Yayaka
I was expecting to see someone standing in the mirror when I turned to face it, and it scared me a for a second when I saw it wasn't my normal reflection or my red-eyed one. Thankfully I felt that fear for about a second, then my brain registered the blue hair and purple eyes of the person I was looking at.
"Cocoro?" I asked. Relief flooded my body, as the girl in the mirror nodded. "Thank frick it's you, I thought it'd be someone else."
The girl in the mirror seemed to huff silently, annoyed. "How can it be someone else? You're looking in a mirror, aren't you? Of course, you'd see yourself in it."
I blinked, my relief becoming confusion. "But I'm not looking at myself."
"That's your problem! You can't see yourself at all."
"...What do you mean? Hell, why would I want to see myself in this damn mirror?"
Cocoro's shoulders fell, as if she'd sighed. "It doesn't matter. If you want to save your friends, you're going to have to face her, whether you want to or not." With that last line, she dissolved into the darkness, leaving me alone again in the room.
"H-hey! Wait up! You didn't explain anything!" I got closer to the mirror, and grabbed the sides, trying to shake it. "Come back, Cocoro!" If I had the ability to think properly, I would have been screaming at myself for being an idiot and touching the mirror like that. Before I really knew what was happening, I was suddenly thrown across the room, like a wall of wind had just slammed into me. Pain branched through my back and ribs, and my next breath came as a hiss. What the crap was that?
Although I'd been hurt, I was still okay to sit up, so I put a hand to the ground, and did just that… only to nearly leap to my feet with shock.
There was someone else in the room now.
My heart was pounding, with fear and adrenaline, not sure how to react to the new arrival. It took my brain a second to catch up and register what I was seeing exactly. Human, at least, I could make out that much. Boots and trousers just like mine, maybe a little frayed at the bottom… Actually, all of their equipment was identical to mine, just with red instead of yellow on the body… Wait. I know this person. I looked them right in the eyes at that point, and my purple was met with the ruby-red of Yuyu's. But… there was still something a little odd about her. She was missing an arm, sure, that was kinda strange as I'd never seen her like that before, but that wasn't what was bugging me. It was her smile. I'd almost never seen one that big or lively before in her face, apart from maybe when we were playing Rock Band at the arcade.
"Yayaka, you're better," she said, her voice as light as a summer's breeze. Her face didn't really change, but I swear her smile somehow became warmer as she spoke. "I'm glad."
"Yeah, I'm better," I said, returning her smile. I suddenly felt a bit odd. Do I normally smile at the twins? I… wasn't sure. Something at the back of my mind was whispering that something about this situation wasn't right. But what exactly? I couldn't really pinpoint it, but there was something else that I thought was weird about this situation. "How did you get here and find me so quickly?" I asked.
"Hole device. Set coordinates to your tracker."
She responded a little faster than I would have thought would be normal for her. She's standing here smiling, something she wouldn't normally do either, and her tone of voice is completely different too… But I gave her a speech in the puppet world, didn't I? She's probably happy that I somehow managed to free her from only being able to obey orders, and also relieved that I'm alive, too. I dismissed anything else along that line of thinking, and got to the main point of why I was back in Pure Illusion. "Have you seen Cocona or Papika anywhere?"
Yuyu's head tilted to the side. "Cocona and Papika? Why?"
I explained the situation quickly. "When you sent me back alone, Cocona and Papika got worried and came after us. They wanted to make sure you were okay on your own, but it's been two days back home, and they haven't come back."
Yuyu frowned, before righting her head. "Two days?" she echoed.
"Yeah, I got worried when I heard that, too," I said. I clicked up my visor to see if it gave me any clues as to where they were.
"Broken screen?" Yuyu asked.
