Ryoko hummed as she finished cleaning the kitchen. She had put all the children in their rooms and Alice remained on her back. She looked around the empty room. It was so quiet. It made Ryoko feel unnerved.
"When did it become so quiet...?" She mumbled as she walked around the house.
"Why is it so gloomy?" She asked herself as she made her way back to the main room. Everything began to feel colder. And lonelier. Ryoko shook off her nerves and went to check on the children. But when she got to the hallway, the doors were all blank. Ryoko's eyes widened.
"No..." She gasped. In a frenzy, she looked through all the doors. But all the rooms were empty.
"No, no! They can't be gone! Not yet!" Ryoko cried. She then remembered that Alice was on her back. She reached back to feel nothing. Not even the baby carrier. Ryoko's whole world stopped. She heard the voices. The whispers. The lies. She turned her head down the hall. At the very end was a single door. It was just as dark and gloomy as the hallway around her. All the whispers were coming from that room. Ryoko's body relaxed as she carefully walked toward the door. Her body felt slow and sluggish the closer she got. Even closer she began to feel nauseous. Like she needed to get out of there now. Just as she was about to touch the handle, she heard a voice. Ryoko gasped and pulled away from the door.
"Miss Ryoko?" Ryoko opened her eyes to see Cody sitting next to her on the couch. Ryoko stared at him a bit before carefully reaching out and caressing his cheek. As her hand made contact with his face, Ryoko relaxed and released a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.
"Yes Cody? What is it?" She asked softly. Cody looked at Ryoko worriedly.
"You looked like you were having a bad dream," Cody said softly. Ryoko watched the ten-year-old boy a little more. She smiled and kissed his forehead.
"I'm alright Cody. Thank you for worrying about me." Ryoko said as she stretched. As she looked around, she saw that all the kids were awake. Even Alice who seemed to be doing better than she was a while ago. Ryoko watched as they watched Wall-e. She smiled, remembering how she used to love watching that movie as well. Ryoko glanced over at the clock. She had been out for about an hour. Sighing once again, Ryoko stood up and went to her room. She sat at her desk and tapped on it rhythmically. A secret panel opened up and Ryoko pulled out a journal. She opened it up and started writing. She wrote everything she could remember. Once she was done, She closed the book and sighed. Her thoughts danced across her mind in blurs. Her mind was becoming overcrowded.
"Miss Ryoko?" Ryoko turned her head toward the door. Eri stood there shyly with an apple in her hands.
"Can you cut this for me?" She asked quietly. Ryoko smiled.
"Of course. Just give me a second." Ryoko said as she tapped the desk again. The compartment opened up again and she carefully slid the book in. She stood and walked over to Eri.
"Let's go." She said as she closed the door behind her. Eri smiled softly and nodded. Ryoko and Eri held hands as they made their way back to the main room. When they got there, the movie had finished playing. And all the kids had gone to do their own things. Mokuba was teaching Alice how to play patty cake. Cody and Brad were playing video games and Kuriboh was putting dried dishes into their places. Ryoko and Eri walked over to the kitchen. Kuriboh trilled and nuzzled the sapphire-eyed woman. Ryoko chuckled and pet him.
"Hey Kuriboh." Ryoko said as she carefully grabbed a knife. Eri placed the apple on the table and sat on a chair. Ryoko carefully took the apple and rinsed it.
"Would you like it with or without the skin?" Ryoko asked as she began to dry the fruit.
"I don't mind either one." Eri said. Ryoko hummed and sat at the table across from Eri. Kuriboh placed a bowl and a plate in front of Ryoko.
"Thank you Kuriboh," Ryoko said as she began to skin the fruit. Eri watched in amazement as Ryoko skillfully skinned, cut, and deseeded the apple. Once finished, Ryoko pushed the bowl of apple slices toward Eri.
"One skinless apple ready for the munching." Ryoko said as she stood and went to toss the apple skin. Eri smiled and grabbed the bowl. She bit into an apple slice excitedly.
