The door opened, ringing the shopkeeper's bell.

PEDRO looked up from his comic book in interest before seeing two teens come in. Like a quick switch, he was already in work mode and prepared to make a sale. It was already early afternoon, so it looked like business was about to pick up for HOBBEEZ.

After a quick adjustment of his glasses, he looked towards the entrance again, recognizing one of the two boys who came in.

"Tadaaa! Check out the new and improved HOBBEEZ!" BASIL revealed with open arms, welcoming his friend in.

Oh hey! BASIL! One of his fellow four secret veteran PET ROCK players of the town! Ever since MANDO over at FIX-IT retired from the game, BASIL had joined the crew and became a welcomed successor.

"Hey, how's it going BAaaa-..." PEDRO tried to call out at first before quickly going silent as he recognized the other teen accompanying him.

The black-haired teen looked around the place, evaluating it with a neutral, "Hm."

Oh shit. It was that guy again.

A cold sweat dripped from his forehead as PEDRO swallowed nervously.

He still remembered what happened yesterday. He really seriously supremely screwed up, thinking that this kid's eyepatch was just for cosplay.

Stupid idiot, why would you just assume something like that without making sure first?

Guh, so many kids and teens came in wearing SPACEBOY accessories so often (especially the eyepatch) that it made PEDRO too complacent.

PEDRO kept his eyes on the emotionless dark-haired boy as he tried to keep his cool.

When the kid turned to look directly at him, PEDRO felt his mind go blank out of fear.

Look at that cold despondent stare from his lifeless blank eye, it was so obvious that the kid absolutely hated PEDRO's guts ever since yesterday. He probably thought PEDRO was some kind of ableist jerk who makes fun of people's disabilities behind their backs.

The thought of that idea only made PEDRO become even more anxious. For the love of god, he really hoped that wasn't the case. It was just an accident! A misunderstanding! PEDRO wasn't the type to usually point out disabilities for no reason! PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT.

AaaaaaAAAAAAAAHH-

Meanwhile, OMORI tilted his head as he stared at the shopkeep vibrating behind the counter.

Wonder what has him so worked up.

BASIL glanced over to where OMORI was looking and gave a big smile, "And of course, you probably still remember PEDRO! Let's go say hi!"

BASIL wrapped a hand around his shoulder to bring him up close to the shopkeep.

"Hey, PEDRO!"

"AH-" PEDRO let out a micro-scream in response, before quickly realizing what was going on. With a nervous smile, he pretended to act normal, giving BASIL a casual wave, "H-Hey champs! H-How you both d-doing?"

BASIL gave the jittering shopkeeper a concerned glance, "You okay? Did we catch you at a bad time?"

"NO! No, nono, I'm chill. Cool." PEDRO quickly reassured them with an elegant floof of his fluffy hair. Pretending that a waterfall of sweat didn't just rain all over his hand, he gave his best confident smile as he used the light reflecting on his glasses to hide his eyes.

Guess they were all just gonna pretend that didn't happen. Okay then.

Like before with the priest, OMORI stood there and watched as BASIL proceeded to show him off like a prized dog at a pet show.

"I want to introduce you to an old friend! I don't know if you remember him since it's been a while, but his name is SUNNY!" BASIL gave a wide smile as he huddled close with his best friend. "He used to come here often as a kid, but he got stuck in a coma for six years. He finally woke up and came back to us though, so now I'm just getting him familiar with FARAWAY again!"

"Woof." The prized dog known as OMORI casually greeted PEDRO with a small wave.

"Uh. Hi." PEDRO mumbled, giving a hesitant wave before confusedly repeating back, "Woof?"

Wait, hang on actually.

"Did you say a six-year coma?" PEDRO asked in shock.

"Yep!" BASIL nodded cheerfully, "He woke up the day after his eighteenth birthday! Pretty miraculous, huh?"

PEDRO perused his memories a bit, trying to remember the familiar details.

Right, BASIL would always talk about some friend he was waiting on who was stuck in a coma. Apparently, it was someone who would always sneak out to HOBBEEZ during the night just to get the latest peek at the newest CAPTAIN SPACEBOY comic issues. Lots of kids tended to do that, so it wasn't like PEDRO could immediately narrow that down to any specific one. BASIL had insisted that PEDRO had rung up the kid's purchases several times already, though.

This emotionless guy with the dead fish stare was that comatose kid? The one that BASIL had always talked about? And he only just woke up recently?

Oh god. One of the first things he did after waking up was visit a store from his childhood, HOBBEEZ, and PEDRO immediately dropped the ball by pointing out his eyepatch, thinking it was cosplay.

Dude, PEDRO was literally the worst.

Facing the emotionless young boy (oh god, why was he still staring at PEDRO like that) the shopkeep immediately went to grovel over at the counter. "I am SO absolutely sorry for what happened yesterday! I swear to god I'm not a prick, so please please please forgive me if I made you think I was making fun of you!"

…

OMORI blinked, giving BASIL a confused look.

BASIL glanced back, shrugging to show that he was just as lost.

The shopkeep still continued to keep his face pressed to the counter, not daring to look up until somebody said something first.

…

…

…

Welp, this was getting awkward again.

"I think I'm just gonna go stare at random stuff." OMORI decided, "I already went here with KEL yesterday, so I get the gist of HOBBEEZ by now."

"Oh, alright." BASIL nodded, before remembering something as he pulled out his wallet. He gave OMORI a few dollar bills and said, "Here, in case you see something you like. Don't worry about paying me back!"

OMORI took the twenty-five dollars given with a curious look. "Huh. Thanks."

Was BASIL always this generous with his money? OMORI couldn't help but note this as another possible difference.

BASIL waved off OMORI with a smile, leaving him alone with HOBBEEZ's shopkeeper, who was acting very strange today.

Glancing around to make sure the two had a moment of privacy, BASIL leaned over the counter to stare at PEDRO, "So, did something happen yesterday between you and SUNNY? Because I'm getting the feeling that there's a misunderstanding here."

With a heavy sigh, PEDRO finally arose from his groveling position on the counter and adjusted his glasses. He leaned in to whisper, "I screwed up with your friend. I didn't recognize him, and I thought his eyepatch was just part of some SPACEBOY cosplay. I wanted to make a good impression, so I thought I'd give him a compliment about it. I didn't think he was actually missing an eye though!"

PEDRO looked towards the black-haired teen hiding behind the comic shelves, perhaps already trying to avoid having to look PEDRO in the eyes.

Meanwhile, OMORI was actually just catching up on some old SPACEBOY issues. It was going through some kind of multiverse arc, which was pretty cool.

BASIL raised an eyebrow at PEDRO's remark, "I mean, I guess that sounds pretty insensitive when you put it like that, but I don't think SUNNY took it personally."

"BASIL, BASIL, BASIL…" PEDRO shook his head pitifully, "You shouldn't be so naive. I mean, you saw the way he was looking at me! It was so obvious that he couldn't stand the sight of me! The way he just… stared at me so coldly, he was pissed off beyond belief!"

"Uh…" BASIL gave an awkward deadpan, "Yeaahh, no. He's kinda just looked like that since… pretty much since forever."

BASIL could still remember the awkward way they had first met. He could sort of see how PEDRO came to the wrong conclusion, though? Unless you were one of the close friends who's been around him long enough to know what he's like, SUNNY's passive stoicism would tend to catch people off guard.

"Either way," PEDRO sighed, "He hasn't really forgiven me for it yet, so I can't help but feel like I'm on thin ice around him."

BASIL let out a small chuckle, "I'm sure maybe I could talk to him and work things out for you. Would that make you feel better?"

"IMMENSELY." PEDRO let out a heavy sigh of relief at the idea, "You're a lifesaver, BASIL."

Not really, you're just really self-conscious for some reason. But BASIL chose to tactfully keep that to himself.

With the situation sorted for now, both of them relaxed as PEDRO floofed his hair with a smile.

Oh actually, this was a perfect opportunity to pull that thing out, to show BASIL his appreciation.

"Wait just a sec, champ." PEDRO leaned under the counter to pull something out.

BASIL waited curiously in front of the counter, occasionally checking in on SUNNY to see him wander around the shop.

PEDRO came back up with a familiar packaged box, the sight of which instantly made BASIL gasp with childlike giddiness.

"No way!" BASIL had to cover his mouth quickly before he ended up shrieking. After a bit to calm himself down, he excitedly whispered, "A new pet came out already? It's not even the new season yet!"

"Early shipment." PEDRO grinned, "Just got a whole cargo sent in this morning. Official public release date isn't until next week, but I just wanted to show it off to the veterans first so that we could all prepare beforehand. It wouldn't do if we got caught off-guard by a new pet we've never seen before, after all."

"Have you shown this to GINO or CURTSEY yet?" BASIL delicately held onto the box like it was the Holy Grail. His fingers caressed the green-colored decorations, resisting the tantalizing urge to rip it open just to see what was inside.

"Not yet. I was planning on revealing it in a group meeting, buuut I'd figured it'd be fun to see you test it out first." PEDRO pushed his glasses up with a proud smirk.

"Me?! Could I?!" BASIL's smile couldn't get anymore wider than that, "PEDRO, you're the best!"

"Ah, shut up and play with your new toy, would ya?" PEDRO waved away, quickly urging the flower boy to open the box.

BASIL did so, with both PEDRO and him staring in trepidation as he carefully unpackaged the PET ROCK hiding inside its plastic shell.

Now within his warm grasp, BASIL gulped his excitement down as he flicked the switch on to reveal the debut of the newest digital pet.

Flying onto the small retro screen like a majestic bird, a giant round parrot in sunglasses landed with a slam and struck a dramatic pose. The sound effect of its digital cry rumbled from the speakers, vibrating into BASIL's hand.

PAPAYA BIRD has joined the clash.

PEDRO whistled, impressed. "Look at that stat screen."

"He looks so cool!" BASIL breathed out in awe, already testing out the new pet and experimenting with its fighting moves.

Like the talented veteran of the game that he was, BASIL already began to get used to the new character's moveset as he discovered the most optimal combos to use, as well as imagining the different ways to counter them. After playing this game for so long, stuff like this was second nature to him.

"What are you thinking so far?" PEDRO asked curiously.

"He's interesting! Kinda like PLUTO in a way? I'd have to practice a bit more to get the hang of him, but I think he won't be that bad against the four of us if we get challenged!" BASIL practically bounced in place as he smiled, "I can't wait to do a test run against someone with him! I wonder who I should ask to clash with me first?"

PEDRO gave a quick glance at the scary boy mindlessly staring at a horror movie poster of FREDSTER CLAWMAN in the corner.

"Why don't you ask your friend there?" PEDRO suggested, "He seems to be good with clashes. I saw him beat the friend he came in here with yesterday."

"SUNNY?" BASIL blinked.

Oh right! BASIL remembered when KEL showed off his birthday gift for SUNNY. He should already have a PET ROCK to clash with.

It had been six years since BASIL had a chance to play any kind of game with SUNNY. The idea of getting that chance again after so long was slowly firing BASIL up as he gulped to himself.

The BASIL from back then would perhaps dread the idea of playing any kind of competitive video game against someone as skilled as SUNNY. But the current BASIL, who was now considered one of the four secret veteran players of FARAWAY? That shouldn't be the case anymore, should it?

This might be his chance to show off his skills and see if he was finally a match for his old best friend.

With an impish chuckle, BASIL clutched his new PET ROCK in his hands as he prepared to challenge SUNNY.

"Hey, SUNNY!"

OMORI turned towards BASIL, already knowing what was coming as he had been eavesdropping on the secret conversation.

He could see the fire in BASIL's eyes as the boy approached, holding up his new PET ROCK in hand.

"Did you bring a PET ROCK with you today?" BASIL asked with a firm tone.

OMORI silently pulled JASH out of his pocket.

BASIL nodded, "I formally challenge you to a clash! It's been years since the last time we battled, but I'm different from the BASIL you fought as a kid. I'm confident that I'm good enough to match your skill level now! So don't underestimate me, alright?"

OMORI couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, impressed with BASIL's resolve.

It was a surprise when he learned that, in this reality, BASIL somehow became one of the new veteran players in FARAWAY. Never did he ever imagine that BASIL would actually get into the hobby that seriously.

Seeing BASIL now, OMORI was starting to understand how he managed to join the veterans.

No need to hold back, then.

Without any quips or sarcastic remarks, OMORI held JASH out as he wordlessly accepted the challenge request.

BASIL gulped, understanding that this was as respectful and serious as his friend was going to be for this fight.

Connecting their magnets together, his new PAPAYA BIRD came face to face with the unassuming JASH.

"LET'S CLASH!"

Ten minutes later, BASIL was laid dead on top of the HOBBEEZ counter as if a truck had mowed him down.

OMORI let out a sigh of relief when the battle was over, silently praising JASH for another victory. That was surprisingly heart-racing. BASIL really had grown up to become pretty talented at the game, he had to admit. It was a good thing he took it seriously.

Still completely and absolutely dead, BASIL's corpse had a shell-shocked expression as he drooped on top the counter like a U-shaped noodle.

"I couldn't land a single hit… He's just on a whole other level…"

PEDRO witnessed the whole battle in shock, unable to accept that someone could easily beat one of the veteran players so thoroughly.

Poking BASIL's dead corpse on his counter, PEDRO whispered, "BASIL, is he the real deal? You weren't just going easy on him?"

BASIL's corpse shook its head, "I tried, sir. I really did. His JASH is just impossible to beat. I don't think there's a living soul in FARAWAY that could match his skills."

Coming from anybody else, PEDRO would scoff at the idea of an unbeatable player like that. However, seeing it in action with a reputable veteran player like BASIL getting defeated? PEDRO couldn't help but cover his mouth in thought as he looked at SUNNY in a whole different light.