"Yeah, it's been busted for a while…" I replied. Red lines hovered over Yuyu, unsurprisingly. I spun around, trying to see if I could catch a hint of blue… and I did, when my line of sight fell on the mirror again… along with another patch of red. The red dot… "I think we need to go in the mirror." I said. "Cocona's signal's coming from there, along with a signal I've been chasing, it has to be able to take us there." I know I'd just been zapped by the mirror a little while ago, so what I was saying was probably really dumb, but the red and the blue never seemed to leave that space. Inside the frame has to be a Hole or something… Saying that, I got an idea. "Hey, can you try setting a Hole device to Cocona's location by using the tracker in her arm?"
Yuyu blinked, seemingly confused, before nodding. She reached for one of the pockets on her armour and pulled one out. With dexterity I wasn't quite expecting, she seemed to carefully fiddle with some rings on the Hole device I'd never noticed before, and threw it to the ground. Nothing happened. Without needing an order, Yuyu did it again, and again, using other devices from her pockets.
"Not working. Room may be interfering." She said, as I knelt down to pick up one of the devices, she'd thrown on the ground to get a closer look at it. Not only had I never noticed that they had rings on one end, they seemed to have really tiny numbers on them too, and a line going vertically through them. Without really thinking about it, I put the Hole in my pocket and turned to look at the mirror again.
"You got here okay though," I said.
"Possible to arrive by Hole. Doesn't mean it's possible to leave by Hole."
I was about to ask her if that could actually happen, I mean, we've never had any trouble with it before, but it's Pure Illusion. Anything's possible in here, so why wouldn't some worlds disable Hole technology? One Hole managed to warp us to the yuri-hell-school when it should have taken us home after all, it's probably not the only world that can mess with our stuff like that.
"No wonder Cocona's been stuck for two days..." I mumbled to myself. If Holes won't work in this place, she could have tried to get out all she liked, and nothing would have worked, unless she could make one naturally with Papika... But they got separated. I frowned at that thought. I mean it's true, they ended up separate from each other… But how exactly? I would have thought with their bond they wouldn't have trouble with that at all... I shook my head to clear it. The more time I spend thinking about it rather than acting on it, the more time we're wasting, and the longer they're stuck here and in danger. "We need to go save her." I said to Yuyu, standing back up. The silver-haired girl stared at me for a little seeming hesitant, before looking at the mirror.
"You scared?" I asked. She nodded. I held out my hand for her to take, "come on," I said, trying to encourage her, as I turned back to face the mirror.
When she eventually did take my hand, I got a jolt of surprise. Not because she took her time in doing so, and not even because it was cold. This time her hand was warm. It took me couple of seconds to remember what we were about to do, and why she'd taken my hand in the first place. I wrapped my fingers tightly around her hand, so we shouldn't get separated if something weird happened, and pulled her into the mirror with me.
My body was hit by a shock of cold, as if I'd walked into a cascade of ice water, rather than solid glass. Thankfully the feeling only lasted a second or two, before me and Yuyu made it through the mirror and into a familiar place. I wasn't sure how I felt about being in the metal forest again. Cautious was probably the first word that came to mind.
"Don't touch the trees…" I said, remembering how I'd fallen through one last time. I tried to pull my hand away from Yuyu's, but she seemed reluctant to let go, giving me a light squeeze. I guess neither of us can end up accidentally wandering away from the other If we're connected like this. Maybe she's onto something… Using my free hand, I clicked my visor up, to see if it gave us some direction to go. Wherever the metal trees were, no weird coloured stripes showed up on my visor at all, like they were overriding a signal. Just as I was about to worry that meant we'd have no way of rescuing Cocona from this place I caught a tiny fragment of blue on my screen. Hidden, and tucked deep away through the maze of a thousand plants. I crouched and leaned, trying to make sure that my eyes weren't just playing tricks on me, and that I was seeing something blue there. Thankfully, it never disappeared outright… But at one point I saw a small speck of red next to the blue. We should hurry.
