The Shadow Gallery

Homecoming

Timing: After Shadow Gallery - A Sweet Blossom

Characters: Hikari, Kodama, Nozumi, and Shinji

Kodama always loved trains…

Ever since her relationship with Yukio, trains had become more or less a core memory for her. When Yukio passed, Kodama was absolutely devastated. She thought about stepping on the tracks on more than one occasion, but she knew Yukio would never approve of such an act. For her and for her sisters, Kodama endured. But it was getting harder and harder to do so…

Years ago, the Diet approved a bill and passed into law an infrastructure revival program, but much like in American Politics, there were certain concessions that were made to get the law passed. In this case, those concessions included adding relationship history to all background checks. With surveillance at an all time high, it wasn't hard to pull available footage of every moment of your public life, and have an AI search for any signs that you did something that could have been construed as illegal or immoral. The provision did however state that you could not be prosecuted for crimes committed that were more than five years old, but it said nothing about things that weren't illegal, just looked down upon.

Every major employer Kodama could have easily gotten a decent job with turned her down. At this point, her relationship with Yukio, that "went beyond a simple phase" was well documented. And thus, she would instantly fail the background check. Fast Food, Convenience Stores, and family-owned businesses that could not afford to run such a check were the only places she could get a job. And then something would happen… either an old coworker who harbored a grudge would tell her management and get her fired, or the family business that pitied her would go under thanks to the actions of much bigger corporations.

As such she felt like a failure, all because she couldn't love who she wanted to. And so, it took a long time to build up the required funds to go on a fun trip like her and her younger sister are now on their way back from… A trip to Okinawa. After getting off the boat in Nakasaki, they traveled the rest of the way home by train. It was the preferred method of travel over land not just for her, but for any travelers over long distance. The Maglev was currently hurtling towards Tokyo-2 at a brisk 520 kph and would arrive within the next 20 minutes. Already she could feel the train slowly start to decelerate, and anticipated a warm bath when she got home.

In reality, she couldn't fully afford the trip and had to borrow money from Hikari, though her younger sister said she didn't have to pay her back. What Hikari didn't realize though was that it hurt Kodama to hear her say that. She tried her best to be independent, and didn't want to rely on a younger sibling to make her goals a reality. This trip however taught her a little humility, and she wasn't as upset about the exchange anymore. Still, her pride had taken a hit, though even Kodama herself could see that it was useless pride. In post Second Impact Japan, no one could go it alone that wasn't already rich beyond the most decadent dreams of avarice.

As she watched the landscape zip past a little more slowly by the minute, she sighed. She still hadn't told Nozumi yet that she had quit her last job when her manager tried to take away her vacation, and when Kodama argued back he threatened to fire her. Rather than deal with it, she was hell bent on having her vacation and told him, more or less, to fuck right off, and quit on the spot. Hikari of course knew about it, and Kodama suspected it was part of the reason Hikari offered to cover the remainder when it became obvious that Kodama didn't have enough. But she would never ask for anything, and knew Hikari must have either felt sorry for her (her pity was not welcome), or she knew that Kodama would never ask herself and likely felt she deserved a break. Despite being told multiple times by Hikari that she didn't have to work so hard and she could do something else, Kodama would never impose upon her sister. She didn't want to supported, she wanted to contribute her fair share.

These thoughts made the trip seem faster as the moment she roused herself from those thoughts, she realized they were almost at the station, and the train was now moving much slower. Sighing softly, she began to gather up her few possessions before waking up her sleepy littlest sister, Nozumi. The younger girl yawned and tried to go back to sleep before realizing they were arriving back in the city. Hurriedly, she put her stuff back in her one bag and prepared to leave.

Stepping off the Train, she saw a few families holding signs with their surnames on them to find their loved ones. Not expecting to see her own name, she made out a sign held by a handsome young man that bore the kanji for Horaki. Curiously she approached and the man's face seemed to light up at her approach.

"You must be Kodama," the young man greeted. "You really do look like a taller version of your sister."

