Authors note: Sorry if this one gets messy/all-over-the-place, I had a fair few things I wanted to cover in this final chapter. Also sorry for any stray mistakes, I tried to get them all, but scrolling down on webpages/documents and things has been making my head feel funny to the point of feeling a little motion sick or something and having to stop, so there might be a few around.


Yayaka

I don't know if it was a dream, or if I woke up a few times after I'd initially blacked out from destroying my shadow in Pure Illusion. There were snippets of all different scenes that I can remember. In one of them Cocona, Papika, and Uexkull were gathered around me and Yuyu. Someone spoke, but I had no idea what they were saying. There was definite panic in it though. The next thing I remembered was a bright red glow... I want to say someone apologised, but again, I didn't know who. And then... I was falling...


The next time I woke up properly, it felt like my brain had been microwaved. Sorta hot and fuzzy and numb… Like when your foot falls asleep, but it was that for my entire head… I tried to force my eyelids open, but it was struggle, kinda like they'd been glued shut, and I was trying to fight against it. The rest of my body felt solid, heavy and useless.

"She's responding!"

I heard someone's voice over me, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you who it was. I tried to shift from my position lying down, and although I think I managed to twitch, that was about all I achieved before pain exploded through me. A groan escaped my throat, but it was weak. Blurry shapes came into view, blocking out a bright light above me. I thought I could make out a white lab coat.

Asclepius? No… Not there. Not again. No more experiments, please!

As painful as everything was, I felt panic surge in me. I don't care how hurt I am, I have to get away!

"Moving too much... Stay still…!" I felt something touch my wrist, in an attempt to restrain me.

What the hell do you care? Let me go!

"We need to sedate her again."

No! Stop it! My arms and eyes began to burn, like someone had set them on fire. Everything was starting to fade out, and the world turned grey. It felt like everything was turning to ash.

I can't be back there! Not again! I won't burn! Save me! Get me out of here!

There was a final flash of red and white, and then everything went dark.


The next time I woke up, I had no trouble opening my eyes, and although I was in pain, it was muted. So, instead of it feeling like I was being stabbed with the sharp end of a million pencils all over, this time I was being prodded with just the erasers. It was weird, but it was the hell of a lot better than it was before. I stared up at the ceiling of where I was for about a minute before my brain got working again. What happened…?

I turned my head to look around the room, which took more effort than I was expecting. My neck felt stiff and ached when I moved it, but I wanted to know where the hell I was exactly. This doesn't look like Pure Illusion… The walls were white, a little like the place Yuyu and Yamika were in the puppet world, but there weren't any steel plates around. Instead, there were was like a curtain around me, cutting me off from the rest of the room. There was light coming from a bright bulb above, and I could just about see an IV drip out the corner of my eye, which was hooked up to me. I frowned. I'm not at Asclepius, am I? Or some other room at Flip Flap? This looks different to their usual medical room at least… I turned my head again, and decided it'd be the final time I did so for a while because my neck was really starting to hurt now, but the pain faded away when I spotted something I'd somehow completely missed before.

Sitting almost out of sight was the figure of a blue-haired girl. Cocona was sitting up straight in her chair, but her head was bowed, as she looked down at an open book on her lap. Although I figured out soon enough that she wasn't reading it. If I listened carefully past the noise of the machines nearby, I could hear her breathing slowly, deeply. She's asleep. I found myself smiling, admiring how cute she looked… Should I be thinking like this? Some part of my head questioned. The smile fell from my face, and then I felt conflicted. I destroyed my shadow… that's a good thing, right? So why do I still feel like I have a crush on Cocona? Some part of me was hoping that it'd be that easy to deal with. Destroy the shadow, and then the feelings would magically go away, right? That part of me was dumb. Cocoro said I have to move on… The rest is up to me now… I don't wanna end up with another shadow in Pure Illusion after all…

About a second after I had that thought, Cocona stirred. She shifted in her seat and raised her head, brown eyes slowly blinking open. Her eyebrows furrowed a little and she blinked a few more times, probably trying to make out shapes. "…Yayaka?" Her voice was a soft sleepy whisper. I tried to kill the grin on my face before she could see it clearly.

"Hey," I greeted her. My voice sounded croaky, like it belonged more to a frog than a human being. I tried clearing my throat, and was about to speak again when I had a series of thoughts: How did I get here? Is this Pure Illusion or Earth? Is this the real Cocona in front of me? I was about to barrage Cocona with questions, when before I got the chance, she spoke up.

"I'm glad you're awake at last," she said, with a smile that made me forget I was in pain. Maybe I'd had painkillers or some sorta drug in my system because I felt a little goofy, and I wanted to reach over and hug her. I tried to shift in my hospital bed to try and get a little closer to her and was met with a wave of agony that felt like my bones were splintering. Suddenly overwhelmed with pain, I blacked out again.


For the… I don't know what time this is now, I've sorta lost track, but from all the previous times I'd woken up, there was one message loud and clear: Don't. Friggin'. Move. Although I was feeling completely fine now, I didn't want a repeat of last time, so even when I heard Cocona ask 'are you okay?' sounding concerned, I didn't turn to face her. I remember my mouth and vocal cords moving just fine from last time, so I figured I'd be okay to talk at least, and thankfully, I was right.

"I think so…" I said. My voice was still kinda strained, but at least I didn't sound like a frog anymore. I wanted to look at her, and used just my eyes to see she was wearing… Something that had similar colours to her school uniform, but there were black patches and blue stripes on it. Curious, I turned my head, feeling an ache I was able to ignore, to get a better look. It was… like a mix of mine and the amorphous kids' Flip Flap gear crossed with her school uniform… Now I think about it, Papika was wearing something similar when me and Uexkull dug her out from that pile of coins in Pure Illusion, but I hadn't really registered that until now. The ache started to get worse the longer I kept my head turned to look at her, and I had to resort to staring up at the ceiling again. I muttered a curse, feeling a twinge of pain, as I righted myself. "Not gonna move much more if I can help it."

"That's good. You need to rest, Yayaka, you shouldn't push yourself too hard." I could hear worry creeping into her voice as she continued. "Hidaka wasn't sure you would make it…" she trailed off, and I felt a light pressure on the back of my hand. Cocona's holding my hand… I wasn't sure if I was hooked up to a heart monitor or not, but if I was, it probably would have started beeping a lot quicker. Then I got mad at myself. I shouldn't be feeling something like that… I needed to cut that thought before I went any further, so I piped up with a question. "What happened? Are we in Pure Illusion? Am I in a hospital?"

…Okay, a lot more than just one question, but I didn't really know what was going on, how I'd gotten back to Earth (assuming this is Earth) or… well, a lot of stuff. The last thing I remembered before being in this place was running my shadow through with a sword. "Tell me everything you can."

"We're on Earth, at Flip Flap. We had to move you to a different room because you…" there was a hitch in her voice at that last word and she looked like she was about to start crying. Looking closer at her face, it was a little red in places, where it looked like she'd been wiping tears away a while ago. I got the feeling it wasn't because she was reading a sad story. Cocona confirmed my thought a second later, "you nearly died."

I nearly died? That… That hit me hard. I turned away from Cocona and stared up at the ceiling, into a glaring white light. "…Was it that bad?" I was afraid to ask.

"Yes… It's a miracle you're alive."

A miracle… I figure I would have used up all the luck I had by now, but by some dumb random chance again, I was still around. I'm never going to Pure Illusion again…

Actually, that thought bought up a good point. "How am I back on Earth? I was in Pure Illusion last time I remember."

Cocona explained.