"Let's go," I said to Yuyu. It was odd being able to see so clearly through my visor in this world. Normally, there was some form of distortion, or everything was just a clash of coloured lines, but the trees were clear as day, not even effected. Willow trees were a shimmering curtain of gold fronds, swaying in the breeze. I could see every patch of bark on a bronze oak tree. Getting a closer look at some of the leaves from a low-hanging branch, I could see the veins of each leaf carefully stamped onto them. No doubt if I ran a finger along them, I'd be able to feel the slightly rough texture too… Well, if I didn't end up being thrown to another damn world anyway.
I'd gotten a little too focused on trying to keep track of the blue and red lines though the metal trees, to the point of nearby leading Yuyu through a metal holly bush. That gave me a sudden thought. "How're you holding up?" I asked. The twins can't heal normally, and Yuyu's been wandering Pure Illusion for two days…
"Holding up?" Yuyu echoed.
"Last time I saw you, you had to fight unicycle clowns and a big metal dog, and I haven't seen you in a while. Are you hurt? Are you okay to walk like this?"
"Not hurt. I am okay," she said. Well, that answered one question, but talking about the puppet world just raised another.
"How the hell did you get out of there alive?" I asked.
"Transformed."
That made me raise an eyebrow. I'd seen Toto and Nyunyu transformed in Pure Illusion, so I guess it was only a matter of time before Yuyu tried it too, but at the same time I got a little concerned. Toto said they were both reverting back to amorphous after all, and he seemed in worse shape than I'd ever seen him at Flip Flap… "Are you sure you're okay?"
Yuyu's face changed for a second. She seemed slightly annoyed for a moment, before her face became neutral again. "I am fine," she said, a hint of anger in her voice, and she took her hand away from mine. The world seemed to… shiver as she said those words, like it was about to fall apart at any second. My legs felt shaky, and I collapsed, feeling dizzy and nauseous all of a sudden. What the heck was that? Barely a moment later, the world was back to normal again, and I was okay to stand again.
"Yayaka?" Yuyu watched me with worry.
"I'm fine," I said. It was the truth. That sudden bout of…whatever I'd just experienced, was gone, almost as quickly as it came. Something's wrong here… A voice at the back of my mind whispered. I wanted to agree with it, but I couldn't place what exactly made me feel that way. "Come on, we need to help Cocona."
The sun seemed to be crawling slowly through the sky, casting shimmering light down onto the metal forest. In any other situation, I would have found the walk with Yuyu… peaceful. But I couldn't allow myself to get stuck or distracted again. My shadow has trapped my friends in Pure Illusion somehow. I need to destroy it and set them free…
I ducked under a branch made of twisted grey wire, and stopped walking when I heard my foot 'splash' in a puddle. Quickly I took my foot out and stepped back onto solid ground. Looking at my boot, it was as if I'd stepped into a river of golden paint. Shining beads dripped down the edge of the boot... But it's not dissolving the material. Carefully, I lowered my foot again into the gold liquid ahead of us, and put weight down on it. Solid surface underneath, and my boot only really ended up two inches deep. "It seems safe..." I mumbled out loud. But what the heck is this doing here? Is the forest melting?
Yuyu, who was walking a little way behind me, had just caught up and stood next to me. There was a thick-sounding 'splash' as she stepped into the melted gold too, although unlike me, she didn't stick around. Her eyes widened with the realisation that she seemed to be stepping into liquid, and she spun around, heading back into the metal forest.
"What're you scared of?" I called to her. "It's all fine, see?" I stomped around in the metal river, sending ripples through it. If it wasn't for all the liquid on top, I bet you it would have sounded like someone tapping cymbals together. I spun around, in case she'd spotted a monster or something hiding in the water, but I couldn't see anything. "Nothing's showing up on my visor, we'll be okay!"
Yuyu still didn't seem so sure. Slowly, she took a step towards me, staring down at the gold pool as if she was expecting it to leap up and bite her. I felt a bit dumb that it took me a moment to figure out. It's pretty much a lake. She's been trapped under one before, of course she'd be terrified. I took a few steps toward her, and held my hand out for her to take "I'm not gonna let you drown, Yuyu. I promise."
