Chapter Text
"I'm... I'm sorry, Basil. And I'm sorry to you two also, Sunny and Kel." Aubrey says to you, Basil, and Kel.
Basil walks up to her, gives her a hug, and smiles.
"There's no need to apologize, Aubrey. It's okay." he says.
Then, Kel walks to Aubrey, smiles at her, and then wraps his arms around her.
"We used to fight a lot, but now, it's okay. We're cool." Kel tells her.
Aubrey smiles in response, and then embraces Kel.
"Thanks, Kel." she says to him.
"Actually Aubrey, there is something I must confess to you." Kel says, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
You, Basil, Mari, Hero, and Lorde all watch this conversation between Kel and Aubrey, intrigued, as you hold Basil's hand, and as Mari and Hero also hold each others hands.
"W-what is it, Kel? What do you h-have to tell me?" Aubrey asks, in a rare showing of nervousness from her.
"So... you know how we used to fight and bicker when we were younger?" he asks.
"Yeah? What about it?" she asks him.
"Well... there was a reason for why I would do that, and I hope you have the same reason also." Kel continues.
"What reason would that be, Kel?" Aubrey asks.
"It's because... I had, and I still do, a huge crush on you, Aubrey." Kel confesses, as Aubrey's face turns a bright shade of red.
You and your sister, Mari, look at each other, with your jaws dropped.
"Y-you... you had a crush on me?" Aubrey says, genuinely touched by Kel's confession.
"I did... and I still do..." Kel responds.
"R-really? W-when did you first figure this out?" Aubrey asks.
A memory suddenly comes back to you.
At one point, when you were younger, it was just you and Aubrey in the old treehouse at your old house, while Basil, Mari, Hero, and Kel were in the backyard, playing some sort of game.
You were always a good listener when it came to everything, so all of your friends would typically come to you to vent, or tell you their secrets.
So this wasn't much of a surprise to you when Aubrey came up to you, telling you something.
"Hey, Sunny? Can I tell you something?" she asked you back then.
You looked at her, and gave her a nod.
At the time, you really liked Aubrey, and your feelings for Basil weren't as strong.
They didn't become strong until after you saved Basil from suicide that night when you lost your eye.
"Thanks, Sunny." Aubrey said back then.
"What is it you wanted to tell me, Aubrey?" you asked her.
You and Aubrey were alone in the treehouse, so nobody else could hear the conversation between you and her.
"W-well... I just wanted to say that... I... have a crush on Kel." Aubrey told you.
"You do?" you asked her, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, I do. And it's been there for a while, so don't feel weird because of it." Aubrey responded.
"Well... you don't think I'm weird for having feelings for Basil, so why should I feel weird about you liking Kel?" you told her, hiding the fact that you liked Aubrey.
"Yeah... I guess you're right." Aubrey said, looking a bit relieved.
"I'm glad you told me, Aubrey." you told her, glancing at your other friends, who were still playing outside.
"Thanks, Sunny. Thanks for listening to me." she said to you.
You both shared a moment of silence, before Aubrey spoke up again.
"Sunny, do you... do you think... Kel likes me?" she asked you.
"I don't know, Aubrey. You'll have to ask him that." you told her, and then there was a pause.
"Oh..." Aubrey said.
"Well, what do you think, Aubrey?" you asked her.
"Well, we always bicker for the stupidest reasons. I think he does that so that I could possibly hate him, so he wouldn't be able to act on those feelings of the crush that he could have on me. You know what I mean?" Aubrey said to you.
"Yeah... I do..." you replied to her.
"But... I just want to know... does he really like me?" Aubrey asked.
"Aubrey, you shouldn't care about that right now. Seriously... we're still only kids, so you don't have to worry about that. We aren't even in high school yet. I don't worry about my feelings for Basil. We all still have years of friendship ahead of us." you told her.
"Oh..." Aubrey responded, trailing off.
Suddenly, you snap back to the current moment, with Basil, Mari, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero looking at you.
