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The first thing that registered in Shiori’s mind was the sound of a heart monitor going off. It beeped rhythmically in her ears and Shiori screws her eyes shut tighter in an attempt to quell the anxiety that builds in her chest.
When she finally goes to open her eyes, she is met with pristine white ceilings and she squints due to the light. After her eyes get accustomed to the brightness, she tries to sit up but is stopped when she feels a hand squeeze hers.
“Don’t.”
Shiori listens against her better judgment mostly because she finds she didn’t have the strength and lays still, unsure of what to do when she feels the head of the bed elevate. The sound of machines whir as she is slowly brought up to a sitting position that is comfortable and is met with the owner of the mysterious voice.
It was a woman.
The first detail Shiori notices is that she had striking wine red eyes and black hair with the inner side being colored a dark blue. She wore all sorts of ornaments and was in an outfit that gave the impression that she was from a powerful family. However the most identifiable feature of all were the horns on her head, uneven with the right side being shorter but pretty nonetheless.
Both had detailed carvings with an inner layer that glowed the same shade of dark blue and was accented with flowers. During this whole time, Shiori could feel the woman’s eyes on her and recognized that she was staring but it was frankly hard not to.
Eventually, she does break out of her trance and acknowledges the unnamed woman. Shiori locks eyes with her and is immediately met with a soft smile.
“Hey you,” she says breathlessly, rubbing the top of Shiori’s left hand with the pad of her thumb. The Archiver glances at the gesture before looking back to face her, a million questions on her mind but she bites the inside of her cheek to refrain from asking any.
“You gave us quite the scare there.”
Narrowing her eyes, Shiori quickly assesses the room around her. Only then did she realize she was in a hospital room.
“Do you want anything? Water? Food? The girls are at home so I can ask them to get you something if you need?” Shiori keeps silent as she turns to the woman sitting at her side. She blinks.
“Shiori?”
“Could you call a doctor?”
______________________________
Shiori watches intently as the doctor converses with her visitor in a hushed tone. She tried to eavesdrop but couldn’t make out what they were saying on account of them being just out of earshot, standing about an arm's reach away from the foot of her bed. The doctor’s back was turned to her too so she couldn’t even attempt to read his lips either. But she could clearly see the woman’s expressions, not really saying much aside from occasionally stealing glances at her which Shiori would meet.
She wasn’t able to identify for sure what it was she saw on the woman’s face every time their eyes met. All she could say was that she had this look of acceptance on her face.
Not wanting to intrude where she shouldn’t, Shiori instead takes the time to inspect the room around her more closely. The first thing she realizes is that she wasn’t covered in the usual hospital blankets, it was instead a dark blue weighted blanket. Shiori could only assume it belonged to the black-haired woman whose name she still doesn’t know so she mentally reminds herself to thank her later. It was doing wonders in keeping her warm from the cold after all.
Shiori then turns her head to the left and sees a large window with two sofa chairs in front separated in the middle by a decently sized circular wooden table. She spots another blanket draped over the chair the woman had been sitting on earlier, this one colored a deep purple while on the table there were all sorts of things. An assortment of snacks, a large bottle of water, takeout food that was half-eaten and a journal.
Her journal.
“Ms Novella.”
Shiori looks towards the direction of the doctor and sees both of them staring at her. “How are you feeling?” he asks and Shiori wets her dry lips.
“I don’t really know how to answer that doctor.”
The man laughs softly as he walks closer to the right side of the bed, keeping his distance so as to not make her uncomfortable. “That’s alright, there’s no need to stress over that then,” he reassures her before placing a hand over his heart. “My name is Doctor Tanako. I’m the doctor that was placed in-charge of you.”
Shiori nods slowly and gives the man a once over. He looked to be around his late 40s with short brown hair, bright blue eyes behind a pair of glasses and of course, wearing a signature doctor’s coat. He had a friendly smile on his face and Shiori feels her shoulders relax a little.
“I have already explained to your friend over here about the list of injuries you have sustained for the purpose of further treatment so there's nothing to worry about in that regard. I’m just here to say that if you need anything feel free to call for me,” he informs.
Shiori chews her lower lip after a bit of contemplating. “Could you tell me too?”
The doctor’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second and he looks over at the woman behind him for confirmation. Shiori does the same, pure determination blatant on her face as she stares. The woman raises an eyebrow, visibly reluctant but she relents rather quickly the longer Shiori stares at her. She nods her head in defeat
“Alright then,” Doctor Tanako clears his throat and pulls out a small notepad from his chest pocket, turning to look at his patient. “Well, as I’ve explained to Ms Ravencroft-
Ravencroft?
- just now, you sustained quite a number of injuries.” He flips through the pages and Shiori swallows the lump she hadn’t realized had begun to build in her throat.
“A few fractured bones, primarily your left arm and hip. Those have healed nicely over your stay here but just to let you know, we had to conduct surgery for your hip bone so no complications occur. That went smoothly so no problems there.” he looks up from his notes briefly to look at her. “I simply suggest you refrain from any strenuous activity for the time being to avoid any unwanted accidents.”
He flips to another page and grabs what seemed to be an ointment jar from the overbed table to her right.
“You also had some cuts and scrapes. All the serious ones have been treated and dealt with accordingly so not much follow up there. All there is is to use this cream to speed up the process of healing the scars and avoid infections,” he places it back down and his face become serious. “Which brings us to the most pressing matter.”
He closes the notepad and places it back into his chest pocket. “You sustained severe head trauma that placed you in a coma. You’ve been unconscious for a little over a month so I wasn’t able to make any proper diagnosis but now that you are awake, I can safely diagnose you with retrograde amnesia.”
Shiori looks down at her lap, unsure of how to reply.
“Retrograde amnesia means you have most of your previous memories intact but can’t recall anything recent and from what I’ve been able to gather, that is the case, correct?” he confirms and Shiori nods for the sake of it. She didn’t need the explanation truthfully. She knows what retrograde amnesia is.
It’s the consequences that scare her. She grabs the blanket and clenches her fists so hard, her knuckles begin to turn white.
“Ms Novella,” Doctor Tanako calls and Shiori looks up to meet his gaze.
“I understand you're feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious but I must remind you to not be too hard on yourself. Healing from retrograde amnesia or any kind of side effect of head trauma is a delicate process. It takes time and patience,” he tells her softly and Shiori loosens her grip slightly.
“All you can do is make sure to get lots of rest as well as follow the medications I’ve prescribed closely. If anything, I’m sure Ms Ravencroft will take good care of you, yes?” he finishes and the woman in question nods in agreement.
“Definitely.”
There was such a tender look in her eye when she said that, Shiori couldn’t help the shiver that runs up her spine.
“Excellent,” the doctor clasps his hands together. “For now I’ll leave you two be, I have a handful of other patients I need to check on. However, if you do ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me or any of the nurses.” He bids goodbye and Ms Ravencroft returns it before he is gone out the door.
