aiko's otter den

The Promise We Never Made Aloud - They never promised to protect each other. They never promised to wish for only good things. In a world where everything might just come to an end tomorrow, it’s surely okay to be a little bit selfish, isn’t it? Sonoko/Sumi.

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17.

They forget about the whole thing, of course, because they’re tired. And the LRIG never approach the topic again. It makes Sumi twitches once she remembers but Iona only beckons for more training, more and more of it. She goes to bed dreaming of SIGNII and glowing orbs of light until it’s all a dreamless void.

Then, the Vertex come while she’s sleeping.

She’s jolted awake and into the fighting grounds by her phone, leaving Sonoko and Gin flailing for a moment. But she joins them, joins them quickly. Everything but the thrill of the battle is forgotten and she smiles. She feels Iona smile with her mouth.

When it’s over, the three of them stumble into Sumi’s house, dizzy and content and exhausted. And wrong.

18.

Gin’s family is kind. Having two new girls on the strange, expansive property invites nothing more than more cookies.

Very kind as a matter of fact. Very busy and with small children about, but they welcome the two rich girls without embarrassment. Their large home is only that way due to inheritance. They keep it up together, all of that family. They are in service to the Taisha. They have no fear of disappearance. Or loss.

They’re kind and friendly and stilted and Sumi feels a pang deep in her chest that she cannot explain for a long time.

She cannot even put it into words or she will cry.

Washio Sumi does end up crying, crying for Mimori Togo who will never exist and never ever will because Washio Sumi must be a hero.

Sonoko and Gin lean on her but if she leans on Sonoko a little less it’s because Gin is used to shouldering for many and nothing more.

And nothing more.

19.

Routine is quick and easy and preferable, terrorizing in the midst of not knowing what will come and what could come. Sumi was starting to get used to spitting blood and being bruised. To be fair it was happening less and less now. Sonocchi’s shielding skills were getting much better than anticipated and Gin had taken to using her blades as giant bats. It gave her so much room to work with.

Still, normal children didn’t feel like this. What did normal children feel? Her classmates never asked questions but if they had she probably wouldn’t have liked them. They’d have been stories of heroes and monsters and victory.

Hah. There wasn’t much in the way of victory. How many times had they lost?

Not at all, she realized one day. Not until it was too late.

20.

Sumi would have wanted to say she knew exactly what had happened to Gin. Sumi would have wanted to scream at Taisha with rage, tell them everything, spill the horrible beans and all her guts until those bastards felt something.

But at some point, she simply can’t recall any details. There are shouts, explosions, and Gin whispers something. She sees her mouth move, hears the flames roar up from her soul and then—

She meets Sonoko at the gate, like always, like always.

Their teammate walks up after them, bouncy like always, grinning and nearly late as she scrambles to her desk.

Their classmates greet her as Gin and Yuzuki gives them a smile, exactly the same as before. There is no terminal in hand.

21.

Sumi can’t imagine being Gin’s family, can’t imagine knowing that who is wearing your daughter’s face isn’t her anymore, just someone pretending and smiling, responding in a careless, breezy sort of way that means she picked up almost everything that would be notable to a stranger.

“Why did this happen?”

Sonoko says this in the strangest, dreamy voice like she’s holding on to something heavy, “They’ve swapped bodies! Like in a hero movie.” She’s trying to be strong, Sumi realizes, guilt welling up in her throat and stomach because she was forcing her to be strong and for what reason? It wasn’t like Sonoko would know any more than she…

“Sorry,” she murmured. “It just…”

Sonoko’s hands cover hers, cold and a little wet. And then Sonoko is on top of her, hugging her tight and crying hard.

It’s all Sumi can do to be grateful they’re alone.

22.

“It would have been better if Yuzuki had told them.”

“It wouldn’t have sounded better.”

Their cards were arguing. Scratch that, their LRIGs were arguing and that was probably worse. Sumi is horribly tempted to interrupt but it would do them all about as much good as ripping the card in half. Come to think of it, why hadn’t they tried that?

They probably would have been replaced anyhow. They need their soldiers. To fight that Vertex. To—

To die for them. If it was dying.

Finally, Piriluk did address them, looking at Sonoko rather than Sumi. Blue and purple. “I apologize. We… we had all hoped this would not happen.”

“When Ru made her wish, it should not have happened,” Iona agreed, crossing her arms. And Sumi knows her partner well enough now, knows that when she crosses her arms, she is pouting. When she is looking away, she is sad and hurt. She at least does feel guilty.

But it still happened so what difference does it make? Gin is gone, in spirit.

23.

A long time ago, there was civilization, a much larger, much more beautiful planet for them to live on. In that time, WIXOSS had existed. WIXOSS had been the hit game. But there was more, there was magic, a great, terrible power to grant wishes. And even that had been a lie. Girls had died in this game, desperate for their wishes. No matter how much they fought and won or lost, it would be a terrible outcome either way. Iona, or Yuki, who was created by the game, knew this the best.

Then Ruko started to play. It held her, pulled in and dragged her tight even though she had no reason to play, no person to want to save or take. Not at first.

But when she did, she was magnificent. She reached out to others to save them. She reached into hearts to awaken them. And then she succeeded. She made her wish and it was granted.

But the darkness didn’t go away.

24.

The gods rose up with rage. Not at the loss of the game using the despair of human girls. Not really. It was the fact that a human had managed to defy all of their hard work and all of their fun and beat them at their own game with a simple, straightforward wish.

They tried to stop it, of course, they tried to change it, and in the end, the gods went to war.

“The gods went into bullying, really,” Piriluk corrects mildly. “The ones that were left called upon us as fairies of the gods, to guard the sanctuary of the Taisha.”

“Like children and parents refusing to get along,” Iona muses. “And so we, who had played the game, were pulled into these cards, to assist you warriors with wishes. Gin had her wish granted. And with it granted, she went to be with Ru.”

“Kominato Ruko,” Piriluk says, looking away from them towards the sky. “The Messiah.”

Iona lets out a bitter laugh.

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