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The night was a quiet one, just as Sunny liked it.
He lied on the couch in Kel and Hero's living room, looking down at all his friends who peacefully slept on the floor together, wrapped up in their quilts. Basil suggested they borrow some from his house earlier, since the couch had a little pillow-and-blanket dome around it, just for Sunny to sleep in. He was poking his head through the blanket dome to check up on his friends.
It'd been awhile since they all got to have a sleepover together. He was happy that they got the chance to again. It was a perfect way to end the day they spent.
He was visiting Faraway for the summer, much like Hero did. The city had been kind to him for the past year, but he missed his friends nonetheless. It was only natural that he visited them. And he knew they wanted him around, Aubrey even asking for him to visit before he moved away in the first place.
They all looked so happy together. It was such a contrast to the last time they had a sleepover during the summer. Last time was filled with dread, with Sunny remembering an incident he at first locked away and later confronting his best friend who would've taken his own life if he was too late; this time, Sunny planned to sleep just as peacefully as Basil was, surrounded by his friends with sweet dreams visiting him in the night.
Sunny smiled, knowing everything was okay.
It'd been a busy year for him, moving into the city and getting back into school. He had to catch up on quite a lot of tutoring to even fit back into his grade, but he managed. He was a smart kid, after all. Not Hero levels of smart, but smart enough to catch up at a fast pace.
While he did meet some faces there, and hung out with them every so often, it never really compared to the friends he had in Faraway. If anything, he felt more grateful that he still had them, despite the pain they all went through together.
Though it was getting fairly late, Sunny chose not to sleep. He quietly crawled through his tent of blankets and hopped off the couch, tiptoeing around his friends so that he wouldn't wake them up.
There was someone else he wanted to visit.
Another friend of his.
Quietly, like a cat, he made his way up the stairs, slowly hitting each step to be sure that he wasn't making a sound.
Once he made it, he headed straight for the restroom, of all places, and not to use it. This was something he began to do at night every so often once he learned of a resident there.
Well, a resident in any mirror, but the restroom's was a personal favorite for Sunny to visit. It was large and spacious enough for his friend to move around in—and see the other side of—with no problem.
He quietly opened the door, keeping the knob twisted as he closed it behind him once inside, so that it'd make a minimal amount of noise. He shivered, recalling how cold the restroom was compared to the rest of the house, especially at night.
A year ago, Sunny would've hated being here. Now, though...it's kind of a place of comfort for him.
He approached the mirror, tapping the glass with one finger exactly three times before standing back and waiting. This was his ritual every time he visited, after all. Gotta let his friend know he's there one way or another.
One moment...
Another moment...
A third moment...
...And the door on the other side of the mirror opened up, revealing pure white on the other side of it. A familiar figure stepped through—A boy, about the same age as Sunny, with an appearance so similar to his that it was uncanny. The only thing telling them apart is that this boy was completely black-and-white, as if Sunny was put under a monochrome filter.
Sunny smiled, seeing him enter the room from the other side.
“Hey, Omori.”
“...Hey,” Omori replied, shutting his door behind him and approaching Sunny from his side of the mirror. Sunny's reflection showed up there, as well, but it was like a ghost Omori couldn't really interact with. Omori just stood next to it, looking at Sunny from the other side.
Sunny leaned over the sink counter, resting his arms on it. He would've set himself up against the wall, but then he'd be a little too far away from his old friend to talk without it being any awkward.
He'd spoken with Omori just like this time and time again before, back at home. It started with the two of them awkwardly meeting there one day, Omori walking in soon after Sunny tapped on the glass out of boredom. It was like Sunny could summon him through some supernatural means—Either that, or his imagination was running a little too wild.
Whatever the case was, since then, Sunny had decided to visit Omori (or was it that he let Omori visit him?) every now and again, just to talk. They'd discuss all sorts of things, mostly just about Sunny's days and how he's feeling. Omori was like a friend who checked in on Sunny once in a while, just to see how he's doing.
