Okazaki's head snapped to the source of the voice, his unaugmented body caught by surprise. '...Kotomi...'
Kotomi walked toward him, and came to a stop in front of Okazaki
He regarded her wide eyed and slightly agape. 'How is it that I knew this was coming, and I'm still surprised?'
She looked into his eyes, and blinked after a long moment. "...Tomoya kun?"
He blinked and averted his gaze, realizing he had been staring. "...Kotomi chan."
"...Is something wrong?" She pouted.
'My gods. Was she always that beautiful?' He shook his head. "No, I'm just... I have had a very long night, honestly. A lot of things happened, and... You know, it'll be easier to explain if we're both sitting while we talk." He shook his head again and stood to the side. "Not that I'm sure I want to explain, mind you."
"...Alright," she said, as she stepped inside his house.
"Just take any seat you want," Okazaki said as his other fragment went into the kitchen and started to prepare some tea.
Kotomi looked toward the kitchen curiously as she went into his living room, and sat down on his couch.
His unaugmented fragment picked up a seat with a grunt of effort and sat it down across from the couch, and then sat down. He steepled his fingers together, leaned forward, and regarded her as he rested his chin against his hands.
"...Whatever you have to tell me," she said after an uncomfortable moment, "I'll accept it.
He sighed. "I know. Even after everything happened, you did remain at my side. Even if..." He shook his head. "Kotomi chan. As you know, I am a reincarnation of my past self, striving to fight against my past self who still exists in this world." At her nod, he continued. "What you don't know, because of how recent this development is, is that I have become reincarnated again, after a fashion."
He leaned back in his seat. "To be more specific, I have come back and taken over this past version of myself, from before my attempt to take out my past self. This is because in a future, one that thankfully has no chance of happening now, I, along with everyone in this city... died."
Kotomi gasped. "...You died?"
Okazaki nodded. "As did you. And so too did Kyou and Ryou, Nagisa, Tomoyo... Everyone we cared about. All because I did something for the wrong reasons. I tried to prevent a paradox, but in the end, it happened anyway and everything I did was for nothing. There was never an issue of a paradox. Or rather, there was, but not at that level."
She looked to the side. Her eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears.
"That future no longer has any chance of occurring," he said. "However, there is a price that must be paid. How great a price is still up in the air."
"...Why did it happen?" She turned to him as a tear fell from her eye. "What did you think would happen?"
"I didn't know," he admitted. "The worst case scenario I envisioned was that the whole universe would paradox itself right out of existence. Even so, I was not... ready to pay the price I ended up paying."
"...I don't... know what to say," she said as another tear fell from her eyes. "Everyone..."
"Everyone will live now," Okazaki said. "With... one possible exception."
"...What do you mean, Tomoya kun?" Kotomi looked directly at him, her gaze boring straight through his soul.
He looked to the side. "In order to prevent such a future from taking place again, or something even worse..." He grit his teeth and met her gaze once more. "I will have to face my past self in a battle of souls. I may not survive the attempt."
"...Tomoya kun..." Tears began to fall in earnest. "Please don't leave me. Don't tell me that and then leave me."
He winced and stood up. "I... I can't make any promises, Kotomi chan. You must understand that." He walked past the coffee table and sat beside her on the couch. "I will promise this, though. I will do my best to return." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "For you, I will do my best."
She continued to sob in his arms, and he sighed. It was a horrible thing to do to her, he knew. And yet, to say nothing was even worse, particularly if things did end poorly and he was either killed outright or trapped in the other world. At least this way, even if the worst happened, she would know ahead of time. And maybe that would help.
"...Don't leave me," she murmured as she turned to cry into his chest.
"Shh, don't cry," he said gently as he stroked her hair. "Don't cry..."
"...Don't leave me," she repeated.
"I'll try," he murmured. He began to hum softly.
Her sobs began to slow after a few minutes, and her breathing started to even out.
He realized she had fallen asleep like that, likely emotionally exhausted. With a sigh, he bent over to kiss her hair, before resting his head against hers.
-0-
Kotomi roused almost seventeen minutes later, and Okazaki released her from his grip.
"...Oh," she said as she looked around. "I'm somewhere strange?"
"Still at my house," Okazaki observed with a smile. "Do you want some tea?"
She blinked blearily and looked at him for a moment, and then reached over to crush him with a hug.
"Uh," he said, before returning her hug. "You know, you can't stay latched to me forever," he observed.
"...I don't care," she replied. "You might be gone. I don't want to leave."
'Oh gods. It'll kill her if I die in this, won't it?' "...Alright," he replied. 'Damn pity I can't just dump Past in the other world without worrying about him finding a way out.'
'And he would, eventually. He may well be barking mad by the time he figured out how to escape, and in terms of mental combat, there is a power born of insanity. And in a straight-up fight, there's no chance of you winning a physical confrontation. Not without your past memories to guide you.'
'And it's impossible to seal the dimension from outside; ergo, if things go that poorly, you'll need to be inside to seal him away. So taking him on then and there is the only option. Unless you want certain defeat a little later on. This way at least, there's a chance you'll come back from it.'
'Wonderful,' he thought as he gestured toward the television. "Well, since you're staying for a bit, want to watch something? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but there's a television show called The Twilight Zone that I was watching. I think you'd like it. It's basically golden age science fiction short stories in visual format."