To think there's been a PET ROCK prodigy like that living in FARAWAY this whole time, and the only reason why nobody ever heard of him was because he had been stuck in a coma for the last six years. You couldn't write stuff like this.

Despite PEDRO's earlier fears about the boy before, even he was starting to get fired up at the idea of facing this kid just to see what SUNNY was made of.

However, PEDRO had made it a strict rule for himself not to battle anyone unless they completed the trials of the Veterans Challenge first.

But if he was worthy… would he be a match for the HOBBEEZ store owner, the strongest veteran player in FARAWAY? Would he even be a match for the elusive CHAMPION herself?

PEDRO was dying to know for sure.

Stepping past BASIL's extremely absolutely completely totally 100% no doubt about it dead body, PEDRO worked up the nerve to approach SUNNY as he wiped the dust off his PET ROCK.

OMORI perked up as he saw the shopkeep apprehensively approach him.

Pushing his glasses up, PEDRO nodded respectfully, "Apologies for speaking so candidly like this, considering we are not on the best of terms."

OMORI was still incredibly confused by that, but whatever. "Yeah?"

PEDRO took a moment to gather his thoughts, before announcing, "I couldn't help but be floored by your skills against BASIL just now. To defeat a player like him so thoroughly… it's unprecedented."

Behind him, OMORI could see BASIL finally coming back to life as he pushed himself up to his feet, rubbing his head in a daze.

PEDRO continued, "Considering your circumstances, it makes sense for you not to know. But BASIL is part of a secret elite group of veteran PET ROCK players that reside in FARAWAY. They are the arbiters that test the mettle of any up and coming PET ROCK player beginning to make a name for themselves. Normally, you'd be vetted after winning a few battles under your belt, but considering you beat one of the veterans so quickly, you might already qualify to be a candidate for…"

A dramatic pause. PEDRO pushed his glasses up to have the light reflected to hide his eyes.

"The Veteran's Challenge."

Oh, it was just this again.

Yeah, OMORI already did this the first time around in the previous reality. He wasn't looking forward to redoing that whole thing anytime soon.

As BASIL made his way to join in on the conversation, OMORI had a disinterested glance while the shopkeep gave his whole introduction speech explaining the process.

Worried that he was about to get roped into something that would end up wasting too much of his time, he felt the need to interrupt PEDRO before the shopkeeper got too into it.

"Uh, hey."

PEDRO paused his elaborate exposition about the privilege of participating in the challenge, still dramatically posing with his glasses pushed up as he glanced at OMORI with a puzzled, "Hm?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good." OMORI stated bluntly.

…

PEDRO, finger still posed to push his glasses up, slowly tilted at an angle as he was unable to comprehend OMORI's swift rejection.

BASIL gave a surprised frown, "You're not interested in doing the veteran's challenge, SUNNY? Something like this would probably be a cakewalk for someone like you."

"Nope, I'm fine. Sounds like a lot of work, to be honest." OMORI shrugged.

Besides, he already had the CHAMPION cap in the previous world. Not like he needed to prove it to anyone other than himself.

"Are you sure? I was kinda hoping you'd show off to everyone a little, now that you're back. A lot of people would've been really impressed." BASIL murmured sadly, disappointed at his friend's quick refusal.

"I'd rather not have that attention on me." OMORI shook his head, "Flattered though."

BASIL let out a small sigh, "Dang… Oh well, I guess that's the end of that discussion then."

BASIL couldn't help but feel like it was such a shame, not having SUNNY take part in the prestigious challenge and showcase his talent to the PET ROCK community of FARAWAY. It especially didn't seem in character for SUNNY to turn down something like this to begin with, since BASIL knew how much his friend was into games like these. Though, maybe this was all a bit too much for SUNNY to handle when he just came back from his coma?

BASIL decided to consider asking him about it later. For now, it was probably better to just move on from the topic.

"In that case, I guess we can head out then." BASIL gestured to the front door, "We still have the rest of the town to go through!"

OMORI nodded before heading out first.

BASIL gave a quick glance back and waved, "See you later, PEDRO! Thanks for the new PET ROCK!"

After both of the boys left, PEDRO was left behind alone in his store, still stuck frozen like a statue in a tilted position.

The shock of his veteran's challenge being refused still hadn't worn off yet. All PEDRO could do was wonder if SUNNY really did hate his guts after all, and if it was all his fault to begin with.

…

…

…

PEDRO tilted over too much and collided with the floor.

BASIL did a quick stretch outside the shop, still recovering from his brutal beatdown from before.

OMORI turned back to stare at HOBBEEZ curiously, asking his friend, "So, what was the deal with him? Why was he acting so weird around me?"

Brushing the dust off his shoulders, BASIL explained, "PEDRO thinks you hate him for some reason. He said something about how he accidentally thought your eyepatch was cosplay, and now he feels bad when found out he was wrong."

OMORI suddenly remembered his tiny little prank from yesterday, showing the shopkeep his missing eye.

That explained the constant apologies and walking on eggshells around him. Whoops.

Didn't OMORI tell him that it was fine yesterday? Why was he still on that?

Well, whatever.

"I'll wait until he gets over it." OMORI hummed before standing next to BASIL. With a curious eye, he asked, "So… A secret elite group of veterans, huh? How'd you manage to get into something like that?"

Hearing this, BASIL gave an awkward but humble smile, "Oh, that? I mean, it's not really that big of a deal. Believe it or not, the whole position kinda just got handed to me one day about two years ago."

"You just became a secret elite veteran by random chance?" OMORI raised an eyebrow, "Sounds like you're downplaying it."

"I guess…?" BASIL admitted with an embarrassed chuckle, "MANDO, the manager over at FIX-IT, was playing against a kid while I was working one day and it caught my attention. I told him that I used to play, then all of a sudden he had this gleam in his eyes and challenged me to a clash. Even though I lost against him the first time around, he must've seen something in me to the point where he insisted on training me to hone my skills."

"Wow." OMORI hummed.

"Well, either that, or he was just looking for an excuse to procrastinate on work." BASIL giggled. "In any case, the manager eventually decided to make me his successor and announced that he was going to retire since the hobby was getting too expensive for him. He introduced me to the other veterans, they tested to see if I was worthy, and the rest is history. That's how I got to be closer friends with PEDRO and the others."

"A real KUNG-FU BOY story, but with PET ROCKS instead of martial arts. I'd pay for a ticket to see that."

"Jeez, it really wasn't anything as glamorous as that." BASIL waved off with a lighthearted smile.

OMORI was teasing BASIL, but he actually did mean it when he said he'd watch a movie like that. It was fascinating to learn just how varied and interesting BASIL's life had become in a world where MARI's death didn't weigh him down. It seemed like BASIL was living out the potentially best possible future he could've had if OMORI never cruelly robbed that future from him.

Outgoing, popular with girls, talented in all of his hobbies whether it's gardening or PET ROCKS- What else was in store for OMORI to discover about his old friend?

"Mew?"

The sudden appearance of an orange furry creature grabbed both of their attention from below.

Down at their feet, a familiar orange cat was looking up at them. It had a curious glance as it purred.

"Aww, hello kitty-cat!" BASIL knelt down with a welcoming smile.

BASIL held his hand out to pet the random kitty. It graciously accepted his touch and began purring louder, pushing its head against his hand.

Wasn't this the same orange cat that came up to him last night, when he was with AUBREY? It wasn't evening yet, so BASIL had to wonder what it was still doing out during the daytime like this. Most of the town's stray cat population only began coming out once it got dark, after all.

"Oh, it's CLAUS."

OMORI kneeled down next to BASIL, recognizing the cat from the previous world.

The cat seemed to get excited after hearing OMORI's voice, almost as if it recognized him back somehow. It quickly jumped out of BASIL's hands to cling to OMORI's legs in an affectionate nuzzle.

BASIL curiously raised an eyebrow, "CLAUS? How did you know that was its name?"

OMORI shook his head to explain, "I didn't, it's just something I like to call him. Probably doesn't even have a name."

CLAUS gave an adorable little head tilt towards OMORI, almost as if expecting something from him.

OMORI noted to himself that CLAUS was surprisingly more friendly this time around, compared to how they initially first met in the previous world.

"I'm guessing you two already got to know each other, huh?" BASIL chuckled.

"Something like that." OMORI vaguely confirmed, reaching out to give the kitty a chin scratch.

Let's see here… in his pockets was; a PET ROCK, BIG YELLOW CAT keychain, twenty-five dollars-...

Hm, OMORI didn't have anything to give CLAUS at the moment.

OMORI glanced at BASIL, "Can we buy something real quick to give it as a treat?"

BASIL smiled at that, "Yeah, sure! We can head into FIX-IT and buy some cat food. I've been meaning to check up on the place, anyway!"

A loud door buzzer sound announced the two as they entered the store.

Upon their arrival, a trio of kids near the front desk stopped in the middle of their conversation to give varying panicked expressions.

Two kids, a boy and a girl, immediately went off toward random shelves pretending to be browsing for wares. One kid stayed to man the front desk, readjusting his headphones as he hid his face behind a magazine.

Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.

BASIL raised an eyebrow as he came in, with OMORI following right behind.

For OMORI, it only took a quick glance around before he ended up recognizing the trio of kids in front of him.

BRENT, JOY, and JESSE.

BRENT and JOY, he recognized from when he took those tutoring jobs from those wanted fliers in OTHERMART. JESSE, he met through JESSE's dad while trying to help the old guy with picking out a birthday present.

He remembered JESSE saying something about being friends with the other two, but school studies ended up making them estranged from each other. OMORI wondered if that wasn't the case anymore, seeing them all together in one place like this. They certainly looked like they were all hanging out together, if not doing a terrible job of hiding it.

Meanwhile, BASIL came up to the front desk to study the new hire that he'd be working with in the future.

So, this was the person that the manager was talking about yesterday, the son of a drinking buddy. Didn't this kid look a bit too young to be working, though?

"Excuse me," BASIL called to the headphones kid.

The kid stiffened up before placing down his magazine and anxiously replying, "Y-Yes sir?"

"Just curious, but how old are you?"

"I'm twe–" The kid almost answered but froze, as if remembering something important. He pulled out a pamphlet of notes on the side of the desk and flipped through the pages. Finding what he was looking for, he managed a professional voice to say, "I'm sixteen, Officer."

…

No, he definitely was not, and that was definitely a script he just read.

BASIL felt a sweat drop as he sighed. How typical of the manager to still hire cheap child labor.

Well, it wasn't like BASIL was in a position to complain considering he was fourteen when he started working here. Hahaha…

Let's change the topic.

"YeahIthoughtso- Anyways!" BASIL coughed to clear his throat, before gently asking, "I'm looking for some cat food. Think you can point me in the right direction?"

Of course, BASIL already knew where everything was located in FIX-IT after having worked here for the past four years. He was just curious to see how the new hire would fare.

The boy stammered nervously, "Oh, sure! I can do that. Umm…"

Despite saying otherwise, the headphones kid seemed a little lost as he tried to remember where the pet produce aisle was. He had a hesitant finger up, vaguely pointing somewhere further into the shop.

"Wait, would a hardware store even sell pet food…?"

Guess he wasn't familiar with the shop layout yet. Heh, the kid was new so it couldn't be helped. BASIL wondered if he should admit that he worked here too and give the new hire some quick tips and advice.

But then the headphones kid leaned over to look behind BASIL, an intent look in his eye before confidently stating, "It's in the back row, right before you head to the garden section! Make your way down there and turn to the left, you can't miss it!"

BASIL blinked in surprise at the sudden confident answer. Out of curiosity, he turned around to see what the kid had been looking at, but could only find the two other kids browsing the tool shelves together.

Facing the headphone kid again, BASIL noticed in the reflection of one of the glossy posters hung on the wall, the two kids giving encouraging thumbs up from behind him when they thought he wasn't looking anymore.

Oohh, BASIL was starting to understand now. That was actually really adorable! What a lovely tight-knit group of friends, helping each other out like this.

"Thanks," BASIL chuckled, "I'll get out of your hair now. Don't get too distracted during work hours though, okay?"

"Uh..." The headphones kid mumbled, unsure how to respond to that.

BASIL allowed the kids to be alone, with OMORI following closely behind him.

"Did you see behind me?" BASIL asked curiously.

"The girl and boy posing like crazy to give that kid signals? Yeah. Not exactly subtle." OMORI commented. "I won't say anything if you won't, Officer BASIL."

"Oh, don't start." BASIL chuckled. A small whimsical sigh passed between his lips as he smiled nostalgically, " You know, it's nice to see a group of friends watching each other's backs like that. Reminds me of the times we'd have to watch over KEL and AUBREY together for HERO to make sure they didn't go off the rails while he was busy."

"So… Basically almost all the time, then?" OMORI bluntly stated.

"Haha! Yeah, that's a good point!" BASIL laughed.

Heading to the back of the shop, BASIL led OMORI to the shelves containing all the canned pet food.

BASIL hummed as he went through all the different flavors and brands, turning to ask, "Which do you think CLAUS will like the most?"

"Fish, probably." OMORI surmised. Although he wasn't sure if CLAUS would enjoy the canned stuff since he never bought canned fish for the orange cat in the previous world. Hope CLAUS wasn't a picky eater.

"Fish it is, then!"

Grabbing a can off the shelves, BASIL dexterously spun it on his finger as if it were a basketball.

"Since we're already here, do you mind if we do a quick check on the gardens?" BASIL asked. "Shouldn't take long."

"Gonna take a stab in the dark and say that you've been in charge of taking care of plants ever since you started working here."

