"I will. I promise you. I will do everything that is in my power to show you the value of emotions and to give you a will to live..." Mion said. "So please, don't ever think for one second that you are all alone in this!"
"Thank you Mion" He smiled. "You are my best friend. I'm sure of that" Mion got beet red when she realised how close she was to him, in both senses.
"Now, let's get to my house, we're a couple blocks away only, give me my backpack, you don't have to carry it anymore!" She said in a rush.
"A punishment game is a punishment game Mion, regardless of the situation" He said with a stoic attitude.
"He's so serious about everything..." She thought.
They continued walking for a while.
"You know, I haven't forgot about your confession back there" He told Mion.
"What?" She looked puzzled.
"You admitted that there is something troubling you" He reminded her.
"Oh that. Well, you had enough trust in me, so I'm sure I can trust you too. I've only told Rena so far..."
"So..."
"The thing is... the other day, me and the rest of the club participated in an event at my uncle's shop. Long story short, the event ended in a hiatus, but my uncle gave everyone but me a present. Keiichi had gotten a doll, so I said something bothersome to him thinking that he would give it to me. Unfortunately, he must have thought it was too girly for me, so he gave it to Rena instead, and for the next days he always said AT LEAST one thing about me being more of a boy than a girl... It bothers me so much, cause, why can't he see me like any of the others?!" She said and dropped a few tears.
"Mion..." Amuro hugged her again and pet her head as she cried in his chest. "You ARE a girl Mion. You might act a little boyish sometimes, but you are a girl in all senses. That way you blush is most certainly of a girl..."
"Did this hug come from your heart?" She asked him trying to help.
"Yeah, I felt like you needed it" He said with an honest smile.
"Little by little, you will make everyone happy I'm sure... Just like you have been helping me" Mion said wiping her tears.
"I hope so too..."
"Oh, look where we are! This is the entrance to the Sonozaki manor"
"Well, you said I had to leave your bag in your room, so I'm doing no different"
"I knew you'd say something like that"
They entered. Amuro loved the beauty of the garden sorrounding the large Japanese-style house. As they got inside it they heard three people talking in what Amuro thought to be the living room.
"I guess we have to say hi at least" Mion said.
"No problem with that"
They entered the room and found the whole Sonozaki trio that didn't live in Hinamizawa.
"Look who has arrived to see her mother!" Said Akane.
Mion kissed her in the cheek.
"And a boy carrying her backpack. Do I have to worry Mion?" Said her father.
"Don't be stupid dad, he's just a friend, and he's fulfilling the punishment game" Mion said as she hugged him and kissed him in the cheek.
"Tsugaru Amuro" He said extending his hand and looking at Mion's father in the eye.
"Sonozaki Akira" He shook Amuro's hand and responded with the same glare. He felt a sheer strength in Amuro.
"C'mon sis, I thought that you liked Kei-chan..." Shion teased her sister.
"Shut up! stupid Shion..."
"You are not from here are you?" She asked Amuro.
"I am Italian. From Milan to be exact" He told her.
"Milan! And what the hell are you doing in a place like Hinamizawa?" Shion impolitely remarked.
"To make things clear, I love this place, and I have my reasons to have come here in the first place" He said in a serious way but smiling.
"A direct man, not afraid to say what he thinks... I like that, Mion. Even if he's only a friend, I wouldn't care if you promoted him to a boyfriend" His father teased at the same time as he said what he thought.
"Why do you do this to me? Oyashiro-sama have mercy... Well, this old man has to go to study..."
"But Mion, Chie-sensei never-"
"AND DO HOMEWORK!" She said pushing Amuro out of the room.
Once outside she guided a smirking Amuro to her room.
"You didn't tell me that you had a twin sister"
"I don't consider it worth telling, since she was at a boarding school pretty far away. She seems to have returned though"
"It seems like it"
She opened the door to her room.
"Here it's okay!"
He looked at her room. It was simple, but he felt like it was "Mion style" in the end. A shonen manga pile was in the floor, and there were more in a shelf. There was a cute cat plush on her bed.
Amuro grabbed it and showed it to her: "See? This is a girl's thing..."
"I get it!" She said with an annoyed attitude, but felt comfortable as well.
