CH. 56 Duplicates
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Shido finds himself in a dark area where there is nothing but a single light which shows nothing in the background as still appears as a black voice of nothingness. Shido just stands in the middle of the blackness. Before him, a giant black shadow appears and a face, the face of a demon, appears as the shadow gets closer to him. Shido feels no fear as he has a rather angered look on his face like he has lost everything. The vision gets darker and the next thing he knows, Shido is now sitting in a chair before an organ-like instrument and the rest of the environment is dark. He looks at the instrument and then raises his arms as he slams his hands on the organ as rays of dark colors emit from the keys that he plays and he begins playing a melody. A song that sounds foreboding and devoid of hope as the darkness surrounds his body and negative mana emits from his body.
But in his mind, Shido begs anyone "Someone, please just tell me to stop. Tohka, just tell me anything and I'll stop. Origami, Kotori, Miku, Nia, Yoshino, Mukuro, Natsumi, Kurumi, Kaguya, or Yuzuru…just tell me to quit playing and I'll stop without thinking." As he plays, his wish is never granted as he continually plays the melody and the face begins to glow.
The melody begins to fade as Shido begins to fall back into unconsciousness as this was just a dream that he has in his comatose state. He has had this vision many times during the time he's been out, but he can't understand why.
Kurumi Timeline
Days past since Kurumi had her encounter and the Itsuka family is dealing with the loss of Asami. Kurumi was found unconscious by Reiji on his way home from a friend's place and he heard crashing. Her wounds weren't bad and she was just stunned at the worst but needed some bandages. Shido has yet to wake up from his coma still. But Kurumi is doing fine all things considered.
At present, Kurumi is making plans to leave since she doesn't have anything left to do and Shido is in good hands, but if she leaves him and bumps into the others then they'll badger her about it. She thinks to herself "I need to get Shido to wake up soon. But I've tried everything to get a reaction out of him. I even that underwear he picked for me."
Nothing has changed and her older self of this timeline is very upset of losing two daughters, so she's been very strict on curfews for all the kids. Kurumi can't blame her Aki was so strong and she couldn't do much to him, especially without Zafkiel he could just appear again and take another one of her children if he wished it.
The adult versions of herself and Shido are just going through the motion because they can't do anything because of their powerlessness and time relaxing.
The frustration of the situation is just making things intolerable for her, but then….
At the front door, the adult Shido of this time returns home prematurely from work and he greets his wife in his usual manner with a kiss, but he appears to be tired and out of it.
Kurumi is confused as to why her husband is home and asks him "What happened at work today? Did you blow a project a something?"
Shido shakes his head and puts down his stuff as he explains "No, my boss gave me the rest of the week off. My buddies at the office told her about Asami and Saori and my boss saw my heart wasn't in it. She said to take some time off, get my family together, and work through it." He then hugs his wife because she is silently dealing with the issue and is with child still.
Looking at her husband, Kurumi makes a request of him "Shido, that young you and me upstairs are dealing with their hardships like we are. But they can still be helped and they may be the only ones who can help us as well. I know it sounds dishonest, but we need them to get our girls back. Please, talk to the boy, and see if you can snap him out of it." She holds her husband tighter and he also understands they need help to get their daughters back, so he nods.
Shido loosens his tie and prepares himself for what he's about to say because he can't be fake, lie, and he can't sugar coat anything. He remembers many things from his youth and things he wishes never happened. He approaches the bedroom, opens the door, sees the younger Kurumi sitting on the floor thinking about what to do next.
He looks at his younger self, who is still unresponsive, sits next to him, and tells him "So, you're a younger version of me, or I'm an older version of you. I guess it doesn't really matter either way. I don't know what really happened to make you like this, but I can say this. My life with Kurumi has been far from easy. I didn't just start dating her, seal her powers, and lived happily ever after. I had to deal with DEM still, and I had to deal with truths that I really wished weren't real, but they are and I have to live with it. I don't know who your special someone is or if you even know. But here's another thing; you will have to deal with the same hard times I did when I learned what the truth. I also know that you have good friends and you'll get through it just like I did. I made my choices, but there were times when I thought about what it have been like if I married Tohka or any of the others, but I've never, not for one minute, regret my choice to be with my wife. She's made it worth it for me by just being here. When I started my life with her, I didn't know how to do it at first and I feel like I was holding her back because…I was afraid of losing her. She just kept smiling and kept me going with her smile and that's beyond priceless to me. But what I'm really saying is…get up, take on your challenge, and get back to what you were doing; because if you don't, then who do they have to come back to, and how will your choices pay off. You can start by just getting up, okay."
