Chapter Text
Sometimes, Yomogi could see him.
At first, he and Yume assumed it was just Knight, poking his head into their world just to make sure everything was on the level. Knight always had a penchant for lurking, so it wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for him to keep tabs on the former pilots without their knowledge (even if it was disappointing that they never got to talk to him or Second after their departure).
That was before he heard the sound of someone eating crab crisps by the river one day, spotting a plastic bag floating in the wind shortly thereafter.
This shouldn’t have mattered. Anyone could’ve made that sound. People eat snacks, and every convenience store in Japan probably had some crab snacks on its shelves. Such a shocking revelation. And yet, he listened. Why?
It was because of how they were being eaten.
Get to know someone long enough and you pick up on the way they eat, both visually and audibly. Yomogi knows Yume has a habit of eating her desserts as slowly as she can, so that she can enjoy the sweetness for as long as possible. Koyomi tends to take bigger bites, followed by a massive swig of whatever drink he has available, so he can take his time on a response to the topic at hand. Chise, somehow, manages to take one big chomp that encompasses the majority of her meal while somehow still managing to get the full flavor experience. Even Yomogi’s been told he has a habit of mixing up his main dish and his sides for a more textured bite.
With the crisps, though, they weren’t eaten so much as devoured . Yomogi, admittedly, thought some kind of rabid animal had gotten into someone’s grocery bag when he first heard the noise. It was a snarling, almost inhuman sound, lasting for a few seconds before stopping entirely.
Yomogi had heard that once before, all those months ago.
The bag flying past him with a very conspicuous, eerily human bite mark was just the icing on the cake.
Now, it’s getting worse. He’d spot a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye, even if it was gone in an instant. He’d see a third shadow, for just a split-second, walking alongside his and Yume’s own. He’d spy a lanky figure in the distance, illuminated by the light of the setting sun, only to find it gone by the time he reaches the river bank.
Yume believed him when he told her of his suspicions, which was a surprise-ever since the Eugenicists' defeat, the world had settled back into some state of normalcy. No Kaiju, no seeds, no strange goings-on...the supernatural battles that had become commonplace simply faded into memory, albeit with the local and national governments preparing for what they felt was an oncoming storm.
Yume believed him, though.
Why?
She had been seeing someone else in the ether, someone who shouldn’t have been there-no matter how much she wanted otherwise.
She saw her sister.