Masaru blinked open his eyes, to find a beautiful black outlook. The sky was pitch dark, and below was black water, which he floated in. It went up to his knees, but it felt light, unlike water which was hard to move in quickly. Even though it was pitch dark, the water had a reflection.
Looking at the reflection, he was taken aback. It reflected the sky, which apparently had a single white star that he hadn't noticed before. But Masaru was not there in the reflection. Well. He was sort of there. The reflection was faint, and his image seemed distorted and blurry. He knew it was himself, but at the same time, the reflection looked like it could be anybody. No clear features, eye color, or anything at all. Masaru slapped the water's surface to see if his reflection would change, but it was the same when the water settled again.
Then, he noticed something. His hand looked very strange. It was doll-like, in the way that, simmilar to his reflection, was devoid of any features that defined himself as Makoto.
"Eh? Why did that name come to mind? My name is…" he dropped off, stunned. "It's Ma… sa… ki? M…ergh…"
The boy's chest seized. His thoughts were a mess, an incomprehensible chatter, as his brain was filled with many voices all at once. His sense of self was completely withering away, and while his features were somewhat discernible as a teen boy before, melted into a blank canvas.
The person began to weep, as their lack of understanding was completely overwhelming. They sat down into the water, finding it to be the only thing they could do. They watched their fingers as they played with the water, making solemn ripples.
Then they suddenly felt something else beneath their hand in the water. Something furry. They felt it a few times and grabbed it up, revealing…
"Choco!" The person cried. They smiled and laughed a bit. "I was losing hope just now… but all my thoughts are like to they came to a focus now." The person didn't know how they knew the name of this cat, or why they were so happy to see it, but they embraced it tightly as they had done in the past.
"What? Why are there two?" A girl's voice echoed across the pitch dark space. "Oh! Right! Together forever! That's what you said when you died…"
"Died?" Asked the voice, not comprehending it.
"Right, right you've been "wiped clean". Hrm. But if I'm to interpret the "together forever" thing correctly… one should think you should be able to remember, and keep your original personality."
The person turned their head to the side, confused.
The girl came closer, and touched the person's face. From her touch spread the color, ripples of the person's features, until he was Masaru again.
Masaru blinked. "Ah-thank… you?"
"You're welcome. My name is Arte, and you could call me a "god", "devine being", whatever you human would like to think." She played with her hair, and giggled. I love the look on someone's face when I tell them this! Grovel at my feet! Weep before me!
Masaru"…"
"Eh?" Arte frowned.
Masaru was petting the cat in his arms. He nuzzled his nose and played with his triangular ears. He wasn't paying any attention to Arte at all!
"Excuse me!" Arte said, a bit irritated.
Masaru was playing with a branch he found in the water, making Choco jump out to grab it.
After a long silence…
"EH-HEM!" Arte tapped her foot. She then grabbed Masaru by the arm. "Heyyyyy PAY ATTENTION! I DONT HAVE ALL DAY!" Her expression was twisted with anger, and she looked like some sort delinquent trying to punk him for his lunch money.
He finally looked up. "Ah! I'm sorry. I thought I must already be at paradise… so nothing would matter."
"This? Paradise? HAHAHAH." She laughed heartily. "BUT! That's besides the point! Shouldn't you give a god proper respect?"
"Oh. You're a god?"
"Yeah! I already said-"
"You said I could call you a god. Not that you were one."
Arte: "…"
Is this kid dense or what? "Anyways, young boy this is only step one! Death is not a permanent thing, contrary to what you may have believed! You will be reincarnated!"
"Ooouh. So this is like one of those manga huh!" He grinned. "Cool! Hibiki-Chan will love this when he dies… oh… unless it will be the same as a few minutes ago."
"A few minutes ago?"
"Where you said you "wiped me clean"? Or something like that." Masaru spoke flatly. He did not like that experience.
"Yes… normally, to avoid certain situations, we wipe someone of their former self before putting them through reincarnation. They are usually not very thrilled about the process, much like you were. I'm surprised you could still understand me, with the way your thoughts must have confused you."
"Well, Choco being here with me makes it a lot better actually. And I've always been a good listener. I got distracted by Choco's powerful cuteness a second ago, but usually he actually enhances my ability to pay attention for some reason. Man… I wish I could bring him to school. Oh… I guess I won't be going to school for a while haha."
Arte stared at Masaru. "You are one of the strangest humans I've met."
"How many have you met?"
"Around… 7…8?" She counted on her fingers.
"Then I'm pretty sure in the future you'll meet humans much stranger."
"I guess."
"Aren't we getting sidetracked?"
Arte jumped a bit at that. "Right! Now, you have to pick a world to go to!"
