Chapter Text
Sunny settled into his new bed.
It was an exhausting day - the moving day had come, and Sunny was now in his new house along with his mom. It’s much smaller than his old house - in fact, this was just an apartment room - but he was fine with that. In fact, he preferred it - big empty spaces just feel oppressive to him at this point.
Well, he said exhausting, but he really didn’t do much. He just sat in a car for hours on end and helped his mom move some furniture around once he arrived. It was still exhausting, though - he was pretty weak. They had pizza after - it wasn’t Gino’s, but it was still pretty good.
It was...nice, actually. Maybe his mom wasn’t wrong about a fresh start. Everything felt new again. It’s a little scary, but he still liked it. That, and...
“I need to tell you something.”
The truth was out. Something wasn’t following him anymore. Omori wasn’t here anymore. He didn’t need headspace anymore. He accepted the truth, and he’s ready to move on.
This is going to be a new start for himself. He can do this.
Everything will be okay.
He tried to go to a library the next day. It’s something to do.
He expected it to be easy. It should’ve been easy. It wasn’t.
Even getting to the library was hard. The sidewalk has way more people than he’s used to. It probably wasn’t a lot realistically, but still, it overwhelmed him. But he tried to push through. The library’s quiet. It’ll be okay as soon as he gets there.
But he just keeps proving himself wrong.
The library is big. Much bigger than what he was used to, at least. The size of it was kind of oppressive to him. And there were a lot more people than he’s used to again. It’s still quiet, since it still is a library, but just the sight of people alone overwhelmed him.
He thought of a book he wanted, and he tried to find it. At least that part’s easy, all things considered. Then he realized he’s forgotten how to actually find a book in a library.
He actually got lost for an hour. In a library. And he was too embarrassed and afraid to ask for help.
By the time he found the book, he didn’t feel like reading it anymore. But he tried anyway, and all the letters ended up looking like big blocks to him and he couldn’t even read it. So he quickly gave up.
Heading back home was just as awful as heading to the library.
Maybe all this just wasn’t worth it.
He tried going outside again a couple more times across the next few days. Every time, he messes something up, or he gets overwhelmed. And it seems to only get harder and harder by the day.
There’s also the fact that he’s beginning to see things more and more when he tries.
Each time, he gets less and less motivated to go out.
He wishes Kel was here. He’d be the fun goofball that Sunny can rely on for social interactions, and all this would be so much easier.
But Kel isn’t here. No one’s here. He’s alone here other than his mom. He doesn’t have someone that can hold his hand and guide him around anymore.
It was all too much for him.
One day, he stops trying to go outside.
It’s been a few days since Sunny’s last attempt outdoors, and he’s laying in bed doing nothing.
He hasn’t left his room much. He only leaves for a bit to eat whatever his mom made or ordered, then goes straight back into his room.
Just like old times...but worse, because he doesn’t have an escape anymore.
Omori is gone. Headspace is gone. He can’t retreat into another world he made up anymore. He just has to stay in the real world, where he has nothing to do.
And he hates it.
In the real world, he’s away from all his friends. Mari is dead, and he killed her. And he’s not some adventurer going on wacky journeys with his friends, he’s just a hikikomori, stuck in his room doing nothing.
At least it’s better than going outside and messing up again. The stares some people give his blinded eye doesn’t help. Though he’s still seeing things even in his room - but that wasn’t new to him either.
He’s bored. He’s lonely. He’s still guilty. And he’s feeling all sorts of other negative emotions he can’t describe. It felt like a storm was brewing inside him. At least letting it all eat him up is better than going outside, but...he still wishes it could be better.
He finds himself missing what he used to have.
He finds himself missing Headspace, a world he can escape to when the real world gets too much. A world where everything can go right. A world where he didn’t have to face the truth.
He finds himself missing Omori. Say what you want about him, but he kept Sunny from facing his guilt, the horrible truth of what he did. And right now, he’d very much appreciate that.
It’s all too much. He wants to run away again. He wishes he hadn’t tried to move on. He wishes Headspace was still here. He wishes Omori was still here.
He wishes Omori was still here.
And so, desperate for anything to alleviate his pain, he closed his eyes and reached out within him.
In his mind, Sunny finds himself in a space he hasn’t seen before.
