Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Qiqi, I love you most. So, stop this now.”

Under the mask, the silver-haired man whispered the phrase to the undead girl as he held her from in an embrace, finally allowing her movements to come to a halt. Overhaul would never lay a hand on the girl unless she was in the process of an experiment, so Chrono had to take charge in snapping her from her spur. Qiqi remained motionless, her mind became a little more aware of her surroundings and sentience, as she waited for her next instruction. 

“That’s all that was scheduled for today, tomorrow you’ll be given a new test.” He says, but it’s not like Qiqi would remember anyway, only to reinforce that the girl would forget in the next hour, and Chrono was really wondering that with enough reminders would she be able to recall. But, her inability to remember was never a hassle to them, and Overhaul seemed content that Qiqi never remembered the experiments he ran on her; she would never have a desire to run away—unlike that other child.

Qiqi never expressed much needs. She didn’t need to eat, drink, excrete or anything to entertain her. She was low maintenance, and eased the minds of the other Shie Hassaikai members whenever they were ordered to check up on the semi-dead girl. Overhaul seemed pleased with her compliance and blank tendencies enough so that he didn’t pay her as much mind as Eri. 

For today’s test that had just ended, Qiqi was ordered to walk on a thin tightrope along other trials to test out how compliant the girl would be when it was discovered she would always complete her tasks to the best of her abilities, and and even when they were done she would never stop pursuing them until someone uttered her to stop. As hypothesized, Qiqi completed every task perfectly. Like a machine, she maintained an intricate balance on the rope despite being 15 meters up with no safety net. When told to move the weights from one of the rooms to the others, Qiqi did so without a sweat. Upon seeing this feat, Chrono noted the displayed relentless strength that he would for sure be reporting into Overhaul.

After all her commands were finished, she looked to do even more even when it was unnecessary. Chrono was satisfied with the results, although he could leave Qiqi in her locked mind to continue he useless toil, he chose to give the little girl a break as he wasn’t sure if she might fall into exhaustion. 

“Okay,” she said monotonously. “...my next orders?”

Ah, she had already forgotten his words. 

“Go to your room.” Said Chrono. He can’t understand how, but despite her terrible memory, Qiqi always knows where to head back after. Like a switch turned on, she displayed a blank expression before slowly pacing toward her destination. 

—

Eri shook as the masked man waved the thin doll in his beefy hands, all she wanted for him to stop tormenting her, even if his intention was to comfort her. His voice tried being light and friendly but it only impressed her more. A familiar man that she didn’t know the name of that Kai had sent to check on her. Either he was oblivious to her discomfort, or he was deliberately ignoring it. 

When he finally left—nothing particularly happened which bored him—it felt like hours had passed, yet it felt like time went by so quickly, snapping from her disassociation, Eri could not tell. Her frozen-in-fear face turned to a blank one, and then a frown when reality came to hit her; all alone, this would be her life. 

—

Qiqi couldn’t move a muscle in her body. When Chrono had told her to stay still in her cell, she proceeded to follow through and stayed there for 12 full hours until some had to get her, but by then her muscles had become locked, garnering her unable to move. It was extremely frustrating for the zombie girl as she desperately tried to unlock herself, if it hadn’t been for Overhaul to come check on her, she might’ve unleashed the adeptal energy sealed inside her. Overhaul made quick work in examining Qiqi, from the earlier experiments he ran on her, he had found out that Qiqi was a moving corpse. He was unable to confirm if her form was a part of her quirk or if it had been afflicted by someone—maybe that someone was All For One, he thought. She had sentience, she was moving, but she still is a corpse; rigor mortis had been the cause of her stiffening muscles. 

It was quickly solved with the use of his quirk—just tear apart and rearrange—and soon Qiqi could move again. The pain startled her, but that didn’t matter as she immediately forgot about it in the following minutes. 

Of course, just because Qiqi couldn’t recall the memory, doesn’t mean her emotions were forgettable. She had felt fear and pain before, but without anything to attach them to, she didn’t bother to dwell on it.

“Poor you,” Overhaul uttered, “to be given a body like this, it must be terrible.” Even if it was not true that someone had afflicted her condition,  it would be true that her parents had given her a terrible quirk if she was born with it. That was all the more to justify Overhaul’s cause of erasing quirks from the world.

But despite showing (faux) sympathy for Qiqi, Overhaul went through with his experiments on the zombie anyway—with no remorse and care in the world. All he had to do was order Qiqi to stay very still as he opened her flesh or applied unknown drugs to her. She was a subject of fascination as even without the use of his quirk Qiqi would recover quickly from scalpels, and even though the use of his quirk was not considered a wound, her body had tried to repair itself. Perhaps it wasn't injury or harm her body was trying to recover from but rather the reinforcement of stasis—her body always trying to go back to a particular form of hers. There was one time he became curious enough and shredded her into a splatter of blood, but before the pool of her blood made a splat of the ground her quirk immediately came into play and froze her blood in the air. It took only a few seconds before her body rearranged itself back to her normal form.

 A quirk that refused to let her die…that just means that he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of finding more people to test on. He was secretly ecstatic at this development. No more did his men have to risk going out so frequently to find test rats, not when he had one here. (Qiqi didn’t have the typical body of a human so that still didn’t erase the need of normal humans.)

From her physical condition to the basis of her quirk, Overhaul wonders if he could do so much more with her than just being a tester for the development of that drug.

It was later decided that Qiqi would be assigned to Eri to prevent the crimson-eyed girl from escaping. Eri was naturally kind, Overhaul had executed a number of his underlings in front of her and it never failed to make her tremble, whether she was scared for her own safety or for them. Looking similar in age as well, Overhaul could find no more of a perfect candidate to stick to Eri’s side and lower her guards, and the best of all, Qiqi had no desire to escape, so there was no possible way Eri could coax the undead girl to use her insane strength to aid any sort of escape. He could order Qiqi to make sure of it. 

But…it doesn’t seem like the plan might go anywhere with how the zombie was behaving. After a month of staying at the facility, Qiqi had developed the urge to want to go outside. The hills, she explained. She wants to go to the hills—to pluck out herbs. To do this, Qiqi broke through the security with pure physical strength—the hard concrete walls. She had no direction in her force, when she was lost she broke through the walls, only walking forward until she found stairs and reached the surface. The guards at the facility reported a chill air surrounding her as they approached, and were shamefully defeated in trying to stop her. She was able to inflict dangerous injuries to the men, showing that she was unable to control her power, all the more reason why she should be locked away. With no underlings able to stop her, the Eight Bullets had to be enforced in order to recapture her and a battle ensued. That was just how much was needed to subdue her. 

In fact, the Hassaikai’s Eight Bullets pride were shaken when they weren’t even able to subdue one little girl by herself, Overhaul’s right-hand man had to step in to say they day, and it wasn’t even by his own strength; all he had to was pull Qiqi into his arms and say some flowery words to her—that was all that was needed to make her stop pursuing her goal. 

This was then how Kai learned that Qiqi could give herself orders. Somewhere in between the month, she had unknowingly discovered she could give herself orders with no need of input from another. Qiqi needed orders to live, that was the only way she could function, but today she acted on order given to herself. That means…she has a will. If there ever came to be a moment she desired to, she could escape quite easily. Clearly, Qiqi has desires of her own. 

