A/N: Yeah! Woo! Chapter 2! Alright! ….. I need some sleep…..
Disclaimer: I do not own Nisekoi or any part of it
"….nnnghnnn…," Raku groans as he turns his body to one side.
"Ahhhh…," he then murmurs comfortably as he lies softly among the soft grass that is as soft as a pile of feather pillows. Soft like swan feathers, yet firm like wool.
The warm yet dry soil below him accompanies the grass, creating below him what feels like a high-class mattress of natural materials. The soil is like silk thread, smooth with a satisfying touch to it. Not too cold but not too hot either, the temperature of the soil is just right. It feels like he could just sleep in this blissful bed for an eternity...
"Wait…grass? Soil? Huh?" Raku thinks alarmingly. Opening his eyes, he quickly gets up from where he lies. Looking around, he finds himself on a small hill overlooking a vast area of grassland. Grazing in the grassland are several...weird-looking…sheep? Cows? Goats? He can't decide on what the weird horned beasts are, especially due to their small stature.
The sky above is light blue with countless clouds floating. Some are small puffballs, other are stretched out and large. Even so, the sun shines brightly, illuminating the land with a warm light. A gentle breeze blows, flowing in his hair and making the grass around whistle.
In such a comfortable scene, one would be tempted to lie onto the soft grass again and just slowly drift off into a quiet slumber.
But Ichijou Raku does have the time to do that, nor does he plan on doing that. It is not because he had just woken up from his peaceful slumber, but because something, or even someone, taps his shoulder before he can nod off back to sleep.
With his attention taken by his surroundings, Raku hadn't paid heed to the presence that was behind him. Upon feeling the tap on his shoulder from behind, he turns around and is shocked to see a girl standing there.
A young girl that wears a white one-piece dress that is sleeveless and reaches past her knees. Her short and slender body figure hints that she can't be any more than 10 years old. The breeze blows against her hair, letting it flutter lazily in the wind. The breeze also blows gently against her dress, giving her a presence that she is larger than life. This scene somehow reminds him of some girl in his childhood memories. But for some reason, Raku cannot recall anything else about himself.
The girl studies Raku's face for a moment, before exclaiming quietly in wonder, "You are not Father…!" Raku is rooted in place by the girl's face. She possesses a pair of mesmerizing eyes that reminds him of what he depicts as the beauty of nature. Her small pink lips and nose are just as mesmerizing, while also looking cute. Such are obvious hints that she would be a beauty when she grows up. Suddenly aware of his staring, she embarrassedly averts her gaze and turns her head to the side.
"Ah crap. She must think that I'm a lolicon now…," Raku, finally aware of his actions, stops staring and regains his composure. He feels depressed that this is the first impression he is making on this girl.
Raku stands up, dusting his clothes away to clean up his looks. Standing in a more formal manner, he introduces himself, "Hello, little miss. My name is Ichijou Raku. A pleasure to meet you." Leaning over, he bows a little, showing to her a genuine smile, one that would warm anyone's heart just by seeing it.
"Umm...uuh…m-my name…is…," the child stutters bashfully as she attempts to introduce herself. But, as if reminded of something, she stands upright and faces him. "Ah! More importantly, why and how are you here?" the girl asks now with a mature voice.
Taken aback, Raku clears his throat to give a proper reply. "If you ask me why am I here…I am here...now that you ask, I am…."
"Wait," Raku thinks to himself. "Why am I here? Where is this place? Who am I? Why is this girl here? Why can't I remember anything…!?"
"Umm…..Where am I?" Raku asks timidly. He is literally intimidated by the face the girl is now making. Compared to her gentle, shy expression from before, she now looks at him with a dead stare. Like a predator, she looks like she is ready to strike him down.
"You don't even know where you are…?" The girl simply stares at him. "Could it be…" The child thinks out loud. She then snaps her finger, aimed towards the ground.
As if on cue, hundreds of thousands of white orbs begin to emerge from the grassland. And like fireflies, they flutter around, some even floating towards the sky.
The girl then reaches her hand out to one of the orbs nearby and grabs it. And as she brings it right in front of her face, she whispers Raku's name. "Ichijou Raku." The orb in her hand glow a bit more vividly and she takes her time, staring into the orb.
