Chapter Text
The first thing that went wrong that day was that Kako and Gaku ended up right next to each other on the battlefield. Try as he might, Takumi could not remember the decisions that led to that. Gaku would not move that far away on his own, so it had to be on Takumi’s orders. But why would he give them? Five Spring Traps were gone after the battle; three were used by Hiruko, so the other two must have gone to Gaku, but why? If Kako needed cover, Ima was right there, so why would Takumi...
Skipping that crash out, the other thing that went wrong was that Kako and Gaku were standing together right in the commander’s line of attack. Okay, sue Takumi because he doesn’t remember the attack patterns of all the commanders. He only fought them once. He is allowed to forget himself and not move people with low health further away. And so Addamaque struck, and consequently, Kako and Gaku fell right on top of each other (if you believed Ima's enraged screams).
The third thing that was wrong, the one that made the other two wrong retroactively, was only signalled by soft “Shit” murmured by Sirei over the comms.
“Something wrong?” asked Hiruko.
“No, nothing, keep fighting”, and so they did. Soon enough, their enemy was defeated; they listened to him blabber on to Eva, before Takumi absorbed the commander and then, when they finally had a moment to breathe:
“Where is Kako?" asked Ima. "She should be revived already.”
“And Gaku, as well“, added Tsubasa.
“Maybe they are bummed out that they aren’t really dead. God knows I was after that first battle.“
Ima threw Darumi a dirty look, but before any argument could arise, Takemaru stepped in.
“Let’s just go to the infirmary to check on them, what’s the fucking problem?”
There was nothing else to do at the battlefield, so they all went together, though, worried Ima quickly overtook them all. They knew precisely when he reached the infirmary because of the scream.
“AaaaAaaa!!!”
Hearing him, they all broke into a sprint all at once, and when they reached the infirmary and opened the door, they saw:
One, Sirei and Nigou doing something with the Revive-O-Matic. Sirei seemed annoyed, and Nigou looked panicky.
Two, Ima nearly catatonic on the floor.
Three, well, if Takumi didn’t know it was impossible, he would have guessed that Gaku and Kako had a child together. However, maybe not; the mixing of their physical features was almost too perfect for that. Kako’s hair, Gaku’s eyes, her nose, his mouth shape. The mouth shape was especially pronounced because whoever that was was wearing a very Gaku-like expression of worry, but the voice…
“Ima, are you okay? Ima! Ima!”
Well, it did not sound quite like Kako, and it didn’t sound quite like Gaku either, but this was the same note of desperation that Kako's voice got whenever Ima was in danger.
“What the actual fuck?" asked somebody, though Takumi was too perplexed to register the speaker.
“Hehe, nothing to worry about, just a small error.”
“Small error?!” Sirei’s reply has activated Ima to the visible relief of the Kako-Gaku person.
"My sister got melted into some sort of argh…!"
Now, the amalgam switched from relieved to perplexed,
“What do you mean by that, brother dearest? I’m here; it’s me, Kak... Gak ...”
A moment of hesitation-
"Ga-ko, yes, it's me, Gako, your..."
Another moment of hesitation, their expression started to look pained.
“Sister? Brother?”
“Sister!!!”
Visible relief.
"Ah, yes, I’m your older sister Gako.”
“Younger sister!”
Gako moved from relieved to doubtful.
“Nooo, I’m definitely an… your older sibling.”
“No, I’m older.”
Gako shook their head.
“Nonononono, I was definitely the oldest child at the group house, so I have to be older than you.”
"My sister and I never lived in a group house", Ima was already pretty frustrated, but now he was getting red from exasperation.
"Wow, if this was pure Kako, he wouldn't dare to yell like that " Takumi thought. "Maybe you should let off a little-", he started to say, but the pair was too into it to notice.
"But we were at the group house, remember the group house and…" here, Gako person started to look even more distressed than before, like every world was a chore to get out "… you… were… there… you were… there… Ima… Ima was…”
Ima interrupted them with a sneer, "Where was I, hah hah? We lived with our parents, then with our shitty relatives and then just the two of us. Group House doesn't factor anywhere!”
