Chapter 12 Maigo (迷子) Kurusu: Revived!

It has been several months since… my death. In theory I could have moved on, to the … Beyond, but I would never leave Sis alone. NEVER!

It had taken Sister and Ayano chan several months but they had finally done it! The ritual was ready!

Sis had used the planchette many times to look at me and I always cheered her on. Now the ritual was commencing and I positioned myself inside the new body. Ghosts can move through matter after all. Ugh, but they cannot interact with matter very much. Much to my chagrin!

Then Sis poured the blood on the new body and at first nothing seemed to happen, but then there was a flash of light and noise, I felt extreme burning pain in every single part if my body and went unconscious.

Then I woke up again. This time however I was lying on the floor. Inside my new body! I felt gravity and every bit of the ground and could grasp at it and the hardness of it. The I saw my sister and Ayano chan!

I thanked them for their help and hugged them. That was the best part. However I was much stronger than usual, so I had to tone down the hug strength considerably, but I managed it well. We laughed and cried and talked a lot, but suddenly the door opened.

It was one of the teachers, I recognized her. She saw me and my sister and was shocked. The ran out of the room and I looked at sis and Ayano chan.

Then I told sis "I think we should go home immediately to our parents. They will know what to do next Ayano chan, please come with us too."

Ah how nice it is to talk to people again and my voice still sound the same as in the past.

We were leaving the room and had gotten half way through the school, but then a mob of people blocked the way out. Oh no! The ritual must have attracted more attention than we had thought!

The teacher from before told us to get to the school counsellors office and told the students and teacher who were gawking at us to make way so we could go there.

We complied. Anything else would have been stupid and pointless. Fuck, I was afraid! I hoped that we would get away without getting caught, and that I could talk to my parents about what to do next.

We got to the Counsellor's Office. The counsellor looked at us and then incredulously and me and my sister. I was scared I and hugged my sister.

"What is going on here?" then the counsellor started straight through my soul and asked the worst thing "Maigo?! HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU HERE? Where did you come from? I thought you had died?" (After all Sis went to the counsellor because of the impact the accident had left on her mind, even if it did not do that much for her. So the counsellor knew very well that I … dropped the body… so to speak)

We froze. We could not get out a single word.

I couldn´t answer. I did not want the truth to come out. I did not want to have the attention of the world on me. I wanted to live normally without getting exposed as android. If possible go to Akademi and live my second gifted life with Sister.

The tense silence was unbearable. Thankfully I did not have to answer.

The counsellor saw how scared I was and did not press further on this matter for the moment.

"You three! The entire school heard the explosion and the noise you made. Can´t you keep it down?! You scared the students!"

The entire Highschool had heard the explosion and had seen light descend from the sky like lightning. Fuuuck.

Ayano chan broke the silence. "We did some important experiments. I don´t know what happened, one moment we were preparing the ingredients and the next moment the flash struck the room Please forgive us. The explosion was an unfortunate accident. It will never happen again. We won't try anything like that again. We promise."

The Counsellor did not look very convinced, oh no.

"I should suspend you for a few weeks for what you did!" Fuck! This wasn´t supposed to happen! I said "Ayano chan and Sister were only helping me with something difficult! Please, don't punish us!"

The Counsellor wanted to ask me something but was interrupted.

My parents were called and they came into the office the same moment.

They… recognized me and broke down crying. I and sis leapt to them and hugged them.

Mom! Dad! Oh I've missed you! "Please save us from the trouble here!"

They went to the Counsellor and told him that this was a private affair and that their children went through a lot and that punishing them by suspending them would be unjust. The Counsellor actually let us go! We would all have to sit in Seiza position in a room for half an hour the next day and think about our misbehaviour, but this was much better than getting the all unwanted attention.

Anyways we got out of school and into the car. Ugh, I had to force myself to get in and feel like anytime soon another car could crash into us and kill us for good.

