Warnings: same as before, death, miscarriage, allusion to ostracization, timeline adjustment, intentional tense error


Prologue - The Fresh Air

Yagami Hikari knows she is dead.

She knows it as clearly as she knows her name. Her fingers cannot touch anything, she drifts in and out of space, hindered by her inability to make a difference in the places it matters. And yet… is she not making a difference now? She cannot be certain but she believes…

Does belief do a ghost, or whatever she is, any good?

She remembers existing. She remembers the moment she was captured into… no that isn't the right way to put it. Then again, did she have the words to put it any other way? She wasn't sure. She didn't have time to think about it. The universe didn't have the time.

She still remembers big brown eyes looking through her in such a worrying, pitiful way. Pure curiosity, something like innocence according to those books. They were as ignorant and puzzled as she.

Yagami Hikari would make the time, however. Once her part had a pause, she would find out why she existed when there was no life to exist.

But first, she had to reach out and grab hold of Yagami Taichi.

The world told her that he was a part of her life, that he in some sense was connected to her as were the sadder older ones in his home. She, as of yet, could not use this. (Using them sounded wholly laughable.)

So for now, she had to focus. What had been done? What needed to be?

It was at this point that Taichi, her brother if the designation was required, appeared.

He is carrying her cat. She isn't hissing anymore, still looks at him with distrustful, narrow blue eyes.

She's not mine, Hikari says to herself without a voice.

Even if she had one, she doubts that they would hear it. Not even her brother hears her. Maybe they aren't related. Maybe she is only real because of him. No, she could not focus on these many 'maybe's'. Her next task was here. The gate was opening.

So far, this world was exactly what you would expect from one that was like an adventure story. It was full of monsters that fought over territory. It was just dangerous enough to be real, and yet it was still possible to escape. The Chosen Ones had a hope. It was too bad that her brother didn't have very many fantasy novels around for her to read, no matter the struggle it was to turn the pages by herself at times. She would be much more well prepared and they would be also.

Actually, they would all be much better off if they could hear her. But alas, they could no. So, even though her brother was looking, he still couldn't exactly see what she was doing. So she felt safe reaching upwards into the sky. Though, to be completely truthful, if he had been able to see, there would have been another set of problems that she couldn't acknowledge now.

Instead, she focuses on reaching. Her fingers touch nothing and yet with care, she scrapes her nails into space. The air responds by moving out of the way, as the universe is smart enough to do when it was regarding her whims. She lunges upward without moving and pulls.

Her target falls, quite inelegantly.

Early, whispers the universe. Well, she could pinpoint it. That voice probably isn't the universe. But it was related to the universe so the point stood. This was really way more difficult than it needed to be!

But it was necessary. That cat was a baby. It should not even have been a cat yet but it was. Something was wrong, very wrong. It needed to be purified as soon as possible. Or healed. Maybe both. There had to be some hope in the situation.

Remember, whispered the voice. Light prefers to be intangible.

Hikari nodded firmly and disappeared. There was work to be done yet.


The many children cried for food. They were loud and cajoling, but they were in the dark. There was no food. There never would be. They were dying and living. It was for the best to the universe that they failed, that they fell apart and died. The wall behind them was growing ever closer, reaching for each delicate piece.

One child went closer, edging nearer with no feet, reaching fingers out with no hands. It wanted the wall. It could be edible. What was there to lose? Even more pain? Death?

The child reached forward with whatever it had… and to its surprise, a hand touched it in reply.

And something like a door opened.


The young woman woke up in pain.

Himekawa Maki couldn't understand why her whole body was taut with such agony, not at first. But then her mind, stern and analytical as it was trying to be, clamped down on the sensations. In the end, she was still a child herself, still growing and learning. So she closed her eyes and made herself breathe slowly and focus. If she didn't focus, the weight on her stomach would likely kill her. She couldn't deal with that. She wouldn't.

Beside her, a body moaned softly into her armpit. Not the best feeling in the world by half but it shook the pain away. "Hime-chan?"

Her expression eased and softened. "Yeah. Sorry. Something felt off." She let his arm wrap around her side. "Just woke me up. 'M okay now."

"We'll deal with it tomorrow," he murmured, trying to sound serious and businesslike, but only sounding fuzzy.

Maki nodded, tried to smile. "Tomorrow sounds good." She learned into Daigo's chest once more and let one eye rest on the window outside. The sky was as starless as ever in the big city. She could almost imagine the sand of the beach beneath her feet as Daigo showed her the same childhood places again and they looked smaller somehow. It was the same every year, and they would go a few tomorrows from now, in a serious way, in an adult way. It didn't scare her, of course not. It was just inevitable, like aging and adulthood and loss.

Because tomorrow would come, no matter what they did.


A/N: It's been a while but it's up guys! The sequel to The Boy In His Friends is up! It was going to be a part of something else but I decided not to wait. I hope you enjoy this as much as you enjoyed the first!

Challenges: Epic Masterclass adv list 4., Diversity Writing AM M2, season rewrite prompt - grab