The itching started when Sunny was around four years old. No one within the Suzuki family had a clue as to why. The father assumed that it was some sort of allergy, which made sense. When the itching had started, Spring had just been around the corner, and pollen was beginning to form in and breeze about within the air.

Naturally, it only made sense for it to be some sort of allergic reaction to pollen season. Mari had it in the form of sneezing, their mother got a dry cough from it, and the father's eyes welled and teared up when he was outside for too long.

So, naturally, Sunny would begin to scratch his skin, which was his body's way of reacting to the abundance of pollen in the air.

It was a good enough excuse for a while, but then the itching continued to happen into the summer, and then the winter. Around the same time, small things began to start to disappear around the house. Things like socks, clothes, and sometimes even shoes, though the former was more common than the latter.

Whenever Mister and Missus Suzuki asked Mari and Sunny as to where those things would go, both would answer in the negative, but curiously, Sunny would always stutter when answering. Which, considering his anxiety, made sense.

Once again, the parents thought nothing of it, and life continued on as normal.

That was, until one day when Mari and Sunny were washing their faces in the bathroom.

At the time, Sunny was around 7 years old, and Mari was 10 years old. Sunny still had the itching problem and because of it, developed light scarring around his neck from all the scratching he had been doing. This worried their parents, so they bought itching cream to try and mitigate the scratching. It only worked for a few weeks, and those weeks had been pure bliss for Sunny. Unfortunately, it started up again after around 3 to 4 weeks of employing the cream, making that option moot.

They still used it anyway, as it did cause the rate of scratching to go down.

Regardless of that, and regardless of the itch distracting him from a lot of things, Sunny still had to take care of himself. He still had to eat, drink, and clean himself, which was precisely what he had been doing. The only problem was the fact that the irritating itch flared up when he had to do those things. Henceforth why Mari was in the bathroom with him, helping him distract himself from the itch by having him watch her clean her face so that he wouldn't be too itchy and too distracted scratching that itch to not clean his face.

To some, it might sound pathetic, but it well and truly was that bad. And it was something Mari pitied him for, which was why she helped him with minor things such as this.

When Mari was done rinsing the cloth off, and when she had placed a dollop of soap on said cloth, the older of the two siblings placed the cloth in front of Sunny and smiled. "There you go, Sunny. I even put soap on it already. And, make sure to clean your neck up, as well. We don't want those small cuts to get infected, now do we?" Mari asked as Sunny nodded.

The 7-year-old boy reached out for the cloth but hesitated. Mari was still watching, which was expected. She was a bit of a doting older sister, partially because of how socially awkward Sunny had been throughout his life. And besides, their parents saw it as cute rather than anything nefarious—Sunny saw it the same way, as well, but that was neither here nor there.

The black-haired boy frowned, closing his eyes, as he braced for something to happen, which confused Mari. When Sunny grabbed the cloth, he made sure to do so with only four fingers. For some reason or another, Mari got a little annoyed when he grabbed it the way he did. "That's not how you hold things," Mari pointed out and reached over to correct him.

A small scuffle occurred, but, eventually, Mari got him to put his fifth finger down. When she managed to succeed in doing so, Mari felt a sense of pride, but Sunny seemed to be overcome with dread for some reason or another.

Immediately, Sunny dropped the cloth, which nearly made Mari react in the same way a sibling would to losing a game, but then, that reaction of annoyance quickly fell away, as the cloth began to inexplicably crumble, as it fell to the ground.

By the time it reached the floor, it had been nothing but small specks of dust scattering the ground, and Sunny, who was curled up in the fetal position against the sink cupboards, had been on the verge of a panic attack.

Mari did her best to calm the boy down, all the while trying to get their parent's attention so that she could report what had happened.

That same day, Sunny went to the doctor after Mister and Missus Suzuki heard the same story from both parties. Mari had exclaimed it in an exasperated tone of voice, and Sunny had been quiet about it, but both stories lined up exactly, although from different perspectives, of course. Nevertheless, the parents thought it a joke, but played into it nonetheless, deciding to take Sunny to the local clinic so that it didn't cost them an arm and a leg to get what they thought at the time to be some form of child-like overreaction to something ripping.