She and Papika had been chasing Yuyu who they'd been sent to rescue in Pure Illusion. They made it to the World of Lost Things, where they were attacked by the bronze monsters. Papika took a bad hit pretty early on in the fight and ended up buried under a mountain of coins. Before Cocona could react, or reach Papika to transform, she'd been knocked out too.

When Cocona woke up, she was in a dark room that only had a mirror in it. (I got mad at myself when it turned out Yamika was right about Cocona being behind the mirror. Damn it, I should have thought to check there first!) Around a second after she woke up, the walls around the room broke, and the mirror shattered into a little heap of glass. Buried under it all was me and Yuyu, both of us in bad shape.

Seconds after that, Uexkull, carrying Papika made their way into the room too, although Papika was still knocked out, but Uexkull must have managed to catch Cocona's scent and managed to find her. Without a second thought, Cocona activated a Hole device with everyone nearby, and warped us all back to Asclepius's base.

If I felt any more alert, part of me would have picked up on an oddity in Cocona's story, but right then, I was far too tired to register anything beyond, "We're all back now…" I murmured. It was a relief to hear that everyone was on Earth, and that we didn't have to worry about someone being trapped in Pure Illusion. Not only that, but I'd managed to take out my shadow, too. A small smile made its way across my lips. "We're all safe…"

"…Not quite all of us." Cocona said, hesitantly. I looked back over at her, and saw her looking away, like she wanted to avoid saying something. I was about to ask her what she meant, but she'd spoken before I could get a single word out. "Why did you trap yourself in Pure Illusion, Yayaka?"

I know Cocona didn't have any hostile intentions, and it was just an innocent question (her voice was neutral, with maybe a hint of concern), but it didn't stop me feeling like I was being accused of something… But maybe in a way I am. I mean, the reason I went to Pure Illusion in the first place… My heart began to beat a little quicker, and I wasn't sure if it's because I was anxious about answering, or nervous about being in the room with Cocona. …Okay it was probably both. As much as I didn't want to answer, I knew I should. I've been lying enough to her for all these damn years. If she can find it in her to forgive me after everything I've done, she deserves to hear the truth about this. And I'm gonna tell her everything this time… Yes, including the fact I had a crush on her, and that was the reason I was after a shadow in Pure Illusion in the first place. It'd be hypocritical of me to have said all that stuff to Yuyu about telling someone how you felt, and not even confess my feelings for Cocona.

I swallowed, nervous, and started: "You and Papika were both attacked in Pure Illusion by a shadow with red eyes, right?"

Cocona nodded, and tilted her head to the side, a little confused. "What's that got to do with it?"

I was hoping she'd be able to figure it out from that alone, but annoyingly, that wasn't the case. I thought you were smart, Cocona. I got a little annoyed at her, partly because of that, but also because I seemed to be having so much damn trouble saying a few words. I mean, they were just words, why did they seem to get stuck in my throat? "…Well… Papika was attacked too, and…" If I was sitting up, I would have bowed my head, and turned to face the wall. "I've been hearing voices in my head ever since the fight with…" I paused. "You know how your mum had a darker side of herself in Pure Illusion? Well… She wasn't the only one, and the voices I'd been hearing were… a darker side of myself."

"Everyone has a dark side to them, Yayaka," Cocona said. I know she was trying to be nice, or reassuring or something, but I couldn't help getting mad hearing her say that.

"Yeah, but not all of them can take their own form in Pure Illusion and start attacking your best friends…" I know it was Yuyu's shadow that'd gone after Cocona, but I still hated the fact it happened in the first place. Yuyu ended up with a crush on me for some damn reason, so in a way, that one was my fault too… It wasn't the first time I cursed myself for existing. "I wanted to go to Pure Illusion to deal with it. To try save my friends… So, I could save you… Everything I did at Asclepius and until right now? I've done it all for you."

"For me? But… why?" Cocona sounded confused… not that I could really blame her for that, I mean, I'd said it myself, 'people aren't good at picking up on that sorta thing, especially the one you have a crush on. Most people are dumb with that sorta thing.' Cocona, as smart as she was, ended up being no different. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and finally told her:

"Cocona… I've been in love with you since the day we met."

The instant that last word left my mouth, silence began to fill the room. Slowly ballooning, filling up every single space there was. If it was a physical thing, part of me wished it'd crush me, right there and then, so I didn't have to deal with whatever happened next…

It felt like an eternity passed. Cocona was the one that broke the quiet: "…that long?"

I nodded. "From the moment you took my hand in the hospital. You were just so sweet and kind, caring so much about someone you'd just met… And…" This next part wasn't as hard to say, but it still hurt to think about. "When Papika and Flip Flap came along and recruited you before I could… It felt like you were being taken away from me. The person I loved the most had been stolen by someone else and after a while, a voice started whispering in my head how it could make you mine and…"

"You said no," she guessed.

I nodded. "It didn't like that I wouldn't give in. It split off from me and wanted to take out anyone that came between us. That's… That's why Papika… Why she…"

"Why she couldn't talk?"

I nodded again. "I'm sorry. I… hate myself a lot for what happened… I might not have been too fond of Papika to start with, but things are completely different now, she's important to me and… she still got hurt, after I'd changed my mind how I felt about her… My shadow might be gone now, but I still don't trust myself with how I feel, and because of that…" I didn't really like what I was going to say next, but I knew it was probably the only way I could deal with everything… The only way I could deal how guilty I felt for messing it all up in the first place. The only way I could protect everyone and keep them safe… "I'm gonna have to leave Flip Flap."

"Leave?" Cocona sounded a little alarmed.

"As much as I love you, I need to stay away from you. I'm not sure I'm gonna get over my crush, or whatever it is, if I'm around you all day." I frowned as I had a thought. "I'll have to ask Salt to have me transferred to another school, and find somewhere else to stay…"

"Yayaka!" Cocona said my name, like she was about to protest. I turned to look at her. I didn't mean for my expression to be anything other than neutral, but the fact I'd moved then probably looked more like I was challenging her, more than wanting to listen to what she had to say… Maybe that was for the best though. She looked a little embarrassed at her outburst, and lowered her head. Eventually… "I understand," She said. It wasn't what I wanted at all, to have any of this happen, but it's what needed to happen. With luck, this'll be the last time I saw Cocona before I finally moved on. Cocona seemed to realise that this meeting would be the last one for a while too, and she started to cry. My heart squeezed with guilt. I'm hurting her… but it's for the best of everyone really. If my jealousy got a hold of me again and I ended up with another shadow that wants to kill everyone… I couldn't let that happen.

"Hey," I said. "I know you don't feel the same way about me, and I might not be around for a long time, but we can still be friends if you want." It might've been a little lame, but I wanted to make her feel better somehow, and that was all I could think to say.

Cocona didn't speak for a while. I thought that I'd said something wrong, and was about to open my mouth to fix it, when she ended up speaking before I could, "I'd like that, but…" There was a little pause that worried me for a moment. "I think of you as a sister, rather than a friend. You've always been a part of my family, Yayaka," she said, with a warm and genuine smile.

That… wasn't quite what I was expecting to hear, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like family… I returned her smile. "You softie."

Suddenly, I yawned, and my eyelids were beginning to feel droopy as a wave of tiredness slowly crashed over me. Cocona pulled her hand away from mine.

"I'll leave you to get some rest," she said softly, as she got up to leave the room. She'd made it to the doorway, when she turned back to face me. My vision was starting to go a little fuzzy, so I couldn't work out the expression on her face.

"I love you, Yayaka-onee-chan*. Please, take care of yourself."

I just about managed to register what she said before my eyes closed, and I was asleep again.


