Shiori Novella One-shots

Déjà vu

"Have we met before?" the girl asked. Wearing a hat dripping with ink, you stared at her in bewilderment. Though her unforgettable eyes resonated with you, you couldn't quite place who she was. A hazy memory linked to happiness stirs in your mind, but you can't quite grasp its details.

"No, I don't think we have," you respond, the elusive memory slipping further from your grasp.

~~~~~

You notice an almost sad grin spread across her face as her eyes become a little watery, and a single tear slides down her cheek. The sight of this makes your heart feel like it's shattering, a profound ache spreading through your chest as your stomach drops like you're on a roller coaster. The feeling is only made worse by the twilight sun behind her, accenting her golden eyes and highlighting the dust motes hanging in the air in this empty library.

As you keep watching, another slides down, followed by another. Before you know it, you closed your book, leapt up and hugged this girl. You can't bear to see her cry or look so sad. As you hold her in your arms, you can't help but notice how soft she is, and how much she smells of ink and books. It's... nostalgic, but you're not sure why, you don't remember ever spending much time around either, but you love this smell. It's calming for you.

Holding her, her hat tilts a bit as she gets comfortable in your arms. She buries her face in your shoulder as she shakes a little, and her tears start to soak your shoulder. You rub her back as the two of you stand there. After a few minutes, the shaking slows and eventually stops, and you come to your senses, stepping back and holding her shoulders with your hands.

"Sorry... I couldn't help myself... Are you ok?" you ask her, looking into her golden eyes. You lift one of your right hand from her shoulder and gently wipe her tears with your thumb.

"Yeah... Just an... old memory, I guess," she sniffles a little. "It's ok, though, I... liked it," she blushes slightly, looking down at her feet.

You nod a little at her words, and feel your face heat up seeing her face turn an adorable pink as she pulls down her hat over her face to hide the blushing.

"W-well... I don't know if it'll help the feeling, but..." you start, trying to find the words to say right now.

"What is it?" she looks back up at you, tilting her head as curiosity flashes in her eyes.

"I... I feel like... I should recognize you, but... I know I would remember seeing someone... as adorable as you," you blush more heavily as your voice trails off, and your right hand returns to her shoulder.

"Oh?" she tilts her head in the other direction and she grins again, brightly.

"Y-yeah... It's a nagging feeling, but I can't help but feel like I should know you, and do, but... I'd definitely remember you," you say as you let your arms fall back down to your side.

"Well, that's good! If I were to say something like... Porcelain dolls, or Inkwell, would that jog anything for you?" she asks, her smile brightening the room.

At the mention of dolls, an image of a room full of empty-eyed porcelain dolls, and a feeling of abject terror flashes through your mind. When she mentions "Inkwell", a vision of a small village, and a deep forest with wavering shadows and glowing golden eyes comes to mind. Your face screws up in confusion as you struggle to remember more, and try to complete the memories.

"I... definitely feel like I remember something, but I've never thought about porcelain dolls, and I've never heard of 'Inkwell' before," you look up in thought, scratching your head furiously as you try to jog literally anything.

She smiles at you, as you struggle, deep in thought.

"That's alright, I understand the feeling," she starts. "Can we chat?" she asks, her eyes glowing, as the deepening shadows around you begin to warp and waver, and the open books on the table flutter their pages in anticipation.

"I... I think I'd like that," you look back down at her, an uncertain smile spreading across your face.

"Me too! Oh! I can't wait!" the glow of her eyes reaching a fever peak. "Now, please don't freak out, ok? Nothing bad is gonna happen again," she smiles reassuringly.

"Wait... again?" you ask, a little scared now.

"Don't worry about it!" she exclaims.

You feel tendrils wrap themselves around you as the ground beneath your feet seems to soften. Looking down, you see a... portal? spread beneath your feet as you look up in fear at the girl.

"Don't worry, it'll be ok! I'll show you what's going on, ok?" she smiles at you reassuringly.

You nod at her, but can't shake the fear as you feel yourself slip into an inky darkness, the eldritch ink wrapping itself around you as everything fades from view.

This feeling only lasts a moment, though, before new sights fill your view. Looking around, you see that you're suddenly at the edge of a forest, a village in the distance to your right, and a deep, inky darkness in the forest to your left.

This all looks so familiar... The girl walks out of the shadows of the forest next to you, the golden glow of her eyes the only thing you can focus on in the setting sun.