"...Oh?" She blinked, and then nodded.
"Heh, alright." He smiled. "It's spoken English of course, but you already know that, right?"
"...I do," Kotomi replied in English.
"Heh! Very good then," Okazaki said, also in English. "Now, do you want some tea?"
She nodded, and his other fragment in the kitchen started the tea kettle to boil.
"Right, it'll be a couple minutes," he said as he un-paused the video. "In the meantime..." He summoned his hammiest voice. "Welcome... to the Twilight Zone!"
She blinked at him, and then smiled slightly before she turned her attention to the television set.
-0-
A couple minutes later, the tea kettle in Okazaki's kitchen began to whistle. The fragment of Okazaki in the kitchen picked it up, poured water into two tea cups, and added tea leaves. He then picked up the two cups, and brought them out to his other fragment and Kotomi.
When Kotomi saw the fragment, she blinked repeatedly in bewilderment, her wide eyed gaze torn between the teacup holding fragment and the fragment in her arms.
"Remember how I said I was a mind-linked army?" both Okazakis asked at the same time.
"...But... how?" She loosened her grasp on the more human Okazaki fragment slightly.
"It's a long story," said the fragment in her arms. "If you want, I can tell you some about it. Would you rather I did that, over watching more of the Twilight Zone?"
Just as like the first time he had offered this option, she jumped at the opportunity. She nodded her head energetically.
Her reaction still amused him, but it was a muted amusement when he considered that he might not be able to come back to her.
"Well, then, I suppose that settles that," he said with a smile. His more human fragment took the teacups, as his mechanical fragment dodged her attempt to grab her own.
"...Huh?" She blinked at the more mechanical Okazaki.
"...Sorry, it's just..." His mind flashed back to the corpse of Botan once more, and his traitorous mind superimposed Kotomi's face on the image. The more human fragment shook his head as the mechanical fragment left to the elevator.
"...Something that happened in the other future?" Kotomi asked.
"Yeah," Okazaki admitted after a long moment with a nod as he handed Kotomi her tea. "I... A mechanical form of mine was... too strong. I had tried to save Kyou's pet pig from an accident, but..." He shuddered. "I don't... want to talk about it."
"...Alright," she replied.
"Sorry, it's just... For a moment I saw you in the same position, and..." He swallowed. "...And I'm talking about it still." He took a sip of tea to calm himself. "So, the mind-to-machine interface."
She looked to the side for a moment, and then back at him. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then shut it again and vigorously shook her head.
He raised an eyebrow at her actions.
"...Tell me about the mind-to-machine interface?" she asked at last.
"Yeah," he replied, and began to explain the fundamentals, as he had so long ago.
-0-
The discussion lasted well into the night. As Okazaki remembered, Kotomi picked up the basic concepts with almost frightening speed. As they talked, Okazaki brought up another mostly human fragment, just in case he needed to answer the door for something, as well as to provide nourishment. Kotomi had been unwilling to let him go the entire time, with the exception of the occasional restroom breaks.
He was thankful she didn't insist on him accompanying her for that as well; it would have been far too awkward, even for him.
Still, the day began to give way to night, and he wondered if she would want to return home, under the circumstances.
"It's getting late," he said at last. "Very late, in fact." Late enough to make him question the wisdom of sending her away alone, although he could always trail her with an infiltration fragment to ensure her safety.
Kotomi nodded and yawned.
"...Not to sound like I'm trying to send you away or anything," Okazaki began, "but don't you think you should head home? The rumor mill is probably already having a field day..."
She shook her head vehemently, even as she started to blush at the implication. "...You said you may die." She clutched him tighter. "I don't want to leave. I want to cherish what time I have with you, even if..." She choked up.
He rubbed her back with a sigh. "Kotomi chan..." He winced as she looked him in the eyes again. '...Dammit. I can't argue with that expression.' "...Alright, I'm not going to say anything further..."
She nodded and, using her position to her advantage, pressed her lips to his. It was her first kiss, and his second.
He winced slightly, even as he kissed her back gently.
"..Ah..." she said as she pulled her face away from his. A bright blush lit up on her face as she brought her hand up to her lips.
"...Oh Kotomi chan," he said with a sigh. "You know you're just making it harder on yourself, if..."
"...Maybe," she admitted after a long moment. "But I want you to know how I feel... How I really feel. I told my parents I hated them, and then they died... I never had the chance to apologize. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't do so now." She looked to the side, her face growing steadily redder. "Tomoya kun... I love you."
"...Kotomi chan..." He closed his eyes. 'Well, shit. It'll just hurt her more if I tell her now and don't come back but... Damn it.' He shook his head. "You're putting me in a most unfortunate position."
Her eyes snapped to his, hurt plainly visible.
"I love you too," he admitted. "And having said so, I've potentially made the hurt all the greater if..."
"...Please don't talk about it," she said as she buried her face in his chest.
"...Alright," he said. "Alright."
No further words were said that night. A few minutes later, she fell asleep next to him, and he let himself fall into a natural sleep.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
A Note From The Author:
Well, I have a spot of bad news; this semester definitely looks worse than the last. Already effectively behind due to not doing some things before the semester start, yay. If I'm lucky, I'll get another chapter set done, but I really wouldn't count on it. Next update may not be for a few months. ):
On the plus side, well... Hey! Have another chapter!