"Wha- What is this?"

Though Shujinkou was trying to find an answer to his dilemma in his past, he somehow ended up briefly experiencing another's.

"These are Hiroko's…"

It was a strange feeling experiencing his childhood from another perspective, but it didn't stop there. His head was being filled with brief moments that his sister had experienced. Including…

I have to find Shujinkou. I have to make it up to him.

"Hiroko…"

He then remembered the manifestation of his repressed memories that he had encountered before. At first, he passively agreed with everything his past version said, but now those words filled him with anger.

His hand no longer trembled with anxiety, but with that specific emotion.

"Why am I'm always such an idiot?" he raged. "I…"

His hand snapped back to his side as he shook his head.

"'What am I supposed to do?'"

Those were the words he previously said. He was dealing with a situation he knew nothing about and powers he couldn't comprehend clearly had a hand in his current situation.

"…I know it's risky, but if a friend needs me to be there, I'll be there—to help!"

"Why are you quoting Re: Coded dialogue?"

A sharp chill shot up Shujinkou's spine the moment he realized Hiroko was standing right in behind him.

"Hiroko?! Why are you just getting home so late?"

"I was in line for all evening just for a chance to…"

She immediately cut herself off the moment Shujinkou's panicked expression sunk into her mind. "Wait, why are you acting like you hiding something?"

Shujinkou simply scratched his right cheek."I'm not hiding anything… I was just going to go out for a bit."

"This late?"

"It's important."

"Must be if you're this jittery." Hiroko scratched her right cheek. "It isn't serious, is it?"

"Not life threatening…" Shujinkou answered. He hoped that what he was about to do wouldn't be a threat to anyone.

But just in case, he took one long look at Hiroko. His eyes scanned her from head to toe.

"What's going on?" she asked, perplexed.

"Just… making a mental note or picture or whatever it's called."

"Why…?"

"Just in case."

"Okay…"

Shujinkou once again scratched his right cheek. "Alright… 'Night."

He soon took off, not even giving his sister a chance to respond nor even realizing that he briefly bumped into his sister as he did so.

"Huh?"

Hiroko silently placed her hand over her chest as she processed what that brief contact did to her.

"So that's how it is…"

Following her brother's example, Hiroko broke into a sprint into their home.

…

Shujinkou took a moment to catch his breath as he stood before Monika's home.

This is it. This may be the point of no return and there may be no coming back. No save points to retry with.

Various emotions swirled in him as he walked to the front door and made his presence known. Waiting has never felt so nerve-wracking to him and unlike any other time, the results did nothing to dispel the anxious feeling.

"Hey, Shujinkou," Monika greeted. "What are you doing back here?"

"Well there's kinda something important I wanted to talk to you about. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek as he walked inside. He was now officially in the point of no return. There was nothing else to do but do what he came here to do.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Monika asked.

Shujinkou continued to awkwardly scratch his right cheek. He didn't come up with a plan, so he didn't exactly know what to say. "Well… I kinda realized something when I left earlier…"

A curious look crossed Monika's face. "What is it?"

"These last few days, you never corrected me."

"About what?"

"…I called you Monika and you never added 'Prime'."

Monika simply stared at him. She didn't say a word until a small smile formed on her lips; one that didn't seem to serve its usual function.

"I see… Well, I guess I now know that the focus was squarely on you now."

"Huh?"

"Plus… I guess I figured that there wasn't a point to after what happened at the hospital."

Shujinkou was still stuck on the first part of Monika's response. What did she mean by the focus being on him?

He wanted to directly ask what that meant, but he couldn't afford to get off subject.

"You know… When I first remembered what happened, I thought that it was the multiverse trying to fix there being two versions of someone existing in the same world at the same time, but… Then I remembered what you told me after."

He never thought he would ask what he was about to ask, but a lot of things he thought would happen has happened for awhile now. "You're the one who brought Hiroko back and made my dad stay with us, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Monika confirmed.

"So, if you could do that, then… getting rid of another version of yourself would be pretty easy."

Monika remained silent. He could see defeat building up in her eyes.

"I'm not going to demand you tell me why you did it but… you can bring her back right?"

Monika averted her gaze.

"I mean, you brought Hiroko back and made everyone forget there were two Monikas, so you can, can't you?"

"I… I can't…"

"But…" a horrifying thought swiftly cut him off. "You… You don't mean that she's gone for good, do you?"