"Well, I gotta go back home. I still have to cook something to eat"
"I'm sure my family wouldn't mind having you stay for dinner"
"No, it's okay Mion, you've done enough for me already, and I have to buy something for breakfast anyway. Also, I don't want your family to bother you" He said from his heart.
"See? You have a bit of empathy Amuro! At least for me... but it's a start!" She comforted him.
"Maybe it is... Hey, please don't tell anyone else about that. Of course, I won't mention anything about you to Keiichi-kun"
"I would never do such a thing, and I'd expect you to do that even if you were a psycopath..."
"Which I'm NOT" He said in a serious tone.
"Don't worry, I feel deep inside me that you aren't. And even if you were, I guess you'd still be my best friend, Amuro"
"You really think that? For me it's not hard to say you are, cause before knowing you I don't really knew anybody I could call my friend, or not that I remember, but you have amazing friends too"
"I mean, the club members are all my best friends, but from all of them you are special Amuro. You have been here for two days and you already comforted me and made me so happy with your words!" She said blushing a little bit.
Amuro's heart was still too cold to make him blush, but he had a strange feeling when Mion told him all of this.
"Thanks Mion. Well, see you... tomorrow?"
"I don't really know. We try to do club activities on weekends too, but it depends on how busy we are..."
"There's a phone in my house, but I don't know its number"
"I'll write mine in a paper so you have it" She said as she grabbed a pen.
"I'll give you a call when I want to talk to you"
"Right. If there's anything tomorrow I'll go to your house. Feel free to do other stuff though, unless it's official I won't make you stay at home for nothing"
"We'll see. Bye Mion" And he hugged her for the last time that day.
"Bye Amuro"
Once he left, Shion went to her sister's room.
"Wow, that's one hell of a guy you have right there sis..."
"He's my best friend, that's for sure. And what do you mean?"
"Well, dad said something about how he felt a true man's grip and that the look in his eyes was the one of a grown adult more than a teenager... I don't know, I'd say that he's exagerating quite a bit, but he was good looking indeed. Well, maybe Kei-chan is more appealing to me since I'm Japanese, but Amuro has an exotic beauty you don't find in many places. None compare to my lovely Satoshi, though..." And her expression changed to one of a tremendous sadness and she started crying.
"Oh, Shion... I'm so sorry about what happened" She tried to comfort her.
"Liar! If that was true you would've done something to help him!" She said in tears.
"I've told you a thousand times, I didn't have anything to do about that, and I'm sure Ba-chan didn't either"
"Don't you dare bring that old hag in this!"
"Shion..." Mion started crying.
Shion realised how she was treating her sister. "Oh Mion, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh on you..."
"No, what you say is true... Maybe I could've done something, I'm the heir..."
"Stupid Mion. In the end, we both know that was not possible..."
"I hope that's true... Sometimes I feel guilty about it"
"Well, you shouldn't. Sorry Mion, it's just that I became jealous that you have someone, while I'm all alone..."
"What are you saying? I'm always there for you!"
"You know what I mean. A special someone, a boyfriend"
"You could go out with Kei-chan, I wouldn't mind..."
"Maybe... but you know, one part of me still believes that his disappearance is really just that, I refuse to believe he's dead!"
"Don't lose hope Shion, but don't be afraid to love again either"
"*Sigh* When did we become so distant? Why can't it be like when we were little?"
"I don't know onee... but I would love if things were like that"
They ceased crying and hugged each other. Mion was calmed by this, but deep within Shion there was still hate building up.
"We're the same aren't we?" Asked Mion.
"We are. We are twins after all..."
"Let's forget about these fights then, I love you onee"
"I love you too"
They ceased the hugging and decided to wash their faces to have dinner.
~~~~X~~~~
Amuro had gotten back to the house and had cooked chicken with Japanese spices and rice.
"This world is the worst possible" He started thinking.
"Keeichi didn't give the doll to Mion, which means that this is the world where Shion goes on a rampage and kills almost everyone because of her paranoia due to L5. The worst part of all, is that Satoshi is still alive. Honestly, I would love to go to their house and tell that to her, but there are some things that have to happen in this world in order to save it"
He finished his meal and washed the plate.
"I must find a way to organise everything on time though... and I think Rika will help me with that. I hope that this world's Akasaka is all right though, it is a necessary step for this plan to work"
He grabbed his Shamisen and started to play.