"Are you a friend of Hikari's?" Kodama asked, making sure Nozumi didn't wander off.

"We went to Junior-High together," he replied. "I'm Ikari Shinji."

"The former EVA pilot," Kodama noted. "My sister wasn't kidding, you are handsome."

Shinji chuckled, folding the sign and tossing it in the nearby bin. "She never mentioned talking about me to you."

Kodama sighed. "She was so busy with her class rep duties and so focused on her studies, she never did say much. Most of the time she talked about school it was mundane or it was about some Touji kid."

She noticed Shinji's face fell a little at the mention of his name. "You don't know what happened to him then," he noted.

"Can't say I do, I was working in another prefecture at the time, moved in with an old friend from school. I didn't see her until after the war ended."

"Suzahara Touji was her crush," Shinji explained. "He was chosen as a pilot, but during his activation test, it was discovered his EVA was infected with an Angel. He…" Shinji looked away, noticeably fighting tears.

"I'm sorry," Kodama replied, instantly regretting referring to Touji in such a lighthearted matter. "I didn't know."

"It's fine," Shinji replied evenly. "He was a good friend to me and Kensuke at school. His death was a tragedy I never forgave my father for."

"Your father?" Kodama questioned, puzzled at just what his father would have to do with any of this.

"Another time, perhaps," Shinji replied. "Either way, I'm here to take you home."

"Where is Hikari?"

"Home," Shinji noted. "She apologizes for not coming here herself."

Kodama became immediately suspicious. "Why not?"

"There are some things that shouldn't be talked about in public places. Knowing what Hikari told me about you, I imagine you know that lesson all too well."

Kodama's heart began to beat faster as nervousness, a feeling she hated, crept into her. Shinji knows about her strangeness, it seemed, meaning Hikari trusted him enough to tell him this much. Part of her still didn't want to trust him, but she knew no matter what happened now, the only way she'd learn the truth about any of this was to trust him anyway, at least for now.

"I see," was her only response. "Lead on then."

Kodama had to admit the ride was going to be far more comfortable than she thought, though the fact that she had yet to see their driver was not lost on her. The vehicle was a limo, not stretched but long enough to have both forward and rear facing seats and even a small wet bar. She abstained from any alcohol, as apparently did Shinji himself.

"So," Kodama broke the silence, "obviously you're rich."

"Money isn't a problem if that's what you mean," Shinji replied.

Kodama noted Nozumi was busy looking out the window. "We're leaving the city?"

"Safer outside the city lately. I'm sure you have heard at least some of the strange happenings in Tokyo-2."

"Not really," Kodama replied. "We've been in Okinawa for the last week or so, and I don't watch the news much."

"So, you don't know about the cult activity, or the arson?"

"Cult activity?" Kodama questioned. "You would think after being in a war with heaven itself, we'd have abandoned religion altogether."

Shinji let out an audible sigh. "Not so much. I'm sorry then to be the one to tell you this, but part of the reason Hikari isn't here is because of them… Your apartment burned to the ground a few days ago."

"What?!" Kodama nearly shouted.

"Is sister okay?" Nozumi spoke up.

"She's alive and well," Shinji assured both of them. "Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be saved from the apartment."

"I don't care about that," Kodama said immediately. "Stuff can be replaced, people can't. We are going to her now, right?"

"Of course," Shinji replied. "I have accommodations already arranged for you."

Kodama put an arm around Nozumi as the younger girl was now sobbing about her stuff. It took several minutes to console her, all the while Kodama did her best to calm her own heart, but it was difficult. The trip went on in relative silence though Kodama was seething with questions. Her wisdom however won out, realizing that she would have her answers soon… she just had to be patient.

Nearly an hour later they came across a house in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. It was a sprawling ranch style house with only a single floor. She could see that there was an attached greenhouse in the back of it, by the roof being taller than the rest of the house by a fair bit.

"Is this your home?" Kodama asked.

"Only in the sense that I own it," Shinji replied. "You and your sister will be living here."

