Chapter Text
There are a few things you know for sure about yourself:
1. You love your brother dearly.
2. You love your boyfriend with all your heart.
3. Everyone loves you, your brother and your boyfriend especially.
4. You are very good at playing the piano, you could go pro.
5. Because of how amazing everyone thinks you are, you have high expectations to live up to. Thus, you find yourself getting irritated or embarrassed when you don't live up to them.
6. You aren't perfect.
7. You aren't a good person, and you don't deserve so much love.
7. You're not that great, and people should stop acting like you are.
And yet, you do enjoy their adoration. Everyone thinks highly of you, and you're not the type to be all down on yourself. Not like your friend Basil, who you wish would have more confidence. It's hard to refute theirs claims that you are so great, talented, lovely, sweet and wonderful, when it's so easy to make them feel that way. You do everything with such ease; your cooking is fantastic, everyone loves it. You were great at softball until you wrecked your knee. You play the piano beautifully. You excel in school. You make everyone like you with ease, you have a warm personality that invites them in and then you win them over with your capricious side. It's fun and endearing! You're always there for people... so much so that they seem to think they don't need to be there for you.
It's part of why you fell in love with Henry, or as everyone calls him 'Hero'. He shared a lot of these things with you. He puts just as much effort in as you but makes it look effortless. Your little brother loves your cooking more, but you believe Hero's is objectively on the same level, if not better. He does amazing in school, and has several awards. He's planning on becoming a chef, and you're certain he'll be amazing. He's so charming and handsome, and just like you endears himself to people easily.
But... that's not what you like about him. You like his imperfections. You like how he does, in fact, have to put in a lot of effort. Just like you. Sometimes, he actually asks you for help with his schoolwork. He's not just charming, he's sweet. He understands the pressure you're put under, being the first child, being so 'naturally talented'. Just like you, everyone thinks he's such a fantastic person, but he doesn't let it go to his head. Also like you, he knows that being too humble when you're like that will just make people irritated. You also like how he's scared of bugs! It's so much fun to tease him with that. It's fun to tease him in general, he gets so flustered so easily.
You learned all of this from your time together, talking about your feelings and thoughts and problems. You don't open up all the way, you're afraid if you did he wouldn't like you, but you talk about it enough to know he understands you. He makes you feel a lot better, and you hope you make him feel good too. He's enamored with you, and while at first you didn't quite feel the same, the more time you spent together the more you end up caring for him. It turns from just enjoying his company to absolutely loving being around him rather quickly. You don't get so flustered and embarrassed, though.
Because that's not how you become 'perfect'.
You, for some reason, desperately want to be the way people see you. You know, that's so stupid. Who needs to be perfect? Who needs to 'perfect' anything? You love Hero because he's not perfect at all... but, is that why he loves you? Maybe they all love who they see you as, and not who you really are. You want to be exactly what they see. You want to make your parents proud. You don't want to waste your natural gifts.
You know about your good friend, more like little sister, Aubrey's troubled home life. Nothing like yours. Her family is in poverty, something you wanted to avoid. Her father and mother's relationship is strained. When you'd met her, she was crying over losing her shoe, because she didn't think her family would be able to buy her a new pair... or maybe that they simply wouldn't as punishment for her carelessness. At least, that's what you'd thought.
You'd heard about overachieving families and their strictness, and while your parents were never like that, you'd always worried they would be if you made a big slip up. Your dad was Japanese-American, hence why he named you Mari. You'd heard about parents in China and Japan, about how many of them pushed their kids hard. You decided to not take the chance, and avoid the possibility altogether.
Because you were afraid that your father, your mother, your bother, your friends, your... true love, would all grow tired of you if you did.
This was nonsense, of course. You would come to know that. You would come to regret this mindset. You'd come to regret not talking more about how you felt with the two people you were closest to... and you'd regret pushing this stupid idea onto Sunny, your beloved little brother.
If only you'd known. No, you should have known. Why didn't you know?
You are not a good person. You are imperfect. They are wrong about you.
That was what you came to feel later, and, it's what you secretly felt deep down now. But you kept it down, because their smiles and kind words made you feel like you had to be wrong. This many people- this many good, kind, wonderful people who you love, couldn't be wrong about you, right?
But when you messed up a cookie, dropped something like a clumsy idiot, got just one answer wrong on a test, arrived somewhere late, and most importantly: when you missed a note or hit the wrong one when playing your piano, you felt it all come back to you.
You hated your mistakes. You hated that you hated your mistakes. You hated that you hated that you hated your mistakes. You just wanted to be able to shrug it off, and on the outside you did.