"How do I pick?" Masaru frowned. I hope I don't go to some messed up place.
Suddenly, a purple top hat materialized in Arte's hand. "Reach inside!"
Masaru narrowed his eyebrows. "Really? A hat draw?"
"It's the easiest way to make it comprehensible to your feeble human brain." Arte chuckled a little. "Go on, pick one. I'm very surprised you keep questioning me, aren't you afraid?" The wind blew subtly in Arte's swirling hair, which almost acted like a thick liquid instead of hair.
Masaru smiled softly, blue eyes twinkling like stars. He seemed to have a warm air about him, but a sort of airiness that was somehow irritating. He was a light that was a bit too bright, maybe like one of those fluorescent ones that hummed incessantly.
Masaru was the type of person to accept something when he saw it, because he had no choice but to believe it. Sure, it seemed completely and utterly unbelievable that he was in a limbo-like space with a literal goddess, but really what wasn't there to believe? He could feel the strange wind, the water that served as the ground, and he really saw Arte. Her hair flowed in an unnatural way, her eyes glowed, and there was an unmistakable sense of power that came from her. His senses weren't lying to him, he was sure.
Yet, she was actually really charming to Masaru. Her voice was just like a normal girl', a bit squeaky though, and maybe just a tad annoying. Her face emoted just like anyone's would, and she seemed a bit shy and pouty. She seemed human, but more importantly she seemed familiar somehow.
"You seem pretty normal, I don't think you'll shoot me down out of nowhere." Masaru's genuine tone rang throughout the space.
Arte's vein was about to burst, she was so pissed, but somehow she found it endearing, like a pet looking at its owner. This human is so, so weird! She growled, and thrusted the top hat into Masaru's face. "Pick!"
"Mmm. Okayy. Actually, Choco!"
Choco, with his somewhat round orange tabby body, lifted his head, and his ears turned.
"Mrow!" Choco chirped, and Masaru dropped him and the hat in the water, which was now inexplicably lowered to Masaru's toes. The water rippled, disturbed, and went back to its previous state quickly. It was mesmerizing. As Masaru gazed at the water, Choco pushed the hat over, and paced a bit, before sitting down inside it.
Choco purred comfortably, and a weird silence seemed to settle when the pieces of paper in the hat sank into the water.
"Uhh…what on earth are you doing?" Arte asked, incredulous.
Arte was getting a bit impatient, and she was reminded that her family was waiting for her, and they had probably all gathered at the chosen frozen treat spot. Ice cream awaits! What am I supposed to do to get this slowpoke to hurry up?!
"I was trying to see if Choco could pick. But it looks like…"
Choco jumped out of the hat, and as a few more papers flittered out of it, he saw the papers in front of him, as they swayed in the wind, which also billowed Masaru's short hair, brown strands lifted, and then fell. He brushed it away from his eyes with a hand. He laughed, lips curled upwards from ear to ear.
Choco wiggled his butt, aiming for a group of papers. He readied, and jumped! …But he ended up tumbling over himself bottom first to the ground. The papers disappeared, sucked into the water like a vacuum.
Masaru brushed brushed his hair away from his eyes with a hand. He laughed, lips curled upwards from ear to ear.
"This place is so weird. Nothing makes sense…" Masaru still chuckled as he knelt down beside Choco. He offered his hand, and Choco sat up, and brushed against it..
"Of course it doesn't make sense! This is a plane of existence between the living realm and the dead! Something a human would know nothing about!"
"I'm pretty sure a manga artist imagined it just like this before, actually." Masaru grinned. "I wonder how that artist would feel if they saw this." He looked around, wondering at how similar it looked to what that artist thought of. Maybe the artist had died before and somehow remembered?! These kinds of fantastical thoughts went through his head.
Suddenly, Choco pounced on one of the papers that still remained(although few at this point), and it crinkled in response. "Raow!"
"Oh Choco you picked one! Good job!"
"Finally…" Arte sighed.
"What's going on?" A deep voice boomed. Masaru didn't seem to notice it, and petted Choco's back softly, ruffling his furred.
Arte jumped with a start. Someone else was here? Had they come to relieve her of her job? Arte frowned, and turned around.
"Oh…Deca! What are you doing here?" Arte's voice shook a bit, but it held the warmth of familiarity towards the person before her.
Deca, a tall humanoid being, like Arte, scrunched his nose and rubbed his temple. His form warped a bit for a moment. He must have a headache. Arte looked away, embarrassed to trouble him. "I'm here to check on you. We arrived at Planet 707 and it's been an hour. Your broth-our brothers have been wining incessantly! What's the hold u-" Deca's crystal-like gray eyes found Masaru, and Choco, and the papers all over the ground. His face dropped, and his pupils constricted. Arte felt a chill, and gripped her arms."Arte. Did no one tell you…" His voice sounded a bit distressed, but mostly irritated. "There can only be one being involved in their own reincarnation. What is that small furry thing?" He pointed with a sharp nail.