When they got there, however, the receptionist… actually took it seriously. Dead, seriously. Which had confused the parents. Sunny kept his hands to himself while they waited, though Mari noticed that he always balled up a pinky finger when he went to grab something. Almost like it had been a habit of his.

By the time they got to see the clinic doctor, the man took it seriously as well, which, once again confused Mister and Missus Suzuki.

"So… Mrs. Suzuki, you said that your son and your daughter both claimed that Sunny over here… made a washcloth crumble into dust by purely touching it, specifically, when he grabbed it with all five of his fingers?" the doctor asked as the mother nodded.

"Yes, that is what both of them said. Look, doctor, I know it sounds outlandish, but we thought that we'd indulge in this little spat of nonsense. It won't cost us as much as it would if we took him to a hospital over child-like imagination," Mrs. Suzuki noted as the clinic doctor frowned.

"I don't know about that one, Mrs. Suzuki. This isn't an outlandish claim. Tell me, have you been keeping an eye on the local newspaper?" The doctor asked as Mr. Suzuki spoke up.

"That stuff is too expensive. 25 cents for a paper is ridiculous. $7.75 for a monthly subscription? That's too much," Mr. Suzuki quipped as the doctor frowned.

"And I take it you don't pay for cable news stations?" the doctor followed up, which led everyone in the Suzuki family to shake their heads. The doctor sighed, pushing up his thick-framed glasses, before drawing out a clipboard off of his desk. "Well, to get you all in the loop; children from across the globe, specifically children born in Sunny's birth group, some but not all, started cropping up with strange, almost paranormal abilities. Specifically, around 2% of all babies worldwide have had this happen. Can you believe it?" The doctor said, reclining in his chair.

Mr. Suzuki frowned. "C'mon, doc. You can't be serious, can you? Are you really going to buy into that comic book crap being real?" As Mr. Suzuki said that, the doctor leaned forward, and gave him a pointed look.

"Mr. Suzuki. In all my years of being a doctor, I have never once lied to a patient about something as big as this. If you would like proof of this, all you have to do is speak to the Fayes. Their little boy, Basil, started sprouting flowers from his fingers around the age of 6. They personally came to see me about it, and I have the medical documents written in my filing cabinet. If your son and daughter are claiming that your boy can make things break just by grabbing something, I think you should take it a little more seriously."

Mister and Missus Suzuki shared a look, then looked at their children, specifically, their son. Sunny had been fiddling with his fingers, but noticeably had his pinky finger tucked in the entire time. Never once did he fiddle with it, and, as things kept disappearing, they also noticed that Sunny did everything in his power to make sure at least one of his fingers was closed into his palm. Coincidently, things started going missing around the same time that Sunny's itch began.

Either this was one whole coincidence, or, the doctor was onto something.

"I… see…." Mrs. Suzuki said, frowning.

"Is it true, son?" Mr. Suzuki asked as Sunny nodded, silently.

"How about we test that theory," the doctor said, pulling out a random blank sheet of paper, and passing it to Sunny. "I want you to grab this piece of paper, properly. I've noticed you hide your pinky finger in the palm of your hand, so don't when you hold this. I want to see what happens," the doctor ordered, as Sunny inhaled sharply, scratching absently at his neck with his left hand.

Hesitantly, Sunny reached out for the piece of paper with his right hand. When he took it, he slowly, but surely, placed down all of his fingers. One finger, two finger, three finger, four. When the last one came down, Sunny winced, anticipating something to happen. And, much to everyone's shock, with the exception of Sunny, the piece of paper began to crumble. It started in the corner where Sunny grabbed it, and as it continued to disintegrate, it began to fall, and as it fell, the paper continued to wither away until it was nothing but a pile of ash scattered about on the tile floor.

From that day forth, Sunny's life changed.

Everywhere Sunny went, he had to wear specially designed gloves for himself and himself alone. This type of glove only covered one finger, his pinky finger, and his palm. The doctor had told him to never take it off because of his "dangerous touch." Other than that, his life was normal.

As his life continued, he started to play the violin, and by the time he got to the age of 11, he found out that he was rather good at it! On top of that, It kept him distracted from scratching himself. Around the same time, Mari began to play the Piano, and she was a natural at it. Dare he say that she was the best pianist that ever touched the musical contraption? It was more of a statement than a question, because she, in fact, was a prodigy.