Not on the inside.
Of course, this is all in retrospect. You're looking back on this now, realizing what a fool you'd been. This biggest issue is just how much of an issue this really wasn't for you. You kept going just fine, didn't cause you any problems, you could forget when you were with them.
Which is why you didn't see it coming.
-
You look at your knee, in it's brace. It still kinda hurts. You wouldn't be able to play softball anymore. That was fine, you guessed. You cared more about piano anyway. It still really sucked. This was one of your biggest mistakes. Though, it was the other kid's fault. Slamming into your knee like that. Why'd she have to be so clumsy? She'd apologized profusely and you couldn't help but forgive her, but still. In the end you blamed yourself, anyway. It was your mistake.
Your brother comes, he looks at it with this deeply sad expression.
"It's okay Sunny." you smile at him, despite the fact it really wasn't. It still hurt and it was always going to give you problems. "It barely even hurts anymore! I'll be fine in like a week, and then I can go play with you and everyone again!"
His face lit up, with one of those cute little smiles of his that you wished he'd show more often. "Okay."
He sat on the couch with you.
"Haha, you don't have to do that, you know? You can go back and play your games or read your comic books."
Sunny just shook his head.
You guess he wanted to stay there with you. You shrug and go back to reading your book. You expected him to get bored after no more than 30 minutes, but it ends up being 3 hours, and time for dinner, before he so much as moves.
What a great brother he is! You know you're lucky to have him. And he's a great listener. He'll always be there to listen if you have a problem. Not so good at offering advice really but still. And sometimes, he'll offer strange wisdoms that seem more than a child like he should be capable of.
Maybe he could have offered some of that had you opened up and discussed things with him. Then, it wouldn't have happened.
-
You stand with all of your friends, showing your little brother his Christmas gift. A brand new violin! You, and everyone else, know how much he loves hearing you play your piano. Now, he can play with you! What goes better with a piano than a violin? You'll make fantastic music together. You're sure at first it'll be tough for him, he doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself. But, you'll support him! You know he can do it! He's your brother after all!
He seems to really like it! He rests it on is shoulder and chin and raises the bow to it, playing a few notes. He's had some experience playing one before, but not much. It hurts to hear how rough those few notes are. But! You're gonna get him a tutor, and he'll learn how to play beautifully.
Together, you'll play at recitals and show how good you are together. You're the perfect pair, the perfect little brother-older sister combo, and they'll all see.
Now, of course, you wish it'd had just been small performances among friends, simple fun little things. Wished you didn't take it so seriously. God, he was doing this for you, he wanted to be closer to you. You started spending so much time with your stupid piano, even Hero was feeling lonely. All cuz your leg made any physical activities harder. You just ended up focusing on the least strenuous thing.
All he wanted was to be with his sister.
-
You are arguing with your brother, you are not happy with him. You're not angry at him so much as how he's acting, right? You're sure he gets that. You're upset because he just can't play the notes right, despite how much practicing he's doing. You know he can do it if he just puts his mind to it, he's your brother after all. He's so much better than he thinks... but not this time, he keeps... fucking it up! You know he can perfect it, just like you. That's why you're mad, he's not believing in himself again, he's running away again. All he's gotta do is-
No. That's right, it's because it's 'all he has to do'. It's because you know he can do it and he just isn't, that's how you feel. You're mad because he's screwing up, screwing it up for you. The recital is tonight and he's still making these mistakes? It's because he's not believing in himself, and that pisses you off. All he has to do is have some damn self-confidence for once, and you two would be able to knock everyone's socks off. Instead they're all gonna do that thing they do, whenever you mess something up. They're gonna go 'oh, it's okay Mari, everyone makes mistakes!', 'nobody's perfect', 'it was still pretty good!'.
And that's not acceptable. You don't think you're perfect, in fact, you know you aren't. That's why you do this. People treat you as if you are and then when you mess up, are eager to remind you that you aren't. You do this so they'll stop. You never wanted to be 'miss perfect', but you ended up being. Now, you can't do it half-heartedly, you have to be what they see. You know they just care about you, but it still doesn't feel good when they do it. You don't want pity.
Sunny seems like he wants pity, he's doing this half-heartedly.
And that makes you mad, try as you might to not let it, it does.
You slam on your piano's keys.
"Sunny, what the hell!? It's this close to the recital and you're still making the same mistakes!?"
You turn to look at him and he flinches. You feel horrible. You turn back towards your piano.
