Chapter Text
The sun shone brightly through the curtains as Ryoko stirred from her slumber. She slowly rose out of her bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning as she took a glance around the room that she had been allocated since coming out of her pod. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, just as she remembered it from the night before. A closet of which the doors stayed slightly ajar of her own volition, a desk with some notebooks and a built-in computer for working inside, the door to her personal bathroom a jar in case she had to get up in the middle of the night while it was dark, and her nightstand with a small lamp and a few files on top of it.
Good , she thought, though she knew the chance of someone rummaging through her belongings was low since it was just the 15 of them, and they all agreed to stay out of each other’s rooms unless otherwise given permission by the occupant. Still, knowing her trust in this group was not broken was reassuring, a feeling Ryoko didn’t have a whole lot for as long as she could remember.
Not that I can remember much , she told herself and sighed. She got out of bed and headed towards her closet, opening the door enough for her to look inside and find something to wear that day. As she did, Ryoko’s mind ran through everything she remembered that wasn’t how to control a sentinel.
- Ei Sekigahara was important to her and was the first person she saw after waking up with her memory gone.
- Her sentinel was built for her by Mr. Ida, her superior in the fight against the kaiju and the person she devoted herself towards helping.
- They were on planet RS-13 ⍺, millions of years after Earth had gone to ruins and the initial extinction of humanity. Of course, some of the others have taken to calling the planet Risea to make it easier to remember (Ogata, Hijiyama, and Fuyusaka primarily).
- Her 2188 counterpart was responsible for the kaiju attack, for reasons involving despair and believing humanity deserved to go extinct.
- Her compatriots were Ei Sekigahara, Shu Amiguchi, Yuki Takamiya, Juro Kurabe, Tamao Kurabe, Renya Gouto, Megumi Yakushiji, Tsukasa Okino, Takatoshi Hijiyama, Iori Fuyusaka, Keitaro Miura, Natsuno Minami, Tomi Kisaragi, and Nenji Ogata. There was an AI that helped them on occasion (she had heard several names for it, but the one that most seemed to use was 426).
- According to Ei, she and Renya Gouto were in a relationship in middle school. According to Gouto himself, both the two of them dating and the two of them breaking up was her own idea, and she had never explained herself.
She finished putting on her shoes and walked over to the bathroom to brush her hair, contemplating how she could afford to only remember so little if she was supposed to help humanity recover from their population issue. She remembered the explanation Ei had given had been pretty vague. She had gradually lost her memory due to an event where their nanomachines had been infected by a virus that would cause them to lose their memories. He was lucky and managed to have his memories backed up before he lost them all, so he managed to get them back, but she was unable to because her memories were not backed up before she lost most of her memories. She supposed the details didn’t matter now that they were out of the simulation, and with her hair thoroughly brushed, she walked out of her room to the corridor leading to the center.
Ryoko trusts the others will tell her the important information eventually, once they’ve truly gotten themselves established here on RS-13 ⍺.
“Ryoko-san,” she heard from the entrance of the cafeteria. She looked up from her breakfast and saw Ei walking towards her. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
With a shrug, she replied, “Well enough,” before taking another bite of her meal. Once she had swallowed, she asked “What about you, Ei-kun?” When she heard no response, she looked back up and saw his eyes were a bit red. Her own eyes widened, and Ryoko asked in a whisper, “are you okay?”
Ei turned away, wiping his forehead, likely hoping to hide his face a bit, before responding “I was hoping I might be able to talk with you when you have a moment.” He looked around to see who else was around - as far as Ryoko could see, it was just the two of them - before turning to face her once more. “Maybe on a walk through the surrounding area.”
Ryoko nodded her head, hoping she was being supportive enough. “I’ll meet you in around half an hour at the base entrance. Is that okay?”
With a nod, the boy walked away to grab some food of his own. Ryoko saw Fuyusaka walk in soon enough, and she quickly walked over to get breakfast with Ei. She talked quite a bit while they made food, though Ryoko focused less on her words and more on the brave smile Ei put on. Fuyusaka looked worried for a moment in the middle, but after Ei said something, she perked back up and went back to her own ramblings.