BASIL clapped his face in exaggerated shock, "Gasp! How did you know?!" After that, BASIL let out a lighthearted giggle. "I guess it was pretty obvious, wasn't it? Not like there was any other store in FARAWAY that had an open garden. Although, even though it was a major plus, it wasn't the only reason why I wanted to work here."

BASIL looked away with a soft smile, "When Grandma passed away, I had been stuck in a rut for a long while. I thought it'd be a good idea to find an excuse to go outside more. Getting a job at FIX-IT gave me that excuse and a sense of responsibility to go with it, you know? Something to help me grow as a person."

…

"I see." OMORI had an uneasy frown as he looked away.

That was something the BASIL from his world never ended up doing. To think that in this world, BASIL was able to come to terms with himself and grow out of his shell despite losing his grandma so early.

If only something like this could've been true in the previous world too. Though, OMORI knew the sole reason why that never would've happened…

Sigh.

Sensing that the mood was dropping from mentioning his grandma, BASIL gave a small tug on OMORI's shirt and changed the topic, "Can I show off some of the plants I'm particularly proud of? I think you'll find that my green thumb has only improved since the last time you've seen me."

OMORI glanced back at his friend and gave a silent nod.

Following BASIL, they entered the garden section of FIX-IT.

The first thing that hit OMORI right off the bat was the vibrant colors overwhelming his vision as soon as he entered the room. Dozens, if not hundreds, of fully developed flowers decorated the shelves, tables, and walls like a greenhouse paradise.

Out of all the places he'd seen so far, the garden section of FIX-IT was the starkest contrast from the previous reality.

"Whoa," OMORI murmured in surprise, slowly swiveling his head like an owl as he took in the view.

What was originally once a place housing simple potted plants was now turned into a sort of full-blown mythical garden of grand proportions.

To think having BASIL working here could lead to such a massive difference. It was astounding, to put it lightly.

Seeing the awestruck expression on OMORI's face, BASIL gave an embarrassed smile as he scratched his cheek, "What's with that reaction? I haven't even shown you my favorite plants yet, and you're already so worked up."

OMORI didn't respond, still caught up in admiring the beauty in the room.

Although, beyond just the plants and flora catching his attention, he also happened to have his eye caught by someone familiar standing near the very back. A silver-haired girl with a pink dress, taking the time to appreciate a collage of sunflowers.

That was… CURTSEY, wasn't it? The cute-looking girl that worked at the candy shop in OTHERMART. One of the PET ROCK veterans he fought with back in the previous reality.

OMORI remembered seeing her hang out at HOBBEEZ before, but he never saw her at FIX-IT. Curious.

If she was still one of the other veterans in this world, then that meant BASIL had gotten to know her too, right?

Making a guess, OMORI pointed the girl out to BASIL, "She a friend of yours?"

"Who?" Caught off guard by the question, BASIL turned to where OMORI had pointed.

Recognizing the girl, BASIL's smile widened as he waved a hand up in excitement.

"CURTSEY! Hey!"

The girl in question seemed to practically jump a whole inch in the air as she turned around in surprise.

Seeing BASIL, her face became flushed as she quickly combed through her hair and patted her dress down to make herself look more presentable. Once she was done, she stood with her back straight and waved back with a smile.

With an apologetic smile, BASIL gave a quick gesture for OMORI to stay put as the flower boy rushed ahead to meet up with the girl. OMORI was left to stand idly by on the sideline.

"CURTSEY, I didn't expect to see you here!" BASIL happily greeted, "Coming in during your break to admire the flowers again?"

"No, actually!" CURTSEY had an awkward giggle, "Well, I mean kinda. No, I don't have work today. I actually came over because I had something to talk to you about, but then I realized you weren't here."

"Oh! I didn't have work today either. The manager gave me a day off for covering so many shifts the past few days." BASIL smiled apologetically, "Sorry about that, I must've forgotten to mention it to you."

"Right, that explains the kid out front…" CURTSEY mumbled, before shaking her head, "It's fine! I knew you'd show up to check on the garden again eventually! That's why I waited!"

BASIL gave a small incredulous laugh at that, "You haven't been waiting on me this whole morning, have you?"

She gave a nervous smile as her eyes darted around, "Haha… No, not particularly… that early."

"Uh… Haha…" BASIL anxiously rubbed his neck.

OMORI, still watching from a distance away, stared with increasing intrigue at the two fidgeting around like a socially awkward pair of teens.

Well, well, well… What was going on here?

BASIL and the candy shop girl. That was a pairing he didn't expect to see.

And he would've thought BASIL, BEBE and her sister were an interesting love triangle if BASIL hadn't shut that down almost immediately.

"Um… Anyway-" CURTSEY continued as she fidgeted with her hair, "I just wanted to say sorry for what happened yesterday. I think I might've said or… done some strange things that I wouldn't normally have done otherwise?"

Remembering the events from yesterday, BASIL gave her a reassuring smile, "I think we both got equally swept up by the moment and did some crazy things. So, it's fine! Nothing to worry about."

CURTSEY fidgeted with her pigtails, "I was talking more about the stuff that happened before the swarm of beetles got involved…"

BASIL froze up a bit, remembering the interrupted love confession from yesterday.

Ah, crud. He completely forgot that CURTSEY was about to pour her heart out to him before the beetle thing happened.

"I wanted to make it up to you, so…" CURTSEY shyly pulled out two tickets and held it up for BASIL to see.

BASIL had a sinking feeling as he nervously asked, "What are those for?"

Hiding her face behind the tickets, she nervously stammered, "Y-You didn't answer me yesterday when I a-asked about the new r-restaurant, so I figured you didn't like places like that. I, um, thought maybe you'd like to watch a movie i-instead? I bought tickets in case you'd be interested, but…"

Shoot, the same conundrum as yesterday. BASIL couldn't help but lament the bad timing in all of this, especially now that he was spending the day with SUNNY at the moment.

What could he possibly say right now to let her down easy? Was there any way to stall this for another day at the very least?

With a guilty sigh, BASIL rubbed his neck, "CURTSEY, you didn't have to-"

As if realizing how sudden this was, she had second thoughts as she hid the tickets away, "Or we can f-forget about the movie and do something else! Like, I'm really easygoing a-and into a little bit of everything! Maybe you like musicals, or sporty stuff instead-"

More and more, she began to ramble on and on, thinking up multiple different date ideas to the point where her words began blurring together and losing all meaning.

BASIL had a concerned frown seeing CURTSEY rambling faster in her nonstop tangent. Realizing he might need to do something to stop her before she hurt herself or passed out from lack of oxygen, BASIL reached out to grab her shoulders to get her attention.

"CURTSEY?"

With his hands on her, CURTSEY fell silent as her face turned red.

Looking at him, the heat from her flushed face seemed to radiate right towards him. It took him a bit before he realized how close they were, after which he gently let her go to step back a bit.

"Haha… Sorry." BASIL awkwardly kept up his smile.

CURTSEY didn't respond. Sensing the tension in the air growing, she felt the need to cross her arms and look away.

…

BASIL had been hoping that maybe he could put this situation off for another day somehow, but it seemed like this was going to happen no matter what he did.

"I don't… I didn't mean…" CURTSEY timidly began, struggling to get her words straight. After a while, she apologized again, "I'm sorry if I'm putting you on the spot like this."

Despite the situation, BASIL shook his head and reassured her, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's just… You look uncomfortable." CURTSEY gulped, "It's like you want to be anywhere else other than here right now."

BASIL realized how stiff his shoulders had been at this point. Forcing himself to relax, he loosened up to try to keep a convincing smile.

"Well, that's not entirely your fault." BASIL rubbed his neck as he explained, "I'm just not good in these kinds of situations in general."

After a bit of silence between them, CURTSEY managed to gain a bit of courage to face him directly.

"BASIL… You already know that I have a crush on you."

No point in hiding it anymore. BASIL gave a guilty nod, "...Yeah… For a while now."

Hearing this, CURTSEY had to cover her face in a fit of embarrassment. "Ugh… Figures… I didn't think I was doing a good job hiding it…" But after a moment, she forcefully uncovered herself to try to ask, "So… Why didn't you ever say anything if you knew?"

BASIL didn't know how to answer that. His mind was racing as he tried to come up with any kind of excuses or responses to give her, hoping to find one that would end without hurting her or their friendship.

When BASIL took too long to answer though, CURTSEY seemed to have come to her own conclusions as she looked down.

"I guess it should be obvious at this point." She smiled forlornly, "You don't feel the same way, right?"

"Wait, hold on, that's not it either!" BASIL suddenly exclaimed.

CURTSEY looked back up at him with a confused expression.

BASIL felt like he was losing his cool as he tried to calm his panicking mind. Dang it, what were the right words to say so that he could get himself out of this situation?

He didn't want to get involved in a romantic relationship right now! It was too soon for him! But he cared too much about CURTSEY as a friend to break her heart…

His eyes kept darting around everywhere to try to brainstorm a solution, until finally settling his eyes on his best friend, who was casually staring at them from afar.

A lightbulb flashed in his head.

"Wait here for me real quick!" BASIL suddenly told her.

"W-What?" CURTSEY blinked, before asking, "Wait, where are you-"

Reaching out once more to set a comforting hand on her shoulder, BASIL pleaded, "I promise, I'm gonna come right back. I just need a minute to talk things out with someone and get my head on straight. Don't go anywhere, alright?"

The sudden contact scrambled her mind a bit, her face poofing a cloud of smoke as BASIL's face got so close to her again.

Weakly giving in, she mumbled, "A-Alright…"

BASIL nodded appreciatively, letting go of her before he ran off towards his best friend waiting in the corner.

"I need your help, desperately." BASIL whispered in an increasingly panicked tone.

OMORI raised an eyebrow, "Not sure if I'm qualified for this."

"Just– Let me explain everything, okay? C'mon!" BASIL insisted, pushing him out the room.

CURTSEY was left behind in a confused stupor, watching as her crush pulled aside some random kid in an eyepatch that she hadn't noticed before out of the garden section.

"What… just happened?"

…

…

…

A short few minutes of catching up later.

"Well, that's hilarious." OMORI hummed after digesting everything.

"SUNNY, please take this seriously!" BASIL pleaded with his hands flat together, "I'm begging you, I don't know what to say and I'm scared of losing her as a friend!"

"Right, sorry." OMORI nodded, quietly going into thought.

He was just caught off guard by the whole situation. He didn't expect BASIL of all people to be struggling with girl issues, nor did OMORI expect to be the one having to help him out with this.

HERO would definitely be a more fitting person to ask for advice on things like this, to be honest. What help could OMORI possibly give when it comes to relationships? He never even got confessed to by anyone before, and the stuff with HEADSPACE AUBREY definitely didn't count.

Taking a minute to think about it, OMORI ended up advising, "Just tell her the truth."

"What?!" BASIL guffawed at the blunt yet simple solution. "SUNNY, I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because… I mean…" BASIL struggled to form a reply, coming to a loss for a reason.

OMORI gave a small hum, before asking, "Do you like her back? Romantically?"

"Well… It's just that-... SUNNY, this is really complicated-" BASIL was about to form an excuse before OMORI held a hand up to interrupt.

"Don't make excuses. We're alone. Just tell me honestly. Outside of everything else, do you like her back romantically?"

BASIL was silent for a bit as he came to terms with his feelings. OMORI watched his flower friend's facial expressions shift all over the place.

Eventually, he nodded, "I think I do? I mean… She's adorable, and I like her personality. She crosses off a lot of things on my checklist for the kind of girl I might be into…"

"Okay, good." OMORI nodded back, "So, what's the problem?"

BASIL sighed, "Like I said, it's complicated. There are so many things I need to wait for before I can even feel comfortable with dating. How could I possibly start a relationship when-"

BASIL quickly shut his mouth as he realized what he was about to say.

There was no way he could ever explain that one of the main reasons why he waited for so long was because he wanted SUNNY and AUBREY to get together first. That was a can of emotional business that he just did not want to open up right now.

"I'm just not ready for a relationship yet." BASIL decided to conclude instead.

"Okay… So, just tell her that." OMORI stated simply.

BASIL shook his head as a hand stressfully rubbed his neck, "But what if she doesn't accept that? What if it ends up hurting her and we start growing distant from each other? I… I don't want to ruin the friendship we already have together…"

…

There was a strange feeling gnawing on OMORI's conscious as he listened to BASIL's reasons. It felt so painfully familiar, hearing him say all of this.

"When SOMETHING killed MARI… When SOMETHING ruined all my photos… I didn't say anything… I didn't want people to think it was you, SUNNY!"

…

BASIL began to notice the way his friend clenched his hands into tight fists. BASIL looked up to find a surprisingly dark expression staring back at him.

"SUNNY?"

A blink later, and it was already gone. BASIL could only see the same stoic face he'd always been used to seeing.

Eventually after some thought, OMORI stated, "Whether or not you end up telling her the truth, she'll be affected either way. At the end of the day, you're still choosing not to start a relationship with her."

BASIL frowned, looking away as he mulled over his thoughts.

"It takes a lot of courage to confess your feelings for someone. She deserves an honest response so she can at least know how to react based on that. Otherwise, if you keep the real reason hidden, she might get the wrong idea and end up thinking it was her fault." OMORI continued on to ask, "Is it her fault that you don't want to date her?"

BASIL shook his head, "No… Of course not. If anything, it's me working out my own personal issues that's at fault here..."

"Yeah." OMORI nodded understandingly, "So let her know what she's getting herself into. Even if she ends up choosing to hate you because of it, you'll at least give her closure by telling her why."

