While Fu Hua went out to make her call, Ritsuka basically collapsed on the hotel room couch. After a good lunch, he was feeling exhausted again. 'I wonder if that place exists back home…?' He wouldn't mind going there again if things finally returned to normal. Speaking of "this place", he was unsure if this place was actually a Singularity. He initially thought that was the case but then the two mentioned how he "fell out of the universe" and… well, he needed more evidence to be sure.

He let out a long sigh before remembering another oddity he noticed earlier. Now that Fu Hua was out of the room— "Hey, Senti," he called out to the other person in the room, who was sitting on and watching him from her bed.

"Yeah? What up?" Senti casually replied with a grin.

"How did you already know who I was?"

And the grin fell and was replaced with a brief look of shock. A long sigh escaped Senti before she finally said something. "It was that obvious, huh?" She pouted, no doubt internally grumbling at being called out. "It's…"

"A long and complicated story?"

"A long and complicated story," she nodded at his somewhat joking assumption.

'It can't be that complicated… right?" Ritsuka's confidence waned when Senti let out a loud cackle. "…How complicated?"

Her answer was to give him a choice: "You want the long version or the short version?"

Something told Ritsuka the short version was not as short as he hoped it'd be. Regardless— "The short version."

"Well, it starts about… fifty thousand years ago." …Yeah, this was going to be a headache. "There's a reason I call Fu Hua 'old timer', you know?"

"…You know, something tells me that's the least weird thing about her," he sighed with only a tiny hint of amusement.

Senti nodded at him again. "Yup. For starters, we're not actually twins." A look that screamed, "What?" appeared on Ritsuka's face which made her laugh. "To be more accurate… we're the same person. Like 90% the same person; 80% minimum. If you ask me, I'm the better her but that's a whole 'nother story. Back to what I was saying, the old timer was born and kicking— well, punching —way back when and guess what? There was another you running around back then and you two… well, you sort of had a thing going on."

"…What?" She had said several things that just exacerbated the minor headache he had. "Run that by me again."

She let out another sigh before suddenly clapping her hands with a grin on her face. "It'll be easier to show you. Just relax, alright?" Before Ritsuka could say anything, Senti snapped her fingers and the whole scene around him changed. One moment, he was in the hotel room; the next, he was in the middle of a hallway. "Just a little illusion I conjured up. Pretty cool, don't ya think?" Senti grinned with a confident aura around her. "Anyway, turn your attention towards them." She pointed her thumb to her left down the hall, prompting him to turn and see… himself talking with Fu Hua.

It was definitely a strange sight to see, but his first thought was, "…Why do I have a tail?" As expected, it was "a long and complicated story." He then loudly wondered why things looked modern if this was fifty thousand years ago The steel walls and the clothes they wore were definitely something from this millennium instead of something he'd expect from back then.

"It's complicated," Senti said for the umpteenth time that day. "Let's just say things got hectic and humanity got set back not too long after this."

"Alright… I got it…" With his first two thoughts (somewhat) answered, Ritsuka focused on what they were here for. He studied the two figures talking to each other. Actually, it was more accurate to say it was the illusionary him talking while Fu Hua nodded along with a small smile while occasionally voicing her thoughts. It was very odd to see him from an outside perspective, but Ritsuka could tell the other him was cheery and energetic with a broad smile on his face as he conversed with Fu Hua. They seemed… happy.

Senti evidently could tell what he was thinking and clarified something. "They weren't together or anything. Just close. Very close. And I know she… well…"

Ritsuka stayed quiet for a few minutes before asking his most important question. "What happened to the other me?"

"He died," Senti bluntly answered before, with another snap of her finger, the scene changed slightly. Now, Fu Hua was leaning against the wall alone next to a doorway leading to an infirmary. "She was all broken up over it and kept things inside. You know, the usual," she tried to sound casual about it but Ritsuka could hear the underlying pain in her voice. They quickly moved on, and the illusion rapidly changed as Senti continued. "Then humanity nearly went extinct, the old timer and few others went into cryosleep, a long time after, a bunch of stuff happened over the years, she died and revived as me, we got separated, yadda yadda yadda, and now we're here with you. Understand everything?"

As if to flex her abilities, the final scene was the hotel room complete with illusions of themselves on the bed and couch talking.

"…No?" Ritsuka answered honestly before shaking his head. "But I got the gist of it."

"Good, 'cause things get a whole lot more confusing if I explain things in detail," Senti gave him an amused smirk. "All you need to know is that the Previous Era version of you and Fu Hua were close, but things didn't end well."

Yeah, he got that; what confused Ritsuka, however, was Fu Hua's and Senti's reactions towards him. "But she didn't act like you did when we met. She just looked at me like she knew me from somewhere."

"What? You think she'd remember something that happened all that time ago?" Senti retorted sarcastically. "Fu Hua had to delete her memories over the years to stay sane; I meanwhile still have all of her memories."

That made sense… sort of… It's not weirder than anything else he usually encounters at the very least. "Hmm… What do you think? I know you're listening."

"What? HUH?!" To Senti's complete shock, a burst of black flames appeared within the illusionary room next to Ritsuka (the real one) and formed into a shadowy figure. "Who the hell are you?!"

The shadow figure didn't say anything to her, only giving her a brief glare before turning his attention towards Ritsuka. "Do you truly believe the story this woman is spinning?" He questioned with an obviously disappointed tone.

