Work Text:
Kuromaku had come to college with a very specific goal in mind: to return the books Fëdor had borrowed from the library to avoid being fined.
Birds that recently flew north again chirped as they preened on the power cables. The sun had risen above the horizon and colored the streets orange, which warmed up his cheeks nicely after a cool night. Budding leaves gently rustled in the wind and made the entire town look alive with color.
Spring had arrived in Rostov. The second clone didn’t leave the apartment often but was already gathering new ideas about where he could set up a location to peacefully read.
The summoner had been too ill to notice Kuromaku sneaking around his room gathering all the books with a library stamp. Not only had he managed to fit them all into his backpack but he had also given himself a pretty good Fëdor look, if he said so himself. The clothes he wore were borrowed from the summoner's dresser and it turned out that the clones were predisposed towards having their hair styled like Fëdor's when they messed it up. Despite their personal style Fëdor was in their blood.
The only thing that wasn't like Fëdor were his hair color and his glasses but Kuromaku was sure that no one would pay enough attention to him to notice. Fëdor said he was basically invisible at school.
He didn't want to be conspicuous so he should probably avoid doing really dumb things such as attending Fëdor's classes and interacting with his friends and teachers, who would instantly know that something was wrong with Fëdor and blow his cover. The grey clone was much smarter than to try such a foolish thing.
Today was going to be a quick mission. Just pop in and out to make sure that they weren't put into any more money troubles.
~
When the second finally walked into the college building he did so with heavy shoulders and a painful back. A part of him was disappointed in Fëdor for forgetting about his borrowed books until the last day.
But a larger part of him? That was proud of his summoner. He had not only taken home so many books but Kuromaku had even seen him reading them when he had some free time. These weren’t leisurely simple books but instead were dense classics that were pretty tough to read.
It was a known fact that Fëdor's clones were based on his personality traits but Kuromaku always wondered if he were manifested from only Fëdor's bad traits and not the good ones. Well look at these books now! Didn't they prove that Fëdor had a highly intelligent side that had manifested as Kuromaku and the grey clone wasn't just composed of Fëdor's snobby temper?
After chewing out an irresponsible guard at the entrance and finding the library he was at the library desk tapping his foot impatiently.
“Nechitaylo…?” asked the old librarian, whose name Kuromaku was sure he should've remembered but instead lay on the tip of his tongue, while she stared at him with judgement. Hopefully she wouldn’t reference Fëdor’s on file photo and notice something was off about him today.
“Fëdor,” completed Kuromaku, who opened his backpack and started taking out the books. “I’m just bringing back the books I borrowed and checking out something new.”
“You are awfully late, Nechitaylo. And you shouldn't have put them all inside your backpack. You could've crumpled the paper,” said the librarian while she pressed a button on her keyboard and the printer beside it started buzzing.
“I packed them carefully and made sure none of them would get damaged. I have respect for books, you know?” Kuromaku answered.
The librarian raised her eyebrow. “A student who respects books would've carried what he couldn't fit.” She drank from her collection of mugs that were filled with tea that was so sweet Kuromaku could smell it. As a certified black sugarless coffee drinker he already knew he wouldn’t like this lady.
Kuromaku sighed. “I’m just here to make sure I follow the rules.” He opened the book he placed on the stack. “Look, you can see they’re in the same condition as all the other books here are, no pages are crinkled. You can’t tell me a small college library has all new books in perfect quality.”
The librarian glared at him. He sighed and continued stacking the books until the tenth and final one was returned, Don Quijote de La Mancha, and the librarian checked all the books he’d returned off her printed list. She drank from her sickening tea and smacked her lips.
One was still missing. Kuromaku explained his situation but no matter what he did, the librarian wouldn’t hear it or let him in. He needed to return the missing book, Dead Souls, by Tuesday or Fëdor would be punished with a fine.
Kuromaku had to leave the library empty handed. He would be back with a victory!
~
It was easy to sneak into the library behind the librarian’s back. She wasn’t as cunning as she thought she was and it was 1-0 for Kuromaku.
The ball was now in his court… so long as he managed to sneak out again unseen, but that wouldn’t be hard with how much tea that woman sipped. She had to refill or go to the bathroom at some time. He’d have no problems sneaking out again.
Now was when Kuromaku had to admit that he’d come to college for a second reason. He was looking for a very specific book.
The library wasn’t large at all but it was one Kuromaku had access to. He had to start there and see if he could go to other libraries if what he was looking for wasn’t here. But when he started looking for the book around authors he suspected might have written a knowledgeable book on the subject he was interested in he couldn’t find them.
What the? Who has rearranged all the books out of order? None of this made sense!