A burning world… The heat was overwhelming. There was a red glow at my feet. Shards. I touched them…

And then I fell.


I woke up again, and was confused for a second as to why I could still see red shards when my eyes opened. I frowned and blinked (I didn't really want to move if I could help it, I've had enough unexpected pain lately, and wasn't sure I could handle much more) trying to get the image to clear.

"Awake…?" came a monotone voice.

"Just about…" I replied. Finally, my vision cleared, and I could see the red 'shards' and person sitting there clearly. Toto. "Hey, Toto."

"How are you feeling…?" he asked. It was a little odd to hear him talking. I was used to the fact he sounded a little breathless now, but there was something else about his voice that was bugging me, and I couldn't work out what it was.

"Okay… I think," I answered. Experimentally, I twitched a finger. Maybe it was a little silly to be disappointed not to feel Cocona's hand against mine when I made the movement, especially as she wasn't here. I really shouldn't be thinking like that still. I need to move on, and moving on means I'll need to get out of here soon. "Any idea how long I'll have to stay here for?"

"Another week at least…" he said. "And after, you'll need to be careful… Not to push yourself too hard for a while… Will forge a doctor's note for you…"

It was then that I worked out what about Toto's voice was bugging me: "Your sentences are longer."

Toto gave a faint smile. "Yes… Experiment with Hidaka and Nyunyu was successful…" His face fell. "Not successful enough…"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Will tell you later…" He said. "Did you succeed in your mission…?"

"I think so…" I replied. "I took my shadow out at least…" I frowned as I looked at him, my dream of the red shards making me think of the red dot I'd been chasing in Pure Illusion.

"Question?"

"Yeah. I sent you some data to examine of the thing me and Yuyu had been chasing in Pure Illusion. Did you ever work out what it was?"

"Yes…" he said. His brow furrowed a little. He looked uncomfortable.

"You knew it was Yuyu, or something she'd manipulated at least," I guessed.

His hands twitched, probably as close to a flinch as he could come, and slowly nodded.

"Saw a shadow of Yuyu attack Cocona… Thought it was impossible, but was there… Examination of data showed copy of Yuyu…"

"So... I was chasing Yuyu's shadow, while I was with the real Yuyu?"

"Yes..."

I frowned. His words gave me an answer to something that'd been bugging me for a while. So, that's why Yuyu sent him and Nyunyu home before I woke up, after we fought the Ray. If he'd worked out the truth behind the red dot by then, he wouldn't have been able to tell me, especially as my visor had been smashed too… Well, I guess in a way I wasn't that far off in thinking the red blip was a shadow and that chasing it might not have been a bad thing, but I found it a little odd to be with the person I was also supposedly chasing. I got a mad. All that running around was for pretty much nothing... ...But at the same time, following the red dot did end up taking us to my shadow, and that's all been dealt with, right?

I wasn't really sure how I felt about the whole situation. Conflicted for sure, but other emotions were mixing together so it was hard to pinpoint.

Actually, thinking about Yuyu bought up another point. "Where is Yuyu?"

Toto must've been expecting me to ask that. His hands didn't twitch, but his expression changed drastically and he looked pained, as if I'd stabbed him, rather than asked a question.

"She..." Much like the change on his face, the change in his voice was instant. He'd gone from sounding normal, to like he was being strangled, barely able to get that word out. He tried again, only to end up in a coughing fit.

"Hey Toto, are you okay?" It hurt to move my arm towards him, but I wanted to comfort him, or let him know I was there at least. "Should I call Hidaka?"

"No... Am fine..." He said, voice strained. He swallowed, and looked up at me, his red eyes moist. "Will... tell you later..." he said. "When you're better..."

I got a little suspicious that he was hiding something from me. Not just him, but Cocona, too. When I said we all made it back safe, she said 'not quite all of us.' As much as I wanted to press Toto for more information, seeing him looking like he was about to cry... (Upon closer inspection, it looked like there was red around his eyes too, like he'd been rubbing them.) ...yeah, I decided to drop it.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad," I said. Toto didn't reply, and I felt guilty. I wanted to say something else, to try and make him feel better, but I didn't really know what to say. We both sat there in an awkward silence. In all that time Toto remained sitting with me, although he started crying after a few minutes. I felt bad, and wanted to help, but I didn't really know what to do. At some point, I'd started feeling sleepy again, and ended up drifting off.


Things kept going on like that for a few days. I'd keep waking up and falling asleep at random points, and I'd normally have someone in the room with me, I'd guess so that if anything went wrong, they could either call for help, or try and fix it themselves. Mostly it was Hidaka, Toto or Nyunyu who kept me company in that time, and they seemed to bring a meal with them so I could eat when I woke up, if I felt able to. A couple of times I'd woken up to the sight of cream bread, and I scarfed it down pretty much as soon as I saw it. I didn't really end up talking to any of my visitors too much, but none of them seemed to mind. Kinda wished Nyunyu would stop staring at me so much though when it was her turn. I mean, I guess it's nice she was keeping such a close eye on me, but she could've at least blinked once or twice in that time, you know?

I think it'd been about four days, when I had a different visitor. Well, a pair of them. It was a little strange seeing Salt and Papika together, with Papika fast asleep leaning against the taller man. Seeing some of Papika's pink hair cascade down Salt's dark coat, adding an unusual splash of colour to his otherwise monotone outfit and serious demeanour, was kinda funny to me. I didn't smirk though. Salt was obviously here for a reason, and he didn't waste any time in getting to the point as soon as I woke up.

"My daughter told me you want to transfer schools, and stay somewhere that isn't Flip Flap."

His abruptness made me wince a little, and I felt a little nervous, wondering just how much else Cocona had told him. I felt my cheeks heat up a little, and it took more courage than it should have to manage a small nod.

"You don't need to worry. I made the arrangements for your education days ago." He continued. "My father never changed his will, and as his next of kin, everything went to me, including the Asclepius building. I'm stationing Hidaka, Toto and Nyunyu there. You can join them if you want… Or Sayuri said she could take you in. Whichever you want is fine. I just need to know who needs to sign the papers to become your legal guardian. Regardless of your choice, I expect you to report to me on occasion. Cocona will want to know how you're doing."

"…How much did she tell you?" I asked, my voice coming out a little squeaky.

"Enough for me to understand that you staying away from my daughter, and Pure Illusion, is probably the best course of action. I lost Cocona in Pure Illusion once before, when Mimi took her from Asclepius. After years of thinking I would never see them again… I'm not going to let her out of my sight as easily this time."

I frowned, and got mad. "But you're still willing enough to send Cocona to Pure Illusion, and didn't notice she was gone for two days?"

Salt stayed quiet for a while. "That was another mistake of mine. Our research had shown that time in Pure Illusion is different, so I thought it could have been a normal thing to happen. My father kept me away from most of the data Asclepius had gathered in my time working there, and after that, when I founded Flip Flap, I only had so much to go on. Until we created TT-392 as a companion for Papika, we'd never had anyone to explore and bring amorphous back. TT-392's unreliable structure, although able to withstand effects of Pure Illusion to some extent, was far from perfect for us to send him out whenever we wanted. There had also been times when Papika was gone for a few days at a time, when she said it only felt like minutes in Pure Illusion. I didn't think there was anything to worry about when Cocona and Papika were gone for two days."

