Mato found herself waking up with a splitting head ache.
"Ouch!" She groaned while reached up with right hand to rub her forehead. It felt surprisingly normal and smooth, no bumps or any warmth like it had been hit by something. Actually, the pain was already fading away, as if it was just her imagination...
"...weird," Mato mumbled as she started rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She stopped after a few seconds and squinted at her ceiling, still seeing some white spots.
Mato rubbed her eyes again and tried to see the familiar ceiling.
Still nothing except some white dots.
Mato was about to rub her eyes again when she noticed her bed was unusually hard and cold. Very firm and Solid, like she was lying on the floor or something, rather than a bed. Also, her bed sheet wasn't anywhere near her and thus she felt the chill from the open air.
Wait, open air? Mato tried squinting at the ceiling until she finally noticed what was wrong.
There was no ceiling at all, she was looking at the sky. What she had mistaken as being spots from her sleep were actually stars. Somehow, she was outside of her house.
Mato tried to raise herself up, but was stopped when she felt that her other hand was being pressed down by something. She tried prying it out but that "something" was heavier than she thought. It was also somewhat warm actually, which was weird considering her current disposition.
Naturally of course, Mato turned her head to see what was trapping her left arm, and nearly screamed out in surprise. What came out instead was a squeak, as Mato found herself meeting the face of a sleeping girl who was inches away from her's.
That squeak was enough to wake up the girl though.
Red eyes met blue as the two girls stared at each other before the other girl yelped in surprise and tried backing away.
Unfortunately, the two of them were lying down on a bench and thus had limited space to move. So naturally, the other girl ended up falling off and landing on the cold ground with another yelp and a groan this time. She reached her hand up and rubbed her forehead.
The sound of the girl in pain made Mato snap out of her shock. She raised herself slightly before peering at the girl. "Are you alright?" she asked uncertainly.
The girl stopped her rubbing and was slowly turning her head to face Mato. "Eh!? K-Kuroi-san?" the girl stared at Mato with a dazed look, as if she was dreaming. "A-ah, I'm f-fine," the girl replied hesitantly. "T-thank you for your concern, Kuroi-san," she mumbled while bowing down slightly.
"...are you sure you're alright?" Mato asked again. Though it was pretty dark, and the girl's long hair was obscuring most of her face, Mato could see that the girl's face was a bit red. "It's not good to pretend you're fine if you're not."
And how did this girl know her?
"Pretending? I am not-," the girl suddenly paused. She closed her mouth, then opened them again. Mato thought she was going to say something, whent he girl closed her eyes and her body slumped right back into the ground.
"You're not alright at all!" Mato quickly raised herself up from the bench. She was about to reach down and pull the girl up, when the girl suddenly turned her head and faced her.
Mato felt herself freeze up at the gaze, somehow it was different from earlier. The girl had a calm and collected look on her face as she continued to stare at her with those red eyes. The girl watched her for a few seconds before slowly standing back on her feet. Then she dusted off some dirt from her clothes and hair before looking back at Mato.
"Ah sorry about that," the girl said as she raised her hand to her forehead. "It's just that you and Rock are too squirmy and noisy, so I got pissed off and..." she trailed off.
Mato felt her own forehead throb, then images started appearing in her mind.
Wait no, memories.
Memories flowed as Mato started remembering that time she was in a strange place of black and white filled with rocks. How she fell inside a hole while leaning on one of those rocks, how she was in constant darkness, with no sound or anything...
Then she remembered a soft thud and a bright blue flame fill the room. How that blue eyed girl got her out, and then a fight with a red eyed girl. The blue eyed girl had lost the fight, but the red eyed girl decided to spare them.
Then there was something about getting her back, but a flash of pain made it hard for Mato to remember clearly what happened.
She did remember a lot of things now though, and she could guess who this girl was.
"Black Gold Saw," Mato uttered her name. The girl in front of her looked much more different than the one she saw earlier, only the red eyes and long black hair were similar.
The girl winced when she said that though. "Ah, I don't go by that name anymore," the girl said. "It's not a proper name for this world anyway," she observed Mato carefully before nodding to herself. "You can just call me Gold..." she trailed off with an expectant look.
"Ah, my name is Kuroi Mato," Mato introduced herself with a low bow, understanding the notion.
