Chapter Text
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Oh, what an interesting day
Looks like there's nobody in my way
---
A groggy Sunny woke up just enough to walk downstairs and hug his sister goodbye before Hero drove them both back to school. He went straight back to bed, knowing that if he so much as looked at his phone he'd be awake for the rest of the day, and all he wanted to do was sleep.
Unfortunately, this time he ended up in WHITE SPACE. He really hoped he was still sleeping and that OMORI wasn't doing anything with his body.
Then he saw OMORI, which gave him an instant flood of relief. Although now he'd have to endure some awkward silence while he invaded OMORI's space.
But when OMORI saw him, he stood up from his black laptop that was missing most of its keys and walked over to him. That made Sunny feel a little nervous. This meant OMORI wanted to talk, and they hadn't "talked" in a very long time. Perhaps it was overdue, then, Sunny thought, before remembering that his thoughts became words here in WHITE SPACE.
{It is overdue,} OMORI agreed. Sunny dug his feet into the white carpet.
<So what do you want to talk about?> Sunny asked, letting his thoughts become corporeal, as neither of them had an actual "voice" but could still somehow talk to each other without saying anything or even hand-signing.
{Basil.}
Sunny suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. He had been dreading this, and because he thought it, OMORI heard.
{You can't avoid talking to me about Basil. He's already disrupted your life and done a lot of damage in just one week.}
That enraged Sunny.
<DAMAGE?! You wanna talk about people damaging my life?! Because that would be YOU, not Basil!>
{I'm not the OMORI who did that to your sister-} OMORI tried to say, but Sunny cut him off.
<It was still YOU!>
{-influenced by your strong angry emotions-}
<IT WAS STILL YOU!>
There was a ringing silence. OMORI still looked at him blankly with no emotion in his eyes, only darkness.
{Okay, fine, you can keep blaming me for that. I'll take the blame if it stops you from blaming yourself-}
<I DON'T blame myself! It was YOU. YOU threw my violin down the stairs and then pushed Mari down right after! That was YOU, not ME!>
{It was your anger, though, that flowed through me, and so FURIOUS OMORI tried to protect you by eliminating that which angered you-}
<I don't need you or any other version of you protecting me!> Sunny steamed. <Stay out of my life!>
{If you don't need protection, then why do I exist?}
Sunny was fuming.
<No one knows why you exist. No doctor has ever been able to give me a diagnosis. You're not an alter because alters get along. You're just a problem I have to deal with, and if you ever hurt Basil or any of my new friends, I swear I'll find some way to erase you!>
{I only do what you won't do yourself.}
Sunny looked around. He had already smashed the laptop after OMORI almost killed Mari. There wasn't much else in WHITE SPACE for him to destroy to get his point across. His eyes found MEWO, the sleeping kitten that was always there.
<If you touch a single hair on Basil's body, I'll kill MEWO.>
{That's an empty threat and you know it. I would sooner kill MEWO than you would.}
Sunny hated that he was right. He couldn't fool OMORI because OMORI knew him better than he knew himself.
<I hate you,> Sunny spat, and he knew OMORI knew that was true.
{But I don't hate you,} OMORI replied. {That's why I wanted to talk to you about Basil.}
<And what exactly do you think Basil is doing to me that's so harmful?> Sunny scoffed, still feeling angry and bitter.
{I don't know yet. But he keeps bringing out strong emotions in you and that means more chances that an EMOTIONAL OMORI will take over you. I'm trying to prevent that, but in the end I will do what's best for you. I am here to protect you.}
<We have different definitions of the word "protection", then.>
{Basil has already left an imprint in here,} OMORI went on. {You met STRANGER a couple of days ago, right?}
Now Sunny's attention was back.
<Yeah. He looked like Basil, but he was made of shadow. He helped me find the KNIFE so that I could get back to my body that you had taken over.>
{Right. He's interfering.}
Sunny laughed at that.
<Interfering?! You told Basil you would slit my throat if he didn't come out of the bathroom. If STRANGER hadn't found the KNIFE for me, what would you have done if I couldn't regain control of my body?!>
{It got Basil to come out of the bathroom, though, didn't it?}
<That's not the point!>
{He made you upset and MISERABLE OMORI fixed that.}
<How is threatening to take my own life a fix for anything?!>
{That's a question for you to figure out, not me.}
Sunny was getting extremely frustrated now.