"Thank you Miss Ryoko!" She said as she happily ate her apple slices. Ryoko chuckled as she rinsed and washed the dishes she used.
"You're welcome Eri." Ryoko said as she handed the dish and the knife to Kuriboh. He carefully dried both of them before putting them in their places. Ryoko hummed and looked out the window. She watched as the leaves softly blew in the wind. Her mind began to wander again as she saw blurry figures playing in the land below.
"Amamama!" Ryoko looked down to see Mokuba with Alice in his arms.
"Alice wants to go outside." Mokuba said as Alice squealed. Ryoko hummed.
"I don't see why not. It is quite hot today." She said as she looked out at the lake. She then turned around and faced the rest of the room.
"Who wants to go swimming?!" She calls to the room. All attention was on her now.
"I DO!" Everyone cheered. Ryoko laughed.
"Alright. Go change everyone! Bathing suits will Be in your rooms." Ryoko said as she took Alice into her hold. Mokuba, Cody, and Brad went running. But Eri sat in her seat.
"Is something wrong Eri?" Ryoko asked as she walked over to the albino child. Eri looked up at Ryoko.
"I-I don't want to swim..." She mumbled. Ryoko was confused. Then she remembered what had happened to Eri in her universe.
"Oh.. Well, you don't have to swim if you don't want to. But you will have to go outside with everyone else. Is that ok?" Eri nods sadly.
"If you ever change your mind, we can come up here and find a swimsuit that you'll feel comfortable in ok?" Ryoko said as she gripped Eri's hand. Eri nodded again. Ryoko stood and looked at Kuriboh. She nodded once before leaving to change Alice and herself.
********
The boys ran to the water excitedly. They all jumped in and made a very big splash. Ryoko laughed as the boys had fun in the water. Ryoko sat at the edge of the lake, her feet hanging off the edge and in the water. Alice sat on her lap. Alice stared at the water with wide eyes.
"In! In!" She said as she reached for the water.
"You sure?" Ryoko chuckled as she stood in the shallow end. Alice fussed and fought to be in the water.
"Ok. Here you go." Ryoko said as she placed Alice in the water. It went up to the toddler's waist. Alice breathed heavily as the cold water engulfed her lower half. She began laughing as she splashed water everywhere. Ryoko laughed and carefully splashed Alice back. Eri sat on dry land watching them. She wished she could join them. But she was afraid that they would be disgusted with her scars. She sat silently and fiddled with the grass.
"Hey! Eri!" Eri looked up to see Brad waving over at her.
"Join us won't you?!" He called. Eri bit her lip. She didn't know what she wanted to do. Ryoko came up to Brad.
"Eri doesn't want to swim, Brad." Ryoko said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Brad looked at Ryoko with a confused expression.
"Why not? Does she not know how to swim? Eri! I can teach you how to swim!" Brad called to her. Eri shook her head.
"N-No! I just don't want to swim!" Eri called back. Brad stared at the albino girl for a bit. He then huffed and pulled himself out of the water.
"Brad-"
"If Eri isn't going to swim I'm not either! We can't just let Eri sit there all alone!" Brad said as he sat next to Eri. Eri's eyes widened.
"A-are you sure? You don't have to-"
"I don't want you to be alone. I know what it's like to be all alone while other kids have fun without you." Brad said as he pat Eri's head. Eri blushed and felt tears welling in her eyes.
"Th-thank you." She said softly. Brad smiled.
"No problem." He chuckled. Alice watched the two interact. She then tugged on Ryoko's skirt.
"Up! Up!" Ryoko picked Alice up and Alice pointed at Brad and Eri.
"You wanna go to them?" Ryoko asked the tot. Alice nodded and pointed at them again. So Ryoko placed Alice on the grass. Once her feet were on the ground, Alice ran over to Eri and gave her a big hug.