Kodama's eyes widened. They were used to living in apartments, an entire house just for them was unthinkable. It was getting dark now, and for the first time she saw the chuffer. A girl with long black hair and glasses, dressed as a chuffer would though her whole outfit was red.

"May I help you out?" the girl asked. Kodama nodded and took her hand, noting she wore gloves as well. There was something off-putting about her but she couldn't lay a finger on it. The only thing wrong was that even in this lack of light caused by a setting sun, her skin seemed quite pale.

"Thank you," Kodama replied. Nozumi bounced out the other side of the car gasping in astonishment at the house before them now.

"We get to live here?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes," Shinji replied, earning an excited sounding "Yay!" from the girl as she ran towards the house.

"Nozumi! Your bag!" Kodama shouted.

"It's no trouble," the Chuffer replied and picked her back up. Shinji was already looking up at the darkening sky as he approached the house.

"I'm guessing there are no real amenities here?" Kodama asked.

"You have clean fresh water piped into the house and electricity provided by a small Geothermal Generator installed in a nearby hot spring.

Kodama was shocked to hear that, only able to reply with a simple, "Huh."

As they entered the home, Kodama was impressed by the furniture and amount of provided light in the entry room.

"There are four total bedrooms and four bathrooms, a study, hobby room, and a greenhouse. Along of course with a kitchen and dining area, sitting room, and a small outdoor hot spring."

"You had this built?" Kodama asked, impressed.

"I have several safehouses throughout Japan," he noted. "This is a back up to my main house which is about a kilometer deeper into the forest on the other side of the hot spring. I wasn't able to finish it before but when the fire happened, I knew we, as in Hikari and myself, had to do something about it."

"Why stick your neck out for us?" Kodama asked, unable to completely throw away her suspicions.

"Because in a way, I'm partly responsible for what happened, though I had no way of avoiding the situation realistically." Before Kodama could question, Shinji continued, "But that's a story for another time."

"Nozumi, don't wander off yet," Kodama called out, bringing the girl back to her side.

Shinji led them to the other side of the house, passing though the main dining area before reentering the hall that ran towards the back of the home. The scale and scope of this home was nearly overwhelming to her, being used to small in city apartments. Seemed when he constructed this place, he spared no expense. Constructed… how rich is this guy? Unable to shake her curiosity, she vocalized her concern.

"How can you afford all this?" she questioned.

"Your sister is a genius," Shinji explained. "She managed to play the markets in our favor and made what was already a fairly tidy sum of money that I had built up over my career as a pilot, into the seeds necessary to grow quite the money tree. Now that I think about it, I think you'll find her ability to make things grow is… unparalleled."

"I still don't understand why she didn't come to the train station to see us when we arrived."

Shinji stopped before a set of heavy wooden doors. The relief pattern on the doors seemed to resemble growing vines and other plant life in rectangular sections on both doors, each relief being a mirror of each other. Kodama wondered briefly how expensive such doors would have been to have made. The young man unlocked the doors and then stepped aside.

"Step inside," he replied, "and ask her yourself."

Kodama's breath caught for a moment and her heart started to race; she was finally about to see her sister again, and instinctively, she knew she was about to learn something… something dark perhaps, and definitely knowledge that would need to be kept secret. But most importantly, she'd learn the reason why Hikari was being so elusive.

She looked back and Shinji a moment as it was now obvious to her, he wasn't going to follow past this point. Even he felt off to her somehow, and if the strangeness she feels from Shinji is any indication…

She opened the doors. Immediately a flurry of botanical scents assailed her and Nozumi's senses as various flowers came into view. Though Kodama was no botanist, she recognized some of the plants before her as not being native to Japan. The girls were now entering the greenhouse of this new home of theirs, and she wondered why such a thing would even be necessary; the possibility of something to keep her and Nozumi occupied seemed the most likely scenario. The awe of such a display of amazing flowers and plants however, banished the thoughts of why. They walked further in, walking around vibrant circular displays of plants with a tree growing in the center of each, surrounded in a ring of polished marble, and almost tall enough to reach the top of the greenhouse. The displays were all quite big at over five meters across and occupied much of the central part of the greenhouse. The ground itself was mostly dirt with marble pavers allowing for access to the various parts of the greenhouse. As they continued, they noticed a large, nearly four-meter-tall plant was moving on its own less than 10 meters ahead of them. Such a sight made her feel uneasy, and Nozumi's fearful sound seemed to tell she felt the same way.

