[Private Level 2 to basically everyone Tachibana knows well]

[triggerhappytraitor]

Sayoko--

This world's Sayoko is here. Alive.

[[There might be a bit of a note of panic in his mental voice]]

She saw me. Recognized me...!

....and she's a Pillar.



[[Anyone who comes looking will find him in the garage, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, Garren hovering worriedly at his side.]]

Comments

[summerorange]

Sayoko-san...!? Is she still with you?

[She's not sure if she should ask if this version of her is a fellow Rider...yet...but just the fact that he's talking on the Network alone is alarming enough]

[triggerhappytraitor]

No.

...I panicked and ran away.

[summerorange]

...Tachibana-san...

[She understands why he would panic. It's the 'running away' part that has some exasperation mixed into her concerned tone.]

Where are you now? And is your partner with you?

[triggerhappytraitor]

At the garage.

He was on my shoulders when I teleported.

[summerorange]

Good. We'll be there soon. Just...try and take deep breaths.

[She's already moving as she 'speaks' on the Network, her (normally tiny) partner fluttering alongside her.]

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[Deep breaths won't do a thing to stop the tumbling turmoil of thoughts and emotions he's trying to sort through.

Garren is in the doorway when they get near and waves frantically at them.]]

[summerorange]

[Kivaara smiles reassuringly at the little Pogemon - though it's obvious to see that she's the Spirit Animal to Natsumi's Champion, judging by how much larger and fancier she looks than her cute, tiny self. She flaps down around Garren's level so that he could hug and sign to her as needed.

Natsumi herself heads over to the couch, her own cape flowing from her worried movements. She starts to speak...but then stops as she moves closer to him. If there's a nearby chair, she'll sit in that; otherwise, she'd just hover worringly around his couch.]

...Sayoko-san...I know it must've been a shock, seeing one of her counterparts here. But...you mentioned that she...recognized you...

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[There's a small table where Garren's storybooks are, but only the couch for sitting.

Tachibana looked up briefly, before nodding, looking away again.]]

Could see it in her face, her everything...

[summerorange]

[Welp. Concerned hovering, it is.]

Did she say anything to you? Or do anything towards you before you...left?

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[There's an almost pained wince before he shakes his head]]

...I teleported away before she could say anything.

[[And he feels like an ass for it]]

[summerorange]

[A small, brief sigh beneath her breath...but more out of sympathy than frustration. She reaches out to gently put a comforting hand on his shoulder.]

Tachibana-san...I don't think she's that upset with you for doing so. Maybe worried and confused, but not...well, angry.

[And then she pauses as she remembers another thing:]

You said before that she's a...Pillar?

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[a nod]]

...someone who's lost hope.

[summerorange]

And for her to be like that...

[She lets the implications hang in the air for several moments, feeling her own heart sink. It's Kivaara who eventually breaks the silence.]

No living counterpart~, then?

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[He's unhappily silent a long moment.]]

I've always had an overlay in the worlds she's been alive....

[summerorange]

And you're still yourself in this world...

[A heavy pause, before she slowly sits next to her fellow Rider.]

Even if...if you two are from different worlds... wouldn't you both want to speak to each other? Just once?

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[He looks horribly torn, lips pressed together as he tries not to fidget]]

...Wouldn't that just be more cruel...? To give her the illusion of something that isn't even the person she expects, only to just leave again...?

[summerorange]

[Natsumi shakes her head after a moment's thought.]

It would only be more cruel if she never saw you again, after disappearing like that. At the least...at least you both could try and get some kind of closure.

[triggerhappytraitor]

[[He was quiet a long moment, awkwardly fidgeting with his hands.]]

...do you think it's possible? Something like that...

[summerorange]

I do...I believe that it's possible. At least try...for her sake, if not your own.