A familiar sound. A knife hitting the ground. Omori lies defeated, and you hug him. Just like last time. Except, this time, he doesn't disappear. The hug continues. You stare into his empty eyes, and he stares back at you.
"Fine," he says, "You win. Are you happy, now?"
You aren't quite sure what to say. "...Not yet. We still have work to do."
He chuckles. "We? What do you mean?"
"Grey Space is a miracle," you say, "So many different places and things all living together in peace... that can't last forever on its own. Eventually, the Spaces will separate again. Someone has to preserve Grey Space, to keep it together. I want you to help me do that, Omori."
He stares blankly again. "There really must be something wrong with you. Why would I help you?"
"Do you have anything better to do?" you ask.
"No, I don't," he says, "But I don't understand what you want me to do for you."
"I'll explain in a bit," you say, "For now, let's get you out of here."
Omori picks up his knife, and you both get up. Looking out at the endless darkness in front of you, you play your violin, imagining the shape of a door in your mind. It appears, a grey door casting a light shadow. You open it and you both walk through.
On the other side, you're back in the monochrome house. Mari lies at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding. The Sunny of this vision is laughing, as is Basil. Omori seems ashamed of himself. You make another door, leading to the jail cell, and again you ascend to the hospital. Upon reaching the flooded piano room, you can sense fear on Omori's face. You exit, and he stares at the spider form of SOMETHING in horror. You walk forward, but he does not follow you. He cannot move. You take his hand and tug him along, walking past the spider, past the mess of hair, and make another door, returning, finally, to the surface, outside the cave.
You are back in Grey Space, and now, half of your quest is already over. You do not know if saving Omori was the easy part or the hard part, but regardless, you have him with you now.
"Alright," he says, "We're out, now. What exactly are we going to do?"
You focus in on your findings in the pervious nights' dreams. You had intuited how Grey Space might be maintained.
"When I told them the truth," you say, "everything collapsed. There wasn't a need for any of the Spaces anymore. They had lost their purpose. So the borders between them broke, and they mixed together like a..."
"Like a smoothie?" Omori asks.
"Sure," you reply, "Like a smoothie. But, even still, there are some parts of our Mind that don't want to be together. Like oil and water, they'll naturally separate after a while, even if you mix them."
"Is there a point to what you're saying?", Omori asks.
"Grey Space was created just by having the Spaces near each other without borders," you say, "Nothing actually mixed them, they just did that on their own. So, if we want to keep Grey Space intact..."
"We have to actively mix them, instead of letting it happen naturally, right?" he asks.
"Yeah, I mean... I think so?" you say.
"It sounds right enough," he says, "But, is that ideal? Actively mixing the contents of the Mind would displace everyone, it would tear settlements and regions apart."
You think for a moment.
"Maybe not mixing in the sense of a... blender," you say, "Maybe something more like dissolving them into each other. I think I read in a book once that there's a way to mix oil and water so that they stay together. Maybe we can do that. Maybe we can find a way to make the opposite spaces... stay together."
You begin to formulate a plan.
"If we want to keep everything mixed together, it might be a good idea to go to somewhere where the Spaces haven't quite mixed yet," you say, "We can look at what's happening there and gather information on what to do."
"You're being pretty scientific about this," Omori says, "I can appreciate that. Everyone around here says that the merging is finished, but I doubt that. If we go out in one direction long enough, we might leave this small area of stability."
He takes a beat. "Just a guess, though. We might end up walking for nothing."
You start walking out, away from town, as Omori follows you. You walk through a forest, which grows progressively more dense as you go. "We're not going to be doing this for nothing. You're always so pessimistic, Omori," you tease.
"Yes, well, I am the manifestation of your guilt and self loathing," he says, "It's my job to make you feel bad."
"Mhmm." you reply simply, "You were really good at that for a while, too."
"And yet, here I am with you again, dragging you down, by your own choice," he says, "For our sake, I hope Aubrey and Basil have a thing for dumb guys."
