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A quick glance in the bedroom mirror has her guessing she’s in her twenties. There’s the smell of burning bread, so she follows it.
Junpei is in the kitchen, flipping something in a pan, and he smiles as he turns to greet her.
“Morning, Kanny.”
She sits down at the kitchen table, stares at her plate, and starts to cry.
-
Luna frowns, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. “But won’t this mean that there will be multiple timelines where Mr. Tenmyouji will find your corpse?”
“Yes,” she agrees.
“He’s coming here to see you. He’s going to play this game to see you.”
“Luna,” she murmurs, a warning.
“It’s just all so sad,” Luna sighs, and twists her fingers around her necklace.
-
“Jumpy,” she whispers, barely able to speak. “Jumpy, the rabbits, they – they’re – ”
They hold hands as they walk to the school’s hutches. Akane makes sure her eyes are shut tight as they round the corner.
-
Junpei gathers her up in his arms. The chapel smells like ash and smoke.
You’re almost there, Jumpy, she wants to tell him, as her brother’s voice echoes through the room.
Game over. This game has ended.
-
“Hey, hey, Kanny, look at me,” Junpei coaxes. He’s pulled a seat up next her at the kitchen table, and his hand rubs slow circles on her back. “It’s alright, okay?”
Whatever Junpei was cooking is definitely ruined, and that just makes it harder to stop crying.
“Where are you from? What year?”
Her mouth opens and closes as she tries to answer him. She can feel herself starting to shake.
“Never mind,” he gives up easily. “You stay as long as you want, ok?”
She has no idea what timeline she’s in. For all she knows, the world could end tomorrow.
She wants to stay forever.
-
(It takes a week. Junpei stares in horror at the TV as the newscaster lifts a gun to her head.
“Kanny,” he breathes, and she takes his face in her hands.
“I’m so sorry, Jumpy. I have to go.”
She is gone before he can reply.
This time, when she wakes up, she turns away from the mirror to find that painting from the second-class cabin of Building Q hanging on the opposite wall.
“Morning, Kanny,” Junpei says.
“Morning, Jumpy,” she replies, and smiles when Junpei breaks out into a string of curses as he realizes the toaster is smoking.
She repeats the week so many times she loses count. She knows she is being selfish.)
-
“He’s definitely out?” Aoi looks over his shoulder as they haul Junpei’s unconscious body down the stairs of his apartment building.
“I’m sure,” she says. “Trust me.”
The entire building has been given a healthy dose of Soporil. The landlord will blame it on the septic tank.
Junpei makes an unpleasant thud as they load him into the back of the van.
“I’ll drive,” her brother says. “You stay with him and make sure he doesn’t wake up.”
She pulls her gas mask down and stares at Junpei, a fresh canister of Soporil at the ready.
“You’re sure he never met me?” Aoi pulls his own gas mask on before he starts the car.
“I don’t think I ever even mentioned you,” she teases, and laughs when he huffs and puts the van in drive.
Junpei frowns. Her fingers twitch, but his expression relaxes just seconds later.
She digs into her coat pocket to find Junpei’s bracelet, its blue 5 glowing brightly in the dark of the van.
Junpei’s arm is heavy in her left hand as she uses the other to snap the bracelet around his wrist.
-
“I’m pretty pissed Clover didn’t recognize me,” Junpei grumbles, announcing his entry into Biotope Garden. “Maybe I should have worn more layers.”
Akane smiles at him from her seat on the bench, and doesn’t move when he sits next to her. Junpei hunches over and buries his face in his hands. Suddenly, she feels incredibly old.
They sit in silence for one minute. Five. Ten.
“I’m sorry, Junpei,” she says finally. His shoulders shake.
“Forty-seven years,” is his reply.
She puts a hand on his shoulder, but when she gets no response, she turns her body to touch the side of his face. He lifts his head, finally, and to prove a point, Akane gently rests their foreheads together.
She feels Junpei shudder as the pathways between them spark back to life. Almost instantly, she can see the dark behind Junpei’s eyelids, understands how he refuses to look at her. He was never much of an esper, but when she was younger, she used to pretend they were made for each other.
“I’m going to find it, Jumpy. I’m going to find the world where –”
(where you make breakfast for me in the morning and the toast is burning and I can stay for more than a week)
She loses him. Junpei winces and pulls away.
“That’s all well and good, but I’ll still be here, won’t I?”
She can’t deny it.
“I used to think I was at least an important piece in the game. Maybe I’m not even that anymore. How many times have I been a stepping stone, Akane?”
He stands, fists balled at his sides.
“Quark and I are going home.”
-
When Jumpy arrives at school the next morning, eyes swollen and lips split, she realizes she has never considered revenge – as a concept, as a response, as a way to right a wrong – before. All he had wanted was to stop that poor cat from getting hurt.
-
“Your username is your last name, obviously. You just need to pick a password.” Sigma waves his hand at the computer. “Go for it.”
She stares down at the keyboard, lets her fingers hover over it.
It doesn’t matter what she chooses. Or maybe nothing matters more.
J-U-M-P-Y-