With their third party gone, silence falls between the two and Shiori starts looking everywhere and anywhere except for where Ms Ravencroft stood. The woman doesn’t take it offensively however, merely chuckling as she walks over to drag one of the sofa chairs next to Shiori’s bed like before albeit a bit further this time. She sits down and the Archiver keeps her head turned away, only looking from time to time through the corner of her eye.
“Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have assumed things and lumped all that info on you,” she apologizes and Shiori perks up instantly.
“No no,” Shiori says. “I… I should be the one who’s sorry…I…” she takes a deep breath.
“I’m sorry for forgetting.”
“Shiori.”
The woman extends her arm to presumably grab Shiori’s hand again but stops midway and slowly pulls her hand back. Shiori watches as she clenches and unclenches her hand in her lap before deciding to place it on the edge of the bed.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. It isn’t your fault you lost your memories. You just can’t control that."
Shiori frowns. “But this isn’t fair to you. Maybe if you told me some things, it could help jog my memory?”
The woman shakes her head. “Absolutely not. I don’t want to force you to remember things if I can avoid it.” a small smile tugs at the corner of her lips. “Remember what the doctor said? We can just take this one step at a time.”
“But-”
“Ah ah ah. No buts, one step at a time,” Ms Ravencroft cuts her off but Shiori remains unconvinced. Nerissa, noticing this, offers an understanding look. “Look, I know you’re worried about me, but I can assure you it’ll be fine,” she raises her hand and looks at Shiori for consent to which the latter nods.
Ms Ravencroft places her hand over Shiori’s gently, resuming her ministrations from before. “I only care if you get better. It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember anything. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now… just do me a good job in taking care of yourself okay?”
Shiori looks down at her lap shyly. “Could you at least tell me your name?” she asks meekly and the woman laughs.
“Nerissa. Nerissa Ravencroft.”
Shiori doesn’t recognize that name. A heavy sigh involuntarily escapes her lips when she feels Nerissa squeeze her hand in that same comforting manner from before. She finds that she likes the gesture.
“Don’t look so down darling,” Nerissa tries to cheer her up. “Here, let’s get your mind off things. What kind of food do you think you're craving?”
______________________________
Over the course of the next few days, Shiori spends most of her time readjusting to her ‘new’ life. Whether it be watching shows that were now new to her, reading books she doesn’t remember reading or catching up with the world she was in, she does it all within her hospital room. Unfortunately. she wasn’t able to be discharged yet but that didn’t mean she was alone. Quite the opposite in fact.
Her constant company came in the form of Nerissa who Shiori had begun spending more and more time with with each passing day. The black-haired woman made it a point to visit almost every single day and if there was a day where she couldn’t, she would call Shiori to compensate. Those would more often than not last till way past midnight and one of them fell asleep on the phone.
The Archiver had no complaints though.
It was through these constant meetings and late night talks that she got to learn about Nerissa in a more ‘natural way’ as she put it. One of the first things she learned was that Nerissa was a half demon half raven and held the title of Demon of Sound. Shiori remembered hearing it during her archiving days but the more they got to know each other, the more she came to understand how much it fit.
She hadn’t exactly heard Nerissa sing yet but she’s heard her hum. Especially during the times where the two would simply be in her hospital room, doing nothing except enjoy each other’s company while reading or scrolling through their phones.
Shiori liked her humming. It was soothing and she often had to fight off the urge to sleep whenever it happened. As much as it was inconvenient, she never tells the Demon of Sound to stop. It only fuels Shiori’s desire to hear Nerissa sing more.
She wants to hear Nerissa sing.
She curses her memory for not remembering. She curses a lot of things she can’t remember.
Shiori often wonders how Nerissa could hold up their conversations when she knew everything about her while she didn’t. Shiori figures it's a blessing that the two of them were able to talk about so many things and bounce off each other so well but at the same time, she can’t help but think about the implications.
The Archiver closes the book she was reading and exhales loudly. There was no point in continuing if she was stuck reading the same paragraph over and over again. Nerissa was late and Shiori was starting to get antsy.
She didn’t like being alone for too long. Being alone meant being alone with her thoughts and that generally wasn’t a good thing for her.
Just as Shiori considers calling the demon, the door to her hospital room creaks open and Nerissa pokes her head in.
“There you are. I was starting to get worried that you weren’t coming,” Shiori says as Nerissa walks in, seeing her holding plastic bags. The other woman smirks at Shiori as she walks to the foot of the bed to place the bags down on the overbed table.
“Oh? Missed me, did you?” she wiggles her eyebrows and Shiori shrugs. “Well yeah. I don’t really have anyone else's company so it can get pretty lonely when you’re not around.”
Shiori watches as a flash of surprise crosses Nerissa's face before swiftly being replaced by a giddy one.
“Well I’m flattered Shiori.” She takes her usual seat at the left side of the bed. “I happen to love accompanying you too so I’m glad the sentiment is shared.” Shiori rolls her eyes playfully then looks at the bags Nerissa was carrying earlier.
“Was this the reason why you were late?” she asks curiously and Nerissa hums. “Partially. The line at the restaurant was long but the other reason was that I ran into Doctor Tanako earlier at the reception.”
Nerissa props her elbows on the edge of the bed and leans forward. “He told me some news.”
She raises a brow as a gesture to continue and Nerissa grins excitedly. “He said you can be discharged from the hospital soon.”
“Oh…”
The raven’s smile falters as she tilts her head slightly. “You’re not excited to leave?” she whispers and Shiori shakes her head.
“No it isn’t that… it’s just that…well I don’t know what to do when…” The black-haired woman gently pinches Shiori’s cheek unprompted and the two-tone haired woman yelps in surprise.
She pouts and rubs the area where she had been pinched. “What was that for?”
“At least let me finish first.”
Nerissa leans back into her chair and crosses her arms. “I’ve been thinking about this for some time so now it’s up to you to decide. I’ve got two suggestions.” She lifts up one finger.
“The first, you live at your own place. We’ll have to get you some place temporary while finalizing the details for a permanent one but I’m sure we can make something work.”
Shiori waits patiently for her to continue but Nerissa strangely doesn’t. “And the second?” the demon chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of her neck.
“As for the second…” Shiori raises a brow. “Is it that bad? You aren’t planning on leaving me in a cardboard box at the side of the road are you?”
“What?! No!”
The Archiver giggles mischievously as Nerissa huffs. “I’m kidding. What was the actual suggestion?”
She turns away to clear her throat before looking at Shiori to answer. “The second option is you come and stay with us,” she says and Shiori’s eyes widen in surprise.
“You’d allow that?” Then it's Nerissa who gets surprised.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Shiori throws her hands up in the air. “I don’t know, you’ve been pretty insistent on me not getting into contact with my previous memories so I thought…” She trails off and Nerissa doesn’t miss the hint of disappointment in her tone.
The demon frowns and moves to properly look Shiori in the eye. “Shiori… I’m sorry if I come off that way. Trust me, that isn’t my intention. It’s just that I-” Nerissa abruptly cuts herself off and Shiori raises an eyebrow. “That you?”
