The Cellar Entrance ZZZ
All of a sudden, we’re here. My head feels like someone hit it with a hammer. My eyes are red and my nose is runny, and I don’t remember why. And I feel like Shiori and I have been fighting and making up for about three hours, somehow at the same time. It’s like someone gathered up every single emotion in me and made a really, really awful burrito, and didn’t microwave it long enough.
So, I do actually throw up. I’ve been teasing that one up for a while now, the puking. I hope it lived up to the hype.
“What’s wrong with me?” I say woozily. “What were we even doing?”
Shiori doesn’t look so hot herself. “Well, from our perspective we only went through one path… but, in truth, our souls sort of went on every single path at once and converged right here. Er – actually, looks like some of them are still wandering.”
“What are they doing?!”
“What are we doing, you mean? I don’t know.”
“Well, we over there need to get it together.”
“Are you just figuring that out now?” Shiori giggles a little tiredly. “Let’s just hope they don’t take too long. We’ll have to go on, anyway, and maybe they’ll catch up in a couple of hours… or… years.”
“YEARS?! I’m gonna only be partial-soul for years?”
“Ohhh, it’s not as bad as it sounds, you know. About a third of your soul’s there more for margin and cushion. Like junk DNA! At any rate, are you ready?”
“...I-I think so, yeah.”
“Well! Well, well, let’s try and bring this adventure to a close then, shall we?” And she trots forward, trying to fake her usual bravado. But I can tell she’s tired.
No… I know by now. I can feel it with my beating heart. She’s anxious too, the closer we get to the end, and it’s not like I don’t know why. I want to ask her the obvious question. And I almost do, before she liltingly pulls away, almost like she heard the question get stuck in my throat.
“Who am I?” I whisper, mostly to myself.