(11)

Haru turned her gaze from the fluffy clouds in the blue sky above her to the girl laying on the grassy bank just a few feet to her left. The brunette was on her back with her arms folded behind her head, eyes closed as she soaked in the afternoon sunlight and the sounds of the river down the hill from them. Though the blonde sat on her coat to protect her school uniform, her partner seemingly had no such concern.

Of course, that was very much the Nariko she knew. Haru hadn’t even recommended this detour, instead having been surprised when Riko did so unprompted. She had even picked out the same section of riverbank, claiming to have seen it in transit. She didn’t tell the amnesiac-slash-possessed girl how often the two of them had made this very stop in the past. Better to just let her enjoy the moment.

It was in quiet times like this, when Riko’s guard was down, that Haru liked to watch her.

The blonde didn’t really see other people the same way other people saw other people, but never having looked out of another person’s eyes, she couldn’t really grasp the difference. People would describe someone as having a stormy brow, or wearing their heart on their sleeve, or the lights out behind their eyes, and Haru would say, yes, she understood what they meant.

However, it was several years into her childhood before she understood that other people didn’t actually mean it. They explained that these were metaphors. Things to describe other things that didn’t actually describe the other things the way the other things actually were.

It didn’t take her long after that to learn not to keep insisting that they weren’t metaphors for her. Looking at other people was like standing amid all of the flashing lights and noisy bells of a carnival, each one showing differently, each one erupting or subduing seemingly in abandon of the world around them.

But not her Riko.

Watching Nariko was like watching a thunderstorm on the horizon, it always had been. The girl’s mind constantly bounced about a dozen things, never really settling down, never clearing. Occasionally, bolts would flash out from the storm at this or that matter that pulled the churning clouds away from their tumultuous musings. It didn’t produce a sense of danger or hostility, though, just the thrill of seeing the blinding flash and the booming follow while enjoying the low, rumbling ambiance.

Nariko found listening to the cool river relaxing, but this was Haru’s river.

She knew that their working theory was that whatever being had been caught by Nariko was caught because of how similar they were to one another, but she doubted any other Witch understood the depth of that concept like she did. She’d never seen two people with remotely the same emotional presence to one another, not even twins, but her Nariko then and this Nariko now were absolutely the same.

There was a greater tendency in this storm to strike inward at itself, as she had seen Nariko do when her confidence was slipping or she was feeling alone. It didn’t take a great sense of imagination to figure out why that was happening with a Nariko lost in what might as well have been a whole separate world from anything she had ever known. It was why Haru was always so patient with her when she made mistakes or crossed a line or didn’t understand something.

It didn’t matter what was going on in the brunette’s head. Somehow, some way, this heart was her Riko.

… It was something of an experience to see a storm turn toward you, a normally passive thing unaware of your tiny presence suddenly taking notice, and she sat straighter even before the brunette had made any motion that she was going to be looking toward her. And then she saw the bolt strike inwards, carving into the heart of the clouds like a self-inflicted dagger.

“… Riko …” Her scolding was gentle in the face of the harsh lightning, but still before the girl had even uttered a sound.

The one word stripped the girl’s own from her tongue. “… Heh,” was all Nariko said at first, a sound that was half amused, half reprimanded, but then she carried on, anyway. “… I was just going to say, Nariko’s lucky to have you in her life.”

That was … If Haru hadn’t known the thought had accompanied such an inward pain, she probably would have taken it differently, an expression of gratitude instead of one of loneliness and longing.

She turned her knees on her coat so she was better facing the brunette. “You don’t talk much about the life you came from. I know you can’t go into detail even if you wanted to, but it doesn’t take an empath to tell you’re not the sort to want to. Nariko kept things bottled up all the time, too. Thought she was the only one that could handle them, or maybe that if she did, no one else would have to.”

Nariko turned her gaze back to the afternoon sky. “Yeah, sounds about right. Who’d have figured, though, right? Trying to be a lone wolf gets lonely sometimes, shocking. But you get really good at not showing it. You’re just there, dependable, reliable, plugging away. Nobody knows when you want to talk, and you don’t want to bother anyone with the baggage.”

