MSA +1 Between: Familiar Strangers
It was only a few minutes later that Vivi’s family arrived. “Vivi!” Serena gave her a hug before pulling back to look her over. “Are you okay?”
Vivi nodded. “The doctors gave me a clean bill of health.”
“I will be the judge of that,” said Obaa-san as she walked over. She gestured for Vivi the kneel, which she did. Obaa-san frowned and muttered an incantation under her breath. “Something’s wrong.”
“What?” No one had noticed anything odd…Wait. They had no way of seeing if something was wrong. “I am missing about a week’s worth of memories.”
Hiro knelt down. “Okaasan is right. There’s some sort of…film over your eyes. It’s barely noticeable.”
“I can still see just fine so it’s not affecting my vision,” said Vivi. “Any idea what it might be?”
“Hard to say, but it definitely shouldn’t be there,” said Hiro. “The problem is we’d likely need to see it active to know what it does exactly, and it might do something harmful.”
That was a catch 22. Vivi wanted to know what it would do, but she didn’t want to risk damaging her eyes or something.
And that reminded her of Sydney again. She started crying again, leaning into her mother. “I had a fight with Sydney.”
“Friends fight sometimes,” said Serena in an attempt to console Vivi.
Vivi shook her head. “Not like this. There was yelling. She said I wasn’t taking our investigations seriously. That I wasn’t paying attention to how often we ended up in trouble. That I wasn’t letting her and Arthur do other things they might enjoy. That we needed breaks!” Vivi sniffled. “I think…I knew she had a point, but I didn’t want to admit she was right because that would mean I was being selfish and careless. So I said it wasn’t that bad, that we would be fine, and that she could choose the next place we went to. She wasn’t happy. We ended up yelling at each other.” Vivi took a breath. “She was right!”
And as Vivi broke down crying she wondered if her friends would ever want to talk to her again.
Vivi was still crying when Lance arrived with a few other people she didn’t recognize. Lance initially ignored the Yukinos, instead checking in at the front desk. The people who had followed him in came over to the Yukinos. “Vivi, are you okay?” asked the man.
Vivi blinked. “Uh, yes…” Why did he care?
“Did you guys get attacked by a ghost?” asked one of the girls.
Vivi frowned. Her head was starting to hurt. “I don’t know. I can’t-” Her head was pounding. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
The whole ER seemed to fall silent. Vivi looked around at the shocked faces and felt like she’d said the wrong thing somehow.
Suddenly everyone started talking over each other. Vivi wasn’t sure why, but it felt like her head hurt more and more as the volume increased. She couldn’t breathe! She…she…
Blood.
Vivi passed out.
Once Vivi was placed on a bench with Serena watching after her and the Pepper kids, the rest of the adults met in Sydney’s room to discuss things.
“How is Sydney doing?” asked Mrs. Pepper.
Sydney Sr. put a hand on Junior’s forehead. “The doctor’s say she should be okay. She probably won’t wake up for another day or two.” Sydney Sr. sighed. “I guess she won’t be going to any archery competitions for a while…”
“She should still keep some arrows on her,” said Granny Yukino.
“No now, Mother,” said Hiro. “The most pressing issue right now is Lewis’ location.”
“He wouldn’t have just abandoned them,” said Mr. Pepper. “And they wouldn’t abandon him. So…so what happened?”
“Vivi doesn’t remember him,” Lance said suddenly.
“What? But they’ve known each other for a decade,” said Mr. Pepper.
“I think it’s a curse,” said Hiro. “There’s a…film of some sort over Vivi’s eyes. It’s barely noticeable, but when you arrived and started asking about Lewis, it suddenly became much worse until she passed out. I think it’s keeping her from remembering him.”
“Wait. So it was a ghost or somethin’ like that?” asked Sydney Sr. “I thought Sydney protected them from that sort of thing.”
“She’s too tired,” said Granny Yukino. “She exhausted her powers enough that protection wasn’t possible.”
“Her aura does seem a lot weaker than usual,” agreed Hiro. “It would still take something powerful to do that sort of damage though. It’s not something most investigators ever encounter.”
“Would this entity still have Lewis?” asked Mrs. Pepper.
Hiro crossed his arms in thought. “It’s possible, but Vivi can’t remember where the events took place. I will probably need to wait for Sydney or Arthur to wake up and tell me.”
“Actually, I talked with the nurses before, and it sounded like Sydney didn’t know what happened either,” said Sydney Sr.
“Yeah, the doc said Arthur’s probably gonna have some memory loss,” added Lance. “…And maybe other brain damage.”
Everyone winced at that, but no one knew what to say to console Lance.
“Maybe I can look at Vivi’s travel plans and figure out where they went,” said Hiro, giving Mystery a significant look. Mystery gave a subtle nod. They’d be working on the problem later on. “And…if you’d rather Vivi stay away for now, I understand and would prefer if you tell me now so I can pass it on to her.”
“Damn straight I want her to stay away from Junior!” said Sydney Sr. He gestured towards Sydney Jr. “Look what she did! I know Sydney’s got a habit of getting in trouble, but she doesn’t go lookin’ for it!”
Lance nodded. “Yeah, yer family’s done a lot to help us, but Vivi’s not coming near Arthur until she understands why I’m angry with her.”
“That shouldn’t take too long,” commented Granny Yukino.
Mr. Pepper sighed. “I personally don’t mind, but considering what happened when we saw Vivi before…”
“You probably have to avoid Vivi for her own health, yes,” admitted Hiro. “But rest assured we will be working on figuring out what happened to her and how to reverse it.”
“Aaaand…how long is that gonna take?” drawled Sydney Sr.
Hiro sighed. “I have no idea. It depends on how strong the curse is, what is necessary to remove it safely, possibly the position of the celestial bodies.”
“As it is not actively harming her we are going to be as careful and thorough as possible,” added Granny Yukino.
Hiro nodded. “It’s very inconvenient for all of us, but if circumstances were a bit different it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“We’ll keep the children away from Vivi for now,” said Mrs. Pepper. “They won’t like it, but after how she reacted before I'm sure they'll understand."