BASIL furrowed his eyebrows at this, giving a frustrated, "I just… I dunno. The idea that this will affect our friendship either way because I can't return her feelings… It kinda makes me feel powerless."

"You can't control the way people act. That was never something you had power over to begin with. Better to accept the consequences of your own actions than to lie and have it ruin things further down the line."

…

BASIL gave a thoughtful glance at the stoic boy as he listened to the insightful advice. Then with a lighthearted smile, he chuckled, "You're so convincing, it almost sounds like you're speaking from experience."

OMORI chose not to respond to that.

Eventually, BASIL felt himself relax as he gave an exhausted sigh.

BASIL asked with a defeated smile, "There's no way out of this, is there?"

BASIL cried out weakly, "There's… no way out of this… is there?"

No. There never was. Not for either of us.

…

…

…

Heading back inside the garden room again, they could see CURTSEY sitting around, anxiously messing with a sunflower pot in her hands.

"Thanks for telling me this. You're right, I should… I should stop tip-toeing around the issue." With one last anxious deep breath, BASIL let it all out to put on a determined face.

In a world where MARI never died, the worst sin BASIL ever seemed to commit was not being able to reject a girl he liked to her face.

Such a small sin in comparison to what could've happened.

BASIL shouldn't have anything to worry about though. If CURTSEY really was his friend, something like this wouldn't get between them. Wasn't like he helped kill anybody this time around.

As BASIL approached to confess his true feelings, OMORI decided to stay a bit further back to give them their privacy.

CURTSEY scrambled to her feet when she saw BASIL was back, putting her plant down and awaited the news with trepidation.

BASIL spoke softly to her out of earshot, so OMORI couldn't make out the conversation. BASIL seemed bashful and nervous the whole time though.

For a brief moment, CURTSEY lit up with a bright smile at whatever BASIL had said to her at first. But that smile waned the more she listened. Her shoulders dropped as her expression became depressed after that.

In a surprising twist of turn, BASIL suddenly reached out to firmly grab her hands. Whatever he said next, it made CURTSEY look completely bewildered as she stared back at him.

A small smile came back, though it was still sad. Eventually, she gave a small nod and said something back to him. OMORI could only make out the words 'I understand' in the middle of it.

Conversation seemed to flow normally after that. She started giggling and lightly shoved BASIL back, making him start to laugh as well.

Huh, it seemed like BASIL managed to work things out. Wonder what he said to her?

After a while, CURTSEY seemed to notice OMORI staring at them from afar.

CURTSEY pointed towards him and spoke out loud. "So who's this new friend you came in with? I don't think I recognize him."

Seeing as good an opportunity as any, BASIL jumped at the chance to quickly rush across the room to meet up with OMORI.

Seeing the big wide grin on his face, OMORI had to ask, "Guess everything went well?"

"Yeah! Your advice really helped." BASIL nodded gratefully, "I told her the truth. I said that I liked her back, but couldn't be her boyfriend yet because I wasn't emotionally ready for a relationship. But then I kinda realized and came up with something on the spot."

OMORI tilted his head curiously, "Oh?"

For BASIL, the thing he ended up realizing was the fact that things were different now. No longer did he have to wait for SUNNY to wake up from his coma anymore, because he was already awake now. And once AUBREY and SUNNY reunited together, it was only a matter of time before they might be able to light up a spark in their relationship, something that BASIL has been looking forward to all this time.

Once he got the closure he needed from that, he'd be a free man.

Holding up a finger, BASIL explained, "One month. I told her to give me exactly one month at most to sort my life out. Even though it wasn't exactly fair to make her wait for me, I promised her that I'd give her a concrete yes or no answer if she waited for just a month."

OMORI gave an impressed nod. With a thumbs up, he simply stated, "Nice work."

BASIL chuckled as he felt immensely happy with himself. SUNNY was always the best at listening to other people and giving advice. Being able to get the encouragement he needed did wonders for his confidence.

He was so glad SUNNY was back.

"C'mon, SUNNY! Let me introduce you to her!" BASIL tugged his friend along by the arm.

Welp, here they go again.

Once again like before with PEDRO and the priest, OMORI stood by and watched as BASIL proceeded to show him off like a fisherman proud of how big his catch was.

"CURTSEY, I want you to meet a childhood friend of mine! His name is SUNNY, and he just woke up from a six-year coma!" Huddled together by the shoulder, BASIL enthusiastically stated, "Remember how I've always told you about a friend I've been waiting on? This is that friend! He's finally back after all this time! Isn't it a miracle?"

OMORI made a quick bubble popping noise with his mouth, as live fish tend to do, before giving a simple wave.

CURTSEY stepped closer to examine him like the impressive aquatic specimen that he was, "You're SUNNY? You're that SUNNY? Wow! I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to meet you!"

Did BASIL always just talk about him to anyone who would listen? OMORI couldn't imagine something like this coming up in natural conversation often…

Regardless, the girl in front of him had a welcoming smile, "Welcome back to FARAWAY! It's a real honor to meet you like this. I've always heard good things about you from BASIL. He pretty much sings your praises all the time as a source of his inspiration!"

OMORI raised a silent eyebrow as he glanced at his friend. BASIL was looking somewhere off in the distance, conveniently avoiding eye contact.

"Gotta admit, I imagined you looking different…" CURTSEY hummed, her frown tinged with slight disappointment. "From the way BASIL described you, I kinda expected you to look more-"

"HAHA- CURTSEY CAN BE SUCH A KIDDER SOMETIMES-" BASIL interrupted with a loud awkward laugh, suddenly covering OMORI's ears.

CURTSEY let out an immense giggle fit at his reaction.

OMORI hummed to himself as he studied the silver-haired girl.

It didn't really hit him until now, but this girl was going to be a potential girlfriend for BASIL.

BASIL having a love life. Was not expecting that. Was not expecting that at all.

"Kitty~!"

The first thing they did after exiting FIX-IT was open up the can of fish for CLAUS, who was dutifully waiting for them by the front door this whole time.

The orange cat thankfully wasn't a picky eater, gobbling up the processed fish meat with the fervor of ten thousand lions. Or at least one hopped-up KEL on a sugar rush.

CURTSEY had a serene smile as she crouched nearby to gush over the adorable scenery.

OMORI was crouched as well, occasionally petting CLAUS whenever the orange cat paused eating to affectionately rub against his legs.

When CURTSEY saw the stray cat acting friendly, she wanted to reach out and pet him as well. CLAUS then proceeded to slap her hand away and dodge each subsequent attempt to pet him after that.

Slumped on the ground after being rejected, CURTSEY silently pouted to herself as BASIL gave the poor girl a pitying headpat, "There, there…"

Funnily enough, OMORI remembered how cold CLAUS had been to him when they first met in the previous world too. Wonder what changed to make the cat so friendly towards him this time around?

"Heeey!" A new character approached the scene, calling out to all of them, "What are you kids doing in front of my shop?"

BASIL perked up with a smile, leaving CURTSEY on the ground to stand up and wave, "Bossman! There you are!"

The manager of FIX-IT, MANDO, came over while carrying fresh OTHERMART grocery bags in one arm.

"BASIL? Dude, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're spending your day off sitting in front of FIX-IT."

"Nah, I just wanted to do a quick check on the garden to make sure everything was okay." BASIL chuckled.

"Tch, I'm not paying you to do maintenance work on your day off." The manager scoffed in a lighthearted manner, playfully shooing away the boy, "Go on, beat it. Kids your age barely get enough free time as it is, so you might as well spend it on dumb kid stuff while you still can."

"Sure, but I actually wanted to introduce you to someone while we're here!" BASIL excitedly announced, quickly stepping over to grab OMORI.

Uhp, here they go again.

Once again like before with CURTSEY, PEDRO, and the priest, OMORI stood there and watched as BASIL proceeded to show him off like blah blah blah.

"Bossman, I want to blah blah blah SUNNY! blah blah blah Coma! Blah blah blah Miracle?" BASIL introduced proudly.

"Blah." OMORI blah'ed with a simple blah.

"Oh wow, no kidding?" The older man muttered in astonishment. Leaning in closer to inspect OMORI, he commented, "So this is the kid you keep yammering on about all these years…"

Seriously? BASIL even told his own boss about OMORI as well? At this point, he had to question just how many people BASIL didn't tell about his situation.

"The heck are you doing, giving him a tour at the place you work?" MANDO suddenly admonished, pointing at OMORI's stoic face, "Look at this poor kid, he's bored half to death! Six years spent in a coma, and the first place you take him is a hardware store? You should be taking him out to a party or something!"

BASIL chuckled, "I guess I should, shouldn't I? I'll get right on that, Bossman."

The manager continued to scrutinize OMORI for a bit, humming to himself with a finger on his chin. Then he had an idea as he called out to BASIL, "You know what? C'mere for a bit."

"Uh… Sir?" BASIL replied questioningly.

MANDO went inside the shop, gesturing for BASIL to follow him inside.

Although confused, BASIL turned to OMORI and said, "I'll be right back, then."

OMORI gave his usual thumbs up before returning his attention to CLAUS alongside the depressed CURTSEY.

Heading inside the shop with his boss, BASIL saw the older man leaning over the counter to grab something on the other side. The headphones kid leaned away with a frown, trying to avoid getting hit by whatever the manager was struggling to pull out.

After a while of this, MANDO managed to fumble out a colorful packet of some kind. "HA, there we go!"

With that, he suddenly decided to toss the item over to BASIL. It almost caught him off guard, but BASIL managed to catch it in his hands safely without fumbling.

Upon looking it over, BASIL realized that it was a glitter confetti packet.

"To celebrate your friend's return, BASIL! My number one employee!" The manager announced with a proud smile.

Hearing that, BASIL's eyes sparkled with gratitude, "For real? Bossman, that's so kindhearted of you!"

This was possibly the most generous thing BASIL's manager had ever done for him in the four years he'd known the man. To think, the ultimate cheapskate who was too lazy to properly manage his own store and even hired child labor to lower costs– He actually cared enough about BASIL to give something away for free-

"Yep! A whole 10% discount just for you, my dude!"

…

…

…

BASIL's smile twitched a bit.

"Oh. You're just selling it to me instead of giving it away." BASIL deadpanned.

MANDO's smile still remained proud, if not also completely oblivious to the lukewarm reception.

Sigh…

"Thanks, Bossman…" BASIL still thanked his manager anyway.

It was hard enough to believe as it was, but this was still the most generous thing MANDO had ever done for him. The fact that he was even giving BASIL a 10% discount in the first place proved that he cared enough for his number one employee, at least in his own special way…

A quick purchase later, BASIL went out of the store just in time to see CLAUS finishing the last scraps of his canned fish.

With a satisfied pur from having his tummy filled, CLAUS gave a cute meow before scampering away.

"Aw, the kitty is gone…" CURTSEY pouted, before standing back up and patting her legs, "Guess that's my cue to leave too. I need to get a refund on some movie tickets before the return window closes."

"Sorry again, CURTSEY." BASIL apologized with a shameful smile.

"It's fine! You promised you'd give me a response in a month, so I'm gonna be timing that!" The girl winked before waving farewell, "You two have fun on your tour! Congratulations on the recovery, SUNNY!"

OMORI gave a silent nod in response.

Once CURTSEY left the picture, it returned to just being BASIL and OMORI again.

"Ready to head off to the next place?" BASIL asked, only for OMORI to hold a finger up.

"Give it a second."

…

BASIL raised an eyebrow at his friend, wondering what exactly they were both waiting for.

His answer came in a familiar orange cat returning to them, this time carrying something in his mouth. Placing the object right where the empty can was, CLAUS gave one last meow before dashing off to another place.

It was a music CD.

"Wait, wha-" BASIL had a flabbergasted face as he stared at the item, "W-Why would…?"

"There we go." OMORI bent down to grab the CD. Giving it a quick review, OMORI realized that he already listened to this song in the previous world. So, OMORI handed the CD to BASIL, "Here."

"But-... I just… Wha-...?" BASIL mumbled in pure confusion.

Why would… How could… But, how did SUNNY-...?

Seeing BASIL's mind still struggling to understand the concept of a CD, OMORI slowly grew bored and decided to walk off on his own.

Eventually, BASIL snapped out of it and noticed his friend already leaving without him.

Pocketing the mysterious CD, BASIL cried out, "SUNNY, wait! Come on, how did you know that was going to happen?!"

OMORI chose not to respond.

"Hi guys! I want you to meet someone!"

OMORI stood by once again as BASIL continued to introduce him to people throughout the day.

"His name is SUNNY! He's a childhood friend of mine!"

The amount of people that BASIL seemed to personally know was staggering.

"He was stuck in a six-year coma this whole time, but he finally woke up recently!"

Some of them were people OMORI even recognized from the previous world. He really didn't expect BASIL to become friends with so many people.

"Isn't it such a miracle?"

Outside by the fountain, a familiar duo consisting of a jock and an effeminate boy came up to peer closer at him.

"Whoa, so this is the guy you've always talked about… Badass!" JAY, captain of the football team and one of KEL's friends from the previous world.

"Can't believe it took such a long time. I hope things are working out for you, I'm glad you got to reunite with BASIL again!" PB, a strangely gorgeous stranger OMORI only briefly met in the previous world.

Glad to see these two seemed to hit it off together in this reality. OMORI still remembered the way JAY awkwardly invited PB to hang out in the previous world.

By the park, two juice vendor brothers paused from their fight together as they came up to introduce themselves to OMORI.

"Goodness, your complexion is terrible." Orange juice guy, BRAYDEN, commented with a pitying tsk.

