I Won't Let Him

by thenextgamer

BadEnding!SUNNY goes to OMARI AU. After SUNNY jumps off the roof of the hospital building, he wakes up back in the past on the day of the incident. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake he did last time, he manages to save MARI and change everything, going into a coma for six years. MARI blames herself and becomes a reclusive shut-in with her own mental trauma of the event.

32. POLLY Want a Cracker?

…

…

…

OMORI stood still, letting AUBREY continue to cry onto his shoulder. Her hold was uncomfortably tight as his breathing was slightly constricted… but even so, he stayed completely still so that AUBREY could let all of her emotions out. All he could do was wait for it to be over while gently hugging her back.

At some point, AUBREY's body stopped trembling. Her sobs became weaker as her breathing slowly steadied. She let herself go slack for a bit, resting her weary body on him as she used him for balance. Then she let out a loud sniffle as her grip on him began to loosen.

OMORI stayed silent as he watched AUBREY wipe her tears away after letting him go. She kept sniffling to herself, doing her best to get her composure back.

For AUBREY… She couldn't stop staring at him. Even as she struggled to wipe her eyes clean, she kept forcing herself to keep her eyes on him, worried that he might disappear somehow if she looked away for a second too long.

Despite her worries, he was still here. Right there in front of her.

"Y… You're real, right? This is actually happening?" AUBREY's voice trembled as she asked.

He nodded back.

Agh. Damn these eyes of hers. No matter how many times AUBREY kept wiping them dry, more tears seemed to show up to take their place.

"I can't believe it… I never thought I'd get to see you again… But you're actually awake, just like BASIL said…" She sniffed, before letting out a sudden laugh, "God, I have so many questions. I don't even know where to start!"

"Take your time." OMORI calmly reassured her.

AUBREY let out another giggle from the shock of it all, just from hearing his voice again. She seriously couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that her old childhood best friend was actually back…

"I just… How is any of this even possible?" AUBREY asked, still wiping her eyes. "You've been stuck in bed for years! How are you up and about like nothing ever happened?"

A question like that was hard to answer. OMORI didn't really know what to say, so all he could do was shrug with an earnest, "I… don't know."

AUBREY let out another soft laugh at that. Honestly, she couldn't blame him for not knowing what was going on. She could imagine that this whole thing must've been ten times more confusing for him than it was for her.

When the last of her tears finally dried up, she wiped her eyes one last time to get a clear look at him.

That was when she finally noticed the red gash on his right arm.

"Oh my god! You're bleeding!" AUBREY cried out in shock.

Hm? OMORI blinked in surprise before looking down at himself.

Oh, right. The knife wound from earlier. He probably should get this cleaned up, shouldn't he?

Before he had the chance to say anything, AUBREY was already grabbing his arm for a closer look.

"You should've said something!" AUBREY wore a panicked expression as she worriedly looked over the cut. "Are you okay?! Does it hurt?!"

Blood was still dripping steadily, but the cut itself was pretty shallow. Definitely not the worst cut he had ever gotten, that was for sure.

"Not really." OMORI shrugged. "It's probably not that bad, to be honest."

AUBREY glanced up at him with slight astonishment. She was briefly reminded of the day when SUNNY saved her from falling down the tree in his backyard, getting a nasty gash on his leg for it. Despite how serious the wound looked to her, the indifferent reaction to it back then was similar to his indifferent reaction now.

There was a part of her that instinctively wanted to panic and cry just like she did back then. But now, AUBREY wondered if she was overreacting again. She thought she had toughened up over the years, too; a cut like this on her or her friends probably wouldn't have freaked her out this bad. But when seeing it on SUNNY, it was like she just…

She shook her head from the thought, focusing back on the wound. "Well we can't just leave it like this! We gotta cover it up before it gets infected!"

That being said, she didn't exactly have any bandages on hand. The best she had on her was a spare tube of muscle-pain relief from the pharmacy earlier…

Oh, wait! AUBREY realized she had something, and took it off her head.

OMORI widened his eyes when he saw AUBREY pull her teal hair bow from her hair and used it to soak up the blood.

"You're using that...?" OMORI asked in shock, "But isn't that important to you?"

"Sort of? But it's fine." AUBREY shook her head as she reassured him, "I don't have anything better, so it'll have to do."

That hair bow used to belong to MARI before she gave it to AUBREY as a gift, back in the old days.

To AUBREY, it wasn't a big deal. She could wash out the bloodstains later and it'd be as good as new, hopefully.

To OMORI, a lingering sense of guilt built up inside as he watched the hair bow darken with his blood.

He never imagined AUBREY could take off one of the last mementos she ever had of MARI and dirty it so easily. It felt…wrong to be using it on him like this. He didn't deserve it.

…

MARI was never killed in this world. AUBREY wouldn't have any reason to be as attached to the bow like she would've before. He knew that.

But… Still…

…

…

…

Once AUBREY managed to soak up as much blood as she could, she wrapped the bow around his arm and began tying it with a strong knot. "I can't believe those jerks. What kind of psychopath carries around a knife like that?" She let out a disgruntled huff.

AUBREY glared as she clutched her bleeding arm, "You… psychopath…!"

OMORI awkwardly looked away from her, a different sense of guilt washing over him from the memory.

When she was finally done, she patted the area with a relieved smile, "There. That should last you until we can get it properly cleaned and bandaged."

OMORI looked down at the now-purple hair bow wrapped tightly around his arm with a sad frown.

AUBREY looked up when she noticed how dark it was outside. The last bits of sunlight from earlier had already disappeared a short while ago. Only the streetlights were illuminating the area now.

"Speaking of which, we should get you somewhere safe." She stepped to his side, lightly grabbing his left arm. "I found BASIL at the park. He's still waiting for us there. C'mon, he'll be happy to know you're alright."

She moved to tug his arm, but paused when she saw the sad expression on his face.

"...Sorry." OMORI spoke softly.

"Sorry for what?" AUBREY blinked confusedly.

At this point, OMORI didn't really know what he was sorry for, specifically. Sorry for ruining her bow? Sorry for slashing her in the previous world? He just wanted to tell her sorry about… everything.

"For making you worried, I guess." OMORI ended up choosing.

AUBREY stared at him for a bit before suddenly wrapping him in another hug. She tucked him in tightly as she closed her eyes, reassuring him, "I'm just glad you're okay. You have nothing to apologize for, alright?"

…If only she knew.

OMORI stayed silent again as he leaned his head back. The beauty of the stars distracted him from his thoughts, if only for a bit.

AUBREY held him for a while before she pulled away with a warm smile. Seeing him staring up at the night sky to look at the stars, she could see the dazzling imagery reflected off of his single eye. He always did enjoy stargazing…

Her smile became a little sad as she got a better look at him.

The sight of him in front of her should've felt more magical. It should've. But the magic had soured a bit when she studied the scuff marks all over his body.

Damn it… Asleep for six years, and the first thing he had to deal with after finally waking up was getting attacked by gang members? The fact that he was only lightly roughed up with a shallow cut was a miracle. It could've been so much worse if he hadn't been holding out as well as he had.

How in the world did he even manage to do that anyway? For someone who just recently woke up from a coma, he sure was light on his feet. At least, he must've been, considering he was dealing with two guys for who knows how long before AUBREY showed up to rescue him.

Still, all the more reason to take him somewhere safe as soon as she could. She didn't want to risk those two punks coming back with even more MOPED BOYS as backup, as unlikely that might've been. No way could she protect them both all by herself if that became the case, and she doubted whatever SUNNY managed to pull off the first time around would end up working a second time.

OMORI's attention returned back to AUBREY as she grabbed his arm once again and tugged at him to follow. With nothing left to say, OMORI wordlessly went along with her.

He would've liked to watch the stars a little longer, but he knew he wasted too much time today already. He needed to have a talk with BASIL again.

…

…

…

The peaceful walk while heading back to town was a stark contrast from all the excitement earlier. Without any violent gang members chasing him like before, it was a lot easier to relax again.

OMORI noted to himself the way AUBREY kept holding onto his arm the entire time. She hadn't loosened her grip on him for a second, almost as if she was worried he'd wander off somewhere if she did.

For AUBREY, she was keeping herself on guard, vigilantly observing the surroundings for any signs of whatever that might pop out of the shadows.

As strange as it sounded, she wasn't on the lookout for gang members specifically.

If this is a dream, I swear to god, I'm gonna sock the first girl I see with long dark-brown hair right in the face– She kept muttering in her thoughts.

With a concerned glance, OMORI asked, "You okay?"

"Huh, what?!" AUBREY had a startled expression as she turned to face him. When she saw it was only him looking at her in concern, she awkwardly cleared her throat and faced forward again, "S-Sorry, it's nothing. I'm fine."

OMORI could only raise an eyebrow, before asking again, "You sure…?"

…

You know what, speaking of hair… AUBREY peeked at OMORI with an interested glance.

"Actually, I did have something I wanted to ask…" AUBREY fidgeted a little with an embarrassed, "How did you know it was me…?"