There standing before the ambulatory plant was Hikari… her vibrant sundress set off the pale greens and pinks in her exposed skin, and her hair was a little longer than Kodama remembered. She was barefoot and Kodama, being one to find beauty in her own gender, realized immediately to her surprise that Hikari was abstaining from wearing any panties. An almost palpable aura of power seemed to radiate from her, and the sight was both beautiful and somehow unnerving at the same time. Somehow, her sister turned into some kind of aberration, and she began to understand why she was hesitant to simply meet them at the station.

"Hello, Kodama," Hikari greeted, cheerfully but barely above a whisper. "We need to talk…"

Kodama was stunned for a moment, both in shock at what Hikari had become, but also by her breathtaking beauty. It was as if she became a nature goddess. She'd soon learn how correct that observation was.

"What… what happened to you?"

Hikari approached, the plant almost seeming to become saddened somehow by her departure. "It's a long story. Do you know about the cults?"

"I was made aware, though I still don't have the details."

"Then I should start at the beginning."

The doors opened again, and Kodama saw Shinji enter the greenhouse, dressed more casually this time.

"In that case, I should be here," he stated. "Nozumi… I believe you will find replacements for most of your stuff animal collection in your room. Last bedroom on the left of the main hall. Please tell me what's missing."

Nozumi looked to her sister. "Adult talk?" Kodama nodded. "Okay, I will. Thank you Mister Ikari!"

"Please call me Shinji," he protested, earning a smirk from Hikari.

Hikari and Shinji went into great detail about what has been happening; the cults trying to resurrect the dark lord, Shinji's role in all of this, the events that led to Hikari's transfiguration… knowing Kodama, Hikari thought it would be best to leave nothing out, and Kodama was a little concerned about her sister being part of this man's personal 'collection'.

"So how did you get so lucky," Kodama asked with a little more venom in her voice than she wanted to let out.

Shinji seemed to ignore it. "Wrong place, wrong time. It seems many of the children born around the time of the Second Impact had gained pieces of the dark lord."

"How?"

"Put simply," Shinji began, "Castlevania, the home of Lord Dracula was sealed behind an eclipse. When the second impact occurred, there was a massive spiritual upheaval… the why of that I'll explain another time… but that upheaval cracked the prison allowing Dracula's Soul to escape, but it didn't make it unscathed, instead shattering into pieces which joined with the newly birthing souls of children born around that time. Coincidentally, only children born around the time of the Second Impact were able to pilot EVA. Dracula wants to be resurrected, and so these children who bare parts of Dracula, known as Candidates for the Dark Lord, are drawn into each other in conflict. Like me, they all have supernatural gifts. I may be closer to being Dracula than anyone only because I carry Dominus, Dracula's power that controls Castlevania and all that dwell within. This I believe is what is causing girls with supernatural power to be drawn to me. Asuka mentioned that she knew someone like me would eventually build a Harem of my own, to which I had protested, Asuka is my beloved. But Mari, the girl you met as my chuffer, was also drawn to me… likely due to her transformation into a Vampire by The Circle of the Moon. That cult is a fertility cult that wants to create nine Brides for Dracula who can birth a new ruling class of vampires into the world."

Kodama now understood why he and Mari felt strange to her. "Are they working off of some kind of prophecy or something?"

Shinji blinked. "I actually hadn't considered their plan to be anything other that the usual cult madness… but something like this that was actually prophesized would make a degree of sense."

"So, you're not luring them in like some kind of creep?"

Hikari's sudden laugh tore her from her thoughts.