"It's important to get your daily nutrition, especially if you've been skimping on it for six whole years." Apple juice guy, ADRIAN, advised before pulling out a pitcher of juice, "Here, you should grab a glass of-"

"-orange juice, buddy! It's way more healthy than something as DISGUSTING as apple juice!" BRAYDEN came in suddenly, knocking over the apple juice pitcher as he held an orange juice pitcher up to OMORI instead.

ADRIAN began pushing his brother's face out of the way, "Haha! Don't listen to my mentally deficient brother! He's incapable of lucid thoughts anymore since all he drinks is FILTHY orange juice."

"MOTHER NEVER LOVED YOU!"

"FATHER DISOWNED YOU!"

"BASIL, BACK ME UP-"

It didn't take long for the brothers to resume their fight, so BASIL proceeded to gently pull OMORI out of the area with an embarrassed smile.

Beyond the roads that were once blocked by construction in the previous world, OMORI finally traveled through the new DOWNTOWN area that he never had the chance to visit before, coming across a familiar couple that OMORI recognized.

"Oh, you're so small and adorable! You poor thing, you must be so glad to be awake again!" A pigtailed girl named KAREN coo'd sympathetically.

"BASIL's always talked about you, did you know that? You sure are lucky to have such a loyal friend!" A man in a checkered shirt named SEAN complimented, giving BASIL a light punch to the shoulder which BASIL returned with a humble smile.

OMORI remembered them from the previous world. They were the lovey-dovey couple that had just moved into FARAWAY together. OMORI had to help them pick out decorative wall patterns at FIX-IT since they were too madly in love with each other to decide for themselves. Then he got invited to a housewarming party just for doing that.

Nice people.

The conversation about OMORI's coma recovery somehow veered back to the two of them continuously flirting with each other again, to which BASIL respectfully pulled OMORI away to avoid getting caught up in that.

At an arcade, two young kids clamored to greet BASIL as all three did some kind of secret handshake together. OMORI and BASIL were then immediately invited to join them in a co-op light gun game that they were having trouble with.

With BASIL and OMORI taking the reins as an anime cop duo protecting the world from swarms of terrorist mosquitos, the more energetic kid out of the two practically screamed out, "WOAH, YOU GUYS ARE SO GOOD AT THIS!"

The skinny quiet kid stood by with a stoic, "I'm bad at action games. Better at farming sims."

Although OMORI remembered meeting these two playing around in the previous world, they still seemed strangely familiar beyond that. OMORI couldn't quite discern why.

Showing off enough of their combined teamwork (mostly OMORI, since BASIL wasn't actually good with light gun games) they had to leave the two kids to continue BASIL's tour of the town.

"Man, you really do know tons of people." OMORI commented, waving goodbye to the kids.

BASIL gave a small embarrassed chuckle, "Yeah… Hope it's not overwhelming you so far."

"No." OMORI hummed, "I'm just really impressed, actually."

BASIL turned to look at OMORI for a bit before his smile slowly widened. With a bright and cheery demeanor, BASIL scratched his cheek with a proud, "It's not that big a deal, heheheh…"

This meet-and-greet pattern continued on as they traveled all over the place, visiting each location and greeting everyone that BASIL knew, familiar or otherwise. Teachers, homeless people, struggling artists, children, parents–

Then, coming full circle, they ended up back at FARAWAY PLAZA.

The sky was glowing a comforting orange hue as they reached the familiar parking lot. Stray cats were slowly beginning to fill the area as the late afternoon was nearing its end.

OMORI never thought he'd ever see the results of FARAWAY's construction finally get finished. The new roads really did make FARAWAY feel like a bigger place now.

Guess some things do change after all.

Seeing that they were back where they had started, OMORI casually asked, "So, what's next on the list?"

When BASIL didn't respond, OMORI curiously turned around to check on him.

There was a strange frown on his face.

While BASIL had a great time and was very happy to show OMORI off to anyone with a pulse, he realized the two of them had already traveled everywhere he wanted to go. He took a moment to collapse to his knees and ruefully punch the sidewalk in an overly dramatic silent fashion…

…Much to OMORI's puzzlement.

WHERE ARE AUBREY AND KEEEEEELLLLL?!

BASIL silently pouted to himself in frustration, hiding his face so that his best friend didn't tease him about the expression he was making. Or worse, ask what was wrong.

Was he asking for too much with his dream of everyone coming back together for one big happy reunion? Even if MARI and HERO couldn't be there, AUBREY and KEL could've at least shown up by now…

It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time together alone with SUNNY again, but… It really wasn't the same without the whole group together… They should've all been here for this as well…

…

…

…

BASIL felt something wooden poke his arm.

Looking up, he saw his best friend staring back at him while continuously poking at him with a random stick.

"Just checking to make sure you weren't passing out on me again. Hi, by the way." OMORI casually waved with his new stick.

…

BASIL felt a small smile return on his face. "Heh. Hi again."

"So? Any reason why you're curled up like a ball on the sidewalk?" OMORI asked, tossing his new stick onto the grass.

With a small sigh, BASIL stood up and reassured his friend, "No reason. I'm fine. I guess you could say maybe I'm just a little tired, that's all."

He'd rather not let SUNNY know that he was just hung up on the fact that they hadn't reunited with the others yet.

Standing up alongside him, OMORI bluntly stated, "Of course you'd be tired. You spent the whole day yapping about me to anyone with a pulse. I've heard the word 'miracle' used so many times, it doesn't even sound like a word to me anymore."

BASIL broke out into a laugh at that. Even as he tried to cover his mouth up, he couldn't help but let loose several giggles and snickers as he tried to apologize, "Pfffft! M-My bad! I didn't think I introduced you so many times t-today!"

It took a decent while until BASIL was able to calm his giggle fits. OMORI stood by and waited the entire time.

Maybe his friend had a point. All this walking, talking, and playing must've had him exhausted and he just didn't realize it. Seeing that time had already passed by so quickly just made him really antsy since they still couldn't find the others.

Guess it would've been too much to ask to find them already in one place somewhere, or for them to eventually come to BASIL instead-

…

Actually.

"There's still one spot we haven't visited yet." BASIL suggested, "I think you might like it! It's the perfect place to relax after everything we did today."

And if his bad luck streak could finally be broken, it would also be the perfect spot to wait for AUBREY or KEL to show up. If there was any place in FARAWAY where they would show up, it'd be this place.

"Sounds good. Where're we heading?" OMORI asked.

BASIL gave a small giggle.

Their old HANGOUT SPOT.

BASIL and OMORI made their way past the bushes in the park, the old lake coming into view once they reached the clearing.

Jogging up ahead a little bit, BASIL spun around with his arms spread out, "Tadaaa! Our old little picnic hideout! You still remember this spot, right SUNNY?"

OMORI glanced around, noting the grass being taller than he remembered. Beyond that, it still looked almost exactly the same as the one in the previous world. Some toys were still scattered here and there, though they seemed more like leftovers from whoever was here before rather than outright abandoned.

The statue inhabiting the small island in the middle of the lake was as tall and ominous as ever. Although he had already overcome his fears, seeing the statue again still brought up some unpleasant memories.

Despite the history he had with this place, this was still his favorite spot in the world.

"I think out of all the places we've been to, this one's changed the least." BASIL giggled with a nostalgic smile. Then with a quick wave, he suggested, "Here, let's sit on the bench nearby!"

OMORI silently stepped past everything, heading directly towards the wooden pier.

"Uh, wait, SUNNY?" BASIL, seeing his best friend approaching the lake, raised a hand up in concern. "Be careful!"

But there was no need.

OMORI confidently stood at the edge of the pier without a care in the world. The pink-hued waters swayed around him underneath his feet.

BASIL could only blink at the sight before coming up to stand right next to his friend.

There really wasn't an ounce of fear or dread anywhere on his face. Just the same blank look he usually had.

"Wow, I didn't expect that…" BASIL murmured, "I was a little worried that you'd be scared of going near the lake, especially since what happened last time we came here as a group."

When OMORI bent down to sit on the edge of the pier, BASIL followed suit while carefully keeping watch of his friend.

BASIL asked considerately, "Are you… okay? You don't have to pretend not to be scared… I still remember you having a fear of drowning."

OMORI shook his head, "Don't worry. I got over my fear a while back."

A while back? When exactly was that?

BASIL pondered at how odd this was, giving his friend a quick once-over. He couldn't help but feel like SUNNY was just a tiny smidge different than how BASIL expected.

For the most part, SUNNY seemed like how he'd always been. He acted pretty much the same as BASIL remembered, but there were still some moments where BASIL could swear that SUNNY seemed off.

Was he overthinking it? BASIL wondered if maybe he was just remembering his friend wrong. Or maybe being stuck in a coma for six years had more of an effect on SUNNY than he realized.

He hesitated, considering his next question. "Hey. I know I already asked this before, but I don't think you ever gave me a straight answer last time."

OMORI glanced over to show he was listening.

"Can you tell me more? About what it was like when you first woke up, I mean. When the doctors or MARI told you that you slept for six years, how did you take the news?"

OMORI tilted his head, "Calling it a nice nap wasn't a straight answer?"

"SUNNY." BASIL deadpanned.

…

OMORI sighed, looking over to the statue in thought.

"Confusing, at first. Once I figured out the whole situation though, I pretty much accepted what was going on."

Another half-truth. OMORI figured it'd be better not to have BASIL worry about the specifics of his circumstance. Not like he'd believe it anyway. He'd probably rationalize the whole experience as a coma dream, just like MARI did.

"Just like that?" BASIL murmured in astonishment, "I knew you could be easy-going, but… You're almost exactly like KEL on that level."

"Hm." Maybe in a situation where OMORI hadn't come from a different reality, he probably would've been a little more disturbed. Who could say?

"It must've been awkward though, right?" BASIL pressed, "Being a kid one day, then suddenly waking up to find out you're already eighteen. Wasn't the transition to that a little concerning for you?"

"Not really." OMORI glanced back at BASIL, "Isn't it a bit late to be worried about all of this after we just spent the whole day hanging out together?"

"That's uh…" BASIL blinked, "That's a good point."

It wouldn't be too out of character for SUNNY to just adapt to the situation extremely quickly, right? Maybe BASIL really was just overthinking it. It didn't seem like anything was outright wrong with his friend. At the end of the day, it was still the same twelve-year-old SUNNY he always knew. Frozen in time, but now free at last.

So why did something still feel off?

…

BASIL stared at the lake, deep in thought. The water reflected the colors of the cloudy sunset, giving it a pink hue as white shimmers reflected off the waves of the surface.

After a while, he waved the thought off with a small chuckle, "Ah, nevermind. I guess I'm being overprotective. I was a little worried that there might've been something important I didn't realize while spending time with you today. Just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."

"Hm." OMORI nodded neutrally, though his eye lingered a bit on BASIL's relaxed expression.

Hm… Maybe it was a bit much for OMORI to decide to just sit on the pier without thinking.

Would it have been better if OMORI pretended to still be scared of the lake? Or was it the thing earlier with CLAUS and the CD that tipped BASIL off?

Either way, it was too late to take it back now.

…

…

…

A gentle and comfortable quiet settled between them as they enjoyed the scenery.

Honestly, after the hustle and bustle of traveling all across the newly-expanded FARAWAY, it was nice to finally have the downtime to breathe and relax like this.

OMORI took the time to study his friend as BASIL gave a quick stretch of his arms.

Something about this felt kinda nostalgic, to be honest. Reminded him of how the two of them sat on the pier and stared at the lake like this, just a few years ago.

Before all this crazy stuff with traveling to another reality… Before the incident that led to MARI's death… Before OMORI was even his name… Things used to be so much simpler.

Just two small kids, relaxing together as the autumn leaves fell. Basking in the beauty of the evening sky, waiting for it to turn to night as they sat at their favorite hangout spot. Waiting for their friends to show up so that they could have a picnic just as the stars came out, perfect for stargazing.

Here they were again.

Right back here.

As if everything from before never happened.

…

OMORI remembered what BASIL was like as a kid. Socially anxious and shy, low self-esteem, constantly panicking over the smallest things. As they spent more time together though, BASIL slowly grew more comfortable as he cracked out of his shell. Underneath all of that was a cheery, caring flower boy with a bit of a sassy humor streak. He was humble, patient, and understanding towards everyone around him.

Seeing BASIL in this world was like witnessing the natural evolution of what he would've become if things never went wrong.

A grandmother who passed away two years early, the group still disbanding, the loss of his best friend, a falling out with MARI… This world wasn't perfect, but he still managed to thrive.

Without anything to hold BASIL back, he became close friends with AUBREY again. He reconnected with KEL as well and brought the group back together. Outside of that, he met tons of new people and formed his own meaningful relationships with them all by himself. He got a job, he got into new hobbies outside of just gardening, and he even had a potential love life in the works.

This was the BASIL that should've existed in the first place. A charming, popular, and caring young man who could push through life with a hardworking smile.

To think that all it took was for a boy named SUNNY to be out of BASIL's life for any of it to be possible.

…

"I'm really proud of you, BASIL."

BASIL paused as he heard that. Blinking a bit, he faced OMORI with a surprised, "What?"

OMORI stared at his reflection in the lake.

A monochrome boy stared back.

"Even after everything that happened to you, you grew up to be an amazing person. Things could've gone so much worse for you, but you ended up showing how capable and reliable you really are when it counted." OMORI glanced over at BASIL's reflection, giving a small smile, "I'm seriously proud of you."

OMORI didn't expect BASIL to know what he was talking about. How could he, when he never even knew the other life he could've lived through? OMORI was just being self-indulgent by speaking his mind like this.

If BASIL asked what had gotten into him, OMORI would just treat it like it was another weird joke from his weird sense of humor. Most likely though, BASIL would just take the praise for what it was worth and wave it off awkwardly like he always did. Humble almost to a fault, that guy.