"Ima… was… you were…"
And with those words, the person calling themself Gako clutched their head and fainted. Only Ima's quick switch over from Asshole Mode into Brother Mode stopped them from banging their head on the floor.
" Good, " thought Takumi, " they don’t need brain damage on top of everything else. ”
***
“So how likely is it that something like this happens again?” asked Hiruko.
Everyone, aside from Gaku and Kako (unconscious, currently sharing a body) and Takemaru (voted as the person most equally friendly with both Kako and Gaku, keeping an eye on the above), was gathered in the War Room, awaiting answers about the incident.
“Yeah, good question. I would like to know the likelihood of one day seeing Yugoshika or Kyogamu, the ultra-mega-pervert extraordinaire!” boomed Kurara. Most ignored her comment, as well as Kyoshka's sputtering and Yugamu’s clearly interested grunts that followed.
“No chance of it ever happening,” asserted Sirei.
"Are you sure?” asked Tsubasa. “If something like this happened once, it can always repeat."
“Well, it shouldn’t have happened even once; in fact, it should have been impossible. And as soon as I get back to the Artificial Satellite, somebody's getting fired for this,” Sirei sighed. “There were special circumstances that allowed for this, but that’s fixed, and I have even set up an additional program to monitor Revive-O-Matic just in case. So you can be assured that we will have no body mergers going forward.”
“Man, and I was getting really excited for that Kyoshika-Yugamu combo."
Takumi halfheartedly patted the disappointed Darumi on the back and asked:
“What special circumstances?”
“Sabotage."
Everybody in the room froze, except for Darumi, who excitedly gasped.
“No, don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m positive this is something Aotsuki did before he was dealt with”, reassured Sirei. The mood in the room rose again, aside from Darumi, who got another absent-minded back pat for her trouble.
“After analysing the Revive-O-Matic data, I discovered that Aotsuki had tried to rewrite the program to stop sending drones outside battles with invaders.”
Hearing that Hiruko loudly sucked the air through her teeth, Takumi didn’t give her a back pat because he liked his hand to remain attached to his body.
“So, if there was an innocent accidental death like, say, falling down the stairs, the drones would just ignore it?” asked Yugamu, hugging himself. Takumi weighed whether it was worth it or not to call him out on his bullshit but chose not to bother.
“Precisely. Perhaps before he decided to remove me, he planned to quietly kill everybody in the school. However, he either couldn’t quite figure out how to make his idea work or decided to finish it later, leaving the incomplete code on the machine."
“We are sorry we should have noticed it and fixed it, but it didn’t occur to us that anybody could mess with the Revive-O-Matic”, apologised Nigou.
“Nigou, you are supposed to only implicate yourself, not both of us“, Sirei mouthed.
“Aaaaagh, sorry, sir! I meant I am sorry. I should have noticed it, and I should have fixed it, but it did…”
“Can we get to the point?“ Hiruko interrupted the panicking Nigou.
“Yes, right, so the program had this useless code that it ran whenever it deployed the drones. It did nothing; Revive-O-Matic registered the error and proceeded to complete the rest of its work. All it did was delay the drones by a few seconds, so short a time Nigou never even noticed it. Shameful Nigou, really."
" Did Hiruko just growl from annoyance? ” thought Takumi. ” Oh, wait, it was me. I was the one growling. "
“Hehe, sorry, so that code would not be a problem, except that Maruko and Tsukumo died at the same time. Again, this is something that Revive-O-Matic is normally equipped to handle, but it does slow down the process a little. Since the machine must decide who needs to be prioritised.
The problem is, however, that Revive-O-Matic is designed to resurrect you as fast as possible in case you are bleeding out severely. It prioritises being fast above all else. But here, two things slowed it down. And additionally, it couldn't easily determine who needed to be resurrected first because their injuries were the same. This put stress on the program, which led to a critical error and… you know the results.”
Sirei made a movement as if swiping sweat out of his forehead “Believe it or not, this was actually a good outcome. I’m surprised the machine did this instead of some sort of emergency shutdown, which would leave us with two dead students.”
