Day 29: The Day After

Kiara rolled around in her bed all night, unable to sleep. Despite the fact that she was alive again in the same dimension by some miracle, she couldn't help but feel worried. She was giddy that she got to stay in this dimension, but also anxious as well. She cupped her hands in front of her and a small flame flared to light. The flame grew for a couple seconds before subsiding to reveal a small box, orange and blue in color.

"Should I do it?" She tapped the top of the box with her finger, causing the box to open. The box contained a skull shaped ring with two rubies encrusted in the eye sockets and two bigger rubies encrusted on either side of the skull. She knew diamonds were traditional for weddings, but she felt that Calli would like the ring that she ordered rather than a standard diamond ring.

'C'mon Kiara! You've been fawning over this chick for thousands of years! There's no time like the present!' Kiara closed the box, letting it dissolve into flames again before standing up. 'Yep! Today is the day!'

-

Calli sat on her gaming chair, looking at the tiny, black box. She sighed, opening the box. The small box revealed a beautiful ring with little, orange wings and a golden outline. In between the wings was a diamond shaped diamond which was tinted cyan. Kiara's brush with death made Calli think. Kiara's dimension hopping was… complicated to say the least. There was always a chance for a Kiara to appear in any given timeline, but there's a chance that it would be her Kiara. Well, it's never her Kiara, but this time, a miracle happened. She didn't know if someone pulled some strings, but no matter the reason, she was forever grateful.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Calli sighed. She didn't know if something was going to happen, so she might as well do it now. She's spent the last few thousand years struggling with her feelings for the stupid bird. Maybe it was finally time to admit that she loved her.

-

"Wake up, asshole!" Ryan groaned as consciousness hit him like a bullet to the head.

'Damn,' Ryan sat up, rubbing his head. 'I wasn't dreaming.'

"Damn right it wasn't a dream, now get up!" Edhas shouted in his head.

'You know, I always thought that my other half would be the quiet badass type,' Ryan opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings. He seemed to be in his room back in Japan. 'How long was I out for?'

"A bit over fifteen hours," Edhas replied. "Those girls that were carrying you back were talking about meeting at a… KFP? Yeah, that's what they called it. Sounds like a shitty ripoff of KFC."

'I have no idea what you're talking about,' Ryan thought to himself as he forced himself up, resisting the urge to groan as his aches flared. 'Do I have to go?'

"For all intensive purposes, you were in a coma," Edhas replied. "If you want, I can make that a reality."

'Can it,' Ryan thought as he opened the door to his apartment.

-

"Hey Calli!" Kiara exclaimed as Calli walked into the KFP through her typical black mist. "You're early!"

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, Kusotori," Calli's expression turned serious.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something too," Kiara said, sweating bullets. What did Calli want to talk to her about? Was she in trouble? Did she have to go? No matter, as long as she got to propose, but she was scared. Maybe she could stall for time. "But you can go first. It's not like I have anything important to say."

"No, I think you should go first," Calli replied. Calli resisted the urge to shuffle nervously. She didn't want to admit her feelings. Not yet. Sure, Kiara flirted with her a lot, but did she really love Calli?

"How about we to at the same time," Kiara said. "On the count of three. One… two… three..!"

The two lovebirds pulled out their ring boxes at the same time. "Will you marry-," they both stopped when they saw the boxes the other held. "What the hell?!"

Suddenly, the sound of a camera shutter caught Calli and Kiara's attention. They turned to see Ryan pointing his phone camera at them. "Oh," Ryan said, pocketing his phone. "I'm not here. Carry on."

"You really want to marry me?!" Kiara turned back to Calli. Ryan was the least of her problems now. Sure, she was happy that he was safe and awake, but Calli just proposed.

"No shit, Kusotori!" Calli snapped, her face beet red. "Who else was I going to marry?!"

"Oh, I'm so happy!" Kiara tackled her now fiancée, pulling her into a kiss.

"Looks like I missed the action," Amelia said, talking her place next to Ryan. "Nice to see you're alright, Ryan."

