Before Megumi could answer, a person appeared in front of them, and although she looked perfectly normal, Kaito could instantly tell that she wasn't a person in the full sense of the word.
'She must be the mental spirit Megumi mentioned before' he realized.
"I'd like you to talk with her, I trust that you know her?" Megumi simply assumed that, as always, Kaito would already know who she was.
Kaito looked at the girl in front of him, young, far too young to even be in Gaia, definitely a minor, with tied brown hair, brown eyes, and a panda pajama outfit wrapped around her.
Kaito observed her for a few more seconds before finally remembering.
"Kaede?"
"Amazing, just like Sister Megumi said, you really do know me" the girl exclaimed in surprise. "B-but, I'm not sure if you know my whole story, so I'll tell it to you. Sister Megumi told me to do it even if you already know it.
A long time ago, the real Kaede had an accident and, because of the trauma, lost her memory. So, you could say that I'm the normal Kaede but without memories, or you could say that I'm a second personality that appeared while the real one was asleep.
When Kaede recovered her memory, she forgot the memories from when she had no memory, in other words, me. I'm not really a real person. After all, Kaede simply lost her memory and then got it back. It's not like I'm a separate entity or anything. Honestly, before Kaede entered Gaia, I didn't even exist. I'm simply memories. My existence has more to do with an artifact that Kaede touched once and that somehow separated me from her by accident.
At the time, I... was really scared of her reaction, so I ran away. Kaede eventually left that place, and I ended up staying behind because I'm weak.
Sister Megumi told me she'd help me find Kaede and talk to her, so here I am."
After a while, Kaede finished explaining.
'What a strange existence' Kaito thought. She was something like the personification of the sealed memories from when Kaede lost her memory.
She wasn't exactly a second personality, she was simply herself but with a different attitude.
After all, a person's personality is shaped by their environment. This Kaede, who didn't remember everything that shaped the normal Kaede, had no way of having the same personality as her.
"You're very interesting" Kaito said while looking at her with interest.
"Hiiii, Sister Megumi, his gaze is scary, he wants to dissect me and study me!" Kaede immediately ran behind Megumi to hide.
That earned Kaito a reproachful look from Megumi. "Kaito, don't scare the child."
"Haha, sorry" Kaito apologized awkwardly. "I just found it interesting. So, if you rejoined Kaede now that you're awake, would both personalities merge, would one of them go back to sleep, or would she develop a second personality?"
"W-well, I don't think so" Kaede said while peeking her head out from behind Megumi. "I'm not a personality, I'm memories. Reuniting would affect her, our personality. Neither of us would stop existing, but I think, since we're different, I might develop bipolarity for a while until I get used to it."
"How interesting" Kaito repeated again, becoming more and more tempted to find the real Kaede and reunite them. "So, what would that bipolarity be like?"
"Well, I like pandas."
'I noticed' Kaito and Megumi nodded at the same time.
"I think I'd suddenly see a panda and be like, 'Wow, I love them, I want to see them up close' but she'd be like 'I don't like them that much, let's keep walking' and she'd start arguing with herself about whether to go look at the pandas or not.
Pffft, that would be really weird, right?" Kaede couldn't help laughing as she imagined the scene in her head.
'Damn it, I did that once' Kaito complained internally.
...
"Somehow, that made me feel better" Kaito murmured after leaving the void.
Honestly, talking with Kaede and Megumi only reinforced his idea that he'd get used to it after a while and it would pass, just like Kaede said it would.
If Kaede, who was literally a spirit made of memories, thought so, who was he to disagree?
"Welcome!"
While walking, he finally arrived at Lala's laboratory, which looked completely clean for once.
Although the sofa bed, the small couch, and the round table made Kaito think that they no longer had any intention of hiding their intentions.
The moment he entered, he was greeted by Lala's excited welcome.
"So, you're not even trying to hide it anymore?" he asked.
Lala only laughed innocently. The answer instead came from the newly arrived Shiho, wearing a white lab coat and a pair of glasses.
"I assumed that by this point you would've figured it out or someone would've told you by accident. Looks like I was right" said Shiho as she sat on the single couch while pointing at the sofa bed.
Kaito looked at Shiho and smiled.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing" Kaito said as he lay down on the couch. "Actually, my Shiho acted as a psychologist for me once too."
"Your Shiho? You mean the one from your trip to my world, right?" Shiho asked. "Why?"
"Well, I killed around ten thousand people, so I felt a little guilty and, maybe, like I was a monster."
"I see, so the current situation has a traceable origin" Shiho said while writing in a notebook. "And how did that end?"
"Well, it was a disaster, but it ended well."
"Those two things contradict each other," Shiho frowned.
"You see, Shiho thought that because she knew biology she'd be a good psychologist, but she was terrible at it. She asked the most basic questions imaginable, and her answers were things like 'Get better' 'Time heals' and 'It's not your fault' It was a good attempt and she was pretty adorable while trying, but honestly it didn't help at all" Kaito explained.
