We Are Similar

Memories pt3

Mizel sat on the small bed, the little blonde girl asleep, leaning on his side. The animals were all asleep in their little burrows outside. Everything was calm and peaceful... It was perfect.

He summoned a little ball and watched as the kids pass through the layers of memories. His eyes blinked red again. He couldn't control how the memory would show up, but he could at least alter what memory they'll see last. For them to understand why he did this, he has to show them what his sister had been through.

It was all for her own good.

~~~~~

They landed outside of the observatory at Brinton. The one Professor Yamano had been working in during the Detector Incident. They spotted a familiar blonde girl, wearing a little frilly dress and leggings. She was happily waving at a bus that had just left.

"Ah..." The professor spoke up. "This was when I left for the airport on Christmas last year."

"Last year, huh?" Ran looked up at the blonde girl. "Eva looks pretty different with short hair."

"I always wondered what she did during that time." He continued. "All she said was that you called her, Jin."

"Yeah..." The boy nodded. Meanwhile, at the back of the room, Cobra and Mongoose, who had just arrived, were glaring at each other, sweating nervously.

The blonde girl sighed. "Trying to spend Christmas with those two will be tough." She shook her head and walked into the building. Upon entering the living room, she was faced with Cobra and Mongoose arguing.

"It's a pain to decorate just for a day!" The taller one said.

"Then you can go ahead and get take out for the three of us." The redhead retorted.

"I'm not your delivery boy!"

"Well, I'm not a sloth."

"You little-! Are you calling me slow?!"

"I was going for lazy, but that works too."

"Yeah?! Well if you're gonna be like that, then what about the android?! She hardly ever does anything and she gets all the praise!"

"Jealous of a kid? That's below even you."

"You-!!!"

The blonde girl closed the door quietly. She spotted a panel next to the door frame and touched it. Sparks began to fly out and when they stopped, there was smoke. Suddenly, the two inside began panicking and arguing louder. She smiled to herself before running to her room, touching any panel she sees along the way. Once in, she locked the door and touched the panel there too. The whole building turned dark. She touched one of the lamps and it turned on. She knew that small of a light wouldn't be able to reach her door. Humming in content, she laid on her bed. Listening to the two bickering downstairs made her giggle.

"I didn't know Eva was a trouble-maker." Jessica snickered.

Jin shook his head. "She's never done that before. She never tries to cause problems for other people."

"But I can see why she would this time." Niara hinted at Prof. Yamano's agents. The two stayed quiet, not making eye contact with anybody.

"What would the key be?" Hiro asked. "The panel?"

"Could be-" Ban was interrupted by the sound of a bell.

The younger Eva took her laptop from a desk and answered it happily. "Hey Jin. Merry early Christmas!"

"Eva. Merry early Christmas to you too." Jin's younger self smiled. He blinked. "Why does it look so dark? I don't think it's night for you yet."

"Ah... there was a blackout."

"... And why do you look tired?"

"Yeah... I was running around."

"Hmm." He didn't seem convinced, but let the conversation take a turn.

Seeing the two interact, they all couldn't help but smile. Until Prof. Oozora broke the silence. "I don't mean to ruin the moment, but you should hurry and find the key."

"Well, it's either the computer or the panel." Otacross stated.

"I'm gonna say it's the computer." Ami said.

"I call dibs on the panel!" Vampire Cat went ahead and touched the panel, but nothing happened. "Dang it!"

"How did you know?" Kazuya asked.

"It's only natural." Ran said.

Jessica nodded, smiling deviously. "To Eva, a conversation with Jin is definitely more important than a revenge prank on Cobra."

"To her, nothing is more important than Kaidou." Kousuke rolled his eyes.

"Let's just move on." Triton hopped on to the bed and touched the computer, but not before letting out a small smile at their younger selves' conversation.

~~~~~

This time, they landed on grass. Looking around, they spotted a house that had all of its lights off. Before they could ask each other who's house it was, a window from the second floor opened and a duffle bag fell from it. Then, a blonde haired boy, wearing all black, climbed out and slid down the pipe. Grabbing the duffle bag, he made sure no one was looking and jumped over the fence, running towards a dome-shaped building in the distance.

"This one's one of mine." Kirito said with a sigh. "The key should be inside the house."

"That's new." Yuuya commented. "Up until now, the key had always been near the person owning the memory."

"Well, not this time." Fenrir Flare jumped on certain platforms to get in through the window, the rest following after it.

They entered a bedroom that had nearly everything you'd expect to find in there. It was like his younger self didn't take anything with him in that bag. While Kirito stayed on the windowsill to look for the item, everyone else went in and explored.

"Wow..." Asuka muttered. "I honestly expected to see coke bottles all over the place, but it's all clean."

Niara spotted a picture frame and went closer to it. He and a younger black haired boy were smiling in the photo. Her hands clenched the controls. Why would he run from such a caring family? She had never been serious about hating Kirito before, but now, she was definitely pissed.

"Found it." The blonde called the others to the bed, where a letter was partly hidden under the pillow. "We should-"

"Hey, Kirito?" The black haired boy from that same picture came in, looking confused. "Not here? That's new."

"Who's that?" Ban asked.

The blonde clicked his tounge. "My... Brother."

Sendou tensed up when he recognized the boy's face. "Wait a second, that's... Kazama Ataru?!"

"Eh-" Gouda gasped when he realized. "Isn't he one of your teammates in the 2050 Artemis?!"

"Yeah... I had no idea you were his brother though..." The purple haired boy blinked. "Then again, I haven't really talked to or even think about him or Morino since that event."

"You sacrificied your own teammates to win and yet you still lost."

"Yeah?! Well your teammate held back in the final round of the perliminaries!"

"Hey! At least we didn't try to take each other out!"

The two continued as the rest could only sigh.

Meanwhile, in the memory, Ataru had picked up the letter and begin to read it. His face went from confused to alarmed as he ran out of the room and all the way through the front door, calling his brother's name. His parents woke up, but when he told them what's wrong, they didn't seem to care.

Kirito clicked his tounge again, before touching the envelope left on the ground.