He has others to take care of him , she noted, a small smile forming on her lips as she finished her meal. She soon put the dishes away and decided to occupy herself until she and Ei met up by checking on their supplies. She didn’t expect anyone but perhaps Gouto, because though it was still somewhat early, he worked tirelessly to keep everything working, along with 426. Ryoko hadn’t even seen him go to his room since they were originally allocated, though Okino had claimed that he had gone to bed a couple of times.
Upon entering the supply room, Ryoko began accessing the resource data and heard the now familiar chirp of the AI that had been helping them. “Shinonome-san, good morning. What do you need? I’m still working on getting the facility fully operational, so I hope it’s nothing too big.”
Although he was an AI, 426 was annoyingly cocky. Still, she shook her head in response, “I don’t need anything, 426. I’m just checking our resources. It won’t be long before we need to start getting resources ourselves,” Ryoko stated. She shifted through the different resources they’d been using the past couple of weeks as they got started. They anticipated being done by the end of the month. “I don’t suppose you’ve recovered any files from 2188, have you?”
The AI groaned, “No, those are still stuck in the simulation. I’m still working on those.” His avatar appeared on the screen, an image of a student from the Sakura High School they all attended in the simulation with his eyebrow raised and a slanted frown. “Thought you said you didn’t need anything?”
Ryoko rolled her eyes, closing the final inventory tab and looking at him. “I was curious. I’m not asking you to go out of your way to recover them.” With that, she sighed and looked at him. “Why do you use that avatar?”
426 shrugged, smiling with his teeth on full display, which only furthered Ryoko’s annoyance as he responded, “It’s the one I built for myself while everyone was in the simulation. I happen to quite like it, y’know?”
She did not know. “It looks annoying,” she replied bluntly. “Can’t you make another avatar?”
“That would take time and effort I can’t afford to spend on trivial tasks,” he responded, with his own snarky look. “Besides, I like this look. Juro and Megumi like it enough.”
Ryoko sighed and gave up. “I’m done checking the inventory-”
“You finished that a minute ago.”
“-We should be good for a couple more weeks. I’ve got plans, so I’m leaving. Please hurry.”
“Not like I’ve got anything else to do, Shinonome-san, but you can count on me.”
The door slid shut behind her as Ryoko began to walk to the entrance of the facility to meet up with Ei. While the facility wasn’t large, it was big enough to house everyone and allow all 15 of them a decent amount of space. Thus, traveling took enough time for her to have nothing else to do. She would be a little bit early, but going off and doing other miscellaneous tasks before the meeting would be counterproductive as she would end up being late. Thus, all that was left was to arrive at the entrance and sit there with nothing to do until Ei showed up.
Nothing but contemplate.
The first thought that comes to mind is her almost instinctual disdain for 426. She can’t tell why she doesn’t like him, other than the fact that his name and personality almost immediately set off alarm bells in her mind. She thinks she can remember Ms. Morimura, Ei, and Gouto speaking about him at some point. But she also knows that her memory is spotty at best still. That said, of course, some of the others are hesitant to trust him, though Juro Kurabe and Megumi Yakushiji both advocate that he can be trusted. And the fact that the facility has been becoming more and more operational thanks to him only builds on the fact that he should be trusted.
Yet that does nothing to calm her unease with him, the snarky and mocking tone he carries in conversation that masks the rather serious and stern side he has. She’s only seen it once, when he first got pulled from Juro Kurabe’s nanomachines and onto the facilities system. He got serious in an attempt to show them that he wouldn’t fool around. Gouto, Takamiya, and Ei were all against the idea, but the group seemed to argue that they could check in on him often and keep tabs on him, as well as changing his permissions if it came down to it. Thus, they let him into the system, and thus far, it’s been a successful decision as far as they could tell. She should probably just ignore her worries, but she can’t help but wonder if he hides his true intentions from them.
“Hey, Ryoko-san, you okay?”
The sudden, louder-than-typical voice from her friend startled her out of her thoughts, her attention snapping up to see Ei standing in front of her. He wore a concerned look, a hand outstretched in worry, as if he was about to shake her before realizing he’d gotten through to her. Ryoko looked away, a sigh escaping her lips as she stated, “I’m fine, Ei-kun. I was just thinking.” Ei made a face at her, his eyebrows furrowing in response as she began to walk out of the facility.