<You know if I die, you die with me, right?>
{I react to your emotions. If you really didn't want to die, MISERABLE OMORI never would have made that threat.}
<I'm done talking to you. I want to wake up.>
{You need the sleep and I'm not done talking to you.}
Sunny ran from the safety of the white rug and into the white void. He was almost immediately caught and dragged back by the red hands. They were always more active when OMORI was here.
{STRANGER lives in BLACK SPACE,} OMORI said, catching Sunny's attention. He turned back around to face OMORI.
<I thought I destroyed access to BLACK SPACE when I smashed your laptop.>
{So did I,} OMORI replied, {yet somehow, STRANGER slipped through the cracks. I think Basil's influence on you is somehow causing another portal to BLACK SPACE to appear.}
<But STRANGER helped me! He can't be from BLACK SPACE!>
{No, STRANGER interfered. I am the one who helped you.}
<We have different definitions of the meaning of "help", too, then.>
{If STRANGER can come and go from BLACK SPACE despite the broken laptop, other things might be able to travel that way, too. You buried a lot of things in BLACK SPACE and then covered it up with another layer of BLACK SPACE. Stuff even I don't know about. That's why this is dangerous. I don't know what else is down there, but if STRANGER can find his way here, so may other things. If that happens, I might not be able to stop SOMETHING else from getting up here and taking over you. Like I said, I protect you.}
And then Sunny woke up.
Sunny immediately found the black notebook in his bedside dresser and wrote down everything he could remember about what transpired while he was in WHITE SPACE. Anytime he talked to OMORI, he recorded it in that journal. It had been almost a whole year since he wrote his last entry. He dated it accordingly and mostly wrote about the dialogue: OMORI calling Basil a "threat", OMORI insisting he was trying to protect Sunny, and what OMORI had said about STRANGER and BLACK SPACE. It took him nearly a half hour to write everything out before he couldn't remember anything else and set the journal aside, lying back on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, feeling dazed.
STRANGER couldn't be from BLACK SPACE. He just couldn't. Sunny ran his hands down his face.
He'd smashed the laptop. OMORI couldn't access BLACK SPACE without it. He knew the laptop still worked, but without most of its keys, OMORI was confined to WHITE SPACE. He didn't understand how that worked, but then again, nothing about OMORI or WHITE SPACE made sense. And BLACK SPACE...
No. Don't think about that.
...was something he didn't want to think about.
He knew this was something he should immediately tell his mom, Mari, and/or his therapist, but something was making him feel very reluctant to do so.
What if they agreed with OMORI and thought Basil was a bad influence and forbade him from being Basil's friend?!
He knew that was unlikely, but after how crazy the week had been, it was still a possibility, and he wasn't going to let anyone or anything take Basil away from him. He sat up and shoved the journal back into his drawer. Then he checked his phone and saw it was past noon. He also had several texts.
<8:07 am>
Basil: Good morning! I'm a bit of an early riser, as you learned yesterday when I was awake for three hours before you woke up, so I'm going to assume I won't hear from you for a while. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm awake. I'm going to go back to tending the plants around the house. I have a few flowers that need repotting. So just text me whenever you wake up! 🌞🌻
<10:36 am>
Mari: Just got back to campus! I'm sure you're still asleep, my sleepy little sunflower~ Love you ❤️
<11:23 am>
Kel: Hey Sunny! Just got back from my morning jog and wanted to check in on how you were doing today! If you wanna hang out, lmk. I live right next door lol. But I totally get it if you are too tired. Hero said not to bother you but I thought I would extend an invitation just in case 😜
Sunny didn't feel like answering Mari or Kel. He had had too much of them this weekend already. But Basil was easy to talk to, and if he didn't respond Basil might become anxious again and he really didn't want to cause any more damage to him.
<12:31 pm>
Sunny: Good... afternoon? lol sorry, I really did just wake up. I was EXHAUSTED. I still kind of am so I guess I'll be taking it slow today.