“Great, just great,” said Ima. Takumi was honestly surprised that he kept quiet throughout the whole explanation, but to be fair, the poor guy was still reeling from both the body merger and from getting Gako so worked up that they fainted.
“Why... Why did it have to be my precious Kako? Why couldn’t it be me or one of you losers if it had to happen? And why with Mr Maruko? That perverted weirdo is literally the worst option for her to get mixed up with!”
“ Don’t say that his sister is also a perverted weirdo. Don’t say that his sister is also a perverted weirdo. Don’t say that… ” Takumi chanted in his thoughts, just as Shouma commented.
“Come on, Ima, there are worse options. Imagine if she got mixed up with a pathetic cockroach like me.“
“Yeah,” said Moko, “I wouldn’t normally agree with Shouma’s self-hate gimmick, but with him being so much shorter than everybody, the proportions could be really wonky.”
“Yeah, Ima”, Nozomi smiled. ”If you think about it like that, Gaku was the third-best option for Kako. After Kurara and you, he is the closest in height to her.”
“This does not help me, Miss Kirifuji. Now I’m just thinking that it could have been me, together with Kako. United as one like we have never been before." Ima started drooling a little. Fortunately, Yugamu decided to speak further, ignoring his input.
“And additionally, Gaku has quite an adorable little face. If it weren’t for his atrocious haircut, he would be a real cutie.”
“Should you really be talking with the way your bang- mghmh...“ Kurara’s remark was cut off by Nozomi putting her hand inside the other girl’s mask and presumably covering her mouth. Despite the unfinished nature of the comment, Yugamu looked a little hurt.
“I think your bangs look cool”, Takumi felt compelled to say, even though this could only encourage Yugamu to flirt with him later.
He gained a general affinity for bangs ever since the only person with an uncovered forehead turned out to be a shitty traitor.
“Yeah!” yelled Darumi. “You look like you should be fronting in a punk band."
“I think they fit your face really well,” added Tsubasa.
"Thank you, I...“ whatever Yugamu was going to say next got, to Takumi’s relief, interrupted by Ima, who returned from the land of his imagination and was again angry.
“But you can reverse it, right, Sirei? I warn you, the answer better be positive.”
“Ermm, it is possible, but it may take a while. The system is set up to save after non-violent physical changes, which this apparently counts as, so Nigou and I will have to look for backups for the two of them.”
“Why on Earth is it set up that way?”
“For your comfort and happiness, obviously. We didn’t want you complaining when you have to redo a haircut after you're brought back with your original hairstyle. Same if you recklessly got a shitty DIY piercing or a tattoo. I don’t believe in coddling you kids; you can’t get away with your bad decisions by just killing yourselves. Or what if one of you decides to change gender? I don’t want you to get too depressed to fight just because your hormones switched over or your boobs grew back.”
“We can get top surgery here?!” Darumi yelled right in Takumi's ear..
“Well, not officially, but if you guys get the bright idea to ask Omokage for a favour, I won’t save you.”
Hearing this, Yugamu gave two thumbs up.
“Yeah, visit me in the Bio Lab if you need to get something taken out. Heck, feel free to visit me if you need anything added. As long as we can source it, I can put it in.”
“Yeah, and I will take this moment to let you know that both Bio Lab and Gift-o-Matic carry contraceptives because pregnancy counts as non-violent physical change. And since our science team was not entirely sure whether the removal of the fetus could mess with your Hemoanima, you will not be allowed to terminate pregnancy until we get back to the Artificial Satellite, even if you want to. I will intervene if you ask Omokage for a favour in this case.”
Uncomfortable silence fell on the room. Even Ima was stun-locked after that tirade. Though Takumi suspected it was not due to the whole pregnancy thing, but because the gossip that he let Kako give him a terrible tattoo was actually true.
After a moment, Hiruko spoke.
“Back on topic, how long will it take you to check the backup?"
Nigou answered her, “Akhem, at least a week.”
“A week!!!” Ima yelled, enraged. ”For a week, every time I spend time with my dearest sister, Mr. Maruko would be there?!”