That sounded horrible, Haru thought. She’d seen her Nariko try to do the same thing, but she’d always been there to pull the talking out of her, or just to be silent, understanding support. This Nariko talked like she’d never had that. “Are you saying you never had anyone to share that with? No one in a role in your life like me?”

The girl scoffed. “Haru, I don’t think there’s anyone in the world quite like you, but no. Sadly, no friendly empaths around that I didn’t have to explain myself to. That’s why I said she’s lucky. You’re not just a friend to her, as important as that is. You’re an ear, a shoulder … a balcony."

Riko closed her eyes with a depressed exhale. "When you’re on your own, you end up in a lot of dark places, mostly because nobody knows you need a hand up. You two need each other badly, don’t you?”

It was the blonde’s turn to frown. “… Sometimes I wonder if you’re not an empath, too.”

“Me, me, or me, Nariko?”

Haru paused, then reached over and slapped the girl’s nose. “Yes.”

That drew a chuckle from Nariko. “It makes sense. Nariko’s Analysis could probably pick up on how you felt as well as you could her. I can’t imagine a one-way window’s any less lonely than going it alone.”

A one-way window … It struck Haru as almost poetically apt. It also struck her as familiar. It wasn’t the first time that face across from her had made the metaphor.

This, too, Nariko apparently picked up on, perhaps from Haru’s silence. “Something else I’m repeating from her playbook, eh? Doesn’t matter, just proves me right.”

The blonde wasn’t quite ready to concede ground, however. “And what about you? If you’ve figured out her take on me, what’s yours?”

“Pretty much the same,” Riko admitted. “You two must have bonded very quickly. I know it wasn’t very long after getting to know you that I realized I’d die for you if I had to.”

“Riko! Don’t say such things!”

“Heh, sorry.” The brunette reached up and rubbed an itch on the tip of her nose with her index finger. “I didn’t mean to get so heavy. I just mean that I can see the importance you hold to her, because you so quickly became important to me.”

Riko was dancing around the issue, but Haru wasn’t going to have it. “And you feel guilty because you feel like you’re stealing me from her. Stealing everything from her.”

Across from her, the girl had gone silent, just staring at the clouds.

Haru went silent, too. She wanted to deny it entirely, but she couldn’t. Whoever the brunette really was, she was using everything of Nariko’s. She was using her name, her face, her clothes, her bed, her family, her friends, her place in the team … Even her spot on the riverbank hadn't been safe.

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The only thing she wasn’t using was her powers, and only because she didn’t know how. Still, she couldn’t bear to call it stealing. There must be some way to call it something else.

“… Nariko,” she offered after giving it a little thought, “how would you feel about it if the roles were reversed?”

The brunette looked to her before Haru continued. “Our Nariko is in your life, in your body, with your people. She does her best to not disrupt your life even though she doesn’t know how long she’s going to be there. She didn’t choose it and doesn’t know how to give your life back to you. Do you feel like she stole your life?

Nariko didn’t immediately answer, instead, again, returning her gaze skyward, narrowing it in contemplation. “… No, she didn’t choose it, and it would be worse for her if she tried to convince people she wasn’t me. I’d be worried she’d be in danger, though, wondering if she was able to deal with the challenges she’d be expected to face.”

“Of course you would, because you’re an arrogant lone wolf that thinks nobody can deal with what you do.”

Haru didn’t even look over at the girl’s arched eyebrow that was raised at that. “Oh, don’t argue it, Riko, it’s just how you are. Or did you forget the one you’re worried about is accustomed to dealing with demons you didn’t even think existed?”

“Her powers stayed behind.”

“Do you really think she’d think any different of you?” Haru pursued. “Oh no, a normal human, completely unable to use magic, expected to fight demons and monsters without even a transformation! Obviously, she would see it better if she, knowing how to deal with these things, were there, because there would be no way you could keep up with such challenges.”