"Hey, it's not the strangest thing I've heard," Ritsuka shrugged with a small laugh. "And I don't think Senti has any reason to deceive me. I won't just write everything she said off just because it sounds unbelievable."

"Thank… you? Who the hell is he?" Senti basically demanded, staring pointedly at the figure.

"Hmph," the shadow scoffed before disappearing, making Ritsuka chuckle before answering Senti. "He's… a guardian of sorts. He's been hanging around in my mind for a while."

"That doesn't answer anything," she retorted with a huff of her own before taking down her illusion. "In any case, I need you to promise me something. Do not bring any of this up with Fu Hua. It's better she doesn't know anything about your shared past… sort of shared past."

Ritsuka expected her to say that; with a story like that, it was the most natural thing for Senti to request. "I got it, I won't mention anything to her." Not like he'd be able to tell her anything properly anyway…

"Good, I'd rather not hit you with this," Senti smirked as she not-so-subtly threatened him with a red brick that had a chibified picture of herself on it. Where she got it from, he didn't know but didn't ask. "Now, what's your story? That weirdo being in your head tells me you're not some normal guy who got unlucky today."

"Yeah, that's…"

"A long and complicated story?"

"A long and complicated story," Ritsuka confirmed with a small laugh. "But I think we'll have to wait for Fu Hua to come back before I explain anything. I'd rather not tell it twice."

"Tsk. Boring," Senti pouted, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks like a child. Then, to Ritsuka's misfortune, a grin spread across her face. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as she said, "By the way, don't you feel uncomfortable in that?"

She was referring to his uniform, which he had been wearing since that morning. "Uh, not really?" He had no idea where she was going with this and frankly, he was scared to ask.

"Yeah, well I think you stink of sweat. So—" Before Ritsuka could stop her, he found himself pushed into the bathroom with an armful of new clothes from… somewhere. "Freshen up and get changed, Ritsuka!" She ordered him as she shut the door. Ritsuka could only let out a sigh as he surrendered himself to his fate and went along with Senti's schemes.

As soon as she mentioned that, Senti collapsed in breathless laughter on her bed— making Fu Hua sigh from exasperation. "I thought I told you to ignore her?" She half-jokingly reminded Ritsuka, who was now trying his best to imitate a tomato. "As for how you look… I'm surprised you could fit in my clothes." Granted, it was her more casual and baggy clothes she rarely used but his body was still a bit bigger than hers.

"If I had a nickel for every time I wear women's clothes in Shinjuku…" she heard him mutter. Senti heard him too if her saying he had to tell her about that was of any indication. She was also sure he was a little grateful the clothes Senti made him wear were unisex: a simple white polo shirt, a navy blue haori jacket she got during their time here in Shinjuku, and black slim-fit pants.

"You do look nice in it," Fu Hua complimented after fully taking in his appearance.

"Thanks…" He gave her a small smile as his face slowly returned to its usual shade.

However, his blush quickly returned with what Senti then said. "I'm impressed, Ritsuka. Not even half a day and you're already in her pants!"

"Hey, wai— No, hang on a second."

While Ritsuka could only splutter out from Senti's "joke", Fu Hua's response was more calm and collected… mostly. She kept a straight face as she moved over to her travel bag and rooted through it for a few moments before— "Please stay still, Senti," she cheerfully smiled as she put on her gauntlets, "I see that you need a little reminder to not say such things"

Senti had both a terrified but amused grin on her face before with a somewhat sarcastic cry of, "Protect me!", ran behind Ritsuka to use him as a human shield. Her doppelganger poked over his shoulder and blew her tongue at Fu Hua.

"Is she always like this?" RItsuka sounded like he was also going to burst out from laughter at the childish antic.

"Unfortunately," grumbled Fu Hua as she took off her gauntlets; she wasn't going to give Senti any more satisfaction than she already did. She sat back on her bed and gave Senti the stink eye before glancing back at Ritsuka. "A researcher we know familiar with the Sea of Quanta is currently looking into your situation. I think it's better we get you to her lab and let her run some tests on you. Don't worry, she's not a mad scientist." She added the last part upon seeing Ritsuka's uneased frown.

"If you say so…" Ritsuka quietly muttered before letting out a small shout as Senti pulled him onto the couch.

"Just forget all about that for now," Senti smiled as she rested her head on her hand, a look of anticipation in her eyes. "Spill it. Start from the very beginning."

Fu Hua could basically see the sweat dropping from Ritsuka's head at Senti's demand as he let out another more amused sigh. "Alright, alright. It's not really a thrilling tale if you ask me…" Despite saying that, she could tell he was hiding something and only said so to try dissuading Senti. Unfortunately, Fu Hua knew once Senti had her mind on something, you might as well tell her before she started scheming.

If she was being honest, Fu Hua was also interested in hearing what he had to say and not just because it might shed light on the mysteries surrounding him. What neither of them expected to say first was a quiet and slightly unconfident "Well… Firstly, I might not be from this universe…"

"…Excuse me?" "HUH?!'

A/N: Now we're caught up and Ritsuka is aware of what's going on between him (technically) and Hua. Anyway, for reasons completely unknown, I want to write Senti as a sort of wingwoman but can't help but also write her as someone who may or may not be interested in Ritsuka too. Chalk it up to her having Hua's memories and all that.