Unsure how to react to the glowing orbs and the girl's actions, Raku stands frozen in place. Surrounding him, the other orbs continue to float upwards, or even float around aimlessly. The weird animals around him don't seem at all surprised by the orbs. Heck, they just continue grazing as if nothing has happened.
"Hmm…I see…," the girl mumbles. As Raku listens closely to her voice, he questions if the mature voice she is taking up currently even belongs to her. "Where did her more childish voice go off to? Or is this her actual voice?" Raku can't comprehend what is happening, as much he is confused about his current situation.
The girl finally looks at him with a face that shows signs of understanding, compared to how she was a bit perplexed before.
"Ichijou Raku. What do you desire from me?" The girl asks with a serious expression.
Having mistaken her expression as one of anger, he sheepishly replies, "Umm…Can you at least tell me where am I?" Although not an unexpected question, the girl hesitates for a moment before replying. "You are…No, your soul...is now in this world. The Illusionary World."
Confused, Raku replies, "Huh? Soul? 'Illusionary World'...This place? And by soul...does that mean I am dead in some way? Is this 'Illusionary World'… is it heaven?" Raku takes a look around at the grassland and the sky above. "Hmm…is it?" Raku continues to look around, now feeling disbelief that this world is "heaven".
The girl merely stares at Raku for a little while more before giving out a sigh. She then replies. "I see… It seems like you don't remember your past…about yourself...anything."
Raku finds her comment confusing. Now that he thinks about his circumstances though, other than his name and that weird moment of what seems to be his childhood memory, he is unable to recall anything else. His parents. Who he is as a person. Above all, how he even got here, or what had happened before being in this "Illusionary World."
The girl sighs in displeasure as she opens the tiny palms of her hands. After a few moments of internal meditation, an orb of light appears above her palms, one that is a little larger than the orbs that float around. As she closes her eyes now, she begins to recite a magical chant quietly yet with meaning. "Oh, orb of light...the mighty power that performs miracles for this forsaken world. Heal those who have been injured on memory lane...and mend the broken strings of lost thoughts…" As the girl continues her chant in a stoic manner, the orb in her palm glows brighter, bit by bit. "...Let them find their way back again for the reason of what may be important or not. For the sake of recalling happiness, sadness...truth and lies... love and hate…" As the orb starts to hum as it churns, the girl opens her eyes wide for the last piece of this chant.
"[REMEMBRANCE]!"
The orb immediately shatters into fragments, which surprises Raku very much. He had just heard the girl say a fanatic chant, and now the orb in her hands breaks into millions of pieces. But the fragments all trickle into the air, disappear in an instant.
Suddenly, Raku feels a sharp pain throughout his body, but most of all in his mind. A pain as if he's been struck by lightning. At first there is only the pain, but then flashbacks emerge in his mind at lightning speed. Names, dates, important reminders. Happy events and sad incidents. Old memories and new recollections. With all of these pieces of memory flooding his head all at once, his brain feels hot like molten lava as his body jerks uncontrollably from the incredible pain. The girl remains unresponsive as she looks at Raku writhing on the ground.
Finally, the pain stops a minute later, allowing Raku to stop his suffering. Raku remains on his back to rest for a while. But as he tries to do just that, a sudden urge hits his stomach. In response, he quickly crawls up to his knees and vomits. What he vomits though is a blue goo that only makes him feel more sick. For the next minute, he continues to eject this blue goo from his system.
The girl simply stands beside him, waiting for him to recover. After a while, Raku finally stops barfing, wiping his mouth as he still struggles to regulate his breathing. He simply sits cross-legged while massaging his temple in order forget the horrid pain he had just experienced.
"Done?" the girl simply asks, although she already knows the answer.
"...Yeah…," Raku replies as he grimaces at the ground. His memories have returned, making him feel a little better now that he knows who he is. On the other hand, his question of the world he is in currently remains unanswered.
"So…what is this Illusionary World…?" Raku brings up his unanswered question after feeling like he has rested enough. Upon hearing his words, the girl smiles bitterly and answers, "A world that exists for those whose soul has too much suffering. Too many unfulfilled wishes. And most of all...one too many regrets left behind." The girl says all of this while looking at the animals that calmly chew away at the grass.