A voice came from the other side of the bookshelves and it seemed that the grand architect of the library’s chaos had just revealed herself. She was talking complete nonsense but she might be the only one who knew where to start looking so Kuromaku went along with her story.
But why did Kuromaku feel so weird? He’d already been drawn to this library but the reason was obvious. He had a thirst for knowledge and needed to find his specialized book. But for some reason… there was something about this girl that was… completely wrong. He just couldn’t explain it but while she was going on about her special system and interdimensional travellers he felt like he’d found exactly the right person who would help him with his mission.
“Describe the vibe of what you’re looking for!” whispered the mysterious girl through the bookshelves with a dorky smile.
Kuromaku groaned. His head was still spinning from the unexpected comment calling him a rebel, as if he could ever disregard the rules like that!
But wasn’t that exactly what he’d just done…
“I’ll try. Let’s get down these ladders first before one of us breaks their neck…” said the grey clone. He wouldn’t know how to explain to the hospital that he was a being who got summoned from another dimension and he didn’t have an ID or insurance or a birth certificate or all that.
“Great plan!” whispered the girl. “Meet you downstairs in ten!”
Kuromaku scratched his head. “Minutes?”
“No, silly, seconds!” said the redhead girl before she grabbed her ladder and slid down it at a very dangerous speed. Was she looking for trouble?
The second clone sighed again and carefully got down the ladder. He almost screamed when the girl was already standing at the foot and he supposed that it was exactly ten seconds later. He could see her closer now. He wanted to ask her who she was but couldn’t, it would be too risky.
“Alright Kuromaku, tell me what you need!” the girl happily said. She was ready to run around the library to find him his book.
“This library may be too small to have what I need but I’ll try you anyway. I’ve been doing research about some stories and…” Kuromaku said.
“Yeeeees?” asked the girl with big eyes.
The second frowned. “How did you know my name?” he asked.
She put her fingers on her chin in a thinking position. “How did I know?” She sounded genuinely surprised, like she had no idea at all where she got it. She wasn’t playing dumb. “I suppose you have the kind of face a Kuromaku would have, huh?”
Oh no, he blew his cover!
“W-well you’re wrong because my name is Fëdor.”
“Nuh uh you already said I was right! Your name is Kuromaku.”
“Well… Well… That’s impossible! My name is one in a million, you wouldn’t have a chance at guessing if you tried a whole year!” said Kuromaku, who was now getting creeped out by the weird situation. “Who are you?”
“Oh oh! Before I tell you you should guess my name the way I did yours!” the redhead girl said, clapping her hands.
“That’s not what I… argh!” Kuromaku said before he held his mouth to avoid more attention from the librarian.
Where had he seen her before? He felt like he’d lived his entire life knowing who this mysterious person was yet when he tried to give her a name or a time in his life when he could’ve met her he just didn’t know. Her frustrating wit was so familiar to him… why couldn’t he remember? Everyone from his life as a real person was long dead and he had never met anyone who wasn’t one of Fëdor’s clones…
“Um, your name… let me guess, Colett?”
“Wow, unbelievable!”
“What? I got it right!?” Kuromaku -almost- yelled.
“Nope! But goodness aren’t you close? You might as well have guessed it on the first try! The first syllable is the end of my name,” said the girl whose name wasn’t Colett.
Kuromaku closed his eyes and said the first name that popped into his head. “Nicol.”
The girl nodded. “That’s right! But it’s spelled Nicole.”
“That spelling variant is not one you can hear,” sighed the second, who looked annoyed at Nicole.
“You can’t? Skill issue,” said Nicole.
Kuromaku had lost count of how many times he’d sighed in this library. But even the fact that he got this close to guessing her name… Either he’d met her before or these were massive coincidences. There was always the possibility that Fëdor had told some of his classmates about his clones but it would be a stupid move. Even if he told them they were online friends they’d still notice how similar they all looked to their summoner and someone might find out that magic was real and call the police.
“You’re ridiculous,” he said.
“And you’re deflecting. What book do you need, Kuro?” Nicole asked.
He actually just wanted to go home and find the missing book so he dropped the issue. “This may sound weird but I’ve been researching the history of playing cards and how they’ve been used by the occult and other magical instances. You don’t happen to have anything on that, do you?”
“That’s not the kind of book I expected someone like you to look for,” said Nicole.
“‘Someone like me’?” Kuromaku asked.
“You know, boring and unimaginative.”
“It’s for an essay. Do you ever say something nice?” groaned the grey clone.
Nicole smiled. “You’re unpredictable, Kuromaku. I like it!” she said while she walked away.