At this, OMORI became expressionless as he glanced away from her in thought.

Shoot, he still hadn't thought of a proper excuse for how he managed to recognize her in this world. He wasn't expecting her to ask this question so soon.

Feigning ignorance to buy himself some time, OMORI casually asked, "What do you mean?"

AUBREY let out an awkward laugh, "SUNNY, c'mon. Do I really need to spell it out…?" AUBREY twirled a strand of her pink hair around, emphasizing her point. "I'm honestly shocked you recognized me right off the bat. Not even BASIL recognized me that quickly when he saw me like this for the first time."

In her heart, she always expected SUNNY to react to her as if she was a stranger. Who could blame him if he did? She didn't look anything like she did six years ago.

It wasn't just her looks either. Her voice changed, and even her personality was radically different from the cutesy girl that SUNNY once had a crush on.

She used to have nightmares about this kind of scenario. SUNNY, finally waking up after all these years, reuniting with AUBREY only to end up rejecting who she was once he found out just how much she had changed. One specific nightmare she had bothered her for so long, it boiled her blood even now just thinking about it.

She thought she was unrecognizable. So the fact that SUNNY knew it was her straight from the get go was completely mind-boggling to her. How did he know before she even had the chance to explain anything?

OMORI glanced down with a hum. After a moment to think, he glanced away as he answered, "While BASIL and I were catching up together, we talked about you for a bit. So I just figured."

He trailed off with a shrug. It wasn't the whole truth, but at least it wasn't a complete lie. He and BASIL did talk about AUBREY for a little bit during the morning, after all. OMORI hoped that she'd be satisfied with that.

Thankfully for him, AUBREY came to her own conclusions as she connected the dots by herself.

"BASIL told you…?" She mumbled in surprise.

BASIL did say he spent the whole day with SUNNY today, didn't he… He would've had plenty of time to help get SUNNY caught up with everything new…

She… didn't exactly know how to feel about this. How much did BASIL tell him? Did he tell him about everything?

The pink hair? The teal contacts? Even the gang related stuff too? How much did SUNNY know?

How did SUNNY react to it all? Did he say anything when BASIL told him? Was he shocked? Scared? Disappointed in her?

Did he get upset and call BASIL a liar…?

AUBREY gulped as she faced him again, before asking, "W-Weren't you freaked out at all? By what you heard about me?"

Freaked out? OMORI gave her a strange glance. What would he get freaked out about? By the pink hair color? Maybe he had been surprised by the pink hair the first time around in the previous world, but it wasn't a big enough deal that he would freak out about it.

OMORI tilted his head, answering with a simple, "You told me once that you and MARI promised to dye your hair together. She was supposed to be purple, while you wanted your hair to be pink… It wasn't hard for me to imagine what you'd look like now."

AUBREY's pace crawled to a halt.

Seeing AUBREY suddenly stop moving, OMORI ended up stopping as well, giving her a curious look.

AUBREY eyes were completely wide open.

So BASIL didn't tell him everything then? It was just the pink hair? Was SUNNY safely in the dark about all the gang stuff she was involved in?

She didn't know whether to feel relieved that he didn't know yet, or feel incredibly anxious that she would have to break the news to him at some point. The fact that she still had room to breathe about all this definitely eased her nerves a little, but…

…

Her promise with MARI, huh? That was such an old memory… She remembered it, vaguely. She was showing off a pink raincoat to everyone, right? BASIL took a photo of her, KEL said something about pink being a gross color, then that was when she mentioned the plan to dye her hair together with MARI…

"See, I noticed that every time I took a photo of you, SUNNY would always come up to me to ask if he could see it first." BASIL giggled.

…and BASIL found out SUNNY had a crush on her.

To her, it only became a reminder of just how far different she was from the girl she used to be.

Yet those same exact memories helped SUNNY recognize her.

…

Heh… Hahahaha…

AUBREY couldn't help but begin to laugh at herself over all of this.

It felt so obvious when she thought about it. Of course SUNNY would end up recognizing her right away. He remembered the promise she told him back when she was a kid. If BASIL already explained everything, then it was no wonder SUNNY was able to figure it out so fast.

He always did have an amazing memory. He'd always been a good listener, too.

All these anxious thoughts about him not recognizing or accepting her, all these stupid nightmares she used to have– Had they been meaningless after all?

Maybe she had gotten worried over nothi–

A realization suddenly struck her.

This was their first time meeting each other in six years, and the first thing he saw AUBREY do was beat a kid to near death with a friggin' metal pipe.

…

"Uh… So…" AUBREY nervously faced OMORI again, "If you knew it was me from the beginning… Does that mean that you knew it was me, even when I was clubbing that guy to a pulp earlier?"

OMORI raised an eyebrow, before silently nodding.

SHIT– That wasn't the first impression I wanted to give him after all this time! AUBREY internally panicked.

"Uh…!" AUBREY self-consciously scratched behind her ears, "I'm sorry you had to see that. The violent display earlier, I mean."

OMORI glanced back at her with a confused eyebrow, "What for? You saved me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but…" AUBREY struggled, "I must've scared you a little, right? This is the first time we've seen each other in such a long time, so you probably didn't expect me to act so… crazy like that."

OMORI frowned, "I wouldn't call it crazy. You did what you had to do."

"..." AUBREY gave him an incredulous look. For a while, she didn't really know what to say. She thought he would've had a–… stronger? reaction, somehow.

The girly AUBREY from six years ago would've never had the stomach to get so violent like that. As far as SUNNY knew, AUBREY beating a guy senseless with a pipe should be the last thing he'd ever expect to see.

But he seemed so nonchalant. Like he was just letting the whole thing smoothly roll over him without a care in the world. She always knew he was easygoing, but… never on a level like this, right?

"Y… You're not even just a little bit weirded out?" AUBREY couldn't help but ask. "By, like… anything about me at all?"

He gave a considerate hum in thought as he studied her. Then after a while, he chose to respond with a simple shrug, "Not really? You seem pretty normal to me."

AUBREY couldn't believe her ears. No way. No way that SUNNY could look at her and not be even a little bit shocked or weirded out. Even BASIL needed a few days at the very least to get used to her changes back when they had reunited three years ago!

Was SUNNY just being considerate…? Maybe he was pretending not to be bothered by all the obvious changes to spare her feelings, but was secretly freaking out on the inside?

…

No.

No, it didn't feel that way to her. She could tell by looking into his eye. He was staring back at her like she was just an old familiar friend that he hadn't seen for a while.

How the hell…?

…

After a while, OMORI commented, "If it makes you feel better, I think that guy was trying to kill me. So, he probably deserved it."

A brief moment of silence passed, as AUBREY blankly stared at OMORI.

Then all of a sudden, AUBREY started to laugh. OMORI leaned back in surprise from the intensity of her laughter.

OMORI hummed to himself as he watched AUBREY almost keel over from laughing so hard.

He didn't think the joke was that funny, but… Well, at least it made her feel better.

AUBREY, meanwhile, couldn't control herself. It was his whole timing and delivery that made her laugh so hard. Out of all the things to say, she certainly didn't expect him to say something like that so casually.

The fact he didn't even question anything about her violent beatdown and just went along with it only made this whole situation feel that much more absurd to her. She really couldn't help but laugh at it all.

It felt so unreal.

…

It took a while for her laughing fit to settle down. AUBREY had to wipe a tear from her eye as she let out the last of her giggles.

OMORI silently stood by with a cliff-faced expression all the while.

When AUBREY looked at him again, she felt a strong wave of nostalgia building up inside her. Thinking back on it, moments like these used to be pretty common between her and SUNNY. Being able to feel like this again, it was…

"I can't believe I'm finally able to talk to you again…" AUBREY's smile softened, "I haven't seen you in so long, and now you're back like… like you never even left."

She had lost hope that SUNNY would come back such a long time ago. It was only because of BASIL encouraging her that she managed to even retrieve a small sense of that hope back.

And just when she did, SUNNY was finally back. Like nothing ever happened.

It felt so–

It was like–

…

It felt like… it was almost…

Almost too good to be true…

She slowly stopped smiling.

OMORI glanced at her curiously.

"SUNNY..." AUBREY softly spoke, reaching a hand out to touch the side of his face. "This is all real… Right? This isn't some kind of dream?"

OMORI's eye widened, speechless from the question.

…

This whole situation felt so unrealistic when AUBREY really thought about it. SUNNY had been in a coma for six years, but now he was talking and walking around like normal? He wasn't even shocked or surprised after seeing how different she was? Barely even questioning anything about her at all?

It just felt too good to be true…

AUBREY stared deeply at him, her eyes studying his entire face. "Am I actually here, talking with you for real? I'm not just dreaming all of this, am I?"

OMORI's breath hitched, as his hands clumped into fists.

…

AUBREY knew it was a stupid question to ask. How could any of this not be real? The details of his face, the feeling of his skin on her fingers, the warmth from his head– It was all too realistic to be a dream.