"Look, it's almost time but we might be able to get in a couple more hours of practice. Let's take a quick, 5-10 minute break, and get back to it. Hopefully it'll be... good enough." you sigh, you see your tired reflection in the piano, your eyes between the name OMORI on it. Maybe this was a bad idea?
"No."
You turn around to see him again. He's staring at he floor. "What?"
"No! I'm not practicing anymore! I'm not playing anymore! I don't wanna do this anymore!"
He tosses his violin bow to the floor, and runs off.
You stare blankly for a few seconds and then get up. "Woah, woah! What the hell are you doing?! Get your butt back here!" you scream after him. You follow him out into the hall.
You see him up the stairs.
You tell him "You're gonna come back down here and practice this instant, young man! Don't make me say it twice!" god, you sounded like your mother when she's mad.
He screams "NO! I'm DONE! I hate this! Look at what it's done to you! I just want my sister back, I don't care about the violin or that song or anything, I want my old life back!"
And, he throws his violin down the stairs.
...
..
.
You stare, wide-eyed with shock at him. Then turn your head down. The expensive violin that you and your friends, his friends, had bought him lay there broken; wood splintered, strings broken, neck snapped. It's done, it's over. You can't play at the recital now.
A part of you is happy, actually. Now, there's nothing to do about it. Can't mess up the performance now! Good job Sunny! However, it means all this hard work was for nothing. It means he's squandered the gift they gave him! Does he even know how much those cost? And for what, a temper tantrum? Because oh, it's too hard? 'Oh boo hoo, Sunny! Life's hard!'. You know you shouldn't feel like that, Sunny is sensitive, and you always care about him and comfort him. But maybe he needs some tough love, how's he gonna deal with life on his own if he doesn't learn? Is now the time? Hell no, but it doesn't matter. You're making it the time. You're livid.
You're enraged.
"Sunny- You are in BIG trouble, mister!"
He doesn't move.
You stomp up the stairs, briefly stumbling because of your knee. Ugh, that damn knee.
He tries to go to you and his room, you grab his arm.
"I am not done!"
He stops going but he's not really looking at you, he's not really paying attention. You think you hear the sound of a door opening but you don't pay any attention.
"Look at me Sunny, listen to me! I am talking to you! Look at me, look at what you've done!" You angrily point down at the violin, so hard you could have dislocated your shoulder.
"It's a wreck! It's totaled! That was a gift from all of us! It cost us hundreds of dollars! Mom and Dad didn't even help! You just broke it cuz you wanna be a baby!"
You felt a pang of guilt saying that. You didn't mean it. No, you did mean it, but you shouldn't have said it. You didn't mean it. Sunny just needs to learn to do what needs to be done, even if it's painful... right?
You look away briefly, and then look back. Your face contorts back to your scowl.
"I know it's hard Sunny, of course it is! Playing an instrument is some of the hardest stuff, especially for people our ages. But I can do it! So can you! God, what's even the point of saying that now, it's broken."
You put your hand on your chin, out of the corner of your eye you feel like you see someone, but you don't pay attention. You don't even know if you really care if they see what you're really like now.
"Maybe we can get it fixed. That's gotta cost less than a new one, right? If we can do that we can schedule a new recit-"
Oh, Sunny looks angry. Why the hell is he still angry? He gets to stop, you probably can't make this work. He got out of it, like always.
He steps toward the stairs.
"I'm going to go to Kel's or Basil's, I don't wanna be here." he says in a shaky voice.
Is he... scared of you? Please, he's much scarier than you when he's mad. He looks like he could kill you, though you know he wouldn't hurt a fly.
You step in front of him.
"Oh no you don't, you're not getting out of this one so easily, young man! Not this time! You're gonna-"
Ah.
Oh no.
He pushes you, just a bit, even. Pushes you out of the way so he can storm off and cry to Kel or Basil, who will of course comfort him and tell him it's not his fault and Mari shouldn't be so mean and oh they can't believe she'd do that. And, honestly, in this moment at least, you think they'd be right. Hero would side with them, and you'd decide not to talk to him for a while, and then end up doing so anyway. You know they're right, that you've been pushing him too hard, that none of this is as important as your relationship with him. You love your little brother, and he loves you. So what if you fucked up your performance? He'd make you feel better, he always does. Hero would, Kel and Aubrey would too. They'd say 'you're not perfect' and it'd hurt you but that pain would fade soon after you see their smiling faces. It's... not that big of a deal, is it?
If only you'd realized sooner. It's too late for that now. None of that is going to happen.