Kuromaku followed her while she looked at the books and ran her hand over the spines. She stopped in the next aisle and got up on the ladder before she handed Kuromaku two books she’d taken off the shelf. He looked at their covers and table of contents but shook his head.
“Sorry but these aren’t what I’m looking for. I’m searching for something specifically to do with playing card history and how people like fortune tellers and magicians have used them. Maybe even something to do with the queens and the jokers of the deck.”
His new friend nodded and got off the ladder, crossing into the aisle across from this one. Kuromaku carefully followed to make sure his mortal enemy didn’t see him and got a book pushed in his arms when he got to Nicole. It was getting closer but it wasn’t the one he wanted.
“Maybe… you should see if there’s one that focuses on the four suits? The clubs, the hearts, the spades and the diamonds.”
Nicole thought and then stuck up her finger as she had her eureka moment. This time she kept walking until they were all the way in the back of the library. She crouched down and took the last book on the entire shelf all the way close to the floor. It had a bell on the spine and the aces of the four suits with the Joker dancing around them on the cover.
“People don’t often come this far into the library. This has been collecting dust here,” said his new friend. She stood up and gave him the book.
Kuromaku took the book and opened it. The table of contents was promising and this might be exactly what he had been looking for. Nicole watched and read upside down just fine while she smiled.
“I think this might be what I need. Thanks Nicole, you’ve been very helpful to me. Is there any way I can repay you the favor?” asked the grey clone.
“Just live your life curiously and keep the wonders alive. Dream!” Nicole said.
“I don’t dream,” sighed Kuromaku. “I have next to no imagination and I can’t visualize things. You’re talking to the wrong guy.”
“Nonsense! Dreaming is a matter of effort, not of how your brain works. You don’t gotta literally see it, just have a good attitude and be open to seeing the world for how it could be. That’s the only way we can make life itself a neverending dream we can’t get enough of,” said Nicole.
“That’s surprisingly profound,” said Kuromaku. “You helped me today so I owe it to you to try to do what you asked me-”
“NECHITAYLO!!”
Kuromaku almost had a heart attack. At the beginning of the back aisle stood the librarian who was furious. The book lovers both got up and Kuromaku looked at her in a panic.
“I can explain!” he said.
“We’re well beyond explanations!” yelled the furious guardian of the library.
She started charging at him and Kuromaku decided he wasn’t ready to die today so ran as fast as he could and managed to slip past his angry attacker. But when he brushed against her he dropped the book he was holding on the floor and he couldn’t go back to retrieve it!
“Hey, get back here! I ain’t done with you!” yelled the old hag but Kuromaku just kept running. “Brats like you are why they should bring back proper punishment!”
Damnit, he hated being called such names! First Nicole called him a rebel and now the librarian called him a brat who needed punishment and he was blushing from being called such horrible names. Kuromaku usually followed the rules and respected authority but his quest had taken him places he usually wouldn’t go. Fëdor was going to be furious with him when he found out that his second clone had tanked his reputation with the librarian.
Stupid, stupid Kuromaku, now he was running through the hallway after having messed up pretty badly.
~
He stopped running when he couldn’t run anymore a few meters outside the hall to the library. He was catching his breath when he was sure that he wasn’t being followed anymore.
It was really annoying that he’d dropped the perfect book Nicole had found for him. He remembered the title but it was just perfect and he was sure that with her help distracting the librarian he could’ve snuck out with it and studied the cards more profoundly. Now he had to find it elsewhere. Fëdor was no longer welcome in the library either. And worst of all he left without having had the chance to talk to Nicole and figure out where he knew her from…
Stupid Kuromaku, what a really immensely stupid clone! He hit his head and cursed at himself for being so careless.
Well like this he wouldn’t achieve anything. He was wasting time throwing a tantrum. This wasn’t like his rational self at all! Get it together!
He started walking. He better get home so that he could take care of Fëdor. Kuromaku didn’t trust that anyone would do it properly so he should do what was necessary and make sure at least someone took care of him.
“Drop this?”
Kuromaku jumped out of his skin. Nicole was standing right behind him and had startled him. But was that..?
“You brought me the book I lost?”
“Yep! Here, it’s yours. No one will know if you sneak it back into the library after you’ve read it. But don’t forget to take notes because it might not work twice in a row,” said his new friend. She gave him the book and he took it, staring at it and her dumbfounded.
“Won’t you get in trouble with the librarian if I just place it back in the library?” asked the grey clone.
Nicole winked. “That’s why I snuck it out for you~!”
“Nicole! That is… That is…” Kuromaku said.
“Rebellious?” she said.
The second sighed. He hadn’t behaved any less terribly than she had today. Now he was just grateful. “Thank you… That’s a really nice thing to do to a stranger you just met.”
