Akane screamed out in shock when she saw the blood on her hand. Where there was once hair, she now felt a hot and thick liquid slowly drip down. "W-What is that?" she groaned. Her gaze started to snap around, looking for the culprit. Eventually, her eyes landed on a crow, which just sat there, five meters in front of her. The brooch Aqua had gifted her just weeks after they first met in its beak.
"Oh, you little shit," Akane growled.
Not planning on letting the crow just keep her precious brooch and get away with it, Akane slowly closed in on the bird. "Come on, I won't hurt you. Just come here, pss pss."
The crow was just leaning its head to the side as Akane came closer and closer. Eventually, she was so close she could probably jump and catch it. She takes another step…
*Crack*
Akane only watched in awe as the bird lifted off the ground and began to fly away after she had stepped onto a lost twig.
A single second passed before Akane had made up her mind and started the chase. She ran down the trail like a maniac while the bird always just barely stayed in her line of sight, brooch and strains of her hair still in its beak. For about 10 minutes, Akane ran. She sprinted through bushes and trees, never averting her eyes from the bird, even once, right in front of her, a particularly large layer of thicket. She raised her arms to the front of her face, forming an X shape as she saw the bird fly over it. Her clothes and arms were cut open by the sharp twigs as she crashed through the thicket.
After she slowly opened her eyes again while still walking, just a bit slower, she found herself standing on one side of a clearing. In its middle was a run-down wooden house with the bird right on its veranda. The moment Akane took another step, the bird flew away again, much faster than before, but not before letting go of the glistering brooch. She angrily picked her brooch up; her entire body ached, and her clothes were torn.
She turned back around, ready to call it a day, but she didn't leave just yet. The hair on her neck stood up as she somehow felt like the house was talking to her, telling her to come closer. No matter how much she tried, eventually she gave in and turned around. She felt that the door to the place wasn't locked as she gently pressed down its handle. All of her senses screamed for her to run, but she didn't listen; instead, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The room she stood in was dusty; it looked almost frozen in time… Her eyes darted around the place for a few short seconds as she tried to make out why it felt like she needed to be here, but these few seconds were the only moment she had. She almost fell over as she was hit by dozens of flashbacks.
I remember.
I was here before.
I remember.
It was with Aqua.
How didn't I notice this sooner?
I remember what he said…
"My friend's house."
"Everybody who used to live here is dead."
"Gorou Amamiya"
"He didn't have a mother."
"She hid her pregnancy from her parents."
"She lost too much blood."
"Since no one knew who his father was, he was given to his grandparents to raise."
"It was pretty awkward."
"He wasn't on bad terms with his grandma, but his grandpa was sort of…"
"He never managed to shake the guilt."
"When he decided to go to med school, he actually wanted to become a surgeon."
"In the end, he lived his life according to others' expectations. It was all he could do."
"Even after he became a doctor."
"He was powerless…"
"AHHHHHH!!!" A scream escaped Akane's throat as she tumbled backwards and knocked over a vase that shattered with a loud thud. A barrage of coughs followed as billions of dust particles were blown into the air to cloud Akane's vision. Her brain was being overloaded by lost memories. Memories she never understood and discarded shortly after obtaining them because of the trauma that followed her. "WHY DOES HE KNOW THIS MUCH?"
"THIS DOCTOR WENT MISSING JUST BEFORE AQUA WAS BORN!"
"HE CAN'T KNOW ALL OF THIS!"
"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"WHY DID AQUA SAY THAT THIS GUY WAS HIS FRIEND?"
"HOW?"
"HOW WOULD AQUA KNOW HOW GOROU AMAMIYA FELT?"
"WHY DOES HE KNOW ALL OF THIS ABOUT HIS BIRTH AND UPBRINGING?"
"ALL OF THIS HAPPENED A GENERATION BEFORE HE WAS BORN."
"NO, NO, NO, NO. THIS IS COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE."
Akane continued to ramble on, screaming out her thoughts into the vast forest that surrounds the lonely house. Until there was suddenly a quiet voice behind her. She winced in pain as her body instinctively jumped forward, right into the nearest wall. She whips around, now facing towards the door. Her heart raced, the fact that a white haired kid was standing in the doorway only adding confusion to the mix of emotions that coursed through her mind.
"I'm sorry… for… scaring you..." Akane brought out her voice, shaky, and she was still unable to even think about getting up, but the girl just stood there, unmoving, while staring at Akane, her eyes filled with disbelief. Then, she moved.