"How are you back?" My parents asked me. I told them everything that had happened during the ride. They were so proud of sis and Ayano chan. They did not know about my rescue at first, but they had seen that sis was more like her old self and had locked herself into her room to work on something and they had guessed what it was, but did not know what to do, they did not want to crush my sisters hope by telling her it was futile and they thought that by building an empty shell of an android, my sister would still recover more than otherwise. However my resurrection was the best surprise they had in their entire lives so far.

Ayano chan explained how she got the idea for my rescue. She watched Astro boy and got the idea of an android body from there and with the planchet she could find the disembodied me. Unlike Astro boy I am still the original Maigo-me, just in a new body. I somehow have the feeling that sis would have come up with this idea herself eventually too, she likes anime like me too. We are very similar in overall tastes after all. But even if she built a robot, would that have been still me? Forget it, let's enjoy this amazing evening.

We came home and I was in such a blissful daze, it was like a good dream. My sis felt the same.

Tetsu inu came out of the house and bared and wagged his robotic tail furiously. He sniffed at me and did not know who I was at first, but I said "Tetsu, it´s me" and he recognized my voice. I petted him and he panted excitedly, tail still wagging furiously. He had missed me too.

Then our parents made dinner. It was a real celebration. We all cheered together, talked together, laughed together and were ecstatic.

I ran to my room and found everything was the same like before, well the accident happened. I looked at my belongings and held them.

The dinner was ready, and I can even eat food again? WOW! Sis and Ayano chan made me a body that worked almost like a regular organic body despite being artificial. That was one of the greatest things, because I also like cooking very much. I can get chemical energy from food and the waste will get out like in normal people. This technology is amazing! I really savoured the taste of the dishes.

It all felt like the accident was just a bad nightmare that was over, and the good old times were back with all their glory.

But then I remembered. Fuck. Sis knew immediately what I was thinking "We need to make up an excuse for your reappearance!".

Ayano chan put hand to her chin and looked very thoughtful. Then she smiled , and that's very rare for her from what I can tell, and said "Ichiko Syndrome*! That´s what it will be!"

Yippee! We will claim that it all was because of the Ichiko syndrome! The car accident did happen, but I never died and laid in hospital seriously injured for all those months so I would have needed time to recover.

And all those who though I was dead will learn that their memories were false.!

And now it feels like I never died in so many ways!

However suddenly Ayano chan´s phone rang and she looked terrified. Shit. She forgot to tell her parents!

Ayano chan paled (strange how paling more is even possible for her, she is always a bit pale) but she kept her composure and calmly answered her parents.

She told them that she saved a student´s live by rescuing her from an explosion at school and that she was invited over to the students family, but forgot to tell them because of all the things that had happened so quickly. She asked her parents if she needed to get home or if she could stay for the night with my family.

Her parents wanted her to get home. They would pick her up with their car. (Ugh, I hope they will be safe, traveling with cars scares me now.)

After dinner we had spent some more time in my and my sisters rooms, and me and sis showed Ayano chan the stuff in our rooms and also the other rooms of our house. Ayano chan liked to see the mechas we had built and also petted Tetsu Inu. She also enjoyed seeing the science, cooking and occult books we had in our rooms.

The her parents came to pick her up. They were a … very odd couple. Like really odd. Both had grey hair and grey eyes, but this is where the similarities stop. Her father looks weary, and has normal, albeit sad looking eyes, but her mother looks cheerful, almost in a sickly sweet way and her eyes are unsettlingly dull, almost those of Ayano chan, but they look much…scarier. Also her face…her smile was tight lipped and her eyes were narrowed in an unsettling way.

"Ayano, my dear daughter, where were you? Why did you go with strangers without telling us? Where are your manners? We were so worried for you!"

Her voice had a such an unsettling cold and half monotone sing sang melody …with such a threatening undertone, it was scary and my hairs stood up slightly (despite me being a living android now).

Ayano chans voice in contrast was flat and monotone. "Mom, I told you. I saved a student's life, and forgot to tell you, because of all the Chaos that went on. I´m sorry, I know you worried about me, I promise it won´t happen again. The explosion had attracted unwanted attention and we were sent to the counsellor. And the saved girl and her family wanted to thank me for my help."