“Nothing. Just getting mad at myself,” Nerissa mutters, shaking her head. Shiori wants to press further but the look on the other woman’s face tells her it would be a fruitless attempt. So she lets Nerissa go this time.
“Anyways, you don’t have to make a decision if you’re not ready yet. These are just some ideas and if you get any of your own we can talk about it,” she elaborates and Shiori scratches the side of her cheek nervously.
“I already have an answer.”
“You do?”
Shiori nods. “I like the second option,” her answer causes Nerissa to smirk.
“Don’t give me that look. I don’t have anything up my sleeves, this is all purely for convenience sake.” The raven chuckles as she quirks an eyebrow. “Is it now?”
Shiori hums in full confidence yet Nerissa’s facial expression doesn't change.
“It is, alright? Because…” she sniffles. “Because I’m not too confident staying on my own in this world. I’ve lost all my memories of it. My memories before this cell you mentioned… I can’t recall… anything…” Shiori closes her eyes and grits her teeth in frustration.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she feels Nerissa’s hand slip into hers and give it a reassuring squeeze. Shiori looks up and golden eyes meet red. “I never said you couldn’t. I was the one that suggested it, right?
She smiles apologetically.
“If that’s what you want, then we can do it. I’m sorry again, I was just offering the first option in case you had your own plans. Letting you take your time and all that, you know? I didn’t mean for the joke to go that far.”
Shiori sighs. “I don’t know if you remember but in the same breath, the doctor also said something along the lines of someone needing to be there to help take care of me. Don’t you think the people who knew me before I lost my memories would be good candidates?” she points out and Nerissa laughs. “Who said I wouldn’t visit you every day if you picked the first option?”
The two-tone haired woman gives her a look. “Now look who’s staring me like that.” Nerissa smiles and Shiori scoffs playfully. “Can’t help it. You’re weird.”
“Mm you love me though,” Nerissa coos slyly and Shiori simply hums in lieu of a retort.
“Anyhow, we can figure out all that business after some relaxation. I’m tired after walking all day and I want to spend quality time with you,” Nerissa flutters her eyelashes. “Won’t you tell me about the books I gave a few days back?”
“You don't know about Sherlock Holmes? Didn't you say you had knowledge of all kinds of books?” Shiori says incredulously. She was genuinely taken aback and Nerissa pouts at the accusation. “I do but like I said I had someone read me and tell me all about it. Even if I do know it doesn’t mean I won’t say no to hearing you tell it again.”
Again?
Shiori fights the frown that threatens to appear on her face. She wants to ask, truly she does but she didn’t have the heart to ruin the look of pure anticipation on Nerissa’s face. So for once, she lets it slide and pretends she didn’t hear the slip up if it even was one.
All she does is nod and smile all the while disregarding the way her heart clenches painfully in her chest. “Settle in then, I hope you’re prepared to hear my crazy theories on some of the best short stories in crime fiction.”
______________________________
“Here let me help with that,” Nerissa says as she takes the duffle bag from Shiori’s hands. The woman in question sputters as she watches the demon continue to walk up the path at a pace she couldn’t hope to follow in her tired state.
“I could have done it fine on my own,” she mutters under her breath but Nerissa hears her all the same. “I don’t want you irritating your wounds!” she yells over her shoulder and Shiori huffs exasperatedly. With nothing to carry, she decides this would be a good chance to admire the mansion before her.
Saying it was just a grand mansion though would be a severe understatement.
When they had first arrived and got out of the car, Shiori’s jaw was already on the floor but up close, it was probably a hundred times more impressive. It wasn’t the biggest mansion she had ever seen, the others they had passed by earlier were arguably bigger but it made up for it in terms of architecture.
Shiori knew this world was more on the modern side. Nothing as advanced as the stuff she had seen in other universes but modern enough to know that they didn’t make gothic mansions like this anymore so this was a pleasant surprise.
It was like she was back on one of her adventures featuring a cartoonish fairytale villain that happened to be royalty. She liked it though. Gothic architecture was indeed a nice look and she can’t deny its appeal.
Not to mention despite its intimidating look, to Shiori, it strangely felt like coming home.
“Shiori! You coming?” Nerissa’s shouting snaps her out of her daze and she blinks rapidly, realizing she had been standing in place for a while. With hurried steps she catches up to her companion standing at the door who looks at her with a raised brow.
“You okay?”
Shiori nods as she catches her breath. “Sorry,” she inhales deeply. “Got caught up looking at the place.” Nerissa grins and puffs her chest proudly. “Quite the place isn’t it?”
“You don’t say…” Shiori comments as the raven opens the front door and promptly enters, holding it open for her too.
“We’re home!” Nerissa announces loudly.
Shiori on the other hand, looks inside at the new place she would be calling home from now on.
Compared to the exterior, the interior was modern and more modest. It was spacious and beautiful absolutely but it was nothing jaw dropping like the outside. It was a simple open concept kitchen living room decorated with various personal effects scattered everywhere. On the couch, on the TV cabinet, on the coffee table, hell, even the kitchen island. She hears Nerissa let out a heavy sigh at her side. One could say it looked slightly cluttered but Shiori didn’t mind truthfully. A certain raven seemed to though.
“I told them to clean up before we arrived…” Shiori hears Nerissa complain and she stifles her laughter. She looks around again and a small smile tugs at her lips. It felt homey to her but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel the place was missing something.
Shiori didn’t know how to describe it.
It felt like it lacked something that made the place feel lived in. She just couldn’t put her finger on what. Before Shiori can even ponder the thought further though, she hears the pitter patter of multiple feet approaching .
“SHIORI!”
She winces at the sudden shout then she spots a small girl and a pair of girls who looked awfully similar run down the stairs.
“WELCOME HOME!”
“WELCOME HOME BAU BAU!”
The two-tone haired woman blinks as she looks at each one of them as they stand in front of her in barely contained excitement. “Alright girls, introduce yourselves,” Nerissa instructs and the three of them stand at attention, acting like school children causing Shiori to giggle.
“Bon Bijou~ I’m Koseki Bijou your sparkling Gem of Emotions!”
She’s so tiny. Like a pet rock Shiori can’t help but think immediately, offering a warm smile at the girl. She notes she looked a lot like a princess. She had a cute little purple crown made out of gems on her head and a dress encrusted with even more gems. When Shiori looks down, her eyes widen slightly.
Are those… crystals on her feet?
“I’m not a chihuahua, I’m Fuwawa!”
“I’m not Fuwawa, I’m Mococo!”
“Together we’re, Fuwamoco! Bau bau!”
The Archiver looks up and nods in acknowledgement, offering the same smile she did with Bijou. If Shiori had her doubts about them being twins before, she definitely didn’t now. The two were basically identical, save for certain aspects like their fashion and eye color.
But the similar dog features? The way even their tails were wagging in sychronization? Shiori would have to lose much more than just her memory to not recognize these two as twins.