She didn't say a word, causing his fears of the idea being true to skyrocket.

"Monika, this is serious; one of my friend's lives is at stake here! You don't have to explain anything to me! Just please… Bring her back, if you can…" Shujinkou desperately pleaded.

Monika shook her head.

"Monika…"

A sharp pain in his head stopped Shujinkou from saying any more. For the first time this week, he was able to figure out what the familiarity was. "Monika… Were you the reason I ended up in the hospital?"

"I wasn't trying to… It's just that you were getting close to discovering the truth and I had a hard blocking those images from your head."

Those words shocked and scared Shujinkou. "You're trying to repress my memories again?"

"Wouldn't it be simpler if you just got rid of them? Everyone wants a happy ending right?"

When they first met, Shujinkou may have even considered that offer. But now…

"But… this isn't…"

Shujinkou dropped to his knees as he tried to think through the pain.

"I can't… I don't want to forget… I don't want to lose another…"

Shujinkou cradled his aching head as he pleaded, "Please… Stop it…"

"I can't…"

"Please…"

"I can't…!"

"Monika…!"

"Just… Just please forget!"

Shujinkou's entire body shook as the pain reached its zenith.

"STOP!"

His yell created a shockwave that could be felt around the entire globe. The pain soon subsided and he took a moment to catch his breath.

"Monika?"

He looked up. Right where Monika was standing was what appeared to be a crack in the air. He started at the crack with surprise and amazement as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Did I… Did I just do that?"

Cautious of what lied before him, Shujinkou took a few steps back as he examined the crack. Jet black darkness was all he could see.

It looks like a dimensional rift between worlds. But how could I have done that?

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek.

"Maybe this what the visions were leading up to. Whatever the reason, I think I may have knocked Monika into another universe."

He didn't know what lied on the other side of the rift he created, but he knew he had no choice but to dive through it.

"Alright."

Fear dominated Shujinkou as he slowly approached the rift. For all he knew, he wouldn't be able to return home if he went through. Just considering what he was about to do was a huge risk, but he already made a promise and he needed to keep.

"You are reaching the point of no return. Proceed or Stay?"

Shujinkou immediately turned towards the owner of the sudden voice. Standing in the front doorway of the house was Hiroko.

Her eyes were fixed on the rift as she walked in."So… That's a thing."

Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. He wasn't sure how he could possibly explain what was going on to her.

"Looks like a crack in the fabric of the space-time continuum," Hiroko continued.

Shujinkou nodded his head. It was the only response he could think of. "Yeah. I thought that too."

"So, are we in the middle of a 'Crisis' or something? Is the DC Trinity gonna be passing by too?" Hiroko jokingly asked.

"You're kinda taking this whole tear in the fabric of time and space pretty well, Hiroko…" Shujinkou noted, perplexed.

"I think my inner crossover fan excitement is balancing out my realistic outlook freaking out."

"I can see that… I was shocked until things got to the point that multiversal reasons were the only explanation that made any sense in regards to what I'm going through."

"Which is?"

"Ah-!"

Shujinkou felt like kicking himself for just talking about such a subject without any care.

"Does it have something to do with the fact that things aren't the way they're supposed to be?" Hiroko asked.

Such a question filled Shujinkou with shock and surprise. "You know?"

"I just learned it out of nowhere and, I'm not bragging or anything, butI think I may know more of what's going on than you right now."

"Oh… So you know…"

"That I'm supposed to be dead and I'm only alive because an alternate version of one of your friends brought me back; Yeah, I do. I also know that it's been bothering you for a really long time."

Shujinkou solemnly scratched his right cheek.

"Yeah, about that… I always felt like it was my fault. Dad wasn't always the dad I wished he'd be. Sometimes it felt like only one parent actually liked me. And yet… when it came to you; it just seemed obvious that he preferred you.

I tried to deal with it, but it just got harder and harder as I got older. It got to the point that I felt like maybe things would be better if I just wasn't around. So, I did what I'm clearly best at."

Hiroko scratched her right cheek. She knew that she was the only one who properly understood what Shujinkou was referring too, but she didn't care.

"Yeah, well, you not being around freaked me out. I just come home and no one's around. I still can't believe you picked a stormy day to run away to."

"That day was really just me making bad decisions and it was because of those that made you end up in front of that."

