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The other side wasn't how Rika imagined it, for her there was a flowery field for Heaven and flames and such for Hell, but she was in her Egg dimension. Well, it was still a flowering field, but it was miles away from being Heaven.
It was an environment that could welcome or distress her, always conflicting feelings, and everything seemed to get worse with that person's presence by her side. Her dark hair, graceful as always, swayed in the wind, to the sound of the sea below, leaving her with a look worthy of a movie scene.
“Didn't expect to see you here so soon”, Neiru's expressionless voice woke up the anger inside her. How dare she speak that way after all?
“You're pretty calm for who's one of the reasons I'm here”, she spat the truth in her face, her words destabilized that doll face. Huh, the afterlife has made Aonuma sensitive.
“I'm sorry”, the sentence came out low, as well as Neiru's elegant posture leaving the scene.
Rika took a deep breath, there was no use getting so attached to anger now, her unlife time was too precious to waste with this girl.
“It's not me you have to apologize to.”
“You're right, it's not just for you.”
Kawai raises an eyebrow, looking in disbelief at the... Robot? Android? Initial EVA project? Whatever she was.
“But I still owe you an apology”, Neiru declared, turning completely to the smaller one. Rika felt that the images ran in slow motion, her hair following her body, the sunset lighting, it irritated her how beautiful Neiru still was. “I feel that I was very rude to you unnecessarily, despite everything, you were a precious friend and the time we spent together was meaningful. I'm so sorry.”
Huh? Wait, wait, was she really saying that? Now? How dare she?!
“You're so cynical, you know?”, her voice came out drier and more resentful than she expected, not that she cared at the moment. “Do you think I cared how you treated me? That I care about your excuses now?"
Rika grabbed Neiru's tidy collar as she exploded. Even though she was scared by this attitude, what scared the AI the most were the little tears in Rika's eyes and her broken speech. “I don't give a fuck! But Ai, Ai was devastated when you disappeared, save your regrets and apologies for her.”
Rika released her with a push, making Neiru fall to the ground. Her expressionless face hadn't been there for a long time, her green eyes actually showed some emotion, she was really sorry. She had never seen such a display of humanity in her before.
“Why are you here?”, Neiru asked, as if they hadn't just had an argument.
“There was nothing to keep me there”, she replied, looking away from the AI girl so that she wouldn't regret her previous words. "At that point, I don't think I'm different from you. Momo and Ai must be sad because of me.”
It had been months since she had any contact with Ohto, Momoe tried to talk to her, but she pushed her away. She locked herself in her room again, spending her days looking at the pink lines the coat used to hide, didn't reopen them, kept her promise that she wouldn't. And what good did she do? In the end, she was here anyway.
“We can talk? Really now?”, that Aonuma was very insistent on her opinion. Maybe the psychopath robot brainwashed her cool friend.
The blonde let out a loud sigh, sitting on the ground next to Neiru, watching the setting sun.
“We have eternity for this.”
They would have a eternity for everything.