“Hello, I’m Shiori Novella,” she pauses. “... I don’t think you needed that but just for formality’s sake… yeah that’s my name.”
Shiori avoids eye contact with all of them as she scratches the back of her neck. “I’m sorry I don’t remember any of you… I hope you guys don’t mind me suddenly staying at your house…? I promise I won’t be a burden-”
Shiori flinches when she feels two pairs of hands cling to the hem of her dress. She looks down and sees the faces of the twins looking up at her.
“You won’t!”
“Yeah! You won’t! In fact, we’re going to take good care of you bau bau!”
They nuzzle their faces into her dress and instinctively, Shiori places both of her hands on each of their heads to pet them. They whine appreciatively which causes Shiori to unconsciously smile when Nerissa speaks up.
“They’re right Shiori,” she lifts her face and sees Nerissa already standing beside Bijou. “You’re far from being a burden. Regardless of if you have your memories or not, we’re going to take care of you here.”
The gem nods enthusiastically in agreement. “This is still your home too! You shouldn’t feel bad about staying here!”
Shiori’s lip quivers. “...thank you. I really appreciate it…”
As soon as the words leave her mouth, Bijou runs forward to join the group hug but struggles due to how short her arms were. Shiori reaches out to help but her job is made easier when a long pair of arms engulf the four of them all together, helped along by dark feathery wings.
Shiori’s eyes flutter close and she sighs, her shoulders slumping significantly. They stay like that for a good couple of minutes before Nerissa asks them to pull away.
“Okay you three, I gotta take Shiori up to her room. It’s been a long day so she needs to rest,” she gestures to the large room. “ In the meantime, clean up the mess. I told you to do it before I left, remember?”
The three of them pout cutely in an attempt to escape but Nerissa doesn’t fall for it, raising her eyebrows and the three of them begrudgingly agree. Dragging their feet, they all head their own separate ways to different corners of the room.
Shiori snickers then feels Nerissa touch her forearm. “Come on, follow me.”
The two of them head upstairs, passing by more doors and open spaces, Shiori’s head spinning to look at everything at every turn until they reach a long hallway.
“The first door here is the twin’s room,” Nerissa informs as they walk by it. Walking further down, the black-haired woman points to the next one. “This one is Biboo’s.”
“Is the one with the ‘Don’t Enter’ sign yours by any chance?” Shiori raises an eyebrow, stopping momentarily in front of said door.
Nerissa stops too, smirking as she nods. “Yes and I mean it by the way. No one is allowed in my room.” Shiori’s mouth forms an o and with no further comment she continues to follow after Nerissa who proceeds to walk to the end of the hallway where one final door was.
“This here, is your room.”
The two-tone haired woman inspects the wooden door first, grazing her fingers over the intricate carvings which were a mix of floral and eye motifs. She grabs the door knob and twists it, pushing the door open to be met with a relatively lavish room.
There was a large queen size bed right in the middle on the right side of the room. Beside it against the other wall there was a bookshelf filled to the brim with all kinds of books, next to it a wardrobe. Opposite of the bed was a big desk and on it, there were small stacks of even more books, a computer set up with three monitors, a laptop and a stationary holder with an assortment of pens.
“We cleaned it as much as we could but didn’t want to move all your stuff so we just rearranged it here and there,” Nerissa squeezes past her to enter the room. “Even so, feel free to treat the place as you wish.”
Shiori swallows the lump in her throat. “I really don’t know how to thank you guys…” Shiori looks down at her feet in shame when Nerissa grabs her wrist to pull her deeper and to the middle of the room.
The raven plops down onto the bed and smiles up at Shiori. “Then don’t. You may not know it, but we owe you this. And so, so much more Shiori,” she confesses in a rare display of vulnerability Shiori hadn’t yet seen before. At least, she doesn’t remember seeing it.
“Let us do this for you.”
Shiori bites her bottom lip, glancing back and forth between the floor and Nerissa’s face. She eventually caves and nods.
Nerissa beams as she stands up abruptly to engulf Shiori in a hug. “Thank you.”
When Nerissa pulls away, Shiori’s cheeks feel strangely warm but the demon takes no notice of her blight as she laughs without a care in the world.
“The girls are here for you too, never hesitate to ask anything from us. Which actually reminds me,” she clicks her tongue. “Were they alright just now? I tried to tell them to tone the energy down a bit but it seems their excitement at seeing you got the better of them.”
Shiori shakes her head. “It’s okay. They were actually way more different than I expected to be. In a good way”
Nerissa raises a brow curiously. “Oh? Why is that?”
“I thought they were going to be actual kids,” Shiori watches as the other woman’s eyes widen for a split second before she bursts into a fit of laughter.
Nerissa wipes a tear from her eye once she begins to calm down. “I mean… you’re not wrong. They may not be human kids by any stretch but they’re definitely kids,” Nerissa grins. “Pray tell what else crazy thing did you think?”
Shiori wanted to consider what she was about to say more carefully but unfortunately her impulsiveness was more superior compared to her rationale.
“I thought we were married.”
The words hang heavy in the air as the two go completely silent. Shiori is frozen in place as she internally kicks herself when pure shock crosses Nerissa’s face and her cheeks turn a light shade of red.
“O-Oh…”
“I-I’m sorry! I know I was assuming things but that day when I woke up you said ‘the girls’ so I thought you were referring to children!” Shiori blurts out rapidly in an effort to explain herself.
“That’s why I felt so bad! I thought I was married and had kids that I forgot all about,” she finishes, panting at the end of her sentence.
Nerissa doesn’t immediately respond and every second she doesn’t, Shiori starts to wish the ground below her consumes her. Why did I say that?!
Thankfully, the raven does eventually come back to her senses, chuckling as she fans her face with her hand.
“We weren’t married,” she answers coolly despite her actions but Shiori was too relieved to care. “This could have been easily avoided if you just told me what it was we had with each other.”
Nerissa smirks as she places a hand on her hip. “Smooth excuse Shiori.”
Shiori rolls her eyes at the jab. “I just want to know what kind of relationship we had,” she mutters and Nerissa’s lips curl into a smile.
“Oh don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. We agreed on one step at a time, remember?”
Shiori lets out a sigh, not even bothering to protest. No matter how many times she asks, Nerissa always seemed to deflect her requests for explicit details of her past. It was the one thing she refused to back down on, consistently promising that waiting would be better. So like always, she admits defeat and accepts to wait and wait. Unsure of when that waiting will ever end,
“If you say so Rissa.”
______________________________
“Shiori!”
Shiori is startled as the door to her room is slammed open. She turns her head away from her desk to see Bijou at her doorway struggling to hold a tray that looked almost comically large compared to her. In spite of it, she stands up and hurries over to help the poor girl, taking the tray from her hands.
A whiff of something delicious hits her nose and she looks down at the tray to see a full meal set complete with even a dessert on it. “...what is this?”