"Only one?" Arte quickly seemed to panic, shaking and shivering. I just started-how could I ruin it again?! "But his final wish was to be with this cat and-" She fumbled trying to plead her case.
"You were supposed to reincarnate them separately… Two at a time could be dangerous, especially for someone inexperienced like you." He sounded certain, and had a confidence that Arte could never have. This is why her elder brother was one of the most well trusted of the gods. Normally, this certainty would have been comforting, but Arte felt herself panicking more and more. She couldn't bear it if punishment were to come down on her again.
"Oh." She seemed to shrink within herself, and her head hung low. "So…"
Deca grunted and grabbed Arte's shoulder. He looked a bit stern, but his crystal gray eyes held a sort of sympathetic reassurance, and Arte's heart suddenly felt lighter. "It's ok. There's no way to separate them now anyways, what's done is done. Look."
Arte turned her head quickly, and jumped at the spectacle before her. A bright light shone within Masaru, and a similar one in the cat called "Choco". These lights were reaching toward each other, slowly but surely. It looked like tendrils of light that meant to wrap around each other. "Are they-?" Her words caught in her throat.
"Combining into one being, one soul. I've heard about a case like this, but I've never seen it myself. It's a curious thing." He frowned, and brought his hand to his face. "But it's too slow. It'll take hours to complete. I'll speed it up."
"Um. Ok." She wasn't sure how to respond. She turned a bit to the side, avoiding Deca's gaze, and whispered "Sorry for the trouble."
Deca stood still, and didn't respond. Maybe he didn't hear her. He instead took a step forward, and the water rippled and it sounded like a wave was running through.
Masaru finally looked up, and looked surprised, but his surprise quickly turned to the sweet smile that seemed to constantly light up his face. "Oh. I didn't notice someone else is here…"
"Of course not, I've been hiding my presence from you." He said curtly. He seemed to size up Masaru, almost looking disapproving.
"Wow…You seem more god-like than the girl, no offense." Masaru seemed genuinely in awe of Deca, looking up and down his tall frame, which was a dark blue color that looked as if it contained its own galaxy with stars. His long hair flowed in a strange liquid-like way. He looked much more grand than Arte, whose hair was much shorter, and her skin was a dullish purple with only a subtle shine. It was like a rare black diamond next to a common crystal.
Arte's panic melted a bit and turned to annoyance.
"Offense very much take-!"
Deca moved swiftly like a serpent, placing a hand on Masaru, and then Choco, who had fallen asleep in Masaru's arms. Then, they twisted together rapidly, changing and morphing in a glowing blur. Their skin, flesh and bone came together, defying the logic of a solid form. The light from the two merged even more quickly, becoming a multicolored orb. Then Deca took the last paper that remained in the hat. He blew on it, and it shimmered gold, and lit like a flame. Throwing it onto the glowing orb, the two that were now one, disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Arte was dumbstruck. She choked with astonishment."So this is the divine power of the firstborn son. It's way too imbalanced! Unfair!" Arte, who was in shock and awe just a second before, stuck out her lip and pouted. Her eyes, though, glittered with subtle tears.
" Pfft.Whatever, you'll learn. Let's get ice cream already." He rubbed her head with a hand.
Arte leaned into his hand, and her lips slowly turned upward. He forgave me so quickly.
Deca gazed at her, his empty black pupils that were like a void of nothing, staring at Arte. Arte gazed at his mouth, which was the easiest way to tell how he was feeling. It was still, like a rock. Deca noticed her gaze. He grabbed her hand and waist, his face still unwavering.
"Okayyy! Ice cream time! I'll get cookie dough, the best flavor!" She grinned and giggled, and they left together.
Deca hugged her tight. "I wish…" he murmured softly. He knew what he wanted was forbidden, but in this space they were truly alone, and he never wanted to let Arte go.
"I am a bit sad to see those two go. The human was quite entertaining…" Arte put a finger to her lip. "Hmm… I know! Hehe! I'll meet again Masaru and Choco!"
"What?"
"I said that out loud?!" She thought with worry. "Erm, nothing?" She didn't sweat, but if she was human she definitely would be soaked by now.
"Okay. Can I get two scoops?" His stone face transformed swiftly into a broad smiled, jubilant one. This is what he was like when he wasn't working. Suddenly, Arte was conscious of his hand on her waist. She smiled.
Phew. "Yeah sure. You're such a kid." She giggled, and hooked her arm around his and snuggled him. "I love you, Honey.
"Me too."