I thought over what he said. Well… it made sense, I guess. Asclepius didn't really care about me, and patched me up just so they could throw me back into Pure Illusion pretty much as soon as I was able to. I've been there hundreds of times, maybe even a thousand, where Doctor Salt's team, not only had to find someone able to go, but someone else for them to go with. Someone who didn't keep blowing up and needing to be repaired after every mission… I guess from that, it'd be hard to get a sense of how long a time someone's been in Pure Illusion would be something to worry about. That and I guess he didn't know about the red dot either…

Thinking about all of this though, and him sending Papika and Buu out before Cocona joined Flip Flap… Of course, he wouldn't mind if Papika was gone for a few days at a time, because not only could Buu the robot report back or save her if she'd managed to knock herself out or something, but also because "That's not the only reason you were fine with her being gone for so long," I said. "You're searching for Mimi, too."

I thought about the memory of Salt I saw in the World of Lost Things. How he was working himself sick in a desperate attempt to try and get to Mimi, before they found Papika. "I don't know why, maybe you wanted to bring her back here or something, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to keep thinking about her, even after all this time." Even if Salt wanted to bring Mimi back to Earth, from what I'd seen of her and heard of her, I'm not sure she'd be able to adjust to it too well. I mean, if she kept making the same house over and over because she found some worlds overwhelming, after being kept in one room her entire life… It'd take a lot of getting used to, and I wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle it. Pure Illusion's pretty damn weird, and has probably infinite worlds full of whatever-the-hell, sure, but at least Mimi knows Pure Illusion, having lived there for at least 14 years, and she has some power over the place, which she wouldn't have on Earth if anything went wrong.

Either way, there's one thing I was getting from this conversation: I'm not the only one who needs to move on…

To my surprise, Salt said, "I know. You're not the only one who had a shadow in Pure Illusion. I did too**… and I destroyed it… I accept my past and my mistakes, but…"

"When you fall for someone, it's hard to get them out of your mind?"

Salt nodded. I smirked, feeling a little amused. I thought he was here to lecture me about all of this, and the opposite seemed to be happening. My face fell a second later. If Salt's been hung up on Mimi for fourteen years… what chance do I have trying to get Cocona off my mind? That… was discouraging… I thought about how distraught Salt was, trying to work out a way to get to Pure Illusion again without Asclepius, and Hidaka having to lead him away from his work to get him to sleep, and Sayuri draping a blanket over him.

Sayuri… I thought about how she blushed a little when she was telling me the reason she'd joined Flip Flap. Maybe there's a way out of this for Salt at least. "Hey, Salt," I said. "If you wanna get Mimi off your mind, try and think about looking for someone else. I think Sayuri might be happy if you asked her on a date some time."

"Sayuri…?" He mumbled. His sunglasses covered a lot of his face, so it was hard to tell exactly what his expression was. He almost seemed frozen; I'd guess as he thought about what I said. Eventually, the fact it was so quiet in here started to drive me nuts. I was about to call his name and snap him out of it when Papika stirred.

"Doctor Salt…?" She her voice was thick with sleep. I'd wondered how long she'd been there, waiting with Salt… or I guess Salt could have been there a while, and Papika fell asleep against him later… Either way, Papika turned to me, bleary-eyed and said my name. "Yayaka?"

"Hey Papika," I greeted her. The pink-haired girl suddenly jolted, wide awake upon hearing my voice. She gave me a big smile, before turning to Salt with a grumpy look, and gently shoved him.

"You didn't tell me she'd woken up! You were meant to tell me!"

Salt suddenly seemed aware of his surroundings again. He turned to face Papika, whose cheeks were puffed up in annoyance. "R-right. Sorry. I… I need to go." He muttered, getting up and leaving us alone. It was odd to hear him sounding so flustered, but I guess he had a lot to think about. I turned my attention back to Papika who was wriggling around in her seat, staring at me. Remembering how Nyunyu did the same thing, without the moving around, started to put me a little on edge.

"What do you want?" I asked, my words coming out a little like a harsh bark.

"I wanna hug you, but I don't wanna hurt you," Papika said. "Hidaka said you nearly died, and I wanna hug you because you're okay but…" she stopped moving, and looked down at the floor (not having her eyes on me made me feel a little better) and she spoke again, but this time, sounding sad, "…I don't know if you even want me to hug you…"

That confused me. It was odd to hear Papika so upset by something. I was glad she seemed to be talking again, especially after being attacked by my... shadow... I frowned, and asked her, "because of what happened in Pure Illusion at Mimi's house?"

Papika nodded. She hunched over, as if trying to hide from me, and her hands kept winding around each other, as if they both wanted to escape, but didn't quite know how to. "Cocona told me everything..." she said. "I'm really sorry, Yayaka. I never meant to take Cocona away from you and make you feel alone. I can understand why you're so angry with me, especially after everything at Asclepius. They don't treat you very well there, and if someone comes along and takes away what feels like your only friend... I was lucky at Asclepius. They always thought I was just a silly girl, so they let me play with Mimi and talk to Salt, but then when Mimi wanted to run away... They weren't very nice before, but after everything that happened, they must have been even worse to you... It's my fault you were treated so bad, and then I took Cocona... You must hate me... I'm so sorry..."

She couldn't say any more after that, her voice being choked by sobs as tears streamed down her face. My chest hurt, watching her. I... honestly never even thought about that last part, that Asclepius might've been worse to me because of their test subjects in the past making a break for it. The tracker and death threats if I ran away... What Papika said made a lot of sense, and she was kinda right. I should hate her for all of that...

...But I couldn't. If my shadow was still haunting me, yeah, I probably would have screamed in the poor girl's face, or maybe when it attacked her it might have done physical damage, not just traumatise her into silence. Even then, if Asclepius did treat me worse because of Papika, it was them that did all of those things to me, not the pink-haired girl who was crying her eyes out... Papika would never hurt me, or make things worse for me on purpose. Even back when I considered her an enemy and we didn't get along, she saved me from certain death in the yuri-hell-school, and if we ended up fighting, it was probably my own damn fault for launching myself at her in the first place...

All that time, I was annoyed with her, and marvelled how Cocona could be so patient with someone as energetic and wild as Papika... And it never occurred to me until this moment, that Cocona wasn't the only patient one. After all the crap I've put Papika through, and how much I might've hated her to start with, she was still willing to rescue me, and later work together with me to save Cocona... How damn patient was Papika with me when she wanted to be my friend, and all I did was curse her for taking Cocona away?

I shifted in my bed a little. My body ached all over, but I'll just have to put up with that. I worked myself into a sitting position. "Hey, Papika? Come here." I leaned toward her, holding out a hand, and also tried reaching out with the bond between us, in an attempt to invite her to me. She looked up at me, her blue eyes like clear blue sky, with stray drops of rain. I tried to give her an encouraging smile, and beckoned her towards me. Slowly, she shuffled over. As soon as she was close enough, I wrapped her up in a hug. "It's not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for," I said, as I gave her a gentle squeeze.

It didn't take long for the pink-haired girl to throw her arms around me in return, and bury her head in my shoulder. At the rate she was crying, I'd probably have a wet patch there for a day, but I'd just have to put up with it. I'd much rather deal with a soaked shoulder, than have one of my best friends beating themselves up for no good reason. Especially when, "You're such a sweet girl, Papika. I may be a jealous of you, sure, but it's good to know that Cocona will be looked after, and I know you're someone who'd do anything to keep her happy. If I had to lose her to anyone... I'm glad it's you." Saying that out loud didn't quite help with my feelings towards Cocona, like a part of me kinda wished I was hugging her right now and helping her feel better rather than Papika, but what I said wasn't exactly a lie either. I really did believe that.

Papika seemed to calm down. Slowly her tears stopped flowing, and she stopped sobbing. She sniffed, and asked "Are you really going away and changing schools?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Not because I hate you, far from it" I added quickly, "I just... don't trust myself around you two right now, and I don't wanna end up hurting you guys again or something."