"Then don't ask for help next time" Shiho muttered in complaint before realizing what she'd said.
'Eh? Why did that affect me?' she thought to herself.
"So, what about the 'well' part?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Among the advice she read in books, she told me I should focus on something else, something I liked. So I started a hobby, opened a restaurant, and had fun.
While doing that, I would also go out from time to time to complete the mission and kill quite a lot. Every time I came back, Shiho would ask me what we were going to do at the restaurant tomorrow or talk about how well sales had gone that day. She never asked how many people I'd killed, whether they deserved it, or why I did it.
At some point I simply thought, 'If she doesn't care, then why should I?' As long as she doesn't see me as a monster, that's all that matters.
Are you okay?" Kaito interrupted her story and asked when he noticed Shiho crying.
"Y-yes?" Shiho said before touching her cheeks. "What's this? How strange" she murmured in confusion.
"Alright, it doesn't seem like the right time for this. You should..."
"I'm fine" Shiho interrupted. "I just remembered something sad, so don't worry and let's continue."
Even though Shiho didn't understand why she lied or why she really didn't want Kaito to skip the 'therapy,' she still followed her feelings and didn't let him leave.
"Are you sure that..."
"I'm fine! You're staying there!" Shiho interrupted firmly.
"Alright" Kaito sighed. "By the way, what's Lala's role here?"
"I made this!" Lala immediately said while pulling an object from her inventory that looked similar to Professor X's BRAIN.
But then she lowered her head in disappointment and spoke.
"But Shiho wouldn't let me use it."
"You're not going to use a device to get into Kaito's head and kill his bad thoughts," Shiho immediately said.
"But I even broke my father's rules for this?!" Lala complained. "Do you know what this is made of? You won't find even half of its materials on Earth, whether normal Earth or Gaia."
"It doesn't matter! You're not doing it. I don't want you to kill Kaito by accident."
"Come on, that won't happen!"
"Kaito, can you tell her... he's gone" Shiho sighed.
"Eh? Kaito? When did he leave?" Lala asked in surprise.
"It doesn't matter. Neither of us knows enough psychology to help him anyway. All we can do is support him," Shiho replied while looking toward the door.
"You really care about Kaito, huh?" Lala said with a smile. "Why?"
"...Who knows, I'd like to know too" Shiho frowned. "Maybe I should use that thing?"
She muttered while looking at Lala's device.
At that moment, Lala's D-Dial, basically her alien cellphone, started ringing.
"Ah!" Lala opened her eyes in surprise when she saw the caller before answering nervously.
"H-hello, Dad?... Eh? Is it because I broke your rules?... What?! It was only once... maybe three times?... Ah, that's why? Is it already time?... I understand... I'll tell him... bye-bye, see you later."
"Umm, Shiho? I need you to give a message to Kaito for me." Once the call ended, Lala turned toward Shiho with an expression that was a mix of nervousness, fear, and excitement.
...
Finally, after the entire day, he returned to his room.
There he found Koneko sitting on the floor playing video games.
"Want to?" she asked while handing him a controller.
"...Sure" Kaito said as he sat beside her. "Which one is this?"
"This one is new, we haven't played it before. It's a classic multiplayer RPG" Koneko replied.
Kaito nodded and started playing with her. He quickly selected his character, customized it, gave it a name, and started the game.
Just as Koneko had said, it was a classic. A boy is chosen as the hero, the Demon King invades, and the boy, still a novice, ends up having to face his destiny while growing stronger and making friends before finally defeating evil.
Once the game ended, Koneko let go of the controller and lay down on his lap.
"You know, Kaito? In the best games, you don't notice the hero's growth."
"You don't?"
"No. Normally you're playing as a novice who can't do anything, and somehow he ends up defeating the Demon King. Even so, until the game ends, you don't realize what's happening. Do you know why?"
"Because it's natural" Kaito answered, and Koneko smiled from his lap, the kind of proud smile a teacher gives to their student.
"That's right. If it wasn't natural, halfway through the game you'd ask yourself, 'What the hell is happening here?' or 'What the hell am I doing fighting this?' But because everything happens so naturally, only when the game ends and you stop to think about it do you realize it.
And that's because the hero grew along the way. They didn't simply throw him into situations beyond his level. He grew enough to meet them every time.
So, do you understand what I'm saying?"
"That I'm your hero?" Kaito joked.
"Yes." But Koneko smiled again and played along. "So, my hero, no matter how difficult the journey may be, it's only something natural. Instead of looking at the hero's current situation, look at the hero himself, and then you'll realize that he has grown as well.
You simply grew as time passed. You don't have to worry about it. There is only one Kaito, and he will always be the same.
And if, at some point, the situation becomes too difficult, you still have your companions with you to support you."
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)