Blame

Her eyes bore into the time singularity, suspended in a nonconductive plexiglass container crackling with electric energy. She reverse sat on an office chair, placing the lower half of her face underneath the top rail to hide it. There was no urge to blink for an entire two minutes; her eyes were lost in the center of the singularity where flashing lights stunned her momentarily. Her breathing was shallow, and her shaded eyes drooped from a lack of sleep.

The evidence room's front doors opened and Jinni peeked her head inside. Prioritizing cooking and cleaning, she entered with a white cat-themed apron. Despite this, she had been doing regular check-ups on Sophie's condition every twenty minutes, and each time she returned, Sophie was stuck in the same position. Worried that Sophie would be persistently depressed for the night, she decided to interfere with the hopes of altering that fate.

"Are you hungry, Sophie?" Jinni asked, walking into the overly darkened room with her palms on her lap. "I made some zucchini salad with kale. È delizioso. Do you want some?"

Sophie shook her head without turning her eyes away from the singularity.

Her response caused Jinni to lower her eyebrows, still concerned for Sophie's mental health. She approached her and placed her palm on her weak shoulder. "Sophie, you need to eat," She pleaded. "Worrying about Star will do no good for your health. You have to eat to keep up your strength!"

"I'm not worried about Star," Sophie admitted, mumbling to Jinni. "I'm worried about myself and how I'll deal with this. The more I think about it, the more hopeless I feel."

Jinni looked away and nodded, understanding Sophie's pain. She sat in another office chair beside Sophie and scooted herself over to watch the singularity together. "I know it hurts," Jinni said. "It still does for me too."

"Were you and Star close?" Sophie asked, tilting her head.

"No. Non lei," Jinni denied. "From the moment I met you, I knew that you were one of the most important people in my life. You are Naoto's sister, and his stories about you never escaped my mind. That meant all the stories of him regretting his decisions to find you hurt me too."

"Naoto..." Sophie said, lightly chuckling at the thought of her little brother. "He talked about me a lot, didn't he?"

"More than you know, certo," Jinni said. "But I think... that every time that he thought of you and every time he was reminded of you, he gained the courage to find and face you after holding back for so long. I am proud of him for that, but it still hurts me because your pain is my pain. It has been like that ever since I met Naoto."

"It's like I've been here ever since you met him," Sophie said. "But you don't need to make my pain yours. There are better things to do than wallow it all up when you're not responsible."

"I... feel responsible," Jinni stated. "I had a brother who met the same fate of an unfortunate death. Our leader, Rose Accel, employed my brother for his wonderful talent for crafting. He could build anything that he set his mind to, and he could build it with inescapable passion. He was my superhero. Not only did he build equipment for Sunlight, but he spent time with me in my designer job every evening when I worked graveyard."

"That sounds intense," Sophie said, surprised by Jinni's brother's commitment to his art. "How did he... die?"

"La verità..." Jinni whispered, placing her knuckles over her mouth. "He chose me over his passion in the end. I was very ill one day, and he abandoned a project that he was making just to take care of me. I remember how happy he was to see me laying in that hospital bed. He would always bring flowers and chocolates for me, così bello. So beautiful."

"And then?" Sophie asked.

"He caught my illness," Jinni said, holding in her emotion. "Rose Accel pressured him to work on his project, a superweapon in the form of a dragon even though he was ill. After I was better, I visited him. He was very weak, and he would sometimes be too weak that he would forget one step after another or the steps that he had taken to master his craft. When my brother was altering and testing the dragon, it collapsed on him and crushed him to death. I watched it all happen."

"Oh..." Sophie said, burying her face in the office chair at the bombshell of her brother's passing. "I'm sorry. That was a tragedy..."

"È stata colpa mia. It was my fault," Jinni explained. "It was my fault that I had gotten him ill, and the pressure from his passion killed him. Rose Accel buried him and the dragon in a junkyard of scrap... until a few months ago, the enemy that we had faced retrieved the dragon from the ground."

"The enemy we faced...?" Sophie was shocked. "Lucine? You mean your brother built the Melody Dragon?"

"Certo," Jinni nodded. "I should have stopped him from doing such dangerous tasks. I should have convinced him to stay with me. I should have never let him go on his own. È state... colpa mia..."

"You keep saying that you should have done this, you should have done that," Sophie pointed out. "But how were you supposed to know that it would happen to him? How were you supposed to know you would get sick and pass it onto him? How would you have known that the dragon would fall on him?"

"Non lo so. I don't know," Jinni admitted. "But I blame myself, and I can never forget it. My decisions led to his death, and that is all I know. All decisions lead to another... and sometimes, it either leads to peace or death," She placed her palm on Sophie's leg. "But I know that Star is still alive, and you have a chance to decide to save her."

"How? How can we save her?" Sophie asked.

"Young Goro said that the memory fragment is still intact," Jinni explained. "If we can get it back, we can save Star and wake her up. And because of this, I will help you."

"Wait, what?" Sophie asked, shocked at her decision. "You want to help us find Star's fragment?"