"Soul…suffering…wishes…regrets…," Raku repeats some of the key-words the girl had said, all with an expression of sadness. Suffering created by wronged choices. Unfulfilled wishes caused by his actions. Regrets of his childhood which he could have done something about.
He sighs, thereafter asking with a deadpan face, "So…by 'soul'… are you saying that I'm dead?" Surely, with whatever magic or something the girl just used, she must have seen his life story through that orb. After a while, the girl replies monotonously, "Yes. You died during the earthquake on the mountain."
With a gulp, he asks with a hopeful tone, "Is…Is Shizuko safe...?" Especially with Chitoge at her side, Shizuko should have been able to make it out safely.
The girl becomes quiet upon hearing this hope-seeking question, which only instills fear into Raku's heart. In the end though, she replies reluctantly, "…No…From what I saw….the little girl fell into a deep crevice in the mountain, along with her mother." As she raises her gaze to meet Raku's, she can see that Raku already knows the results. Even then, she finishes her observation. "She's dead."
The words hit Raku like a bullet train. As if a hole had been punched into the core of his body by its impact. His legs give way, leading him to sit depressingly on the floor. At first, he only sniffled, but it soon progressed into a whine, and finally a loud cry of pain and suffering as tears gushed from his eyes that looked up at the blue sky. The girl simply stands by him, watching him with an unreadable expression. After for what seemed like an hour, Raku finally stops bawling, holding his knees quietly and digging his head into those knees to isolate himself from everything as much as possible.
Time passes slowly as Raku simply stares at the grazing beasts. He takes a deep breath and exhales, seemingly alleviating a bit of the headache he is feeling. The girl just stands there silently, staring at Raku. And then, Raku stops his grovelling and speaks up.
"….If…those…who died with regrets...come here…does that mean….Shizuko died without...any regrets…?" These honest words escape Raku's mouth.
"...I do not know, Ichijou Raku," the girl answers truthfully. As much as she can look into his memories, she has no direct access to Shizuko's mind.
Hearing this answer, Raku merely sighs in depression. "So…why are you here...with me?"
The girl's body stiffens at the question. Noticing the girl's course of action, Raku immediately takes back his previous statement. "Uhh…No…There's no need to answer that. Just forgot I even asked...Sorry." But the girl still answers the question, knowing that there is no harm in answering.
"…I…am waiting for someone…," the girl mumbles while averting her own gaze towards the beasts.
"Huh? What did you say?" asks Raku. Seeing that he had not listened, the girl diverts their attention to a different matter. She immediately opens up her palms again, letting a new white orb take form. Upon doing so, Raku flinches both to the blinding light created by the orb's summoning along with the small gust of wind it had made.
"ICHIJOU RAKU!" The girl announces in the mature voice she had used before. "THERE IS A PURPOSE FOR YOU BEING HERE. ALTHOUGH WE LIVE IN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS, YOU SHARE A SIMILAR FATE TO SOMEONE! YOUR FATE IS STRONG!" As the girls continues to talk and Raku stands frozen still, unable to take any action to what is happening before him, the orb in the girl's hand starts to glow brighter and brighter every second. "BUT! BECAUSE YOU WERE UNABLE TO REALIZE HOW TO CHANGE THE FATE OF OTHERS, YOU BROUGHT THIS CURRENT STATE UPON YOURSELF!"
The orb, that is now just as bright as the sun, blinds Raku as he shades his eyes with his arms. "Huh? Different dimensions? What?" Raku meekly inquires.
"GO, ICHIJOU RAKU! CHANGE THE FATE OF THOSE AROUND YOU! CHANGE! THEIR! DESTINY!" The orb is now literally brighter than a thousand suns. Unable to ward away the searing light, even though his eyes are closed shut along with his hands, Raku turns his head to look away.
But as he does, Raku feels a sharp pain shudder through his entire body. Just like earlier, his body feels like it is hot with magma, but this time, it also feels like his body is be bloated and overflown by pure plasma. He convulses painfully on the floor before his mind and soul gives in. He finally blacks out.
A/N: Heyaaaaaaa. Finished this in 5 hours (Record-breaking speed for me!) Its 5 a.m. into the night and I realllyyy need sleep. See you. Updates is planned to be weekly(or biweekly)? If hiatus happens I am terribly sorry! .
Credits to Green Moriyama and 2fast2u for helping me proofread!