Yuyu didn't seem to react to me at all. I moved closer and waved my hand in front of her face. Her head twitched like a bird's as if she'd only just realised it was there. "We'll be okay," I said, trying to give her an encouraging smile. Slowly, she took my hand again, but a lot tighter than she had before. She's gonna crush my bones if she holds it any tighter. Giving her a light tug, I tried to gently ease her into the liquid gold, and coax her across the river with me.
Progress was slow. I know Yuyu wasn't walking at what felt like the pace of a tranquilised slug on purpose, but I was starting to get annoyed. If this place wasn't across water of some sort, I'd probably be there and able to rescue Cocona by now… Hell, if Yuyu wasn't here at all and went through the Hole with me, everyone would be back home, and I wouldn't have to worry about anyone else on this stupid adventure… But thinking about that brought up a point. Where the hell did Papika and Uexkull go? Did they end up getting lost in the World of Lost Things? I guess that had to be what happened, the only colours showing up on my visor now were red and blue. I was so focused on trying to chase the coloured lines, that I probably ran through a Hole without even realising it. I mean when I went upstairs, there wasn't exactly a house's upper floor…
So, if Papika and Uexkull were still together in that world somehow, how could they get out? If Uexkull could somehow sniff out Yuyu's metal arm amongst all the mess and Papika could contact Flip Flap… Or maybe Papika knows a way to contact Mimi in Pure Illusion… That's all I could hope at least. I wasn't so sure thinking about those things was such a good idea, because not only was I getting impatient in wanting to get to Cocona right away and having to lug Yuyu behind me, but now I was getting worried if the pink-haired girl and the rabbit were both okay. There's no telling how long Hidaka's experiment will take if we did need Toto, Buu or Nyunyu to come rescue us, or even how long we've been here. It could have been all of two seconds since we left and it could still be hours before they get a result—
"Yayaka, your hand is tense." Came a voice from behind me. I turned and looked, seeing my knuckles were white, and my fingers clamped around Yuyu's hand. It was weird, she didn't seem as scared as she was a little while ago, now suddenly, I was the scared one. (("Not exactly useful right now, are you?"))
"Shut it…" I muttered, without thinking.
"Yayaka?" Yuyu's voice behind me was quiet, and she sounded… a little hurt.
"Sorry, Yuyu, not you. I just…" (("Wouldn't it be better to leave her behind? She's only holding you back…"))
But she'll turn into amorphous if we don't get out of here fast!
(("Just use her power to transform…"))
What if I kill her? What if I've been speeding up her death?!
(("I can do it then. I can use her power, and take you to Cocona. You'll be her hero, and she'll love you. Just switch with me…"))
Before I knew it, I was running, dragging Yuyu behind me. Somehow, she seemed to manage to keep up with me. But what if she's using the rest of the Cocona amorphous, or her own power to do that? Would this be killing her quicker too?
I stopped dead in my tracks, and roared "What the hell am I supposed to do?!" at the sky. I stamped a foot down in frustration, sending a tower of gold liquid into the air.
