looking over a pancake he had grabbed, with what looked like confusion on his face. Has he never had pancakes before or. . . ? The sight was amusing as far as she was concerned, And . . . it’s just a little bit cute. Nothing wrong with admitting that. Evande told herself, clearing her throat lightly while her face went a little red, mind wandering on her. Geez, he really acts like an uke when he’s not on guard. . . . That thought almost left Evande to facepalm before she forced her mind from that train of thought and put it back on the right track.

"Erm, what do I do. . . with the syrup? I-I mean, I've had pancakes before, but not with syrup. . . Ryu always just put sugar or cinnamon." he laughed that out nervously, before what seemed to be a slight sense of misery seemed to set in on him. Deciding not to prod about that, the otaku shook her head before getting up onto her knees and reaching to the middle of the kotatsu and grabbing the syrup dispenser.

She laughed a bit, “Well first off Nikolas, put the pancake down on the plate, you can’t eat pancakes with your hands when you’re using syrup, otherwise you wind up sticky and a mess. And syrup doesn’t come out or off anything very easily.” She pushed up on her glasses while her cheeks went redder at that, “I-I know from experience. . . . A-Anyway!” Shaking her head Evande went to continue and took her fork and used it to stick one of the pancakes on Nikolas’ plate before she opened the mouth of the dispenser and poured some of the syrup onto it. “Syrup goes on the pancakes.”

While setting the dispenser down on the kotatsu, Evande smiled a bit and nervously messed around with her ponytail again, “Normally, people eat pancakes with maple, strawberry or blueberry syrup, but I’m a little different, so I always go ahead and take the abnormal route and make my own, i-it’s cinnamon, and I like that better. Plus, they don’t sell that kind in the store.” she prattled on rather idly, pressing on the bridge of her glasses abashedly.

Going silent, the dark-headed woman went ahead and placed one of the pancakes on her own plate and poured some of the syrup over it herself before proceeding to cut it with her fork, and eat it rather quietly. "S-So, um, what are you planning on doing today?" Evande asked, simply trying to make conversation for the sake of not having to eat in stark silence.