Papika looked a little sad at that, but she gave me an understanding smile and bumped her forehead to mine. It felt a little funny, as a gesture of affection, but it wasn't a bad one. After a little while, she pulled away from me. "Close your eyes, Yayaka."

I was a little confused, but I did as she asked.

"Now hold out your hand."

I frowned, but again, did as Papika asked. I heard something that sounded a little like clicking, clattering plastic, and felt something slip over my wrist.

"Open them."

I opened my eyes, and looked down at the seashell bracelet that was now sitting on my arm. It felt… a little weird having something there. I tried bringing a watch with me to Pure Illusion one time so I could try and work out how much time had passed in the real world, but it felt too light on my wrist. When I didn't forget the thing existed, all I wanted to do was swipe it off, because it didn't feel right to me having something there. The bracelet… was a comfortable weight. It didn't feel bad to have resting there. "It looks just like yours," I thought out loud.

"It is mine," Papika said, smiling. "Well… was mine."

I blinked. "Wait, you're giving me your bracelet?" I couldn't help getting a little concerned. "But, don't you need it to transform in Pure Illusion?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter to me, Yayaka.You matter to me, and I wanted to give you something so you could remember that. Something you can see, and feel, and take with you, wherever you go. No matter how far away from us you are, you can look at it and remember that someone out there cares about you… and it's not just me either. Cocona, Toto, Nyunyu… everyone at Flip Flap loves you so, so much. Don't be afraid to call on any of us for help if you need it, even if we're far away."

Papika's words… They made me feel so warm inside, that I was half expecting to burst into flames… And strangely, if that did happen, I'm not sure I'd mind that right now. My cheeks definitely felt like they were on fire at least, they were no doubt very pink right now. I looked down at the seashell bracelet. She gave such a simple item so much meaning… It was probably one of the kindest and most thoughtful things I'd ever been given, alongside the dragon-egg necklace Cocona gave me.

I wanted to give her something in return.

Annoyingly, I didn't have many possessions on me. My phone seems to have disappeared altogether (probably in the World of Lost Things for all I know. I'm surprised I didn't see it there), my two souvenirs from Pure Illusion were at Sayuri's house (the Cocona rock I should probably get rid of if I'm trying not to think about Cocona so much), and there's no way in hell I'd give Papika her bracelet back… That only left the ribbon I use to tie my hair to the top of my head.

My hands went up to untie the black ribbon, causing my bangs to tumble down my face. I wanted to ask Papika to give me her hand, but speech had left me. Instead, I (probably a little harshly) grabbed her wrist, and pulled it towards me, so I could tie the ribbon around it. I wasn't sure if she could use it as a new transformation item if she needed one, but maybe it could work. When I was finished, I let go of Papika's wrist, and very awkwardly, reached my arms around her shoulders to give her another hug.

"S-softie," I stumbled over the word. I wasn't even sure Papika really heard what I said, or what I meant, so I tightened my grip on her, hoping she'd work out what I meant.

It was silly of me to worry about that, because like always, she understood. Papika's arms found their way around me too, and she held me just as tightly. "I love you, too, Yayaka-onee-chan*. Thank you for your gift. I'll treasure it." She punctuated that last sentence by placing a kiss on my cheek. I think my entire face turned red at that point.

After a long while, she finally pulled away from me, and took a few steps towards the door. "You're probably getting tired after talking to both me and Salt today, so I'll leave you to rest. And Yayaka?" she smiled, "Whenever you feel ready to come back to Flip Flap, we'll welcome you with open arms."


My last day at Flip Flap… Or at least the seventh day after Toto said I'd need about a week to recover. At some point, I'd gotten Toto to pass a message onto Salt saying I'd like to stay with Sayuri when I was good to go. He also said he'd tell me what happened to Yuyu…

I wondered for a while why I wasn't in Flip Flap's normal medical room. At some point I'd guessed they kept Yuyu in there, and that's where they kept the machine that healed the amorphous kids. It was really starting to get to me that I hadn't heard anything about her, since that time with Toto, I was pretty sure that someone would have given me an update between now and then, and I'd gotten nothing.

Maybe it's bad news…

It wasn't long before I had the chance to find out. Toto was the one in the room with me today. "Want to try moving…?" he asked.

I nodded to answer. I could have spoken out loud, but I figured something physical would probably be a good way to work out how I felt. I'd managed to sit up to eat the past couple of days, but I still felt aches all over when I did so, so I had to lie down again shortly after. Nodding felt oddly normal. I didn't feel a single twinge as my head bobbed. Although I sorta got a rush at the excitement of being able to actually friggin' move properly, I forced myself to take it easy. Slowly, moved my legs over the side of the mattress I was lying on. It felt oddly heavy with them dangling over the side, swaying in thin air. Toto seemed to pick up on my hesitance, and went to stand next to me.

Carefully, I tried to push myself up with my hands, and Toto slipped one of his arms under my shoulder to support me. Something about him holding me up felt strange, which was odd because he'd done that for me a few times before, but there was definitely a difference this time. I wonder what though? Unable to work that out at the moment, I focused on my feet instead. Having them pressed against something solid again was… odd. I wasn't quite disoriented though, so I took that as a good sign. I took a hesitant step forward. And another…

I felt reasonably normal… I wasn't quite expecting that at all. I told Toto to let go of me, so I could see how I walked by myself. A little wobbly. My sense of balance was a little off and Toto had to move to catch me, as I almost fell.

"Are you okay…?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "You can let go of me," I tried to give the order gently, but it still came out grouchy. Toto was used to it though, and he pulled away from me entirely. I would have taken a step forwards again, but instead, I ended up frowning at him. Something's definitely different about him. As I'd spent most of my time lying down the past week, I hadn't really noticed anything, but now he was next to me… "…you're taller than I remember," I said. It took me a second to work out what I'd said exactly. He was taller. The amorphous kids who couldn't age or grow, who'd been stuck being the same for the past five years or so… "You're taller!" I exclaimed.

He stood a little straighter, looking proud when I noticed. "Experiment with Hidaka not only improved breathing… Can age now… Live like a regular person… Although with equivalent of a heart condition..." Toto said. Despite looking so pleased with himself a moment ago, he ended up frowning. "Experiment worked… but not successful enough."

That's the second time he's said that now… I didn't really want to ask, but curiosity was really getting the better of me. "What happened to Yuyu?"

Toto's hands became fists and his mouth became a tight line. "Will show you…"


Toto ended up taking me to a room I'd never seen before in Flip Flap. Okay, that probably wasn't hard, I'd only been in like, four out of a hundred of the rooms here, but still, to find a room that made me think of Asclepius was… a little freaky. It didn't make me think of Asclepius in a bad way, because the only things in there were pale walls and a white piano. I wondered why the hell they'd have a piano in the building, when I suddenly remembered. I wrote a note to Salt asking for that one from the music store so I could surprise Yuyu with it when we came back from Pure Illusion… Looking at the piano, I felt a little conflicted. Yuyu chose to stay with me. I wanted to get her the piano as a thank you… Was that before or after her shadow messed with me? It was impossible to tell. I wasn't sure if I was starting to regret asking for it or not…

Actually, it was odd. Toto said he'd take me to Yuyu, but the only thing in here was the piano… The back of it was facing us, so I entered the room and walked around it to see if Yuyu was sitting in the seat. No one was there. I was about to look around the piano and ask Toto what he meant because there wasn't anyone here, when I caught sight of something on the place where you'd put music sheets on the piano.

A red crystal with an oily shine to it, and deep crack running along its side.