“Technically, neither your sister nor Maruko will be present. What we have here is an entirely new person combining the two” specified Sirei.
“THAT’S WORSE! YOU GET HOW THAT'S WORSE!?” Ima tried to throw himself at Sirei, but the group prepared themselves for that eventuality before the meeting, and Yugamu easily knocked him out with a sedative.
“I’m surprised it took him this long, considering the constant diversions,” said Takumi.
“Maybe it was the diversions that kept him calm“, suggested Tsubasa ”It probably killed his momentum.“
“Yeah, you may be right. But anyway, what should we do about…” Takumi couldn’t believe he had to say that, ”Gako?”
“Hmm, what do you mean, Sumino? Just treat her like any of your comrades.”
"I mean, he…she... they fainted when Ima pressed on that group house thing. They clearly have two separate sets of memories."
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Memories are pretty malleable. They will merge together with no issue."
“Won't that cause problems once you separate them?” asked Hiruko. “Won’t they still think they are Gako?”
“It shouldn’t happen. Worst case scenario, they will have their own memories and whatever version Gako merged together, but that should not compromise their individuality. Just in case I copied the memory data from today, so unlike their physical stuff, I will be able to fix any problems quickly.”
"Okay, but they did react negatively when they were talking with Ima. How can we avoid things like that?" questioned Tsubasa.
"Just don't deny her reality. That was Ima's mistake. If Gako in the future tells you about living at a group house, which is true for Maruko but not Tsukumo, you can either keep your mouth shut or ask a leading question like ‘That was after you and Ima lived on the street, right?’ Or, if you don't want to lead her that much, say, ‘Oh, but I thought you lived on the streets?’ and she will come up with her own explanation for the disparity. Treat it like a puzzle or an improv session. In fact, let's practice. Amemiya!"
Darumi pointed to herself as if to ask, "Me?"
"Yes, you, Amemiya. You are like Maruko's best friend here, right?"
Darumi shrugged and said,
"Yes, or at least I think so. He may have been just gathering my trust to kill me easier once the killing game starts."
" Wow, I didn't even know they hung out ", thought Takumi at the same time as Hiruko snarled, "For the last time, Darumi, we will not have a killing game."
"Okay, fine. Be a spoilsport, but yes, me and Gaku are besties. What about that?"
"Good, so imagine Gako comes to you, and I don't know; hmm, oh, she tells you, ‘My favourite food is pizza with frozen anchovies, durian, strawberries, and BBQ sauce’. This may be true for Tsukumo, but not Maruko. So then you say?" he gestured to Darumi; she took a second to think.
"I say: ‘I could get that pizza for you if you mastermind a killing game for me?’”
Oh, this time, it really was Hiruko growling.
"Amemiya, please take this seriously. If you do, I will put some more horror movies in the rec room’s movie collection."
"Yupi! Okay, I could say, hmm: ‘Oh, but you also really like Nikujaga, right?’”
"Yeah, yeah, good, let's continue."
This went on for a while in what was later dubbed "Kako-Gaku Quiz", and Takumi eventually managed to compensate for his apparent total lack of knowledge about the pair's social lives by being the only person who knew all of their favourite Gift-O-Matic presents.
Then Ima started waking up. It was decided that Moko and Hiruko would lead him in Gako sensitivity training, while Takumi and Nozomi went to inform Takemaru about what the meeting had established, and the rest of the group dispersed.
Takemaru, upon being informed of all that was talked about, became completely enraged, and Takumi felt like he really should have seen that coming, over the fact that Sirei did not have the pregnancy talk with the group earlier. He grew even angrier when Nozomi informed the two of them that Nigou had that talk with SLDA students on their second day of active duty.
("He even had a PowerPoint presentation", "Why would you guys need that? Your only guy is Yugamu, and I'm sure he knows enough biology to not get somebody pregnant", "What if one of the girls is trans, Takumi? Think before you open your fucking mouth.")