He sent that straight to Basil and then looked around for his Switch. Video games were always the best medicine for a stay-in-bed-all-day kind of day. Even without his blinds up, he could tell it was cloudy outside by the unusual darkness for this time of day. That combined with how mentally exhausted he was equaled playing games in bed all day. When he finally found his Switch, he turned it on and saw the last games he had played on the home screen. He really didn't feel like playing Pokemon, which was what he normally played because he didn't have to think too much about it. He ended up scrolling through his whole library until he came across Stardew Valley. He lingered on it.
Mari had bought him this game because she had friends who played and enjoyed it, but Sunny hadn't really been interested. It was some kind of farming simulator, if he remembered correctly, and he didn't care for that kind of thing. But now he was seeing it in a different light.
Farmers grew plants, right? And Basil grew plants.
Maybe he should try to grow some fictional plants before trying the real thing whenever he was able to go to the Gardening Club with Basil.
Just as Sunny loaded up the game, his phone buzzed on his bed. He pawed for it and unlocked his screen.
<12:47 pm>
Basil: I hope you slept well! ^^ It looks like it might rain so I probably don't have to water my outside plants today. I guess I should finish the make-up work you brought me from school. Do you have any plans for today besides just resting up?
Sunny noted that Basil sounded very casual, as opposed to the anxiety-ridden texts of the day before. He hoped Basil really /was/ feeling as okay as he sounded.
<12:52 pm>
Sunny: It's a video game kind of day for me. My sister bought me this farming sim awhile back. I never played it because it wasn't really my thing, but since I'll be joining the gardening club, I thought I might see what kinds of things I can grow in this game. Do you like video games?
He put his phone back down as he began creating his character. He hated character customization. Whenever he tried to make his character look like himself, it always reminded him too much of OMORI. There were so many choices, though. In the end, he chose a hairstyle that kind of reminded him of Basil and made the character's hair a light green. Sunny was no farmer, but Basil was the closest person he knew to one, since he took care of plants. He lingered on the name.
Was he really about to name his character after Basil?
<1:07 pm>
Basil: I've played a few. I really like Animal Crossing! You can customize your island so much! I have flowers EVERYWHERE of course lol, and I really like the villagers because they're always happy to talk to me... I played it all summer when I wasn't tending to my real plants. And I think I know which game you're talking about. Stardew Valley, right? That was the first game I got for my Switch. I didn't really like the mining part because I don't like fighting games, but I did like growing crops and getting to know all the characters!
Sunny's face grew hot.
Basil liked video games!!! He hadn't expected that and having something so special to him in common with his new friend...
Warm excitement flowed through his veins.
<1:15 pm>
Sunny: I never played Animal Crossing. It seemed too much like doing chores to me. But if you recommend it maybe I'll see if I can get it. I mostly play fighting games, though. Nothing too heavy. Pokemon is my favorite because I love the strategy that goes into it. And I have Smash Bros, pretty much all of The Legend of Zelda games, and a bunch of Mario games. I use my computer for the heavier stuff, like Skyrim, and I do play The Sims occasionally but I have to be in the mood for it. My sister got me The Sims, it's not typically my kind of game but I like trying to work my way through all the job professions and side quests. Like in one expansion, you have to save the town from these mind-controlling plant things. I really liked that one.
After Sunny sent the text, he suddenly felt stupid for some reason. It just felt... weird to be telling his video game preferences to someone. Of course, Mari knew all this about him because she was his sister. He'd never told this kind of thing to anyone else. It felt weird, but also exciting. He wondered if he had any other games in common with Basil.
<1:23 pm>
Basil: Wow. Um... I'm not that much of an avid gamer ^^; I do like The Sims though. You can be whoever you wanna be and there is just so much to do and explore. I only have a few of the expansions since... well, we don't have a lot of money... but I love creating a character and pretending to live a different life... Although I almost always start with growing as many plants as I can. Old habits die hard lol and also I love building my own house and decorating it, especially doing the landscaping outside the house.
Sunny felt a little disheartened after reading that, but then again, Basil had said he didn't like fighting games, so it wasn't really surprising.
<1:29 pm>
Sunny: The expansions are too expensive to buy them all, so I didn't exactly.... get them the conventional way. I can get them for you too, virus free. Being a shut-in for four years... well, I've learned a lot about computers in that time. I promise it will be safe! And easy. The newest expansion has farming in it. I think you'll like it. And in the meantime I'm going to start playing Stardew Valley to see if I like it. You said there was fighting in the mines? I'll probably be really good at that lol
He went back to his Stardew Valley character. It really did look like a green Basil, but there was no way he could name his character Basil.