He followed her, and the two set out on their usual path. The group had set a couple of ground rules in order to keep everyone safe. One that was largely debated upon initially was that, should one of them leave the facilities tracking range, they must bring at least one other person and be back by sunset, to ensure a higher chance of survival in case they got lost. There were several people that objected to being unable to have alone time, but Gouto mentioned that, as he usually stays within the facility, he can send a drone to search for people. As they have no vehicles without trackers or GPS, it would be unlikely those who left would not be able to find their fellow survivors. With that, most doubts were put to rest, and the rule was implemented.
Ei and Ryoko followed this rule to a T, usually sticking to the same route every time they’d leave the facilities tracking range. It was a quaint path, bending and twisting through the immediate meadow with a forest not too far away, and just through the woods rested a lake. Once they’d walk all the way around the lake, they’d go back down the path and head towards the facility. Ei had discovered the lake thanks to his walks with Fuyusaka, and he decided to bring Ryoko there a couple of days later. Ever since then, they had been making that same walk every time they left together. Which, granted, had only been thrice prior, but it had become the path that they would walk.
For the first few moments, they were silent, merely keeping each other company as they walked through the meadows immediately outside of the facility. It wasn’t until they had reached the outskirts of the forest that Ei began to talk.
“Regaining memories is a blessing and a curse,” he stated as if that was a fact and there was no room for debate. Before Ryoko could respond, he continued, “I remembered you, and Miura, and Iori. And that’s a good thing. But I also remember…” he trailed off, and over the course of just a few steps, the small smile that had formed on his lips disappeared and was replaced by a somber grimace. He put a hand to his forehead, his eyes narrowing as he said, “I remember my parents and our neighborhood. I remember the shouting and beatings that I’d have to endure. Mom would kick me when I didn’t do good enough, dad would ignore me unless he needed me to do something.” He paused, wiping his hand across his face, and Ryoko was pretty sure she could see tear stains on his cheek. “The kids at school would beat me within an inch of my life whenever I wanted to. The teachers would get frustrated with me simply because I didn’t understand the material.” With a shaky breath and a sigh, Ei looks over at Ryoko, blinking a couple of times in what she assumes is an attempt to fight tears. “I know it's been 3 years since I was with them, but...I still get nightmares, Ryoko. About the beatings, the shouting, the looks. They haven’t stopped.”
Ryoko felt a pulse against her head, and she had to resist pulling her hand up to her forehead. Instead, she put a hand on Ei’s back and rubbed it gently in what she hoped was comforting. “I’m sorry, Ei-kun…I hate how much you’ve had to go through,” she says, hopeful she can ease his pain a little bit. She uses their next few steps to close the gap between them, pulling him into a side hug. A thought crosses her mind, and she pauses for a moment. “Have you told Fuyusaka-san? She could probably help better than me.”
The boy, who had wrapped an arm around her to return the hug, blinked and pulled his head back to look at her, stopping in his tracks. Ryoko kept walking for a couple of steps before turning to face Ei. He stared at her in silence, a moment where Ryoko was confused that was finished when he asked, “What do you mean?”
The older teen sighed and looked away. “You and Fuyusaka are dating, right? She deserves to know what’s troubling you.” She turned to look back towards where they had walked from, in the direction of the facility. “I’m just a friend.”
Ei’s mouth went agape for a moment before closing again. He sighed and shook his head. “Ryoko-san, I know you lost your memories but...you have to know you aren’t just a friend. You’re like family to me.” He said, a perturbed expression plain on his face as he walked to get a little closer to her. “You were there for me when no one else was.”
The beat of her heart mixed with a pulse in her head as Ryoko tried to keep herself stable. That’s why Ei was important to her. He was right. They were practically family. And yet, that knowledge also felt overwhelming for reasons she couldn’t see. She pulled away from him, her curious eyes looking up at his tormented ones. “What was I there for?”
There was a pause between the two of them, the silence of the wind and surrounding terrain filling up space as they stood there in the lush forest. Ei turned uncomfortably, his eyes looking anywhere else he could train them on that wasn’t Ryoko.
The older teen looked away and shook her head, “Never mind. Let’s keep walking. We’re almost to the lake.”
Ryoko turned to walk, getting a few steps in before she heard faster paces behind her and felt a hand on her wrist. It was not rough, but stern enough to tell her Ei would not be letting go, and she turned her head to face him. He smiled sadly, “I’ll tell you. Just...give me some time.”
For now, that was enough for her.