"So you've really been living your life since then feeling like everything was your fault?"

Shujinkou nodded his head and admitted, "Between the two of us, I felt like I deprived the world of the better twin. Not only that, I couldn't handle life anymore so I tried to escape into my head, but even that didn't help."

"Shujinkou…"

Shujinkou raised his hand towards his sister, silently asking her to not say anymore.

"I pushed everyone away and just went through life like a zombie. I hated myself and did everything I did to prevent anything from convincing me otherwise. I refused not to hate myself.

But…"

Shujinkou recalled the very speech that inspired him to join the Literature Club.

"I realized me doing that was hurting the people who still cared about me. I pushed them away and they still wanted. I was being selfish and I needed to make it up to them. But even then I still hated myself for hurting them. But then… I reconnected with Sayori and made new friends.

Without even realizing it, my friends slowly made me hate myself less and less. I struggled to even consider letting it go and even though not everyone knew why I was the way I was, they still tried their hardest to make me see that I shouldn't.

But I think I know why I couldn't completely let it go. I always felt like if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be gone, so guess I figured I needed you to justify what everyone was telling me. But that was pretty dumb of me, right? It's not like I really needed to ask for me to know that answer. I mean, you pushing me out of the way was always the answer, wasn't it?"

Hiroko smiled. "Well, I wasn't thinking about all that when it happened, but I'd say in hindsight that would be a yes."

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek.

"Gramps, you, Dad… I had a lot happen to me, but I think that's always been an issue with me there. I always thought about how those things affected me. I never considered back then how Mom and Granny Hisa felt about losing you, how Mom felt about Dad leaving without a goodbye, or how you felt that you needed to work hard just so Dad could give you the attention we both wanted."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize until it was too late how much that really got to you and when I did, I couldn't do anything about."

Shujinkou shook his head. "No need to apologize. I'm the one who should apologize. I also never considered that I wasting the life you gave yours for."

"Maybe… Maybe if I was more like you and tried to comfort you even during the hardest of times, you wouldn't have hated yourself. And yet… you could have easily hated me for monopolizing Dad's attention but you never stopped being a good brother to me."

"I didn't want to hate you. I just wanted a family that loved each other despite their flaws. But… You can't always get what you want can you?"

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek.

"I woke up with a life that wasn't really mine and I couldn't even enjoy it for more than a few days… Honestly, it was kind of like a giant tease. But at least, I got to see what it was like and… At least, I got to see you again."

Hiroko nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. But a part of you still wants the life here, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"You can't have any doubt in your heart if you're going to save your friend. So…"

Shujinkou's eyes widened with horror. He didn't know how, but his sister was slowly becoming transparent. "What are you-?"

"Can't be your shackle anymore," she said with a sad smile. "Besides, I'm just a figment of a past long gone. You're probably the only one right now that cares whether I'm here or not."

"Hiroko…"

"You know, I've kinda have a lot of memories in my head that are fake and when I think about it, I may not even be the real Hiroko. I'm probably just something the other Monika made just to give you back what you lost.

I don't know, but if that's the case then what I'm about to say may not even matter to you. Still, I have to say it; don't start looking down on yourself again.

Whatever's going on with me; I can at tell you with all honesty that your sister wouldn't want you to hate yourself for something like that and neither of us hates you for that."

A hot sensation filled Shujinkou's eyes. Those were words that he always wanted to hear, but he also knew that he no longer needed them to validate his survival. Still, those words and the acceptance granted him the peace a part of him desired.

"A part of me also always regretted never saying goodbye, Hiroko. But, I think there's something more important that I have to say first."

"What's that?"

A big smile stretched across his teary-eyed face. "Thank you."

Overcome with a variety of emotions, Hiroko quickly approached Shujinkou and hugged him for the final time.

"See ya, Shiko."

"See ya, Hiko."

The young man tightened his grip more and more until there was no longer anything to embrace.

"Sayonara, Queen of the Kingdom…"

Shujinkou wiped the tears from his eyes. He no longer needed to shed them over the past.

Once he was finally ready, he shifted his attention towards the path that will guide him to his final goal. He no longer felt any fear or doubt. In fact, he felt a little anticipation.

"Here goes," he quietly declared.

With a newfound resolve, Shujinkou jumped through the crack he created to fix one last mistake.