"You are the person my mother told me about… The person from the tale…" Suddenly, two crows landed on the girl. One on her left shoulder and one on the right. The crow on her left still had strands of Akane's hair in her beak.
"Wait. I know you, you're the girl who played Aqua and Ruby in the movie. Why are you here?" Akane said as she got onto her knees and looked up at the kid.
"Correct, but I am also the reason why Aqua wanders this earth, the few people that know me refer to me as Tsukuyomi…" The kid replied, "You can be proud of yourself. None before you has achieved what you just did."
"No, none of this makes sense. How did Aqua know all of this?"
"You know the answer."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do… Say it."
A long moment of silence followed, in which not even the crows spoke, not the one on top of the girl's shoulders, and also not the ones that watched eagerly from the surrounding trees.
"Gorou Amamiya was reborn as Aqua Hoshino."
The world around Akane fell quiet as she finished uttering the words.
I never believed that stuff like this exists.
But what else could explain all of this?
It makes all sense…
If he wasn't four when Ai died, but in his thirties…
The survivors' guilt…
Why he feels like he is undeserving of his life…
His protectiveness of Ruby…
Why he knows so much about medicine…
It even explains why he sometimes talks like my fucking dad…
Everything makes sense.
Akane, who managed to get up again by now, fell back down onto her knees as the full extent of this settled in her mind. "No. All of this is just a weird dream; it has to be."
"Stop lying. You have already found the truth, just make sure not to lose it again. Otherwise, Aqua would carry the consequences."
Akane looked up at Tsukuyomi, her eyes teary.
"You must keep an eye out for Aqua. As for he has returned." Tsukuyomi muttered.
"Do what now? Who is he?" Akane asked.
"I am unable to tell you. I am already taking a great risk when giving you vague information. Just know that we are destined to meet again soon. Heed my words, and he shall find the way, walk astray, and the light will dwindle." With that, Tsukuyomi just disappeared alongside the two ravens. One second, she stood in the doorway; the next, she was just gone.
Akane stared through the wide-open front door of the house she knelt in. Her eyes didn't take in the movements of the leaves in the wind, and her ears surely also didn't register their sounds.
If all of this were true.
It is impossible for me to convince Aqua to be happy…
Akane screamed out in shock when she saw the blood on her hand. Where there was once hair, she now felt a hot and thick liquid slowly drip down. "W-What is that?" she groaned. Her gaze started to snap around, looking for the culprit. Eventually, her eyes landed on a crow, which just sat there, five meters in front of her. The brooch Aqua had gifted her just weeks after they first met in its beak.
"Oh, you little shit," Akane growled.
Not planning on letting the crow just keep her precious brooch and get away with it, Akane slowly closed in on the bird. "Come on, I won't hurt you. Just come here, pss pss."
The crow was just leaning its head to the side as Akane came closer and closer. Eventually, she was so close she could probably jump and catch it. She takes another step…
*Crack*
Akane only watched in awe as the bird lifted off the ground and began to fly away after she had stepped onto a lost twig.
A single second passed before Akane had made up her mind and started the chase. She ran down the trail like a maniac while the bird always just barely stayed in her line of sight, brooch and strains of her hair still in its beak. For about 10 minutes, Akane ran. She sprinted through bushes and trees, never averting her eyes from the bird, even once, right in front of her, a particularly large layer of thicket. She raised her arms to the front of her face, forming an X shape as she saw the bird fly over it. Her clothes and arms were cut open by the sharp twigs as she crashed through the thicket.
After she slowly opened her eyes again while still walking, just a bit slower, she found herself standing on one side of a clearing. In its middle was a run-down wooden house with the bird right on its veranda. The moment Akane took another step, the bird flew away again, much faster than before, but not before letting go of the glistering brooch. She angrily picked her brooch up; her entire body ached, and her clothes were torn.
She turned back around, ready to call it a day, but she didn't leave just yet. The hair on her neck stood up as she somehow felt like the house was talking to her, telling her to come closer. No matter how much she tried, eventually she gave in and turned around. She felt that the door to the place wasn't locked as she gently pressed down its handle. All of her senses screamed for her to run, but she didn't listen; instead, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The room she stood in was dusty; it looked almost frozen in time… Her eyes darted around the place for a few short seconds as she tried to make out why it felt like she needed to be here, but these few seconds were the only moment she had. She almost fell over as she was hit by dozens of flashbacks.
I remember.
I was here before.
I remember.