"Alright isn't exactly what I'd use to describe my mental state," Ryan deadpanned. "I was able to get a couple pictures if you want them."

"Hell. Yes," Amelia smirked evilly. "The more blackmail material, the better."

"Don't worry, Ina sent me some blackmail material for you and Gura," Ryan mimicked Amelia's evil smirk. "Speaking of which, where's your better half?"

"OOCHA!" Gura dived through the doors, wrapping her arms around Amelia's shoulders. "Right here, matey!"

"Matey?" Ryan echoed, confused.

"She's been spending too much time with Senchou," Amelia replied. Ryan heard Kiara calling Marine Senchou more than once, so he just used his context clues.

"I see," Ryan nodded, when he did in fact, not see.

"Morning!" Ina walked into the KFP. "It's nice to see you alive and well Ryan. You slept like the dead yesterday."

"Very funny," Ryan deadpanned, turning to her as to avoid the loud snogging that was going on behind him.

"What did I miss?" Ina asked.

"Calli and Tenchou are getting married, apparently," Ryan replied. "About fucking time, too."

"I guess that makes us the only loners in this group," Ina gigged. "I mean, we were loners from the start."

"I'm not complaining," Ryan sighed. "I already have another half of me to deal with."

"Speaking of which," Kiara managed to detach herself from Calli's lips. "You promised to tell me those juicy secrets yesterday, but you ended up passing out."

"I guess a promise is a promise," Ryan sighed, turning to Amelia. "You're okay with this, right?"

"I mean they deserve to know," Amelia replied.

"Alright, the truth is, Ame and I are from the future," Ryan said. "Well, it's not the future anymore. Technically, we travelled from yesterday to two weeks ago. In our original time, things weren't nearly as eventful as this time around. The MILF raid last week succeeded, and it turned into a non-issue and yesterday…"

"What happened yesterday in your time?" Kiara asked as Ryan trailed off.

"Ame, can you explain this one?" Ryan shuffled uncomfortably. "I was kind of…"

"Dead," Amelia finished. "Ryan was shot in the head. A bunch of people came here to celebrate Ryan's two weeks of employment when MILF raided, killing almost everyone. Honestly, I don't know who survived and who died. I just used my clock and boom. I was in the past. Apparently, Ryan had his memories too. That's why I was acting weird during the grand opening and why Ryan was the one to comfort me."

"That…" Kiara paused, looking for the right words. There was a tense silence for what felt like hours.

"You sure this was the right idea, champ?" Edhas asked.

'Now you decide to pop in?' Ryan asked. 'And what's with the champ? Where's your usual attitude?'

"Look, I'm really trying my best to understand your predicament right now. I've divulged secrets before and a lot of people didn't really take it well," Edhas said. "I want to see what you stopped me from destroying everything"

"Honestly, I don't know what to say," Kiara offered Ryan a soft smile. "But since you decided to come back, we must have been friends back then too, right?"

Ryan smiled, tears welling up in his eyes. "You've always been my best friend, both in the past life and this one."

"Then come here," Kiara spread her arms, inviting him into a hug. Ryan sniffled.

"You know, this crowd seems alright," Edhas said.

'Damn straight,' Ryan thought as he hugged his boss before he could let the tears flow freely.

"Thank you Tenchou," Ryan said, his face buried in her shoulder.

"No problem," Kiara stroked Ryan's hair comfortingly. "Anything for my little egg."

"You know, I'll let it slide, just this once," Ryan said, causing everyone to laugh.

-

It took a couple minutes for Ryan to recover, but he eventually pulled away. "Sorry for stealing your fiancée like that," Ryan joked.

"It's fine, Kusotori is allowed to have friends," Calli said. "Plus, I know you wouldn't try to hook up with her."

"You sure about that~?" Kiara leaned over and winked seductively, her hands behind her back.

"Positive," Ryan deadpanned. As they were conversing, the door opened. Ryan turned to see all of the Masked Mages. Shade, Jack, Sabrina, Brianna, Reporter, and Storm walked into the restaurant.

"Damn, they look terrible," Edhas said in Ryan's head. "I've always been against those stupid masks. They look dumb as shit."