But she'd been burned by her dreams before. She couldn't help but leave room for doubt. What were the chances that she got hit in the head really hard by one of the MOPED BOYS earlier, and was now knocked out at the park dreaming all of this up? Some part of her was screaming that this whole thing was something she conjured in her mind somehow.

And she was so terrified of being proven right. So excruciatingly terrified.

She gulped anxiously, "My… My heart won't be able to take it right now if I wake up and find out this is all just a dream. So please… please be real…"

…

…

…

OMORI didn't know how to answer her. He couldn't find the words.

Because not even he knew if any of this was real. Ever since he came to this world, he always had some doubt about if this was all in his head. That he was still in the middle of falling from the hospital all along, being punished by the universe for his sins.

How could any of this have been possible in the first place? How could MARI come back to life if not to rub it in his face that he killed her?

The universe wouldn't reward a murderer, so this had to be a dream. If it wasn't, then it had to be a punishment.

…Even if this was real, would it really matter in the end?

I don't know. I really don't…

And because I didn't know, OMORI couldn't answer her.

…

OMORI could only stay silent as he faced away, too guilt-ridden to look her in the eyes.

Despite failing to answer her, AUBREY suddenly lunged forward to wrap him in another tight hug.

"I'm sorry. That was mean of me to ask out of nowhere." She whispered regretfully, "You're probably just as confused about all this as I am… it wasn't fair for me to throw that in your face all of a sudden."

In hindsight, asking a freshly awoken comatose patient if everything was real or not? Definitely not the brightest move on AUBREY's part. Seeing the sad look on his face as he faced away from her nearly broke her heart.

Sigh, should've handled this more delicately.

"This is real. I'm sure it is." AUBREY proclaimed, breaking away from the hug. With an awkward smile, she explained, "Forget that whole moment, okay? I was just talking crazy because of my own personal issues I haven't really worked out yet."

"...Issues?" OMORI's sad expression slowly turned to a curious one as he glanced back up at her, "You wanna talk about it...?"

Not expecting the sudden offer, AUBREY fumbled a bit, "I-I mean, I'm not really-… The whole thing is kinda-…" It took a moment for her to try to brush it off, "You'll probably think it's weird."

"Can't be weirder than anything I've already been through." OMORI shrugged.

AUBREY chuckled a bit from that, "I guess you got a point there..."

This wasn't really something she had ever talked about with anyone before. She never had the chance to bring it up with BASIL either, though she doubted she ever had any actual plans of discussing it at all. It felt way too embarrassing and personal for her to ever admit to anyone.

Still… talking about it with SUNNY… It kinda felt like opening up her feelings to him again, like she always did back on the swingset. She knew that he'd never judge or make fun of her. He'd always just listen.

Heh... The middle of the streets here weren't exactly as nice as the swingset, but…

Hm.

After some consideration, AUBREY admitted with a sigh, "I… used to have dreams about a day like this happening. You, showing up out of nowhere, somehow awake again." She rubbed her neck awkwardly, "I don't get those kinds of dreams anymore, but this one specific dream stuck out to me for the longest time."

…

I remembered being at our old hangout spot, trying to pass the time or something. Then all of a sudden, you showed up. Saying that you just got out of the hospital and that you were looking for all your old friends, but didn't know how. So you wanted to check by the lake to start.

I remembered being so happy and excited that you were finally back. You have no idea how much I missed you, you know? I thought things were finally gonna go back to the way things used to be, somehow.

You… Well, you didn't recognize me at first. You kept asking me who I was and how I knew you.

It hurt, but I kinda expected that. So much time had passed while you were gone, and things were different now. So I told you who I was. AUBREY.

You didn't believe me. You… you refused to believe me. You even called me a liar, and a weirdo that liked messing with coma patients.

That ended up hurting even worse…

Then all of a sudden, um… Well, another AUBREY appeared. Another me, but not exactly me. She would look exactly like how I would've looked if I had never dyed my hair pink, basically.

She'd claim she was the real AUBREY, and that I was a faker. Said a lot of hurtful things, like how only the real AUBREY would do this and that, and how I couldn't have been real. She was the pretty and girly one, while I was the mean looking scary one. Completely denied my whole existence and stole my place in life before taking you away from me.

Even when I tried to fight her, she just pushed me into the lake, and I ended up drowning before I woke up to realize it was all just in my head.

I only ever had this dream the one time, but… It always stuck out to me. Even now, I'm wondering if my evil twin clone will show up to try to steal you away again, ruining the whole thing like she did back then. Then I'd have to wake up again from another awful dream.

…

AUBREY's face had an embarrassed blush that grew the more she went on to explain her dream to OMORI. She couldn't help but begin to feel a little stupid, admitting all of this out loud.

OMORI silently stood by, intently listening to everything as he mulled over her experience.

"So, uh… yeah." AUBREY swallowed as she awkwardly stared at the ground, "That was why I was acting so weird, asking if you were just a dream or whatever. Don't think too deeply about it… Please."

He stayed silent for a decent while. Long enough that it made AUBREY start to feel anxious and regret opening her mouth about this in the first place.

But then OMORI hummed as he told her, "Y'know, I can kinda relate. My own evil twin clone tried to beat me up with a violin. Can't fault you for being wary."

…

AUBREY snorted as she held a hand up to cover her mouth, "Pffft, what?! Where did that even come from?!"

That was such a random thing to say. It caught her so off guard, she couldn't help but laugh at how absurd it was. Why was his sense of humor always so really weird?

OMORI shrugged stoically, continuing on, "I can't really say for sure whether or not another AUBREY will show up again… But I can at least promise not to listen to her if she does. Besides, you seem cooler than her. The SUNNY in your dream was probably just dumb."

If another AUBREY does show up, hopefully it won't become another AUBREY Death Battle scenario again. Still kinda traumatized from that HEADSPACE dream. OMORI thought idly.

"Hahahaha!" AUBREY went into another fit of laughter as she held onto her sides.

In an odd turn of events, AUBREY had to admit that hearing him reassure her really did make her feel much better now. It was such a simple, jokey kind of response, but coming from SUNNY, she felt like it meant more to her than she even imagined. Somehow, someway, he knew just the right thing to say to ease her mind.

Calming down from her second laughing fit tonight, she worked up between the giggles to give him a genuine smile, "T-Thanks, SUNNY. I really needed to hear that."

OMORI gave a thumbs up in response.

Hahahaha…

…

…

…

Just to double-check and be extra extra safe, AUBREY pinched her arm for good measure.

"Ow. Okay." AUBREY softly laughed when she felt it hurt, "Not in a dream, then. This is all definitely happening."

…

OMORI brought his arm up to look at it with a jealous frown. If only it was as easy for him to check by pinching himself too.

He gave himself an experimental pinch, only to feel nothing. Nothing at all.

Of course…

---

"Okay, wait– Back up a bit." BASIL held a hand up to pause KEL.

"Oh, sure." KEL stopped talking to let BASIL speak.

They both sat together right outside the park entrance as they waited for AUBREY to come back. KIM and VANCE had already left so that KIM could head back home to recover from her injuries.

Despite KEL insisting that BASIL follow suit so that he could recover from his own injuries, BASIL was adamant about staying right there to wait for AUBREY and make sure SUNNY was alright. KEL couldn't do anything to change his mind, so instead offered to wait alongside him.

In order to pass the time and calm BASIL's nerves, the two of them got to talking, with KEL explaining where he had been this whole day.

"You went to talk to MARI?" BASIL incredulously stared at KEL, "Without getting kicked out right away?"

"Yeah, man!" KEL chuckled with a triumphant fist raised, "I got to sit down and drink tea and everything! Uh-" KEL quickly back tracked as he scratched his cheek, "I don't think I ever actually drank my tea though."

"Nevermind that!" BASIL waved away as he focused on the main topic, "I just can't believe she was willing to sit down and actually talk to you! How the heck did you manage to convince her?"

She was still as stubborn and self-destructive as usual when BASIL saw her this morning. It seemed so unlikely that KEL could somehow change her heart so quickly.

"I don't know about the word convince, but…" KEL sheepishly smiled, "Well, I knew MARI was still angry at me for not visiting SUNNY after all this time. I just wanted to apologize so that we can try to become friends again."

Hearing this, BASIL became miffed as he sighed, "KEL, you had nothing to apologize for. MARI was being unreasonable in the first place for pressuring you to visit all the time, even though you were getting uncomfortable. You didn't have to-"

"I know, I know-" KEL waved his friend down, "It's just… I get that you and SUNNY think I didn't do anything wrong, but I still felt guilty in a way, y'know? Besided, I wanted to go back to how things used to be like with MARI. If apologizing could fix that, then why not?"

BASIL understood the intention. But still, it shouldn't have been KEL to have taken that first step when he hadn't done anything wrong in the first place. MARI was in the wrong here.

"I still feel like MARI should've been the one to apologize to you instead…" BASIL mumbled bitterly.

KEL awkwardly glanced at BASIL, curious about the sour change in his mood. It was strange seeing BASIL act so unlike himself. Did something happen between MARI and BASIL too?