Upon hearing this, Shido's eyes begin to twitch a little as a flood of memories come back to him from his meeting with Tohka, his meeting with Yoshino, the other spirits, meeting Aki, and his shooting Saori. Then he has a vision of a girl with pale blue hair at a beach smiling at him and his eyes open and gains their life once more as he sits up suddenly.
He looks around the room "Where am I?" he asks in a daze. He sees his older self and then Kurumi in the corner of the room.
Kurumi approaches him with a smile and remarks "It's about time you woke up, Shido. I was beginning to get tired of waiting for you to get up so we can get back to our mission."
The older Shido snickers and tells his younger self "And I thought Kotori was stubborn." He decides to leave after this to give the two some privacy.
Kurumi sits next to Shido and tells him what's happened from Saori's trick to Asami being kidnapped by Aki, but this isn't news he wanted to hear. She tells him about how he's been asleep this whole time and that their older selves in this timeline have been helping support them.
Shido sighs "So, we're back to square one and the others are probably in a different time looking for us. That's just perfect." He complains.
Kurumi just smiles and replies "Well, at least you and I have had lots of time for fun in this little world of ours." To which Shido just remains silent making it much less fun for Kurumi.
Shido reflects on what his older self-told him as he did hear that speech and thinks about what his next move should be. He still has Kurumi with him but she can only do so much without killing people and eating their time and Shido would rather avoid her doing that.
But just like Shido's luck with women, his luck in this endeavor is about to change….
Elsewhere in the city, a white vortex opens in the sky and three figures emerge from it with Realizers with one holding a piece of equipment that resembles a radar that has two dots on it; something they find very good.
Again, at the Itsuka residence, Shido is out of bed trying to get moving again, but being out so long is making it tough, so Kurumi helps him a little by helping him up and he has to use a stick for balance. He is fed a good meal after all this time with the family he has here. Kurumi and Shido are going to wait until he gets his strength back before they move again since he won't be much help, if any at all, in his current condition without the ship.
After eating properly for the first time in a while, Shido decides to go for a walk to get some exercise and get moving again. Because of the incidents, Kurumi will accompany him just in case. While they walk, Shido and Kurumi talk about small things, like Kurumi going to school in Saori's place and Shido even talks about having dreams while he was out.
But looking back on it, in the most frequent dream he had, Shido recalls some names he doesn't really know about. "I wonder who Nia, Mukuro, and Natsumi are? Or maybe I was just really out of it." He says to himself silently.
From a distance, someone watches Shido and Kurumi with intensity because they aren't ready to show themselves yet and their vision is clear on the two. After a little while longer, Shido needs to sit down to catch his breath.
Kurumi looks around and says "I'll go get you something to drink, so be a good boy and wait." She then gives a mischievous wink and walks to find a vending machine to get a drink.
Kurumi goes away and the person following Shido and her make their move as they run to the bench.
"Shido, we have to get moving now!" a familiar voice calls to him.
Shido suddenly feels a hand on his wrist as someone grabs him and attempts to run away with me but he resists and pulls them back and gets a good look at them. It is none other than Origami Tobiichi and she's wearing her uniform. Shido is taken off guard by her sudden appearance.
He looks at her and wonders "Wait, Origami? What are you…how did you get here?" he asks her dumbfounded.
Origami just continues forcing Shido to run with her and his atrophied muscles are making it difficult to resist her and she doesn't say anything. Kurumi comes back a little later and wonders where Shido went while she holds two cans of coffee.
After minutes of running away, Origami and Shido are now in a public restroom inside the park, a familiar setting for the two of them. Origami first inspects Shido's body to make sure he's okay, much to his dismay, and sighs with relief after seeing this.