As soon as he played the three strings he could get an idea of how to improvise in it. While playing a solo he kept thinking, now about this day.
"I can't let my problems surpass me. Due to my actions I ended up having the place that Keiichi was supposed to have. I can't feel love, it would be unfair for Mion if she fell in love with me, and it would be for Keiichi cause he wouldn't have anyone besides Rena, who isn't as fitting as Mion is she? It's so difficult to create a perfect world..."
He continued playing for an hour or two uninterruptedly. He could say he was already familiar with the instrument when he stopped playing.
"I'll go to sleep now. Tomorrow I will try to tell Rika about everything"
This time he turned off the lights and as soon as he got in the bed and closed his eyes he fell asleep with one last thought on his mind: "Her best friend huh?" And he slept with a smile.
The next day Amuro had woken up pretty early: 6:30 AM. By 7 He was ready to go out. "Maybe it's a little too early for Rika though... It's saturday after all..." He thought.
"Nah... I'll go anyway, by the time I get there she should be awake" And thus he went by foot, that way he wouldn't get so quickly and he would be able to enjoy the fresh air of the village.
The dirt roads had something that reminded him of his home in Europe. This world's Europe was possibly very different from the one in his world, though.
By the date he had arrived in Hinamizawa he estimated that Keiichi had already met Shion, but wasn't sure if she was a persona created by Mion or an actual twin sister. Amuro wouldn't tell him anything because the best way to obtain that "perfect ending" was to let some things happen.
"If Keiichi goes through that, it will be also painful to Mion at some point though... I'll just buy her that doll when that time comes to make it up for her, even if she thinks that I couldn't have done anything" He decided.
He got to the stone staircase that lead to the Furude Shrine and started climbing up.
Once he got to the Shrine, he started looking for Rika. He had to find her there, cause in the house she wouldn't be alone with him, and there were things that he had to tell her in private, not with Satoko.
She wasn't around, but he remembered that there was still one place where he could find her on her own: the Saiguden.
He went there hoping that he would find her. He heard someone talking inside the Saiguden, so he asumed it was Rika talking to Hanyuu.
"Rika-chan, are you there?"
The girl opened the door of the Saiguden to find Amuro.
"What are you doing here so early Amuro-kun?"
"I needed to talk to you, but I need your mature self"
"I don't understand what you mean ~nipah!~"
"Rika, you are going to die in 3 weeks, so you better listen to me!"
"I knew there was something weird about you, but I wanted to make sure" She said in her mature voice.
"I don't expect you to trust me right away, but at least listen to what I have to say and you and Hanyuu judge"
"So you know about her too? I feel quite uneasy about this but ok, go on"
"The person killing you is Takano Miyo. She knows about Hinamizawa Syndrome and wants to kill you to trigger the erratic behaviour of the whole village"
"What proof do you have?"
"Takano's body was supposed to be dead the day of Watanagashi. We both know that is impossible, and that Oyashiro-sama has nothing to do with that..."
"True. Ok then, I trust you. So we have to kill Takano?"
"No, in order to truly win this, you and your friends will have to go through some harsh stuff. I'll help you of course, cause I've got to be blunt with you: this is the worst world possible"
"Yeah, I know. It would be easier for me to die"
"You may revive in a different Hinamizawa, but I don't belong in this universe, so there's nothing that guarantees that I will be in that new world too. My mission requires me to save THIS world"
"What exactly is your mission?"
"To obtain a fragment of my complete self's Scythe"
"Please explain this whole thing, cause I'm not making any sense of it"
"The original Tsugaru Amuro is a God, the God of Death to be exact. He casted a spell in his universe that destroyed his Scythe of godly powers and shattered his self, scattering the fragments in 6 different universes, parallel to the one where he came from, along with 6 different shards of my original self. I am a piece of Tsugaru Amuro, so I don't have any powers comparable to his. Aside from that, we all miss something of our being. In my case, I lack empathy, and for some reason, I feel I have to regain it in order to recover the shard of my Scythe"
"So you mean, you're the piece of a God that shattered his self along with a Scythe of mythical powers..?"