"I-I mean, it's a bit more complicated than that…" KEL awkwardly chuckled, trying to defend MARI a little. "It's not like I was entirely blameless. I could've handled things differently if only I wasn't a dumb little kid back then. Y'know?"

"...Alright, I guess." BASIL let the issue go after seeing KEL being strangely insistent about it. Doing his best to push away his disgruntled thoughts, he asked, "So? How did it go?"

KEL smiled proudly. "I think some progress was made."

"Wait, really?!" Reacting to that, BASIL turned his body so fast that he nearly busted his hip again. He let out a small hiss as he grabbed his side, causing KEL to reach out in concern.

"Woah, BASIL, you okay?"

"It's alright! I'm fine…" BASIL steadily breathed out, before quickly returning back to the main topic, "What did you mean progress was made? Did MARI actually forgive you?"

That sounded much more optimistic than he would've expected, considering it was MARI they were talking about.

"She didn't really 'forgive me' forgive me, but…" KEL air-quoted sheepishly, before his smile became brighter as he continued, "She did seem a lot calmer after everything was said and done. She told me that she'd take some time to think about it, and even thanked me before I left. I'm taking that as a good sign."

Wow… BASIL mouthed breathlessly.

Definitely didn't see that coming.

MARI had been so obstinate too. It didn't look like she showed any signs of changing her self-destructive mindset when BASIL had talked to her this morning.

But maybe… Just maybe… Something BASIL said might've gotten through to her? Or maybe it was because SUNNY was back that she was finally starting to listen to reason?

Whatever the case, if this was the first sign of positive change finally happening, BASIL was prepared to welcome it with open arms.

We can go back to how things used to be…

KEL let loose a calm sigh, "I'm hopeful things will work out between us."

BASIL smiled back, "We do have SUNNY back with us again... He should be able to smooth things over with MARI, and keep her level headed."

"Yeah!" KEL nodded enthusiastically… before his smile became a little subdued as he remembered MARI's words about herself. How she believed everything was all her fault. "Yeah… Hopefully SUNNY can get through to her."

Speak of the devil…

"BASIL! I found him!" A voice called out to them in the distance, interrupting their conversation.

The two of them looked over as AUBREY arrived with the guest of honor in tow, leading him around by the hand. AUBREY waved at the both of them while OMORI silently locked his eye on BASIL.

"Eyy! There he is!" KEL waved back enthusiastically as he stood up from his spot, only to nearly get knocked back by BASIL exploding up to his feet.

"SUNNY! You're okay!" BASIL could barely contain himself as he hurried to meet them halfway, even as he limped through the pain in his body.

"Dude, take it easy!" KEL winced, following after BASIL to make sure he didn't trip and hurt himself.

When everyone grouped up together, BASIL was quick to glomp OMORI in another tight hug.

"You're safe! Oh, thank goodness…" BASIL cried out in relief. "I'm so glad AUBREY was able to find you before anything happened!"

OMORI didn't respond, nor did he even return the hug. He stood still, continuing to stare at BASIL's beat-up condition. He almost looked like he had just gotten into a car accident with five consecutive cars.

BASIL eventually pulled away, his relieved smile slowly turning to a shocked frown when he noticed AUBREY's hair bow inexplicably tied around OMORI's right arm, stained in a colorful purple.

"W-... What happened?" BASIL asked, anxiously lifting OMORI's arm to look closer at it.

AUBREY winced, "Sorry, BASIL. One of the MOPED BOYS had a knife on him. SUNNY's arm got cut before I even showed up. I patched it up as best I could, but we might need a first aid kit."

Staring at the wounded arm, BASIL felt an agonizing hole open in his heart as he let out a grief-stricken cry for his best friend's injury.

"No…! I even did everything I could to try to prevent you from getting hurt! It still wasn't enough…" BASIL teetered on the edge of crying as his voice wavered, "I'm so sorry, SUNNY… This is all my fault…"

After everything BASIL went through, SUNNY still couldn't escape unharmed. Was today just cursed for him? Because how could his continuous streak of bad luck be going for this long, or even be this bad? How could so many unfortunate things happen on the day he was looking forward to for so long?!

OMORI roughly pulled his arm away. "Stop it."

BASIL looked back at him in shock, not expecting the sudden stern tone coming from him.

"You're acting like I got stabbed in the gut. It's just a shallow cut. I'll live." Pointing to BASIL, OMORI stated bluntly, "You look way worse compared to me. Why are you crying over a shallow cut when you can barely even walk straight?"

BASIL sniffed a bit as he wiped his eyes, feeling a little embarrassed from being called out like this. "I just… I just wanted to protect you! Something like this is easy to shrug off, so I don't mind whatever happens to me… But I couldn't let anything bad happen to you, SUNNY!"

OMORI clenched his fists with a frown.

Why was BASIL like this towards him? What was with that single-minded overprotective sense of duty he had? All this over a stupid promise he made with MARI?

MARI died because of you trying to protect me. Why couldn't you have just-…

"I didn't ask you to protect me." OMORI stated bluntly, "You shouldn't have sacrificed yourself for my sake. It was reckless. Things could've gotten worse. We should've just stuck together from the beginning and thought up a better plan if you were that worried for me. It's so stupid…"

BASIL eyes went wide, before he looked down with an ashamed expression.

He didn't really know what to say to defend himself. He didn't think he would end up disappointing SUNNY so badly just for prioritizing SUNNY's safety over his own. All he could do was apologize, hoping that SUNNY would forgive him, "I… I'm sorry, SUNNY."

…

There was a heavy awkward tension in the atmosphere, something that both KEL and AUBREY felt as they watched this. KEL couldn't help but cut in between the two with a calming smile, "Hey guys, c'mon! You both went through a lot today, so let's ease up on each other. No point rubbing salt in the wound."

"Yeah…" AUBREY reached a hand out to OMORI, settling on his shoulder, "SUNNY, I get how you feel, but I can also see where BASIL is coming from. We just got you back after losing you six years ago. It makes sense why he'd go a bit overboard trying to protect you. Whatever he did, I probably would've done the same in his shoes."

OMORI stared back at her.

If it had been AUBREY who came over that night and saw MARI's body at the bottom of the stairs, would she have done the same as BASIL?

An image of AUBREY, hugging her plantegg plushie tightly as she stared at him in horror, "H-... How could you do this to her?!"

No. She would never.

"Cut him some slack, okay?" AUBREY gently smiled.

…

…

…

OMORI looked down without saying a word.

AUBREY didn't really know if he was letting the issue go, or if he was silently disagreeing with her. She couldn't shake the feeling she might've said something wrong just now.

"No… It's okay you guys, SUNNY's probably right." BASIL spoke up with a guilty frown, "Earlier when we were being chased by those gang members, I had the idea to hide SUNNY in a trash-can so that I could act as bait and lure them away all by myself. It all happened so quickly, I didn't really leave it open for discussion at the time even though SUNNY didn't agree with me. SUNNY's probably upset that I ended up shouldering all the responsibility myself without giving him a chance to come up with another plan."

Hearing this, KEL and AUBREY turned to look at OMORI, who was still facing away to stare at the ground.

With a sigh, AUBREY muttered, "Well, no wonder why he called you out like that. I'd be upset too if you ever tried to pull that crap on me. I understand why you did it, but that was still really reckless of you, BASIL."

"I… I know. I'm sorry, again…" BASIL nodded with a somber expression.

AUBREY really could understand, though, which was why she wasn't going to chew him out any harder over it. Even though she hated the fact that BASIL had to get himself hurt over it, in a tough call situation, AUBREY actually would've done the same thing.

But since SUNNY was upset, she decided to play mediator.

"Well, what's done is done. Can't exactly take back what you already did, and there's no point in dragging it out." AUBREY furrowed her brows as she smoothed over her hair, before returning a hand to OMORI's shoulder, "I see the bigger picture now, SUNNY. BASIL messed up big time and he got really hurt over it. But at least we can consider ourselves lucky that nothing more serious ended up happening to the both of you before all of us showed up. I'm sure he's learned his lesson and won't do that to you again."

AUBREY had hoped her saying all this would calm him down, but OMORI's shoulder was still tense when she tried to comfort him. Whatever happened between the two of them must've seriously bothered him, because she never thought she'd ever see him this upset at BASIL before.

Glancing over at BASIL, even he seemed like he was at a loss.

Not wanting to dwell on this awkward moment any longer, KEL gave a loud clap as he suggested, "So it's getting dark out! I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to taking a break inside a nice warm room somewhere!"

Feeling OMORI's shoulder relax a bit, AUBREY let go with a quick sigh of relief, "Not a bad idea right now. I think we could all use a little bit of a breather to calm down."

"Y-Yeah…" BASIL slowly perked up from the change in topic, as he suggested, "We still need to look at SUNNY's arm to make sure it's not infected."

"Alright!" KEL cheered, before settling down as he asked, "So, who's couch are we surfing on for the night?"

AUBREY gave him a deadpanned glare, "I thought you brought it up first because you were offering. Your house is the closest from here anyway."

