And so, as the new cycle shone once more on Heaven 2.0, we return to our fourth wall-breaking hero sitting idly alone in his vacant house. Having gone through the reset as everyone else did, he obviously had no recollection of the previous day. He didn't remember Magnes, Throne, Sab or even Haunt for that matter. A clean slate, that's what he was reduced to.
"...Hm." He looked around, "Shot through the heart~, and you're to blame~"
Singing absentmindedly as he got up to investigate the area, he found that the entire house interior was devoid of anything. Unlike the houses he had briefly seen from above before the Divine Voice sent him and the other two to sleep, he felt pretty jipped to find his house had absolutely nothing in it.
"Welp, my body's still White. Sweet new golden scars though." He looked at his scratched forearms, "Guess that means I'm still in Heaven 2.0. But if that's the case, then what's the big idea?"
He felt offended, scammed out of a perfect afterlife filled with everything he could've ever dreamed of. That's what that mysterious Divine Voice told the three of them, and yet this is it? Apart from the clothes on his body, there was nothing in here he could call his own. So, he left.
"Mn... Yaaawn~!" A girl from across the street exited her own house at the same time, "...Yo."
"Nice to meet you." He waved before approaching her, "Heh, I'd give you my name, ma'am, but I don't even know it myself."
"Yeah, same here." She explained, "Ah, but I-I did find these markings on my hands."
Golden letters, they surely meant something. Of course, given what gold represented in this new world, it could very easily be a scar that just so happens to resemble a letter. But upon checking his own hands and finding two differing letters in the same spot and style, he was convinced they were something a lot more unique.
"You reckon it's somehow related to our names?" He asked, "Like, our initials?"
"Whatever they are, I'm sure gonna put them to good use." She nodded, "Mine say M and G, so I'm gonna choose a name that fits that."
"New name?" He chuckled, "I like that. Then, got something in mind?"
The friendly smalltalk between new neighbors was a pleasant sight to anyone, and especially them. Both were reborn in an unfamiliar situation, an unfamiliar world... and they needed someone to talk to about their similar experiences.
"Mnn, I'm leaning between Mage and Maggie." She weighed her options out for him, "I dunno. The first sounds more fun, but Maggie also fits a girl way better."
"Well lemme tell you they're both awesome." He reassured her, "Pick whichever one you like better, as for me..."
"An L and a G..." She read what he showed her.
"Or a G and an L." He suggested inverting the order, "Maybe it'd give us some more ideas that way."
Names were a neccessity in a land where every male and female looked practically identical amongst their own respective genders. The only real thing differentiating them would be the golden parts—Scars from a past life, they speculated. In any case, without something like a name to go by they couldn't even hope to do anything to progress. This was a good call to make.
"...Gale." She thought of a fitting name for him, "If you like it, of course."
"Hmph, Gale eh..." He smirked, "Like the wind, is that right? Well, Mage Maggie, I'm awfully thankful for blessing me with such a nice name."
"You'll take it?"
"I'll take it." He smiled warmly, "And you? Figure something out?"
"Mage... Maggie..." She weighed it heavily over her head.
Unlike his name, this choice was way more difficult to make. Gale had a nice ring to it, and it immediately came to mind once she heard the letters embedded within it. There was no second guessing herself when she suggested it, but for herself things were a bit different. Optimally, he would be the one to pick for her, given that's basically what she did for him. This way even if she disliked the name, she could at least blame him for choosing wrongly. Still, he remained quiet for as long as he could, yet eventually he couldn't take the indecisiveness.
"...Hey." He calmly asked, "You don't need to choose right now. Names, heck you can introduce yourself with a different name for each encounter, and it won't change nothing."
"That's... Yeah, I don't need to choose now." She calmed down once she heard him speak reason, "Still, what will you call me then?"
"I'll call you lady." He nodded, "Lady is a befitting title for anyone, but sadly not enough people use it these days. In a crowd, you'll point me out pretty quickly that way."
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"Lady, eugh." She giggled, "Guess I better make up my mind on one pretty soon, then!"
Thus, a pre-existing friendship was newly formed once more. GaLi and Magnes, now Gale and... lady (tentative). It was only natural that these two would cross paths particularly frequently throughout the cycles, given they were neighbors in the afterlife, but usually their first order of business would be to solve an issue or annoyance they were facing, like getting clothes or wings and the likes. This time, however, they were both pretty content.
"Wanna walk around the area together?" She asked, "It beats going through this crowd alone."
"You asking me out?" He teased.
"Sorry, I'm into girls." She immediately shook her head.
"...W-Wow." He was gobsmacked, to say the least, "Certainly didn't expect that answer. And here I thought the worst a lady could say was no."
"Trust me, there's way worse I could've said." She joked smugly, "But I'm being lenient since you were so nice to me."