"Whoa." Eri gasped as Alice nuzzled her. Eri giggled and hugged Alice back.
"Thank you Alice." Eri said as Alice sat in Eri's lap. Ryoko watched them and smiled. These broken souls were healing each other wonderfully. Her smile then became one of sadness. But she decided to shake it off. She pulled herself out of the water and opened a portal.
"Where are you going?" Brad asked.
"I'm going to get some watermelon."
"There's watermelon?!" Mokuba shouted as he and Cody came running. Ryoko laughed at their eagerness.
"No, not yet. But there will be in a bit." She said as she went through the portal. Ryoko had returned to the fruit garden. She wandered around before finally finding the fruit she desired.
"There you are." She said as she kneeled down. She knocked on every melon. Listening for the ripest one. After going back and forth for a bit, she finally found the perfect one.
"Here we go." She said as she snapped it off the vine. Ryoko hoisted the melon into her arms and opened the portal again. She walked over to the lake and the children. They were quietly conversing at the edge of the lake. Ryoko smiled as she sat nearby and washed the melon. As she did that, she called for Kuriboh to bring her a knife and a tray. Once those were brought to her, the kids gathered around to watch their caretaker cut the melon. Once done, the tray was full of perfect watermelon slices.
"One at a time children," Ryoko said as Kuriboh took the knife and handed Ryoko a trash bag. Ryoko shook out the bag and tossed the melon scraps into it. The kids happily ate their melon slices while they continued to talk about whatever they were talking about. Ryoko then decided she wanted to hear the children's gossip. So she listened in as she ate some melon herself.
"Yeah! In my world, there are these crazy snake people that have superpowers! Like hypnosis and hallucination spit!"
"That's scary!"
"In my world, we have aliens! My family works with some!"
"You must be very important if you get to work with aliens."
"Eh. Not really. They were kinda assigned to my family. I just help them and my siblings get along."
"My big brother's the leader of his own business! And he said that I can be his right hand man!"
"Whoa! How old is your brother?"
"Uh, I think he's twelve."
"Twelve?!?!"
"Wow! He must be real smart if he can run an entire business all on his own!"
"Well what about you Eri? What's your world like?"
"M-my world...?"
"Yeah! We shared all of our worlds. What about yours?" Eri became quiet. She wasn't sure what she wanted to tell them. Heck, she didn't even fully understand what her world was really like.
"U-um, people have super powers..." Eri said. The boys gasped.
"Do you have superpowers?!" Mokuba asks. Eri nodded her head a bit. The boys became even more excited.
"What's your superpower?! Can you show us?!" They asked. Eri shrunk back.
"U-Uh... I-It's really dangerous..." She stuttered. "I don't know how to control it."
"Awww." The boys awed in disappointment.
"Well, can you at least tell us about it?" Cody asked. Eri thought about her quirk. She honestly didn't know specific things about it. All she knew was that she could hurt people if she wasn't careful.
"Well, um, my quirk reverses time."
"Noble!"
"Seriously?!"
"That's amazing Eri!"
"I-It really isn't..." She stutters. "I-I can only reverse time on living things. If I'm not careful, I could make you stop existing." She said as she hugged herself. The boys were quiet. Ryoko was too. There was certainly tension in the air. Eri stood up.
"I-I'm sorry." Eri turned to leave but Brad stopped her by grabbing her hand. Eri gasped and turned to face the older boy.
"Eri... Please don't go..." Brad said. The whole forest seemed to go quiet. It was like the whole plaine wanted to know what was going to happen. Eri looked up at Brad with wide and confused eyes. Brad took a shaky breath.
"P-Please... Don't go..." He repeated, staring at their hands.
"I-I can't let another friend leave and never come back.... Please stay..." Tears fell from his eyes and sunk into the grass. Eri's eyes widened. Friend. Brad considered her his friend? Eri tried to pull her hand away but Brad held on tighter.