To give his men such trouble despite her size, Overhaul could not let Qiqi grow complacent or this matter at hand go, instead of being like Eri, perhaps he could make her a loyal dog. As long as he catered somewhat to her desires, Qiqi will never be able to develop the want of running away or defying him. Yes, she is much too powerful for her own good, and making her stay put in a cell would be quite the waste of her strength. Truthfully, Overhaul was a bit shaken when he realized even his quirk could not kill her, but that made him want her as an asset all the more. 

He never got to test out what she could do, aside from progressing his research, Overhaul thinks he just found a new interest. What were her limits, setbacks? What else could she do other than regeneration and having insane physician strength? How does her quirk truly function? 

Overhaul started down at her, her eyes blankly stared at him, trying her hardest to recall wherever she had seen him before. 

“Qiqi,” he spoke calmly, “I’ll give you anything you want, but you’ll have to listen to me.”

“What do I want?”

“Yes.” Although she spoke slowly, Overhaul was willing to be patient with her. “What is it you wish for.”

Stimulated by his words, Qiqi reacted with interest, but when she opened her mouth, “I…I want…I’m sorry. I forgot.” 

—

The truth is, after the day of his proposal, Overhaul began to do more experiments with Qiqi—having it be a common occurrence, it was only natural that Qiqi would learn to remember the memories of such happenings and the pain that came with it. When she muttered it to Overhaul who came to pick her up from her plain room, he ordered her to simply forget about it—miraculously she did. 

In time, she became able to differentiate Overhaul from the others who observed her too, but with no name to put to the man he appeared blurry whenever she tried to recall him. It was kind of upsetting. Right now as she trudges behind him, she could clearly picture him but by the time she is placed back into isolation everything is blurry. If only she could also forget about the fact that everything he tries to remember is blurry, then she wouldn’t have to feel so burdened and annoyed. 

Qiqi might not be able to express her feelings, and sure her inability to remember things has led her to feeling…nothing? After all, people can only develop feelings and emotions about the world if they can recall and perceive the world. With Qiqi constantly forgetting everything, she has no perception of anything and can’t form a clear thought and develop emotions. But maybe, if she was able to maintain memory, maybe she could just be like a normal child, even if the biology of her brain is different from when she was alive. But that too, would be very cruel for her.

Overhaul finally stops in front of a heavily locked door, Qiqi almost ran into him if not for Chrono holding her in place. A hand on the metal, it deforms and creates an opening for the three of them to enter.

“Eri.”

Qiqi hears shuffling, her ears perk for a moment. A quiet whimper is heard when Overhaul shifts and gestures for Qiqi to come closer. His body was no longer blocking the way as she finally laid eyes to the girl pushing herself further into the head on the bed. After countless days of seeing the plain and monotonous colors of her room and the halls, the girl’s crimson eyes were strikingly eye-catching. 

“Pretty,” Qiqi mumbled out. The eyes that were stricken with anxiety fell onto Qiqi, the girl’s fears were paused for a moment when she noticed her.

“Eri, this is Qiqi,” Overhaul gestured to her, “she’ll be visiting quite frequently, so remember her. Or should I say…” 

He glanced at Qiqi in the corner of his eyes, “She has memory problems, you’ll have to introduce yourself quite often.”

Eri remained unresponsive. Most notably, she saw the bandages on her right foot, eliciting wary thoughts in the girl.

“Why don’t you say ‘hi’?” He suggested, almost threateningly.

“H-hi,” she squeaked, “I-I’m Eri!”

Qiqi blinked at her blankly, “Eri…”

—

In the events that followed after, Qiqi indeed did come to see, not everyday but the day after each day. At first, it eased Eri to know that there was a girl like her in this place, but that feeling turned to horror at the realization that she wasn’t the only one being kept here.

And all the more, Qiqi would always come to her forgetting her name. She always gave Eri a blank and confused look like she had never seen her ever, very much so like a doll—that terrified her. They wore the same clothing, but Qiqi doesn’t seem to ever have bandages on her except for the one around her foot, and she wonders if Kai—Overhaul—had been treating the other girl well unlike her. It scares her that Qiqi was here to observe her on the instructions to report back to him. But she’s just a girl like her, surely she could convince her to be nice and not do so.

Their interactions are always awkward, and the guard on stand by always pulls her away before they could meaningfully say anything to each other. 

“Hi, I’m Eri.” she says. At this point, it’s routine that Eri always greets her like this whenever she enters the room.

“Hi…I’m Qiqi.” 

Eri wonders how Qiqi could remember her own name. 

On this particular day, instead of residing in the room with them, the guard leaves and closes the door behind him. Eri’s heart races as she anticipates danger from Qiqi but…that never came to be. Eri can’t tell the time, but it feels like an eternity already with the heavy atmosphere. In an attempt to control some aspect of the situation Eri speaks out first.

“Uhm. What did he ask you to do?”

“He?” Does she not know?

“K-Kai.” Even his name makes Eri feel nauseous. 

“That man?” Qiqi questions, while Eri nods in confirmation.

“I…I forgot. I have a bad memory so I can’t remember well.” Overhaul did indeed say that, but Eri didn’t truly take it to heart until it was displayed to her. All this time, she had thought Qiqi didn’t like her at all and was deliberately trying to forget about her. She had every reason to believe she was playing pretend.

“Then, why do you remember your own name?”

That clicked something in Qiqi.”I don’t know, I just do.” 

All of sudden, tears began flowing from her eyes. Qiqi doesn’t even realize it, but she’s crying. “I don’t know,” she repeated. “I don’t know…” 

It hurts, Qiqi thinks. When asked to recall the reason to remember, a sharp feeling came into her chest, for some reason the words evoked deep memories that dwell inside her, they were all blurry and foggy as she saw figures moving about in the scenery, it all came in like a multitude of flashblack—all unclear but bright. The figures came closer and closer, waving at her, then she blinked and the scene changed; she sat down at a table with the unclear figures. Were they family? Qiqi doesn’t remember ever having a family. Yet, for some reason that makes the feeling in her chest squeeze all the more, her tears  were surprisingly warm and it was hard for Qiqi to ignore them.

“It’s okay!” Eri stuttered. “You don’t have to cry…” She lifted her hand, but she was unsure of she should reach out to the other girl or stay put. “Please don’t cry.”

So that is what’s happening to her: crying. A feeling Qiqi could not fully understand. “Why? Why am I crying?”

Eri paused. “Maybe because you are sad,” she responded. Or scared—but Qiqi never appeared to be afraid.

“Why am I sad?” 

That was something Eri could not answer; she didn’t know.

Her tears continued on, it never seemed to stop flowing. A few minutes had passed to where Eri deemed Qiqi to be non threatful, and really, she felt bad for staring at her for the minutes she cried. Hesitantly, Eri slid off her bed, and with small and gentle steps, she approached Qiqi. She had no idea what to do, all she could do was hug her. 

“Please don’t cry,” Eri whispered again. Qiqi’s body was so cold, it didn’t make Eri feel any easier, but being able to hook her arms around her shoulder slightly did.

Qiqi was unable to remember, that pain of not being able to recall was genuine, which makes Eri feel bad too. Qiqi finally moves, and when she does she returns the embracing action to Eri. Closer to her, Qiqi could feel the vibration of a heartbeat—Eri on the other hand doesn’t. 