Takemaru left to confront Sirei about his irresponsible behaviour, and Takumi and Nozomi were left to look over Gako, who was still unconscious. They were resting in Ima's room because Ima did not want to allow Mr Maruko into Kako's room, even in spirit, and after a quick check-in, it was decided that nobody, perhaps not even Gaku, should be staying in Gaku's room. Takumi was very pleased when Shouma volunteered to clean it before anybody could propose that their leader should do it.
So there they were with Gako sleeping right under a giant Kako portrait, a reminder of how wrong things had gone.
***
The next day, after waking up, Takumi almost went back to sleep before he remembered yesterday's kerfuffle. He reluctantly got out of bed to see how things progressed. He hoped nothing went wrong after Ima kicked him and Nozomi out of his room, interrupting their riveting discussion about ways in which different animals would wear pants.
Almost everybody was in the cafeteria except for Eva and Shouma, who Takumi saw already cleaning Gaku’s room.
(“Ima said he wants it cleaned ASAP in case Gako wants to hang out there”, “I Was Told Cleaning It May Kill The Invaders”, “The invading germs maybe.”)
The atmosphere in the room was unnatural. It was very clear that everybody was observing Gako except Ima, who was tiredly looking into space.
Takumi greeted everybody and then tried to take a subtle look at what the twins were eating.
“Man, why is everybody so invested in our breakfast?”
That's that for subtlety, but at least it looked like Takumi wasn't the only one interested in the topic. The twins were having some sort of breakfast quiche with blue cheese, dates, oranges, Brussels sprouts and herring? Takumi thought it was herring… some fish anyway. But while it had Tsukumos’ trademark wild mix of ingredients, it looked okay, almost normal. For the first time, upon seeing the twins' food, Takumi felt that it could be edible. “ So Kako’s taste and Gaku’s cooking skills. Noted. ”
“They are just jealous, sister dearest, that you cooked this delicious breakfast for us.”
“Is it perhaps more delicious than usual?” taunted Kurara.
“No,” said Ima through gritted teeth, “it's about the same. My sister's cooking has always been delicious and will remain delicious. It did not change for better or worse.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Kurara's comment was followed by Gako poking Ima in the cheek.
“Hey, don't do that! You will ruin your teeth. Dentists are too freaking expensive for you to be doing that, bro.”
“Ahaha, sorry to worry you”, Ima relaxed his jaw. It did not seem to make him feel any better.
“Listen, dude, if you want a taste, you don't have to keep standing over us. Just ask nicely. We can share.”
Takumi blushed as his friends snickered. Well, he just got distracted by the happenings and forgot to sit down, but if Gako was offering, he was curious.
“Ehehe, sorry, may I have some of that? It looks good.”
“Sure, dude” Gako left the table, and Takumi sat down.
“Oh good, we didn't even have to tell him to do that”, somebody's whisper echoed in the cafeteria.
Were they waiting for him to check if Gako's cooking was as edible as it looked? Those assholes . As Takumi was silently reeling in his chair, Ima signed and started to massage his temples.
“Here you go”, Gako set the plate before him and went back to their place across from him. He now noted that while they were wearing both the top part of Kako's uniform and Gaku’s jacket, they had Ima’s pants on instead of either of the pair's bottoms.
Takumi looked from Gako at his quiche. He took the fork into his hand. All eyes were on him. There was sweat on his brow. After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally tried the food.
It was, hmmm, different; he couldn't really say he liked it, but it wasn't terrible. Takumi could easily envision this dish in some weird niche restaurant.
“It's very nice, Kak.o..Gako. Thank you.”
This seemed to activate the rest of the group, and now that it was deemed safe to consume, everybody was curious to try it, but to their disappointment...
“Sorry, I don't have any more to share.”
“You sure? There is one piece left from what I see.”
“Yeah, but that's for Ima,” Gako wouldn’t budge after proclaiming that, and the rest of the students gave up on asking.
“Thank you, sister dearest, but I'm not that hungry. You can eat it.”
“You really should eat more, dude. Don't think I don't see you skipping meals when we don't have enough for everybody.” Ima looked genuinely surprised. “You noticed that?”