"I don't want to lose another one!" He said, looking up at Eri. Brad's sky blue eyes begged the albino girl to stay. Eri bit her lip and gripped his hand back.
"O-Ok... I'll stay.." She said as tears began to spill from her eyes. Brad pulled Eri into a hug, causing the girl to squeak in surprise.
"Thank you..." Brad said as he hugged her. Mokuba and Cody rose from their seats and hugged the two as well. Even Alice followed to join the hug. Ryoko watched with wide eyes. She's never seen children connect to such an extent before. She smiled softly.
"Those kids are way too good for their worlds."
********
A few hours later, the kids had finished being outside. Everyone went back inside to shower and get ready for dinner. Ryoko stayed outside a little longer to pick some veggies for dinner. She sighed as she looked at the veggies in her basket. She wondered what went through Brad's head at that moment. She wondered how those children were so deeply connected within mere hours of knowing each other.
"Iko!" Ryoko blinked back into reality by Alice. She looked down at the little girl who held up a carrot.
"Iko look!" She said with a big bright smile. Ryoko couldn't help but to smile back.
"Thank you Alice." Ryoko said as she kneeled and held the basket out to Alice. Alice carefully placed her carrot into the basket. She began to laugh loudly as Ryoko stood to her full height.
"Time to go inside." Ryoko said as she opened a portal. Alice stopped laughing and stared at the portal opening with wide eyes. She looked at Ryoko with the biggest shocked expression. She pointed at the portal.
"Adat!?" She asked.
"It's a portal." Ryoko said as she stepped in. "See?"
Alice walked up to the portal and stared at it. She wanted to step in herself. But she was scared. She began to cry and reached for Ryoko. Ryoko sighed with a chuckle as she put the basket down.
"Ok ok." She said as she picked the toddler up. The portal closed and Alice buried her face into the crook of Ryoko's neck. Ryoko sighed and patted her back.
"It's alright Alice. You'll do it soon." Ryoko said as she walked over to the kitchen. She placed Alice on the counter next to the sink in her line of vision. As Alice was out of her hands, she could wash the veggies and prepare dinner.
********
"Miss Ryoko?"
"Yes? What is it Eri?" Ryoko asked as she pushed dough domes into the oven. She stood and turned as Eri continued to speak.
"I don't know what to wear." Eri said. When Ryoko saw Eri, she was standing in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her little body. Ryoko quickly walked over to Eri and led her back to her room.
"Ok. I'll help you." Ryoko said as she went into Eri's room and locked the door. She then went over to the closet.
"Do you know what you want to wear?" Ryoko asks her as she hands Eri some garments.
"I want to wear something that covers my body." She murmured. Ryoko hummed.
"Ok, let's try this." Ryoko said as she turned to Eri with a white and baby pink cat sweater and some black tights. Eri's eyes lit up.
"So cute!" She breathed. Ryoko chuckled and laid the clothes on the bed.
"Do you want me to help you?"
"No. I think I got it." Eri said as she still held the towel around her body.
"Alright. Dinner will be ready soon. So be quick." Ryoko said as she left the room. When she walked out to the kitchen, the boys and Alice were on the couch playing a game. Ryoko smiled as she went and checked on the pot pies.
"Those could do with a little more time." She sighs as she stands. As the pie tops continued to bake, Ryoko started to clean the kitchen. Eri soon came out of the hall and joined the other children.
"Why are you wearing a sweater? Aren't you hot?" Mokuba asked Eri.
"I'm actually kinda cold." Eri said as an excuse.
"You're crazy to be cold now! It's hot as ever!" Brad said as she pulled the neck of his t-shirt. Eri shrugged.
"I'm just cold." Ryoko shook her head as she pulled the pot pie tops out of the oven. She placed them on the counter and closed the oven.
"Just let those cool down now." She said as she fanned the domes.
"Miss Ryoko! Is dinner ready yet?!" Brad asked from the couch.