"Shido, we have to leave this timeline immediately. Before she finds us here." Origami immediately tells him.
Shido is even more confused because she knows about timelines already and he replies "Origami, you've been moving around the timelines like us? We've spent this looking for you and you already know about this?"
Origami nods and explains "When I woke up, I was in the city and everyone seemed different. I went home and there was somebody else living there. I found someone who looked like you, and he claimed to be your son but he had jade hair and eyes. I said I was your lover and then I was told otherwise, and an argument occurred…."
"I get it. You met the me of that universe and then something else happened, am I right?" he interrupts to guess the rest.
Origami nods and wraps it up "Yes, and I've formed a small team to find you and bring you home. I wasn't the first member since I couldn't move through the timelines, but our leader does."
The sound of a leader doesn't sound good to Shido, but he has to ask "What did this leader tell you exactly?"
Origami takes a second but then a voice says." "I received a present from a bint in bandages but it took me a whilst to figure it out. Said it was a prototype or sumfink." In this very British accent that Shido can barely understand and he looks to see a boy about his age hanging across the stall wall with short blonde hair that his a long left bang that is braided and blue eyes wearing a white skin-tight, tank top with neon blue lines running up the chest and he wears white pants with a black belt, black boots, and wears a blue jacket tied around his waist.
"I found this lass whilst on me journey to end a certain group and their machines. Just about lost me head trying to reason with her." He adds while laughing a little.
Origami remains silent and Shido can't understand what this boy is saying, no one can due to his slang and accent. But the boy seems cheerful and nice.
He extends his hand to shake Shido's while introducing himself " Name is Lucius, Lucius Ashcroft. Spy extraordinaire for the SSS and the greatest male wizard the world has ever seen."
After Lucius introduces himself, another person enters the room as she opens the door, a woman with Nordic blonde hair and blue eyes dressed as a secretary wearing glasses and Shido recognizes her a little, like he's seen her before.
"Lucius, please stop with the British accent. He can barely understand what you're saying now." She says to Lucius.
Lucius coughs a little and responds "Better, Karen? I thought I'd just mess with him a little. Just not enough fun with the two of you ladies?" with his accent, much clearer and he is no longer using slang so Shido can understand his words now.
The woman named Karen shakes her head a little and formally introduces herself to Shido "I am Karen Nora Mathers, former secretary to Elliot Woodman and current chairwoman of Asgard Electronics." She extends her arm to shake Shido's hand as well.
Shido doesn't know what to make of this group, but he thinks he can at least trust them a little. He tells them that he needs to get back to Kurumi, but that doesn't go over very well since everyone agrees that it is risky for him to be around her.
But Shido replies to this distrust "Look, I understand if all three of you don't trust her that much if you're all wizards, but Kurumi has been taking care of me for the last month, and she's been helping me through most of this crazy trip. She also has one of those time bracelet things. Plus, some really dangerous spirits are involved in this thing."
Origami steps and also adds "Yes, we've met some of them already, and we also know of DEM's involvement in this when we encountered some of their wizards. But those wizards weren't much of a challenge for us."
Karen interjects "Indeed, and we've even encountered a copy of my deranged sister. Perhaps you've met her, Shido?"
Shido instantly understands that Karen is referring to Ellen and he does indeed know her.
But Lucius states "Look, we didn't beat Ellen. We can't get just say we did something that we didn't do. We're good, but she's better and we have to keep that in mind."
Karen and Origami nod in agreement with Lucius since he is telling the truth, but if that's the case, then Shido has to tell them about what he saw some time ago. But before anything can be said or planned, a set of footsteps can be heard.
"Now this won't do. I leave for a second, and already somebody tries kidnapping my precious Shido. What is a girl to do…" a very familiar voice says as she emerges from the shadows.' Kurumi approaches the stall with her usual demeanor and the three wizards all pull out weapons and point them at her.
"Stop it!" Shido shouts to them and Karen puts her weapon away realizing that is Kurumi, a spirit, but Lucius and Origami don't.
Karen looks at Shido and then says "He said stop, so I think we should honor his request." To which Lucius puts his weapon, a beam katana, down but Origami still won't oblige.