Gold looked at her for a several seconds in silence, causing Mato to fidget a bit in nervousness. The slightly intense gaze she was having while looking at Mato confused and surprised the girl. Somehow, it felt like she was testing and waiting for her to do something...
"...well then Mato," Gold spoke after a while. Her face scrunched up in thought for a moment before a small smile replaced it. "Welcome back to your world," Gold said while extending her hand forward. "We probably wont meet each other much, but I look forward to seeing you."
"A-ah Likewise," Mato replied. "I also look forward to seeing you again, Gold-san," she followed her example and reached out to grasp the hand.
'Stop, don't just trust her that easily.'
Huh?
Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere.
It was nowhere, because Mato couldn't pinpoint where it came from. Not from her left or right, nor from in front or behind her. It was like, it just popped up in her mind.
Normally, Mato would have just thought she was imagining things, as that happened on some occasions when she was watching an emotional anime. But somehow... this one felt a lot different from those times. The voice was clear to her, and it the voice didn't sound like any character she has seen recently. Though it did sound familiar...
Mato didn't really understand what the voice was implying, but she decided to listen to it and stopped her hand.
It took a few moments for Gold to notice that Mato didn't grasp her hand. "...is there something wrong?" she asked with a confused look in her face. Gold pulled her hand back and started wiping it on her pants.
"Ah no, its not..." Mato tried to think for an explanation. "It's cause I, um, I heard someone say..."
"Heard someone?... Oh, it's 'her' huh," Gold muttered with a slight grimace. "Well... I guess that means it's time for me to head out." She sighed with a disappointed look for a second, before turning around and started walking away.
"W-wait!"
Gold had barely walked a meter away when Mato suddenly called out to her. She stopped walking and turned around to face a flustered Mato. "Uh, t-thank you for earlier."
"..earlier?" Gold asked with a confused look on her face.
"Ah, I meant you sparing me," Mato answered. "You didn't have to listen to us... but you did, so thank you."
"...you're certainly an interesting girl," Gold replied with a small grin. "The two of you are a lot more different than I expected."
"The two of us... you mean Black Rock Shooter?" Mato asked her.
"Yes," Gold confirmed with a slight nod. "The two of you should be similar, but she's a lot more close-minded than you and..." she trailed off. Gold reached into her pocket to pull out a cellphone and glanced at the screen. "As much as I would like to stick and continue, I really do need to go home though, for the girl," Gold gestured to herself.
'Should be similar?' Mato wondered to herself, feeling confused. 'And what did she mean 'for the girl'?"
"I expect that you have a lot of questions to ask," Gold had said when she noticed the look on Mato's face. "But I'll let Rock handle that, for now," she said with a small shrug. "Well, I really should get going now..."
This time Mato let her go, feeling a bit satisfied. She watched the girl walk farther and farther until she disappeared into the night. Mato stood there for a few seconds before she heard the voice again, and this time recognizing it.
"Black Rock Shooter?"
'Mato... can... hear me better?'
Her voice was a bit distorted but then started to sound clearer now.
"...yes, a bit better," Mato answered.
'That's good, that means the connection has stabilized... I think'
"Um, Black Rock Shooter," Mato said as she sat down back on the bench. "What was that about earlier on that earlier with Gold-san?"
'That? She's an enemy as well as very manipulative. Trusting her blindly is a mistake, no offence to you Mato, but you do trust others too easily.'
"S-sorry, Black Rock Shooter."
'Oh, you can just call me Rock instead of that name, as that title isn't that necessary here. It will be easier for you as well.'
"Ah, alright... Rock-san?" Mato said in an inquiring tone. "Um, how are you speaking to me inside my head," she asked. "Do you have, like, telepathic powers too?"
'Um no... actually, the reason is, well... I am inside you.'
There was a long pause as Mato tried to make sense of what Rock was saying. When she did though, it was pretty loud.
"EH?!" Mato's shrill voice rang out into the night as she stood up from her bench. "What? How did you do that? What is going to happen to me, us then? How does this work?"
'Ugh, I'll explain it later, after we get back at your house...'
so for now guys, anything underlined is referring to conversations inside their minds.
and if your wondering about why mato's is not underlined, well she's talking out loud of course. later, when she realizes that she can talk internally, she'll have her words underlined to show distinction between real world conversations, as we're going to get some points where mato simultaneously talks with someone directly and rock internally.
as always, read and review. maybe give ideas and suggestions as well.