But he could name the character CuteFlower.
That idea made his face grow hot, but it was better than just outright naming him Basil. He didn't have to put much thought into the farm name: Sunflower Farm. And for favorite thing, he wrote "plants." For the animal, he made sure he didn't choose a cat. Any cat would remind him too much of MEWO, so he picked the cute dog with the droopy ears. He also had his character wear shorts instead of pants, and gave him a shirt that looked like overalls. That was what farmers wore, right?
Then came the last step: choosing a farm type. There were several to choose from. The Wilderness Farm seemed like his kind of thing: monsters coming out at night. But it didn't seem very Basil-y. In the end, he settled for the Standard Farm.
He finally clicked the "OK" button and watched as a cutscene began to play.
There was an old man in a bed, and he called Sunny- or rather, CuteFlower- his grandson, so this must be his character's grandfather.
"There will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of modern life..."
Sunny already felt that.
"...and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness."
Had his spirit ever been bright to begin with? And he was no stranger to emptiness... but as soon as he thought that, his brain reminded him of Basil, and he felt less empty.
"When that happens, my boy, you'll be ready for this gift."
A letter with a wax seal was given to his character. When Sunny felt his phone buzz on his bed, he instinctively turned his attention to it, but then realized he would miss the cutscene. He waited until it was over to answer.
<1:36 pm>
Basil: Oh, um... I appreciate it, but uh... it still makes me kind of nervous. Isn't that... illegal? Not that I'm accusing you of anything! Just... that makes me feel kind of anxious. But if you promise me it's safe and no one is going to show up to my house and arrest me because of it... or arrest you! I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for it either! But um... if you're sure... it would be nice to play some of the new stuff... My computer isn't great and I don't play many things on it, but it does seem good enough to play The Sims. I'll trust you, but YOU have to be the one to install it. I'm not very good with computers. Is that okay?
Sunny sat up straight in bed. Did Basil just ask him to come over?
<1:41 pm>
Sunny: I assure you it's safe, but I'd be happy to come over and install it myself! I can have it ready soon. Can I come over to your house today?
His heart pounded in excitement. He put his Switch into sleep mode and jumped onto his computer, putting his phone on his desk so he would know when Basil replied. He had plenty of flashdrives and fished out one he knew was empty so he could start the file transfer process. His phone buzzed just as he plugged the flashdrive into his computer, and he excitedly snapped it up.
<1:45 pm>
Basil: Are you sure? Not sick of me yet? 😜 lol um... yeah! If you're feeling okay, you can come over whenever you want. Do you have a ride? I mean, my house isn't THAT far away, but it *is* starting to rain a bit. I could ask Polly to pick you up if she isn't busy. Just lmk ^^
Sunny's heart fluttered. Even better than being holed up in his room on a rainy day alone playing video games was being holed up in a room on a rainy day with Basil playing video games. Or not playing video games. He was just eager to see Basil again. He didn't know why Basil was the only person he felt this way towards, but again he figured it was because Basil was extremely introverted like himself. They could be alone together, and it would be comfortable. Between Sunny's muteness and Basil's stutter that made him communicate better through writing, they were the perfect pair of outcasts.
<1:49 pm>
Sunny: There's a lot to download, so it's gonna take about 40 minutes. Then I'll see if my mom can drive me but if not, I have rain boots and an umbrella. I need to do more walking anyway.
Rainy days were usually bad for Sunny's mental health, but knowing he was going to see Basil made him feel like the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky.
<1:58 pm>
Basil: Okay, sounds good! Bring your Switch too 🙂 I can help you with Stardew Valley ^^
Sunny looked nervously over at his Switch.
No way he could show Basil the character he just made.
...Although, there was no way for Basil to know that the character was based on him. And it wasn't a lie that he made the character not look like himself because he didn't want it to look like OMORI. Basil would understand that.
...He'd just have to find a way to explain the name CuteFlower.
Random name generator, Sunny thought to himself as an excuse for that.