When Sunny wasn't playing violin or watching TV with his family, he was outside with his new best friend who lived next door, Kelsey Desoto, aka Kel, and his older brother Henry Desoto, or Hero as he preferred to be called.

Mari would also come outside with him, mainly because of his social anxiety. Along the way, he befriended the other super-powered boy, Basil Faye, and quickly grew to become close with him, often requesting him to make flowers for his wonderful sister. And then, as time passed and he became more comfortable going outside more regularly, he and his new friend group met Aubrey Williams, and she quickly became one of Sunny's best friends, alongside Basil and Kel.

However, there was one thing that kept up, regardless of him covering his hands, playing the violin, hanging out with his new friend group, using the itching cream, and regardless of whatever distraction he put in front of himself to keep his mind occupied.

The itch.

Admittedly, it wasn't exactly an annoying thing to deal with. When school started, people always saw it as a weird tick of his but ignored it. He did gain the moniker of "the itch boy" at school, and he was teased about it a few times, but it never really went anywhere.

If anyone asked him why he scratched himself so frequently, he blamed it on allergies, because he was afraid to reveal his power to destroy anything he touched, even to his friends. He was afraid that he'd scare them off if he told them the truth about his ability.

On another note, there were times that he'd cut himself during one of his scratching sessions. And, just like his sister had told him to do, he'd put some polysporn on his scratches, and to prevent more scratching, he used the itching cream—which hardly worked, by the way—and carried about his day. Usually, this worked so that he wouldn't continuously scratch his neck during school. Slowly but surely, his little moniker went away, as he was able to control the scratching urge at school, giving him the chance to focus more.

That being said, no matter what he did to get the itch to go away, it never did, not permanently at least, and it was starting to get annoying. He aired out his grievances towards his parents, and he even told Mari, but no matter what he said, complained about, or begged them to do something, they all shrugged and claimed they had no idea what to do.

So, to hopefully get some resolution on the issue, they spoke to the doctor again, and, after a quick test, he surmised that the itching came from the result of him not destroying something. His reasoning came from when he gave the boy something to destroy, like a penny or a dime. When he did destroy it, the itch went away for a brief period—a day or so—before it flared up again.

And thus, a new piece to the puzzle was placed.

Now, every day after school, to prevent the itching, Sunny would be given a small thing to destroy, usually a pebble, a pencil, or a rusty utensil. When he did destroy something, the itching would stop, and he would be happy. This worked for about five months until it stopped working, and the itching came back with a vengeance.

It wasn't as frequent, but it did start up again. So, they went to the doctor, again, but the doctor had nothing to say. He just said that "it probably has something to do with his power, but at this rate, I have nothing for you. I'm sorry."

At this, Mister and Missus Suzuki were starting to get at their wit's end. No matter what they did, the itching never stopped. Sure, it would go away for a bit, but it would come back regardless of what they tried. To make things worse, it was starting to affect his violin playing, which was even making Mari annoyed now, as they were practicing for a duet they were going to play at the school's annual summer festival, specifically for the 12th-grade graduation.

The one that Mari was a part of.

One day, due to the stress, the itching, and his general social anxiety, everything became too much for Sunny, and he quit in the middle of a practice run for the song he and Mari were going to play, fittingly called The End.

He had to go outside.

He had to do something, anything to get his mind off of the performance and the itch. And while it was much to his sister's chagrin, he promised that he'd continue once he got back, which made her a little less annoyed. She kept him to it, and he agreed. So, with that out of the way, he left the house to clear his mind.

When he exited the house, he decided that going on a walk would be the best way to clear his mind and not focus on the itch. So, with no other options left at his disposal, he did just that.

During his walk, Sunny met up with Kel, Aubrey, and Basil, who had been hanging out at Basil's house. They all collectively wanted to hang out, and Kel had the idea to head off to the woods. And so, with that in mind, the group of four eleven-to-twelve-year-olds started to walk to the forest that neighboured the town of Faraway.

The walk itself was peaceful, and it did, in fact, help Sunny to distract himself from that constant itch. Once they got to the nearby lake in the forest, they started playing around there. Basil and Kel were playing kickball with the beach ball that Kel had at his disposal, while Sunny and Aubrey sat by the big rock at the lake. Aubrey talked about how her mother did stupid things while drunk, and Sunny would listen. It made Aubrey happy, and Sunny didn't mind being the person that Aubrey vented to.