You laugh. "I didn't know you could tell jokes."
Though you aren't facing him, you can sense a smirk cross his face.
The forest had grown dense enough that little sunlight peeked through. You can sense Omori tensing up again, though he still keeps walking. Silently, you offer your hand to him, and he takes it. All is quiet for a small moment. Then, scaring both of you, something comes running down your path. You and Omori enter battle together.
The creature appears to be a Sprout Mole, except... not quite correct. It is not grey like the rest of the creatures in Grey Space, but rather half white, and half black. The halves themselves constantly shift around, and the division is not simply a straight line. You are both very taken aback. You attack instinctually, without strategy. Your ALLEGROs are accompanied by Omori's STABs. The creature falls with ease, but leaves the two of you breathing heavy from shock. You calm yourself down, and Omori seems to close his eyes contemplatively for a moment. You both seem to be back to normal.
He seems as though he wants to say something, but holds it back. All that he gives to you it a small nod, as if to say, "good work." You'll take whatever you can get with him. Continuing forward no more than a few yards, you find a clearing with a picnic. The same Mari as before sits there, and she smiles as you arrive.
"Oh, hello Sunny!" she says, "I could tell you needed a picnic here. Glad to see you've..."
She cuts herself off as Omori exits the foliage.
"...Oh. H-hello."
Omori says nothing and does not emote.
"It's okay, Mari," you say, "I'm watching him. He won't do anything bad," you assure her.
She frowns, her dagger-like teeth pointing downwards. "Mmm... okay, Sunny. If you say so."
Your gaze had been focused on Mari, but you see that Basil is there, too. He's decapitated, but he's there. You wave to him, though he does not respond, nor does he respond to you calling his name. Considering he has neither ears nor eyes, this makes sense to you.
"Ah... sorry, you want to talk to Basil, right?" Mari says nervously, "I'll let him know you're here."
Mari takes Basil's hand, appearing to trace out shapes onto his palm. He does it back onto Mari's hand.
"He says hi!" Mari smiles, "To both of you. Sunny and Omori."
Basil waves, smiling with his body language as much as he can. You walk over to the picnic basket and touch it, making you feel safe. You find the forest to be beautiful, and you want to spend some more time with Mari and Basil, so you decide to have a picnic with them, silently motioning Omori to join in. You eat a myriad of food, some healthy stuff, some junk food, a few cubes of something you can only describe as □□□□. It all tastes good. Mari consumes it like a garbage disposal in a sink, and Basil liquifies it in a blender next to him, pouring it directly into his windpipe. You find them endearing.
"So, Sunny, Omori... now that you're back together again, what are you two doing?" she asks, curiously.
"We're trying to keep Grey Space together," you say between bites, "I've been thinking about it, and given how different the Spaces are, I don't think they'll stay together like this unless we do some... upkeep, I guess."
"We're going away from town, hopefully to find some areas that haven't been merged yet," Omori says quietly, "Sunny thinks we can get some information there. I don't think there's any point to doing this, though."
Mari chuckles. "Of course you don't, Omori. That figures. I'm glad you're sticking by regardless."
You hadn't noticed yet, but Mari appears to be speaking to Basil as you all speak. You figure it must be her translating what everyone is saying. How nice of her...
"Basil agrees," Mari says, "He says he remembers wandering during the merge, and how even yesterday, Black Space and White Space hadn't quite... agreed with each other, so to speak. Basically... he's saying you're right! Keep going on your quest, we believe in you!"
Mari smiles, her hollow eye sockets contracting into crescent moon shapes, and her gaping mouth doing the same. Basil forms a heart with his hands. You felt at peace before, but sitting here in Grey Space, with Omori next to you, you truly feel as though everything is going to be okay. The two of you get up, healed from Mari's food, and begin walking again after saying goodbye.
Just as you begin to leave the picnic area, you encounter a floating mirror. Omori stands behind you, expressionless.