My eyes widened when I realised the crystal I was looking at was Yuyu. I mean… a part of me knew this could potentially happen, and maybe a part of me expected it, too. Yuyu was probably too far gone by the time Cocona, Papika and Uexkull came to rescue us, and Toto's reaction when I asked him about his sister a while ago suggested this could have been the case, but… Yuyu was a human…

And now she's just a lump of amorphous.

I reached out, not quite believing it was real. My fingers met the solid surface… and it bought back a memory. I was reaching into grey ash, having seen the red shards at my feet. They were cool to touch and shone, just like this one. I thought they were two separate pieces at first, but it turned out they were connected.

Twins.

The twins… Toto and Yuyu…

I collapsed down into the piano chair. Toto had made his way over to me in that time. His red eyes were sad, and tears were threatening to spill over… I couldn't blame him. Someone who'd been a part of his entire life, who he'd always been around was just… gone. Hell, she'd been around pretty much all of the life I could remember, too. That lump of rock sitting in the piano… She and her brother were the only reason any of us were here today. If I hadn't found their amorphous, I'd be just a pile of dust and charred bone in that sea of ash… She was once a human who laughed so much when we played the keyboard at the arcade. She could smile, and paint, and fall in love…

She was alive… She had a heart…

Without thinking about it, I reached into one of the pockets of my weapon belt and pulled out a piece of paper Toto handed me when I was staying with Sayuri. I'd completely forgotten about it until now, that Yuyu had a message to pass onto me. My hands were a little shaky as I unfolded the paper. On the slightly crinkled page was a pencil drawing of Yuyu and myself, both sitting at the keyboard in the arcade and playing. The scene wasn't quite as detailed as some of Yuyu's other artwork, I'd guess because she had to try and imagine how we looked from the angle she'd drawn us at. We were both smiling and laughing, clearly enjoying ourselves. There was a single sentence under the picture.

'Can we play again some time?'

My vision blurred, and I blinked away what was the start of a stream of tears. I began to sniff and sob, and honestly thought I could have sat like that forever. At some point, Toto had stepped closer to me and was on his knees, so he could hug me. I hugged him back. We stayed like that for a while, just crying into the other's shoulder, holding onto the part of our original family that still remained.


I have no idea how much time had passed. The rest of the day was kind of a blur to me. I sorta vaguely remember changing into my old school uniform (I'm gonna need a new one for the place Salt transferred me to), and going around Flip Flap with Toto (he was leading me around) so I could say goodbye to everyone (including Uexkull, who seemed happy about the ear scratches I gave him) before I went to stay with Sayuri. I didn't really want to encounter Hidaka, so I asked Nyunyu if she could pass a message on for me. I said to tell him 'thanks for the flowerpot and the explosive wires' and that he was the 'greatest scientist to ever live'. I figured that last part would have been a way to leave on good terms with him. The instant the words left my mouth, there was an explosion far away in the base.

"What the crap was that?" I asked, flinching at the noise.

"Explosive wires!" Nyunyu answered with her hand in the air.

"What?"

"Hidaka made them voice activated! They'd explode when nyu said something nyu would normally never say!" Nyunyu explained. "Hidaka did that so nyu were unlikely to blow yourself up by accident!"

So they'd activate when I called Hidaka the greatest scientist who ever lived? When the hell would I ever need to say that in Pure Illusion? What kinda stupid logic is that?! I nearly voiced that thought out loud, when there was a very loud, accusing yell from a distant room. "YAYAKA!"

So much for leaving on good terms with him… It was probably just the paranoid part of my mind going into overdrive, but if Hidaka had been making weapons, not just for me, but for anyone who wanted to go into Pure Illusion, and I'd just managed to piss him off like that… Yeah, I should get out of here before he comes after me with rockets or something. It's a good thing Nyunyu was the last person I wanted to say goodbye to in person.

"Gotta go," I said, before immediately rushing off. I thought I heard Toto call my name, and I felt bad about leaving him so suddenly, but I didn't wanna risk making Hidaka any madder, or becoming a target for whatever gadgets or security system he installed in the base, so… yeah, I ran.


I ended up leaving the Flip Flap building through one of its many exits, although that was by sheer chance more than anything else, as the three I knew about for certain would either mean waiting in an elevator and having to charge through an office, running all the way through Asclepius, or opening up a door halfway up a building in the middle of the alleyway and breaking my legs as I fell out. This fourth exit I found lead to a manhole in a park that was tucked behind a bench and a garbage can.

I could smell rotting food, and heard flies buzzing as the manhole cover opened up. It was kinda gross, but I didn't really wanna risk incurring Hidaka's wrath, so I went through, to get out of Flip Flap as fast as I could, before I had a mad scientist chasing after me. But he wouldn't know I've left the building… Unless he follows my tracker… I shook my head, trying to clear that thought away. Hidaka might have been a scientist, sure, and I might have accidentally blown up something in the base, but I didn't think Salt would let him leave Flip Flap if he was carrying weapons. I should be okay now…

The park was surrounded by a small, town square, which reminded me a little of the puppet world, although thankfully, this place was just occupied by regular people. Although that made me wonder a second how no one had gone into that manhole and ended up in Flap Flap's base by accident. I turned back behind me to look at where the manhole was, only to find it'd disappeared completely under a carpet of grass and dead leaves. I doubted I'd be able to find the edge of the manhole to lift it, without hours of searching, even though I knew it was there.

I was thankful I was wearing my school uniform, so I didn't stand out too much when I wandered around by myself. Honestly, it was really weird to be back on Earth after everything that'd happened to me the past few… days? Weeks? …I have no idea how long I was away in Pure Illusion for. Either way, this change was still a little jarring to me. There would be no Holes to warp me to another dimension, the sky would stay a soft gradient of blue with no 'DRY CLEAN ONLY' tags hanging off of it… The buildings were bright and colourful… I shouldn't be complaining really, but it just… didn't feel right to me. This would be my life now, unless I decided I wanted to go back to Pure Illusion. Going to school, getting a job, going to work… Maybe play some of Sayuri's video games, watch films… Join a sports club maybe…

Just… normal, regular things.

I… wasn't quite sure how I felt about all of that right now.

Some part of my brain alerted me to this part of town, and I stopped walking. It took me a second to work out what exactly I'd stopped for, when I began to recognise my surroundings. Isn't this where I saw that aquarium in the alternate world Pure Illusion? I had a look around, and sure enough, my eyes fell on a sign that I'd only seen once before. Now I think about it, it's probably no wonder I never noticed it before if it was here on Earth, it was oddly camouflaged against the flagstone floor outside. I took a few steps closer and saw that there was a chalkboard nearby advertising free entry today. Is this really the same place I saw in Pure Illusion? One way to find out, I guess.

Stone pillars carved into the shapes of fish sat guard outside the entrance. There was a water fountain nearby too, with a fish spouting water from its mouth, pouring into the pool below. Gold and silver light sparkled under the surface of the water, coins from locals and tourists probably using it as a wishing well. Was that really a thing people did? All I could think about were the wishing wells in some of the stories Cocona had told me. Part of me wanted to snort and dismiss the whole idea… and the other part of me was already fishing in my skirt pocket for the few coins I had left over from the last time I spent a day in town, when I was showing the twins around and bought myself some cream bread. Sure enough, I found my change, a few measly 10-yen coins, and tossed them in.

I looked down at my reflection, distorted by the ripples. After all that time I'd spent chasing my shadow, and seeing red eyes everywhere, it was a relief to see them purple again after so long… However, that didn't stop a familiar voice of a nameless, invisible Cocona echoing in my head. 'What do you want? If you could have anything, right now, what would it be?'