“Mama?” Qiqi draws out. “I’m home,” she says, her last words before total darkness enveloped her vision

“Qiqi, Qiqi!” Eri called out but to no avail she could wake the pale girl whose weight was buried into her shoulder. Please don’t get in trouble for this, please don’t get in trouble for this. She prayed for herself, but maybe she should have thought more for Qiqi whom she dragged to rest on her bed.

Her prayers then turned to self blame as she glanced scarily at the sleeping girl, she was motionless and cold, not even a breath came from her. Then and there, Eri believes she had killed a girl like her, she had hurt someone again. Overhaul’s voice echoed painfully in her mind, she trembled with tears spurring on in her eyes. She killed her—that thought raced a million times back. Eri fell onto her knees, surely it was going to bruise. Before Overhaul would ever have the chance to find out, could she revert this? 

But Eri didn’t realize, she could have never killed Qiqi—she was already dead. 

Chapter Text

Being a five year old, Eri basically had no idea how her quirk functioned. All she knows is that she made someone disappear and that's why Chisaki Kai kept her inside all the time—to keep herself and other people safe. She hanged on to that claim for it was the only thing that gave her meaning in these dark halls.

But now is not the time to be harboring those thoughts, seeing Qiqi lay motionless on her bed, furthermore intensified the apprehensions of her own existence. She shouldn’t have gone near Qiqi, she shouldn’t have…

Her hands pucker out to Qiqi as she started to wonder if that was the right course of action to attempt, half of her hoped her quirk would respond to her wishes while the other half hoped her attempts didn’t fully go through. The fear of her power going out of control, the fear of making Qiqi become worse, the fear of Chisaki finding out about this. 

“I’m sorry,” Eri sobbed. She put a hand onto Qiqi’s arm, and fear immediately struck the red-eyed girl. Nothing happened and Eri could not understand what to feel. There was relief, but also sadness, there was hope, but also despair. In the end, all Eri could do was succumb to these emotions as she cried into the bed that the dead girl laid upon.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, again and again. Her cries alerted the guard standing outside, seeing the commotion he alerted Chrono to check up on the two girls. By the time he arrived Eri had not stopped apologizing to Qiqi's body. 

“What’s going on?” Eri, who had been too deep in her stupor didn’t hear Chrono coming closer flinched, snapping out from her regret and into fear. She didn’t respond as she found no point in doing so, Qiqi’s quietness should be enough as an explanation, saying anything more would likely sound like an excuse and get her into even more trouble. 

Chrono glanced at Qiqi, silently observing her. She’s never rested or slept before, what’s different this time? And then he turned to Eri, was she the cause of all this? It was a hypothesis based on unclear evidence, but in one way or another, Eri appeared to be the perpetrator. 

This might be perfect, actually. According to the findings from her experiments, Qiqi’s body always returned back to ‘normal’ whenever Overhaul split her open, he then came to a conclusion that Qiqi’s body was not healing but rather a result of a time quirk. For whatever reason, her body always returned to be the way it was perfectly—no scars or bruises. Chrono wonders if Eri’s rewind can affect that, if he’s thought of this heks sure Overhaul must’ve thought of it at least once. 

Nothing was said as Chrono picked Eri up from the ground, the movement startled Eri who let him, he then instructed the guard in standby to do the same for Qiqi. This was familiar to Eri, they were heading to the doctor’s room, and she shuddered at the realization, her lips trembling as she wondered if this was her punishment. She quickly averted her gaze to avoid seeing Qiqi’s body, the pain of just gazing on her was too much to bear.

Chrono unlocked the door to The Doctor’s Room, he didn’t pause one second as he entered the room, the guard following from behind. 

“You’re here already,” Chrono commented when he saw that Overhaul had already made preparations.

The young head slipped on a new pair of gloves, his attire was changed to fit the experiment he had in mind. “The schedule for today was clear, I had time.”

Chrono didn’t have to be asked as he placed Eri onto the medical chair, her fearful grip loosened as she accepted her fate to come. These surgeries and experiments were such a common occurrence that she didn’t bother to imagine what would be shipping to her next. 

“What did you do to Qiqi?” That question in the moment hurt more than anything else in the world, even the terrible memories of this place. 

“I don’t know.”

“Then what happened?”

Her jaw locked, but she knows if she didn’t answer him he would be upset. It took the utmost of her energy to respond. “I hugged her.”

“And?”

“I told her not to cry.”

“Let’s do that then.”

What?

Overhaul curled his fingers at the guard to bring Qiqi over, Eri shifted uncomfortably as he brought her body back to her. This was so different from before, and Eri only wanted to focus on how light Qiqi’s weight felt. 

He wasn’t expecting Eri to do anything, simply put, Overhaul wanted to test if Eri would use her quirk from the mental stimulation of guilt, but she was unable to. As she felt his intense gaze on her, she pulled Qiqi closer and curled into her while tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes. He was aware that Eri wasn't able to use her quirk freely, and that was a blessing, for if she ever learned to control it could potentially spell the organization’s downfall. 

Chrono peeled Qiqi away from Eri’s tiny arms, without realizing her hands were chasing her but the chair prevented her from moving further. She was placed flatly on one of the surgical tables.

Overhaul was curious, Qiqi was constantly awake whenever he conducted tests on her, but this time she was not. Would she return to her normal state of being, or would she die? He wanted to test if Eri would do something to affect it, but he could save that for another day. 

Eri was terrified for Qiqi. “No!” she blurted out. She had to say something, or else…or else what? Qiqi was already dead, there was no reason to stick up for her. Maybe she hoped she might have been able to save Qiqi. “It’s all my fault please don’t-”

Qiqi was morphed into a puddle of blood—Eri was too devastated to make a sound. Overhaul didn’t care to hold back one bit. Her blood dripped down the table, a morbid scene that Eri was sure she may never forget. It was the first time she has ever seen a kid like her be mutilated. 

A  few seconds passed, Eri waited for the men to do something, but they didn’t. All she could do was let tiny whimpers flavored with despair. It was unclear whether the perspiration that slicked down her chin was sweat or her tears. 

Overhaul remained in thought, perhaps Qiqi wasn’t so omnipotent—he said that quite too soon he felt a chill emanating from her remains. Ice crystals formed in the pool of her blood, and like a a magnet her frozen blood was pulled together slowly until it started to form the shape of a human child. Near the ending stages, the crystalized looked like a manmade sculpture, it melted as he observed how her blood moved to form the outline of skin, starting from her heart. 

Last time Overhaul did this, he only destroyed her upper body, but now he was in disbelief at the feat Qiqi could accomplish to recover her whole body even when it was fully disassembled. Fascination after fascination, he was sure of it, Qiqi might be the additional key to making that drug complete—perfection as it would make its effect permanent. They were early in the testing stages of the drug, and so far the drug’s effect would always wear off, but with Qiqi’s ability for pemanance—ironic as that is—he might finally have a huge breakthrough.

“Qiqi?” Eri’s voice creaked, she could believe it. Qiqi was alive, and moving. She started blanking into the distance, her mind not yet back in the physical world. “H-how?”

“This is perfect,” Overhaul mused, “she’ll be a perfect toy for you, won’t you like that?”

Every bone in Eri’s body froze, she couldn’t just outright refuse that. 

