Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

63

The front door closed with a click. As he slipped his shoes off, Baji let out a sigh of content. After riding home in the heat, it felt like heaven walking into an air-conditioned house. As he stepped out of the walk-in area, he announced his preacence, not expecting anything back.

"Welcome back," Danaju replied tiredly from a mound of blankets on the couch.

Looking at the TV, Baji saw that some random old crime documentary was playing. "What happened?" he asked, taking a seat near the part of the mound he figured was her head.

Bundling herself tighter, she let out a groan. "Don' wanna talk about it..."

"Will cuddles help?"

"... maybe..."

"Well?" he voiced when she didn't move.

Almost reluctantly, she scooted the pile enough to where her head was somewhat resting on his lap.

"Come on, I wanna see my beautiful girl's face. Can you do that for me, Baby?"

His words instantly made her face and ears heat up, but she complied. Somewhat. Instead of letting him see her face, she buried it in his stomach.

Running his hand lightly through her hair, Baji let out a small breath. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was close enough for now. "Do you wanna tell me what happened now?"

"Take and I got into it," she quietly answered after a few moments. "He said I didn't change much from highschool."

Baji nodded before asking, "Do you think that's the case?"

Finally, Danaju sat up, letting Baji see her face. Aside from the dark circles she had for the past few days, her eyes and nose were red from crying. She didn't let him look for too long though because she quickly cuddled into his side, burying her face in his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him, to which he returned. "I don't know..." she whispered. "He's the only one that would know now, so I just have to take his word for it."

"What do you mean that he's the only one that would know?"

For a few moments, Danaju went quiet. Before all the time travel stuff happened, Sayu was the only one who knew what happened. After changing the future so much though, not even she knew. Danaju was the only one. "I... You remember when I told you that I nearly killed someone, right?" she asked, earning an affirming hum from the man. "Well, I had the choice of either being locked up for ten years or going to therapy. I still valued my freedom, so I chose the latter. I don't remember exactly how long it was, but I went through electro-shock therapy. The kind of treatment that makes you forget things. It ended up erasing most of my highschool days, even some stuff before that. I still remember stuff here and there, but not enough to matter. There's a chance I'll remember someone if they made an impression on me then, but it's no guarantee. Hell, that's probably the reason I forgot I was in a gang before Toman too. So, if Take says I'm like what I was back then, then he's probably right. I can't rely on myself or Sayu to judge what he says. Neither of us remembers, after all."

"If he knows how you feel about that stuff, it's still shitty of him to say that," he responded when she didn't say anything else.

She let out a sleepy hum as she felt her eyelids growing heavier by the second. When was the last time I slept? Three days ago... Four, maybe? Shit, I really haven't been taking care of myself... She could hear Baji saying something but couldn't make out anything through the fog that seemed to take over her mind. By now, she was beyond tired, and being in his arms just served to relax her more. 

And... she's out. Finally, he thought as he let out a sigh. If there was one thing that never changed over the years and between the two versions of the girl he loved, it was that she'd overwork herself when she was deadset on something. Usually, it was bursts of energy that resulted in twenty or more chapters getting done for her manga, but now it's all about finding out why Mikey left them all. "Left" was the gentle way of saying it though, in reality, Mikey forced them all away. He forced them to give up on him. Shaking his head, he let his eyes close as he leaned his head on Danaju's. "It'll all work out in the end... I know it will."