Bijou huffs as she crosses her arms and pouts adorably. “Your lunch! You didn’t come down and eat earlier so I brought you food!” Shiori’s mouth falls open slightly.
“You made this for me?” The tough persona disappears for a second and Bijou instantly turns shy, stumbling over her sentences.
“W-Wha- Well… no…” she waves her arms around frantically and Shiori suppresses the urge to giggle. “I didn’t make the food… I asked Nerissa to help cause she’s good at that…” her brows furrow and she points aggressively at the dessert in the corner.
”But I made the cookies! Special for you!”
Touched at the gesture, a small smile graces Shiori’s lip and she can’t help but say, “You didn’t have to…”
“Yes I do! Or else you’re going to get sick while doing whatever important business you're doing! Nerissa says you have to take care of yourself!” Bijou argues and Shiori’s lip twitches.
For a brief second, she looks over her shoulder and glances at the book on her table in hopes that the title wasn’t visible from where they were. She didn’t want Bijou seeing the words “How to Regain Your Memories” on the front in case she might be a snitch.
Once she was in the clear, Shiori turns back to look at the gem who stares at her waiting for an answer. “I don’t know how to thank you Biboo…” the Archiver mutters and Bijou smiles before getting back into character.
“You take the food! That’s the only thanks I’m going to accept!” she says and Shiori giggles. “If you say so.”
“Good!” Bijou clears her throat, a sincere smile making its way onto her face. “I’m going to go game now, if you need anything feel free to ask- Oh! And if I catch you skipping meals again,” she points a threatening finger at Shiori, which wasn’t really threatening at all before continuing. “I will make you eat so many cookies you’re going to end up sick of them and no one likes being sick of cookies.”
Shiori nods in amusement and the two bid each other goodbye before Shiori takes the tray inside then closes the door behind her with her foot. She places it on her desk and looks at each dish, her eyes landing on the dessert in the corner first. It was two large cookies, both shaped like cute little cats.
Taking one, Shiori brings it to her mouth and takes a bite of it, melting at the taste on her tongue. “Wow, this is really good…”
______________________________
A heavy sigh leaves the two-tone haired woman’s lips as she trudges up the path towards the mansion. It was late at night and Shiori had stayed out for far longer than she had originally wanted.
Her initial plan was to just stay at the library for a little while, but she had lost track of time and now it was late. So late that the path was almost completely dark and Shiori had to squint in order to even see the ground in front of her.
To make matters worse, she was dead on her feet after walking all day since she was too stubborn to ask for a ride so she wanted nothing more than to lay down to sleep right now.
Just as she was about to reach the door, Shiori sees a flash of movement in the corner of her eye and she squeaks in surprise when that something dashes right past her. Shiori stumbles and nearly falls back but manages to catch herself.
Clutching the hem of her dress, Shiori looks around frantically for where the thing could have gone when her eyes meet a pair of glowing ones in the dark directly in front of her. She hears a meow and Shiori lets out a sigh of relief.
“It’s just a cat…”
Despite the initial scare, Shiori kneels down while holding out her hand for the cat and it approaches willingly. Her heart begins to melt as the cat purrs while she gives it affection but the moment is cut short when the door to the mansion bursts open and barking ensues.
The cat runs in fear as two certain demon dogs come rushing out with their claws bared. “Wha-”
“We’ll protect you Shiori!”
“Yeah get inside we’ve got this!”
Shiori stands back up and dusts herself off as she tries to calm Fuwamoco down. “I’m alright, I’m alright. It was nothing,” she reassures them but the two continue looking around for their supposed target nevertheless.
“Do you see it Moco-chan?”
“I think it’s that over there!”
Before the two can run off into whatever direction they were referring to, Shiori grabs each of their hands to stop them. “No, there’s no need. If it ran off then that means we’re safe no?” she points out and Fuwamoco perk up.
“Does that mean we got it?”
“I think it does!”
Shiori raises an eyebrow but ultimately decides it would be easier to play along so that’s exactly what she does. “Yes yes, you got it,” she praises, raising both her hands to give them headpats. “Thank you so much my brave doggos.”
The twins bark happily as their tails wag rapidly behind them. Before she can get the chance to speak however, Shiori hears a meow from behind her.
“Moco-chan it’s a cat!”
“Hoeh?! Where!”
Quicker than she can react, Fuwamoco run into the night in search of the cat. With a soft chuckle, Shiori walks towards the door and sits at the doorway to patiently wait for them.
These two …
______________________________
Shiori looks over her shoulder, momentarily watching as Fuwamoco and Bijou enjoy themselves playing games in the living room.
“Quite the loud bunch aren’t they?”
The Archiver snaps out of her daze and focuses back on the task at hand, glancing at Nerissa who stands beside her at the kitchen sink.
“I’m not too sure if I would say that…”
After the group, which Shiori learned called themselves Advent, had finished dinner earlier, everyone essentially split up to do their own thing without much thought. The youngest three of the group evidently ended up in the living room to play video games with each other while Nerissa took it upon herself to clean up. Shiori offered to help much to Nerissa’s dismay but she insisted.
Which brings them to the current moment. Shiori squeezes a bit more dish soap onto her dishrag before getting started on the last stack of plates needed to be cleaned. Nerissa on the other hand had finished her share a while ago and was now wiping down whatever they just washed with a dry clean towel.
“I feel bad relating them to children,” Shiori comments absentmindedly and Nerissa lets out an inquisitive hum. "Where’s this coming from?”
Shiori sighs as she hands a newly washed plate to Nerissa who accepts it without a second thought. “They’ve been so helpful these past few days I…” Shiori shrugs. “Calling them children doesn’t really feel right.”
Nerissa chuckles as she accepts another plate from Shiori. “Well it’s not like we’re actually calling them children. They’re just like the little girls you want to spoil, you know?”
Nerissa lightly hits the woman next to her with the side of her hip in jest. “Besides they had a good example.”
“Yeah… you taught them well alright,” she concedes but in the corner of her eye, she sees Nerissa shake her head with a glimpse of a smile on her face. “Believe it or not, I can get dragged into their shenanigans from time to time,” Nerissa says and Shiori raises a brow in genuine surprise. “Really?”
Nerissa hums in response, wiping down the last plate and placing it to the side as Shiori turns the sink off.
“How was that like?” Shiori asks, wiping her hands dry before leaning against the edge of the kitchen sink. Nerissa does the same, closing her eyes and looking up to the ceiling for a second as if recalling a memory.
Shiori feels jealous in that moment but the emotion is thankfully short lived,
“Hectic I’m not gonna lie,” the demon chuckles. “We were definitely a handful to manage so it was a miracle we were blessed with such an amazing leader to take care of us.” Nerissa looks at Shiori with a broad smile on her face and Shiori tenses.
“She was the one that taught me honestly.”
Without another word, Nerissa moves to transfer the dinnerware to the lower cupboard while Shiori remains unmoving. She wants to help. Really she does but she feels frozen in place, held down even more so by the yawning chasm in her heart.