"In short, yes"
"Amuro-kun, I find that very hard to believe, but then again, you DO know about all of this. Well, you said that you are a weaker version of your original self, so you must have a power of some kind..."
"I have to clarify that magic is real, at least in my world, due to the existence of Mana. I'm not sure, but I feel that this world also has Mana, but that its presence is much weaker. I'd say that the force that allows Hanyuu to manifest herself to you is due to this mythical energy"
"That doesn't sound so unbelieavable now that you mention her... Are you able to see her?"
"Not now. I was when I used the first magic spell that I could cast: Omnipresent Perception. Such a spell can only be casted by a God, called Deus in my world, and even then it costs so much Mana that I had to give up most of my abilities when I casted it. This power allowed me to see everything that has happened in this universe though, and that means I've seen as much as you, and even more regarding some aspects. As a price for not being my whole self, I lost my memory of many things of my world, but I believe my complete self will regain it when the Scythe is reforged"
"But you won't accomplish that unless your other selves find their pieces"
"It seems that way, but I don't mind staying in this world with you guys until that happens. Honestly, not even I know what will be of us once the Scythe is repaired"
"Even though you have no empathy you don't act in an evil way. You might do all of this for a selfish reason, but in the end you would be saving us all, so I guess it's enough"
"Will you help me then Rika?"
"All right, I'll help you, but what exactly do you want me to do?"
"In the meantime contact Akasaka-san, tell him that you had a vision about something terrible happening to the village or something. I'm sure he'll believe you and come right away. Aside from that, just do your normal activities"
"It sounds pretty easy and simple so far..."
"Things will get rough when we face Takano"
"Don't you think that we should tell Irie and Tomitake about this?"
"Absolutely, but I don't think that I'd be able to convince them of that, so could you please do that?"
"Ok, leave it to me. What will you do?"
"I'll stop Shion from starting her massacre and turning into an L5"
"Shion? But wasn't it Mion who- now I understand. Well, I guess you know what you're doing"
"Yeah, don't worry about that. I have to make clear that this world is different from the best outcome in which you defeated fate, so I'm sorry to say that I don't know if what we do gives us a 100% chance of accomplishing this..."
"I thought so, but don't worry for us. In the worst of the cases we can still come back. It's you who doesn't have a safe return"
"Yeah... that's true. Oh, and one last thing, try to leave things as similar as you can regarding this world, that way I can predict the events that are going to happen and act in time"
"I'll change the least things as possible"
"Thank you Rika-chan. Well, I guess I'll be going now. We'll meet in the next club activity I think. Until then, bye!"
"Goodbye Amuro-kun"
"Hey Rika, he didn't look like he was lying. You believe everything he said?" Hanyuu asked her.
"Some things are hard to believe, but I guess it would also be to think that I can talk to Oyashiro-sama, so yeah I think I do..."
"Yeah. I can't believe that he's what people call a sociopath though"
"It's possible that even though he doesn't understand other's feelings emotionally, he does rationally, and Amuro is anything but a fool"
"I guess you're right"
"Maybe this is the hardest world to change, but with the help of a real God, not like you, we might just escape this loop sooner than expected"
"~Hauauau~ you're so mean to me Rika!"
"I just said the truth" Rika innocently smiled.
"~Hauau...~" Hanyuu was disappointed in herself.
Amuro came back to his house to rest for a while now that he had talked to Rika. "I'll sleep for a couple hours and then I'm gonna have lunch..." He thought.
And he did exactly that. He loved days like those. Days where he did everything he wanted. He hated when people interfered with his interests. Of course, there were some exceptions. Right now, he wouldn't mind to go play with the club, but that was a special case. If anyone else was to disturb him, he would've been angry enough to kill that person in another time. Now he didn't want to hurt any more people though, but he surely wouldn't hesitate to do it for his friends.
He woke up at around 1 PM, but didn't want to cook anymore. He remembered that Mion had given him her number.
"We could go eat something to Okinomiya" He thought.
As he started dialing his mind snapped "Hey, what are you doing? You and Mion are going to end up really dating if this keeps going on"
"Dammit... But is that a bad thing?"
He hadn't realised that he was already calling when he heard a familiar voice answering.
"Hello?" It could've been Shion, but she didn't stay at the Sonozaki manor, which meant it was Mion.
