Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
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"It doesn't," I admitted, "but Sam seemed to think you could help us. See, she has a boy living with her who's also not from this world. She told me that she doesn't know how to perform inter...interdimensional magic, but that you could maybe help us. We just want them to be able to go home. Where they—where they belong."
My hands automatically tightened on Kakashi's shirt at my words, so I forced them to stop. I didn't want to wrinkle the poor thing and ruin it forever.
"I don't know how to do that shit, either," Bella shrugged, but it felt false. Ever since I'd mentioned Sam, Bella's casual tone sparked wrongly against the back of my neck, especially contrasted by her fearsome expression.
Finally, I stepped away from Kakashi. I felt calmer. I could see in Bella something that I often saw in myself: a lack of control. There were many things people couldn't control in life, but sometimes, these things appeared and took advantage of us when we were at our weakest. Even if we understand there are some things we have no control over, sometimes that lack of control smothers us too much to be able to gain distance. Have perspective.
"If you don't know how to do it," I paused, inhaling a long, steady breath, "then, do you know who could? Or how Kakashi and Kirishima came here in the first place? I'm actually leaving a part of our story out. There were two other people from different worlds who came to our neighborhood, but it seemed as if they were possessed by something. Possessed to destroy everything around them. These people—they became dangerous. It wasn't until Kakashi defeated them that they...vanished. But Kakashi and Kirishima aren't out of control, so the same theory doesn't seem right. What would happen if they turn their weapons on themselves? What risk would come to them if their rules for being here aren't the same as the two who were possessed?"
I felt Kakashi's eyes on me, but I pretended I didn't. We hadn't talked much about what we'd witnessed so far. I'd been pretty adamant that I didn't want to be part of the investigation. Things changed with Itachi, though, because now it doesn't feel like an accident. But all I have is fear and my ability to conceive every possible terrible scenario that exists. I can't really be helpful.
So what if Rengoku and Itachi had been under someone's control? That their orders had been to destroy? Kakashi and Kirishima were different. But the simple existence of the other two proves that 1) whoever did this isn't stopping and 2) that they're experimenting with more and more destructive forces. What if Kakashi and Kirishima were the first two attempts? What if they were the failures?
Could some witch in Mayhop be summoning fighters from different worlds for a nefarious purpose? If so, then what? And why go to such complex lengths at all?
"Wow," Bella observed, "you're really doomsday, you know that?"
I refused to acknowledge the shame her assessment gave me. "Can you help point us in the right direction or not?"