“Yeah, I… I…I…” there was a distant look in Gako's eyes before they shook it off and continued as if it had never happened “I don't remember why I never called you out on that, but it has always bothered me. And I mean, I do that too, but I can always get something to eat at my restaurant jobs. You won't get food where you work… “ here, Gako trailed off, and their eyes glazed over again.
Ready to avoid any talk about Ima's job, Takumi decided to cut in. “Yeah, Ima eat up. You look exhausted today; you probably need energy,” apparently, as desperate to redirect, Ima answered with unnecessary dramatism,
“Oh, Mr Sumirno, it has nothing to do with hunger. I just slept so, so, so terribly. Expelled to the couch.”
“You sleep on the couch?”
“Yeah, for as soon as sister dearest regained consciousness, she kicked me out of bed."
"Not true”, Gako was back in the conversation, “I asked whether or not you had a nightmare, you said no, and then I kicked you out. If you aren't having nightmares, don't bother me at night. You are way too old to be sleeping with me just because. A separate place to sleep is the oldest brother's privilege."
"But, SISTER dearest, it was my bed you were sleeping in” Gako did not seem moved by that.
“That means my bed was free. You could go there, or that Eito guy's room is free, or heck, there's still one empty cage in the courtyard. Nobody made you take the couch."
"But I wanted to watch over you after your fainting spell. What if you stopped breathing in the night?”
Gako made a face. “Ugh, whatever, dude. Why did I faint anyway?”
“There was some error with the Revive-O-Matic memory module when you fell in the battle yesterday. Sirei is fixing it.” Takumi gave the fake answer that the group had decided on the previous day.
“Must have been some error. I don't even remember there was a battle yesterday, and the last few weeks are pretty hazy too!"
"What can you remember? Tell us, maybe it will help jog your memory in general," suggested Takumi. Gesturing with his fork.
Gako put their hands to their head, and it took them a few minutes before they spoke.
"Hmm, I remember doing that assignment from Sirei with Ima, and we got those really funny glasses. You were there helping us. Then… no, no no - that was before that. Yes, before the assignment I watched porn with Yugamu and Kyoshika in the rec room-“
“You did what with whom?” Ima almost jumped out of his chair and started wildly looking around, searching for the pair, but everybody left the cafeteria while Takumi, the twins and Gaku were talking.
“Well, it wasn't really porn. It said "AV" on the cover, but it turned out to stand for "animal", not "adult". I was annoyed at the time, but now that I'm thinking about it, it was pretty cute. There were, hmm… Kyoshika told us they are called otters-“
Ima interrupted Gako, ”But Mr Omokage and Miss Magadori did agree to watch porn with you?” Ima was now holding the edge of the table so hard his hands were turning paler than usual.
“Yeah, I was gonna invite Takumi and Darumi, but she wasn't feeling so well, and I couldn't find Takumi anywhere, so I went for the two biggest perverts instead."
"Why me?”
“Yeah, why you, Mr Sumino?” Ima's crazed eyes fell on Takumi.
”Cuz you are my bro, duh,” it was only then that both Takumi and Ima realised their mistake.
“Ah, so it was Mr Maruko, of course,” Ima's whole posture relaxed.
“Ma-ru-ko?” repeated Gako.
“Never mind that, sister dearest, tell us what else you remember.”
“We played detectives, me and Ima,” Gako added for Takumi's benefit. “We stole Eito's corpse to play-act the victim. Did you know he had a number eight tattoo on his back? It was so cool! It inspired me and Ima to get matching tattoos with the number nine after that. Though Ima hasn't done mine yet.”
"You did what to Eito's body?!"
“We took it to act as the victim. It's much more realistic than when Ima does it. It didn't have to get up every 5 minutes to play detective assistant, and it doesn't breathe at all!”
“You shouldn't play with corpses!”
"Why do you care, Mr Sumino? You killed the guy. Besides, we put it back, and nobody even noticed, so there is nothing to talk about. Keep going. Did you do anything else that was notable, Kaa…eee…Gako? “
“When she felt better, I played some eroge with Darumi.” Ima's face fell again, though Gako, immersed in thought, didn't seem to notice.
