VIII (Aoi Kurashiki x Reader)

VII

Enjoy! I've gotten really far on the story and even though not many people read this, I still have fun writing for it.

(Y/N) forcefully stuck the key into the display case and retrieved the tile. "Here." She mumbled, tossing the tile in Junpei's direction.

Easily catching the square, Junpei thanked her and headed back towards the bathroom. Nothing else to do, (Y/N) and Santa followed suit.

In mere seconds the picture was completed and Junpei slid the painting aside to reveal a hole in the wall resembling that of a hidden safe. Junpei reached a hand inside retreating with a key. "Is that the Mar's key?" Santa leaned in, trying to get a look at the key's symbol.

"Looks like it." Junpei nodded, holding the key out for him to see.

As the two poked at the key, something else caught (Y/N)'s eyes. It resembled one of those blotchy paintings therapists show you. The ones where you're asked to say what it looks like. Having never been to a therapist before, the vague memory was odd. "What's the deal with this picture anyway?" Santa questioned, noticing (Y/N)'s captivation with it.

"Um...I think I've seen it before." She replied, lightly nudging Santa. In this moment they felt so close like it was just the two of them. His blue eyes looking down at her in endearment. (Y/N) coughed, breaking the moment. "In a book. Well, my dad's book but..." Pressing her index finger against the rough texture of the painting she squeezed her eyes shut. "There's a British biochemist named Sheldrake. This picture was in his book."

"What's the book about?" Junpei inquired, siding next to the shorter girl.

"Morphogenetic field, it relies on the theory of morphic resonance." Junpei raised a brow, conveying his surprise. (Y/N) blushed, twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "My dad just...he was a scientist. He was big on conspiracy theories and stuff. More into pseudoscience."

"Just listening to you talk about this is giving me a headache." Santa groaned pressing his hands against his temples.

"Actually, it's not a difficult concept to grasp. To put it simply, it's the belief that living organisms and their behavioral patterns are transmitted through a field not visible to the eye."

Santa smirked. "What part of that is simple, exactly?"

(Y/N) wasn't pleased. "Fine, Theory of the Telepathic Mechanism?" She felt like a nerd spouting all this nonsense, but she couldn't help it, this 'nonsense' took up a huge chunk of her childhood.

Santa gaped, "Telepathy?"

"Close enough."

The boy burst into laughter, yet again. (Y/N) hadn't minded before but now she felt embarrassed. "Who do you think we are? Kids from the seventies? I can't believe people do actual research on stuff like that."

"I know." She was sure the boys had expected her to retort back but she agreed. Her dad's whole life was based around silly conjecture, if anything she should wholeheartedly believe in stuff like that. But that just wasn't how she saw things. Sure, they were fun to conspire about but when it came down to it they were never proven to be real. She was like her mother in that way. Always needing solid proof.

"I read the book but I never said I understood any of it. There's no science to it, I'm sure. But still..." Deep down in her, there was something that wanted to believe it. "Anyway, there was a picture like that in the book." (Y/N) motioned towards the painting on the wall. "What does it look like?"

Santa was the first to answer. "Wadda ya mean, Vi? Isn't it abstract, or something like that? It's just black and white scribbles, there's no meaning to it."