badfic_manor | Spell 001 [Text] [Backdated to dawn]

I still haven't seen him. Sou-chan...don't freak out but...Rit-chan might not be here.

[A long pause. Then a text reply answers.]

He has to be.

Why does he have to be?!

[Kio's been exploring and he doesn't like the look of it. It reminds him waaaay too much of Shikiko's compound]

Because he fell asleep with me at the school. I would know if they moved him.

Wait...the school? D-did you go back to Goura?

[Kio looks a little apprehensive]

[He raises an eyebrow at him. Memory-loss? Again?]

Yes, Kio. You were with us. You were trying to give Ritsuka chupas most of the way there.

Sou-chan that was a week and a half ago.

[He gives Soubi a worried look]

Don't you remember?

[He frowns.]

No, I don't. I went to sleep around 3 o'clock in the morning, just last night. I couldn't have been sleeping longer than a few hours.

But Sou-chan...it's...I don't know what's wrong with you. You saved me, we came home, you don't remember?

[He shakes his head, frowning.]

Why would I save you from an onsen?

[Getting worked up]

No!! You saved me from those crazy psychos who kidnapped me! That guy with the long hair and the one who stole my glasses with "Bloodless" scarification on his cheek and the other guy, the quiet guy.

[Kio shivers. There's something a little distant and a lot worrisome about his expression]

It happened, Soubi! I know it happened!

[He pauses for several moments, looking Kio over.]

Maybe the people at the Academy did something to your memory...

[Kio stares at him, a smile quirking at the corners of his mouth]

My memory....

[Something like a laugh]

Soubi tell me this is a joke. It's a joke, right?! Right?! You took me back to your apartment and you saved me from them. It happened! It happened! I know it happened!

[There is horrible desperation in his voice]

SOUBI I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!

[Huh. He doesn't usually see Kio this upset. Soubi can't help but wonder if Kio's strange lack of memory is a sore spot for him. He realizes that he's never asked.]

I didn't bring you back to my apartment. When I went to sleep, I was at the school and you were at the Seven Voices' onsen. How can I not remember what you remember?

[There's a long silence while Kio is struggling to process this. He's breathing heavily, shaking, he looks like he might cry if it weren't for that twitching smile]

Then...is she real?

[He gives Kio a very slightly worried frown.]

Is who real?

[His breath comes in short bursts]

My sister.

[Now he honestly looks worried.]

I didn't know you had a sister, Kio.

[And now there's that almost laughter, long, soft, high]

Me neither!

Wait there.

[And in an inordinately short time, Soubi appears next to Kio. Don't ask how Soubi knew where to find him. He puts his hands on his shoulders and forcefully guides him to a chair, then sits across from him, leaning forward onto his knees to look at him.]

Tell me what you remember happening.

[Kio obeys and practically collapses into the chair. He's chuckling now, and they sound like sobs wracking through him]

I...I...Soubi, he's back! Seimei is alive, I saw him. He was there with a man with long hair and...they took me somewhere. I passed out and when I came to there were these two men, Yurio and Hideo, they had me in a cell. Yurio was teasing me, Hideo was...evil. And then they left and she came in. She looked just like me and she called me "onii-chan"

I know it happened.

[He watches Kio's face closely as the other speaks. His expression doesn't change from one of concern at any point, not even when Seimei's name is mentioned.]

Did you ask her if she was your sister?

I said we looked like twins...she said she was my sister...then she left...she was gone.

[He suddenly clings to Soubi, holding onto him tightly]

Why don't I remember her?!

[He pulls Kio off of him and looks him in the face.]

I don't know. But if that happened to you, I should be able to remember rescuing you...

[He's starting to think this is all a very impressive, reality-shifting word-spell.]

Tell me everything that happened after Ritsuka and I left you in the school lobby. Up to when you woke up here.

Everything?

[Kio swallows]

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