“She won’t die, even with a large dose of the ‘quirk-destroyer’, it was immediately overwritten.” That was to say, Qiqi was the direct antithesis to Eri; her quirk could simply cancel out Eri’s. In hindsight, Qiqi could possibly be used to create an antidote for it.

“Wouldn’t you like that, Eri?”

—

Eri averted her gaze whenever Qiqi entered her room. The events from last week were still fresh in her mind.

“Hello, Ri.” Eri jumped at that. Qiqi could remember her name now—or a part of it at least. Every time they saw each other again, she never remembered. This new development distracted her from the reminder of seeing her being toyed with a few days ago. 

“You remember.”

Qiqi nodded, “ I think…you asked me how I remember my own name.” She pointed to Eri. “Family.”

She had Eri confused with her unclarity. Did Qiqi consider her family or did something about her remind her of someone she knew? 

“What do you mean?” Eri asked, apprehensive.

“I…don’t know.” 

Eri was five, but that didn’t stop her from feeling sympathy for Qiqi and understanding the implications that Overhaul was taking advantage of her inability to remember. Truly, Eri feels ashamed of herself to envy her Qiqi’s unfortunate affinity. What a blessing it would be to be able to forget all her pain and emotions. She thinks Qiqi might’ve had a happy family one time, but Eri herself had no luxury of that as her mother abandoned her. She had no use for memories as they were never happy, it pained her to admit it to herself but she was jealous of the undead girl.

A little girl who neared her age and talked to her without fear or judgement, knowing that she would forget everything after this unexpectedly lessened Eri’s nervousness in talking to Qiqi. 

“You can come sit on my bed. Aren’t you cold?”

“I like cold.” Said Qiqi. 

“Okay.” Their words spoken to each other were mundane and awkward, Qiqi was unable to hold a conversation, but that may not have mattered much since Eri herself would’ve had trouble knowing what to say back to her. 

Because Eri suggested it, Qiqi climbed up to the bed beside her, her movements were wobbly but not clumsy. She still can’t believe it, but Qiqi is alive and moving right by her, to think that just a few days ago she was a splatter of blood (on the floor). It was out of instinct that Eri’s fingers unabashedly went on to trace the zombie girl’s face. It was cool to the touch and smooth, but undoubtedly real human skin., 

“What are you?” She breathily muttered, not immediately realizing she had said it out loud. When she came to realize it she quickly pulled her hand away like a slingshot. But Qiqi wouldn't remember anyway and that made Eri feel more conflicted. That means, Eri could say mean things to Qiqi and she wouldn’t even know. 

“I am Qiqi.” She replied, her voice was more enthusiastic than usual, the most lively Eri has ever seen her be. Eri caught onto the change, even though Qiqi was strange, she was just a little girl like her. She’s not all alone anymore, because Qiqi would be visiting her almost every day. Strange. She found hope once again—and that hurts. Eri wouldn't have to be separated from Qiqi because her quirk had no effect on her—Kai forced her to try her quirk on Qiqi. Overhaul can't make her think she would hurt Qiqi because Qiqi can't be hurt. He was being quite kind to her, there must be a catch to all of this, right?

“Can you hold my hand?” Qiqi asked. 

“Yeah, I can.” Their hands intertwined, despite the coolness of her skin, Eri strangely felt bubbly inside. The touch of another person had disgusted her, and any sort of body warmth made her stomach curl and reflexively gag. But Qiqi’s coldness was not—it rather was comforting. A perfect solution to Eri who craved loving touches but also hated bodily warmth. 

“You are warm.” Qiqi commented.

“You're cold.” Eri replied.

“I like cold.”

“Me too.”

Qiqi’s other hand clasped on top of Eri’s, sandwiching it between her two hands. “You are warm…but I don't hate it,” Qiqi reveals. “I hope…I hope I never forget you.” 

Instead of warmth that makes her muscles rot, it was a warmth that touched her soul. So light, and soft…Qiqi thinks she’s felt this way before. She knows this is something she felt, but she can’t recall where. Confused, she can’t tell if she's bothered by that or okay with it. The truth was, sometimes, Qiqi can get too cold that it’s painfully unbearable. When she holds Eri’s hand, that coldness goes away.

But—she smiles. Qiqi thinks this is the first she’s ever felt this way, such a nice and comfortable feeling. She doesn’t ever want to forget this feeling. She doesn’t want…but as that thought came, it easily left Qiqi’s mind a few seconds later. Everything was empty again and she frowned. She wasn’t sure how she knew it was ‘again’, she just knew. 

It’s evident to Eri that Qiqi had already forgotten, and soon, she was regretting the fact that she was jealous of her. To not even remember happy memories, was that really a blessing? So, she spoke without thinking.

“It’s okay, Qiqi.” Her lips moved without much thought. “If you ever forget, I’ll just remember it for you.”

Qiqi stared at her, but her eyes weren’t so aimless this time, they almost had a gleam to them. “Really?”

That eased Eri accepting her own resolution. She nodded, “I will.” 

—

Going to Eri was something Qiqi was instinctively eager to do. In this particular instance, Chrono asked her what it was she desired, but she was able to formulate a full sentence to convey her wish of seeing Eri once again. Usually, Qiq would be quick to forget the words of stimulation, but she held on to Chrono‘s inquiry, maybe not the words per say but the meaning of them instead. 

He stood still for a minute, after that she asked him. “Am I going to Eri?”

Chrono frowned under his mask, it turns out Qiqi does indeed have the capability to learn and hold on to information, though only in certain conditions apparently. It should have been impossible because the intervals between Qiqi’s visits would have interrupted her from truly memorizing Eri. Her visits weren’t for her to get accustomed to Eri, it was the other way around. 

“No, not today.” He finally responded to her question.

She cocked her, if she was able to he’s sure she would have a frown right now. “Today, your uses are going to be tested.” The Eight Bullets were called into a spacious battle room where they would face off against Qiqi, they were even told not to go easy on her, even if she was a child. 

She was awfully slow today, instead of waiting for her to proceed and follow the instructions, he picked her up and headed toward the destination. 

—

“Hypnosis?” Overhaul eyed his right hand, carefully considering.

“Perhaps we can take some countermeasures, it appears like the zombie is indeed able to recall under special circumstances. It has the mind of a child, hypnosis would be quite simple to employ,” Chrono suggested. She was practically immortal, an immensely useful tool for Shie Haissaikai if they use her for more than just experiments. She could be a one man army if they trained her to be.

“What is she up to now?” Overhaul spoke nonchalantly, appearing like he was mildly interested.

“With the Eight Bullets. I left them to report back here promptly. They are currently undergoing her procedure."

—

She wanted to see Eri. She ordered herself to see Eri. As a motivator, Chrono said that if she successfully defeats these men, she would be allowed to see Eri again without any more hindrances. A great motivator it was; she ordered herself to ‘annihilate’ the seven men who stood on the other side of the room. Even they could feel it, the drop in temperature. Her pupils completely merged with her irises, nothing could stop her now until she finished her task. 

She walked to the middle of the room, when she reached the checkpoint a big, muscular man started off the brawl, his speed was fast as he lunged fist toward Qiqi, before it could fully come into contact with her he stopped. To his surprise, she was merely pushed back a few feet away, holding her ground quite well for someone her size and weight. If she were her typical self, Qiqi would have flown across until she hit the wall. She didn’t blink once, instead she continued walking until she reached the same spot, the spot where muscle man stood in front of. 