<2:02 pm>
Sunny: okay, I will. I'll probably play a bit on my own while I wait.
Sunny took his phone and went back to his bed where his Switch was. He turned it on to continue playing. He got a new cutscene where his character rode a bus into Stardew Valley and was greeted by an NPC. His phone buzzed again, so as soon as a dialogue box appeared and "paused" the game, he grabbed it to look at his new message.
<2:11 pm>
Basil: Alright! Just some helpful beginner tips: the game has a time cycle. You'll want to put your character to bed before 2 am or you'll pass out and either lose money or items, and I think your energy doesn't replenish very well when that happens, either. Or maybe that depends on your day's "luck". Also always make sure to check your tv every morning. It will tell you the weather forecast for the next day (helpful bc when it rains you don't have to water your crops)!
(The text went on and on as Basil talked about NPC birthdays, foraging for spring onions, and some kind of community center with bundles, whatever that meant. He finally finished with: )
Um... I can explain more when you're here, sorry this message was so long 😅 I just really love this game so I know a lot about it.
Sunny felt a little overwhelmed after reading Basil's long text. Maybe he should just wait for Basil in order to play...
Or he could just dive right in and if he made any mistakes, he could always make a new file.
<2:18 pm>
Sunny: Thanks for the info! It's a little overwhelming tbh but I'm gonna try to get a basic feel for the game before we play together.
Sunny went back to the dialogue on his screen. The NPC who greeted Sunny's character led him to a farm, which was littered with bushes, rocks, and branches. His character did a little freak out animation which made Sunny laugh. He felt his phone buzz again and checked it once another dialogue box popped up.
<2:23 pm>
Basil: ah, sorry, I got a bit carried away 😅But when you come over I can help you or we can play a co-op game! That could be fun! It's up to you.
That sounded a lot better to Sunny.
<2:26 pm>
Sunny: Yes, let's do co-op. Starting small with me focusing on a few aspects of the game rather than EVERYTHING would probably help me more tbh
That, and then Basil wouldn't have to see the character that he'd made in his image.
<2:29 pm>
Basil: Okay, co-op it is! ^^
Sunny went back to his game and clicked through the dialogue until the day ended and the game saved. He decided to just quit; he didn't want to mess anything up and Basil was going to teach him anyway, so he put his Switch into sleep mode and packed it and a charger. Then he checked his computer to see how well the download was coming along.
Ten more minutes. He'd better get ready to leave. He put his phone in his pocket and left his room, heading downstairs.
"Oh, Sunny!" his mom said in surprise as he made it to the bottom of the stairs. "I thought for sure you'd be sleeping in or playing video games in bed all day."
'That was the plan,' Sunny signed, 'but then Basil invited me over. Can you drive me?'
His mom looked confused.
"Who? Is 'cute flower' a nickname for someone?"
Sunny's face turned red. He'd been signing Basil's name that way unconsciously ever since Mari suggested it.
'Mari gave that nickname to Basil,' he replied, signing Basil's name out letter by letter.
"Oh, okay! I don't mind driving you. When are you supposed to be there?"
'Leaving in about ten minutes,' Sunny signed, and he quickly pulled out his phone to update Basil.
It was almost three o'clock when Sunny arrived at Basil's house. It was cloudy but not too dark, and there were stray raindrops here and there. Sunny had everything he needed in his backpack, including two whiteboards (one for him and one for Basil, if needed). His mom insisted he wear his rain jacket, even though he would only be walking five feet from the van to Basil's front door. He waved goodbye to her but knew she wouldn't leave until she saw he was inside. Sunny raised his hand to ring the doorbell, but the door opened immediately. Basil's beaming face greeted him.
"Hi!" Basil said, letting out a deep breath so that he wouldn't stutter. Sunny almost staggered back. Basil was acting completely different from... well, the whole time he'd known him. For the first time, he really seemed to be happy. And Sunny felt happy, too.
A real friend! He never thought he would ever have friends. He couldn't remember really having any before he was homeschooled (in fact, his memories of who he was before OMORI showed up were kind of fuzzy), so becoming a shut-in had never been a problem. Socializing was exhausting, but with Basil, it seemed easy.
Sunny smiled back and waved hello, which prompted Basil to step back and let Sunny inside. Basil closed the door behind him.
