Six Different Kinds of Love

The Ice Phantom

AKIMATO TENEBRIS
I had been stuck down for hours on end, trying my hardest to calm Mr Worrywart down.
But no matter how hard I tried I never succeeded.

It was as if this other Aki had just discovered a Big Bang or something.
I was beginning to get frustrated.

Was there even a way out of here?
And why am I even here in the first place?
Is this Hell?
Am I actually dead?
And this is supposed to be my punishment?
Stuck in a maze-like cave with some lookalike freak?
God this is the worst time to be getting angry.
I'll just have to question them.

"Oi. Uhh-Akimato. Could ya stop freaking out for just a second?"

It sounded a lot weirder to be talking to myself then I thought it would.
Well, it wasn't exactly me.
It was obvious our personalities were different...as were our pasts.

The other Aki just kept pacing the room, running back and forth, muttering words that weren't even in my vocabulary.

"M-Masaka...Sono koto nai yo! I just don't...understand..."

Don't tell me...was she speaking...Japanese?
Did that mean she knew who...Kei was as well?!

I grabbed her by the shoulder and looked her dead into her panick-filled eyes.

"D-Don't tell me...D-Do you know someone who goes by the name of...Kei Yukan...?"

Her panicked eyes only widened even more, her awe struck expression causing her face to sweat even more.

"No! Stop! Not this...anything but this!"

She looked at me as if I was torturing her, forcing her to sell out her soul to some...'identity theif'.

Tears started to form in her tinted red eyes.
I wasn't even sure as to what was going on at this point.
I just really wanted to go home.
I needed answers.
An explanation of some sort.
And she seemed to be the only person who knew.
But how am I supposed to get anything out of her when she's like this...?
And when she's like...me.
Confusion didn't even begin to describe what I was feeling.
I had just about given up.
I was too empty, too hollow to even have the strength to find a way out of here.
I spoke weakly, my voice and facial expression revealing any hints on vulnerability that were starting to poke through my tough masquerade act.

"Hey...Aki. Please, calm down...I'm just as freaked out as you are."

She didn't listen.
Instead, she suddenly lost all courage to even hold herself up.
Almost passing out, her body collapsed into my arms, the weight of it as empty and lifeless as a rag doll.
I didn't even try to wake her up.
I knew how she felt.
Nothing that's happened to me so far has been normal, has it?
I knew.
I knew ever since the beginning.
But the thought refused to cross my mind.
I was too afraid to accept it.
The fact that I'm not human.
It's been there for so long...I just always pushed it away, not realising what the hell was going on around me.

If this Akimato knew the girls...
Then...
No.
That couldn't be possible even if I wanted to believe it.

And as much as I tried, I couldn't seem to get the horrid thought out of my head.

The fact that...There might just be...A whole other world out there.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
LENA DERALTO
My mind was spinning.
I was still so dazed and in shock after what had just happened.
But Akimato...was gone.