“Annihilate…” she murmured. 

Rikiya, one of the Eight Bullets who looked down directly at Qiqi, recalled what Chrono told them. 

“Don’t go easy on her,” he said bluntly. “If you do, she’ll destroy you.” 

They knew that already; they saw her strength firsthand. But in that previous incident they were all holding back for the sake of their boss, this time they had full permission to use lethal force on her from Overhaul himself. The girl was an undead person, so they shouldn’t have any qualms about ‘killing’ her, if they did Overhaul could easily put her back together.

“What’s the point of all this anyway?” Rappa scoffed. It was frivolous to fight a child, he believed.

“Gauging,” said Chrono. “She might become a useful ally, but before that Overhaul wants to test her against you guys.”

“You called her ‘it’,” Rappa pointed out, apprehensive about his terming. 

“It—is not a human, you don’t need to see it as anything more. I’m sure that after this exercise, you’ll truly find them to be more than just superhuman.

They can use their quirks, they have permission to. Knowing that, Rikiya feels more excitement than he expected...is it because he could feel it, her lifeforce?

Chapter Text

The other Eight Bullet members stood by in awe as Rikiya became bigger and bulkier by the second, and even with how much he’s grown Qiqi was the slightest slowed down. Did that girl really have that much of a surmountable lifeforce that even after a minute Rikya still wasn’t able to drain it all? Especially with a tiny body like hers, that’s just simply insane. 

“This should be enough,” her opponent chuckled. Blink once and you’ll see Qiqi flying across the all-white room to collide with the walls. Rikiya did not hold back per his order and took enjoyment in releasing his strength so freely. There weren’t many opportunities for him to show off and release his quirk, so he graciously took this sweet time. 

Qiqi got up again, her mind was hazy but with one thing on her mind. “Eliminate all obstacles.” For Eri. Those were her orders to herself. 

It doesn’t even seem like she realized her world went blank. The aftermath that followed had Overhaul being called to aid, thanks to him Qiqi was able to reset and calm down. As for the method he used? Dismantling Qiqi in half was enough to undo the order she inflicted onto herself—as much as he hates touching her, Overhaul noted the effective use of his quirk to unarm the undead girl, a sense of twistedness came to him knowing that he was the only one who could control her.

It left his eight generals feeling slight horror about it all, the fact that a little girl like her could put herself back together with the permission of Overhaul.

—

The next time Eri sees Qiqi again, she was not wearing the same clothes that Eri wore. They were more tailored to the fit Qiqi, and dark tones that symbolized her status as a member of the yakuza, though Qiqi was not aware of this herself and her captors simply didn’t bother to explain the details of her position. She was well dressed, save for her bare feet as for reasons Chrono doesn't want to disclose or else he'd combust absolute indignation.

“Qiqi,” she didn’t step inside yet, Eri ran up to her instead. Right as she got to her, she jumped back when she saw his shadow. Why was Chisaki here? And of course, wherever he went, Chrono was sure to follow. 

Don’t tell her she was going to have to use her quirk on Qiqi again. Even though she was told her quirk wouldn’t have an effect on Qiqi, and nor would she even remember it, that didn’t make her feel any less bad. Her quirk, her simple existence caused others pain and misery, so to find out that Qiqi was able to revert the consequences of her quirk was the one joy in her life, someone she could touch without being scared to harm them, she made her very first friend; it was heaven—and hell. 

Overhaul didn’t even have to say it. One glare toward her and Eri could already decipher what he meant: run away and you’ll find out what will happen to Qiqi. A long time ago, Eri already figured out that Qiqi was not here willingly. Qiqi cried, and that was all it took for Eri to bend to Overhaul. Qiqi may not remember, but Eri does. She could imagine the countless experiments conducted on her only friend, ever since that display she had a hard time not thinking about what sort of procedure was being done to Qiqi. She can't do anything, so what right does she have to feel bad?

It was horrifying, and Eri knew it despite her young age. If she ran away and left Qiqi here on her own, her friend would constantly reform herself only to be broken down by Overhaul over and over again and she wouldn't even know, she won’t have the desire to escape—a malicious cycle. One that Eri knows she can prevent from happening as long as she makes Overhaul happy.

‘Starting from today, Qiqi will be here to protect you, she won’t be undergoing any more experiments.” It was more like Eri was there to protect Qiqi, just by remaining compliant she would  remain safe and relatively unharmed. Eri couldn’t bear to look up, choosing to focus intently on Qiqi’s still-bandaged ankle.

This is alright. This is fine. As long as she has Qiqi, she can handle anything. 

—

For some reason, Overhaul was feeling irritable today. It showed in the mean press on the scalpel that she glided around Eri’s skin. She winced  and tried her hardest not to shift, hoping to not delay the painful procedure any longer. 

Today as Qiqi went to Eri again, she found her red irises pooled in tears. Upon catching sight of her, Eri sobbed even harder. 

“Eri, are you in pain?” Qiqi asked. Eri made no confirmation or denial for her question, even as she climbed up to sit next to her on the bed. Only, she shivered a small distance away from the zombified girl, a reaction Qiqi had no idea how she should read. 

“Eri, are you scared of me?” That was enough to help Qiqi form her first frown as a zombie.

“No!” she hastily refuted. “Qiqi, I can't take it anymore.” Eri confessed. “Just today, a while ago—he killed you.” This was the first time she actually told Qiqi of such a thing.

“Are you hurt, Eri?” 

“...” 

How frustrating, Eri just wanted someone to understand her. She just wanted Qiqi to understand her own situation. Why does she have to be the one who knows, why can't Qiqi remember everything herself? Why does she have to be the one to convey it to her?

“Eri is hurting.”

Shut up. Be quiet. The more she hears her soft, monotonous voice. the more it breaks Eri's will.

“Eri is crying, you are sad.”

Stop reminding her. Stop being so kind, oblivious, and concerned about her.

“Eri is in pain-”

“Please…just be quiet.” Eri begged. How could she possibly face just after seeing her mutilated an hour ago? Qiqi’s okay, Eri tells herself. But it's the fear of ‘what if’. What if Qiqi end up remembering, what if Qiqi never comes back to pieces again? Qiqi might end up hating her, she’ll never be able to see her again.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's all her fault.” If she was better, Overhaul wouldn't have hurt her. She failed, and Qiq had to take the punishment for her. Overhaul found that he was able to receive higher results from Eri when he threatened her dear friend instead. The prospect that he might break Eri’s mind didn't even register to him.

“Eri, your hands are red.” The gauze was thinner than usual; it failed to tighten her cuts closed, perhaps it was punishment, a stinging reminder of her failure to protect Qiqi.

Eri subconsciously flinched away as Qiqi’s hand chased her, her resistance faltering at the sensation of the other’s cool skin. 

“Eri is hurting.” In her time spent at the laboratory, Qiqi has learned to associate ‘red’ with pain. Qiqi feels like she is no stranger to pain. (Her pain inhibitors may have lessened since her revival, but that doesn't mean she can't feel at all.)

“Qiqi doesn't want Eri to hurt.” 

Eri sobbed even harder, how could Qiqi say that when she's the reason for her multiple deaths?