He had always been a good listener, which was something that Mari had told him when she would compose a new piece on the piano. So, he translated it to listening to Aubrey's banter. Some of it was sad to hear, some of it was funny, but most of the time it was sad. Sunny would say as much, but she would shrug it off and state how "it's just my life" and moved on.

He didn't know whether or not that was a good or bad thing, but Sunny never was really one to question if things were good or bad.

But then, just as things were starting to get good for Sunny, and just as he was feeling better about how the itch had practically all but gone away, Aubrey asked a question that changed things from good to bad.

"Hey, Sunny? I know this might sound random, and… I know that you said what the reason was that you covered your hands for was, but…. I just have this sneaking suspicion that you're lying. I don't know why I think that, so… uh, please don't get on my case for it, but… why do you cover your hands, uh, I mean, your pinky fingers, and only your pinky fingers?"

One thing to note was that, no matter how many times his friends asked about his strange gloves, Sunny never told them about his power to destroy the things he touched, or as how his sister dubbed it—Decayed things that he touched. He just said that he wore the special glove to cover up a scar he had on both his pinky fingers, and explained away his scratching, which had evolved past his neck to both his neck and underneath his eyes, as allergies—he blamed Mari's new cat Mewo for that, which added extra basis to his new claim.

So, when Aubrey asked for what felt like the millionth time, Sunny felt as if he was going to scream at just how often she asked the question. Not that he was mad, well…. No, he was mad, but he didn't let it show. It was just so… annoying.

But, as if she set off a chain reaction, Kel and Basil caught wind of the question.

"Yeah, actually, why is that, Sunny? I know you said why, but… c'mon, it just sounds like a lame excuse!" Kel asked, as Basil awkwardly laughed, trying to get both Aubrey's and Kel's attention.

"Come on, guys, he's already told you, right? If that's his answer, that's his answer," Basil said, as Kel glanced over to the blond-haired flower-crown-wearing boy.

"Oh please, Basil! Doesn't that sound like a cover-up?" Kel said when his eyes seemingly began to glimmer like someone out of those comics that he and Kel would read from time to time. "Hey, wait, what if Sunny has a power like you?! Wouldn't that be wicked?!" Kel blurted out, which made Sunny straighten out a little bit.

Which, Aubrey noticed, much to his chagrin. "Huh? Sunny, what's with the stiff neck? Don't tell me, you actually have a power like Basil?" Aubrey said, which only made Sunny begin to scratch his neck, as an anxious feeling began to form in his chest.

"You guys, come on, don't pressure him! Look, you're scaring him!" Basil pointed out, but it fell on deaf ears.

"C'mon Sunny! Show us!"

"Yeah Sunny, show us what you can do!"

"Guys," Basil called out, "don't pressure him! Look at what you're—"

And suddenly, an uncharacteristic burst of anger washed over Sunny. He balled his gloved hands into fists, grabbing at the grassy terrain, his knuckles turning ashen white at the pressure he used. For a split second, and only for a split second, it seemed as if Sunny's eyes turned blood red, as the boy stomped up from the ground he had been sitting on, and with a mighty shout, he roared. "SHUT UP!" Which made the two's chanting stop.

Aubrey looked a little frightened, and Kel looked a little taken aback, meanwhile Basil looked concerned. Seeing his friends distraught, Sunny looked away, his eyes watering. And, without thinking, he booked it away from them, despite their shouts for him to come back.

Sunny ignored them, as tears welled up in his eyes. Great, now he'd done it, now he'd ruined whatever friendship he had with them. Who would want to be friends with someone who'd get angry at such a stupid question? No one would, that's who! At least, that was what Sunny thought. In the mind of the scared twelve-year-old, something like that made sense, even if it really didn't.

When Sunny got back to his house, the black-haired boy opened and closed the door with alarming speed, and ran up the stairs to his room. He had alerted his sister, who called out to him. She had been excited to continue their practice, seeing as she might've finally understood what it was that was making Sunny mess up all those times during their practice.

