The Nakano sisters and Futaro were gathered in the formers' apartment for the first time since they set out on their trip to Berlin.
"So, this is… unexpected…" Ichika said.
Futaro and Miku were on the couch. Miku had Futaro's right arm wrapped up in hers, and was leaning her head against his shoulder. Futaro seemed quite pleased with the situation.
"I guess it was kind of abrupt, huh?" Futaro asked. "But… I wanted to give you all an answer."
"I really thought I had more time." Ichika said with a sigh.
"I can't say that I'm happy about this," Nino said, "But I think I can accept it."
"Really?" Miku asked.
"Well, yeah." Nino said. "You had to work hard to put yourself forward. I can respect that. If you had done nothing to even show Fu you were interested and you guys still got together, I probably would have been pissed. But I can respect your effort."
"Well, I'm… happy… for you." Itsuki said, not sounding entirely convinced.
"There is nothing to regret." said a voice that came out of Yotsuba's mouth, but did not sound like Yotsuba's. It sounded like a gas engine that was trying to emulate human speech. "Man has no free will. This was all predestined."
Itsuki frowned. "I'm not sure about that- and not just because I don't think we should trust a demon about metaphysics."
"So, what do you think?" Nino asked.
Itsuki shrugged. "I just don't think this was fated. I don't know that there was anything supernatural drawing Uesugi and Miku together. Things could have turned out differently-" Itsuki abruptly realized that Miku was glaring at her. "N-not that I'm trying to second guess his decision or anything!"
Futaro suddenly felt an itching feeling from the palm of his left hand. He looked down at it and saw a thin, straight scar running across it. He frowned; he couldn't remember where it had come from.
FOUR YEARS EARLIER
The thing that looked like a clown but was not a clown – was not even a person – wrapped its hands around Futaro's throat. He had not been expecting this and, in his surprise, he dropped the knife he had been carrying. He tried to force the thing's hands off of him, but it felt like trying to move a mountain with his bare hands. The thing, he realized, was strong enough to crush his neck easily; it had simply decided that it wanted to prolong his suffering.
"Oh, poor little Futaro." The thing said in mock sympathy. "You and your little girlfriend spent all summer planning your trip down here, only for her to chicken out. Your sister's going to be so sad when they find your body."
Futaro used one hand to make a rude gesture. It seemed about as useful as trying to push the thing's hands away. He might truly die here, in this dank chamber far beneath the earth.
"But don't worry!" The thing leaned in close enough that he could smell its breath. It was the worst thing he had ever smelled, a rotten odor that he suspected was how a week-old corpse smelled. "I'll make sure she won't be sad for long."
That renewed his effort. He grabbed at the thing's arms, tried to wriggle away from its grip, tried to trow himself backwards, but nothing seemed to work.
"Hey!" came a voice from somewhere in the vast chamber. The monster turned to look, and it was apparently so distracted that its grip of Futaro's neck relaxed, just enough to let some fresh air into his lungs.
There she was, dressed in her same white dress. Her pink hair was matted with water, and she was shaking like a leaf in a storm. Futaro suspected that it wasn't due to any cold. She was carrying the same plastic arquebus replica that Futaro had seen so many times over the last few weeks.
"Miku!" He tried to shout, though barely anything came out of his throat.
"Oh," the monster said with disdain. "You're here."
"I-I'm not afraid of you! You're just a bully!" Miku said, her bravado transparent.
"Is that what you think?" The monster threw Futaro to the ground, and gave him another hateful grin. "I guess your girl is going to go first, then."
Miku put the butt of the arquebus to her shoulder, pointed it toward the monster, and pulled the trigger. It was a model, and shouldn't have been at all functional, but in this place so far from normal reality, her belief that it had some kind of power meant more than what it actually was.
There was a roar and a flash of light. Miku hadn't thought to brace herself against the recoil, and was knocked from her feet. She still faired far better than the creature.
A quarter of its head was turned into a yellow mist. It screamed, more in anger than pain, and charged at Miku. Futaro grabbed his knife from the ground, pushed himself to his feet, and charged after the creature.
The thing was bearing down on Miku when Futaro finally caught up with it. Futaro yelled and brought the knife down into the creature's back, around the point where he thought the monster's heart should have been. It seemed to slide into the thing's body with all the resistance he would expect from a balloon. The beast didn't die so much as it popped, leaving nothing behind but a reeking odor.
Futaro offered his hand to Miku and helped her to her feet.
"I'm sorry." Miku said.
"Sorry for what?" Futaro asked "You saved me. We won!" Futaro smiled, and hoped his voice didn't sound too hoarse.
"We did, yeah." Miku said. Futaro expected her to smile, but instead she started to tear up.
"What's wrong?" Futaro asked.
"Don't you remember what the Eagle said?" Miku asked. "If we want to make sure it never comes back-"
"-then we have to give up our memories of the monster." Of everything that had happened to the two of them over the last few months.
"And that means our memories of each other, too." Miku said. "I don't want to forget you. You… you… you taught me how to be brave."
Those words were true, but they weren't the ones she had wanted to say.
"Ahh, c'mon. I didn't really teach you anything. You learned how to do that all on your own." Futaro looked down on his knife. An idea came to him. He took the knife and carefully drew the edge across the palm of his left hand, making a thin cut that shed a few drops of blood.
Miku gasped.
"Give me your hand." Futaro said.
Miku did so, reluctantly.
Futaro drew the knew across her palm, paradoxically having to remind himself not to be too careful with her. When he was done, he took her left hand in his. He could feel the blood on their palms mixing, making a sticky mess of their hands.
"Now we swear a blood oath. And even if we forget, we still have to keep it." Futaro said. It was an idea he had just made up, and yet he was eager to believe it, and he and Miku hadn't returned to reality yet. "I promise that I'll find you again. And if you forgot how to be brave, then I'll teach you again."
Miku nodded. "And I swear that I'll repay you for all of the kindness that you've shown me."
And so, the two of them made their way back to the surface. They bid their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Before they had made it ten steps, the other one's face had started to blur in their memories. By the time they had each made it home, they could no longer remember the other.
But their oaths were still there.
Futaro looked at the scar for a moment, and then shrugged. If he couldn't remember how he got the scar, it most likely wasn't important.
Author's Note: I wanted to put this in Thunderbird, but I couldn't find a good place to fit it in. This was heavily inspired by the novel It, and I'm a little worried that it shows its inspiration a little too much. Someday, I may right a proper story based on this idea – though if I do, there's not guarantee that it'll be a Futaro/Miku story.
