When did you fall asleep?
Because you've just found yourself face-to-face with them.
Hello, inferior self.
"Leave me alone."
You truly are pathetic... You don't even have the resistance necessary to stop me from taking control.
"YOU TAKING CONTROL SCARES ME! IT MAKES ME SCARED OF YOU! NOW SHUT UP!"
Did they just flinch?
They looked shocked, too.
I'm making you scared of me...
"Yeah, that's right!" you shout at them. "You got a problem with it?!"
They go into silence.
"Well?! You got a problem?!"
You see the sadness come across their face...
Wait...
No, they're tricking you! They're just faking it so they could lure you into having them take over! You have to—
I... I do. Why...?
Their voice...
Oh.
Oh God, they weren't faking it, they were actually serious, oh God—
You hate me, don't you?
"What...? I... I never said—"
Say it. Say you hate me. They look away in shame. Something they would never do. I deserve it.
Their voice isn't like it was before.
There was no hostility.
No aggressiveness.
Just...pain.
"No... Kaiser, wait..."
Are you actually feeling bad for them?
You don't even understand me at all. I'm trying to help you.
Trying...to help?
"No. You're not. Whatever you think is help is hurting me." You're starting to feel that resentment again. "You're not helping."
Hanami...
You shudder at the sound of it in disbelief.
Did they actually refer to you by name instead of "inferior self" just now?
I... I want to protect you. You're... They're shaking. You're so vulnerable and... I'm... I'm really scared that...
"That what?"
I... They can barely get the next sentence out. I don't want you to die. If... If that happens, then...
You remember the one thing you've contemplated since you first had the knowledge of them.
If you died, they'd die.
"I'm so sorry..."
If you hadn't felt bad for them before, you were now.
I'm scared, I'm lonely, I'm sad, I'm lost, I don't even know what to do anymore if I can't protect you, and—
You stop them short by hugging them.
You can't stand to see them in this state.
"Listen, Kaiser. Don't blame yourself for not doing a good job on what you want to do. I should be the one to blame."
They don't respond.
"I'm just a kid who doesn't understand anything about the whole purpose of people's lives. I actually thought that you were a bad person because of what you were doing." You scoff at the thought. "Turns out I never understood your true intentions of taking over. God, I really hate that. I can't believe I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say next, but... I'm sorry for what I did to you. You don't deserve to be unhappy because of a dumb mistake I made."
I... Their voice sounds so much like yours now with this. I don't...? So you...forgive me?
"Yeah. I forgive you."
Nothing else happens for a long while.
Then you can feel them hugging you back.
They were much smaller than before now.
You only just then notice that.
They stand at just about your height.
No trace of the monster they were before remains.
Neither of you want this moment to end.
Two different personalities, two halves of a whole, you and Kaiser, Kaiser and you, finally reconciling after such a long struggle.
Thank you.