An ice flow emitted from the zombie’s fingertips, extending to her whole hand and Eri felt her skin going numb. There was no pain anymore, only gentle bliss. Her bandages were still red, but underneath them it wasn't itchy or uncomfortable anymore. Cautiously, Eri unwrapped the gauze, shockingly finding out that her scabs and cuts were gone! She poked at; it felt normal.

Qiqi just healed her. She made her pain go away,

She did this for her even when it was her fault for her suffering—even if she didn’t know it, and that made Eri feel all the more terrible. Eri felt sick, at herself and in her stomach. 

The weight of the bed shifted, Qiqi had scooted closer to Eri. The hands on her bandaged arms were gone, this time they dug into the hair on her scalp. Eri blinked in surprise and confusion. She opened her mouth to make a sound, but nothing came out. Qiqi lightly massaged her scalp, unknowingly pulling at the roots of Eri’s hair.

“What are…you doing?”

“Eri is sad. Will Eri be happy?”

The confusion worked a tiny bit, Eri guesses. 

“Eri is still sad. Don’t cry, sister says everything will be okay.” Her movements didn’t cease one bit. Sister?

“Who is ‘sister’?” Eri asked.

“…I don’t know. Who?” 

Eri’s eyes drooped, her tears were dried by now and crusty, she rubbed them off. “You had a family.” A family who may have loved Qiqi a lot, a place where Qiqi could have been happy. But she’s not with them anymore, she’s with Chisaki. 

“Uh…family? Qiqi can’t recall. Eri is my only family. I remember Eri. Eri is sister.” 

To hear that from Qiqi, tears welled up in her eyes again. They are quite a like, Eri notices. No matter how many times they are broken, they are always put back together. Though while Eri never remains the same, Qiqi always remains static. Seemingly so happy, and so innocent. So pure. Not like Eri who is cursed and wicked, Eri who is the worse thing in the world.

"i like Eri." Despite everything, Qiqi genuinely thinks that. 

—

Whenever she sees Overhaul, Qiqi feels annoyed and wary of him. She doesn’t know why, but there’s an urge to kick him—but she doesn’t. The reason why she hasn’t acted upon her urges is because he lets her do whatever she pleases—except going herb picking, but Chrono keeps telling her that she had already done that, and Qiqi has no reason to not believe him. The white cloak man—Chrono—is really nice to her, he’s patient with her and gives her reminders. Perhaps it was because Qiqi was from the ancient times, the old ways of filial piety engraved into her bones despite losing all her memories. Qiqi doesn’t think the two are her parents, but they behave most familiar to what she assumed to be parents. 

What she doesn’t know is that he’s been lying to her the whole time, those reminders were meant to ground her in their shadow.

Overhaul blatantly told Eri white lies, that he wouldn’t be testing on Qiqi anymore, but he only meant to say he wouldn’t be doing that so often and in front of her. 

So just like Eri, she had been put into the residential house, her day typically consists of walking around in the backyard to stretch out her muscles so that the rigor mortis won’t kick in. She mostly minds her own business, occasionally some of the yakuza underlings catch sight of her and wonder why Overhaul keeps a child in their yard. The yard is huge, it’s impossible for Qiqi to climb out from the walls, and her jumping power is not great enough yet. Unless the days are cloudy or cool, Qiqi would avoid the decorated yard since the sensation of the sun makes her feel rotten. 

“That’s not the boss's granddaughter.”

“Chisaki would never have a child,” the other one whispered.

“Where did she come from then?”

“Are you guys going to just muddle around,” spoke a gruff voice. 

“S-sir Rappa!” The group gave the masked redhead frantic bows and ran off to whatever duties they had to attend to. When they disappeared, Rappa allowed himself to approach the Qiqi who was skipping on the rocks patterned on the pond. 

Even with his big body shadowing over hers, she paid him no mind and continued to hop by. 

“Your hair is wild, but it’s free. I like it.” He commented. She continued on like he wasn’t there, but Rappa didn’t mind. “But, it’s almost bigger than your whole body, don’t you think you should style it?” A child or not, Rappa was trying his best not to punt her to the other side of the yard. Aside from Overhaul, Qiqi was the first person to beat him, and since then he has been craving for a proper match without the other members getting in the way. 

When Qiqi skipped by again, he grabbed the lower head of her hair and pulled her off the rocks, even he forgets that Qiqi is as light as a feather, he felt nothing as he raised her up into the air.

“What’s going on?” she questioned. 

“Fight me,” Rappa urged. It was like he was holding up a bunny by their ears, Qiqi stared blankly at him as he tried coaxing her into accepting his proposal. 

She would have cocked her head if she could. “Okay.”

—

The punishment that followed after was not pleasant. Why are they doing this to her, she hates it. She was out in a really hot room when it was discovered she was making a ruckus with Rappa who hadn’t bothered to find a more discreet place to challenge her. Because the yard was connected to the outside, it could have possibly alerted others from the outside. Rappa would face his own share of discipline, but Qiqi didn’t care enough to remember, all she wants is to escape this room. Not only was it warm, it was steamy, to the point like it felt her skin would start rotting. Her head spun, her world was spinning. She doesn’t understand at all. 

It all hurts.

It’s unbearable. Will this pain ever stop?

Chapter Text

Eri can’t tell her. She can’t tell Qiqi how selfish she has been. It’s so contradictory, to wish for Qiqi to never be hurt, but also wishes to remain close to her. It’s so lonely, the pain and fear she faced. She told herself it would be okay to bear this pain as long as she never hurt anyone else. But Qiqi was different. She makes Eri crave a life so different from this reality. She makes Eri happy in ways that make herself sick with guilt—she doesn’t deserve this joy and relief whenever she hears the light patter of her bare feet behind that door. It’s a sickening feeling to have something to look forward to, but she just can’t push Qiqi away.

A knock at the door tickles her eardrums. “Eri, Qiqi is here.” The softness of how her voice was relayed made it hard for Eri not to grin. It quickly faded when she remembered Qiqi usually had an escort. 

But this time, contrary to Eri’s expectations, she came here all by herself and didn't even need help to push the door open. Eri abrasively shuffled in her spot, what’s up this time. She then noticed the colorful petals that Qiqi hugged into her chest, spurring curiosity from Eri. 

Like routine, Qiqi jogged to the bed, her body swaying side to side without her hands to balance her. 

“Herbs,” she said, putting the whole bundle onto the end of Eri’s bed. Mindlessly, Eri went to pick up a small stem of the ‘herbs’.

“Are these not just normal flowers?” 

“They’re not?” 

“I don’t think they are.” Not that Eri truly knows, she’s not very knowledgeable in general.

Qiqi tried to recall, she did go outside to pick out these herbs. As instructed by white-cloaked mask man, he did tell her she would find herbs in the backyard gardens.

“Herbs are good for you,” Qiqi said, failing to retain the fact that her foraged herbs were simply just flowers with little medicinal value. Like it would convince Eri, Qiqi popped the head of a flower into her mouth, chewing uncoordinally. She looked fine, and indifferent to the taste of the plant, perhaps that got Eri curious enough to repeat after her.

“Mph!” The more Eri chewed on the flower petals the more bitter the flavor got. She moaned in disgust and repulsed, though she refused to spit out the amalgamation in her mouth if to please Qiqi—why did this have no effect on her? After a very long minute, Eri gathered up the courage she built in the meantime to finally swallow. 