BASIL's eyes shifted around to stare at OMORI, before an awkward smile appeared as he scratched his cheek, "Aw, thanks, SUNNY! But it's not that big of a-..."

He suddenly trailed off.

The sudden silence caught OMORI's attention, and he looked up from the lake to direct a confused glance at BASIL.

He was crying.

But why?

Shaking his head, BASIL corrected himself, "No, that's not what I want to say. What I mean to say is..."

BASIL let out a deep breath.

"You… You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that, SUNNY." BASIL smiled softly. With a sniff, he wiped his cheek and continued, "That's all I've ever wanted to hear you say."

"BASIL?" OMORI mumbled confusedly.

Growing more emotional, BASIL still kept going, "All this time while waiting for you to come back, I've been doing everything I could to try to turn myself into a better person! I wanted to be someone that people could look up to and admire! I've always told myself that I'd be the person you'd rely on to guide you through this ever-changing crazy world that moved on without you…!"

BASIL let out a hard sob, his arms continuing to wipe away his never-ending tears.

"You were one of my biggest inspirations for why I worked so hard! I wanted- I wanted to be just like you! If I could become even half as mature and reliable as you, I could make you proud of me!" BASIL smiled through his heavy tears, "So I made a promise to myself that by the time you woke up and came back, you'd get to see me change from being the old lanky weird kid I used to be, to someone so mature and reliable that it'd make you speechless!"

OMORI was left floored by the confession.

All he could think of was simply…

Why?

Where did this even come from? It came so far out of left field that OMORI was still struggling to grasp what was happening.

How could OMORI have done anything to inspire BASIL, when he never did anything yet in this reality?

It didn't… It didn't make any sense to him at all.

…

Eventually, BASIL was able to get a hold of himself as his tears died down. He kept smiling, even as he struggled to wipe his still wet eyes.

"BASIL… Why do you always think so highly of me?" OMORI couldn't help but ask.

He really hadn't done anything to deserve all this praise. BASIL did all of this on his own, without OMORI's help.

How could BASIL possibly give him credit for any of this?

BASIL laughed out with a terrifyingly shining smile. "Why wouldn't I? You're my best friend! I've always admired you, SUNNY!"

Blue eyes pierced back at me in the moonlight, "You couldn't have done it… It was SOMETHING behind you, wasn't it? You're a good person, SUNNY. I know you're a good person! A good person wouldn't do something like that…"

…

It was the same as the other BASIL too, wasn't it? Just this mindless adoration for him that he never did anything to deserve.

Why didn't BASIL see what was wrong with this?

"I wouldn't be the way I am now if it wasn't for you, SUNNY! You practically mean everything to me!" BASIL leaned in to give him a suffocating hug, "I'm so happy I could make you proud! Thank you so much for everything!"

…

OMORI couldn't respond. Because all he could see…

SOMETHING standing behind BASIL looked exactly like him.

…

…

…

IT

WAS

NOT

HIS

REFLECTION

…

…

…

…

…

OMORI silently pulled himself away from BASIL's hug.

Although he was still leaking tears of joy, BASIL gave his friend a confused smile, "SUNNY?"

BASIL's confusion didn't last long, the rustling sounds of footsteps on grass came from behind to steal their attention.

His joyous smile quickly formed into an excited grin as BASIL hurriedly wiped away all of his tears while getting on his feet.

"I knew someone would check the HANGOUT SPOT eventually!" BASIL cheered to himself. Finally, his bad luck streak was about to end and he could get SUNNY reunited with AUBREY again!

Standing tall, BASIL prepared to widely wave both his arms up to greet whoever arrived. "Hey, over heeere!"

But then he paused when he saw it wasn't who he expected.

It wasn't AUBREY. It definitely wasn't KEL either. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't even anyone from the SCOOTER GANG who showed up.

It was just some guy with a biker jacket pushing past the bushes to head into the clearing. He was staring directly at BASIL too.

Letting his arms down, BASIL gave an awkward wave, "Sorry! Thought you were someone else!"

The stranger had a quick look around, before asking, "Yeah? Whose was you expectin' then?"

Something made BASIL pause as he noticed more people appearing from the thick bushes. Around seven to eight of them came along, slowly coming into the clearing to cover the entrance.

They all were wearing biker jackets.

…

BASIL was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

While OMORI was still bothered by what happened earlier, this new sudden situation made him confused as he got up from his spot.

"SUNNY, stick behind me." BASIL warned, taking a protective position in front of OMORI.

The serious tone BASIL had convinced OMORI to listen.

Carefully studying the situation he was in, OMORI took in the sight of all the new people who arrived at the HANGOUT SPOT. None of them looked particularly friendly if their gruff faces and dark smiles had anything to insinuate.

Clearly not any of BASIL's friends, then.

"So this is that elusive hideout of the SCOOTER GANG, huh?" The first guy who showed up gave the entire area the stink-eye, "Figures that they'd choose a run-down dump as their base."

Gang members. BASIL gulped to himself. This place wasn't safe anymore. He had to get out of here and take SUNNY to a safer place.

Damn it, what was up with his bad luck today? This was starting to get ridiculous! Could anything else possibly go wrong?!

One of the members in the group came up to the first guy, pointing directly at the two boys, "Yo, what do you think about these guys? They look like wimps, but they're hanging out here like they own the place."

The apparent leader of the group hummed suspiciously, before deciding to call out, "Hey, you two nerds! You guys part of the SCOOTER GANG or not?"

OMORI stood by silently and watched BASIL try to defuse the situation with a steady smile, "Who, us? No, we're not part of any gang! Do we look like we are?"

The group started approaching closer to the lake, many of them still keeping tabs on the entrance.

The leader had a discerning glare at the two, "If you ain't part of a gang, why are you sittin' around at a gang hideout?"

"We just happened to be touring around and found this place by accident! We thought it looked cool, that's all!" BASIL did his best to hide his nervousness as best he could, maintaining his friendly and disarming smile.

"Huh. An abandoned shitty lake filled with dirt water is cool to you guys while just touring around?" The dubious tone in the leader's voice was apparent.

"I mean… Yes?" BASIL answered unsurely, before stuttering, "To us, at least?"

…

It took an uncomfortably long period of silence before the gang leader scoffed, "Whatever, this loser couldn't be with the SCOOTER GANG. He's a total wuss."

BASIL relaxed at this, though he still remained on edge since he wasn't completely out of the clear just yet.

The tall gang member nearest to the leader came in to ask, "So what're we s'posed to do?"

"Obviously we kick them out and hide here until the SCOOTER GANG shows up! Then we can ambush them and finally get some payback for the MOPED BOYS!" The leader announced roughly, curling his hand into a rueful fist, "I'm never gonna forgive that pink bitch for what she did to my big bro! It's up to me as the new leader to take back revenge for what they did!"

A loud assortment of cheers and hoorahs in agreement rang out from the crowd.

Well, that was definitely not good. BASIL was gonna have to hurry and find AUBREY so that he could warn her about this before she got hurt…

"For the former boss! May he rest peacefully as he passes…" One of the random gang members spoke out in mourning, his head heavy with grief, "...his college exams soon, to get his associate's degree!"

"Hear, hear!" Another cry rang out within the group.

BASIL felt his smile slowly growing awkward while he was still stuck in this weird atmosphere. Eventually, he asked, "So, can we go now?"

The leader almost seemed to have forgotten about them, waving them off with a dismissive, "Get out of here already, dickwad."

With a quick sigh of relief, BASIL grabbed OMORI's hand as they prepared to leave the HANGOUT SPOT.

Stepping off the pier to head out the entrance, they only made it halfway through the clearing before the leader decided to suddenly step in the middle of their path.

"Who said you could take your buddy with you?"

"W-What?!" BASIL instinctively put himself in front of OMORI again. "I thought you said there's no way we could be part of a gang!"

"I said that there's no way a wuss like you could be part of the SCOOTER GANG." The leader corrected with a forceful poke, pushing BASIL away to come face to face with OMORI, "This guy with the eyepatch on the other hand? I don't like the look in his eye. He's been staring at me this whole time like I'm a piece of dog turd stuck on his shoe."

"What? SUNNY? No, he couldn't be!" BASIL quickly defended, looking over at his friend to explain, "That's just how his face always loo-"

BASIL paused mid-sentence, caught off guard when he saw the usually stoic boy giving the darkest expression he had ever seen.

OMORI silently glared at the gang leader, even as the intimidating guy got right up to his face.

"Got somethin' to say, cyclops?" The leader sneered.

OMORI clearly didn't have any idea what was going on, or why there was suddenly an entirely new gang of bullies showing up out of nowhere. None of this ever happened in the previous world for him, so this new situation put him at a bit of a loss.

But still, he at least knew two things.

These guys have plans to hurt AUBREY and her friends, something he wasn't going to just let happen.

And also…

"This place isn't a dump." OMORI bluntly stated. "You should just leave if you dislike it so much."

This drew an obnoxious ooooh out of the crowd, the group slowly forming a wide circle around them.

The gang leader smirked at this, "Look at the balls on this guy… You seem pretty different from your lame-o friend here. Maybe he's not part of any gang, but you sure look like you could be part of one."

"Nonono! You're wrong!" BASIL reinserted himself between the two, trying to explain, "My friend SUNNY doesn't know what's going on! He just woke up from a six-year coma and this lake used to be a spot we always came to as kids! He doesn't know any better!"

"Oh really?" The leader scoffed at this, before asking doubtfully, "When did he wake up then?"

"A couple of days ago! July 21!" BASIL frantically answered, "I know it's hard to believe because he doesn't look like one, but SUNNY is practically still a kid!"

"The twenty-first?" The leader repeated, taking the moment to carefully think about this before letting out a huge guffaw, "That's like two days ago! You think I'm stupid? If he really just woke up from a six-year coma, then why isn't he still in the hospital? You ever heard of a thing called muscle atrophy, dipshit? You can't just walk it off after sleeping for that long."

"Uh..." BASIL struggled to come up with a proper response to something like that.

In the end, he wasn't even given enough time to respond. The leader suddenly grabbed his shirt and brought him close to his face.

"If you're gonna come up with a lie to cover for your friend, at least make up a good one!" The leader shouted, rearing back a fist.

BASIL flinched, expecting the punch to come in quick.

It never came.

OMORI got in between the two of them and shoved the gang leader away with all of his might.

The leader stumbled back a bit in surprise, staring at the stoic boy who was now taking a protective stance in front of his friend this time around.

All things considered, it was a pretty weak shove. But the act of defiance drew a reaction all the same.
With a sadistic smirk, the gang leader chuckled ominously to himself before announcing, "I was hoping that someone would have the backbone to pick a fight with us. A'ight boys, let's teach 'em a lesson!"

Surrounded by all sides, the gang group gave a rambunctious cheer as they began slowly closing in on the two like lions to prey.

BASIL huddled together back-to-back with OMORI. Even though OMORI seemed fully willing to fight it out despite the crazy overwhelming odds stacked against them, BASIL had more rational thoughts.

No no no! This wasn't supposed to be happening! BASIL felt his body flare up in anxiety as he watched the gang members approaching. He was having difficulty breathing, his lungs beginning to hyperventilate in panic.

This was supposed to be a happy perfect day! BASIL only just got his best friend back after waiting for so long! Now they were going to get assaulted by a bunch of random thugs out of nowhere before they could even reunite with their friends?!

He had to think of a way out of this. They were outnumbered, BASIL was a devout pacifist, and there was no way SUNNY knew how to fight! BASIL had to get them out of here somehow!

Above all else, even if it meant sacrificing himself, BASIL was not going to let his best friend get hurt again!

NEVER AGAIN!

An idea came to BASIL's mind as he remembered what he had in his pocket.

He quickly steeled his nerves, preventing himself from having another panic attack during this crucial moment. One hand reached in to grab the item in his pocket, the other reached out to hold back OMORI's arm.

OMORI looked back at him with a questioning glance.

BASIL quickly studied his surroundings before finding what was potentially the weakest link in the circle. Two younger gang members on the east side, practically still kids, looked like they could be caught off guard easily enough.

"When I say run, we run. Okay, SUNNY?" BASIL whispered.

Although OMORI was confused by this, he still gave a hesitant nod.

God, please let this work. BASIL gave his silent prayers as he worked up the courage.

Aiming directly at the gang leader, he threw his tool of distraction!

BASIL uses GLITTER CONFETTI!

GANG BOSS feels HAPPY!

"AAAAAAGH MY FUCKING EYES"

"Ah! I'm sorry!"

BASIL instinctively apologized, but quickly snapped out of it to pull OMORI along.

"RUN!"

The two immediately bolted past the two younger gang members BASIL scouted earlier, making it out the circle and into the dense forest.

Though it was dense and hard to maneuver within, BASIL felt it was their best chance to lose their tail and hide if they were chased after.

All the gang members were too slow to react, completely taken off guard by the colorful explosion of plastic littering the air right in front of their leader's face.

Through a string of curses and slurs, the gang leader struggled to clear his vision with the glitter confetti irritating his eyes into a teary red mess.

With one finger struggling to point in their direction, he could only scream out one firm command.

"GET THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

After what felt like a marathon, OMORI and BASIL managed to sneak away to some random alleyway after they escaped the park's forest. Though the thugs from before were still after them, it seemed they managed to find a good spot to at least have a moment of downtime before they had to run again.

BASIL gasped for air as he rested against the wall, clutching his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart.

Although breathing heavily as well, OMORI felt no worse for wear. Probably due to his numbed senses. He gave a curious glance at his fingers as he slowly flexed them- still feeling nothing- before deciding he had other things to worry about.