Nariko sighed and shut her eyes again. “Okay, okay, I get it. Objection withdrawn. It’d be hard, but she sounds like a tough nut, she’d probably find a way.”

“Exactly,” Haru gave a sharp bob of her head in approval of the conclusion. “So stop blaming yourself for this. You’re here. So just stick to being the best Riko you can be, because it’s the only option you’ve got.”

The brunette went silent again for a moment, but then just gave a quiet smile. “So lucky …”

Haru smiled, too, because this time, the sentiment wasn’t accompanied by an inward strike. She let the quiet afternoon sky and the babbling stream wash the previous topic far away before she spoke again. “How is your shoulder?”

Riko sat up at the words and turned to give the body part in question a thorough rotation before answering. “Surprisingly good,” she replied, turning toward the blonde. “This whole healing factor is astounding. That was probably one of the worst injuries I’ve ever taken. It should have been months, if ever, before I had full range of motion again.”

She grinned in recollection. “Since Miss Sada drove me home, I was able to take the bandages off before even going inside. I had to sleep on my other side, but by morning, it was like it never happened. It didn’t even disrupt my sleep.”

The blonde, in turn, smiled in delight at the news. “I’m glad! When you took that sword like that, I was really worried. It’s a miracle it didn’t cut you in two since you weren’t even transformed.”

Nariko flopped back onto the ground as if to prove just how good her shoulder was. “Bone’s pretty dense. I’d be surprised if even a demon could cut through that much of it in a single swing. It’s stronger than concrete, and even Dakunaito only shattered that stuff. Besides, it wasn’t like that old armor got me with a full-on cleave.”

Haru’s amused giggle sprung up in reply. “Always so confident in what a mighty warrior you are, aren’t you, Riko?”

The comment humbled the girl into a bemused silence, but only for a moment.

“Actually, I was thinking of how helpful it would be for training. Our bodies already seem pretty athletic, probably because this is something we’ve done for a while, but with a Witch’s recovery time, even the breather between sets could be enough to keep going without tiring. And if I’m going to be taking a sword to demons without a transformation, it would pay off to make sure I was as good at it as I could possibly be.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Natsumi,” the blonde teased. “And you, talking as if you haven’t been practicing already.”

“Only enough to keep in form,” the brunette protested. “I don’t have instant knowledge of spells to destroy my foes with choreography and lights. I have to actually get in there and do it the old-fashioned way.”

“Ah, yes, the old-fashioned way,” Haru agreed with mirth. “I remember Miss Sada telling us in class about the Greeks pushing back the Phoenicians with golden swords that cut fireballs in half.”

“They could have been, bronze and gold look enough alike at a distance.”

"And the lights?"

The brunette shrugged. "History's got tons of stories about magic and monsters, kinda hypocritical of us to question them all now. As far as we know, Excalibur was evangelium and hordestadt, and the Lady of the Lake was a demonic noblewoman with a thing for Englishmen."

The two of them followed this tangent gleefully back and forth, no doubt mixing up more historical references than they got right, rewriting major events in the colors of forgotten and underappreciated witches, demons and magic knights. It was refreshing.

No, it was more than that. It was normal. For all of her assurances to herself, for all of her empathy, times like this felt like Nariko was actually back, like she didn't need to tell herself that Riko's aura was the same. She didn't have to explain anything, she didn't have to answer anything. When it felt like her friend was being herself, she could relax instead of worrying if she would ever come back.

Was that strange? Shouldn't times like that make her wonder more by reminding her of what Nariko was like?

Some part of her said it should, but at the same time, times like these were when Nariko's emotions most leveled out. It was so close to what Nariko was supposed to be, it genuinely felt like it was Nariko actually there and not just the echo of someone else she'd caught. Perhaps, at times like this when the two Rikos were most in sync, hers was able to shine through the cracks a little?

They kept at the silliness until it naturally ran its course and they both fell silent, leaving the river again the loudest talker present. Haru had almost thought the brunette had dozed off when that changed.

