Yoichi thinks that this must be a very strange dream. He's looking down at his brother sleeping. His brother looks young, maybe five.
They're in their old room at the orphanage, the one with the window that doesn't shut properly, letting in all the cold air at night. His brother is snuggled up like a burrito in enough blankets to make Yoichi sweat.
Why would I dream of this old place, he thinks.
He decides to do some exploring of this dream world. He steps out of bed; the floor is unfortunately very cold. He slips on some socks from his dresser and walks downstairs and out the front door.
A car passes by, its headlights making Yoichi squint.
It suddenly strikes Yoichi, outside in the frigid air, that all of this feels very real—as if the wind biting at his nose and ears should be attended to. He rubs his hands over his ears to warm them and sits on the sidewalk.
He thinks about his brother and the man he's destined to become and the day where everything began.
The day that Toriichi got sick, he went to the hospital where they drew his blood to run some tests.
Not long after Toriichi's recovery, policemen showed up at the orphanage, and they kidnapped his brother. They said that they found something wrong in his blood and he needed to go. When they wouldn't let Yoichi come with, Toriichi lashed out.
Spines sprouted from his every pore, injuring and killing some of the policemen. They managed to restrain him and the bones, and that was the last time he saw his brother for many years.
Yoichi finally heads inside, the cold having become too much for him. He tiptoes upstairs and he settles back into his bed with too many blankets, hoping that the heater hasn't gone out in reality. It would explain why this dream world seems so cold.
Yoichi wakes up. He looks over and sees his brother, still sleeping. He blinks a few times and then looks again. He's still there.
I'm still in the dream world, he thinks.
That's when Toriichi wakes up.
Their eyes meet. Yoichi pauses, thinking of the man his brother will become and the little boy he is now. All Yoichi knows for certain is that the dream world feels suspiciously real; this may be his second chance.
Yoichi clenches his teeth and says, "I need to talk to you."
Toriichi says, "Sure, brother. You're acting weird this morning."
Now, they're sitting together in their room, Yoichi settled very solemnly across from him, his hands on Toriichi's shoulders.
Yoichi says, "There's something special about you, that only you can do. Do you mind showing me?"
Toriichi shrugs and says, "Sure." Then Toriichi extends the bones in his pinky and rattles them around like a snake.
Yoichi winces. He says, "Put it away, you shouldn't show people when they ask so easily." The bones retract into his skin. Yoichi holds his hand and watches a scar develop, fade, then disappear.
Toriichi crosses his arms and says, "I didn't show 'people.' I showed you."
Yoichi says, "It was a test, and you failed. It's important that no one knows about this. Do you understand why?"
"No. Why should no one know?"
Yoichi says, "Because you'll be taken away and experimented on."
"How do you know that for sure though?"
Yoichi looks down and says, "It's a very good hunch. You haven't told anyone, right?"
Toriichi says, "No."
Looking into that doctor's eyes, Yoichi feels something like fate settling into place.
They're at the hospital. After waiting for hours, the doctor finally was able to see them. A nurse draws Toriichi's blood. Toriichi is scared of the needle, but doesn't stop to think about the far-reaching effects of that blood test.
Yoichi knows what will happen when the blood gets investigated, so a week later, after Toriichi has recovered, Toriichi and Yoichi climb out of their bedroom window, closing it behind them, and head toward the city lights.
A/N: This chapter has been modified to make Yoichi's powers getting discovered through his blood more realistic.
Yoichi = One For All
Toriichi = All For One