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A shy smile was all he could remember, looking up at the stars with content. What you don’t know can’t hurt you. The same could apply with memory.
Time looped away in another world, but he didn’t recall that. One knows all, the other nothing. Both trapped in one way or another.
The memory of his name won’t stick for long, yet the other is far gone now.
Teru. Teru, Teru, Teru.
Teru-nii… No.
Nii-chan, was it?
A familiar voice crawls around inside his brain, his intestines, and anything else that could cause pain upon impact. His life has been told in stories, at least that’s how he remembers it.
“Once upon a time, a princess lived high up in her castle,” this, and-
Right. A princess.
Teru never recalled meeting a princess before, but maybe he was imagining the wrong type. Maybe he has before. And if so, for how long? How long did he know this girl for?
Maybe since the beginning of time. Probably not his lifetime, but more likely hers.
Nii-chan.
Nii-chan,
Nii-chan,
Nii-chan.
It was only the repetitive thump of his foot hitting the floor in an oh-so-ever slight movement. A hiss probably would’ve escaped his Father’s mouth, telling him to tone it down, stop wriggling. Teru wouldn’t know that though.
Teru doesn’t know anything.
—
“I’ll see you again soon, in the new world!”
Faint, quiet, and echoing.
“President doesn’t know what’s going on, does he? You’ve stuck him in one of your time capsules, but only after you set the time back again, erasing his memory will you’re at it I’d assume.” Akane says to absolutely no one, although it is directed towards Kako. Who can he say it to? Yashiro’s the one who’s closer to talking to the other clockkeepers rather than himself.
It’s stupid and worthless and stupid and worthless to talk to himself. Akane knows this, yet he’ll keep on doing it anyhow.
He is bored.
It is quite literally nearing the end of the current universe he is existing in, and Akane finds himself almost at a breaking point of boredom.
He has been staring at the same big clock for around two hours now. No supernatural to poke at him, and no Minamoto Teru to sicken him, yet that thought somehow sickens him more.
It wasn’t because of never knowing the same Teru again, no matter how exact they are. Not the memories they shared, the teasing, the competition, rather the ill thought of it happening again. It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened, but that’s Akane’s hidden secret.
Hidden so well he couldn’t even whisper about it if he wanted.
Akane Aoi has been stuck in a time loop.
Akane Aoi has been stuck in a time loop for quite some time.
–
The headache is strong.
It’s pitch black. Or, it was, until a red light emitted onto Teru’s once blind eyes. It felt different, but it had felt off the whole time. He didn’t know how long ‘the whole time’ was, but it was awhile. The light was blaring in and out, harsh and then quiet, sort of like a silent alarm. The flashing hurt Teru’s adjusting eyes but not for long.
He got up from wherever he was sitting in the seemingly empty and black room, slowly approaching the red.
Reaching out for it, his fingers were suddenly stopped by a now partially visible barrier.
Glass.
He slid his fingers along the glass as he started walking to the left, reaching the red again all too soon. It was probably a small cylinder. Length-wise? No idea, and it’d be a waste of time trying to figure out.
Teru was suddenly more aware of his surroundings then before and quickly got used to it.
He feels like staring into someone's soul, someone familiar, not like he’d know who. He’s pretty much accepted that. Teru has acknowledged the feeling of a past he himself had once.
He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting in someone’s little dark room in a little dark jar of some sort.
That is okay,
that does not matter.