It’s neither white or black. Rather, it looks like a world of pure gray.
It’s even more empty than white space - at least there, there’s some furniture to dot the landscape. But here, nothing. Nothing but him.
He looked around, desperate to find something - a shred of his old coping mechanisms that he can get back to. Even if they’re not the best things to do, it’s all he has. Mentally, he ran and searched.
Until he finds him.
Omori.
The boy that looks just like him, just in black and white. Sunny thought he was gone - he thought that by accepting the truth, he’d gotten rid of the character he created to protect himself from it. And the fact that he stopped dreaming of Headspace and Omori after he let out the truth added to that thought.
He’s never been more happy to be proven wrong.
“Omori,” Sunny called out. At least talking in his mind was easier than talking in the real world.
Omori didn’t turn around to look at him.
“Omo-”
“Why are you here?” Omori suddenly interrupted him, his voice flat.
“I...I need your help,” Sunny gasped out, desperation clear in his voice. “I was wrong. I couldn’t handle it. I need to get away again. I...I need Headspace back. I need you back. Please...please help me.”
Omori was quiet.
But just as Sunny was about to say something else, Omori suddenly let out a loud, frustrated yell, making him step back in shock.
“No, I mean, why are you here, dammit!?” Omori shouted as he turned around, the amount of frustration clear in his voice, contrasting the stoic image of him that Sunny is used to. “I thought you rejected me! That you didn’t need me anymore! And that I didn’t need to protect you anymore!” He was talking so quickly Sunny was almost having a hard time keeping up. “I thought you wouldn’t need to retreat into your own head anymore, and I accepted that! So why are you here again!?”
The silence that came after the rant was deafening. Sunny didn’t know what to say to any of it.
Thankfully, he didn’t need to, because Omori then spoke up again. “Either way, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that for you. Not anymore.”
A lot of questions quickly buzzed through Sunny’s mind. But he had to pick one to ask first.
“...what do you mean, you can’t?”
“Headspace is gone. Entirely.” Omori answered, his voice still filled with all sorts of emotions.
“W-what!? Why!?”
“It just isn’t here anymore, okay!? Not like it’d work anymore anyways!” Omori all but yelled. “Why are you even asking for it back!?”
“Because I...I was wrong! I can’t handle the truth! I can’t handle anything!” Sunny doesn’t even know how to feel about this - he didn’t expect this to go this way at all. “Just...tell me how I can get a new headspace, then!”
“Absolutely not!” Omori threw his hands up in clear frustration. “I’m not creating a new headspace, and you’re not getting to know how to create a new headspace! You shouldn’t even be back here! You already rejected all of it!”
And that made Sunny’s anger begin to bubble up. “And why would that be a problem? No, you know what, what’s your problem!?”
“I DON’T KNOW!” The sudden yell shocks Sunny once more as Omori breaks into yet another fast rant. “I’m trying not to be like this! I’m trying to get everything out and make you understand but my head is going a million miles a minute and I just- I can’t- aughhh!”
Sunny’s never been more confused in his life. Here Omori is, clutching his head and yelling with emotion he didn’t expect either of them to even have...it’s quite the jarring image compared to what he thought he knew. That, and seeing Omori of all people confused is confusing him even more, too.
“I...I can’t deal with this right now!” Omori shouted again, snapping Sunny out of his daze. “Just...just get out! GET OUT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!”
And out of nowhere, faster than Sunny could react, Omori brandished a knife and stabbed him.
And Sunny opened his eyes.
He looked around, and he was back in the real world - back in his room. The lights were on, but he didn’t see any sunlight coming through his curtains anymore - it must be dark. A quick check of his clock confirmed the time as about 8PM. He’s not sure when he started, but it was definitely still bright out when he did - that took a surprising amount of time for how short that conversation felt.
He felt his torso. No stab wound, as usual. But there’s...something strange going on with his head.
It’s...hard to explain, but he’s now feeling a bundle of emotions that he can somehow tell probably isn’t his own. Is that...Omori he’s feeling?
He came out of that with more questions than he went in with. What is going on with him right now? And what is going on with Omori? Why is he like this?
Looks like he’ll just have to try again later.
At least it'd be something to look forward to.