"Almost kids." She said as she carefully removed the domes from the little ceramic bowls. Ryoko then went over to the stove and brought the filling she made over. Ryoko poured an equal amount of the filling into each bowl before getting the pie domes and placing them on top.
"Perfect." She said as she placed the dishes on the table.
"Dinner's ready!" She called. All the kids came running. Each kid sat in their normal seat and gasped as they saw the food.
"It's shaped like a bear!" Eri said as she poked the pie top.
"Yep. You're supposed to break the bear into the cup." Ryoko said as she did that to her portion.
"But it's so cute!" Mokuba said with a pout. "How am I supposed to eat something so cute?!"
"It's not like it's alive." Brad said as he caved the bear's face into the filling below. He then scooped up some of the pie top with the saucy filling and took a bite.
"This is delicious!" Brad said as he ate more. Mokuba looked around and saw everyone but Eri eating their food. Even Alice was violently ripping the bear apart.
"Oh come on! Eri agrees with me!" Mokuba huffed. Eri looked up at Mokuba.
"S-sorry." She mumbled.
"If you don't want to eat the bear, you can take it off of the cup and just eat the inside." Cody said as he showed them his bear top. Mokuba and Eri looked at each other as they removed the tops.
"Nice!" Mokuba said as he and Eri began to eat. Ryoko chuckled.
"You guys are missing out." She said as he dipped the ear of her bear into the sauce and popped it into her mouth. Eri looked at her bear before tearing off its ear and doing the same thing.
"Mmmm! It's so much better with the bread!" Eri said as she tore her bear top apart and scooped out bits of the sauce to eat. Mokuba looked on the other side of the table and saw Cody doing the same thing. Mokuba sighed.
"So this is what they call peer pressure." He muttered in defeat. Ryoko laughed.
"You don't have to if you don't wanna kid." She said as she ruffled his hair. Mokuba laughed.
"Hey!" He said as he pushed her hand away. "I still wanna try it." Mokuba said as he picked up his bear top. He stared at it for a bit.
"I'm sorry little friend." He said as he tore it apart with a satisfying crunch. He scooped out some of the fillings before taking a bite.
"Well?" Cody asked with a chuckle. Mokuba just silently continued to eat.
"He's been rendered speechless." Ryoko said as she poked his cheek.
"You good?" Mokuba looked up at everyone.
"I will never doubt you guys again." Everyone at the table laughed at Mokuba's comment.
"Whatever you say, Mokie."
********
The kids finished their dinner and headed off to bed. Leaving Ryoko and Kuriboh to wash the dishes. As Ryoko did the dishes, Kuriboh couldn't help but to notice her sadness.
"Kiri?" He asked as he landed next to the sink. Ryoko looked over at the little creature. She sighed.
"Yeah. I know that some of them will be leaving sooner than I want them to. But it's not like I can stop it." She said as she placed the little bowls on the dish rack. Kuriboh grabbed the towel and dried them.
"Ki Ki Kiri Ki?"
"I don't think so. Her situation is... Delicate. She may not be able to leave the In Between."
"Kiri ki."
"That's a possibility. But it's not like she'll want to stay here forever. She'll eventually grow up and want to see the world for herself."
"Kiri ki kiri."
"And if she doesn't want the role? I can't force it on her. Salvatoris
was lucky that I wanted to take the role. But if she doesn't want to take the role then I can't force her." Ryoko said as she finished washing the dishes. She dried her hands and sat at the table. She sighed and rubbed her temples. Kuriboh left the dishes in the wrack and sat on the table next to the woman. He hugged her arm in an attempt to comfort her. She sighed and pat his head.
"I'm sorry Kuriboh. It's been rough." She said as she looked at him. Kiriboh was silent as he cuddled Ryoko. She sat at the table for a little while longer. She sat there till she heard Alice crying.
"Alright alright I'm coming." Ryoko said as she stood and went to tend to the child.