She took in a loud gasp of air. “Qiqi, why did you bring this to me?” She melancholically wailed like her friend had just betrayed her; the taste still hung in her mouth, instead of being a bitterness that would numb her mouth it seemed to have done the opposite and awoken her taste buds—much worse than the former.

“Herbs are good for your body.”

Giving Qiqi a skeptical look, Eri was not convinced they were.

—

Where did the zombie come from? That was what Overhaul was trying to figure out. Who could have birthed such a monster like her, or maybe even who created her. The dealers who threw her into his arms answered that they found her frozen in hard crystal rock at the hole of a mountain searching for potential treasures. There was no explanation but to acknowledge that she had been sealed there for whatever reason. (In a super powered society, it would be quite possible that her parents were so ashamed of her they wanted to get rid of her.)

At first, he showed no intrigue, he wasn’t interested in taking in another child, specifically one that was clearly brain dead. If only she had a quirk that he found useful, but seeing that she was unable to even understand what a quirk was, he immediately discarded the thought, telling his men why they were pleased with the girl who appeared to have no place in the world—he wasn't that merciless.. They shortly came running to him, defeated with horrified expressions on their faces. An unkillable monster, they say?

How difficult was it to take down a little girl? To make him have to deal with her himself was nothing short of insulting and irritating, but—

She didn’t die. As he stepped away from the bloody aftermath, he felt a heavy feeling in the air, a chill swooshed past his feet continuing to get stronger and stronger, looking behind a blue glow flashed his irises as his eyes widened. She was floating a few feet above the air. Save for her clothes, every part of her body was intact, like Overhaul had never placed a hand on her at all. That was the day he took her in, an unplanned turn of events that would take time to consider the true outcome. 

After countless experiments to test her aptitude, Overhaul finalized that—even though she had many uses—she would certainly be a fine pillar Eri. He doesn’t ever plan to have his plans leaked, but in the chance that happens, she would be a considerably formidable weapon. What’s disappointing is her size; her weight is so light it’d be easy to flick her off, her cognitive ability had its upsides but mostly downgraded her effectiveness in strategic thinking. 

Eri is different: she feared him, and he used that to manipulate her. Qiqi was not, she never remembered his face, and her capacity to forget would make it impossible to induce fear in her—that and the fact that she wouldn’t need to for her resistance to impermanence would make his efforts of intimidation futile. 

Nothing worked on her. So he did more research. It’s quite strange for a quirk like hers to manifest in such a way; due to her dependence on ‘orders’ he found that she was most related to be a jiangshi, a sort of species of undead—a folk legend from China.

He wondered how it was possible for the (Jiangshi) to recognize letters and characters. She could read, understand the meaning of words and yet was still unable to recall them when questioned. Overhaul was quite grim when evaluating her potential uses, everything derived from her terrible memory and he lost all hope in making her a well-used puppet. That was until he introduced her to Eri. Qiqi remembered Eri, and Overhaul couldn’t figure if it was effect or Eri’s quirk or something else entirely. But finally, he had leverage. By making the two girls so co-dependent on each other, it would tighten his hold on Eri and secure Qiqi to never have the desire to leave. 

He won’t lie and say that the jiangshi has not been incredibly useful in furthering his research on the quirk-erasing drug, specifically in restoring one’s quirk after its removal—a possible antidote. Whatever lies in her blood happened to hasten the recovery process after administering the former. There was a gleam in his eyes from the anticipation of the plan truly coming into reality.

—

As part of his duty to enrich the zombie, Chrono handed her a pen and paper.  Moved by spontaneous curiosity, Qiqi made an attempt to glide the tip of the pen across the blank paper except that nothing—it was a clicker pen. Chrono simply observed her, made no move to step in or aid her, like she was a specimen. After a while of rubbing the end around the paper, she finally configured the solution and pressed a finger to push the button at the top of the pen. 

She perked slightly upon hearing the click sound, and then shook the pen in her hand, the little sounds of the tiny collisions stopped, she noticed. After that she proceeded to write onto the paper, mindless words and scrambles as if in every stroke was a cycle of inspiration and then forgetting immediately. 

Chrono wasn’t going to sit around all hour and simply observe—the result would remain the same regardless. 

“What are you writing?” He asked. 

“I am…writing.” She replied, her focus still remaining on the paper. 

“Then, why don't you write a letter for Eri?” Her movements still upon hearing the syllables on the name.

“Eri. I am writing Eri.” She said, copying it down onto the paper. Despite the randomness doodled into it, the page was surprisingly organized, Chrono assumed the page would be messier considering her cognitive abilities. The max time she could focus and retain something was for a minute, and after that she would then forget.

“Is that how you spell it?” 

The way she wrote her letters were archaic, in style that looked way too old fashioned and formal. How was it possible she was able to learn how to spell with such a condition like hers? Chrono could only assume she was a normal child before her quirk developed or whatever the sort happened to her. 

Fascinatingly, she had brilliant, beautiful handwriting, while Chrono could barely comprehend the characters she wrote onto the paper. Perfectly spaced, perfectly in proportion, elegantly written but personal, there was a sense that she worked hard to achieve such a stature by personal means. For a child seemingly her age to do something like that, she would have been remarked a genius by many.

“This is Eri.” Qiqi claims; she wasn’t quite sure herself. By sounding the syllabus this was the guess she came to. But when asked by Chrono, she was able to write her name without any hesitation or pauses to recall—it was likely muscle memory. She scribbled her name down and down again until it filled up the whole page. 

—

“What is this?” Eri tilted her head, obviously hesitant to accept anything from Qiqi after the ‘herbs’ fiasco. 

“A letter to Eri,” said Qiqi. “I think, I always forget the things I want to say to…you.” Eri was momentarily distracted by the new change in Qiqi’s addressment of her: ‘you’. 

“Me…”

“I can never remember what I want to say, so I wrote a letter and ordered myself to give it to you.”

A tiny smile formed onto Eri’s lips, somewhat feeling warm that Qiqi made this much effort to write something for her because she just wanted to talk to her. If she did not stop herself, she might have even teared up just from the simple gesture of offering. 

“Thank you,” she whispered in response. Eri unfolded the paper, gently as she found it to be a precious gift, but also hasty due to her excitement. 

The letter was so pretty, but she could not comprehend the contents. Her brows creased as she felt a sliver of guilt for being unable to understand Qiqi’s feelings as her body became cold and frozen in fear. She couldn’t read it.

“I-I can’t read this.” Eri breathed, her nose was starting to feel clogged. “I’m sorry…”

“Oh, really?” That came as a surprise to the other girl. 

Eri looked away in shame, some of the characters and symbols looked familiar, but she could not decipher them, opting to think it was due to her lack of smarts. 

“Then, I’ll read it to you,” Qiqi offered. Eri nodded and agreed to hand the paper over. After fumbling to get the letter straight, Qiqi finally began to convey the words to her.

“To my best friend Eri. From Qiqi. Greetings, Eri, I am writing to let you know that I like you a lot. You are like family. Will you be my sister.”

A minute passed and Qiqi began to reread from the beginning but Eri kindly reminded her. “Qiqi, you already read that part to me.”

“Okay, thank you.” 

Eri flinched as her thanks, she pondered for a moment as to why Qiqi would be thankful to her, but got the clue that not many people would love to be as patient as her. 