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Walking throughout the busy streets of Heaven 2.0, there remained one irking issue that festered in Gale's mind. He was unsure of whether to share it with her or not, given she might take it as him being creepy, but it was a genuine worry. Constantly, he kept glancing down at his clothes, and she caught sight of that pretty quickly.
"Say, these clothes..." She meandered around the query.
"Thank Prylos you noticed it as well!" He loudly let out a sigh of relief, "Where'd they come from!? Not being rude here or anything, lady, but did you wake up with them already on too?"
"...Yes, I did." She was pretty surprised by his lively reaction, "Guess it's better than being buck naked."
"Oh, that goes without saying." He then thought about it, "But... There are some people passing by completely nude. You've seen them, right? Their...?"
"Privates?" She insinuated, "Yep, they don't have 'em."
"Meaning we don't either." He nodded, "But that's not what I was getting at. I'm asking why some people had clothes and others didn't."
It was a fairly reasonable question to pose in this scenario. Seeing a naked person out in the streets, even if they didn't have nipples or genitalia on their bodies, would certainly cause some level of backlash from the community. Of course, maybe the same wouldn't be said if everyone wasn't wearing clothes, but the streakers were very clearly in the tiny minority. The question remained—Why isn't anyone reacting? Are there no laws or cops to put a stop to this?
"The streakers, did you notice something odd about them?" She asked, "They're all headed in that direction. Not one person without any pants is moving away from whatever that place has."
"Well I'll be..." He could hardly keep from grinning like a madman, "Were you a detective in your past life or what? Author, mark this down somewhere!"
"Author?"
"Don't worry about it." He patted her on the back, "Good job figuring that out. Wanna go there and see what's up?"
"Yeah." She nodded, "It'll be fun."
Turning back around, they decidedly moved on to the location of every naked person's interest. The line of nude yet seemingly well-behaved customers was incredibly long, to the point where they couldn't even see what they were waiting for. Seeing as they were already here, however, they figured why not just stand in line themselves and figure it out.
"I feel kind of weird doing this." She nervously squirmed closer to him, "Oddly enough, with everyone in line not wearing any clothes but us, it's making me feel like I'm the one in the wrong."
"Hey, hey, nobody's in the wrong here." He calmed her down, "Besides, you're shorter, so you can't see it, but there are a couple of people in front of us that have some clothes on."
"That's..." She nodded, "Okay, I understand."
Having taken a few deep breaths, she was ready to face the world once more. That is, if facing the world meant just idly standing in line until you got to the front, that is. Somehow, the air around them filled their minds with a sense of dread. A horrible, nauseating feeling that pried the nostalgic, happy feeling right off after a while. They were by all means burning daylight, but they didn't exactly know why they were in a hurry. And then, like magic, the person working the counter snapped his fingers at Gale, releasing him from the trance.
"You doing alright, sir?" The shopkeeper asked.
"A-Ah, yeah." He nodded awkwardly, "Hey, sorry to ask, but..."
"Yeah, no worries. You can come back after a while for more clothes, don't gotta be naked to get my services." The shopkeeper joked, "Here's some boots, your current ones look worn."
"Boots?" Gale looked confused, "W-What? How much, I don't exactly have..."
"No one does. Money ain't a thing in Heaven 2.0." The shopkeeper gave a bit of a sassy reply, "Consider it free. That's what this shop is, by the way."
"You... hand out free clothes to the people?" Gale couldn't believe his ears as he put on the dandy boots, "You are a saint, sir. Thank you for these!"
"Heh, just a normal shopkeeper." He smirked self-depracatingly at him, "Selling normal boots."
"Normal boots?" Gale asked.
After a short pause, the two men that had quickly managed to bond had shared a hardy laugh together. Sending his happy customer with a smile, the wide grin on the shopkeepers face quickly turned into dumbfounded horror once he saw the lady that was next in line. It was her, the girl that helped him out with the shop in the previous cycle. The girl that came to him for help. The girl... he considered dear.
"M-Magnes...?"
The girl, surprised by this sudden new development, quickly understood the assignment and acted accordingly. In short, this man knew her. Her name was neither Maggie nor Mage, it was Magnes. An odd name, but he knew her from before. What would happen if she told him the truth? If she said she couldn't remember him? The mere idea scared her plenty enough to stray away from that future. Thus, she put on her best acting cap and played along.
"I'm back." She grinned.
"Y-You...!?" He backed off, shivering like a crazy lunatic, "How do you remember me? How!?"
"E-Eh?" She didn't expect the negative reaction.
"You do remember me... do you?" He asked with a raised Eyebrow.
"...Surprise~" She did little jazz hands to alleviate the tension, "So, mind explaining to me how I can remember... this?"
This shopkeeper knew her. Even got her initials right. She didn't know him, however she felt this was just the way to learn. Playing along would definitely be beneficial for her, so she had to use this situation as best as she could. Of course, she did have the small fear that he somehow mistook her for someone else. However, it was all too clear to be the case after he told her to take off her top.
"Golden spine..." He nodded, "Yep, pretty wow."