I can't sleep.

I've been tossing and turning for hours and my eyes have refused to stay closed. Gina isn't telling me something. Is it because she doesn't think she can trust me? Is it because she doesn't actually like me?

If it's something that takes up all her time, then I should know about it, right? Because I'm with her all the time lately...oh my gosh, am I the thing? Am I some sort of pity project?

No, no, because Yuria knew about the thing, but she didn't know about me.

Don't be unreasonable. The "thing" is definitely not me. Definitely.

Stop thinking about it.

Stop.

Gosh, Yuria hates me though, doesn't she? She did not seem happy that I was joining the project. Well, that's to be expected, she didn't even know I existed until today. Maybe she doesn't hate me, but just doesn't know what to think about me.

What if she hates me?

What if she hates me and tells Gina and Gina decides not to be friends with me anymore because Yuria hates me?

What is Gina hiding?

I turn over and shove a pillow over my face, hoping the extra weight will make me fall asleep.

I wish I could just know what they all were thinking. Then I'd be able to sleep.

Half an hour later, Kokomi starts yelling at Makoto to get out of her room, and the familiar sound soothes my stressed brain into dreamland.

I wake up to my blaring alarm and a pounding headache. Slamming the "off" button, I let my face fall back into my pillow for a few more glorious seconds before shoving myself out of the warm comfort of my bed. I stumble to the bathroom, shove on my uniform, and sleepily wander to the kitchen, all the while praying for some Advil.

"Good morning, Nomi!"

Of course Kokomi is a morning person. She's a night person too. She's just a "all of the time is my time to shine" person.

"Morning," I mumble back, purposefully avoiding looking at her. Her gold glow would be way too bright for my tired eyes and definitely not good for my headache. I pull a chair over to the fridge to reach the cabinet on top and rummage through the basket from the back. I send a prayer of thanks when I find the small container of Advil. To whom I sent that prayer exactly, I don't know, but I'd guess whoever in Heaven blessed Kokomi and Makoto. They didn't give me a gold glow, but with how awful my head is pounding right now, the Advil almost makes up for it. Honestly, it feels like my entire body is about to implode.

"Are you feeling okay?" My sister asks, a perfect picture of sisterly concern.

"Yeah, fine," I less-perfectly reply, shaking out two pills before reclosing the container. "Just got an awful headache."

"Oh, gosh, well, here you go." Out of the corner of my eye, I see her bring me a glass of water. I gratefully move to grab it—

"GOOD MORNING MY ANGEL!" My brother crashes through the entrance to the kitchen, startling Kokomi into dropping the glass.

I don't hear it crash, though.

Oh gosh. The pain.

I had instinctively turned to look when Makoto burst in, but the moment I looked at his face—pain.

Horrible, shrieking pain.

It's shaking my actual brain, or maybe I'm being stabbed in my stomach, or maybe I'm being skinned alive.

Ripped apart.

I'm so close to being distracted, though, by the hundreds or thousands of images flashing in my mind. Seeing them all at once, but not seeing them at all. I just know what they are, who the people in them are, and why it's important.

And voices. So many voices.

"I think you could be a st"you're gonna be famous!"ar""look, Mak"what flavor ramen do you want?"oto, it's your "she's perfect"little sister""Nomi?""we signed you up for a TV series""gosh he's so cute""how was the pho"we're having another"toshoot?""baby""it's okay""protect your "acting is great"sisters, yo""NOMI!"don't tell anyone"u're the big brother""don't go near"she's mine" her"

Layering. I can't...I can't...figure anything out. What…?

"My sist"make sure to"er "protect" is perfect""you're a guy, but ev"go out with me!"en I think you're attractive""hey, you wa"where's your sister?"nna play?""whoa, that's your "he's so protective of his" sister?""sister""introduce me to your sister, I want to "go out with me!"be her boyfriend""I'd totally "give up, he's only" marry "interested in his" your sister""sister"

"HEY! NOMI!"

...Makoto?

"Kokomi, call an ambulance or something!"

What? Why? What happened? Ugh. My head hurts.

"Nomi, hey, you there?"

Yes, dummy, I'm right here. My head still hurts. I never got to take that Advil…

Advil...water...Makoto…

Oh, wow. I have a whole list in my head right now of every secret Makoto's ever kept.

Wait, did I pass out?

I peel my eyes open, struggling against the bright lights above.

"Nomi! Thank goodness. You okay? You're okay, right?"

Ugh. Too bright. Not sure if it's the lightbulb or my brother, though. I squeeze my eyes shut, nodding to answer his question.

"Wh-at happened?"

"I don't know. I came into the kitchen and you just fell over. And..you were...you missed the counter, but I was worried you hit your head too hard on the floor."