"Yayaka?" I heard my name behind me. Yuyu… She sounded so concerned. How the hell can she want to follow me through all of this? I'm wasting time standing here. I should be getting to Cocona, but… All I could really feel was anger and frustration in myself. Tears were threatening to spill down my cheeks. I should be moving, and all I can do is get stuck in my own damn head and cry! As much as I wanted to, my body felt sorta heavy, and I was losing the will to move. Yeah, I know it's stupid, I had every reason in the world to keep going right now, so I could rescue Yuyu and Cocona, find Papika and Uexkull, and get back to base, but… (("Why don't you do it then?")) …everything just felt so… impossible right then. How can I save all these people? It's… It's too much. The overwhelming weight of the task I'd taken on was starting to press down on me. I took on too much… I can't do this… What the hell am I doing? I just rushed off right after I got hurt, I should have taken my time… I should have prepared for this! Instead, I'm just this… awful, reckless person, diving into danger without a second thought. I could be taking Yuyu to her death, leading her to that red dot…She shouldn't be here. It's my shadow, and my problem! …And I've just made it worse… All because I ran into Pure Illusion in the first place, not only is Yuyu stuck having to deal with me while slowly becoming a hunk of crystal, but Papika, Cocona and Uexkull have all ended up getting lost and stuck, and unable to get out of here either… All because of my stupid selfish wishes…
"It's all my fault…"
"Yayaka..." I heard my name whispered softly, before something warm wrapped around me slowly. I was about to lash it away, thinking was a monster, only so see it was Yuyu's one arm. She gave me a gentle squeeze. I just stood there, frozen for a little while. Yuyu... cares about me? I mean, I guess she must, if she was worried about me and wanted to tag along in Pure Illusion with me in the first place, but this... I can't say I'd expected this kind of behaviour from one of the twins, or at least not directed towards me of all people... Especially after this stupid mess…
It was that moment I looked down at the golden liquid below us and saw a very different reflection to the scene that was happening right now. Yuyu's hair seemed to be blonde like mine, instead of silver, and instead of myself, I saw Cocoro looking at me with her sharp purple gaze.
"Isn't there something you should be doing?" She asked, grouchy. Having her talk to me like that made me mad. First with her, for getting pissed off with me when I was trying my best, and then at myself for thinking that standing around and crying in the middle of a gold river was 'my best'. I'm sad and angry, and that's okay, but someone I care about is in danger. They need help, and standing around here isn't going to do anything. I wiped my eyes and gently pushed Yuyu away from me. I thanked her quickly, and lead the way again, wanting to get out of this place as fast as possible.
Maybe I just needed to cry some of my stress out earlier, but after that, we seemed to be going a lot faster than we were, and ended up at the other side of the gold river before I really knew it.
We were greeted by a forest of metal mushrooms at the base of a mountain. Some towered over us, like giant umbrellas, blotting out the sun with their great shadows, and others were small and clustered together. A part of me almost expected the little ones to turn around and peek up at us, as if they were tiny gnomes in one of Cocona's stories, and were startled by the two giants that interrupted their meeting, but they never moved.
The red and blue lines seemed to be just around the corner of one of the mountains. I swallowed, nervous, and tried to gather any courage I had…
No good. My legs were starting to shake a little. I turned to Yuyu, seeking reassurance. Her head was mostly facing towards me, but it tilted down slightly, and she was looking away from me. Is she afraid too? Maybe she was. Now I think about it, she's been alone in Pure Illusion for two Flip Flap days too, it wasn't just Cocona and Papika that got lost in here. Not only that, but she's been turning to amorphous too, just like Toto. She probably just wants to get back to Flip Flap where she can be safe. I closed my eyes and took a breath. I'm not alone at least. Yuyu seems scared too. If I can't be brave for myself… maybe I can be brave for her.
"Hey," I said softly. Yuyu's eyes flicked in my direction. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, which probably turned out a lot shakier than I was hoping. "It's just a little further, and then we can go home."
The smile died on my face when I turned back to face the red and blue lines. "Just a little more…" I said, trying to motivate myself. I hesitated for a moment, before I took a step towards saving the one, I loved the most… And another step towards facing a side of myself that I wish didn't exist.
The space we entered was a place I could only seem to describe as a clockwork chasm. We were walking on clear glass, above hundreds, maybe even thousands, of gears, cogs and pipes in all sizes. They clicked and whirred against each other, moving smoothly as if they were a part of a greater contraption. Despite the order of this place, having everything working together, the colours below were the complete opposite of neat and organised. Heck, it looked like someone had carved every single piece of machinery from wax crayons of any colour they could find. Whites clashed with bold reds, meeting joyful yellows, which highlighted the deepest blues, greens, and greys… The longer I looked down, the more it felt like I was lost in a kaleidoscope, with colours and patterns tumbling endlessly against each other, and each one painting a unique image, that'd never again be seen by the human eye…
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I jumped and spun around to face the speaker. I wasn't surprised to see it was my red-eyed reflection (I'm gonna get sick of calling her that soon enough, I'll just call her Yamika.) Good gosh, just the sight of her was enough to piss me off now.