"Sunny, you okay? You seemed to be deep in thought." you hear Mari say.
"Yeah... I was just thinking about something." you reply to her.
"You okay?" Basil asks you, concerned.
You look at him, and give him a nod.
"Anyways... what were we doing?" you ask.
"Kel just confessed that he has a crush on Aubrey." Mari says.
"And we're about to find out if the feeling is mutual." Hero says, smirking, as you, Basil, Mari, Kel, Lorde, and Hero all turn to look at Aubrey.
Aubrey blushes intensely.
"I... do have a crush on you, Kel. I did even back then, and I still do now." Aubrey tells Kel.
Kel's face turns red, as Aubrey smiles, and grabs his hands.
"Isn't there something else you would like to ask me, Kel?" Aubrey says to him.
"Uh... yeah..." Kel says, looking completely flustered.
"Well, what is it?" Aubrey asks him, with a teasing smile on her face.
"Um... do you... would you... like to be my... girlfriend?" he asks her.
Aubrey closes her eyes, and blushes.
"Yes... I would like to be your girlfriend." she says to Kel.
Kel's face turns red, as Aubrey embraces him.
You, Basil, Mari, Hero, and Lorde all look at each other, on the verge of tears, as the scene in front of you is very heartwarming.
"I love you, Kel." Aubrey says, as she gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"I... I love you too, Aubrey." he says, returning the hug and kiss that she had given to him. You, Basil, Mari, Hero, and Lorde all cannot hold your tears back anymore, as you all start crying.
Kel and Aubrey have finally found the happiness they needed, and it turns out, they needed each other. Aubrey and Kel walk over to all of you, holding hands.
"G-guys! Why are you crying?" Aubrey asks, concerned.
"W-we're just so happy for you and K-Kel." Mari says, as you and Basil wrap your arms around each other.
"Aww... you guys..." Aubrey says as her and Kel pull you all into a group hug, as you all slowly, but surely, stop crying.
"So... what should we do now?" you say.
Before anyone can say anything, Lorde gets a call on her phone.
"Hello?" she says, answering the phone.
None of you hear the other side of the conversation, but Lorde's expression drops from a happy one to a worried one.
"Hey... I-I-I-I have to go." Lorde says, as she hangs up.
"What is going on?" you ask Lorde.
"It's my mom... she's... in the hospital... she said she's fine... but I'm not so sure..." she says. "Lorde... you should go see your mom, then." you say, as everyone nods.
"I know... but your 18th birthday is in 5 days, Sunny." Lorde says to you.
"You can always come back either the day before or the day of my birthday. But your mom needs you right now. Even if you miss my birthday, I'll understand." you tell her.
Lorde smiles, and hugs you.
"Thank you..." she says to you.
"I know we've only just met this summer, but I consider you a part of our group now, which means I consider you one of my best friends." you tell Lorde.
"I-I-I promise I'll see you all on your birthday, Sunny." Lorde says, as she goes to her car.
She looks at you, Basil, Mari, Hero, Aubrey, and Kel one last time from her car.
"Bye! I'll call you when I get to the hospital!" Lorde says, before driving off.
"Bye, Lorde!" you all say, waving.
You look at the time, and realize it's about 8:45 PM.
"Oh shit, it's getting late. We might as well go to your house, Hero and Kel." Aubrey says to the brothers.
"Sure, Aubrey." Hero says.
"Yeah, sounds fun. We can just go now, right?" Kel asks.
"Yeah, yeah, of course." you say.
"Lead the way, Kel." Basil says.
You all begin walking to Hero and Kel's house, with you and Basil holding hands, Hero and Mari holding hands, and the new couple of Aubrey and Kel holding hands.
When you all get to their house, you all realize that you're all tired, as you all have had a long day, so you all decide to go to bed early.
That night, you swear you dream of OMORI for the first time in over a year, but you aren't too sure. You make a mental note to talk about it with Basil, Mari, Aubrey, Hero, and Kel when everyone wakes up.
Four days left until your 18th birthday.