"Hi Mion, it's Amuro here"
"Amuro! How did you sleep?"
"Fine, I just woke from a little nap actually, but anyways, is there some place we can go eat in Okinomiya?"
"Hum... There is that place where Shion works at called Angel Mort... but the food itself isn't so good, unless you're into desserts..."
"Hmm... I was thinking something salty and tasty..."
"We could go grab a burger at a fast food place!"
"Burger? Fast food? What's all that?"
"You've never had any of that?! Hold up, I'll be at your house in 5 minutes!"
"Wait Mion it's-" She had hanged up already. "Not necessary..."
The spell was called Omnipresent Perception but in reality it wasn't so overpowered. Everything that could be considered important for that world's understanding is transferred to the user, but there were many things that were left unknown. For instance, you wouldn't be able to discover something that no one else knows about even if you wanted or you suspected that it existed. In this case, it was irrelevant to know about restaurants or anything unrelated to Hinamizawa's mystery, so all that information is omitted.
"I guess I can play the Shamisen while Mion gets here..."
He was more familiar with the instrument, and even though he hadn't listened to much traditional Japanese music, he did recognise some sound patterns that repeated. In this case, they were pentatonic and heptatonic scales mostly. He kept improvising for a while, trying to sound as authentic as possible. He wanted to play it like a Japanese would, not like a tourist grabbing a foreign instrument for the first time.
He heard the door knocking, so he decided to leave the Shamisen aside and open the door so Mion and him could go to Okinomiya.
"Amuro! After I heard that you didn't even know what hamburgers were I couldn't just let that be..."
"I thought something like that had happened when I noticed that you had hanged up"
"Let's stop wasting any more time! I'm starving also, so we have to get there ASAP!"
"I get you. I can't stand hunger too, so let's go!"
They took a bus to Okinomiya and left at the city's center.
Mion was starving, so she wasn't thinking about anything else. She grabbed Amuro by his hand and ran towards the fast food restaurant she knew. He was being pulled so fast that he was unable to see the place's name.
"What is this Mion? Why is there a line to get your food?"
"Just wait and see..."
"You haven't been a patient one either..."
"Oh, shut up. When we get our food I'll come back to my normal self"
After two people it was their turn.
"Hi, can I take your order?" Asked the lady that worked in there.
"Hi, I'd like 8 Rodeo burgers, each one with their respective fries and 2 chocolate milkshakes" Mion ordered.
"Just a moment" She replied.
"You gonna buy the burgers or the whole damn place?" Amuro teased her.
"Don't say things like that, cause this old man can feel that you are the kind of person that can eat a whale and won't get fat, EVER!"
"You got me, hahaha!"
After a minute the lady was back.
"Here, your order is ready, thank you very much"
"No, thank YOU!" Mion couldn't contain her enthusiasm as she grabbed one of the trays and Amuro the other.
"What kind of wizardry is this? A whole meal ready in a minute?" Amuro was astonished as they sat on a table.
"That's why it's called fast food"
He looked at the hamburger and thought that it was nice looking. He took a bite.
"It's pretty damn good too!"
"Right?"
"I've got an idea"
"What could it be?"
"Since there is no games club today, why not have a little fun competing between us?"
"Ho... are you ready for a food competition?"
"Correct. Let's see who finishes this meal first"
"Ok, we'll use the club's rules, so the loser will have a punishment game decided by the winner"
"Deal"
"3, 2, 1... GO!" They said in unison.
They started off with the french fries. Both were really fast at this, since they put them in the mouth and ate half of each pack of fries in about ten seconds.
Neither of them had any problems halfway, but there were 4 packs left.
She was feeling a bit satisfied, but there was still too much to eat to even think about feeling that way.
Inside the restaurant, the people from other tables realised what was happening and got near the table to see.
In the end, both ended the fries at kind of the same time.
Mion started munching the first hamburger as fast as she could. When she felt her mouth was full, she drank a bit of milkshake to help her swallow.
Amuro was a bit behind of her, but in reality, he was eating at his normal speed.
After a minute she had already eaten half of her second burger, while Amuro started the second.
"I can win this!" She thought.
But her friend was thinking quite differently: "Just you wait Mion. When you get to your last burger you'll see the difference between us"
People from outside the restaurant had started to notice what was happening and some even entered just to see how the competition was going.