"Because I know how important she is to you," Jinni said. "If we do, you can be happy. You don't have to be like me-"

"Stop that," Sophie complained, gently slapping Jinni's hand. "You don't have to label yourself a failure just because of your brother's accident. You still can make decisions to change all of that, and that's to understand that you didn't have any wrong in it. If your brother was still alive, I know he would understand because he loved you."

"Sophie..." Jinni whispered, sighing and looking down at her lap. "I am sorry. To admit, I am jealous of you and Naoto, because you both have been getting along. And I... I don't have a chance to do the same to my brother."

"And you don't have to," Sophie said. "Naoto is the only person that you need on your side. He cares so much about you that he listened to you and found me again. Isn't that enough?"

"I..." Jinni's frail voice uttered no words.

"Don't you... love Naoto?" Sophie asked.

The center of Jinni's face heated up in embarrassment, forcing her to gasp in fright as she turned away. Her heart palpitated viciously, aware of the sentiment that Naoto had brought into her life. She looked at Sophie, wondering if she could even consider herself someone who could love. Before she could speak the truth, the double doors in the evidence room opened; Goro stood with his hands casually in his pockets.

"Apologies," Goro's deeper than usual voice hinted that he had awakened from sleep, despite it being midnight. "I need to speak to Sophie Hiragi. Do you mind?" He asked Jinni.

"No, not at all," Jinni said, believing it was the perfect opportunity for their conversation to stop. She politely bowed to Sophie and exited the room, returning to the kitchen to wrap the zucchini and kale salad.

Goro approached Sophie with his hands still in his pockets, gazing into the singularity the same way that Sophie had been for hours. "How long have you been here?" He asked, curling his eyebrows down awaiting an answer.

"A few hours," Sophie said.

"What a waste of a few hours," Goro impertinently said. "You could have spent this time resting because I've slept this entire afternoon just to be awake for the rest of the morning. I've made a decision."

"A decision? On what?" Sophie asked.

"I'm going to save Star," He said, continuing to examine the properties of the time singularity through the nonconductive plexiglass. "I have plans on taking this singularity and transforming it into a weapon we can use to fight against the one who stole her memory fragment. Its properties are beyond my imagination, and with the right technology, we can use it against him."

"Jinni said that you had a plan," Sophie said, standing up from her office chair. The fatigue that she endured throughout the night struck her in the spine and knees, making her regret sitting alone in the first place. "Was this it?"

"Do you have any other means of rescuing her life?" Goro asked, side-eying Sophie bluntly with an impatient attitude. "I have been injured by the singularity, without a doubt, utilizing it with the purpose of our unconditional means of escape. But if we are able to contain its negative after-effects, then we may be able to safely use it to travel through dimensions and save Star. That is why I want to build this weapon with Miss Cagliostro. From what I know, she is a masterful designer, just like her brother."

"You... you heard us talking about him, didn't you?" Sophie asked.

"It was difficult not to," Goro admitted. "As I stated before, I am a detective. Everything and everyone is information to my ears. Although he did meet an unwise and tragic fate, I believe his legacy lives on in his sister. I will attempt to convince Miss Cagliostro in building his contraption, and you will assist me in persuading her."

"I... I really do want to do this," Sophie stated, regaining some confidence in her heart to stop history from repeating itself. Hearing Jinni's tragic story about her brother vivified and augmented her reasons and horizons for saving Star. With how much Sophie truly meant to Jinni in the first place, her safety and success meant Jinni would cause her to rejoice about her self-contained fears. "But, all I do is run away. I used a nanosuit before, but I'm an amateur. Even with my fighting skills, I couldn't possibly fight that lion-masked freak by myself."

"Surely you can't be this clueless about why I require you in the first place," Goro expressed, disappointed in her response. "I want you to wield this time singularity as a weapon."

"M-Me?" Sophie asked. "Why me?"

Goro sighed, annoyed by how poor Sophie's memory was. "Are you seriously asking me this? If not for you, we would have been trapped in that dimensional medium for God knows how long. If I were to use the singularity, do you think my mind would be able to handle that amount of pressure? Do you think my body is fit for combat? It would only make sense for you to do so unless my choice is incorrect."

"No!" Sophie shouted, standing in front of Goro to lay down her stance. "No, I... I want to do it. I want to fight. I want to save Star, and I want to make that thief pay for what he did to her."

"Then we must consult Miss Cagliostro and the monkey," Goro said, walking back toward the double doors. "You need rest. I will consult her about the decision. And when the time comes, do try that zucchini and kale salad. Miss Cagliostro is an excellent cook." He voiced his expressive opinion for the first time, moving away from the entrance to conduct his rescue plan.

Sophie's heart throbbed, turning back toward the singularity. She placed her left palm on the plexiglass, imagining her utilizing its time-altering powers to seek vengeance. Now, besides Star, she had more people that she wanted to fight for and become their savior for confidence, Jinni, and Naoto. She glanced down at her redefined appearance: the white-collared dress shirt, black jacket, black pants, and her elongated brown ponytail.

It was time for her to redefine her purpose to stop history from repeating herself. Perhaps this newfound power and confidence could assist her, she thought. As Sophie clenched her fist that she touched the plexiglass with, she knew that Jinni's brother and Star's loss would not be in vain; she still had a chance to redeem herself.