Of course, she really hadn't and didn't even notice the turmoil that the boy had been in. From her point of view, Sunny ignored her calling for him, and went straight to their shared room to do god knows what.

In the room, Sunny had discarded the gloves by throwing them out the window. It was those damned gloves' fault. If he didn't wear those gloves, they wouldn't have asked their questions over and over again. Had he not worn those, there would be no question to be asked in the first place. If he had just been honest right from the get-go, there would be no need for this situation.

"Sunny? Sunny are you in there? You remember our promise, right?" Mari's voice called out to him from just outside the door, as he huddled into the corner just out of view. Only then did he realize that he had been an idiot, again, and threw his gloves out the damned window! What a fool he was! Now Mari was looking for him to continue their practice, and he had done the one thing the doctor told him to never do unless he needed to resolve the itch, and that was taking off his gloves!

Mari opened the door and saw him. She frowned, walked up to him, and grabbed him by the wrists, hauling him up from the ground. "C'mon, we need to get this over and done with. The performance is just in a week, and we still need to work out the kinks in your cord progression," Mari quipped, not noticing his lack of gloves, probably too caught up in the moment.

"N-No! W-Wait—!"

"No, Sunny, you made a promise!" Mari sharply interrupted, bringing him to the stairs. His heart pounded, he just wanted to be in his room. He just wanted to go to sleep, or, better yet, get his gloves. He'd promise to make it up to her, he really did. But, he couldn't play without his gloves! Not to mention, the itch was going over time, and his neck and eyes felt like they were on fire.

"Mari! W-Wait! Please, you—"

"Sunny, for the love of God, work with me here! I know you're anxious, but you can't just not practice! Now. Let's. Go!" Mari pushed, which only made his chest pound with anxiety even more. He tried to keep his hands away, even if he didn't know if his power worked on organic things, seeing as he never tested it—and refused to in the first place.

The itch grew with his anxiety, which was starting to merge into annoyance the closer they got to the stairwell. He fought her tugging, which only made her pull harder. He dug his feet into the floor, but try as he might, he was just stronger than her. "Sunny! For Pete's sake, stop this nonsense and come practice!" Mari near shouted.

Normally, that would alert their parents. But, as was evident, they weren't here. He did notice that the car was not in the parking spot when he left, nor was it there when he came back, so perhaps they went to the big city to do some shopping. That was a possibility? Not that it mattered. All that mattered was that they weren't here, and they couldn't stop the ensuing chaos that was erupting within the halls of their house.

Sunny's heart beat faster, his itch continued to get worse, and his annoyance was slowly turning to anger.

"Mari! Listen to me, I—"

"No! You listen to me! We are finishing this damn practice!"

Mari's eyes drilled holes into his, and once again, just like at the park, an uncharacteristic wave of anger washed over him. His Decay didn't work on organic things, right? If he just… pushed her, and made his point of ruining a part of her outfit, she'd get the memo. His hands were bare. All he'd do was break the violin, which had been in the music room.

Little had he noticed that they were at the edge of the stairs, and with his anger blinding him, he shouted. "STOP PULLING ME, AND LISTEN!" Sunny shouted, and placed his bare hands under her chest, and with a quick shove, she let go of him, tripped, and slowly began to fall….

Right. Down. The stairs.

Sunny only realized it when it was too late, but tried to reach out to her, and grab her wrist to prevent her from falling. Which he did! Success! Mari was no longer falling down the stairs. But, once again, he only noticed it when it was too late, and when he grabbed Mari's hand with all five fingers, the skin on her hand began to turn grey, and as it did, cracks began to spread across her hand, until they spread through her arm, to her neck, and her face, greying her body and clothing throughout the process and turning her to dust.

And it happened far too fast for either of them to react.

And what made it a million times worse, was that Basil, who had followed him from the park to his house, was at the bottom of the stairs.

He saw the whole thing.

All of it.

He watched, along with Sunny, as Mari decayed into nothing but dust.

-To Be Continued-

So… you know how I said that I wouldn't write another OMORI crossover fanfic? Well, turns out, I did, and I am. Why? Because I'm building up a bunch of Alternate Universes from my crack-like ideas. Why? Because I can.

Those who want more "What if Grief, if not Devilish" blame this intrusive thought for preventing me from writing another chapter of it.

Until next time everyone, peace!