Chapter 3: Two idiots

For a while their identical blue eyes stared at each other and their mouths did not move. A startled Naru looked as if he had just spawned a clone.

"Gene?"

The young man in the tree burst into laughter. Contradictory to the fortune teller's statement, this wasn't the malevolent spirit. It really was Gene. His laughter was the same silly and boyish laughter he remembered from past times. Other times they had seen and communicated with each other through mirrors, but they were always separated by a wall of glass. Now Gene looked as vivid as he could be.

Naru didn't recover himself from the shock until his twin greeted him enthusiastically, "Hellooo sunshine!"

Within seconds Naru's irritation grew exponentially.

"Idiot!" he hissed.

That was when the boy jumped out of the tree and slowly landed on the grass. Gene's spirit form had copied Naru's outward appearance like a mirror image. Like him he looked twenty even though he technically never reached that age.

Gene was in front of him and cocked his head to the side.

"What are you doing here?"

His brother wasn't amused.

"Isn't that my line? You should cross over already."

"Hm? Don't ask me. I woke up in this tree and that's all I know."

Gene went to stand next to his twin. Naru looked up to him in awe. It seemed just as if Gene was really there. He tried touching him, but his hand went right through his leg. Naru looked at his own hand with an expressionless face. He couldn't feel anything but a lingering chill. He was still intangible. Existing in the physical plane and yet not.

His brother looked down with a small smile.

"Hey, don't look so disappointed," he said

Naru sharply looked up at him.

"I'm not."

Gene shrugged and crouched down and met him face to face. It felt like looking into a mirror, until he smiled warmly at his brother.

"You've gotten even more handsome now," he said after some observation.

"Likewise," Naru said.

Gene appeared to be unaware of the fact he looked like him, and felt up his own face with his hands to confirm the change. The other wondered whether Gene did feel his spiritual form in whatever manner.

"Oh, okay. I thought I would remain sixteen forever," Gene said, slightly disappointed. He wasn't looking forward to the time when his brother would become an old man.

"...idiot, we've been talking through mirrors before this."

"Right, makes sense," Gene admitted, and returned to his question, "Now really. What are you doing in a public park of all places?"

"I was reading until Mai came along," he answered, but Gene shook his head.

"I meant your reason for being here. Idiot scientist."

"Sunshine intake," he replied. Gene lifted an eyebrow.

"What?"

Naru explained, "The doctors checked my blood levels and found I have vitamin D deficiency. I'm here to recuperate."

The older brother twitched the corners of his mouth in amusement.

"And you agreed to this? Seriously? This is insane, I can't believe you did. How-"

He interrupted, "Madoka."

Gene dropped his smirk.

"Forget I asked."

Knowing that Naru wouldn't like talking about Madoka and her... peculiar ways, he went in search for a change of subject. So Gene went to stand and patted a hand on the bark of the tree.

"This tree is strange..." he murmured after a while.

Naru turned his head to the side.

"What about it?"

"It looks barren, and yet it has a lot of..."

He paused.

"...lot of?"

"Life force, very energizing," Gene said, and frowned, "Or something. Oh, I don't know. Can't quite tell."

"You're vague as ever."

"I don't know how else to explain it. Natural entities like trees are not within my expertise, Noll."

"That's a given. Is there anything important I need to know..?"

"Not at all? Aside from its depressing exterior and me talking to you like this. Nope!"

Naru closed the book.

"Idiot. Why are you still here? You should cross over."

Gene looked irritated.

"Are you going to give me that lecture every time you see me?"

"Answer my question first."

"I don't know. What about you?"

"Yes."

His older brother sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Great. What if you see me again the next time you're here? And the next time after that, and after that, and you keep asking the same stupid question."

"You know I have a perfectly sound reason to do this. Just what are you getting at?"

Gene crossed his arms.

"You're boring, Noll. Do something funny."

Naru opened his book again and ignored him.

His brother sighed and sat down next to him. After a while he asked, "What are you reading?"

"The Dandelion Girl."

"I thought you weren't into science-fiction romance."

"I'm not. Madoka made me read this."

Gene refrained from laughing at him. Obviously, Madoka wanted him to expand his horizons beyond the paranormal. Naru considered reading fiction mostly a waste of time.

Suddenly, Naru put his book down. He had just finished reading the story.

"Wait, why weren't you here last time?"

Gene lifted an eyebrow.

"What? You've been here before?"

"I was here yesterday and Madoka visited me."

"I don't remember being there at all."

They stared at each other in silence.

"Oh, but what about Mai? Maybe she's the cause!" Gene said.

"She's gone now and you're still here."

"...You're right."

"Exactly when did you wake up?"

"Uh well... As soon as Mai said, 'I'm not pregnant!', I was all ears."

He groaned and Gene had to laugh again.

Naru asked again, "So you didn't see that woman?"

"Woman?" Gene tried to recall any memories. "I did hear you talking to someone else, but I was in the middle of waking up I guess. What about it?"

"Nothing much. It wasn't very interesting."

They were silent again, until Naru pulled a pocket mirror from his jacket. Ever since they found out they could communicate through mirrors, Naru took this with him on cases.

"I didn't bring this with me yesterday. Perhaps this is the cause."

"That thing? How boring."

"Indeed. I'll have to leave it home next time and bring Orwell's 1984 instead," Naru smirked.

"How rude! Apologize to your big brother. Now."

"Not only you're a wandering spirit, you're noisy too," he said. But not as noisy as Mai, Naru thought to himself. Gene pouted at him. He considered calling him out for not being respectful for the dead, but knew that he wouldn't listen. So he kept quiet and changed the subject.

"Whatever. Is Mai still working for you?" Gene said. "You seem even closer now."

"She quit a half year ago," Naru said, "She wants to keep up with her studies instead."

"Hm... So that's why I haven't seen her on the recent cases," he said, and having noticed the faraway look in his brother's eyes, he tried another question, "...so how's it going between you two?"

Just as he was about to answer, Naru closed his mouth again. Gene followed his gaze.

Mai had returned.

Author's notes

The Dandelion Girl is a short story by Robert F. Young (only about 5600 words). It's a really sweet and touching story. Especially the Japanese seem to be fond of it. I highly recommend it. If you google the title, you can read it.

You probably know George Orwell's 1984... Big brother is watching you.

The reason I started writing this story is because of SAD. I have Seasonal affective disorder a.k.a. Winter depression, which appears to be caused by a vitamin D deficiency. Unfortunately the weather isn't helping me to get outside. It's supposed to be spring, but it's almost freezing! *insert teeth gnashing*

Also, it seems I fail at writing drabble-length chapters. This and the previous chapter ended up well over the thousand words count. Oh well. There's a plot more or less, but I'm going to keep it light and take it easy. At the very least I will not make it as dense as some of my other stories.

Thanks for reading!