Well, I got the freedom part of my wish a long time ago, so now I'd guess I'd be wishing for a companion of some sort. Someone I could sit with on a grassy hill, enjoy a sunset with and laugh… Someone I loved, right by side... Especially since I would be keeping myself away from Cocona and Papika for a while now. I'd get jealous if I saw those two together, wanting what I didn't have… Not just that, but in staying with Sayuri, she'd pretty much be the only person I'd have around to talk to, unless I was lucky enough to make a new friend at my new school…

Crap, I didn't think about that at all. I sighed and walked away from the fountain, going inside the aquarium. A staff member at the admission booth welcomed me and said they hoped I enjoyed my time here. I thanked them, and didn't bother looking at the map this time, I just had a wander through.

You know, an awful lot of strange creatures live in the water. I'd heard a lot about them, sure, but actually seeing some of them up close and reading more about them, it just occurred to me how bizarre life on Earth can be. There was a dark room full of cylindrical tanks containing luminous jellyfish, gliding eerily up and down, like they were the blobs of a lava lamp. Another place had eels that curled around their rock and coral homes. Manta rays floated through the water far above me, like they were flying through the air… There were some children with their parents, that pointed up and exclaimed their amazement at how big the kite-shaped creatures were. I guess they weren't exactly wrong, most of them were six or seven metres long, so pretty big by Earth standards, but looking at them, all I could think was they were puny compared to the Ray I'd seen in Pure Illusion. (Also, thankfully, these guys lacked the tusks and tentacles. Actually, if they wanted to try and keep the Ray in captivity, it'd probably take up the whole of Japan, just for a reasonable enclosure size.)

In some of the smaller tanks beyond that were some coconut-sized octopi that blinked up at me, before squirting a cloud of ink, and hurrying off to hide. Little crabs were gathered in a cluster, all their claws raised upwards, as if they were performing a ritual to summon food. There were starfish clinging to the side of the glass in another tank… I'd never really thought about the underside of a starfish before, but these ones looked sorta like a coloured asterisk bordered by white triangular points. Thousands of tiny 'feet' held the creature in place.

Being here, I kinda wondered how it'd look if me and the twins ever did end up in an underwater world one day. Would we be facing creatures like this? Hybrids of them? Or would we be facing something stranger, like giant living shoes that just bobbed along?

Turning away from the starfish, and following the path along, I came to the shark petting pool… my chest began to hurt, just catching sight of it. I promised to take Yuyu here so she could pet a shark… There's me thinking about what facing a water world would be like with the twins, and…

Without really thinking about it, I approached the pool and looked down at it. Much like the time I'd seen it in Pure Illusion. Water lapping the sides, and the faint hum of machinery, although there were actually other people in the room this time, looking down at the sharks, too. Yuyu should be here with me… I stood on the spot and glanced around me, actually taking in where the hell I was. But would she want to be here? Surrounded by water, after she'd nearly drowned in a frozen lake?

My eyes began to sting. I was still a little… conflicted over how I thought of Yuyu. She said she had a crush on me, and that her shadow had manipulated a lot of our adventure in Pure Illusion, just because she wanted some excuse to hold my hand… I didn't appreciate that at all, but at the same time… I couldn't exactly say I didn't understand where she was coming from with that. After all, I'd had a shadow in Pure Illusion because I wanted to be with Cocona. If I switched at some point, I probably would have ended up doing the same sort of thing…

That was when I had a thought. Back when I'd destroyed Cocoro, after that I had a vague memory of Cocona, Papika and Uexkull being there, someone sounding panicked, and there was a red light and someone apologising… Yuyu said before that it was impossible to get a Hole working in the mirror room, but Cocona told me that's how she got everyone out… was Yuyu lying about that the whole time? Or did Cocona somehow get it to work with her Pure Illusion powers? Or did Yuyu sacrifice herself, and use the last of her life to get everyone back home? Did she feel bad about her shadow changing things, so she subconsciously sent us to world's she'd hate as a punishment? Or was her shadow just tormenting her?

There was no way to know. I have no idea what happened in Yuyu's head that whole time, or anything she'd been thinking from the moment she was created, until she became amorphous again. Unless I found a way to step into her memories, I'd never get an answer.

I didn't really want to think about Yuyu right now. Whatever the truth behind her actions was, someone I'd known for a long time, who'd protected me and been around me, was gone. She came to Pure Illusion to bring me food, because I was a dumbass and forgot I needed to eat... and now, because of that... because of me...

I couldn't hold back any longer, and burst out crying in front of the shark petting pool. A few people probably gave me weird looks. I thought I heard a kid ask one of their parents what was wrong with me, and the parent quietly telling them to leave me alone. Probably a good idea, one person ended up traumatised into silence, and other was dead because of my stupid selfish , back when I worked for Asclepius it took me a long time to work out, I was working for the bad guys. I keep messing up... Why the hell would anyone want me around after everything I've done? I'm not worth it... I'm not w-

"Excuse me, are you okay?"

The voice sounded so close that I would have jumped if I didn't feel weighed down with sadness. As much as I didn't want to be seen in such a pathetic state, I turned my head to face the speaker. I actually stopped crying for a second because my breath caught in my throat at the sight of them.

It was a girl around my age, wearing a different school uniform to mine. It was sailor-style, like mine, but the skirt and blouse were both navy blue, and there was a cream bow tie instead of a neckerchief. She looked... I want to say a little elegant, like she'd come from an older family in Japan. Her posture was perfect, and she had a sheet of neat, soft black hair that bordered a pale face and fell down to her shoulders. With those things alone, I would have expected her to be a snobby sort, who would have turned her nose up at me, especially since my hair was messy with my bangs all in my face now, but her face... Even with her expression twisted slightly with worry, the rest of her features were gentle, and her eyes as warm and gold as sunlight...

"Can you hear me?" She asked, concerned.

Her words shocked me back to reality. "S-sorry, I was..." I stuttered, feeling nervous. Okay, I was kinda flustered. I still felt a little all-over from my thoughts earlier, but now I suddenly had a really pretty girl next to me asking if I was okay. I swallowed, my mouth feeling suddenly dry. How do I people? It was hard to think when my mind was just sorta screaming at me, not knowing what to do. "I-I'm..." I couldn't focus. I kept wanting to look back at her and lose myself in those eyes, but I didn't wanna appear like a complete weirdo in front of her. My hands had moved, sorta hovering in front of me. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Are you scared to pet a shark?" she asked. I figured it'd be okay to look at her if she asked me a question. She was giving me a gentle smile. "It's not as hard as it looks, they won't hurt you. Can I...?" she gestured towards my hand, and I just about managed to nod. Her fingers held my hand carefully. My heart skipped a beat. Were my hands sweaty? Man, I hope they weren't sweaty...

If they were, that didn't seem to bother the girl at all. She was looking intently at the water, waiting for a shark to glide by. She was giving me instructions on how to pet a shark (I think), but my brain wasn't quite registering the words, and I wasn't reading her lips... well, I was looking at her lips, but I didn't really know what she was saying exactly. I was just... mesmerised.

A kind girl who came out of nowhere, and was concerned about me, despite not knowing who I was. A girl with eyes and a voice as sweet as honey...

Something cool and smooth brushed against my fingers. I nearly swore out loud, because I hadn't even realised my hand was in the water, and a shark just swam past until my fingers came into contact with it. Somehow, I kept my mouth shut. Probably a good thing, I don't know this girl, but I wasn't sure she'd appreciate me swearing at her.