"P-Polly i-is r-running-g er-r-rands," Basil said as Sunny took off his shoes. "Sh-She w-want-ted t-to-" Basil took a deep breath, "-make us a n-nice din-n-ner," he took another deep breath, "since I told her y-you were c-com-m-ming o-o-over."
Such extreme labor for one sentence, Sunny thought with pity in his heart. Somehow it felt worse than not being able to talk at all. At least he had sign language. Sunny quickly put down his backpack, took out a whiteboard, and held it out to Basil.
"Thank you," Basil sighed with relief, taking the board from Sunny. Sunny took out the second one just to show Basil that they would both have their own.
[You think of everything :) ] Basil quickly wrote on his board, showing it to Sunny and smiling just like the face he drew. It was so nice to see Basil smiling after all the drama they had endured that week. Sunny smiled back. Basil's ears turned red and he looked away, but was still smiling.
"C-C'mon. M-My c-comp-p-puter is in-n m-my r-room." Basil gestured for Sunny to follow him. As Sunny trotted up the stairs behind him, he tried to think back to Friday when he had come over and been in Basil's room for the first time. He couldn't remember seeing a computer, but maybe that was because he had been too engrossed in all the plants.
Once again Sunny's eyes locked onto the big painted sunflower on Basil's door, and then when Basil opened his door, the big sunflower rug on the floor. Something about the sunflowers just made him feel welcome in Basil's room. He dodged the potted plants littering the floor and made his way to Basil's bed, sitting down and putting his bag on the floor.
"C-Comp-put-ter's over h-here," Basil said, gesturing to the other side of his room. Now Sunny knew why he hadn't noticed it before; there was a gossamer green wall of some sort blocking the view, like a makeshift room divider. It even had small plastic green beads hanging from the sides of the material. Basil had pulled it back like a curtain so that Sunny could see.
Basil's computer wasn't exactly ancient, but it wasn't even close to Sunny's. Sunny thought Basil was lucky that The Sims ran on that computer at all. He hoped all the new expansions would run as smoothly as whatever Basil currently had. He rummaged through his bag and found his flashdrive. He got up and walked over to the computer, sitting down on the only chair. He looked at Basil expectantly and Basil turned his computer on, as if reading his mind. It wasn't password protected, so Sunny was able to log right in.
Thank goodness, Windows 10, Sunny thought, for he had feared the computer might be running Windows 7 by the look of it. He plugged in his flashdrive and got started installing the files. He was very aware of Basil watching over his shoulder, and it made him kind of nervous for some reason.
It only took Sunny about five minutes to get everything in order, and then they only had to wait for it to finish installing. Sunny brought up the notepad app and wrote, [Just let this install by itself. It's going to take awhile but after you'll be able to play the game fine :) ]
He turned and Basil jumped back in surprise, his cheeks rosy.
"R-Right," Basil nodded, showing that he had read the message. He grabbed the whiteboard Sunny had given to him and wrote, [Stardew Valley in the meantime?]
Sunny nodded and removed himself from Basil's computer chair. He walked back over to Basil's bed and sat down, rummaging through his backpack for his Switch and his own whiteboard. Basil sat next to him, his small Switch Lite ready for action. Sunny noticed he had the yellow one, which made him think of sunflowers.
---
Playing Stardew Valley wasn't easy in a co-op where one person was mute and the other had a bad stutter. Sunny quickly learned how valuable time was in the game. Basil explained things the best he could, writing down the most important things on his whiteboard. In the end, they decided that Basil would do most of the farming and that Sunny would gather resources and, once the mine was open, go mining. Sunny very much enjoyed the mine. It was action-packed, while growing plants felt like a chore just like Animal Crossing did (though the Animal Crossing posters Basil had hanging on his walls showed how much he liked the game and made Sunny consider picking it up, if only to play occasionally with Basil).
Basil told Sunny some facts about the characters in Stardew Valley, but they didn't really interest him. He only met all the characters to finish the introduction quest, and he only gave them birthday presents for the perks Basil said came from becoming friendlier with them. Other than that, he stuck to foraging materials and battling in the mine. The fishing minigame frustrated him, so if there was ever a quest that involved someone wanting a fish, Basil would just fish for two of them and leave one in their "share" chest for Sunny to take to the person who wanted it.