“No problemo!” Nicole happily said. “So, ‘Fëdor Nechitaylo’. What a curious character you are. Care to explain to me why you got two names?”
“Online screenname,” Kuromaku improvised. “Walk with me and I’ll explain it all.”
“Oh sorry but I can’t. Can’t exactly get too far away from this library you know?”
“Then let’s continue our conversation here. I apologize but if you’ll let me be so blunt… I’ve had this feeling that I know you the entire time I know you and I have no idea where we could’ve met,” whispered Kuromaku.
“Oh, quite the mystery! Are we becoming detectives now?” whispered Nicole back while she looked amused. “But that’s odd. I feel like I know you too! A new story to figure out for ourselves.”
The grey clone sighed. “I wish I had more time to talk to you but I have to be home. A loved one is sick and he might not get better soon if I don’t go home to take care of him.”
“No no go ahead, you should go take care of him!” said the redhead.
“Thank you for understanding,” said Kuromaku while he bowed his head. “Give me your phone number. We can stay in touch and get to the bottom of this mystery together.”
“I don’t have a phone.”
“Really?”
“More fun that way if I have to figure it all out by myself! When you get lost you really see places you’ve never been. Isn’t that way more educative?”
Kuromaku felt a little bad about that. It was like he’d never see this person again if he walked away now. She knew so much and she’d been so helpful today that he’d feel bad if he lost sight of her.
“I just wish I could do something to pay you back for the book. Something more than living my life curiously,” said the second.
“Well… In all honesty you already did something nice for me. People tend to run away when they hear my weirdness or call me names. You stayed and listened and you gave me a chance! You may look grumpy and serious on the outside but you’re secretly a very nice guy aren’t you, Kuromaku?”
Kuromaku laughed. “I suppose if someone like you says it, then it must be true,” he said. “Let’s meet again as soon as possible. I need your expertise.”
“Your best bet is the library. That’s where I hang out!”
“Then I will return to the library as soon as I can. Goodbye, Nicole. I couldn’t have found this book without your help today,” said Kuromaku.
“Get home safe and report back to me as soon as you know more!” said Nicole cheerfully, and it hurt Kuromaku to have to walk away from this eccentric weird girl who seemed to understand him somehow.
~
Kuromaku set down his medicine bag on Fëdor’s desk. He poured some coughing syrup on a spoon and sat down on the summoner’s bed. “Open your mouth, this will make you feel much better.”
“Aaaaah…” said Fëdor, who swallowed the bitter liquid and made a nasty face.
“I returned your books today,” said the second clone.
“My books?”
“The ones you had borrowed from the library.”
“Eughhh… I hate going there, the librarian hates me and always threatens me with fines and being banned from the library. Thanks for doing that for me, I honestly hate going “
“Haha is that so…” Kuromaku said. So he didn’t mess things up too badly then? “By the way, do you know where Dead Souls is?”
“Under my bed…”
Kuromaku reached underneath and found the book. He’d return that as soon as possible. “Thanks. Now rest. The only way you’ll get better is by taking my medicine and resting.”
“Sure mom,” Fëdor mocked. Wow, Kuromaku really got his grumpiness from the summoner.
The grey clone stood up to let his creator sleep but he had an idea that he wanted to check first. It was Nicole’s fault that he thought of it but he wanted to think out of the box. Fëdor was too tired to see it anyway so he walked to the desk and opened a drawer. In it was the deck that Fëdor had used to summon them at the beginning of the school year.
Kuromaku looked at each card. First came the kings. He looked at his own card and remembered the pain of scissors cutting through his limbs before he tried to forget about that awful nightmare he had a few months ago. Then there were the jacks. He found cards of every number but something was missing. Five cards.
The queens and the joker. How odd, where were they?
“Fëdor,” said Kuromaku. “Did your deck ever have any queens in it?”
“Well yeah… It’s a regular deck of playing cards,” yawned the summoner before he rolled towards the wall.
“Have you ever tried to summon any of them?”
Fëdor was quiet for long enough that the second thought he fell asleep. “Don’t remember… Kurooo let me sleep, I feel grimey.”
How very very odd. Five cards missing from the magical deck. Where could they have gone if Fëdor didn’t remember losing them? And how were they related to his new friend from the library?
Maybe his new book would tell him more about this and the magic that was at play in bringing them to life. Kuromaku had his work cut out for him and went to the summoner to rub his hot forehead and wish him good night. He turned off the lights and headed to the living room ready to spend the whole afternoon and night getting to the bottom of this mystery.
He’d have so much to tell Nicole when they’d next meet and then he could really get to know his new mystical friend.