"See? It's easy," she said. Now I wasn't getting lost looking at her, I could suddenly understand what she was saying again. It was a good thing too, because she asked for my name. Honestly, I was surprised I could still remember it, half of everything else seemed to have been kicked out of my brain the instant I laid eyes on her. "I'm Yayaka."

"That's unique!" she sounded genuinely delighted to run into someone with a name she'd never heard before. "My name's Nanami, written with the kanji for 'seven' and 'fruit'." She paused for a moment looking at my school uniform. "It's a shame we go to different schools..." She mumbled.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh! I was just talking to myself, it doesn't matter!" she spoke hurriedly, like she was embarrassed. But why? I couldn't work that one out. Either way, she seemed disappointed about the different schools thing. I kinda wanted to cheer her up.

"I'm not going to this school much longer, I'm transferring to another pretty soon," I said. "I don't know which one though, my..." I paused for a second trying to work out what to say exactly, "...legal guardian's moving me somewhere else. I'm not sure which one." That thought worried me a little, but I wasn't sure why. "It'd be cool if I ended up going to yours though, I'd have a..." friend there. I stopped myself from saying that out loud. Can I really call this girl, Nanami, a friend when I met her maybe five minutes ago? Hell, would she even want to be my friend? I guess she must, because she approached me and wanted to make sure I was okay... But why would she do that? And why the hell do I feel so nervous all of a sudden being around a girl like...

A girl like Cocona...?

It took me a little while to work out why I'd been so... ...I'm not even sure what the right word is, but now I thought about it, it made complete sense. A kind, cute girl, who cared about someone she'd never met... It's just like how my feelings towards Cocona started… But if I'm thinking that way about someone else, that's a good thing, right? A sign I could be moving on? I didn't know. Should I even be thinking like this? I'm in love with Cocona, and I've known Nanami for a few minutes at most but I feel so… strongly about her. Is that okay? I didn't know. All I knew was I was feeling kinda guilty about seeming to love someone as much as I loved Cocona.

"You'd have a…?" Nanami repeated the last few words I'd said, before I trailed off into that line of thought, bringing me back to reality. I was about to finish what I'd meant to say when she spoke again before I got the chance, "you have really pretty eyes, Yayaka-san."

The lighting in here was mostly focused on the shark pool, which I was fine with, because it meant there was a chance, she couldn't see me blushing. Suddenly, there was a beeping noise. I flinched and looked around, wondering what the hell it was, when Nanami ended up fishing her phone out of her skirt pocket. She frowned as she looked down at the screen. "Oh no… I've got to go. I'm sorry," she looked back up at me and gave a quick, polite bow, before turning her back on me "It was nice meeting you, Yayaka-san!" She called.

I stood there, watching her. My hand was raised a little, as if I wanted to try and pull her back to me. I felt a little sad that she'd gone. I wanted to call her back. She said she has to go, though, it has to be for something important. My hand continued to hover. It might be for the best if I don't see her again. I've messed up so many lives already. I'd probably only mess hers' up too… My hands fell to my side.

"So… Nanami-san, huh…?"

The unexpected voice made me jump so much, I exclaimed "CRAPPING HELL!" and was on the verge of kicking a small child in the head, due to the shock of it. Thankfully, I got control of myself before I got into more trouble than just blowing up a part of Hidaka's lab. What the… I spun around to face, "Toto?! How long have you been watching?!"

The silver-haired boy was smirking at me. I had no idea how the hell he'd caught up with me or how he knew where I'd gone, (actually, scrap that last one, he probably followed my tracker data. Well, better him than Hidaka.) but before I could ask him about anything, he handed me a phone with a cracked screen. It took me a second to realise it was my phone. "Toto, how—"

"Get her phone number…"

"W-what?"

"You like her, don't you…?"

Where Nanami was just a normal girl, and (hopefully) didn't notice me blushing before, I knew it would have been impossible to hide that fact from Toto.

"So, talk to her…" he said.

"Toto, I can't, what if…" I swallowed, getting nervous at the thought of talking to Nanami again. "Papika was attacked in Pure Illusion because of me, you guys were in danger… Yuyu's not alive anymore because of me, what if she ends up in danger because of me too somehow? What if I ruin her life?"

"Yayaka…" Toto's voice was firm. "Papika was attacked by your shadowWe were in danger because of your shadow… Yuyu," he looked pained as he said his sister's name, "She… she chose to go with you… to stay with you… It wasn't your fault…"

"But—"

"I don't blame you… Yuyu wouldn't blame you… But you blame yourself… It wasn't your fault… Learn to forgive yourself… Everyone makes mistakes…"

I was nearly on the verge of tears again. Suck it up, Yayaka. Stop crying.

"If you need to cry, then cry… no shame in it…" He looked over my shoulder for a moment, "but cry later… Nanami's almost gone…"

That seemed to startle me more than Toto being nice to me. I turned, suddenly feeling panicked. I'm transferring schools, but there's no guarantee I'll end up in hers, or even if I'll see her again, not if I don't—

"Go talk to her…" Toto said, finishing my thought. He gave me an encouraging smile, and nodded. I wanted to thank him, but my throat had closed up a little. The most I could manage was a nod to him, before I ran after the golden-eyed girl.

"H-hey! Nanami, wait up!"


Authors note: Phew! There we go! I honestly didn't think I'd make it this far. I first came up with the idea for a sequel-to-Flip-Flappers fic around 2 years ago, and it's taken me not only 110k words to set up the scene for this fic, but another 180k/190k to actually get out the story I was hoping to! Although there's a fair few cut scenes and worlds that never made it in… Will I write more in the future? Part of me would like to, but I've also been struggling with motivation and stuff, so I can't give an answer for certain right now.

Probably every single one of you reading this worked out what the shards in the ash world were a billion years ago, and may have found it a little frustrating that it took me so darn long to actually confirm your suspicions. It's fair enough if it ended up bugging the heck out of you with that, stuff like that bugs me too. It wouldn't have been the right time, or maybe quite have had the same impact I was aiming for with that scene if I'd revealed it any earlier in the fic, especially with a Certain Thing having happened.

Also, Papika giving Yayaka her bracelet was inspired by one of my own friends. Songficcer in fact, the one who encouraged me to post this fic online in the first place. We first got talking on a story of his own, and we both have anxiety issues and I said how I didn't exactly have many friends, and sometimes felt uncared about… He sent me a box of stuff from the US, all the way to England and one of the things was a rubber bracelet I could wear, so I could remember that 'someone out there cares about you.' It's probably the most thoughtful gift I've ever gotten from someone, and even though it's broken now, I still have it sitting on a shelf. We will have been friends for around 8 years this year in July.

I apologise, because I know I made a big fuss about the exploding wires being a thing, or at least mentioned them probably at least once since their creation and never ended up with Yayaka using them in Pure Illusion. I thought they'd be a cool thing to have, and in the end because they didn't end up being used like a weapon as intended, so they ended up being used as a 'joke' of some sort. It probably wasn't very funny, but it helped me get past a part of this chapter I would have been stuck on for a long while, so yay for that, I guess.

But yes. If any of you made it this far, I hope you've enjoyed the story I ended up writing, and thank you for reading!

*According to a reply I received on Reddit when I posted a thing celebrating Cocona's and Papika's birthday (August 17th) on Reddit in 2020, I was told that according to official sources Yayaka is older than the two of them, with her birthday being on August 8th, hence Cocona and Papika adding the honorific 'onee-chan.' I know honorifics are seldom used in Flip Flappers, but still.

**Salt's shadow appeared briefly in episode 13 of the anime. It's not mentioned in either of my fics until now because Yayaka never sees it for herself