Shiori clenches her fist and fakes a smile, eventually finding the strength to move. “Let me help Rissa…”
______________________________
Several more days passed. It was dinner time again in the Advent mansion and like always, Shiori was helping in the kitchen. This time helping to set up the table with Nerissa for dinner. The raven no longer protested when Shiori offered help and as a result, Shiori made it a routine as she found it convenient.
Ever since Biboo somewhat scolded her that day, Shiori promised herself to be there for at least one meal with Advent everyday and chipping in to help proved to be a good motivator to keep that promise. She’d come to love these moments, treasuring them and holding them close to her heart no matter how mundane the topics that came up were.
She supposes each member of Advent just made it that much more special to her. She wished she could remember more.
However as the last dishes of food were placed on the table, Shiori notices a certain gem’s presence missing. She frowns as she looks around the room for a glimpse of purple but sees none. That’s strange, she’s usually down by now.
“Fuwamoco,” she says. “Where’s Biboo?”
The demon dogs perk up and glance at each other before looking around the room like Shiori had before. It’s Mococo who speaks first. “Uhn… we swore we called her before we came down and she did answer but…”
“But we don’t know where she is now,” Fuwamoco finishes for her sister, Mococo nodding in agreement.
“So she just hasn’t come down yet?” Shiori confirms and the twins nod in response. The two-tone haired woman hums as a possible reasoning pops up in her mind. Walking over to the pantry, Shiori doesn’t pay any mind to Nerissa who looks at her curiously and opens the pantry to check its contents.
She clicks her tongue. “Ah, seems like someone decided to have cup noodles.”
Last Shiori had checked, they had one more cup noodle left and she vividly remembers mentally noting down to buy more the next time they went for groceries. So seeing it missing now was telling.
“Shiori?”
“Rissa, would you mind setting up some side dishes for me?”
Nerissa gets the message instantly and smiles, going to grab cutlery as well as dinnerware from their respective cabinets without much complaint. As for Shiori, she grabs a pink pastel mug and heads over to the coffee machine.
Not even five minutes later, Shiori is standing in front of Biboo’s door with a tray in her hands. After knocking on the door, Shiori doesn’t wait for a response before entering, already having an idea of what Biboo could be doing. She was proven right the moment she steps in.
“DANG IT!” Biboo shouts angrily, kicking her feet like a child as she sits at her desk. A smile tugs at the corner of Shiori’s lips but it twitches when she spots not only the missing cup of noodles on Biboo’s desk but also another empty one. Not wanting to alert Biboo to her presence, the Archiver tiptoes behind the Gem of Emotion and places the tray down as quietly as possible. Her scheme helped along by the fact that Biboo seemed completely absorbed in whatever she was doing.
Leaning in as close as possible, Shiori smirks as her voice drops to a husky whisper. “Quite the hypocrite aren’t you?”
Biboo shrieks in surprise, jumping in her seat and Shiori laughs unabashedly behind her. “Shiori! When did you come in?!”
“Not even a minute ago. It’s not my fault you were so immersed you didn’t hear me come in,” Shiori teases. Biboo pouts and opens her mouth to speak but her eyes light up the moment she spots the tray at the corner of her desk. “Is that for me?”
Shiori nods as she moves the tray closer to Biboo. “Mhm. Isn’t my cooking of course, it’s Rissa’s. Growing girl like you needs proper food so I figured I’d do my due diligence,” she giggles as she watches Biboo wolf down the food. “This is only the side dishes though. The main course is downstairs so I’m here to escort my princess.”
The small girl swallows her food before looking up at Shiori. “Go downstairs?”
Shiori nods. “Weren’t you the one who said not skipping meals is important? I made it a point to always be there because of you, you know?” she places a hand over her heart dramatically. “Did it not mean much to you Biboo?”
The girl in question stutters as she avoids eye contact with Shiori, red tinting her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry, I just got really into the new raid so I…” she trails off and Shiori, merciful as she was, decides to save Biboo the embarrassment.
“Come on. Dinner is still waiting for you downstairs and so is Advent,” she invites but the gem remains in her seat. “I’ve got a cup of coffee waiting for you downstairs. You haven’t had your fill right?”
As soon as the words leave Shiori’s mouth, Biboo is leaping out of her seat and scrambling out of her room. “Why didn’t you say so!” she exclaims and Shiori chuckles in amusement as she follows after her.
“Biboo, can I eat the affogato Shiori made for you?!”
“DON'T YOU DARE MOCO-CHAN!”
A giggle leaves Shiori’s lips as she hears Biboo begin bolting down the stairs. “I can make you another one anytime, Biboo there’s no need to run!”
______________________________
Shiori winces as another jumpscare catches her off-guard. She curses the monster under her breath as she leans forward and clutches the controller in her hands. Another death for the counter. Shiori swears she could be doing better on mouse and keyboard but unfortunately it was a console exclusive which meant she had no other choice but to play downstairs on the television in the living room.
Truthfully she was only playing this for the story but just as Shiori was about to get serious, the sound of whimpering behind her grabs her attention. Furrowing her eyebrows, Shiori looks over her shoulder to see what it was and spots two pairs of ears poking up from behind the couch.
“Fuwamoco?” she blurts out.
Upon their names being called, the two peek out of their hiding spot and whimper, their eyes flitting between her and the television screen.
“A-Are you doing okay Shiori… bau bau…?” Fuwawa whispers and Shiori tilts her head in confusion.
“Yes…?” she pauses the game to regard the twins more properly. “I think the better question is asking what you two are doing.”
With the game paused the two hop over the couch and each take a seat besides Shiori. “W-We want to a-accompany you so you won’t be scared…” Mococo explains, momentarily relaxing as Shiori brushes her fingers through her hair. “But we didn’t expect the game to be so s-s-scary…”
“You don’t need to keep me company if you’re scared you know?”
“No!” the two cry loudly in sync, clinging harder onto Shiori’s arms.
“We’re not scared!”
“Y-Yeah Shiori! You can keep going! We’ll keep w-watch for you!”
Not even ten minutes after Shiori gets back into the game, Fuwamoco are already screaming. Despite how loud they were being, Shiori finds herself not minding at all. In fact, she was quite enjoying it.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
“It was an NPC Fuwawa.”
“Oh okay…”
“There! There!”
“Just a bush Moco-chan. It’s being blown by the wind. See?”
“Bau bau…”
Shiori giggles as the two burst out screaming at an actual jumpscare from the monster they hadn’t expected. They cover their eyes with Shiori’s arms and she coos soft words of encouragement as they whine helplessly.
“Are you sure you two can handle this?” she questions for the umpteenth time but they maintain their strong facade.
“Yes!”
“D-Don’t worry about u-us!”
Mococo pulls away from Shiori’s arm to stare daringly at the screen.
“W-we’re definitely able to p-protect you- AH!”
“MOCO-CHAN STOP I NEED MY TAIL TO COVER MY EARS TOO!”