"What the hell do you want?" I hissed, putting an arm protectively in front of Yuyu.
Yamika raised an eyebrow at my action. "I think the question here is Yayaka, what the hell do you want?" She gestured with her arm as if offering me something, and looked at a spot over my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes at Yamika, suspicious, and tried to guide Yuyu somewhere to the edge of the clockwork chasm, so I could keep my enemy, and whatever she was looking at in my sight. When I finally turned to look, all I had to say was "crapping hell…"
My anger seemed to fizzle away upon sight of the five other people that seemed to have materialised into the area, but my heart suddenly felt like it was either going to explode or give out altogether, at the rate it was going. Well, I was looking at five Cocona's, so it shouldn't have been a surprise my heart was beating like crazy, probably trying to break free from my ribs so it could go and pledge itself to any of the girls standing there.
They weren't the real Cocona, of course, there were differences from the original one and these copies… And they were all exactly as I remembered them. Cocohi, the mischievous, with wavy blue hair and wearing a frilly apron over her school uniform. She was also wearing her glasses, which alone, made my face burn, and my heart feel like it was gonna pop.
Next, I saw Coconi the silent. She still had her gentle smile, soft hair, and effortless air of grace. She gave me a small wave in greeting, causing me to break out in a goofy grin myself.
Next to her was Coco-chan, who like Coconi, also seemed to have a permanent smile, but where the silent girl's one was serene, Coco-chan's was full of excitement. She was still wearing a lavender kimono and I could almost feel her energy radiating off of her, as if she wanted to drag me along to show me all the gears, which we could easily spend an eternity looking at together.
The fourth one… I frowned at for a second. It was definitely Cocona, but it looked oddly faded, and was nearly invisible against the background, as if it were a ghost. I've never seen this one before… It took me a second to think about it, before I remembered there was one Cocona I only ever heard, and didn't see with my own eyes, because they were closed the whole time we spoke. Heck, the moment I opened them, she was gone. I… never actually gave that one a name. She was 'Nameless'.
The final one had long, tangle of wild blue hair, and huge eyes which took up so much her face, I couldn't be sure for a second that she had a nose. Said eyes lit up the moment they saw me, and she threw herself at me, pulling me into a hug that only Papika could rival. A mix of two of my favourite people on the planet: Cocoka. My face went bright red at the big show of affection, but unlike the last time I met her, I wanted to return the gesture, instead of shoving her off. I love this girl. My face broke into a smile, and I wanted to close my eyes, cuddle up to her, and just live in this moment forever.
…Well, I felt that bliss for a second at least, before guilt started to creep in, and I remembered why I was here in the first place. I love both of the girls this person represents… I'm meant to be here to rescue them, not get lost in this one's warmth… It was hard to put a hand on her shoulder and push her away from me, and even harder to try and dismiss the confused hurt on her face.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm seeing a pattern here. I think it's pretty clear what you want… or should I say who you want?" Yamika said, taking a few steps closer, leaning forward with a smug smile. My body felt hot, and was coursing with burning anger. With speed I didn't quite knew I had; I'd launched a kick right at Yamika's face. She caught it easily in one hand. "My, my, even after all this time, you're still uncomfortable admitting it aren't you?"
I yanked my foot out of her grasp, and tried to slam another kick into her with my other leg. Yamika hopped backwards out of the way of that one. "Shut it!" I roared at her "Tell me what you've done with Cocona! Where is she?!"
"You still want her all for yourself, when you have these lovely girls you can choose, or even the one you came here with? My, you're awfully self-centred. Not even taking other's feelings into consideration."
