Evvls walked past Akari, each footstep bringing him closer to Akatsuke. His face was calm—just like when he spoke to Akari earlier.
"Yo, you finally out, huh?"
Akatsuke stared at Evvls for a while before he smirked, his eyes widening in a strange way as he replied,
"Hell yeah. Anything happen while I was out?"
Evvls sighed as he said,
"You just got out and you're already worried about him?"
"Can you blame me?"
"Not really, he's fine, should be in the- Oh, he's right there."
Evvls pointed right behind him as a young boy yelled,
"Evvls, you dumbass! Why would you give me away!"
The boy's voice wasn't angry, but his glare screamed rage. Akari found this strange, after all, Evvls didn't do much wrong.
What truly weirded her out was how Akio began scratching his neck. Normally this wouldn't be weird, but she saw blood. He was scratching a bit too hard.
She watched in silence, her eyes narrowing at this. That wasn't just a habit—it looked more like a compulsion.
By this point, everyone was relaxed enough to continue doing their own thing, whether that be playing around or just talking with friends. Akari watched, impressed by how effortlessly Evvls redirected everyone's attention from Akatsuke.
Evvls smirked as he said,
"You should've let me know the plan in advance."
"Akio! It's been a while!"
Akio was a boy with light brown curly hair and brown eyes. He had scars all around his face and neck, they looked like scratch marks. He had a confident smile as he responded to Akatsuke,
"Yeah, glad you're out bro."
Akari looked at Ranni and asked,
"Why are people scared of that guy?"
Ranni sighed as she said,
"He's pretty protective over Akio, I don't know why, but whenever someone interacts with him, Akatsuke just gets really aggressive… Do you like him or something?"
"I see… what? No."
"Heh, I'm just messing with you."
Ranni grinned as she said this, her teasing tone back in full effect.
Akari glanced back at the boys, then turned to Ranni. Before she could say anything, she heard a ring.
"Time to go inside I guess, I'll see you later Akari, let's check out the gym tomorrow!"
"Ah, alright."
Ranni walked towards her cell area and Akari did the same, thinking about everything that happened today.
Ranni was warm and easy to talk to—Akari could already tell she'd be spending a lot of time with her until the chance to escape came.
Evvls was different. She could tell that he was a good guy, but there was something about him. He barely spoke about himself, naturally leading the conversation without contributing. Akari didn't really like that.
Shinto seemed cool, but she didn't know enough about him either.
Travis intrigued her. She'd probably try interacting with him at some point, wanting to learn about this supposed divine curse.
Akari didn't really want to interact with Akatsuke. He and his friend seem a bit unstable.
She lay on her bed, her thoughts drifting into the quiet blur. She felt weightless, like she was on the brink between being awake and asleep.
'Huh?'
Akari opened her eyes.
She was surrounded by darkness, darkness so dark that it felt tangible. It reminded her of two things, Liebe's world and where she was right after dying.
There was no red moon, it wasn't Liebe's world.
'A lucid dream maybe?'
Two glowing red orbs stared at her. They were her eyes—but not hers.
"Are… you adjusting?"
She heard her own voice speak. Akari didn't know how to respond. She knew exactly who this was.
It was Akari Ignius.
The original Akari Ignius.
The body she's inhabiting.
'So this is what Liebe meant…'
Akari could only nod at the original owner, prompting her to say,
"Ah, that's great! I'm so happy."
Akari was unsettled. Her words were quiet, almost gentle, but they echoed like screams. It was nauseating.
"Make sure you make many friends, I'll be watching after all, well, not now."
"What… what do you mean by that?"
"I'm lucky to have the opportunity to speak to you again, this… is using too much energy though. I'm still recovering after all."
She wore a white dress—beautiful, yet stained. The blood blotches were so deliberate, they almost looked decorative. Akari saw straight through it though, her eyes faintly glowing. Nothing could hide from her eyes when they were like this.
"You know, I'm glad you're making good use of my soul weapon, but mine alone won't be enough for our fate."
"Huh?! It's yours? Really?"
"Mhm, come, please chat with me."
As the former said this, a butterfly blocked Akari's eyes, causing her to swat it away.
Once she did this, the scenery changed.
They were now in Duke Ignius's mansion, specifically in Akari's bedroom.
The other Akari sat on the bed as she said,
"Y'know, this room became my entire world for a while."
Akari stared at the original before asking,
"Because of the illness?"
The original nodded as she said,
"It sucked! Every day was worse than the last and at some point, I couldn't even wake up!"
Akari felt her frustration, beginning to get agitated as well. Her eyes narrowed and the original continued.
"I constantly felt disgusting and was coughing blood every night! I honestly don't know how I survived so long…"
"I see…"
"But you… I was finally able to escape thanks to you. Thank you."
"...I didn't do anything… But you're welcome, Akari."
The original smiled somberly as she said,
"You probably have a crazy amount of questions, huh?"
As she said this, her body began cracking.
'Is she running out of time?'
"Yeah… Why me? Why was I chosen to take over your body?"
The former shrugged, smiling as she says,
"I can't really answer that since I don't know myself. Consider yourself lucky I suppose."
"Then… Did you die? Did the illness kill you before I took over?"
"I think so? I don't know much more than you about this, sorry."
Akari sighed as she asked,
"Last one then. What did you mean by 'Our Fate'?"
"Well, that's… I'm so sorry, I'm out of time."
Akari's eyes widened for a moment before calming. She kind of expected this, but not this soon.
"We'll meet again right? I assume you're the other soul that Liebe mentioned before after all."
"Yes, we will, don't worry. Until next time, 'Akari'."
She said this with a mischievous tone, just as her body began to crumble. All that was left in her place was a butterfly, which flew straight into Akari.
The world went dark, and she woke up.