That didn't mean that they never spoke about silly, meaningless things, though. Sometimes Sunny got an idea for a story that he blabs off to Omori like there's no tomorrow, letting his imagination run wild as he spoke. Other times, Omori would talk a little about his own feelings, and how he experiences them, with Sunny telling him little things about how both they and people work.
It was strange at first, seeing that Omori suddenly looked the exact same as him, save for the literally snow-white skin and dimmed eyes, but Sunny got used to it pretty quickly. It was a sign that a part of himself grew up, after all. He was happy to see it.
Omori's demeanor looked to be a little...off, tonight. He slouched, and he didn't try to make eye contact with Sunny like he normally did. It looked more like he was faking eye contact by looking at the wall behind Sunny. Which Sunny didn't mind, of course, but he wanted to make sure his friend was okay, at the least.
“Something wrong?” he asked, his smile faltering. “You seem a little down.”
Omori hesitated before answering. “...I've been thinking.”
That wasn't much of a straight answer, coming from Omori. He thought to himself really often, getting practically philosophical sometimes whenever they talked.
So Sunny had to pry.
“About...?”
Omori didn't answer. Must be something he didn't like to think about, which could only mean one thing.
“Judging by your silence, I'm assuming the past again?” Sunny asked, a certain gentleness in his voice. He knew that was a bit of a sensitive subject for the both of them, Omori especially.
Omori looked down at the counter in response, sadness flickering in his eyes. Bingo.
“It's just that...”
“Hm?”
Omori looked back up at him, that sadness disappearing and being replaced with something unrecognizable. Not something unexpected out of him; Omori was hard to read all the time. It was getting easier with time, though.
”It's been a year since then...“ he said. ”And you're back here now.“
Ah.
So that's what this is about.
I've been back before,” Sunny said. He recalled talking to Omori in this exact room at least once before, during winter break. “It's nothing different.”
“Yes, but...”
“But...?”
Omori shifted his gaze again, looking off to the side. He put a hand on his arm, slightly gripping it. A halfway-done cross of his arms.
“Never mind.”
“You can tell me.“ Sunny put his smile back on his face for reassurance. ”You know I won't judge.”
He never did before, so why would he now?
Omori breathed out a sigh, before speaking again.
”You moved on so quickly...“ he murmured, still refusing to meet Sunny's gaze. ”You still went on, despite everything...Despite what I said..."
Sunny had to hold himself back from letting out a chuckle. “Still thinking about that, huh...”
“Mhm.”
It wasn't like Sunny didn't expect it. There was a lot for Omori to think about, regarding that. He tried to get him to kill himself, after all, even if it was just because he genuinely thought that would be the best option for him.
Back then, Omori was like a machine—Or better yet, a child, only doing what he knew to. He only had one goal, and that was completely shattered along with his room's lightbulb. Of course he'd panic and try to end everything as a last resort.
But Sunny wasn't having any of it when they fought. Even though he was being plagued by the same thoughts that haunted him for four years, he moved past them and proved that he still deserved to live. He knew Omori's happy about that now, of course, but he also knew that it's a little jarring given those four years from before. Sunny more or less changed his whole mindset in the span of three days. Something like that would be jarring to just about anyone.
"Well...To be fair, it took me four years and going outside to do that.“ Sunny shifted his position, leaning on the counter, propping his head up on a closed hand. ”And even then, what really drove me forward was my friends."
“You believed in them...Why is that?”
“Come on now, I told you. Because I care about them.” Sunny kept his voice light and polite. He was essentially repeating things he said before, but he wasn't any annoyed that he had to. “And I know they care about me, too. It'd be wrong of me not to believe in them."
Omori stayed quiet again, turning his head to look elsewhere. He was lost in thought, Sunny could tell. Luckily, he knew him well enough to know why.
"You're still surprised they forgave me, too, aren't you?"
"You got me."
"To be honest, I don't blame you."
Omori looked back at him, with slightly widened eyes. His lips parted for a split second before closing again, refusing to speak up.
”I believed in them, but I wasn't expecting anything of them,“ Sunny said. "There's a reason you thought they never would."
”...I was thinking about that, too.” Omori's eyes went from widened to narrowed, sorrow shining through them. “About how...everything I have comes from you.”
