Chapter Text
Ikuyo Kita is facing a dilemma.
These past few days have been a confusing one for the poor redhead. Lots of self reflection and realizations have happened in such a short amount of time. Or perhaps not. Maybe all of this has been happening for a while, and Kita has only recently come to realize it.
Either way all of this is currently happening because of one thing. One person. A person that manages to completely flip her world upside down from the moment they’ve met.
Gotoh Hitori is such a dilemma.
The girl was an introverted mess, sometimes to a cartoonish extent. Breaking multiple laws of nature has just become second nature for the girl whenever any form of social interaction is presented to her. Sometimes just something as simple as greeting her in the hallways would be able to turn her into a pile of goo, to the shock and horror of everyone around.
Yet as the days come to pass, Kita can’t help but feel some sort of affection towards the introverted girl. Perhaps at first, it was born out of some type of motherly instinct. Seeing Hitori fills her with a feeling of pity at how utterly pathetic the girl was, barely able to form a coherent sentence without blowing up (literally), which only makes it second nature to make Kita want to protect her. But lately, Kita can’t help but notice her view of Hitori has changed, slowly but surely, after seeing what kind of person she is. Her passion and charisma when it comes to the thing she loves. Her dorkish sort of charm. Not to mention how unintentionally cute she looks without even trying. Kita can’t help but blush as all these thoughts pass through her head.
Sometimes she caught herself staring at Hitori whenever they practiced together, or sometimes she felt slightly empty whenever Hitori missed out on practice or work.
Unfortunately for her, cartoonish show of overbearing idolization and affection is the extent of her understanding of romance, which Ryo could attest to. And after falling out of love with the aloof and absent minded senior, Kita wants to make sure that what’s happening with Hitori wasn’t just some puppy love.
So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case. If anything, all the feelings she has for her fellow guitarist has only grown stronger by the day. However, her inexperience has now become the biggest roadblock for her in trying to find the best thing to do to solve her current dilemma. Ironically, Kita would usually try to think of what Hitori would do under such difficult situations, because despite being outwardly pathetic, she was one of the most reliable and dependable people she knew. However, given how Hitori had loudly lambasted and lamented ‘romance, relationships, and all things youthful!’ in the past, Kita knew that thinking from that lens will not do her any good for her current predicament.
So who does she turn to for advice at this moment? While she respects Nijika, she would hardly think the senior has any more experience than her in this field. Ryo would be totally unreliable for any sort of life advice outside of music (and even then some of her advice regarding that is still heavily biased and questionable). And while she loves her many friends at school, Kita wouldn’t exactly ever go to any of them for relationship advice, given how frequently she has become a shoulder to cry on or be on the receiving end of gossip after every short lived relationship and nasty breakups her friends went through.
So at this very moment, she had no one to turn to but herself.
Walking alone back home after her shift at STARRY, she started to feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It feels like someone was watching her, but the streets have been dark and deserted given the hour. Kita had not passed by another person ever since she stepped out of the station. She quickened her pace. To her horror, she could hear footsteps coming closer towards her direction, as if someone was chasing after her. Her hand hovers over her purse. This was not her first time being stalked, given her popularity on social media. So she had come prepared. Kita was no pushover either, despite her girlish appearance, she could hold herself in a fight if it comes to it. Her hand tightly holds the pepper spray she carried with her, ready to release it on whoever was unfortunate enough to be stalking her at this very moment.
She turned around and braced herself to engage, but what she saw was nothing she would have ever expected. The can of pepper spray dropped with a loud clang on the ground, as Kita stared at a pair of emerald green eyes, right in front of her.
Her pair of emerald green eyes.
Trying to make sure she hasn’t accidentally walked by a mirror without noticing it, Kita starts waving her hand frantically to see whether the other Kita opposite of her would follow suit, which was only met with amusement from the other version of herself.
“What, did you think i was your reflection?” The doppelganger said, holding back laughter.
“I- w-well, what else am i supposed to think!? You, you even sound like me! A-am i going insane?” Kita said, as she began panicking. “T-this must be a dream right, hahahaha! Quick, pinch me!” She said, extending her arm towards her other self, who just stared back with another amused expression.
“No this isn't a dream.” The other Kita said, straight to the point. “God, i didn’t know i look so cute when i’m confused like that.” She added teasingly.
“W-what?” Kita flushed.
“Look, i'll explain but can we move somewhere first? We’re not far from your apartment, right? At least that’s what i would assume, given the scenery around here, this would’ve been around where i live too. Unless that’s the one thing we both don’t have in common.”