"Definitely not!" KEL crossed his arms into a large X sign, a drop of sweat crawling down his head as he explained, "Sorry guys. My house is an active hotspot for danger at the moment. I really doubt my mom will let me invite you guys over right now, for… personal reasons."

Hearing this news, AUBREY rolled her eyes, "Of course. Knowing you, you probably pissed her off because you snuck out of the house to skip chores or something."

"I will neither confirm nor deny these allegations." KEL plainly stated through his flat expression.

With a tired groan, AUBREY shook her head, "Well we can't go to my house. I don't have a first aid kit anyway."

AUBREY left the other obvious reason unsaid to retain her dignity. Even though she doubted her mom would be sober enough to care if she brought over friends, having everyone gathered around inside her trash heap of a house wasn't something she was looking forward to.

For a brief collective moment, everyone gave a passing glance towards OMORI. Would it maybe be a good idea if they went to his and MARI's…?

OMORI could only shake his head, "Not a good idea."

Yeah, probably not. Everyone else thought in unison.

With an awkward chuckle, BASIL scratched his neck, "I guess that leaves me by default. I do have some first aid supplies at my house, so that works."

"Alright, that's settled. Hope we won't be a bother." AUBREY smiled apologetically.

BASIL chuckled as he shook his head, "Not at all. In fact, I've actually been looking for you guys this whole day just so that we could all hang out like this. We can finish the day finally getting caught up with SUNNY together!"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" KEL gasped in realization, before his smile widened. "BASIL, AUBREY, me, and now SUNNY– Dude, now that SUNNY's back, it means the whole group is here!"

KEL gave a loud holler as he suddenly rushed in to grab everyone in a tightly knit group hug, ignoring the grunts and complaints as he did so.

"WOOOOO, THE FARAWAY KIDS ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN BABY!"

As KEL laughed from the reunion, AUBREY huffed as she looked over at BASIL, "Was that really what we called ourselves back then?"

"No, I don't remember that." BASIL awkwardly shook his head.

"He made the name up just now." OMORI stated.

"Figures."

---

When BASIL unlocked the door to his house, he swung It open with a tired greeting. "Hey everyone… I'm hooome…"

There was nobody who greeted him back, not unless you counted the abundant amounts of flourishing plants decorated inside. In which case, it might as well have been a loud collection of cheers welcoming BASIL.

With a soft giggle, he welcomed everyone else inside as he turned the lights on.

Passing through the doors after KEL, OMORI was hit by the familiar sight of even more exotic flora than ever before. Dozens, if not hundreds of beautiful flowers decorated the main room on their own, leaving him in awe once again just like when he was back in the FIX-IT's garden section.

Go figure that the inside of his house would look like a tropical paradise too. What else did he expect? The BASIL in this reality definitely didn't let his green thumb go to waste…

Although OMORI already half-expected the house to look drastically different on the inside, something he didn't expect to be different was the lack of another person here. Specifically, a kindhearted motherly person with a sweet voice, someone that he had gotten to know during the last three days back in his old reality.

Where was POLLY? Was she not home?

"Sorry about the mess! I was in a rush cleaning this morning, so the place might look a little sloppy." BASIL chuckled apologetically.

"Are you kidding? This place looks great like always! I didn't take a proper look around the last time I was in here, but man– the plants here are gorgeous!" KEL whistled impressively as he took in the sights, "Gosh, it's been ages since I've hung out at your place… I always missed the vibes here."

"Haha. Thanks, KEL." BASIL smiled bashfully at the compliment, before turning to OMORI, hoping to hear what he had to say.

…

OMORI didn't really have anything to say to him right now, so he chose not to respond as he looked away.

BASIL's smile wavered when he realized OMORI was still upset with him.

He was now left in an awkward position, unsure of what to do.

Situations like this were very rare. SUNNY and BASIL usually never got into fights, they were often close enough to work things out sooner rather than later. Still, when fights did happen, BASIL often couldn't do anything other than wait until SUNNY was willing to talk again.

Was he really that upset with BASIL for trying to lead those gang members away? BASIL had only wanted to keep him safe… Even if it meant getting hurt, he just wanted to make sure he wouldn't lose SUNNY again… BASIL thought that maybe he would understand that, but…

Sigh… BASIL hoped that his friend would forgive him soon. He definitely didn't want their first day together to be ruined by something like this…

And things had been going so well earlier, too… He told me how proud he was of me… What changed so quickly? BASIL lamented.

Unable to say anything to change the situation, all BASIL could do was give an awkward, "I-I'll go fetch the first aid kit. Be right back!"

Seeing him limping away to the back of the house, KEL followed after as he offered in a carefree voice , "Lemme give you a hand! I might've seen it somewhere when I broke in yesterday!"

OMORI silently watched the two of them leave.

…

Left alone with his thoughts, he glanced at the clock. Around 8 PM or so. The night was still young, but the day was coming to a close.

He only had a few more hours at most to confront BASIL about what happened between him and MARI. OMORI wondered if he'd have enough time to hear out everything BASIL had to say, or if he'd even have the chance to.

BASIL would've been the only one who could've possibly seen what happened the night of the incident, if he even saw anything at all in this reality. If he was keeping any secrets, he probably wouldn't want any of the others to know.

Considering what OMORI planned to ask, would BASIL clam up if AUBREY and KEL were here to listen in? Would he need to find an opportunity to get BASIL away from the others, before he could ask anything sensitive?

Damn it… OMORI wished he would've focused on this earlier back at the pier when he had the chance. With AUBREY and KEL here now, things might get complicated. What was his game plan here…?

Just then, AUBREY finally entered the room, breaking OMORI out of his thoughts.

With a tired huff, she lugged her bike into the living room, guiding it right next to the shoe rack by the entrance and leaving it against the wall. Instead of leaving it outside, it seemed parking it inside was something she had done plenty of times now, like the spot was her own reserved bike space.

OMORI remembered seeing AUBREY's bike from the previous world. The bike itself had always looked pretty worn out from how he remembered– probably from several years of use. Still, OMORI couldn't help but note how the random dent in the middle of the bike seemed new.

"How'd that happen?" OMORI asked.

AUBREY jolted a bit from the question, before quickly waving it away with a smile, "D-Don't worry about it! It's not the first dent this bike has ever gotten, and I can easily fix it later at home!"

Okay then…? Not what he had asked, but whatever…

With the bike now safely parked, AUBREY came up to OMORI and asked, "Doing alright? How're you feeling?"

"About the same as the last time you asked." OMORI shrugged.

"That's good. I was just wondering. You look kinda out of it, but then again, that's how you've always looked." She chuckled lightheartedly. With a quick glance around the room, she mentioned, "It's pretty shocking, right? BASIL's house? It's changed so much since the last time you've been here."

OMORI looked over the house again as he nodded, "Yeah. It looks cooler now. Seems like everything he touches is always different than how it used to be."

Yet some things were still the exact same, in more ways than one.

"Yeah… He had a really big glow up while you've been gone. Happened ever since his grandma passed away." AUBREY suddenly hesitated, as she nervously asked, "H-He told you all that already, right?"

OMORI nodded, "Yeah, I'm up to speed."

AUBREY let out a relieved sigh, "Phew… Alright then."

While AUBREY was getting her bearings, OMORI took the time to really start studying the whole place as he tried to note all the differences he could spot.

Beyond superficial stuff, something he noticed earlier still bothered him. Even though it was already so late, the lack of POLLY being here made him wonder.

AUBREY seemed to notice the discerning look on his face, as she softly asked, "Are you still bothered by what happened with BASIL?"

"What?" OMORI turned to her curiously.

"The fact that he got hurt trying to lead those gang members away from you." AUBREY frowned as she rubbed her neck, "You seemed pretty hung up about it earlier. I don't think I've ever seen you act like that towards BASIL before."

Realizing what she meant, OMORI silently glanced away.

"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 didn't really want to talk about that right now, to be honest. His problem with that whole issue ran deeper than anything AUBREY could ever possibly understand.

Besides, he was sure he'd eventually come around to that later at some point. That just wasn't really what was on his mind at the moment.

OMORI shook his head, "No, I'm not thinking about that anymore. It's something else."

AUBREY looked surprised before relaxing a bit to ask. "Oh? What's up then?"

In this reality, AUBREY ended up staying friends with BASIL for all these years. In that case, she'd already know about POLLY and what she'd been up to, right? Throughout this whole day, OMORI didn't remember BASIL ever telling him about POLLY during his introduction-spree across the town.

"Where's POLLY? I haven't seen her anywhere." He decided to ask, glancing around the place.

He had expected to hear a response explaining to him that she might've been out late or something. Maybe even out of town to work as a caretaker for other elderly people, since that was her job.

Instead, what he got was a strangely lengthy period of silence.

After a while, OMORI noticed how long it took for AUBREY to answer him as he turned back to face her.

AUBREY was staring at him with a confused eyebrow raised.

"Who's POLLY?"

…

…

…

OMORI slowly blinked, finding himself stunned at the question.