You feel your knee give out again, shouldn't have stomped up those steps.
You feel yourself falling backwards.
Time slows down.
You see his face go from so angry, to so scared, to so sad, in what feels like the span of 5 minutes.
You're falling.
Many emotions and thoughts flash in your mind as you fall.
Love. Hate. Anger. Hero. Piano. Love? Mewo. Death. Hate? Violin. Dying. Sorrow. Anger. Aubrey. Music. Achievement. School. Grades. Kel. Regret. Hero. Violin. Basil. Love? Piano. Hero. Ambition. Dedication. Hate? Hero. Hero. HERO. Love. Sunny. Hate? Anger. Regret. Hero. SUNNY.
Violin.
You are not a good person.
...
..
.
*THUD*
*CRUNCH*
*SNAP*
And then, blackness.
You are still a little conscious, enough to hear.
You hear a familiar voice scream out "Oh my god no, Mari!"
You feel your brother shake you and say, in the most desperation you've ever heard in your life "Oh god, sis, wake up! Sis! Sis! SIS!"
You hear that familiar person sobbing so loudly.
'Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep!'
Sleep? No.
'I think I'm dying.'
Oh, that's just great. One more screw up. Is this really how you're going out? At 15, cuz you got pushed down the stairs? You really are far from perfect, huh?
You're not breathing. You can tell. You're dead.
And yet, you still feel like you can tell what's going on. It's just bits and pieces, but...
They carry you to your bed.
'You idiots, how's that gonna help?'
They're panicking.
'Fucking call 911.'
Basil is suggesting something.
'Are you serious?'
They are carrying you down the stairs.
'What the hell are you doing...?'
Basil is tying a noose made from jump rope around your neck. He's even making sure to wear gardening gloves.
'You sick bastard, is that what you're really like?'
Sunny just stands there.
'Can you do anything?'
You're strung up on the tree, making it look like you hanged yourself.
'Oh, fuck you.'
They leave. They're really going to do this? Kel is gonna think it's his fault, like if he didn't argue with Aubrey so much and wasn't such a nuisance you wouldn't have done this. Aubrey's going to think it's her fault, like if she'd been a better best friend you wouldn't have done this. Hero's going to think it's his fault, that if he were a better boyfriend, if he'd paid attention to the signs, if he'd talked to you... you wouldn't have done this.
But you didn't.
They're gonna let them think that? Killing you was bad enough, but that? What in the hell?
You try your best to glare at them, let them know you're mad and you want them to cut you down right now and tell the truth. They need to do that, if they tell the truth people will believe them. They're just kids!
They turn back and see you.
They've got the most terrified looks on their faces.
Oh no. What have you done?
You can't help it, like this, you're so angry. You have nothing but negative feelings. Dying like that, by the hand of your brother, and having your good friend stage your suicide? You're so angry. It's all you are right now.
You even appear to them, a few times. Looking like that husk that was hanging from the tree, as if to say 'you did this to me'. They looked so horrified. Sunny started seeing you even when you weren't there.
Seeing that, you slowly stop feeling this way. You see what they're doing to themselves, what you've done to them... and the anger subsides.
You can't stay angry at them, and being dead puts so much into perspective. I mean, it was your fault anyway, right? You pushed him, it's only fair he pushed you back. It was all so stupid, completely not worth it. Sunny goes at his own pace, and that's fine. In fact, most people enjoyed getting caught up in it. Why didn't you, this time? Why didn't you just put together a casual show, with the date being "when we're ready"? Why did getting it perfect even matter to you? Being perfect doesn't matter, there's so much more to life. Had you known that you'd have been able to keep living it. You wasted that life by setting unreasonable standards. At first after they hung you up, you blamed them. You were dead before your time, perfect life marred by 'suicide'. Your life cut short, legacy turned into 'the girl who killed herself'.
But, then, you come to think that you ruined your own life. Cut your own life short in the name of some nonsense ideal, you tainted your own legacy. You'd rather have died a nobody at old age than have this happen. All because you wanted to be Genius Pianist Mari, wife of 5 Star Chef Hero.
Oh... poor Hero. You're so sorry.
Everyone would have accepted you had you not tried so hard to meet their expectations- or rather, expectations you thought they had. The ones you made for yourself. You are a fool. You know, those good people, they would have accepted you for who you are. That's why you know, you're not as good as them.
You spend a lot of time thinking about things like that, how you feel towards those two boys. You realize you forgive them. How could you not? It was your blunder. But, they don't know that, do they?