"Hey, there you two are! What a lovely picture, a couple of pretty girls on the riverbed!"

Haru had turned to look at the hazel-haired young man in their school's male uniform calling to them from the sidewalk, but Nariko had not, remaining laying there, eyes shut and face toward the afternoon sky.

"Hey, Wren."

The name Nariko used caused Haru's eyes to snap wide as her head zipped back to her, then back to the boy, and back to her friend again.

"Jack!" she stressed to her in a taut hiss, half shocked that Nariko could get something so wrong. How could she even confuse the two?! She'd have blamed it on the brunette having been half dreaming, but she knew at a glance that wasn't the case.

Even if she had any doubts, the sideways, one-eyed look Nariko gave her at that made it obvious that the brunette was the one confused at being corrected. Like she had been certain.

At Haru's panicked, insistent expression, she instead pulled her head back so she was looking at the boy effectively upside-down rather than getting fully up right away. Haru assumed that would be it, but then after seeing who it was, Nariko just gave her the look again!

Haru just stared right back at her in bewilderment as the brunette rolled onto her hip to sit up and turn about. What?! she thought. Why do you keep looking at me like I'm the crazy one?! How could you possibly confuse a demon prince and a human classmate?!

Poor Jack was feeling so awkward and uncomfortable at the lengthening stretch of time he was left standing there, it was like seeing a board stiffen him into an uncomfortable pose. He finally cleared his throat and spoke again as he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, who's Wren?"

Nariko looked from him back to Haru one more time, and there was a shift of resignation in the storm. It was as if the girl had gone, Fine, sure, I'll play along. Play along with what?! In Haru's mind, she was the one acting crazy. What in the world was she even seeing to make her respond like that?

"Just somebody else I know," the brunette was already saying to him. "I was dozing, and for a moment, you two sounded just alike. Sorry about that."

She had to admit, despite the staring contest the two had, the girl made the words sound convincing with how absolutely straight her face was. That was Nariko, A Class Fibber.

"Ah," Jack tried with a beat of hesitation. "It isn't someone you're ... seeing, is it?"

At that, the honesty of Nariko's face dropped like a rock into a frown with such suddenness that the blonde next to her had to suppress a giggle. "No."

The boy gave himself a shake at that, like the flatness had given him the willies. "Yeesh, Kelly, make me regret asking ..."

To Haru's eyes, she could practically see the cause as Nariko's response settled like a chill over the boy, and this time, she didn't suppress her giggle at the sight.

That, in turn, seemed to lighten Riko's expression. "Was there something you needed us for?"

Again, that left the boy rubbing the back of his head. Haru had to admit, Jack was kind of cute when he got bashful. "Ah, well, not as such ... I just thought I heard voices I recognized and thought I'd come over and see. Sorry if I'm intruding."

"Not at all, Jack, really!" Haru assured him, sensing his discomfort and doing her best to alleviate it with a smile. "We're just listening to the river and chatting, is all. Plenty of space if that sounds relaxing to you."

She watched that board come up and stiffen him again. She could read it all over him. The idea of lying down on the grass with two pretty girls was for very many reasons absolutely not something that would relax him in any way. Well, at least she knew he thought they were attractive.

Of course, she really hadn't expected him to accept; this sort of tension was completely normal for Jack, but she also knew he appreciated the invitation even if he couldn't bring himself to take them up on it.

"Ah, no, I really can't ... See, home's, ah, that way for me," his vague gesture covered a wide angle for a direction that could really only be interpreted as anywhere but here, "and I only headed over to this side of the tracks for a stop by the convenience store here. They carry a magazine I like and the new issue just--"

"Hush!"

Nariko's sudden command caused them both to jump, and Haru immediately noticed how tense she'd gone, coiled like a spring, already half-standing, eyes narrowed as she tried to train her senses on something.

Haru began standing, too, and even Jack had gone stiff, no doubt feeling the same pumping of adrenaline. The body language was clear. Danger. "What is it, Nariko?"

"The river stopped."