“That's weird. I feel like it was the same day we played detectives, but that's not possible. I wouldn't have the time. We did Ima’s tattoo right after detectiving, so it had to be later, at least the next day." Gako shook her head.
”Well, Darumi played her game, and I watched. The art style looked like ass, so I didn't get much out of the sex scene-”
“Sister dearest”, Ima’s voice sounded a little desperate. He had a fake smile plastered on his face.
“Huh? Yeah, brooo…ther dearest?”
“I am hungry after all. Could you get me that portion you left for me?”
“Mhm, sure, do you want me to heat it up? It's probably cold by now."
"Yes, yes, heat it up, please.” Gako went to get the food, and when they were further away, Ima grabbed Takumi by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. Just like a few minutes earlier, he was overcome with emotion. This time, however, it was fear rather than rage.
“Mr Sumino, this is very important,” Takumi gulped. “You need to tell me what fetishes Mr Maruko had?”
“THE FUCK!?”
“Please, Mr Sumino, before she gets back,” Ima’s hold was getting painful.
“Ngh, he likes boobs and, umm, uncovered midriffs? But that one is a recent development. I don't know anything more. Why are you asking?” Ima let go of him and slumped in his seat.
“I had just realised, Mr Sumino-” Ima took a big breath “-that since my dearest Kako and Mr Maruko share memory, every bit of porn that degenerate ever saw Kako has now seen as well.”
“ Good for Kako ,” thought Takumi, almost despite himself, out loud; he said, “I'm sorry this is happening to you.”
As soon as Gako came back with the rest of Ima's breakfast, Takumi made himself scarce. He determined that his first instinct that morning was correct and decided to spend the rest of the day in bed.
***BONUS SCENE***
Pants on pants off; skirt on skirt off; pants on pants off; skirt on…
Ima looked at the clock. It's been going for 15 minutes now.
The rest of the clothes caused little trouble. It did hurt Ima to see his sister’s adorable bow abandoned on the nightstand in favour of Mr Maruko's hat. But he saw that one coming. Detectives wore hats after all: deerstalkers, fedoras, baseball caps. The bow stood no chance.
The top was likewise easy. The t-shirt had holes in it, and Kako was… is a very neat girl, so it now decorated the floor. Mr Maruko's jacket easily finding its place on top of Kako's uniform.
Underwear… Well, he wasn't present for that one. Gako has been in need of a toothbrush, and he had to make a trip to the Rec Room to make a new one. He used to keep a spare one for Kako, but she put a kibosh on that in one of her bids for independence. Maybe that's better. What if Gako has mostly Mr Maruko's bacterial flora, the toothbrush would be ruined. By the time he was back, Gako already had the tights on, so whatever bottoms she chose and how long she was deciding on them remained a mystery.
Yes, all that he did to obtain the necessary funds for high-quality tights was worth it. Even with their white colour, no pervert would be able to see his dearest sister's underwear, and Ima couldn't see them either.
This situation, too, initially appeared deceptively simple. Gako just put on Mr Maruko's pants and Kako’s skirt. This was what Ima expected. Kako thought that skirts over trousers looked cool. He was already congratulating himself on figuring out her choice beforehand, but then Gako looked at herself in the mirror. The look of deepest disgust overcame her features, and she took both off immediately. That was Mr. Maruko's expression. Ima avoided thinking about Mr. Maruko's preferences so far, but now they clearly won against Kako's. He did overhear Mr Maruko rant about style and fashion in the Rec Room, skirt over pants must have offended his sensibilities. Gako spent the next few minutes holding the two items in her outstretched arms before she put the skirt down, put the pants on, then took the pants off, and then put the skirt on…
And so it went. Ima really should have stepped in before, but after a night of restless sleep on the couch, he zoned out a little.
“Sister dearest?”
No answer.
“Sister dearest.”
Gako did not react, but why would she? She wasn't Kako, his sister was…
“Sister dearest!!!”