Kita could only stare back stupidly at that.
“I-i don’t understand any of what you just said. How do you know where i live? Are you another one of those obsessive followers i have on ISSOSTA? Is that why you’re dressed as me? Are you one of those… kinnies?”
“Look, everything will make sense soon enough, i promise you. But can we at least get back to your place first? It’s cold out here.” The other Kita said, rubbing her sleeves.
“I- F-fine! This must be some crazy dream anyway. I just need to lie down and tomorrow i’ll wake up, with no other me looking back at me!” Kita said, desperately trying to rationalize the situation.
“Suit yourself. Let’s just get moving if you want to finally make sense of this.”
Both Kitas walked back to Kita’s apartment. It was late, so nobody was up to see the current oddity unfolding. Kita silently opened the door with her spare key and led her other self into her apartment, then to her room.
She turned on the lights in her room. Her other self looked around the room for a moment, before turning back towards her.
“Yup. Looks exactly the same as my room, if you weren’t standing there i would be almost convinced i was back home.” She said.
“Okay, enough of this! Tell me what’s going on, who are you?”
The other Kita contemplated for a bit, trying to find the exact words to say. Kita would know, because that’s exactly the kind of expression she would have pulled when she did that very thing.
“Well, to put it simply. I’m you. You from another universe.”
“What?”
“Oh, Kita, don’t be a stereotype. All looks and no brains.” The other Kita said condescendingly. “Tell me, how familiar are you with the concept of alternate universes?”
“I, uhh-huh-? L-like, fanfiction?” Kita said, pulling in the most relevant thing she knows about the topic.
The other Kita opened her mouth, before quickly closing it again. Unexpectedly, she blushed.
“Right. I tried to forget i went through that phase. Naturally, you would have too. But yeah, i guess we could frame it like that for easier purposes.” She ultimately conceded.
“Basically, i’m you from another fanfiction. There are many fanfictions that all co-exist with one another, and in most of those fanfictions there exists a version of you and me.”
“O-okay, you don’t need to use the word fanfiction over and over again, just say universe.”
“Oh, you’ll understand it fine without the shorthand?”
“I’m not dumb. I know what an alternate universe is without you having to substitute them with ‘fanfiction’.”
“Well, i guess i shouldn’t have judged a book by it’s cover, then.”
What’s that supposed to mean? Doesn’t she know she’s basically insulting herself right now?
“I still don’t believe you.” Kita said.
The other Kita raised an eyebrow, before smirking.
“Then how about this? I’ll tell you something that only you would know, which would prove that i really am you, just from a different universe.”
Kita looked visibly uncomfortable at that, but she didn’t object. Her doppelganger starts walking around the room, thinking of something that only Kita would know.
“Maybe, the fact you still wet the bed until middle school?”
Kita winced. That’s impossible, no one should know about that!
“Or maybe how you still believed in santa up until just last year?”
No, stop!
“Or maybe…” Her other self peeked a glance at her. “.....how you have a hugeee crush on Hitori-cha-”
Kita immediately got up to put her hands over her doppelganger’s mouth. “Alright, enough, I-i believe you!”
She let go of her hand. Her other self just looked back smugly. It never occurred to her how annoying she looked whenever she pulled that expression. No wonder why Sasaki hates losing an argument against her.
“Why are you here then?” Kita eventually asked.
The other Kita didn’t immediately answer, just looking at Kita with a calculating expression on her face.
“I’m here to help you.” She eventually answered.
“Help me?”
“All Kitas think and feel alike.” She began. “Whatever problems you are encountering right now, chances are, i’m also currently encountering, or already encountered.” She said, circling around the room again.
“And right now.. The biggest problem you’re currently facing, other than your exam scores, are your unrequited feelings for Hitori-chan.” She stated matter of factly. Kita gulped.
“B-but how would you know that?”
“This is the exact moment in Kitas’ lives that they would be experiencing this type of problem. Of course, even if we are all Kita and therefore mostly identical, no two Kitas are always exactly the same. In some universes, you’ll end up with Ryo. In others you’ll end up with Nijika. In some other universes, you'll even end up with all three of them, or none at all. Or maybe someone outside the band completely, or maybe even, a guy.”
That last one seemed too far-fetched for Kita to ever imagine ever happening.
“Yes, as weird as that sounds, all of that is technically possible.” The other Kita said as she gauged Kita’s reaction.
“I still don’t understand, why do you want to help, exactly? Like what do you gain from it? Don’t you have your own universe to take care of? How are you even here?”