When they finally had a chance to recover their breath, OMORI ended up asking, "So when did FARAWAY have a gang problem?"

Something like this never happened before in the previous world. Not unless he counted the time spent fighting with the HOOLIGANS. He thought that AUBREY's gang was the only one here in FARAWAY, he never imagined that there'd be even more of them skulking around. Had something like this always been the case, even in the previous world? Surely this couldn't have been something that only came to be because MARI never died, right? What kind of butterfly effect would that even be?

"I'll tell… you later…" BASIL breathed out. One last deep breath in and out, BASIL said, "We still need to find somewhere safe for you to hide!"

"Do you even know where you're going?" OMORI asked.

BASIL gave a slow blink in response to the question, before realizing that his friend had a point. He had been running around in random directions, hoping to disorient the gang members. Because of that, he hadn't really been paying attention to where they'd been going.

"Right… Where are we right now?" BASIL asked, mostly to himself, as he looked around for any recognizable street signs or landmarks.

But when he couldn't see anything noticeable, he cursed his rotten luck once again. For BASIL, this place was unknown to him since he had never used this route to travel around before. He had absolutely no idea where they were.

"Between 12TH and SOMNIA STREET." OMORI suddenly announced. "We're just a bit northeast of the PLAZA."

BASIL's eyes widened at the unexpectedly quick answer. Looking around one last time to check for named street signs and finding none within the alleyway, BASIL asked, "How do you know that?"

OMORI hesitated to answer.

How to explain that the only reason he managed to recognize this place was because of the pizza delivery jobs he did in the previous world? Especially 12TH STREET in particular due to a very difficult list of directions.

Find the… the house with lots of… fan-flaming-flamingos? With the yellow- Does that say a roof or rug? WHY IS HIS HANDWRITING SO TERRIBLE?

There were two houses who decorated their lawns entirely with flamingos on this street. One had a yellow roof, the other had a yellow rug. Neither ordered any pizza. That delivery had not been fun, and it still haunted his recent memories.

OMORI didn't have the chance to come up with an answer for BASIL though, as both boys heard one of the gang members yelling in the distance.

"I saw them go down here, guys! Let's go!"

BASIL was beginning to panic again, "No! Damn it, we still haven't found a way to hide you yet!"

At this rate, would the two of them be able to outrun or hide from these people? What would happen to them if they ran out of energy and got caught?

How would BASIL be able to protect SUNNY…?

BASIL could feel the blood pounding in his head as he searched his surroundings. He could feel himself hyperventilating again, being backed into a corner like this.

Then he saw a glossy shine on the ground. A closer look revealed it to be a large broken shard of glass, sitting so innocently close to other broken glass shards right next to the nearby trash can.

Something compelled him to pick it up as he studied it in his hands. He could feel his heartbeat growing louder, almost drowning out all other outside noise.

If there was no other option…

BASIL stared at the makeshift blade, wondering if he had no other choice but to go against his pacifism.

If it was for SUNNY's safety, it would be worth it… Right?

Right…?

"BASIL?"

OMORI called out gently in concern after watching his friend carefully caressing the sharp piece of glass a little bit too long for his liking.

BASIL looked up at him, and OMORI could only see his piercing blue eyes staring back.

OMORI flinched.

…

Realizing that his best friend was staring at him with a strange look, BASIL felt himself come to his senses as if snapping out of a spell.

Seeing a dangerous glass shard in his hand, he dropped it and let it shatter into pieces by his feet. He didn't even give it another glance.

Choosing to forget that had just happened, BASIL continued looking around once again for a way out, before another idea popped into his head. Running over to the trash can, he quickly opened the lid and sloppily carried out a bag full of trash to set it on the side. Some empty cans and old Asian food cartons spilled out as he did so, making the alleyway reek from the smell.

BASIL gagged a bit before forcing himself to hold it in. Then with an apologetic look towards his friend, he wasted no time pulling OMORI towards the now empty trash can so that he could stuff him inside. "Sorry! Just bear with the smell for now!"

OMORI didn't really mind the smell since he couldn't actually smell anymore. If anything, he was more confused about the fact that he was being forced inside a trash bin to begin with.

Safely crouched inside the container, OMORI looked up to see BASIL preparing to close it with the lid.

"Stay here and don't make a sound! I'm sure they won't find you!"

OMORI pointed out, "Wait, what about you?"

BASIL shook his head, "I'm going to act as bait and lure them away from here! Don't move at all unless you have to! I'm going to try to find help and come back for you as soon as I can!"

Just when BASIL was about to close the lid, OMORI sprang up to block it with a worried, "What?! BASIL, you can't use yourself as bait! Why would you do something like that?!"

How could BASIL think up such a reckless idea?! He was going to get himself hurt, or worse! It'd be better if they both ran together so that they could at least watch each other's backs!

BASIL could hear the sounds of footsteps growing closer. Knowing that time was running out, BASIL roughly pushed OMORI back into the trash can.

"Please, SUNNY!" BASIL pleaded with desperate eyes, "I made a promise that I'd always protect you, no matter what! I can't let anything happen to you!"

…

OMORI was stunned into silence.

With one last reassuring smile, BASIL told him, "Don't worry! Just trust me. Everything is going to be okay!"

The last time you ever said something like that, we hanged MARI.

OMORI was left with those haunting last words as he watched BASIL close the lid, covering him in darkness.

…

BASIL let out a relieved sigh, stepping away just in time as the gang members arrived.

"Hey, there's one of them!"

Knowing that SUNNY's safety relied on him, BASIL managed the courage to put on a brave face.

Turning towards the group of gang members, he loudly shouted the first thing he could think of to catch their attention, "Y-You jerks are never gonna b-beat AUBREY and her S-SCOOTER GANG! Mopeds aren't even cool!"

This managed to get quite the response from the gang leader, pushing past everyone to face BASIL with a loud, "Mopeds aren't WHAT?!"

Just for emphasis too, BASIL even tried to kick an empty Chinese food carton that he spilled on the ground right at them.

Through sheer force of luck, the carton landed directly on top of the gang leader's head with perfect accuracy. Also through sheer force of luck, the carton wasn't actually empty as the old slimy contents of what was inside slowly spilled out on top of the gang leader's hair.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" BASIL covered his mouth in shock, "I didn't know that would happen!"

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Eep!" BASIL felt he did more than enough to act as bait after this, already high-tailing it out of here.

The gang members naturally gave chase, with much more fervor than before.

…

…

…

OMORI was left behind, sitting quietly within the darkness.

Though it seemed like the coast was clear, he didn't get out right away. His mind was still stuck on the events earlier, along with BASIL's actions.

That promise again.

He remembered hearing it from the BASIL within HIKIKO's HEADSPACE. This random promise between BASIL and MARI to always protect her little brother, and keep him safe when MARI wasn't around.

When did the two of them make a promise like that? And why?

It sounded like such an innocent promise a kid would make, but it was almost like BASIL was following it to a religious extreme.

And those eyes again. They looked exactly like before. How could he still have those eyes again even in this world?

What was he thinking about when he held that glass shard? Would he really have done something drastic, if it meant keeping his best friend safe?

OMORI wasn't someone that was worth risking life and limb for. Even outside of his own hatred for himself, he knew that he wasn't worth any more or less than BASIL as a person.

And the way BASIL acted so grateful towards OMORI back at the HANGOUT SPOT… All he did was give him a simple compliment, but BASIL ate it up and cried like it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Why does he always do this? Why did BASIL always place OMORI on a pedestal like this?

What the hell did OMORI ever do to make BASIL like this?

Even back then…. when MARI died… He still…

"You're a good person, SUNNY! A good person wouldn't do something like that…"

…

…

…

This… strange idolization of him. It was almost on a level of worship.

OMORI thought that BASIL had only developed this trait in the previous world because of what happened… But apparently, this was something that the BASIL of this world shared too. When that became the case and why, he didn't fully know.

Did this ever have an effect on MARI and their estranged relationship?

He always wondered why BASIL didn't suggest hanging his body to MARI. Guess he figured it out now.

What did BASIL see the night of the incident in this reality? What happened between BASIL and MARI to make their relationship so estranged? What was life like for both of them after everything that happened?

…

OMORI had already wasted enough time playing around with BASIL. He needed to go back to focusing on what was really important here, and ask BASIL everything he knew about MARI in this reality.

But before he had to do that, he was going to need to find a way to save BASIL. Somehow.

With that thought firmly set in his mind, OMORI finally pushed himself out of his hiding spot. The loud clatter of the metal trash lid reverberated in the air as he climbed out of the trash bin.

The sky was turning from orange to a darker shade of blue. It was almost nighttime.

Damn it… Would he even have time to ask BASIL anything after this whole gang thing was done and over with? If only they hadn't been interrupted earlier, he could've asked everything he needed to back by the lake…

Where could BASIL even be right now?

"Aha! I knew it!"

A snotty voice came from behind, causing OMORI to turn around in surprise.

Two of the gang members seemed to have come back, almost as if they had been waiting for him this whole time.

While slowly sauntering up to him, the short younger one playfully ribbed the older gang member with a prideful, "See? Didn't I tell you somethin' was fishy about the trash being outside the trash can? You so owe me a soda later."

His friend scoffed with a dismissive, "Yeah, yeah, you got lucky."

OMORI silently stepped back, putting himself on guard against the two thugs as he watched them carefully.

"Ooh, look at this guy~ Boss was right, he does kinda have a face that rubs you the wrong way!" The shorter one chuckled, "Aren't you scared of us, dweeb? Or maybe you've already been in a few fights before? Think you're confident enough against the MOPED BOYS?"

He wondered about that himself, actually.

Although he wasn't afraid of a scrap if it came down to it, OMORI had no grand delusions of beating someone in a straightforward fight. The best he could do was probably hold out until they got tired or bored of him, optimistically.

He always had to rely on KEL in almost all of the fights he'd ever been a part of, back in the previous world. KEL usually had his back and was the one to pick up the slack between the both of them.

If this was in HEADSPACE, that'd be a different story. But this definitely wasn't HEADSPACE, nor did he even have his knife.

Sigh. Having a knife right now would've been really handy, actually. OMORI would even settle for pepper spray, if only he had thought to bring any. Who would've predicted any of this would happen today, though?

His hands were all he had. Let's hope it's enough.

OMORI raised his fists up, doing his best to copy what he thought was a boxing form.

"Ha! What kind of fighting stance is that?" The older gang member guffawed, "Thought you might be tough because of the eyepatch, but do you even know how to fight to begin with? Did you even lose that eye in an actual fight?"

"Maybe he's faking it." The shorter gang member jeered, "I bet you ten dollars he's wearing that just to make himself look cool. Like that MAVERICK weirdo with the blond wig."

OMORI continued to stay silent, not bothering to dignify their taunts with a response.

With a small hum, the older thug nodded, "Yeah, I'll take that bet. Why don't you teach him a lesson? Show him why you never mess around with one of the MOPED BOYS."

"Pfeh, easy."

The shorter thug started to approach OMORI while the other thug stood a few feet back to enjoy the spectacle.

Steadying his breathing, OMORI patiently waited for the first strike as he stared at his opponent.

"Not gonna make the first move? Heh, fine by me!"

The gang member lunged forward first with a wild swing. OMORI ducked in time, letting the fist whistling over his head as its momentum carried the gang member past him with a slight stumble.

"Lucky dodge, twerp," The thug turned around with a growl.

OMORI remained calm, studying his opponent's shoulders. Thank goodness they were doing this one-on-one, OMORI would've felt overwhelmed if both of them had ganged up on him. Who knew how long that courtesy would last, though?

The thug charged again with a lower aim, but OMORI sidestepped and managed to shove the gang member away from him. The thug landed roughly against the alleyway walls, letting out a frustrated groan.

"C'mon man, just hit the damn cyclops!" His friend called out impatiently in the back.

Pushing himself off against the wall, the thug narrowed his eyes at OMORI and began to take him more seriously. Approaching carefully this time, the thug tried to catch OMORI off guard by juking his body around to try and disorient him.

OMORI flinched when he thought he saw a punch coming, only for it to turn out to be a feint. Another punch swung out, managing to slip past his blind spot and hit him in the face this time.

"HA! Taste it, dickwad!" The thug laughed.

OMORI stumbled back a bit with some minor disorientation, but was surprised to find that he didn't feel any pain. OMORI gently rubbed the side of his face, feeling absolutely nothing because of his numbed sense of touch.

Huh. First time this ended up being useful for something. Neat.

"Dude, are you going easy on him or something? That barely even looked like a love tap!" The tall gang member in the back called out in disappointment.

"Shut up! That was a real punch!" The thug in front of OMORI shouted back impatiently before returning his attention back to the fight. Staring OMORI square in the eyes, he muttered, "Yeah, you might be tougher than I thought, but you're still going down…!"

Knowing that he couldn't feel any pain even if he got damaged, OMORI felt emboldened by the new advantage he had.

The thug began to switch to a more aggressive tactic, suddenly charging in without a care for his own well-being and throwing out a rapid flurry of punches. OMORI managed to block what he could with his arms, tanking all the hits relatively easily.

After a while, the thug began to tire himself out as his swings began to get sloppier. Seeing an opening, OMORI darted in and managed to land a solid blow to the stomach.

"Fuck!" The thug stumbled back while holding his gut, letting out a rough cough as he tried to recover.

It would've been a weak punch in any other situation, since OMORI knew he wasn't that physically strong. But landing it right in the middle of the thug's stomach seemed to be a moving attack.

In the background, the older gang member kept lambasting his buddy's poor performance.

"What's wrong with you today, man?! You're seriously going to let this dweeb kick your ass?!"

