I present to you all: “See For Yourself”
author's note: i made the mistake of trying to do an audio narration of this story. it's bad but it made me laugh so hard , feel free to bully me for it https://soundcloud.com/user-247669379/see-for-yourself
“I’m so glad I managed to find you,” a voice nearby tells you. It’s Ushigome Rimi, a young girl you’ve recently met. You watch as she shreds chocolate cornet after chocolate cornet with her garbage disposal of a mouth.
A silence falls between the two of you and you direct your gaze to the ceiling. Rimi’s couch is so enormous and cushioned that it feels like, with every passing second, you’ve been sinking further and further into the thing.
“I mean, what are the odds? In these recent years, I thought I had made all of the relationships I would have ever needed… but,” Your mindless drifting is cut abrupt by her hand on her your shoulder--and when you turn, she’s looking right at you. Or… at least, Rimi’s version of staring, which is more of an awkward-somewhere-else tint than anything else.
“I… I’m probably blushing, aren’t I? Oh…” Her lips wobble and she makes these bumbling noises, as though some chocolate cornet is lodged somewhere in her throat. Is that a weird simile? Maybe, but you like it so much that you decide to run with it. “It’s just that… I’ve really never met anyone quite like you. It’s like…” She moves her hand away and sighs.
“It’s like you understand me more than anyone else ever could. We’ve been spending so much time together, but it’s all passed like a few hours. I…”
This time she looks you full-force in the eyes. Her own eyes, red with the lunacy of the moon, seem apt to wobble and shatter into a million pieces--this is the True Rimi Gaze. “I really… like you a lot, and… u-um… we should… g-go on a d-d...date!”
Your heart flutters and there’s little you need to do; the amount of enthusiasm being communicated through your face alone ought to make you a world class orator.
“Oh, thank you so much, I… I’m really excited! Here, let’s look our best before we go somewhere; I’ll do your hair, and…”
You watch as she gets up and before you know it, she’s working away at your hair with lithe digits; all twenty of them, to be sure. You melt at the sensation of what feels like a dreamland centipede dancing through your scalp.
“Here, I’ve finished,” she says while handing you a small mirror. You observe yourself. Your eyes are red with the lunacy of the moon, and your chin-length jet black hair is pulled back so that it cascades behind your head. You see a little white hair tie on the left side of your hair.
“Do you like it?” You try to speak, but it seems like you’re stuck in place. It’s not that you can’t move, but rather that you can’t fathom the idea of motion itself.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Rimi rushes around the couch and comes to grab you. She counts to three before pulling with all of her might, and you come stumbling off the couch and fall onto Rimi. The two of you help each other up, and she rushes over to the door. “Are you ready?”
You look back at the couch, curious to figure out why you couldn’t move. All you see is a human body exactly where you were sitting, and the body is being swallowed into the couch. The motion is so rapid that something is flung from the body’s clothing and lands near you; you stoop down to pick it up. It’s an ID card… the name and picture look familiar, but you’re not sure why.
“Oh, I’ll take that,” Rimi’s voice grows closer and she removes the card from your hand-- “You won’t need it anymore.” She cuts it up with a pair of scissors. There’s a lump in your throat.
“Are you ready?”
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