'You were a part of them?' Ryan asked.

"Of course," Ryan could hear the smugness in Edhas's tone. "I was the strongest."

'I have reason to believe otherwise,' Ryan said.

"What's up?" Ryan waved his hand. "Tenchou, are we open?"

"No…" Kiara said. "How did you guys get in here? I restricted the barrier this morning."

"It was Storm," All the Mask Mages including Ryan said in unison.

"What?" Storm asked innocently as everyone shot him a glare.

"We won't be here for long," Shade raised his hand sightly. "We just wanted to notify Ryan here that we're all going to be leaving Japan for the time being."

"You seem like a good drinking buddy, pal," Jack walked up to Ryan and gave him a firm handshake. "Maybe I'll stop by every now and then."

"Sorry, Jack, I can't drink on the job," Ryan said.

"Sucks," Jack sighed.

"You've changed since I last saw you," Sabrina said. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks," Ryan smiled. "It truly does mean a lot, Sabrina."

Sabrina then turned to Kiara. "I trust you to keep him out of trouble when I'm in America."

"You bet!" Kiara put a hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"As much as I want to meet the new you, I need to reintegrate myself back into society now that I'm alive," Brianna smiled. "I'm going to be going to college with Sabrina, but I'll be sure to stop by every now and then to check up on you."

"I would love to get the chance to meet you," Ryan replied. "Honestly, I've always wanted a sister."

Jack, Brianna and Sabrina jumped slightly at the realization that Ryan remembered who Sabrina said, but Reporter, Shade, and Storm looked like they already knew. "Say hi to aniki for me, eh Ryan?" Reporter put a hand on Ryan's shoulder.

"I know your situation is complicated, but it's something you have to work out for yourself," Storm said. "The void calls us back. We cannot help any more than we already have."

"As much of an asshole as you are, I'm going to miss you, Storm," Ryan smirked. Storm offered a curt nod in response.

"Before we go, Ryan, I would like to give you this," Shade gave Ryan a mask. Ryan looked at it, tracing his fingers across the giant number 5. "You'll always have a place with us."

"Let me take control for a second," Edhas said in his head. "I want to say something."

'How do I do that?' Ryan asked.

"Just let me deal with this," Edhas said. Suddenly, Ryan lost control of his body. He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't budge. He was fearful, but he had no point but to trust his other half.

"Thanks, but Edhas these masks are fucking stupid!" Ryan heard his own voice said. He saw a couple of them stiffen before vanishing, leaving only Shade, who turned around to face him.

"It's good to have you back," he said before vanishing with the rest of them. As he did, Ryan lurched forward, suddenly gaining control of his body again.

"Are you okay?" Kiara asked, looking at him with worried.

"Yeah, I'm just getting used to my… situation," Ryan gave Kiara a kind smile.

"I'm not a situation, asshole!" Edhas snapped. Ryan sighed. This was going to get some taking used to.

-

"Hey, Kusotori," Kiara yelped when Calli was already in her apartment when she opened the door.

"Calli! What a pleasant surprise!" Kiara smiled. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you," Calli walked over, pulling Kiara into a hug. "I just want you."

"W-what?!" Kiara's face flushed a deep red as Calli tightened her embrace. "C-Calli?!"

"I've spent all this time putting my work over my feelings. I've always tried to keep people at an arm's length, so I didn't falter in my work. When you died yesterday, I realized how dumb off me it was," Calli pulled away, holding Kiara's face in her hands, her lips softly curling upwards. "I know I'm not too good all of this, but I'll try my best. I hope you'll have me."

"Have you?" Kiara grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into a kiss, resting her other arm on Calli's shoulder. "Let me take you right now."

"Take me?" Calli tilted her head in confusion. "Like on a date? Where do you want to go? I have tomorrow off, so I was just thinking of chilling with some wine."

"What-?" Kiara was taken aback by Calli's response as she wanted to do something very bottom left with her fiancée, but sometimes the Shinigami was too pure for her own good. She sighed, offering Calli a smile. "Nevermind. I would love to do that."