It was with Aqua.
How didn't I notice this sooner?
I remember what he said…
"My friend's house."
"Everybody who used to live here is dead."
"Gorou Amamiya"
"He didn't have a mother."
"She hid her pregnancy from her parents."
"She lost too much blood."
"Since no one knew who his father was, he was given to his grandparents to raise."
"It was pretty awkward."
"He wasn't on bad terms with his grandma, but his grandpa was sort of…"
"He never managed to shake the guilt."
"When he decided to go to med school, he actually wanted to become a surgeon."
"In the end, he lived his life according to others' expectations. It was all he could do."
"Even after he became a doctor."
"He was powerless…"
"AHHHHHH!!!" A scream escaped Akane's throat as she tumbled backwards and knocked over a vase that shattered with a loud thud. A barrage of coughs followed as billions of dust particles were blown into the air to cloud Akane's vision. Her brain was being overloaded by lost memories. Memories she never understood and discarded shortly after obtaining them because of the trauma that followed her. "WHY DOES HE KNOW THIS MUCH?"
"THIS DOCTOR WENT MISSING JUST BEFORE AQUA WAS BORN!"
"HE CAN'T KNOW ALL OF THIS!"
"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
"WHY DID AQUA SAY THAT THIS GUY WAS HIS FRIEND?"
"HOW?"
"HOW WOULD AQUA KNOW HOW GOROU AMAMIYA FELT?"
"WHY DOES HE KNOW ALL OF THIS ABOUT HIS BIRTH AND UPBRINGING?"
"ALL OF THIS HAPPENED A GENERATION BEFORE HE WAS BORN."
"NO, NO, NO, NO. THIS IS COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE."
Akane continued to ramble on, screaming out her thoughts into the vast forest that surrounds the lonely house. Until there was suddenly a quiet voice behind her. She winced in pain as her body instinctively jumped forward, right into the nearest wall. She whips around, now facing towards the door. Her heart raced, the fact that a white haired kid was standing in the doorway only adding confusion to the mix of emotions that coursed through her mind.
"I'm sorry… for… scaring you..." Akane brought out her voice, shaky, and she was still unable to even think about getting up, but the girl just stood there, unmoving, while staring at Akane, her eyes filled with disbelief. Then, she moved.
"You are the person my mother told me about… The person from the tale…" Suddenly, two crows landed on the girl. One on her left shoulder and one on the right. The crow on her left still had strands of Akane's hair in her beak.
"Wait. I know you, you're the girl who played Aqua and Ruby in the movie. Why are you here?" Akane said as she got onto her knees and looked up at the kid.
"Correct, but I am also the reason why Aqua wanders this earth, the few people that know me refer to me as Tsukuyomi…" The kid replied, "You can be proud of yourself. None before you has achieved what you just did."
"No, none of this makes sense. How did Aqua know all of this?"
"You know the answer."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do… Say it."
A long moment of silence followed, in which not even the crows spoke, not the one on top of the girl's shoulders, and also not the ones that watched eagerly from the surrounding trees.
"Gorou Amamiya was reborn as Aqua Hoshino."
The world around Akane fell quiet as she finished uttering the words.
I never believed that stuff like this exists.
But what else could explain all of this?
It makes all sense…
If he wasn't four when Ai died, but in his thirties…
The survivors' guilt…
Why he feels like he is undeserving of his life…
His protectiveness of Ruby…
Why he knows so much about medicine…
It even explains why he sometimes talks like my fucking dad…
Everything makes sense.
Akane, who managed to get up again by now, fell back down onto her knees as the full extent of this settled in her mind. "No. All of this is just a weird dream; it has to be."
"Stop lying. You have already found the truth, just make sure not to lose it again. Otherwise, Aqua would carry the consequences."
Akane looked up at Tsukuyomi, her eyes teary.
"You must keep an eye out for Aqua. As for he has returned." Tsukuyomi muttered.
"Do what now? Who is he?" Akane asked.
"I am unable to tell you. I am already taking a great risk when giving you vague information. Just know that we are destined to meet again soon. Heed my words, and he shall find the way, walk astray, and the light will dwindle." With that, Tsukuyomi just disappeared alongside the two ravens. One second, she stood in the doorway; the next, she was just gone.
Akane stared through the wide-open front door of the house she knelt in. Her eyes didn't take in the movements of the leaves in the wind, and her ears surely also didn't register their sounds.
If all of this were true.
It is impossible for me to convince Aqua to be happy…