AUBREY… didn't know who POLLY was? But he thought she and BASIL stuck together in this world. Wouldn't she know who–

That was when it dawned on him. BASIL's grandma died two years earlier compared to the world he used to live in. He never really delved too deep into what effects that might've had, since he was so focused on wondering if MARI's death being prevented had somehow caused that.

From what he remembered, POLLY said that she had been hired by BASIL's parents to look after his grandma about a few years before OMORI had met her. In the previous reality, POLLY had to have been taking care of both BASIL and his grandma during that.

But if his grandma died much earlier, wouldn't that mean… POLLY didn't have an excuse to stick around? Did that mean that POLLY never spent the time growing closer to BASIL after his grandma passed away in this world? Did his parents never decide to keep her hired?

Was BASIL living alone, all by himself?

POLLY wasn't here?

What…?

…

AUBREY gave OMORI a concerned look as she noticed him drifting away, lost in his thoughts. Something like this felt sort of nostalgic for her. How many times as a kid did she catch him staring off into space like that, immersed in his own daydreams? Way too many times to count.

Yet this felt a little bit different. He seemed too intensely focused on his thoughts this time around, instead of the usual distracted kind of sense that AUBREY had always remembered him for.

With a small wave in front of his face, she called out, "SUNNY?"

OMORI was quick to snap out of it as he faced AUBREY again, "Yeah?"

"You okay?" AUBREY looked over his face with a frown, "I asked who POLLY was, and you kinda went off into space there."

"Oh. Sorry." OMORI mumbled, returning to his usual stoic demeanor.

"So… Who's POLLY? Is that someone I should know?" AUBREY asked again. Try as she might, she couldn't really remember anyone with the name POLLY in her life. Especially not in her memories as a kid…

OMORI kept silent for a while, thinking up a response. He definitely messed up again, talking about stuff he couldn't have possibly known about. Still, this seemed pretty minor in comparison to recognizing AUBREY right off the bat. He could probably worm his way out of this one with something random and simple.

"A parrot, I guess?" OMORI shrugged casually.

"A… A parrot?" AUBREY repeated in confusion.

"'POLLY want a cracker.' You know?" OMORI hummed, before giving a half-lie to explain, "Sorry, I think I must've misunderstood something. BASIL and I talked about a lot of things today, so I might've mixed up something he said earlier."

"Oh… Okay…?" AUBREY blinked slowly, still pondering the significance in the name POLLY.

That should probably do it. OMORI thought to himself.

All of sudden, there was a loud clatter that could be heard from the back of the house, followed by something expensive-sounding shattering to pieces.

Both OMORI and AUBREY turned to face the noise in surprise.

"The heck was that?" AUBREY muttered out first.

OMORI could only shrug. "KEL's back there with BASIL. Wonder if he broke another window in the house?"

"KEL broke one of BASIL's windows?!" AUBREY flared up at the thought, before letting out a loudly frustrated sigh, "Oh god… I better go check on them to make sure they're alright."

OMORI sent her off with a casual thumbs up as she left to go visit the scene of the crime.

---

Dang it, how did things end up like this?

BASIL groaned to himself as he carefully positioned himself to block off a terrified raccoon standing on top of his bed.

The wild animal hissed at him, cornered and trapped with its back against the wall.

This little guy must've gotten into his room through the broken window at some point during the day… BASIL never took the time to cover it up this morning since he'd been so excited about meeting up with SUNNY. He was already regretting the fact that he didn't at least bother to cover the window up with a blanket or something.

Seriously, what the heck was with his luck today?!

Blocking off the other side of the raccoon, KEL was trying to help BASIL to contain the situation somehow. In his hands was a basketball of all things, which he got from who-knows-where, as he prepared to take aim at the raccoon.

KEL muttered to himself in deep concentration, "Yeah, that's right… Nice and easy… Stay right there, little guy, so I can knock the daylights out of you…"

Where did he even get that?! Why was he even carrying that around with him?!

Fearing the potential damages that would be caused if that ricochet around the room, BASIL called out to him in a panic, "Please don't actually throw that inside the house!"

Whether the raccoon had sensed hostile intent from KEL, or more likely got startled by BASIL's sudden shouting, the wild animal quickly darted past BASIL when he wasn't looking.

With no idea where to go, the raccoon haphazardly collided into all sorts of objects inside BASIL's room as it desperately scrambled to make its escape.

"Ah, no! Please make it stop!" BASIL could only cry out anxiously.

Although KEL had been prepared to throw it earlier, he was hesitating now that the critter was rapidly crawling all over the place. But then an idea struck him as he shouted back, "I got it!"

As some form of intimidation that only he could ever think up, KEL put himself in the path of the raccoon and started doing some incredibly quick dribbles at lightning speed across the floor.

Somehow, this worked. The little critter lurched back from the rapid movements and snarled threateningly. In that moment of panic though, it noticed a clear path of escape while the two were focused on it, before dashing away from KEL.

Quickly clamoring up the bedside table, it callously knocked over a shiny ceramic lamp in its way as it exited through the broken window. There was a loud shatter as the lamp cracked apart and spread across the floor in a violent hazardous mess.

The raccoon had escaped from the situation unscathed.

"Aw come on!"

BASIL's bedside lamp, on the other hand, not so much.

…

…

…

When the situation ended as quickly as it began, KEL and BASIL were left behind stewing in awkward silence.

Hands stressfully gripping onto his hair, BASIL stared at the broken window with a dumbfounded expression, still trying to process what just happened. KEL set his ball aside as he came up right beside BASIL, sucking in air through his teeth from seeing the mess that was made.

Both of them kept staring at the broken window for what felt like ages, cautiously anticipating any other surprises that might show up next.

Eventually, the both of them settled down when it was clear nothing else was going to pop up and scare them again.

"Sheesh…" KEL chuckled in disbelief, "What are the chances of that happening, am I right?"

BASIL felt too lethargic to even respond, dejectedly staring at the window in a daze.

Noticing the downer mood, KEL sheepishly scratched his neck as he muttered, "Uh… This was… probably my fault. I'm sorry, man…"

After all, if it wasn't for KEL breaking into BASIL's home yesterday, that sudden uninvited guest probably wouldn't have even showed up in the first place.

Despite everything that just happened, BASIL only let out a small sigh before shaking his head, "It… It's fine. I'm not even that upset about it." He smoothed his hair over and closed his eyes, "My fault for not covering the window up in the first place before I left the house today."

"Uh…" KEL gave a strange glance back and forth between BASIL and the messy remains on the floor. "You sure…?"

"Well, if it wasn't for you breaking in to leave behind that note telling me that SUNNY was back, I probably wouldn't have known about it as soon as I did." BASIL managed to let out a small chuckle as he smiled at KEL, "So, in a way, that probably evens things out."

"I mean, if you say so…" KEL still felt a bit guilty despite BASIL's reassurance, only to excitedly perk up as he remembered, "Oh right, the letter! I was planning to talk to you about that before that raccoon surprised us!"

KEL looked around for a bit before finding the aforementioned letter. It was still placed right on top of BASIL's pillow where it was left the last time. KEL walked over to pick it up as he reread what he wrote with a proud grin.

"So? What did you think about the puzzle I wrote? Pretty clever, right?" KEL waggled his eyebrows as he showed the letter off, "Be honest, how'd you manage to solve it? Was it hard or way too easy?"

BASIL slowly blinked as he stared at KEL holding up the side of the letter with the long passages of illegible chicken-scratch written all over it.

There was a puzzle?

…

"KEL, I don't know how to tell you this…" BASIL began gently, "But I couldn't read a single thing you wrote except for the words on the back."

KEL stiffened up as his smile slowly shifted to a steady frown. His eyes trailed down to overlook the message he had written, before glancing back at BASIL again.

"Wait, but then– How did you solve the puzzle to figure out that the main message was on the back?" KEL asked confusedly.

"...I didn't…" BASIL frowned in return. "I just flipped it over."

Turning the sheet of paper around, KEL stared at it in heavy thought before a small embarrassed blush radiated from his cheeks as he mumbled, "...oh… I guess that makes sense…"

…

…

…

After an agonizingly and uncomfortably awkward silence between the two of them, KEL abruptly switched back to the previous topic as he tossed the note by the nightstand, "Um…! I'm seriously sorry for breaking the window again, BASIL. I'll… I promise I'll save up and try to pay you back for the damages." Glancing at the broken lamp, he cleared his throat to add, "That one too."

"Heheh…" BASIL gave an awkward laugh, as he reassured KEL, "I-It's fine, you don't have to–"

"Yeah, you better pay him back! Jerk!"

AUBREY's sudden voice came to interrupt him, as both boys looked over to find her at the door.

Her brows furrowed as she came in and immediately assessed the damage in the room, looking over both the broken window and the shattered lamp decorating the floor.

After seeing the mess for herself, AUBREY groaned as she pinched her eyebrows, "Seriously, KEL? I took my eyes off of you for one minute, and you already destroyed half the house."

"I didn't mean to do it on purpose! A-At least, not with the lamp..." KEL mumbled as he weakly defended himself. Then an idea came to him as he walked up to AUBREY, scratching his cheek with a shameful smile. "Speaking of, you came in at a good time actually! Can I ask you a favor?"

