Reunification (Part 1)

Suzuki Yuto

Seeing her again was unlike everything I ever imagined. Maybe because I recognized her so readily. Even though she was older, there was no mistaking her. I could see Kiyomi in the background, her daughter, but she didn't look like her if you really paid attention to the details. Maybe I was the only one who could tell those two apart. But what good did it do me back then? But maybe there was a chance to at least talk about it one more time. 

But that had to wait for now. When Mirai attempted to use the TV to cross over to where Sophia and I were I didn't even think straight, but as soon as she disappeared it became very clear to me that this wasn't going to end well if I didn't do something to help her. I told me mother to hold my hand and then I dove into the television myself. I wasn't sure what would really await me inside, but I knew that there was nothing else I could do. 

When I entered I had the same feeling as back then when I attempted this whole thing alone and it almost went very wrong. But there was one difference. She was there. I tried shouting out to her and even though my voice didn't seem to come out, she noticed me anyway. Maybe it was just that she could see me, but it gave me hope that this whole thing could end well. I gestured to her that she should try to move towards me and she made some swimming motions, but she barely budged. I was feverishly thinking about what else I could do to help her. 

I didn't want to let go and move in deeper myself as that only would leave us both hanging between worlds. Then I had an idea. I needed Mirai to channel Mana to me and make a connection. But that was what lead to our fate in the first place, so would it work this time? And why was I even convinced it would work? Mana didn't manifest a physical connection. Or did it? Maybe it didn't need much to make her move in my direction and having the slight connection through this power was enough to make it happen. But how could I get her to understand me? I only had one idea. I signaled her to look at my mouth and when she did, I tried to form the word Mana as clearly as I could with my lips. 

Apparently it worked. She made some very familiar hand gestures and I could see the glow that was unforgettable even after all those years. She stretched out her arm and I did the same and the stream of Mana really made its way from her hand to mind and within seconds we were connected like we were back then. But what was I supposed to do now? There was only one thing I could think of and it was to grab the stream of Mana and pull her towards me. I had no idea whether physically grabbing a stream of energy was even possible but it turned out it was and I was able to reel her in closer and closer to me. 

But I did notice that Mirai seemed to reach the limits of her ability rather quickly and when she would no longer be able to uphold the connection between the two of us I wasn't sure what I would do. So I tried to hurry up and pull her in quicker and I was almost able to reach her when she finally had to give in and the stream of Mana was abruptly cut off and she seemed to lose conscience as well. Now I had to think quickly as she still was too far away to be able to grab her and she was actually floating away from me as well. In a last ditch effort I turned around and for a second I went out of the tunnel and asked my mother to let me go and despite her being quite surprised by my choice of words she did as I asked and I leaped back into the television and the momentum I gained from that allowed me to reach Mirai and I grabbed her body and embraced her for the first time in so many years. But now what. 

We were both in the middle of this godforsaken place and the momentum I had gained from jumping in was all gone so we weren't even able to make it to the other side. But then I saw something from the corner of my eye and as I turned around I could see my mother actually sticking her head into the TV as well, reaching out for Mirai and myself. We had to reach her somehow, but what could we do? Then I noticed that Mirai was gaining conscience again and she seemed to realize that I was holding her rather tightly and her face went red which would have probably made me feel all sort of things in a different context but now we had to get out of here and I thought I had an idea, but I needed some more Mana from Mirai to make it work. 

So I raised my hand and grabbed hers and formed Mana with my mouth again and she seemed to understand what I wanted and so I saw her hand glow again and I could feel that rush that I hadn't felt in so long and after a couple of seconds I nodded and Mirai stopped the flow of Mana and I put the palm of my hand in the direction of where she came from and formed the name of the attack I wanted to use with my mouth and when it went off without making a sound the recoil was just enough to push us close enough for our mother to grab us and she pulled the both of us out and we all landed on the floor of Kiyomis fake room in the tower.