So, I didn't realize until after last chapter was posted and out, but that was the final chapter of Act I! I've noticed people in the reviews who were very excited for the current story, and also those who were worried or annoyed by how long it was taking for anything to happen, so I thought I'd make a note about that now.

Act I was primarily for setting up the characters and their relations, and have several plot threads to keep in mind for the rest, and I agree that it definitely diverged greatly from the initial idea as well as how DKDC portrayed it. Whether you loved it or hated it for the bigger focus on calmer and more peaceful interactions, Act II will be moving the story along a lot faster. The introductions are done, now for the impact they will have…

I hope you enjoy, and those who were complaining will be happy with this compromise. It was planned pretty much this way from the beginning, but even I was surprised by just how long Act I took. Guess Addvertiser is right, it's my style of really short chapters that caused this to take sooo long. Here's to getting back on track!

Oh, also, I just realized the 31st is the first anniversary of this story! Feel free to make suggestions on what I should do for it! I'm not doing another update spam, those are only for the Mass Update Day.


Nemesis was bored. Unlike Mea prior to the smallest Trans being expelled, Rito's mind possessed some form of color, a world of its own that only she could access. This was the embodiment of his consciousness, a visual representation of everything he was.

That is...everything she could see. As she was now, there was still a significant portion of his mind that she was unable to view thanks to how little time she had to settle down. With Mea, she had had years to get used to her body and the girl was young and impressionable, so it had been easy to simply take over her mind completely, but with Rito, there were 17 years of experiences and decisions that he'd made that she needed to figure out.

It didn't help that no matter what she did, no matter how deep she wandered into this interior world, she couldn't seem to find the 'darkness' that Mea had been referring to. She had always prided herself on her ability to peer into the thoughts of others, but Rito was like a brick wall, locking in memories of much of his life from her view.

There were many mysteries she had yet to unveil, and to make things more complicated, she had no idea if they were intentionally hidden or not. Rito clearly had a problem with revealing his inner thoughts, but was even he aware of it?

The incident that made him look up to Sairenji Haruna. His childhood and why Kotegawa Yui occasionally appeared. That thing with Momioka Risa. She could access none of them, and save for her own observations, she hadn't even been aware he was connected to some of the people that she now was aware of.

At least she knew what Outer Rito's mentality was like, based on the world she was walking in right now. A strange stone forest that glittered like crystal, blinding her with the light refracting from some unknown source.

It suited him perfectly, at least in her eyes. Just like his outer self, it was a pretty but hollow place, crafted perfectly to appear artistic but that cut her feet as she walked, and she didn't dare touch a leaf or branch for fear that it may shatter. This was a shell and nothing more, a place created to distract those who peered in and make them turn away from the ground below the surface.

She had never seen such a complete shield as this one. Konjiki no Yami also had a similar outer personality, but that one was more reactionary, built around distrust of others. This one...Even she couldn't guess at its cause. Was it even related to any sort of childhood trauma? She simply didn't know enough about his history before meeting Mea to have a clue.

She flinched as she felt another blade crack underfoot, looking down and stepping away to inspect the damage. She felt no pain, and this was not her physical body, but she still could have her own mind damaged by this weird scenery, so she had to ensure that she would be fine to proceed.

Her eyes narrowed, and she knelt down to pull the blade from her foot, which healed over instantly thanks to this not being the real world. The recovery wasn't what caught her attention, nor was the shard she found, but rather, that was revealed by its destruction.

A small patch of dirt. Actual, brown soil, not the glassy stone of Outer Rito's world. So, somehow, she must have stumbled onto some memory that tied the two together?

She glanced at the shattered piece, still held in her hand, and blinked, holding it closer to her to peer into the structure of the crystal. The sound of glass breaking, a pained cry, backing away to fall in the water of the bathroom. He'd injured his hand, then? When was this? She had noticed before that his hand was a bit scabbed over on the knuckles, but it looked old. Had she misjudged how quickly humans were capable of healing?

This was the first time it bothered her how little she acknowledged the inferior species. Without a human sense of time, she had no idea when exactly all these events took place, and without that knowledge, she didn't know how long it had been since this shell had begun to form.

She groaned, scratching her head as she carefully sat down, making sure not to accidentally sit on any other spiky bits. Trying to use her abilities for a good cause was a lot harder than destroying the world, honestly.

The patch of ground wasn't large, but as she reached to tug at the crystal surrounding it, it broke away easily, like a brittle layer of candy, much to her surprise and amusement. Though she didn't know the full context of that shard, it must have been a cornerstone in this area. Perhaps she had been lucky enough to happen upon a large region's weak point. Surely this was not the very center of the forest, but it was enough to find purchase and begin to dig.

~~~In the real world~~~

"Rito, are you alright?" Mikan asked, patting her older brother's back as he blinked, turning to face her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just, a lot to think about is all." he stated, smiling, and she sighed, shaking her head and pointing at his plate in front of him.

"You've been swirling your noodles around for the last several minutes. Maybe you should go rest." she said, frowning. "Is it about Yami?"

She ignored Nana as she shouted in pain after ramming her knee into the bottom of the counter, the girl groaning as she wrapped her hands around the injured knee.

"Nana, you idiot. You're too obvious." Momo said, grinning mischievously as her twin glared at her.

Rito turned away from her, laughing quietly as he scratched his arm. "Yeah, I guess I'll head up after all. I'll come back later to eat, but don't wait for me. I think I just need to lie down for a few minutes…"

Mikan smiled, reaching to pat her brother's back as he stood up, and as he walked, Nana hobbled behind him, grumbling in annoyance.

"I'm getting skin cream." the flat girl stated, hmphing as she turned to Rito, who had stopped to let her pass. "Don't wait on me, I'll be fine but I'm still going to walk slower than you. Just go."

He nodded at the order, ignoring the snappy tone in her voice and turning to continue on, starting up the stairs with her close behind as the others watched.

"You think she realizes how close she is to him?" Mikan asked the other twin, who chuckled, holding her hand to her mouth.

"No, I don't think so. Maybe seeing Yami-san cast aside her reputation for something so important hit her hard. Nana's never been very good at speaking her mind, you know?"

"I can tell. I wonder if she's jealous?" Mikan mused, humming in thought. "She took too long to make up her mind, and Yami-san took her chance before she got to."

"I can still hear you!" Nana shouted, groaning as she kicked her foot to work out the pain in her knee, and she was about to say something else when Rito yelled something unintelligible from the stairway above her, and her eyes went wide as the two tumbled onto the ground, the boy having slipped somehow and twisted in the air to slam into her.

The thud was familiar to everyone in the house, but it had been over a month since this had last happened, so Mikan took the initiative to stand up and check that the two were okay, only to find Rito with his face buried in the girl's crotch, hand on her leg in the same style of impossible positioning he had been famous for over the last couple years.

Nana's face was as red as a tomato as he groaned, looking up and freezing in place as he realized the situation they were in, before his eyes widened as Nana instinctively kicked her good leg, sending him flying up and backwards onto the stairs.

The Devilukean blinked as Mikan went still, going quiet as her hand balled into a fist as she heard a loud crack. Yes, Rito got hit a lot, but never had such a sound happened, and the shout he made before passing out as his face landed on the stairway told them both that Nana's aim had been more perfect than ever before.