"Ah…" I reach up with my left hand and rub my temples, using my right arm to lever myself into a sitting position. The headache was dulling to a faint rumble.

"Nomi?" I hear Kokomi kneel by my side and she places her arms around me. "I called an ambulance, they'll be here soon."

"Isn't that a bit of an overreaction? I don't need to go to a hospital—I only fainted."

"You fainted? But Nomi...you were screaming."

My throat dried out, but I quickly shook my head, keeping my eyes firmly on my lap. "I only fainted."

She hesitated. "I'll just ask them to look for a concussion, then," she tried to compromise.

"No!"

Silence. I feel their questioning stares. Concerned.

"It's just...I'm honestly fine, and I'm sure it'd be better for that ambulance to be able to help someone who actually needs it," I hurry to explain, trying to hide my desperation.

Neither answer for a few very long seconds.

"Nomi…"

"I don't want it." I stubbornly affirm.

It's probably obvious that I'm hiding something, but I beg in my mind that neither will ask. I'm not ready to share.

"Alright," she eventually says and I almost sigh from relief. "I'll tell them it was a mistake, then."

She got up and left the room. I worked to get up myself, doing my best not to make it obvious that I was avoiding looking at my brother.

"Nomi?"

"I'm going to go lay down," I say, and quickly retreat to my bedroom.

I only fainted

I'm such a liar.

But if they were to check me for a concussion, they would have to check my eyes. And...I'm scared. What would happen if I had to look at them? What if I accidentally looked at one of their faces?

I start playing with my hair to hide my shaking hands.

I have an awful, awful feeling that the rules of my power just changed.

I skip school. I distantly overheard Makoto calling in to tell them that I'm sick, though I should have told him not to bother. They wouldn't notice either way.

He had to go to work, filming more of his show, but he peeked into my room to promise to come home as soon as he could. Kokomi did the same before hurrying off to school.

I was left alone. It's quiet. Silent.

...lonely.

I never thought I could be lonely. I suppose Gina changed me, giving me a taste of that incredible friendship.

I roll over and hug one of my pillows.

Would she even want to be friends with me if she knew that I read her mind all those weeks ago? Her crush, her most guarded secret, just popped into my head.

Would that...scare her?

Suddenly, Saiki's refusal to admit to his powers makes a sort of sense.

The doorbell rings.

I squint a bit at my bedroom door, trying to mentally measure the distance I would need to travel in order to answer the door. First I'd have to exit my room, walk down that horribly long hallway...

It rings again.

Reluctantly, I get out of bed and shuffle the path to the front door, passing by the kitchen. One of my siblings must have cleaned up because the glass on the floor is gone. I make a mental note to circle back through the kitchen after answering to door—I see a new glass of water sitting on the counter with the Advil container. Kokomi must have set it all out for me.

The doorbell rings again. I roll my eyes, regretting it immediately when my head claws in warning, but feeling no less annoyed with the person outside the door. They're awfully persistent.

I crack open the door, peeking through to check who it is.

"Hello, would you like to buy—"

And I slam the door.

I only glanced at his face, barely a look, but the dull rumble in my head roared to life, attacking my head from the inside.

I feel myself lean against the wall, an echoing pain shooting through my legs when my knees smack the floor.

"don't cry""how many"get a good education" jobs do you need?""gosh, you could "sir, would you like a gold feather?"get me to buy anything""college is too expensive""avoid confro"pay your bills!"ntation""sorry that I couldn't leave"ma'am, you need this automatic egg-cracker" you any inherit"I'll take one then, please"ance"

It's okay. This hurts a lot less than earlier. Though, that's really not saying much. My limbs still feel like they're being pulled in all different directions, muscles screaming for help.

Okay.

Just.

Control my breathing.

Control.

Slowly, very, very slowly, the hundreds of voices fade. The images disappear and dull rumble reappears. It's my own mind again. I shove away the list of secrets. I don't care, anyway.

I stay on the floor for a while after that, feeling the comfort of the carpet below me.

Hullo!

OKAY I'M SORRY

I know, I've been taking wayyyyyyy too long to finish this story. It wasn't even ever supposed to be this long! And I'm dragging it out and making it way harder than it needs to be and...

Well, okay, so real talk:

I spent a lot of time just writing this story without publishing anything. So actually, writing-wise, I'm pretty close to finishing. Kind of. I mean...probably? I can unconfidently claim that I'm close. Publishing-wise though...ehhhhh

I get nervous, okay? I have low confidence in myself.

Well, if anyone is still reading this, you'll probably notice that my quality in writing will drop dramatically as you read more chapters, and that's simply because I began to rush the story in an attempt to force myself to just. finish. it. Because I would really hate publishing an incomplete story, and I have a terrible habit of dragging things out.

Anyway. Anyone have thoughts about the REAWAKENED series?

Love ya'll

microsleep