Unable to hold in her laughter anymore, Shiori pauses the game again to do so freely, laughing so hard she has to clutch her sides. On the other hand, the dogs are visibly upset.
“We’re sorry Shiori,” Fuwawa apologies, ears flat on her head. Her younger sister, also in a similar state, whimpers as she stares down at the ground. “We just wanted to be there to protect you like you always did for us…”
As the words process in Shiori’s head, she slowly halts her laughter and looks between the twins with a fond stare. “It’s okay. You two are doing wonderful as demon guard dogs,” she assures and Fuwamoco look up in disbelief.
“We are?” they say and Shiori nods in response, “I don’t feel so scare with you two around.” She giggles and winks. “You two are just so cute.”
“Hey! We’re not cute!”
“Yeah we’re fierce demon guard dogs!”
“If you guys say so,” Shiori chuckles as she unpauses the game again to continue.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
“Another NPC.”
“Bau bau…”
______________________________
A sigh leaves Shiori’s lips as she carries a tray up the stairs. She was bringing a bowl of hot chicken soup, a cup of warm water and various different medications to a certain demon who had somehow managed to get herself sick with a terrible fever.
To be completely honest though, aside from some doubts due to her demon heritage, Shiori knew full well this was bound to happen. It was a couple days ago when Advent minus Shiori went to the mall to get groceries when rain started pouring heavily on the way back. Realizing they didn’t have an umbrella, they were forced to just run through the rain to enter the mansion.
Of the four of them, Nerissa was the one who was most drenched, apparently using her wings to help cover the other three as they ran. Yet when Shiori had told them to take a warm bath to avoid a fever, Nerissa was the one who insisted on getting started on dinner all so she could make Shiori’s favorite dish that day.
It was delicious. Shiori’s mouth still waters at the memory of the taste but now Nerissa was sick with a fever that hadn’t gotten better over the past few days. Bijou and Fuwamoco were thankfully fine, only suffering a bit of a flu which meant Shiori could focus solely on Nerissa who had effectively quarantined herself in her room.
As Shiori arrives in front of Nerissa’s door though, she hesitates. The sign serving as a reminder of what Nerissa said weeks before. The two-tone haired woman doesn’t know if that was a joke or not but a part of her thinks it’s silly. Nerissa was sick right now. Was she really going to let a sign stop her from coming to take care of her?
With a deep breath, Shiori enters, internally asking for forgiveness from Nerissa as she does so. As soon as she steps inside, Shiori damn nearly drops the tray she held onto the floor. Shiori wasn’t the most normal being on the planet but even she knew nobody kept this many pictures in their room.
It was almost unbelievable, Nerissa’s desk was almost completely covered in framed photos, one of her nightstands in a similar fashion and as Shiori goes deeper into the room, she spots a corner of the room completely filled with stacks of more framed photos.
Nerissa for her part was fast asleep on the bed, her back turned to Shiori so the Archiver tiptoes around the room so as to not suddenly wake her. Luckily, the nightstand closer to Nerissa was empty so Shiori goes over to gently place the tray there. When she leans over the bed to wake Nerissa, she spots the black-haired woman clutching to a jacket as she slept and a few inches away from her, an open journal.
That same journal she had seen in the hospital room. Her journal.
Shiori’s eyes furrow, curiosity getting the better of her as she scans the room once more. Her original plan was just to drop the food, wake Nerissa and leave but now the need to know was too great to fight. So slowly and without making as much sound as possible, Shiori starts going through all the pictures she could see in the room.
The first thing she notices in these photos is that she was in a good number of them. Particularly the ones featuring all of Advent but of course Shiori doesn’t remember any of these. Including the ones that had her with individual members of Advent.
Despite the ache in her heart, Shiori doesn’t learn anything new from these pictures. She was aware she was friends with Advent but just as she was about to chalk this up to a fruitless endeavor, one particular picture catches her eye. One located in the corner of Nerissa’s monitor.
A picture of her and Nerissa. Her kissing Nerissa on the cheek as the other woman smiled widely for the photo.
Shiori’s breath hitches as she begins to panic. She glances at Nerissa’s form still sleeping on the bed and only then did she realize the jacket she was hugging was the same one past her was wearing in the photos.
Hyperventilating and losing balance on her feet, Shiori leans on Nerissa’s desk for support as she tries desperately to calm herself down when a raspy voice causes her to wince.
“Shiori…? What are you doing here…?”
The woman in question slowly turns around, a nervous smile on her face as she sees Nerissa sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She clears her throat as she attempts to act as naturally as possible. She points to the tray still on the nightstand, “I brought you food and medicine since you’ve been taking a long while to recover.”
Nerissa hums and Shiori bites her lip guiltily, eyes darting around in search of what to do. “I’m sorry for intruding by the way,” Shiori apologizes. “I was worried about you so I-”
“It’s okay… and what are you doing standing around? Come over here,” Nerissa drowsily gestures for Shiori to join her on the bed.
Shiori doesn’t immediately move, contemplating on declining but for Nerissa, she supposes she had always had a soft heart. With slow steps, Shiori approaches the bed and watches as Nerissa casually moves the jacket as well as journal to make room next to her. The Archiver settles down on the bed and grabs the bowl of chicken soup to start feeding Nerissa who sits up.
“Sorry, it might not be as good as yours,” Shiori mumbles as she feeds a spoonful of soup to Nerissa.
“Shiori, respectfully,” the demon eats another spoon of soup. “ You could give me a whole bowl of rat poison and I would eat it in a heartbeat.” Expecting more, Nerissa opens her mouth but yelps when she feels Shiori flick her forehead. She rubs the area and pouts at Shiori who looks at her with a scowl.
“First off, rude. I don’t cook that badly,” she holds out an actual spoon of soup Nerissa who eats it without hesitation. “Second, if you were to be taken down by a mere thing like rat poison I dare say you deserve it.”
Nerissa grins cheekily as Shiori passes her a cup of water. “If the cure involves true love’s kiss, sign me up.”
The room goes silent as Nerissa finishes the water and Shiori takes the cup back to be placed on the tray. She looks down into the bowl of soup in her lap and as her mind spirals.
“I’m sorry…”
“What are you apologizing for?” Nerissa asks innocently and Shiori couldn’t help but snap. “You never told me! You said we weren’t married!”
In spite of the volume of Shiori’s voice, Nerissa remains calm as she answers. “We weren’t.”
The two-tone haired woman scoffs as she puts aside the bowl of soup to avoid spilling it in the heat of the moment. “But we clearly had something!” Shiori runs a hand through her hair frustratedly. “I don’t understand why you keep this from me… do you know how hard it is to fit back into the past?!”
Nerissa looks at Shiori with a quirked brow. “Why would you want that?”
“Because I don’t wanna disappoint you!”
The room goes dead quiet after Shiori’s outburst, even Nerissa was a little taken aback.