Her father hugged her and told her she did the right thing, and he understands why she forgot about it, but she should try to remember to call her parents the next time something happens, as too not worry them unnecessarily. Her father's voice is much more like that of normal people, but also quite weary, the contrast is astounding.

Ayano chan´s mother is also very charming and at times you could even forget how scary she is.

Anyways we offered her parents some food, and they helped themselves.

They then thanked us for our hospitality and left with Ayano chan. Ayano chan seemed a bit scared, I feel a bit worried for her… Hopefully her father will save her form the wrath of her mother. That matron…queen bee… battle axe … is scary and intimidating. I don´t know what she is capable of. No wonder that Ayano is this cautious and reserved…

Ayano takes a lot after her father I think. Her mother is really scary, but her father isn't.

I then hugged sister good night and went to bed.

I can still fall asleep like normal living Person. My bed was modified just a little bit to have electric connections to me and I drifted asleep quickly.

The next day we went to the counsellor with my parents and told him about the Ichiko syndrome. My parents were just crying because they were so worried about me, after all yesterday was my first day at school again and when they were called because of the explosion at school they thought the worst. He looked unconvinced at first, but seeing so many people being convinced that events went differently than he thought made him reconsider his opinion. I think he is still doubtful, but will let this slide, because there is nothing to gain from bothering us. I thanked him profusely for letting us be and he said "No Problem. Stay safe."

My classmates were surprised to see me too, but I told them the excuse with the Ichiko syndrome, and they didn´t press any further.

Now with that matter cleared, I could flow beneath the radar and be seen as a normal student and not a living robot.

Is it all too good to be true? Considering what had happened? Maybe, but if there is a catch, I think it will not be too serious.

I think I am still exhausted from what had happened, and I have to catch up on my school subjects, my sister had to do so too, but she had missed less and has by now caught up.

During lunch break we went to the room where the Ritual had taken place. We didn´t believe our eyes at first. This place was a mess! There was charred stuff everywhere! How didn't it start a fire at school? Oh right, the Floor had been covered with fire resistant covering and anything unnecessary had been moved out of the room so there wasn´t much else to burn. Thanks to that the occult Books did survive, they were safely tucked away in another room.

It turned out that the energy storing devices in that room had all burned down to the very last one. Only one of them was still recognizable as such and was badly damaged. It was a charred husk

The prisms were shattered to and the chemicals were gone. It was all just a charred mess with glass shards.

Luckily the floor wasn´t damaged at all, but the fireproof cover above it was now badly ruined and garbage.

So much could have gone wrong! We were lucky it went well! The school could have burned and any other horrible thing could have happened…

This all explains why resurrections were not tried that often. First of all, building artificial bodies is insanely difficult, and Ayano chan and sis had dedicated whole months of their lives for it and they some of the most skilful people when it comes to crafting. And making such a functional body like mine is especially difficult. Magic and nanobots and lots and lots of phlebotinium(plot fuel) were involved.

Second, the soul of the deceased person must still linger on for the ritual to be effective, which is not guaranteed, because souls will usually move to the afterlife quickly, and only very few will linger on for much longer.

And finally the third thing is that the ritual is extremely dangerous, and the safety precautions barely held of the explosion.

So yeah, now I know what the catch is. That means now I am safe!

Then we still had to sit off the thirty minutes in Seiza position after class, but it was very relaxing to do so. Afterwards we cleaned up the room where my resurrection took place and dumped all the charred and broken things in the garbage.

While we were carrying the garbage bags, I asked Ayano chan, if she was fine, and if her parents hurt her. She told me that she is alright, and that her mother did berate her a bit but not too harshly. I hope it really wasn't too harshly.

Authors Notes:

Ichiko syndrome*-a term used to describe the phenomenon of multiple people sharing the same false memory. It is essentially the term for the Mandela effect in the Yandere simulator universe.

The name of Homu Kurusu´s sister is Maigo Kurusu in this Fanfic. Maigo (迷子) means "lost/stray child" in Japanese.