I knew Yamika was trying to irritate me on purpose, but damn, that last taunt made any rational sense I had fly out the window. I charged Yamika, holding my arms out wide, so I could grab her in a tackle. In response to that one, she smirked, and hopped upwards, tapped her foot against my head, and jumped over me. I twisted around, panting in frustration and anger, having missed, again.
"Not thinking straight, are you?" Yamika said behind me, chuckling. "You're awfully fun to play with, Yayaka."
That time I didn't bother with a physical assault, and just spun around and fired my grappling wires at her. No escape this time, she stayed in place, but she was still smirking at me. "What's so funny?" I growled, grabbing her shoulders and getting close up in her face.
"That you think I'm the one that's locked Cocona away and tricked you into coming here."
I was barely under control of myself. If my hands were any stronger, they would have crushed Yamika's shoulders with how tightly I was gripping them… But then what she'd said sunk in. One word in particular stuck out to me: "Tricked?"
"Yes. Tricked. For someone who overthinks everything, you really miss the obvious, don't you?
"What do you mean?"
"You've been using technology to guide you the whole time here. Technology that I, as your shadow, shouldn't know how to tamper with, because Asclepius never allowed you, and therefore me, to learn how to use their technology…
"But I'm not the only person with a shadow in Pure Illusion. You're not the only one with thoughts and wishes, that's been tempted by another power in this dimension…
"I would have thought you'd made the connection a long time ago. After all, the thing you've been chasing? It's red."
I was about to scream in her face, to give my more information than just 'it's red'… But I looked into Yamika's red eyes that were starting to remind me of someone I knew… I turned to face the other red-eyed girl. The one with the red-striped body armour, who'd been there with me the whole time, and was staring down at the gears in the ground. A yellow gear was racing after a blue one, ignoring every other colour it passed. Purple, white and cyan cogs whirled underneath, shifting and changing with oranges and greens… The yellow and blue ignored them. The blue met a pink one, and they danced together, leaving the yellow one behind… But deep under all of that, past the thousands of shades, colours and tones, was a monstrously huge red gear. Hidden away, but ticking everything along, just like everything else.
My body suddenly felt very weak. My hands slipped off Yamika's shoulders, and my legs nearly crumpled to the ground. "It's red…" I echoed. Cocona was attacked by a shadow… I would never hurt her, or hunt her down like that…But Yuyu was the one who told Cocona the truth about me. She's the one that had that sadistic smile after trying to ruin that… I could only look at Yuyu in disbelief. I was tricked… How can I have been so damn thick? That question would haunt me for a while... But not as much as the one that ended up leaving my lips. "…Yuyu… Why?"
Authors note: Sorry about such the long wait with this one. First my memory stick which had my fic on it decided to corrupt itself, so I lost my full 170k+ word document with this, and the extra 30-40k words of notes, and the original version of this chapter (AND my document that had all the stray scenes that didn't make it into the arcade chapter, so those are lost forever too, which sucks). All that happening was really off-putting and I was hesitant to get writing again straight away because I didn't want to risk losing it again after that. Annoyingly said notes also contained a few ideas and notes for future chapters too. I know for certain one or two events that I definitely want to happen, but the others? I'll have to just try and remember. I know I spoke to someone on Reddit and they gave me an idea for a scene with Salt, but my notes for that were lost too. I might need to re-read that conversation… The moral of this story: Always back up your work in multiple places!
I feel this chapter… is a little messy, or at least it didn't want to cooperate with me at first. Doesn't help I've been getting a lot of headaches lately either. This was the sixth or seventh idea I had, and the only one I was really able to work with. Although there were a couple scenes I liked before and scrapped, I think overall one is more what I was aiming for in the first place with the chapter, including a Certain Thing being revealed (which some of you may have guessed long ago was going to happen. I have no idea if I kept that hidden well enough, or made it too obvious. I'm keeping this note vague on purpose just in case someone happens to scroll down and catch sight of it, so they don't get spoiled about the Certain Thing), but yes. I'm not sure how many chapters there'll be after this. I feel one of them will be an epilogue or something at least.