Shiori lets out a shaky breath as tears brim in the corner of her eyes. “I don’t…” she clenches her fist in her lap. “I don’t want to leave you feeling like you're missing something or someone… I-”
Nerissa watches as Shiori hangs her head low, her hair cascading over her face as a half-hearted chuckle leaves her lips.
“I don’t want that to happen to Advent.” The raven reaches out to grab a hold of Shiori’s hand, squeezing like she always does to comfort Shiori. “We can wait, Shiorin. All you have to do is take one step at a time.” This time however, it had no effect
Shiori forcefully pulls her hand away and stands up from the bed to begin pacing back and forth. “What if time doesn’t help Rissa?” she stops to gesture at herself aggressively. “What if I don’t end up the same. What if my interest changes? My whole personality? What if-”
She chokes on a sob and feels the tears begin to fall down her face. “What if Advent’s leader died that day?”
“Don’t say that…” Nerissa whispers but Shiori remains adamant.
“I don’t have her memories Rissa-”
“Don’t refer to yourself in the past as if she’s a separate person.” Nerissa cuts Shiori off and the Archiver clenches her jaw. The black-haired woman sighs as she leans back against her headboard.
“I know I did wrong to you. Keeping your memories away but I didn’t know what else to do cause… I know exactly what you’d do if I did tell you.” She holds up Shiori’s journal.
“I know you would live the rest of your life thinking you had stolen someone’s identity and were merely filling in an open position in another one of those stories you archive but the reality is,” she puts the book away and smiles fondly. “You are Shiori. You have and always will be.”
“How do you know that…?”
“Don’t think I don’t see the extra snacks you buy for Biboo when we go grocery shopping,” Nerissa holds up one finger before lifting up another. “Or that you check on the twins first whenever even something as little as a blackout happens.”
Shiori tightens her lips into a thin line as she stares down at her feet. “It’s only fair. They’ve helped me remember?.”
“And you fell into that routine without much more nudging.”
Shiori scoffs as she wipes the tears away with her hands. “Then what about us?” she croaks out weakly, more tired than she expected.
“Aren’t you afraid of heartbreak, Rissa? What then?”
The two-tone haired woman had expected this to be her trump card. Had expected Nerissa to finally forfeit.
But that doesn’t happen.
“Then I’ll just fall in love with you all over again. It’s not the hardest thing in the world.”
Shiori’s eyes widen as she feels nothing but confusion. She hadn’t prepared a come back for this and all she can do is stare blankly at Nerissa who smiles like there was nothing wrong in the world.
Nerissa moves to stand up from the bed and approaches Shiori. “I told you you shouldn’t be worried,” she walks and walks until there was barely any space left between them. Nerissa voice drops to a whisper.
“Even if your likes change,” she traces her fingers up along Shiori’s hand then arm. “Your style or personality.”
Shiori shivers as Nerissa cups her cheek, another hand going to brush away the white side of her bangs, revealing a small cut underneath. The demon leans down to kiss the scar, lingering there and Shiori closes her eyes involuntarily.
When Nerissa pulls away, both hands cup Shiori’s cheeks. “You will always be the Shiori I know and love underneath,” she says softly.
Shiori stares up into wine red eyes, nearly losing herself in them. “What makes you so sure?” she asks. Nerissa caresses Shiori’s cheek with the pad of her thumb as she laughs softly.
“The Shiori who jumped in to save Advent that day can only be the same Shiori here taking care of me today.”
The Archiver places a hand over one of the hands on her cheek, doing her best to turn away from Nerissa’s gaze.
“I barely even know how to take care of Advent…”
“What did you do when we came out of the rain, Shiori?” Nerissa asks. Shiori sniffles and doesn’t respond.
“It was you wiping us dry and getting warm baths wasn’t it?” Shiori avoids looking at the knowing look that is no doubt on Nerissa’s face as she mutters. “It was only common sense.”
“Well it’s the thought that matters, not the size of the favor,” Nerissa smiles as she pulls Shiori's face to properly look at her.
“If you’re so scared of not being what you used to be, what does it even matter? You don’t need to be the Shiori that was exactly like before. Let this be a chance for us to take care of you instead like you always did for us before.”
Shiori feels more tears roll down her face and her breathing becomes unsteady.
“Your memory lives on in us Shiori. Always. You archived it there so to speak so let us… let me be the one to tell you that no matter what changes about you, you will always be Shiori to Advent.”
A choked cry leaves Shiori’s lips as she falls forward to hug Nerissa, the raven returning the embrace without hesitation. Shiori cries into Nerissa’s chest as she shushes her softly and rubs her back comfortingly.
Little by little, Shiori calms down to the point of only sniffling but still she remains in Nerissa’s hold. With her breath becoming more steady, Shiori suddenly becomes aware of the continuous and rapid thumping in her ear. “Your heart's beating really fast…”
She feels more than hears the black-haired woman chuckle. “I can’t help it, I’m holding the woman I love in my arms after all.”
Shiori nuzzles her face further into the warmth that engulfs her. “I don’t get how you can be so confident that you’re still in love with me.” Nerissa tightens her hold around Shiori as she places a kiss on the top of Shiori’s head.
“Like I said, no matter what changes about you Shiori, my heart will always be for you.”
“So what if I don’t feel the same?” Shiori blurts out, pulling away just enough to look up at Nerissa who has not a hint of pain nor fear on her face. She wipes the tears on Shiori’s cheeks with the pad of her thumb.
“Then that’s your decision. Not you failing to fit a mold but a decision you as the woman I love made and as much as I don’t doubt it’ll hurt, I’ll accept that.”
“And if I do feel the same?” Shiori whispers and a smile tugs at the corner of Nerissa’s lips. “Then I can die as the happiest woman who ever lived.”
“You are so dramatic.”
There’s a stupid grin on Nerissa’s face as Shiori rolls her eyes but the look only fuels her desire to lean in and kiss her. So she feeds into that desire.
Nerissa reciprocates after a moment of hesitation and in that moment it was like the stars had aligned for Shiori. The demon pulls her ever closer by her cheeks and Shiori does her best to lean up with the tips of her toes, wanting to make up for the days she had unknowingly yearned for this woman since she woke up to the sight of her next to her bed.
Running out of breath, the two pull away and stare at each other. Golden eyes locked with red before Nerissa starts laughing as she pulls Shiori into another hug. Shiori laughs along with her until they finally pull away from each other.
“So what now?” Shiori asks and Nerissa beams, taking Shiori’s hand to kiss it tenderly.
“We take this, one step at a time.”
Shiori smiles at the endearing gesture but it is cut short when Nerissa winces and holds her head in pain. “Ow…”
Furrowing her eyebrows, Shiori suddenly remembers the main purpose she had come in here for. Switching their roles, Shiori grabs Nerissa’s hand and drags her back to the bed.
“First step is dealing with your fever,” she says. Unfortunately, she misses the fond look on Nerissa’s face but catches what she says loud and clear.
"I kinda missed being spoiled by my Shiorin~”
“Whatever you say Rissa.”
______________________________
Fin.