Shido approaches Origami, puts his hand on her shoulder, and says "Origami, I'm not asking you to like her, but Kurumi has been a great help to me and she's one of our best bets against this. But also, I need her help to set things right in this time…." Shido explains to Origami the plight of this world's Itsuka family.
Karen and Lucius empathize with their plight, but Origami remains stoic to this. Despite her teammates actually having stirred thoughts on this, Origami seems unfazed by this.
"This is their world, so it's their problem. Not ours. We should focus on getting home and stopping whoever is behind this."Origami replies.
Shido, not satisfied with her response, adds "Origami, I'm not asking you to like it, but I am asking that we help a family in need. A girl was taken from her parents and if we don't help her, she'll never see them again. Do you want that to happen to her? Do you want that to happen? Didn't you tell me that you never wanted anyone to have to go through that?"
Origami clenches her hand into a fist and replies "But that's different…"
Shido shakes his head "No it isn't. Dead or alive if that girl has to live alone without her family, then they might as well be dead in her world."
Origami doesn't reply, but Lucius on the hand puts in his words "I get it, Itsuka. I know what it's like to be away from your parents. My old lady, love her to death, but when I saw her working for DEM, I felt like I was looking at a stranger. Almost like she dies every day just be brought back at night."
Shido looks at Lucius and wonders who his mom is. But this isn't the time or place for it. Origami, reluctantly, agrees to help Shido with getting Asami home due to her not wanting to allow someone to go through something similar to her. She looks at Kurumi with complete distrust but gets the idea that they'll need to be allies, for a time. Kurumi is more than accepting of that since Origami is no threat to her.
With that instant over, Shido now has a small team again, but with new allies and Origami. Things are still going to be very difficult for him, but he is back in the game and ready to start helping his kids from this timeline and figure out whom this woman in bandages is.
However…
Inverse Tohka Timeline
Aboard the Bifrost, Ryouko is sitting at a terminal alone since everybody else is gone and she looks something suspicious, recordings from inside the ship. Namely, Hiro's time on the bridge that Origami neglected to mention since he left in a hurry, and that apparently he fought against Ellen and Kokoro. Being at the bridge, she should have known, and Ryouko instantly sees something is fishy.
After seeing these recordings, Ryouko decides to confront her apparent ally and get some answers. Origami herself is now re-entering the bridge with a drink in her hand. Ryouko instantly stands up to talk with her.
"Hey, Tobiichi, why didn't you tell me Hiro went to fight against Ellen and that woman in the cloak?" she says confrontationally.
Origami sips her drink and replies "I didn't think it mattered too much seeing as how he had allies below."
Ryouko punches the wall "That's bull and you know it. I saw the fight and you didn't even bother contacting anyone. Why did you let him go alone!?" she demands to know.
Origami just feigns ignorance "Look, I didn't know how strong they were and Hiro claims to have killed his Ellen, so I just assumed he was good enough. It wasn't my fault he couldn't handle them. Besides, he's still alive isn't he, or are you going to say that I'm at fault for a few scratches."
Ryouko glares at her, but Origami just adds "What's with that glare, Captain Kusakabe? You're looking at me like I'm an enemy. What did I do wrong? All I did was make a bad call. You can't possibly consider ending our union over a stupid call. You've made your share of blunders, haven't you, Captain Kusakabe?"
Ryouko isn't happy with this and asks a question "Tobiichi, do you remember when you were about to discharged from the AST, and I managed to get your punishment toned down, what was your punishment?"
Origami pushes Ryouko slightly and answers as she walks away "You're getting a little too carried away, Captain. It was just a two-month probation, nothing serious and you got to keep me, your ace. But I was surprised that you got it toned down, frankly."
As she walks, Origami hears the sound of a gun, turns, and sees Ryouko holding a gun as she replies "I didn't do that. It was Isaac Westcott with his connections. All I did was scold you, but then again….you're not Tobiichi."
Origami looks at Ryouko with disinterest and replies "But I'm also not from your timeline, so things are different. In my timeline, you were the one who got my punishment light."
Ryouko, with a cold look, pulls the trigger of her gun as the shot echoes through the ship. The others aboard hear it and run over to see what happened, but what they will find isn't going to be good.