AUBREY briefly glared at KEL, before clenching a single fist hard enough to crack her knuckles, "If the next words that come out of your mouth mentions anything about me loaning you money, I will bury you outside and turn you into fertilizer for BASIL's garden."

Through KEL's dotted eyes and blank smile, all the color seemed to vanish from his face after hearing AUBREY's eloquently spoken rejection.

"..."

Without another word, KEL proceeded to enact his escape plan to avoid further attention on himself. Said escape plan in this case, was to drop to the floor and slowly crawl away as stealthily as possible, making his way towards the exit while unseen.

BASIL and AUBREY silently stared at the sneaky boy as he wriggled his way across the floor, almost slithering away like a snake until he finally made out of sight past the door.

When the coast was clear, he took off into a sprint down the hallway right after.

…

With a small groan, AUBREY swept a hand over her face, "That idiot… Even after all these years, he somehow hasn't changed a bit."

BASIL giggled, "Yeah. But it's kind of comforting in a way. Don't you think?"

"Sure… Comforting. Not exactly the words I would've used…" She rolled her eyes, but ended up having a small smile anyways despite herself.

BASIL ended up giggling even more when he saw that, and AUBREY couldn't help but feel his laughter was infectious as she softly chuckled alongside him.

After the moment passed and the both of them relaxed, AUBREY looked over the mess in the room, casually pointing it out and offering, "Need any help with cleaning that up?"

"It's okay, I can worry about that later." BASIL declined, "But thanks for asking!"

"Alright then…" AUBREY mumbled, giving herself a quick stretch.

Setting out what he originally came here to do, BASIL went on to rummage through his cabinets to look around for his first aid kit.

Seeing that reminded AUBREY about something she had wanted to talk about with him. She came up to BASIL as she rubbed her neck with a defeated smile.

"So… it looks like you were right after all." She admitted.

BASIL paused in his search as he turned towards her and tilted his head curiously, "About what?"

"About SUNNY coming back, doofus." AUBREY chuckled, "You've always been going on and on about how he'll eventually wake up again, like you knew it would happen since the beginning. Even though I'd lost faith a long while ago… In the end, it looks like you were right all along, and I'm the one with egg on my face."

Remembering the personal conversation they had the night before, BASIL grinned as he humbly replied, "Hehe… It's not like I knew for certain. I was just being optimistic!"

"Yeah, right. Optimistic, my ass." AUBREY swung a fist into BASIL's shoulder in a half-playful half-frustrated manner. She might've accidentally aimed at a still sensitive spot though, as it caused him to hiss in pain.

"Ow."

"That's for keeping SUNNY a secret from me until tonight. If you knew he was already awake, you should've just said so!" AUBREY was nearly pouting as she reprimanded him, "We even had that whole heart-to-heart discussion about him and everything! Why bother keeping SUNNY a secret from me? And how come I was the last one to know? Even KEL knew about SUNNY before I did!"

Rubbing his shoulder, BASIL defended himself, "I didn't mean to! This might sound crazy to believe, but I didn't even know about SUNNY being awake until right after I said goodbye to you and KIM last night." Heading over to his nightstand, BASIL picked up the note KEL left behind to show to her, "I only found out after I read KEL's letter in my room when he broke into my house yesterday."

Taking the letter from his hand, she glanced it over– only to reel back when she saw the atrocious handwriting.

"BASIL, I can't read this." AUBREY looked back up at him with a frown.

BASIL gestured to flip the page over.

As she did so, she saw the giant capital letters written in clear plain english.

BASIL! SUNNY IS BACK! :D

That's definitely something KEL would do, alright… AUBREY thought exasperatedly.

So this was only seen by BASIL right after he went home last night…?

After seeing this, AUBREY felt a bit embarrassed for jumping to conclusions. "Oh… In that case, sorry for punching your arm just now..." She awkwardly patted his arm as she apologized.

"Ever since I met up with SUNNY this morning, the first thing I did was go look for you. But you weren't home." BASIL explained softly, "Even when I went all around town, I still couldn't find you. Where did you even go this whole time?"

She winced. The question unintentionally stung, as AUBREY silently cursed herself in her head when the realization set in.

Doy, idiot. No wonder why she was so late to the party. She had been at the JUNKYARD this whole time, so nobody could even find her. Figures that it would be because of shitty timing on her part.

Knowing BASIL, of course he would've come to her as soon as possible… If she only hadn't gone out so early with KIM and VANCE this morning, she might've been able to-...

Crud…

"I was out with KIM and VANCE this morning at the JUNKYARD. We came back to town during the late afternoon, but we kept bouncing from place to place, so we probably missed each other if you'd been searching for us." AUBREY glanced away with a regretful frown, "I'm sorry, BASIL, I wish I had known that you were looking for me. I would've put everything on hold if I heard SUNNY was awake again."

"The JUNKYARD…" BASIL sighed while scratching his head. He never even considered that AUBREY would be hanging around a place like that. Out of all the places, why did she have to be there?

Seriously, what kind of terrible luck did he have today…?

"This whole situation could've at least been better without those gang members suddenly messing everything up, too." BASIL shook his head tiredly, but tried to look at the bright side of things by offering, "Well, at least you finally know now after everything's said and done! That has to count as a silver lining, right?"

"Yeah, on that topic-" AUBREY raised an eyebrow as she asked, "I've been meaning to ask. How the hell did you two end up getting caught up with the MOPED BOYS?"

AUBREY hadn't seen those thugs in FARAWAY since four years ago when they tried to take over the park… What the hell were the chances of them showing up out of nowhere again today just when SUNNY had finally woken up to explore the town?

BASIL rubbed his eyes as he recounted, "SUNNY and I were at the HANGOUT SPOT when it happened. I was betting on the chance that we might end up seeing you there at some point if we waited long enough. But then those guys showed up instead and talked about plans to set up an ambush there." BASIL furrowed his brows as he thought about SUNNY during that moment. "I tried to get us out, but… something must've gotten into SUNNY. He became really defensive when that gang leader started badmouthing the HANGOUT SPOT. After that, things began to escalate and I had to take SUNNY out of there by running away. And I already gave you the gist of everything that happened after that..."

AUBREY's eyes slowly grew solemn as she listened to all of this, before she softly asked, "He really got worked up trying to protect the HANGOUT SPOT…?"

That place always had special meaning to the six of them, especially to AUBREY… Knowing that their spot was getting trampled and dissed on by a bunch of assholes would've pissed her off badly. She wondered if SUNNY must've felt the same way…

…

…

…

Rubbing her arm with a guilty frown, AUBREY began to tell BASIL, "Hey, sorry for chewing you out like that back at the park. I wasn't actually all that angry with you, I just wanted to try to calm SUNNY down… I don't know if I helped at all, or if I made things worse."

BASIL blinked in surprise, before reassuring her, "It's okay. It's not like you were wrong to chastise me like that in the first place. SUNNY wouldn't have been upset with me if he didn't have a good reason to." Tilting his head, he asked, "Why suddenly mention that?"

"Well, things between you and SUNNY are rocky now because of what you did for him. You wouldn't have been in that situation if you never came across the MOPED BOYS." AUBREY explained steadily, "And you would've never come across them in the first place if you hadn't gone to the HANGOUT SPOT to try to wait for me…"

Not to mention the fact that the MOPED BOYS only came to FARAWAY because they were looking for her to begin with, if that didn't already make AUBREY feel guilty enough.

AUBREY sighed. "A part of me feels like all of this could've been prevented if I had just done something differently today."

"AUBREY…" BASIL gave her a sad look as he reached out to hold her shoulder, "There's no way you could've predicted any of this would happen. None of this was your fault." With a comforting pat, BASIL reassured her, "And don't worry about things between me and SUNNY either. It's not like this is our first fight. We've always been close, so I'm sure we'll bounce back from this eventually! Maybe even as soon as tonight!"

Although the regrets she had still lingered in her mind, seeing BASIL's cheery optimism did manage to relax her a bit. She worked up a small smile, "I hope that's the case."

SUNNY wouldn't be the type to keep a grudge over an issue this small, right? Surely, they'd be fine.

When BASIL saw AUBREY's mood shift, he gave her a warm smile before asking, "Now that we got that out of the way, it's my turn to ask you a question! And I think you already know what I'm dying to hear about…"

AUBREY chuckled, "I do? And what's that?"

"The reunion between you and SUNNY!" BASIL's eyes lit up in excitement as he leaned in closer, asking a whole series of questions like a gossip-mongering school girl, "Come on, give me the details! How did things play out? What did you two say to each other when you finally met up? What was your reaction? What was his?!"

AUBREY couldn't help but laugh as she gently pushed BASIL's face away. "Calm down, don't get your panties in a twist over this." Thinking back on everything that happened between her and SUNNY, she glanced away with a bit of a flustered expression, "It wasn't like it was a dramatic magical moment or anything. Sure, I ended up crying like a baby and clung onto him when I finally saw him. But after that, things were pretty normal between us. We just got to talking, and nothing else really happened."