You have to find some way to let them know.
-
While you've been dead, you've seen what's gone on.
You see your funeral. Everyone looks so empty. Even those who cry seem like they're just feeling nothing but crushing emptiness. Sunny the most, he looks like his own mind's convinced him this isn't happening. Basil looks like he's about to shatter. Hero just stares blankly, like he wants to just collapse. Kel keeps staring at the floor. Aubrey cries her eyes out.
Your headstone says "The sun shined brighter when she was here."
You see your parents mourn. Your father cuts down the tree out back, that you 'hung yourself' on.
Soon after, he leaves the family.
Soon after that, Aubrey's dad leaves her as well. Her mother starts to shut down.
Your own mother has becomes overprotective of Sunny. That idiot though, she doesn't try to take him to therapy. She enables him. He retreats into his own dreams. You wonder what he dreams about.
Aubrey becomes angry. At first, she holds out hope. Tries to see Sunny, be there for him. But he won't have it.
Kel goes off and meets new people, plays basketball, tries to give everyone space and time. It doesn't work, not for Aubrey. All she sees is people abandoning her.
Hero... poor Hero. It hurts so much to see him like this. For a year he holds himself up in the house like Sunny. He doesn't shower often, barely eats, doesn't leave, just lays in bed. Eventually, Kel tries to talk to him, and he snaps at him. Screams. Their parents come in... and only try to comfort Hero.
He does better, after this... but not by a whole lot, even if he keeps that inside. On the outside he seems like he's recovered, and in some ways he has, but inside he deeply misses you. He often cries and whispers your name along with the things you'd expect; 'why?' 'I wish I could have saved you' 'I wish you were still here' etc.
He goes off to college, leaving Aubrey feeling more betrayed.
She dyes her hair. First blond, then... pink. Oh, like she was going to, with you. 'Oh, Aubrey, sweetie...' you think. She starts dressing like a punk. She wears this jacket, sneakers, carries a nail bat. Starts lashing out. She breaks some windows at school and gets suspended. She ends up with some other ne'er-do-wells from the neighborhood, though she's much more of a bad influence on them.
She starts bullying Basil.
And he's a nervous wreck. He goes over, once, the one time Sunny lets him in, to show him the photo album.
He says: "These are all our memories together... they're a little sad now... but we should be happy that they happened at all! Let's make some new memories together, okay?"
Instead, Sunny, acting like he did that night... he marks out all of the photos with a pen. At first, Basil tries to stop him, but then he just lets it go. He puts the photos back into the album and says "I'm sorry."... and leaves.
He cries all the way home.
Aubrey came to see him one time, before she became a delinquent. Basil became so scared and guilty that he had to run off to the bathroom. He threw up. She saw the album, and got so mad. She ran off with it, saying he was a 'creep'. She cleaned them all up, and put the pictures of you up on the corkboard of her room. She must miss you so much. They all do.
After that is when she started bullying the poor boy.
Everything was falling apart without you. Why? You really... weren't that special.
You didn't make the sun shine brighter, he made you shine brighter.
-
4 years pass before you know it.
Sunny's on the fast track to destroying his entire life, and Basil is one really bad day away from taking his own. Other 'ghosts' or whatever would think of that as karmic justice, but you don't. That's bullshit and you won't stand for it.
There has to be something you can do. You have to let them know you forgive them, convince them to come clean so the guilt can stop eating them up inside.
You have to help them.
But, what can you do? When you've chosen to show yourself, you've only scared them more. They don't think you're a ghost, they think you're a hallucination. Why wouldn't they? They see enough as is.
Then, as you watch Basil put another flower next to your grave, cry, apologize, and leave, you realize something.
The flower he put there is the White Egret Orchid.
'My thoughts will follow you into your dreams' you say.
The unconscious mind is closer to the great sea of souls. Perhaps, you can follow him into his dreams? You may be able to do something from there. You have to try, right? You're nervous. You wonder how he'll take it. You wonder if you'll be able to forgive him properly when the time comes. Wonder if you'll be able to apologize. Can you even do this? It's not like you've tried.
You take a deep breath, and calm down.
Don't be afraid, it's not as scary you think.
-
From there, until the end, it's a mess of memories with little context. You are not sure if you made yourself understood. The way a spirit thinks is different from that of a human. You were sure you made sense when you were playing the role of the 'you' in this dream, as your lines were determined for you. But, when you were able to speak, were you able to get across what you needed to? You knew you couldn't just come right out and say it, lest you be completely ousted or worse. You'd seen what Omori would do to protect the truth, just from your short time in his mind.