Seemingly having enough of his ego being shattered and questioned all at the same time during this fight, the thug in front of OMORI let out an enraged, "Oh, whatever! Screw this shit, man!"

OMORI saw him lunging in for another attack, so he quickly stepped back with his guard up to dodge.

After successfully avoiding an uppercut swing from the thug, OMORI lowered his arms to keep his eye back on his opponent, ready for another-

He froze.

The gang member gave a satisfied grin to himself, a complete one-eighty from the frustrated face he had on before. In the thug's hand was suddenly a switchblade knife, coated in a fresh layer of blood.

…

Oh.

OMORI was just beginning to notice that there was a fresh cut on his right arm. It was a pretty shallow cut, all things considered, but it was bleeding a concerning amount as the blood dripped down his arm.

Something about this feels embarrassingly familiar.

The thug twirled the bloodied switchblade around his fingers, gloating maliciously. "HA! How's that?! Still feeling like you're hot shit, punk?! Bet you're scared now!"

…

Surprisingly, no. OMORI wasn't scared at all from seeing the knife. Despite the fact that getting a fatal stab wound was now a possibility, OMORI felt eerily calm about it.

It was strange to think about. It wasn't like he was incapable of feeling fear. There were plenty of times he could recall when he felt his nerves shivered, or his body locked up in terror when put in a stressful situation. The multiple encounters with SOMETHING as examples, both his own and the ones inside HIKIKO's HEADSPACE.

Was he just not scared of the knife because he had gotten used to the sight of them? Or was it because he knew he deserved to die?

The taller gang member in the peanut gallery actually seemed shocked at the sight of his friend pulling a knife out, "Whoa, hey! Don't get carried away, you might actually kill him with that!"

Despite his partner's concerns, the shorter gang member ignored everything else as he instead continued to glare at OMORI, "Cat got your tongue or something?!" The thug's earlier grin morphed back to a frustrated growl again after seeing OMORI's lack of reaction. "Come on! Say something already, you freak! I just stabbed you!"

…

"No, you didn't."

The gang member slowly blinked with a confused, "What…?"

With the same stoic face that he always had since long before he could even remember, OMORI emotionlessly stared back at the thug in front of him and bluntly repeated, "You didn't stab me. That was just a cut. Doesn't even hurt."

Though still holding the bloodied knife in his hands, the gang member's confidence seemed to waver a bit as he stepped back with a frown.

"The hell is up with this guy…?" He murmured nervously to himself.

Whether put off by OMORI's stoicism during this whole fight, or by the fact that OMORI was surprisingly more durable than he initially appeared, the tall gang member in the back gave out a worried, "Yo, dude! I think we should fall back and get some backup. This kid might actually be kinda crazy good!"

"What? No!" Though there was some apprehension in his eyes, the shorter gang member shook himself out of his stupor to steadily raise his knife, "It's just a single guy! I'm one of the best bruisers of the group, I can totally– No, I can definitely beat this clown by myself!"

OMORI backed up while keeping his stance. While he still didn't feel any pain from all the attacks the thug managed to land on him, there was still the concern if OMORI could similarly brush off an actual deep stab wound.

"Think you're better than me just because you can handle a few bruises and cuts?" The thug spat out with a hard glare, "I'll show you, smartass. How about I take a stab at you for real then?!"

In the background, the taller thug's face dropped to an expression of petrified shock. He quickly extended a hand while shouting, "DUDE, WAIT!"

With that, the shorter gang member recklessly charged at OMORI with the knife, fully prepared to run him through.

He's seriously going in for the kill...

OMORI braced for impact, hoping to at least block the attack somehow to avoid any vital organs.

But before the attack could land on him…

His vision was suddenly blinded by a wave of pink as something yanked his body back. For that brief millisecond, it was the only color he could possibly see.

Pink…?

Just as he blinked to clear his vision out of instinct, the sound of a loud clang of metal reverberated in the air as if something had been struck. A split-second after that, a sudden loud cry of pure agony rang out across the entire alleyway.

It took him a second to readjust his sight, but once OMORI was able to do so, the sight of what just happened surprised him.

Like a guardian angel showing up just in the nick of time, a very familiar pink-haired delinquent appeared before him. She had her back turned to face the thugs that were attacking him, so he couldn't get a good look at her face. But OMORI instantly knew the girl who just pulled him out of harm's way.

Nobody else could pull off the pink hair and still look as threatening as her, after all.

AUBREY let out deep controlled breaths, wielding the metal pipe in her hand like it was a baseball bat. After having just swung her weapon to counter the knife-wielding maniac who was about to skewer her old best friend, the switchblade clattered against the ground now that the punk couldn't maintain his grip on it anymore, thanks to her reshaping his arm into a grotesque bent angle.

The short MOPED BOY stumbled back, loudly cursing up a storm while trying to make sense of what just happened. But when he saw AUBREY right in front of him, all the color vanished from his face as he recognized who he was facing.

"Oh fuck! It's the PINK DEMON!" The other MOPED BOY in the back screamed out in panic.

She didn't give the punk a chance to properly respond, already on the offensive as she charged right at him. She swung her metal pipe again with a furious cry, mercilessly attacking the thug over and over like a violent game of whack-a-mole.

Even as he tripped over and fell to the ground, AUBREY didn't relent. She continued to pummel him in order to teach him a lesson, each strike against his body making another dent in her already bent metal pipe, each blow creating a loud symphony of metal clangs to ring across the alleyway. The MOPED BOY could only cry out in pain as he curled into a defensive ball, suffering through the relentless beatdown until she decided when it was over.

With one last ferocious grunt, AUBREY winded up her leg and sent a powerful kick to the balled-up punk on the ground, causing him to tumble a few yards away.

Landing right in front of his friend, the short MOPED BOY splattered across the ground in a mangled mess. He looked barely recognizable from how he was before she entered the fight, red and black bruises forming all across his body and face.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit–" The other MOPED BOY kept panicking to himself, indecisively trying to choose between worrying about his friend or keeping his eyes on her.

AUBREY let out a heavy huff, loudly throwing her destroyed metal pipe down at the ground. Slowly walking up to the last MOPED BOY, she gave the meanest glare she could possibly give as she cracked her knuckles for round two.

With a petrified cry, the uninjured MOPED BOY quickly pulled his friend up to his feet, "Dude, the plan was to ambush her with the entire group! We can't take the PINK DEMON with just the two of us!"

"We're fucked man." The injured MOPED BOY let out a splatter of blood from his nose, "I can't feel my face anymore. We are so fucking dead."

With their morale, spirits, and maybe some bones broken, they jolted in terror as AUBREY loudly stomped right in front of them. Both of them collapsed to their knees and hugged each other in terror as she stared the both of them down.

"We give up… Please have mercy…"

Seeing them both in such a weak and pathetic state, AUBREY pointed directly at them with one final warning, "This is the last chance I'm going to give to you MOPED BOYS. Take every single last one of your gang and get out of FARAWAY. Come into my territory again, and I will hunt down every last one of you all across SOMEWHERE CITY! I'll make you wish you were all DEAD!"

The two of them heeded her words as seriously as they could, clamoring over each other as they stumbled their way out of the alleyway with their tails between their legs and out of her sight.

…

…

…

OMORI had been standing a few feet back while he watched that carnage play out in front of him. He had to admit to himself, that was pretty terrifying. He knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of AUBREY's rage like that, and he was glad that it wasn't targeted at him this time around.

AUBREY stood still, staring down at the end of the alleyway to make sure that those guys didn't have any plans to return.

…

After a while of dead silence, OMORI let out an awkward cough and muttered, "Thanks."

When AUBREY heard his familiar voice behind her, her body tensed up. Not in anger this time, but… in fear.

Eventually… She turned around.

The two of them were finally able to make eye contact with each other for the first time.

Wow, it really is you. It's been a while, but you haven't changed a bit. How long has it been since you left your house? Three years…? Maybe four? Must have been nice to live in your own little bubble.

You think you're the good guy, don't you KEL? And I'm the big, bad bully… here to terrorize poor, defenseless BASIL. If you want me to be a bully... THEN I'LL BE A BULLY!

Why?! Why do you guys keep coming back?! SUNNY… Why did you show up now…? Where were you when MARI died?! WHERE WERE ANY OF YOU?!

I'm sorry, guys... I've been acting like such a jerk.

I hope you've been doing okay and stuff... I'm sure everything was really hard for you to deal with. Sometimes I think I was the one that should have been there for you.

I hope you can find some peace out there... or you know... some happiness.

AUBREY has always acted true to her feelings. Even though she has trouble admitting how much she cares, her actions have shown otherwise. She's been a little hard to understand, but… I can trust that she'll always try her best to do the right thing.

I'll really miss her.

AUBREY loved her and you killed her.

…sigh…

AUBREY looked exactly like how OMORI remembered her.

Though she used to have dark-brown hair and dark-brown eyes, she still grew up to dye her hair and wear contact lenses just like in the previous world. He still remembered the promise that AUBREY told him, about how she and MARI were supposed to dye their hair together.

When he first met her again after the four long years of hiding away in his house, OMORI could recall the shock and anger she had in her expression when she saw him.

The AUBREY in front of him now didn't have a trace of that anger for him. There was only pure shock in her eyes.

For AUBREY though, it wasn't just shock she was feeling when she finally came face to face with the ghost of her old best friend again. She was astonished. She felt joy.

She felt pure dread and fear in her heart.

It felt hard for her to breathe. Like her entire world was about to collapse.

He… He was seriously back.

The black hair. The eyepatch. The strangely emotionless expression, despite everything that just happened.

She couldn't believe it. It was seriously him.

But… How…? When…? Why…?

How did he end up in a situation like this in the first place?

When did he even wake up? Where was she when SUNNY finally opened his eyes?

Why was she only just now finding out about this today?

So many thoughts and questions raged within her mind, and yet they all seemed so trivial in comparison to the most important question she had screaming in her head the loudest.

How do I talk to him?

She was almost hesitant, her hand timidly raised as she struggled to find the words.

AUBREY wanted nothing more than to just run towards SUNNY and give him the biggest hug she could ever give. It had been so long since the last time she ever heard his voice, she wanted to just hold him and cry.

But…

Would he even recognize her?

All the doubts and insecurity she had ever faced came straight back to hit her at this moment. Nightmares of this exact moment replayed themselves in her mind.

He's not gonna recognize me. How could he recognize me? Not when I look like this… Not after watching me go crazy with a metal pipe right in front of him just a second ago.

AUBREY wasn't prepared for this day. She had never been prepared for this day. Despite everything she had been through in the past few days after visiting him for his birthday, AUBREY never thought that SUNNY would ever wake up again.

And now that he had, she was absolutely terrified.

Oh god, what should she do? AUBREY was nothing like the girl she used to be all those years ago! She wasn't the cute girly schoolgirl that SUNNY used to have a secret crush on anymore! She was so entirely different, she might as well not even be the same person in his eyes!

SUNNY would never believe her if she told him. He'd call her a liar. He'd run away from her like the crazy pipe-wielding maniac like she was.

She'd never be able to explain to him that she was actually-

"AUBREY?" OMORI called out to her, "You okay?"

OMORI felt like he had to say something after what felt like several hours of pure awkward silence. AUBREY hadn't been doing anything except just standing there, lost in her own thoughts while staring at him.

Usually, it was the other way around, wasn't it? He was the one who always tended to daydream, even when in the middle of important stuff happening.

But when AUBREY heard him call out her name, she jolted before her eyes widened again in pure shock.

Was it really that much of a surprise to see him again?

But what she ended up saying next caught him off guard. When she finally found the words to speak, she could barely whisper out a faint, "You recognize me?"

OMORI felt a little confused by this, raising an eyebrow as he asked, "Why wouldn't I?"

It took him a second before he realized his mistake.

Oh, shoot… That's right…

In this reality, he had been stuck in a coma ever since the incident. He wasn't supposed to know that AUBREY would look different since he couldn't have known she dyed her hair or wore blue contacts. He got so caught up in the situation that the detail completely slipped his mind.

He considered trying to come up with an excuse to explain how and why he was able to recognize her so easily– Only to pause when AUBREY suddenly tackled him into a hug.

With her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her body began trembling against him as her voice wavered right in his ear.

"SUNNY…! I missed you… I seriously missed you so much…!"

…

OMORI allowed himself to relax before returning the gesture to wrap his hands around her back.

She must've been holding herself back until now because she was worried he wouldn't recognize her.

AUBREY felt her emotions break loose as she fell apart in his warm arms. She couldn't stop herself from uncontrollably sobbing, tears streaming down her cheeks.

SUNNY recognized her. She didn't know how, but she didn't care either. The fact that SUNNY knew who she was just from a glance was all the excuse she needed to finally break down in front of him.

It felt like she was back to being a kid again. When was the last time she even cried this hard before? So many memories rushed back into her mind of all the times she ever spent together with SUNNY, and it tore her apart inside.

"What took you so long…?" She cried out in an anguished, broken voice, "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you? You were supposed to wait for me by the swingset like you always did…"

OMORI closed his eye, guilt rising up within him as he imagined all the lonely years AUBREY had spent by herself without him to support her. Ever since MARI died, she had nobody else to go to when she needed someone the most. If only he hadn't run away from his problems by hiding in WHITE SPACE those past four years, maybe he could've done something to help her.

Or maybe he would've just made everything so much worse.

"I'm sorry for being late." OMORI ended up mumbling. The meaning behind this apology didn't apply to this AUBREY, but he still felt like he should say it all the same. It was still his fault, after all.

AUBREY gripped around him even tighter.

"Please don't leave… Please don't ever leave… Don't you dare ever leave me again…"

…

…

…

OMORI chose not to respond to that.