“One at a time, girl. Geez. Okay, first of all, matters of interdimensional travel are way too complicated for me to get to in one sitting, and it’s a prohibited subject, according to the Interdimensional Kita council. So let’s just skip that for now.”
Kita doesn’t know how to feel about the existence of an “Interdimensional Kita council,” so for now, she shelved the thought in the back of her mind.
“Second, i’m here to help you cause i want to prevent a terrible disaster from happening in your universe.”
“Terrible disaster?” Kita gasped.
“Yes. Across infinite universes, everything is possible. Which means many universes where Kitas live horrible lives with tragic endings. While kessoku band would go on and thrive and become the biggest band of Japan in one timeline, they’ll break up in others. In some, maybe Hitori becomes successful on her own and leaves you to live on the street and the others to rot. In another, you and Hitori get into a fight with each other and break the band up, turning her into a scumbag, basically. And in some others, the band never even existed. Hitori never met you under the staircase, or you simply never saw Ryo’s performance on the street.”
Kita took a moment to process everything. If this other her was right about infinite universes, there’s no doubt about anything being possible, anything including a disaster, a breakup, falling off friendships? No, Kita won’t accept that.
“Although there are other universes where we just play polka music instead of rock. That one’s kind of funny. Hitori’s really good at the accordion. There’s another where you guys are just drinking tea and never practice? I don’t know what that's all about. And in all of my observations, i can’t help but notice that Hiroi nee-san will either always end up sober or just straight up dead. Like, no in betweens. Perhaps she’s just the one constant in all of the univer-”
“What terrible disaster is going to happen in my universe?”
The other Kita stops her monologue at that. She turned around to look Kita straight in the eyes.
“It has to do with your unrequited feelings for Hitori-chan. If left unresolved, something terrible might happen.”
“You mean, like the band will break up?” Kita said.
“I don’t know for sure, but yeah, something like that.”
“Oh no, what should i do?” Kita panicked.
“Well, isn’t it easy?” The other Kita smirked.
“Huh?”
“Well if everything goes to shit if you don’t end up with Hitori-chan, then just get together with Hitori-chan! Ask her out!”
Kita fell silent at that. As soon as he processed the words coming out of her other self’s mouth. Her cheeks flushed as red as her hair.
“Eeeeeeh?? I can’t do that!! Why do you just say it like it’s so easy?”
The other Kita smirked. “Well, that’s what i’m here for. To help you ask her out.”
Kita buried her face in her hands. “I can't do that… i’d rather die.”
“Based on what i've seen across other universes, you being dead would probably ruin this universe even quicker.”
“Do they not have hyperbole in your universe or something? God.”
“Fighting back, huh? Someone’s all riled up.”
“How would i even approach the topic? I don’t know the first thing about romance, and we'll be in wheelchairs before the thought of romance even enters Hitori’s head on its own!”
“Which is why, you would need my help.” The other Kita smugly reiterated.
“How? Have you even asked your own Hitori out?”
At that, the other Kita’s smile slightly falters, but in the next moment, she was still smiling smugly. Kita began to think she was just imagining it.
“For your information, yes. So that’s why i’m the only person you’d be able to turn to right now.”
“How would you know that? I could just ask my parents for relationship advice!”
“Kita, you’re trying to lie to yourself here. Do you really want relationship advice from dad?”
“Alright! Alright… i’ll do it.”
The other Kita curled up an eyebrow. “So, you’ll accept my help?”
“Y-yes. If it means preventing whatever this terrible disaster is.”
“That’s a good girl. Well then, we’ll mull it over tomorrow.” The other Kita said, walking away.
“Where are you going?”
“Where else? Home.”
“Back to your universe?”
“Yeah. So close your eyes for this next part, you’re not allowed to see this.”
“Why?”
“Ggh. Why am i so stubborn? Y’know what?”
The other Kita moved to turn off the lights. The next moment, the room was already pitch black.
“W-what, hey!”
Kita turns on the lights, and to her surprise, the other Kita was no longer there.
“W-what..?”
She walked around the house to check every room, but there was no sign of her doppelganger.
“W-well, i guess it’s just a crazy dream after all, huh? Hahahaha…” She said, as she returned to her room to turn off the lights again.
She laid down on her bed. “To think, crushing over Hitori-chan would get me to hallucinate like that, hahahaha… i really need to see a therapist or something, maybe a mental doctor.”
While it wasn’t easy, sleep eventually came to her. Unfortunately for Kita, she will find out soon enough tomorrow that what just happened was very much not a dream.