They had just finished the Egg Festival (Basil won) when Sunny's ears perked up at the sound of a door opening downstairs. Basil heard it, too, because he startled in fright (which alarmed Sunny), but after a second Basil returned to normal and said, "P-Polly m-must b-be h-hom-me."
Sunny nodded at him and put his Switch down to write on his whiteboard. [I should check on the download. You can greet Polly. We can leave our game here for now.]
"R-Right," Basil agreed, and they let the game save before quitting. Sunny walked over to the computer and Basil left his room. Sunny could hear his light steps trotting down the stairs as he checked the progress of the installation.
It was finished.
He clicked "OK" and removed his flashdrive, putting it in his pocket. Then he started up The Sims to make sure everything had installed properly. The game took a good five minutes to load, which wasn't bad considering the state of Basil's computer. He turned mods back on, restarted the game, and then clicked to create a new game.
"S-Sunny, w-w-wait!"
Sunny's ears perked up and he turned and saw Basil, face red, rush over to the computer.
"Um, th-thank y-you," Basil said, quickly exiting the game, "b-but I'm-m s-sure it's f-fine. I'll ch-check l-later." He laughed nervously as the game closed. Sunny was confused why Basil didn't want him playing. It wasn't like he was going through Basil's saved games or anything; he just wanted to make sure it was running correctly.
"A-Anyway," Basil sighed as the desktop finally showed up (Sunny hadn't even noticed that Basil's desktop background was a sunflower field), "P-Polly is a-almost-t f-finished w-with d-dinner. L-Let's g-go d-d-downst-stairs." Sunny did as he was told. If Basil didn't want him playing The Sims, he wouldn't push him. He nodded, got up to grab the whiteboard without Stardew Valley tips written on it, and followed Basil down the stairs.
After dinner, Sunny and Basil played a little more Stardew Valley until they both got tired of it and then Basil showed off his island in Animal Crossing. He'd unsurprisingly named his island Sunflower. There were no sunflowers in the game (the flowers that looked the most like them were the yellow cosmos), but he had a lot of sunflower patterns that he had drawn himself, and they looked really good. Sunny also noticed that Basil's character was wearing a pink flower in his hair. It was quite cute, and he wondered if Basil had ever put flowers in his hair before. When he was younger, Mari had some kind of pink flower pin she used to wear in her hair a lot. Sunny wondered if she still had it. He'd have to remember to ask her.
Basil's island was really pretty. He was very organized and made creative use of the customizable items. The game was really starting to pique Sunny's interest. According to Basil, there were over three hundred villagers and each had one of eight personality types. He said it had taken him a long time to collect his favorite villagers from mystery islands. Each player's island had room for ten villagers, so Basil had one of each personality type and two doubles. Sunny decided he would definitely need to look up the villagers later and start thinking about which ones he wanted.
Time flew by too fast, and Sunny got a text from his mom saying she was going to come pick him up because it was getting late. Sunny didn't want to leave. The rain had been getting heavier throughout the evening and usually when it rained, he had nightmares or ended up in White Space. But sitting with Basil actually made the rain sound peaceful for the first time in his life. He wished he could sleep over, but unfortunately, it was a school night. Another thing he would have to get used to.
[I'll see you at school tomorrow :) ] Basil wrote on the whiteboard as Sunny packed his things. Sunny smiled at the message and nodded.
[Text me when you get home,] Basil added quickly, [so I know you're safe. It's raining pretty hard out there.]
'Promise,' Sunny signed, knowing Basil knew that word in sign language.
The short walk from Basil's porch warranted his rain jacket. Every raindrop that fell made him feel that much emptier as he reluctantly left Basil behind and got into his mom's minivan. By the time they were home, Sunny felt like an empty husk.
<9:32 pm>
Sunny: Home safe
Sunny hung up his rain jacket to dry, took his meds, changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, unplugged his computer, and went straight to bed.
<9:35 pm>
Basil: Glad to hear! Thanks for coming over today. It was a lot of fun! 😁
<9:48 pm>
Sunny: I had fun too. I'm about to go to sleep now. See you tomorrow 🙂
The rain was loud and even Basil's words didn't help fill the emptiness he felt inside himself.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER