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“Hey, senpai! Think fast!”
The familiar sound of rumbling of wheels against the asphalt.
He’d been found leant against the wall, catching his breath and fighting against a mental haze choking him. Panting, aching, coated in a thin sheen of sweat. Aoyama’s sharpened teeth were gritted in pain, temples throbbing in a headache, but he was well-versed in forcing charming fake smiles that he managed to give his companion one of those practiced smiles now.
“If it isn’t my cute kohai,” he greeted, lifting up a hand to catch the cold bottle of water tossed at his face. “Nice aim.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tasuku scoffed cockily, canting his head to the side as he rolled to a stop beside him. “Don’t try and sound cool in front of me, there’s only one person I think highly of.”
Aoyama’s smile dropped, and he huffed out a heavy sigh, collapsing back against the wall and sinking to the ground. “Yeah, I figured.”
He’d kept a brave face on for the entirety of the mission, stayed as cool and collected as he could while he fought alongside Tokyo Mew Mew. But he couldn’t help but let his weakness slip through the cracks now. Tasuku didn’t think much of anyone besides Berry, so he wouldn’t look down on Aoyama.
“How ya holdin’ up? Because frankly, you look like death,” he asked, unable to keep a hint of concern from creeping into his tone.
“…It feels like someone keeps entering my head,” Aoyama answered with some hesitation. “Fragments of information constantly infiltrate my brain, one-sidedly against my will. It’s incessant. It started out as simple nightmares, but now…”
Voices and piercing sounds crashed and bounced against his skull creating a cacophony that grew in volume until Aoyama’s own thoughts were indecipherable. He clutched his head and breathed deep in an attempt to keep his brain from exploding out of his cranium while simultaneously trying to expel every clashing and screaming thought through his lungs.
“The stronger these powers get, the more I use them, the louder his voice gets. It’s like I can feel him trying to wretch his body back from me, like he’s clawing out from under my skin There are times when I can barely hear my own thoughts, and sometimes,”
His eyes flashed an inhuman neon blue, and his already long canines seemed to extend into fangs as a deep echo sounded out behind his voice in a growl. “I can’t even tell which thoughts are mine and which are his.”
Without warning, Tasuku closed the small distance between them and emptied his own water bottle on top of Aoyama’s head—probably wanting the situation to lighten up a bit.
He lifted up his head and blinked in surprise at Tasuku. His eyes were a dark brown color again, and right now they were wide, and water droplets dripping off of his eyelashes.
Aoyama simply laughed, actually welcoming the cold water which got poured over him, pushing his wet hair back. The chilled water brought Aoyama back to his senses. “I needed that,” he breathed out quietly.
“Once, some ‘Duke’ messed with my head,” Tasuku announced abruptly, dropping the empty bottle on Aoyama’s head. It was a reusable one, so it bounced off with a painful, metallic thud, though Aoyama still preferred it over the wasteful plastic alternative.
Tasuku continued while Aoyama shook off the ringing in his head from that collision.
“I was conscious, sort of, and it was me, sort of, but not really? I don’t know, I felt like some sorta zombie. All I could hear was the Duke’s voice in my head, amplifying all the darkest things I didn’t even know I could think. I’d been feeling mortified... like a failure as her friend... and the other emotions I kept trying to suffocate under everything else came bubbling up. It was so easy to just get lost in Duke’s voice and move on autopilot.”
Tasuku casually skated away in slow, measured strides. “I was empty, I was cruel, I was angry, at the world, at Berry, at myself. I did awful things. I even tried to hurt the person I love most in the world,” he said, voice low and face hidden.
Aoyama turned his gaze away, hand clenched at his side as if to catch a thought before it escaped his lips.
“—But what brought me back and made me, me, again,” Tasuku’s chipper tone of voice was back, and he spun on his heels with a grin. “—was Berry!
Tasuku leapt and did a trick on his skates, practically cheering out, “Berry’s voice, Berry’s kiss, Berry’s love for me! How in the world could I ever stay lost when she was right there like a light guiding me back to her? Even when I was literally out of my mind, she grabbed me and pulled me right back into it!”
He was so energetic all of a sudden that Aoyama almost had a difficult time tracking him with his eyes. His tricks grew more elaborate and his movements more erratic, and he spoke faster and faster as he continued in giddy excitement,
“That was our first kiss, actually! When she kissed me, it was magical! I felt warm and safe and happy, I felt like me again, everything broken came falling back together, and we even saved the whole world with just how strong our love was! It was great! She’s great! We’re great together! I love her so much!”
He suddenly landed in front of Aoyama again and came to a full stop. A smug grin was on his face yet again. “You know?”
Aoyama cracked another smile. “I think I get it.”
“Get it? What? Pshh, there’s nothing to get.” Tasuku shrugged and flippantly rolled away again. “Look, it’s not the same thing, and you and me aren’t the same, so don’t mistake this for me empathizing with you or something dumb like that. I don’t care about that. I just felt like bragging about how adorable and powerful and amazing and sweet and perfect my Berry is.”
Aoyama smiled and stood back up, dusting off his still damp Blue Knight uniform. He glanced off into the distance, where the Mew Mews were celebrating their latest victory. Mew Pudding and Mew Berry were laughing together about something, Mew Mint was cling to her beloved Mew Zakuro and regaling her with praise, Mew Lettuce was fussing over any damages from the battle, and Mew Ichigo was still tending to the newly freed animal. She smiled at it gently and spoke at it softly, keeping it calm and easing it out of the experience of being possessed. Grounded it back to its usual self.
Aoyama’s smile softened and he breathed out a sigh, voices finally quieting enough to hear a single coherent thought that was undeniably his own.
I love her so much.