‘Agh!” Gako screamed, dropped the pants she was holding, and then looked at him. Ima froze. At the beginning, he was so angry that whatever force that guided the process decided in favour of Mr Maruko's eyes over Kako’s, but if his sister's eyes ever looked at him like that, no recognition in her eyes, as if she didn't know who he was. If his sister's eyes ever looked at him like that, he would… Ima would…
Gako blinked a few times and then, as if just now remembering where she was, said.
“Oh, hi Ima, what's up?” Ima tried to calm his racing heart. Fortunately, he had a lot of practice keeping unpleasantness out of Kako’s view, so he responded without missing a beat.
“Ah, sister dearest, I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be having a problem” Gako looked confused.
“With your wardrobe, sister dearest," he gestured to the dropped pants.
“Aah, right”, Gako sighed, took the pants off the floor and plopped herself on the bed.
“It's just... I'm having a hard time, and I don't know why,” he sat next to her and nodded for her to continue.
“It's like… I can't remember ever having a problem with those," -she shook the pants in her hands. -“Nor do I remember ever having a problem with that“, she gestured to the skirt that was hanging on the back of Ima’s desk chair, “but I'm trying to wear them now and I can't bring myself to.”
"What's the problem with them?”
“Let's start with those pants. They are so itchy. Like the main material is fine, but I've fixed them up so many times, and now they've got all those seams and patches, and I can't stand them touching me. Even with my tights on, they are a nightmare.” Ima nodded. This was always a problem he had when getting clothes for Kako; she was very sensitive.
“And the skirt?” he asked. Gako let go of the pants, which fell on the floor, and put her head in her hands.
“Ughh, I don't know, I wore it a thousand times before and it was completely fine, but now I… I…” Gako took a few deep breaths and then, to Ima's horror, suddenly burst into tears “It makes me feel like some kind of freak! Like… like… I don't know, I feel like if I leave here in the skirt, everybody will be talking behind my back! They… they will know there is something wrong with meeee!”
This must have been one of Mr Maruko's hang-ups, but that was the way Kako used to cry; Ima couldn't stand this, he had to do something.
“Sister, please, there's no need to cry. I'm sure our friends won't make fun of you,” he tried to embrace her from the side, but she pushed him away.
"They will! They will!" she wailed. "They... they probably already think I'm a freak. They will talk like all the kids at school do. About my clothes and how we are poor and how we have no parents and... and... and…” big bitter tears were flowing from Mr Maruko's eyes down his sister's cheeks, and he had no idea how to stop them.
“If they make fun of you, I will protect you, I…”
“I don't want you to protect me! I don't want you to hurt anybody! You always fucking do that! It won't help; they will just talk about you instead. They will call you crazy! They all think you're crazy, and… and... I just want them to like us! I just want them to like meeee! I want us to be normal, I want us to be happy!”
There was nothing Ima could say or do to help. Mr Maruko and Kako's woes have now coalesced into one mass that Ima had no idea how to even approach. He looked down in shame and saw salvation.
There was nothing he could do about the entire psychological mess, but there was something he could do about the immediate situation. He threw himself from his bed to his wardrobe and grabbed a pair of pants.
“How about this!”
“Hah..hah” Gako looked at him.
“You can borrow my pants! That's the same material as the skirt, so it won't bother you, but it is a pair of pants, so nobody will think you are weird.” he hoped it would work; it had to work. ”And... and they are mine, so you know they are really stylish, everybody will be so jealous.”
Gako started to wipe her tears with the back of her hand.
“You... you think so?"
“Yes, of course. You know, I always get complimented on my style.”
“That's true and…and… we are twins, so nobody will think it's weird that we wear each other's clothes.”
“Exactly, my dear Kak-Gako. You have nothing to worry about with those.”
He handed Gako his pants. There were still tears in her eyes, but it seemed that the fix to the immediate problem calmed her down for now. Gako held the pants in her hands for a few seconds before she finally put them on. She swished her legs a little and then beamed; truly beamed at Ima.
“Thanks, brother dearest, I really owe you one!”
“No problem, I'm here to help,” he reached out to her. “Come, let's get breakfast and put this whole incident behind us,” she took his hand and they left.
On his way out of the room, Ima spitefully kicked Mr Maruko's pants under the bed.