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

[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]

Everything.

[Kio starts in an undertone, he tells him about Seimei and Nisei, he tells him about Seimei threatening to destroy his mind. He whispers for Soubi to stay away from him and to keep Ritsuka away from him. He tells him more about Bloodless, everything he saw, everything he smelled, everything he felt, everything that crossed his mind. He tells him about the woman in the chair, about how, after greeting him with an "onii-chan" and being surprised that he didn't remember her, how she left him there. Then how Soubi came and set him free, how Soubi and Ritsuka told him that it was over, that they'd won.

Then he stops and he licks his lips.]

Then...then I went to see Shikiko. Sh-she didn't tell me anything really, she said it was before her time. And then I left there and I went back to your apartment because I wanted to go out and get drunk and try not to think about it and then...then I woke up here.

[He listens to all of this intently, not interrupting once, but nodding thoughtfully here and there. But when Kio is done, he quickly begins asking questions.]

Who is Shikiko, Kio?

[Murmurs]

My daughter

[Soubi arches an eyebrow for a moment, but then his expression becomes neutral again. He can't doubt what Kio is saying before he's done.]

You asked your daughter about a sister you don't remember? How would she know, if you don't?

[He shrugs]

Shikiko-san, she knows a lot. She was raised in a special home for women in my family, I wasn't allowed to see her much when she was growing up. It's against the rules.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you before.

[He grips the cloth of his pants on his legs, staring down at the ground]

I'm sorry I never mentioned her.

I should have said something.

I'm sorry.

[He shakes his head, completely disregarding Kio's apology. It's best to get the information out of him now, before he becomes too upset to talk.]

So she didn't know anything about your sister. Did you talk to any of the other women in that house?

[He's combing Kio's story for the names of any Fighters or Sacrifices that he might recognize. That would explain all of this.]

Yeah, Sheiko, Shikiko's mother. I didn't ask her anything though. She's not...she's a bit...

[Kio trails off]

I didn't think she'd know.

[A nod. He doesn't recognize that name, either, but that doesn't mean she isn't a Fighter. She's obviously a grown woman, and to make Kio sleep with her... well, that has to mean something, doesn't it?]

I see. And just after that, you went to my house, and woke up here?

Spell 001 [Text] [Backdated to dawn]

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