"Please, Kodama," she managed after the laugh, "Shinji has been more or less fighting the idea of having a Harem, at least until I convinced him to stop worrying about it."

"You did?" Kodama could barely believe her ears.

She nodded. "Also, I was the aggressor in this case as well. Mari due to her conditioning by the cult was… as it was described to me… triggered by her proximity to Shinji and she basically jumped his bones."

"Unbelievable," Kodama replied with a touch of humor in her voice. "I can't believe this is actually happening though… the resurrection of a vampire I always thought was just a story?"

"I'm trying to prevent it," Shinji noted, "but if my fight with Taleth was any indication, the longer this goes on, the higher the chance I run into another candidate, and they're always aggressive towards me. They all want Dominus for themselves, it would greatly reinforce their claim to the title of Dark Lord."

Kodama sighed. She was in way over her head it seemed, but then, that began as soon as the fight in her apartment started. Being related to Hikari, puts a bullseye on her back and she knew it. So, if she was stuck as part of this…

"What can I do to help?" she asked.

"It's far too dangerous," Hikari pointed out. "The only reason I can even help is because of my transfiguration. Short of gaining supernatural power…" Shinji's hand on her bare shoulder stopped her mid-sentence.

"What can you do to help?" It wasn't a challenge; it was a genuine question. Her sister was trying to protect her, but Kodama knew that Shinji realized he can't afford to turn down any kind of help.

"I was studying to be a paralegal, before the Diet decided they didn't like my kind. I'm really good at research, and have a knack for finding just the right bits of information you're looking for. If you have a library, I can help. I can even research other volumes you might need."

"You want to be my Librarian?" Shinji clarified. Kodama nodded. "Very well. As it happens, I have a copy of almost every book I have in my main house here in yours as well. I'll have copies of the remaining books brought to you."

"Thank you," Kodama replied with a bow. "Just don't expect me to call you Master."

Shinji laughed aloud. Kodama decided it was a pleasant laugh.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Kodama gave a sigh of relief. "This actually kills two birds with one stone. I can help you, and I can keep Nozumi's education going now that we have to be 'off grid' for lack of a better term."

"Glad I could help," Shinji replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to."

Kodama watched him leave, before turning back to her sister.

"And you're not wearing any panties why?" Kodama asked, almost accusingly. "Making yourself available?"

Hikari blushed profusely and stammered out, "N-NO! Nothing like that!" Hikari looked around a moment as if she was afraid someone would hear her. "It's more complicated than that. I have been seeing visions of Alura Une in my head ever since we were soul-merged, and…" her blush intensified "I wondered why she had to be naked in her flower. Then I noticed it. As my transfiguration is… evolving… I'm more and more relying on breathing though my skin than though my lungs. One day I put on a clean pair of panties and immediately started feeling a little winded. The more clothing I put on, the worse it got, and no matter how hard I tried to breathe, I was suffocating. I had to strip out of everything quickly or I might have passed out. Even so called 'breathable cotton' seemed to be too much."

"Oh," Kodama replied. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed."

"You're still trying to look out for me," Hikari replied. "I'm actually happy about that."

"Why?"

"Sometimes I need to be grounded more," Hikari explained. "My powers give me a degree of confidence, sometimes too much. When I fought Dario, I learned to improvise, but I understood all too well how much danger I was in. It's good to know you're still worried about me… it means I'm not a freak of nature to you."

Kodama looked sadly at her sister. How long had she been torturing herself, worrying that she was now less than human? Without a word she stepped forward and held her sister. Despite this essentially meaning she was holding her breath a little, Hikari accepted the hug, and clung tightly. It felt to Kodama that Hikari was letting off some of the weight she had been carrying on her psyche.

"We'd never see you like that," Kodama replied. She heard her sister starting to sob lightly, and rubbed her back gently, unsurprised she wasn't wearing a bra either. If panties caused her to breathe harder, those man-made torture devices would be even worse.

"Kodama… thank you."

Kodama smiled gently. "I will always be here for you, no matter what. I promise."