He rested his arms on the counter, slouching into them, right beside Sunny's reflection.
"My appearance, my thoughts, my feelings...almost everything's the same as yours.“ Omori's voice was quiet, fragile. ”I had your goals, your sorrow, your motivations...Only now I've begun forming my own, and even then..."
He took a deep breath and sighed, ashamed.
“It all revolves around you.”
“I think you're getting it wrong there,” Sunny replied. "What makes you think you're still getting everything from me? Aside from your looks, I mean."
Omori shifted his gaze again before answering.
"...I think of you all the time. How you're feeling, what you're doing, what you used to do...What happened with you and our—your friends, our fight..."
Sunny tilted his head, confused. "Those are still your thoughts though, aren't they?"
"Yes, but—"
"You think of your old friends too, don't you?"
"...Sometimes."
He buried his head in his arms. If he could, he'd glow blue.
“I miss them.”
Sunny wished he could just reach over and pat his head to comfort him, just like how Mari used to for him. The rest of Headspace disappeared long ago. Omori had been all alone since last summer, with only White Space to be in. Whenever its only exit appeared, it only led to the other side of the mirror Sunny would've tapped on not too long before. He had nowhere to go except there, and no one to meet except Sunny, essentially.
“Sounds to me like you're just lonely,” Sunny said with a sad smile.
Sunny's all he had, after all. It's nice that he had company, but...
“I suppose I am.”
He deserved better.
There was only so much Sunny could do. If he could have his friends back, then so should Omori.
“I'm sorry about that,” he said. “I really am.”
Sunny hopped up onto the sink counter, sitting up against the mirror. He took a glance at Omori from the other side, noticing that he was showing his face again, or at least half of it. His eyes seemed to squint, with a blink or two. It was like he was trying to get a tear out, and yet none would come.
“If I could give you more friends, I would. Promise.”
He was going to bring a smile to his face soon enough. He was sure of it.
Omori looked up at Sunny, who patted the empty counter space beside himself as an invitation. He hopped up to join him, or at least, his reflection, nestling himself beside it.
”It probably does get boring in White Space after a while, even with me around,“ Sunny assumed. He was still able to visit White Space at night through his dreams, so long as he wanted to. Sometimes he didn't, favoring having a dream at random instead. He liked to visit his friend more often than not, though.
”It does...“
On the other side, Omori placed his hand on top of Sunny's, gently squeezing it, even though the reflection wouldn't feel or react to it. Sunny wouldn't be able to feel it either, with only the cool air of the A/C brushing up against his skin.
”I'm happy that you're here, though,“ Omori spoke, a softness in his usually dull voice. ”I'm glad that...that you still want me around."
“Why wouldn't I?” Sunny asked. “You're good company.”
Omori was always a part of him, meaning there was no way for him to leave or fully disappear (even though Sunny initially thought he did a year ago), but Sunny did like having him around. He was like family, in a way. There's a reason he had his talks and hangouts with him.
If Mari were there...she'd probably call Omori her little brother, too.
“...Thank you.”
Omori's voice sounded like it was going to crack.
It's alright. He'd get a hug soon enough.
"I think I should be heading to sleep soon, though. How does a game of cards tonight sound?"
From both Sunny, and everyone joining them.
“That'd be fun.”
Sunny couldn't see him from his side of the mirror, but he could tell Omori was smiling, even just the smallest bit, through how much his voice lightened up.
“Sounds like a plan, then,” Sunny said, getting up from his seat—
”Wait.“
He looked back, seeing that Omori was looking right at him, a faint light in his eyes. He was trying to smile, albeit struggling to. Smiling was hard for him, Sunny knew. It's alright. He'd be getting plenty of practice soon enough.
”Before you go...I know I'll see you again soon, but...“
Omori gave him a crooked, albeit sweet smile.
”Happy Birthday, Sunny.“
Sunny smiled back at him.
”Happy Birthday, Omori.“
Having said that, he left the room and headed back to bed, knowing that his friend was going to get his first—and possibly the best—birthday present of his life.