Another minute passed, Mion was starting to have difficulties eating the last quarter of her third burger. Amuro was starting the third, but was perfectly fine.
"Now now, you can't lose, you're the club leader!" She was convincing herself.
She regained some strength from sheer willpower and was able to finish her third. As she grabbed the fourth (and last) burger she munched with all of her might.
People started to root for her as they saw her determination.
"I can win! I can win!" She kept repeating in her mind.
Mion was eating pretty fast, but she hadn't noticed that Amuro was done playing. There were many things that he didn't know about this world or the other ones where his other halves were, but he was sure of something: his informal gluttony and voracity had no match against mere mortals.
With the half of the third burger in his hand, he stuffed it completely in his mouth and drank a long sip of the milkshake.
People couldn't believe what they were seeing. Another group realised who truly had the upper hand, so they started rooting for him as well.
Mion didn't notice this, cause she was too focused eating the half that she had left.
Amuro had finished the first half of the last burger as well, so they were equal in terms of food, but Mion was light years in experience and stomach size.
He put the whole half of the burger that was left in his mouth and finished drinking his milkshake with it.
"WOOOOO!" Shouted the people that had become his followers.
Mion realised what had happened and dropped her piece in the tray. Amuro took it and ate it.
"I don't like to leave any leftovers"
"You... are... unreal..." She managed to say in defeat as she fell on the table.
"What's your name man? What she said is true. YOU ARE UNREAL!" One of his newly obtained fans asked him.
"Call me A" This gave him kind of a dèjá vú as Keiichi appeared on his mind.
"Amazing! Everyone root for A! The Ace of godspeed eating!"
"A! A! A! A!" They were shouting his seudonym.
He couldn't believe that their little competition ended up inspiring so many. Amuro didn't realise, but he felt a bit moved by this. What Mion said was true, he was good in essence, and little by little he would regain his emotional side.
"Hey Mion, I know you must not feel very well, but it is better if you take a walk to process all of that"
"You're right... Well, let's go then"
"Don't worry about the punishment game yet, I'll wait for you to recover. Are you going to puke?"
"Nah, I don't think it's that bad. A little long walk will make me feel better, I'm sure"
They left the restaurant and started to walk around Okinomiya. Mion saw some shops that she'd like to visit after recovering, while Amuro was perfectly fine and wouldn't mind accompanying her.
After a while, they sat on a bench they found to rest for a couple minutes.
"I think I feel a lot better now"
"That's good to hear"
"Well, what will my punishment game be?"
"You can only make me carry 5 bags after going shopping. I saw how you looked at those shops"
"No way, that's not a punishment at all! You're actually being considerate"
"Why would I want to punish you Mion? I'm always happy when I'm with you..."
She turned red. "But it's not like that, it's just for fun... hahaha" She tried looking other way to hide her blush.
"Well, if you put it that way... Do you know how to cook?"
"Well, yeah. Ba-chan has taught me a lot of domestic things, so I know how to cook pretty well"
"Then I want you to cook something for me one of these days. Anything you want, but something that you think I might love but that's new for me as well. I'm not from here, so that's not a very hard task..."
"I guess not, but that's all you want me to do?"
"As long as you cook enough food to leave me full it's ok"
"That will be tricky hahaha"
"There's your punishment I guess... Hahahaha"
She had never cooked for a man before. The thought of doing it gave her a weird feeling, but it also made her feel good. It was almost as if she was a wife cooking for her husband. A mental image of an adult version of her in an apron happily cooking for an adult Amuro wearing a suit went through her mind. This resulted in an even greater blush.
"Well, let's go shopping then!" She said as she grabbed him by the hand and ran.
"Okay..." He managed to mumble as he got carried once again.
~~~~X~~~~
And another chapter ends. I don't know, maybe I did this one too cute, but then again, Higurashi always starts like this doesn't it? I'm not sure how many chapters will there be before some brutality takes place, but in the meantime, why not enjoy this cute pair? It's my first time writing these kind of moments so if anything seems off just tell me. I hope the explanation of Omnipresent Perception was clarifying. I haven't explained Apparition, but I think you may have an idea of what it does. I'll explain it in due time anyway.
Darkmatter17 out.