"Whaaat? That can't be it!" BASIL looked at her in astonishment, before insisting, "You haven't seen each other in the last six years! There has to be more than that. You're telling me nothing interesting happened? Didn't he at least say anything while you were crying and hugging him?"

AUBREY playfully groaned and shook her head, "You're really twisting my arm here, BASIL…"

But as she thought about it, something did occur that she thought BASIL might love to hear.

"Well…" AUBREY started off as she brushed her hair, "SUNNY actually recognized me the moment he saw me. There I was, thinking up all sorts of ways on how I should reintroduce myself to him, and he just blurted out my name before I even had the chance to explain who I was. Kinda blew my mind, to be honest." WIth a small blush, she admitted, "And… that's kinda what caused me to break down crying in the first place."

The only reason why he knew was because BASIL already told him though, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. AUBREY idly thought.

For BASIL though, after hearing this news, he couldn't help but to cover his mouth in a dramatically scandalous gasp. "Really?! He actually knew it was you right away?! That's amazing!"

"It is?" AUBREY laughed from seeing BASIL's reaction.

BASIL was ecstatic, gushing as he hugged himself at the thought. "Oh, that is so romantic! It sounds exactly like how I always imagined things would go! GAAAH– I'm so jealous that I couldn't get to see the whole thing up close for myself!"

BASIL practically fluttered around his room like a lovesick honeybee. From the way things sounded, it felt like it went better than how he even imagined. It was almost like a scene in a novel.

Gah– Such a massive shame that the events today got in the way of letting BASIL watch the one thing he had always been looking forward to seeing for all these six years. Missing out on seeing AUBREY and SUNNY's reaction felt like such a waste, but the fact that AUBREY and SUNNY's reunion went wonderfully at least soothed his romantic soul. BASIL was absolutely thrilled for them now that they were finally reunited.

SUNNY somehow recognized AUBREY without anyone telling him beforehand? Of course SUNNY would be capable enough to figure it out!

"I'm so glad I kept your appearance a secret from him!" BASIL cheered, "I knew that he'd be able to still recognize you right away, I just knew it!"

"BASIL, you're being– …" AUBREY was about to laugh and say something, but when her mind caught up with what he just said, she froze.

Kept her… a secret? What did he mean by-…?

Quickly shaking her head, she interrupted him, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

BASIL's romantic whimsy was cut short as he glanced back at AUBREY with a confused blink. "W-What do you mean?"

AUBREY carefully stared at BASIL, as she told him, "The only reason why SUNNY recognized me in the first place was because you already told him about me, didn't you?"

"Oh!" BASIL's smile came back as he corrected her, "I can totally see why you'd think that, but actually no! The whole time I was together with him, I made sure to keep my lips sealed tight about you as much as possible! I didn't want to say anything that could spoil the surprise! Besides, I knew that you would've wanted to be the first one to tell him how much you changed. It's only right that I'd let you have the honor so that you'd have something to talk about when could catch up with each other!"

If BASIL was lying to her at all, he would've been terrible at hiding it. Yet there was none of the obvious tells to show that he was, like his awkward stutters or nervous eye-darting. When AUBREY saw the innocent smile on his face, she knew that he wasn't just saying all this just to keep up airs about how magically miraculous it was for SUNNY to recognize her.

BASIL was being completely honest.

Which only made AUBREY all the more confused.

AUBREY's brows furrowed deeply, "BASIL, that doesn't make any sense. SUNNY said that he recognized me because you already told him about me."

…

…

…

BASIL's smile disappeared as grew just as confused as she was. "What? Why would he–…?"

"Are you absolutely sure that you didn't tell him about me?" AUBREY steadily asked, "You guys spent the whole day together and probably talked about a lot of things. Maybe you might've mentioned something by accident that he somehow picked up on?"

BASIL thought back to the events of this whole day, before slowly shaking his head, "No. No– I swear I didn't. We talked about you for just a little bit, but I'm absolutely sure that I managed to keep the biggest details about you a secret. I was so careful too because I really wanted to keep you a surprise…" Running through all the conversations he had with SUNNY today, BASIL resolutely shook his head, "I'm positive that I never told him anything!"

"What the hell…?" AUBREY rubbed her forehead in thought, "Then why did he say-… Why did he lie and say that you told me?"

"I… don't know…" BASIL struggled to wrap his mind around this.

Something about this felt so odd. In fact, now that BASIL thought about it some more, this wasn't even the first time he had this odd feeling regarding SUNNY before. Throughout this entire day, BASIL remembered all the times he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was something off with how SUNNY behaved.

BASIL never really thought much of it, always assuming it might've been SUNNY still in the process of recovering from his coma. It wasn't like SUNNY ever acted too strangely for it to matter.

But now… Having this suddenly pointed out in front of him just made all those moments stand out even more than before.

…

BASIL was starting to get the heebie jeebies from all this. What could any of this possibly mean?

Looking back at AUBREY again, he asked her, "Hey… This might sound kinda strange, but was there anything about SUNNY that struck out as weird to you?"

"You mean like what I mentioned just now?" AUBREY raised an eyebrow.

"S-Something like that." BASIL shrugged unsurely, "I know you only just met up with him tonight, so you might've not had enough time with him to know for sure. I'm just asking– Like did he do or say anything else that didn't really make any sense?"

He didn't really know where he was going with this line of questioning, but his curiosity about the situation urged him to question it. This felt like something beyond just normal issues anymore.

AUBREY slowly thought about it and shook her head, "I mean… Besides the fact that he instantly recognized me and said it was because you told him? I can't really–" AUBREY widened her eyes as she remembered, "Well…There was that thing about him asking me if you had a pet parrot somewhere, just a bit ago."

BASIL reeled back from such a random topic, "A pet parrot?"

The heck? He didn't have a pet parrot. Why was this suddenly part of the discussion?

"Yeah. He was asking me about where someone named POLLY was. I didn't really know what he was talking about, and he just said he might've gotten it mixed up with something you said to him before." AUBREY shrugged. "Did you guys talk about getting a pet at some point?"

"No…" BASIL muttered with a flabbergasted frown, "That never came up in conversation before."

…POLLY?

POLLY? Why does that sound familiar to me…?

BASIL couldn't help but cling onto the name for some reason. It was strange, but it felt like he heard the name somewhere before. Was that the name of one of his friends in FARAWAY? Was it someone they had met up together while he was introducing SUNNY around?

POLLY… POLLY… Who in the world was–

There was a sudden jolt in the back of his head as his eyes widened in recollection. There was one person he knew with that name, a long time ago.

"But… that's… impossible…" BASIL mumbled in shock.

There was no way SUNNY could've known who that person was.

AUBREY stared at him, "What? Did you remember something?"

"Back when my grandma was still alive, a few months before she died… My parents hired a caretaker to help watch over her when her health was deteriorating." BASIL slowly recalled as he rubbed his face, "I only got to know her for a short while, but the caretaker was a nice lady who treated me well. I haven't thought about her for such a long time, so I forgot until now… Her name was… POLLY."

"POLLY?" AUBREY blinked as she repeated the name, before asking, "Was that who SUNNY was asking about then? Your grandma's old caretaker?"

"But that can't be…" BASIL frowned, growing more and more confused, "I never mentioned that lady to SUNNY before. I didn't even remember her name until just now! I haven't seen her again ever since Grandma passed away!"

"Okay… was it just a coincidence then?" AUBREY mumbled, "How does he know who POLLY is?"

That was the big question here, wasn't it? Not even BASIL remembered who POLLY was until just now, so how in the world could SUNNY have known about her?

…

Both AUBREY and BASIL stared at each other as the heebie jeebies washed over the two of them together.

"What do you think it means…?" AUBREY quietly asked.

"I don't know…" BASIL shook his head, his thoughts weighing heavily in his head. "There has to be… some kind of rational explanation for this, right?"

"Do you think maybe… it was KEL?" AUBREY offered with a weak shrug, "Maybe he told SUNNY and got him caught up to speed? About me and whoever POLLY was?"

"I really don't think KEL knows who POLLY is. She only worked here as a caretaker for just a few months a long time ago." BASIL closed his eyes with a deep frown, "And if KEL was the one who told him about you, then why would SUNNY say that I told him instead?"

AUBREY went silent as she looked away in thought.

"If this really was just a coincidence…" BASIL started off slowly, "Then this has been just one out of many today."

At AUBREY's confused glance, BASIL went on to recount the many instances when he felt like there was something off about SUNNY.

Noticing that AUBREY wasn't home because her missing bike even though she only had it after his coma, knowing that CLAUS would bring him a music CD after being fed, the sudden lack of fear towards water when he approached the pier at the Hangout SPOT— even the moment when he somehow knew the exact street location of that alleyway they were in when they were being chased.

Slowly, as BASIL brought up the things he noticed throughout the day one by one, the two of them gradually came to the same conclusion.

There was something weird going on with SUNNY.

And they had absolutely no idea what to do about it.