“That’s okay, Qiqi,” she tried to reassure. “I don’t mind it at all that you can’t remember well.” She could wait forever, stay here forever if she could. Being so contained and restricted, Eri didn’t have high standards, but whether she did or not she might have still enjoyed Qiqi’s presence either way.

“Qiqi doesn’t feel bad…I forget about it anyway.” 

Qiqi never gives Eri many expressions—they’re always blank, emotionless, empty (maybe it’s sometimes longing). But they were never angry, or malicious to what Eri could read, and was grateful. But even if her friend rarely showed emotion, that was definitely not how she felt inside.

“That’s true.” Eri smiled grimly. 

Qiqi then did something surprising again. Her fingers lifted to pinch the white-haired girl’s cheeks, stretching them slightly—Qiqi wasn’t wary of her strengths and it stung Eri slightly. 

“Smile,” she said, Eri couldn’t understand if she meant that as a request or a confirmation of her own curiosity. Eri’s arms shakily reached up to grasp the other girl’s wrist, Qiqi was much more understanding of her gesture and let go—Eri’s cheeks were a blooming pink—and she rubbed her cheeks soothingly. 

“What do you mean by that: smiling?” Instead of guessing and assuming what Qiqi wanted to convey, Eri truly wanted to understand her. 

“Smile means…happiness, right?”

“I’m not sure. I think so.”

To imitate Eri, Qiqi’s fingers pinched her cheeks, an attempt to pull her lips into that upward curve. The result was not successful as her skin and muscles were as stiff as a board and thanks to Qiqi’s physical strength she managed to form an awkward curve somewhat. Eri could only blink in surprise and unease. But…it’s kind of funny, she thinks. A weird and heavy feeling pressured the end of her lips, instinctively the need to repress such a feeling overcame her, but it was getting more and more difficult as Qiqi maintained that woefully inept expression. 

“Is this alright,” Qiqi asked, her lips barely connected making her speech garbled and nearly incomprehensible, with how tight she was holding her cheek Eri wondered how Qiq was not crying from pain. Her blank but earnest eyes, and the stiff movements of her mouth—restraints broke in Eri as she broke out into a series of laughs. It was…such a nice feeling. Too nice a feeling, that even before she came down, she was crying. Was it sadness, or from joy—she felt everything, and that confused her all the more. Her smile was still plastered on her face, she felt it hard to let go of it, some part of her wanted to desperately hang on to it, hoping to never let it disappear. As Eri wiped away her shameful tears, she realized her lips had gone back to normal, it was—she didn’t know. A solemn frown was then etched on her face, she could barely focus on anything else but the sensitivity around her eyelids, swollen from her abrupt, salty tears. The world around her was static noise, and like there were tears still glimmering in her eyes, it was blurry.

Qiqi cupped her warm cheeks, assessing her face for something Eri wasn’t sure what. “Smile, how do you smile?”

Eri blinked, her remaining tears blinked away. I don’t know. Was Qiqi not able to smile? Eri recalled that feeling she felt earlier, for Qiqi to not know such a feeling…

“Your smile, I like it.” Eri wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “ I want to see it more, I want to remember it forever.” Her lips tilted upwards—a small smile, which Eri internally celebrated. “I want…” her eyes began to fog again, not in the literal sense but there was a noticeable shift in her gaze as she was staring past Eri, lost, like someone who had woken up from a nap. A sad energy slowly creeps up, Eri knows what’s going to happen, it’s the same conclusion again and again, a cycle she’s grown used to by the time Qiqi leaves her room. But this time, Eri doesn’t want that. 

Eri hurriedly claps her hand to Qiqi’s, somewhat slapping them as the kinetic energy reverberated into her cheeks. “What do you want, Qiqi?” She desperately asked, a hint of her fear reflecting off her irises. Qiqi blinked methodically, somewhat giving Eri a confused stare. 

“I want…” she trailed off, her brows furrowing as her eyes began to lose their lively beam. It was hopeless. She couldn’t help Qiqi at all.

“No!” Eri yelped—it was more for herself than Qiqi. Tears began to pool up again, something that Eri very much hated about herself. She attempted to smile again, tried to remember that intense but warm feeling, but it only came out half-hearted and grim. “Don’t forget now!” Eri whispered urgently. Once again, she asked Qiqi again, “What do you want?” 

She blinked, somewhat reminded by the smile. “Smile…” she pointed out. Eri’s forced smile deepened into one of slight relief, her fingers clutched into Qiqi’s much deeper. “Smile more. A smile means happy. I want Eri to smile forever. I want…” it’s like Qiqi knows she forgot something, she pauses hard as beer jaw opens and closes like the words won’t come back. 

Just hearing that from Qiqi was enough to elicit a true smile from Eri, “Is that what you wanted to say?” Her hands were unconventional cold but they served to stabilize Eri in the moment 

“No. Qiqi wants…” when she blinked, her eyes were not foggy anymore, with clarity she stared right into Eri’s eyes as she stated her wish. “I want to be with Eri—you, forever.” 

Qiqi could never remember Eri’s face. No matter how hard she tried, it was never complete, always a dark blur—unknowingly, that scares her. But here, she thinks she’s never seen her so clearly. Her red eyes, the horn on the right of her forehead, her smile. It feels like she’s finally been seen. Someone who cherishes her, someone who cares, someone who remembers her. She feels like she can finally exist. Her world that is a fast blur with no meaning or purpose found stability in Eri who remained a constant in her days. She finally had connection, and without Eri what would she be without her? She would be a hollow shell, barely existing, and something in Qiqi understands that if it wasn’t for Eri she wouldn’t have known—she wouldn’t have been able to understand joy. But at the same time, it would also be her fault that she came to understand what pain feels like—Qiqi would never blame her though. 

“Can we be together, forever?” Her firm hand softened and gently rested on Eri’s cheeks. “Until…death.” 

Eri shook her head, Qiqi’s still heart pumped—out of…sadness? Her hands dropped to her lap, stunned at Eri’s response. 

“No—we’ll be together forever!” Her hands moved to hold Qiqi’s, they were on equal level this time. “You won’t,” she shakily breathed, “you won’t die! I-I won’t too. No one is dying.” The idea of Qiqi dying before her terrified her to the core, she doesn’t even want to consider it. 

Qiqi smiled, her eyes filled with surprise, her pale skin deepened in color and she looked like a normal child. “Really?” 

On a second thought, Eri wasn’t sure if she could truly keep her promise, but today was so nice she didn’t have the energy to solemn it. “Yes, forever.”

That whole day, Qiqi stayed with Eri. 

—

A few sightings, one eyewitness account, and a deal from a criminal group. The yakuza in this age has become a legend among the police forces, the public not even batting an eye, some kids in middle school might even ask, ‘what’s a yakuza?’ Their lost prestige left them no power in the world where heroes now ruled. The police seldom watch them as they have the honor which villains do not, but always keep their eyes out in case the yakuza stir up any big trouble. Any yakuza action nowadays is incredibly rare, so that is why when a junior officer called in, there was a request to immediately investigate what the Shie Hassaikai was now planning after years of going quiet.

A call on the phone—not an email or text message. “Nighteye, sir, you should take this.” Bubble girl hands the phone to her boss. 

“Greetings, you are speaking to the hero Sir Nighteye.” A few exchanges on the phone and the police got their answer. “Alright, the Nighteye agency will be contacting your department for more information.”