You stand before an ocean.
"Omori... you're here. I'm so glad you found me. Kel, Aubrey, Hero, and all the children are gone. There's a thick fog enveloping the forest... everywhere, except here. Maybe our friends are somewhere across the water. Let's find them together. Do you want to join me?"
You stand on a dock.
"Omori, I'm so proud of you. You swam all the way here even though you've always been terrified of water. But there's still one big thing you're afraid of, isn't there? Something... a little bit harder to overcome."
You stand before a window floating above the sea.
"Omori... it seems you have forgotten something important. Are you okay with that? I'm not too sure..."
You walk off the end of docks and stand above the water.
Unable to say much more, to say what you really want, you say.
"You've seen this curtain once before. The last time we went to the lake. This is my stop though."
"I know I shouldn't have come. It just gets a little lonely without everyone. It's not my place to say anymore, but... I hope you're still there... Sunny... I really miss you."
"Goodbye... little brother."
You leave his dream.
You play the piano in the piano room.
"You know... waltzes were always my favorite. That's why I chose this song for our last recital. But you always hated it, didn't you? How I'd lock myself away on the piano... All that practicing... playing the same song, over and over."
You continue to play.
"When you first picked up your new violin, you were so eager to play with me. But keeping up with something isn't so easy. Maybe I pushed you too hard."
You felt like crying.
"I'm sorry... I just wanted it to be perfect."
As always.
"We never did get to play at that last recital."
Even now, you still would have loved to. Not for some prestige, but just for him.
"Did you want to play it with me now?"
Then Hero arrives, you can't let him see you. Neither of you could handle it now.
But, once Sunny has left, he sits at the piano and cries. If you weren't already dead, it would have killed you.
Sunny remembers the truth and goes to confront Basil.
They fight.
He falls unconscious and dreams again.
You talk to him one last time.
"Sunny... it's almost time. You've been through a lot these past few days. You must be tired..."
You knew he was.
"We all make mistakes..."
You knew this so well.
"You've been running from this one for a long time now."
He always did run from his troubles. This one was just too important.
"It's tough to own up to them sometimes, but you'll forgive yourself, won't you?"
Oh, how you hoped he would.
"You can do this Sunny. You've worked really hard to get to this point..."
Indeed, you'd realized, recently and maybe even before, part of him was trying this whole time. It became more and more until it had come to this point, right here. It was now, or never.
"There's only one thing left to do now. Know that I'll always be watching over you, okay? As long as you remember me, I'll be here."
Would he understand you forgave him? Perhaps you didn't say that you did, because it's more important he forgive himself. Perhaps hearing it from you would make him feel worse. You hope he at least knows that you still love him. Would this be enough for him to know? You didn't know.
All you know is, you're rooting for him.
-
You watch as your little brother wakes up, having successfully defeated that other self of his. He looks around at all the flowers that various people in town have given him. You're so moved that they did that. He didn't even really do anything that special. Faraway had it's issues, but the people there were generally great. Hopefully, they'd understand if they ended up learning the truth.
Hopefully, all your old friends will understand when they learn the truth, too.
He looks at himself in the mirror. It's him, thank goodness. He's got bandages covering his eye from what Basil did to it. Funnily, you're having a harder time forgiving him for that than stringing you up like a slaughtered pig. He stabbed your sweet brother in the eye! But still... they needed help. You hoped that Sunny would be there for him. And he for Sunny.
It seemed like what you told him in that last dream really helped. He might have needed it. You think, maybe, you did good.
Maybe you are a good person, after all?
They all seem to think so, and you don't have it in you to refute them.
Sunny leaves the mirror, and slowly walks down the halls, following a familiar shadow.
He opens the door to the room Basil is resting in. His other friends are there too.
He looks right at them and says "I have to tell you something."
You are afraid. You are worried. You don't know what's going to happen now. You feel bad for leaving all of this behind, for them to deal with. For Sunny to have to deal with.
But there's this confidence in him, not in his tone, but you can feel it. A strength, a resolve, a determination. Sunny is done running. You are very proud of him.
It used to be your regrets were all that was left here, all the missteps you made... but now you have hope. You believe, strongly, that this will not be for nothing. His efforts, this newfound courage, will be rewarded. You want that, you want them to stay together despite this. These last 3 days, they've proven they can weather this kind of storm.
You would love to pass on now, but you need to stay just a bit longer.
You want to see them happy together.
So, you'll stick around a bit longer.
EPISODE: MARI -END-