In The Past

  The Last 10 Years

  Returning in time to the moment when it would finally be Sophia's turn to leave her mother's womb, after Victoria's birth had occurred successfully.

  Something strange happened - not a distortion localized in the hospital itself, but in the entirety of the reality that encompassed that universe.

  [Echoing Voices Of Victoria & Sophia As Crying Infants, Coming From Infinite Simultaneous Realities]

  That distortion in reality was something that should never have occurred with such intensity, to the point of affecting entire existences.

  Yet, for some reason, it happened during the birth of the twin sisters. It resulted in Sophia's essence becoming mixed with that of her sister, Victoria.

  [Distorted Echoing Cries Of Infant Sophia, Coming From Infinite Simultaneous Realities]

  Sophia's biological body was disintegrated across all simultaneous realities in which she existed, before she could even be born.

  Her existence in the womb was forgotten by everyone - including her own mother and anyone who had ever known of her.

  Her essence was merged, yet prevented from fully fusing into a single entity with that of her twin sister, Victoria, who emerged unharmed from that frightening distortion of reality in contrast to Sophia's fate.

  [Distorted & Muffled Echoing Cries Of Infant Sophia, Coming From Infinite Simultaneous Realities]

  The unexpected mixing of their essences resulted in Sophia managing to retain at least her independence, even while entangled with her sister's.

  It was as if both essences belonged to the same existence, yet simultaneously contained distinct sides.

  [Gradually Fading Echoing Cries Of infant Sophia, Coming From Infinite Simultaneous Realities]

  After this, before Sophia could even be removed from her mother's womb, her existence was forgotten by all who once knew of her presence in that world - and in all simultaneous existences.

  Victoria, in this case, was the only one who, even as a newborn crying in her mother's arms in the delivery room, sensed the absence of Sophia's physical presence beside her.

  However, she retained no memory of the mental experiences the two had shared in the womb throughout the entire pregnancy.

  Meanwhile, young Sophia remained asleep for ten years after the birth - alone in that once-dark place which revealed itself to be nothing less than the deepest layer of her sister Victoria's mind.

  During the distortion of reality, Victoria had instinctively protected her younger sister, placing her in a safe place within her own mind.

  Throughout this time of slumber, Sophia's essence - along with Victoria's - could no longer synchronize even once, as it had always done throughout their gestation.

  This prevented both of them from remembering each other clearly. During all those ten years, as she grew, Victoria felt Sophia's presence.

  But she could never understand what those sensations were - sensations so unique and, at the same time, so special, like a breeze that kept her from feeling alone whenever she was afraid.

  What neither of them knew during this time was that, to finally achieve full synchronization of their essences, Victoria needed to experience a feeling both deeply intense and deeply meaningful.

  This requirement was gradually fulfilled through nothing less than the gentle blossoming of her first love during childhood - at age six turning seven - for her first best friend, Téo.

  That complex feeling, still fragile within her young heart, was nurtured more and more over the months through Victoria's bond with Téo - until he vanished for three long years.

  He disappeared after using his Oculi abilities for the first time as a child, to save Victoria from losing her life right before his eyes during the violent earthquake that struck the city.

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  Which triggered the subsequent collapse of the shopping mall. Both were only seven years old at the time, on a school trip they were attending together.

  And throughout those three long years, the gentle embers of her first love - the love she felt for Téo, who had mysteriously disappeared after saving her - remained alive.

  When Téo finally returned, after spending three long years in the non-physical world fighting for his life from age seven to ten, he became the effective trigger.

  As the weeks passed after his return to the physical world and his renewed daily encounters with Victoria at school - and also outside of it, where they played and talked together.

  Their feelings for each other grew deeper and deeper without either of them realizing it at first, though both felt those unique sensations of tightness in the chest whenever they were together.

  Thus, the requirement necessary for Sophia to be awakened from her long slumber in the deepest part of Victoria's mind was finally achieved - at the exact decisive moment when Victoria.

  Nearly eleven years old and still too innocent to fully understand the love she felt for Téo, even while embarrassed to say it, ended up confessing her feelings to him during the fireworks show a few days earlier at the amusement park.

  After that, without Victoria even noticing it, faint cracks appeared within the darkness, allowing delicate beams of light to enter the place where Sophia slept.

  She same place where she had developed mentally in parallel with Victoria throughout all that time.

  A Few Moments Later

  Still Inside Victoria's Mind

  Sophia, after remembering all of that so vividly and no longer in fragments, simply looked upward while still holding her sister, Victoria, in her arms.

  Above them, the beautiful blue sky seemed to move softly, as if it were an ocean, while at the same time a breeze stirred her long, white hair.

  It did the same to Victoria's black hair, which swayed because of that gentle breeze that permeated the entire place, making the flowers around them dance as the soft wind passed by.

  It felt as if the breeze, felt on both their bodies, spread in all directions toward the horizon, as if it came from nothing less than the beating of their now-synchronized hearts after so many years.

  [Victoria & Sophia - An Echo Of Their Delicate, Emotional & Deeply Joyful Laughter]

  In Our World

  Still Inside the Park

  Near the Lake

  Harry could be seen leaning his back against one of the many trees near the lake, watching Téo with amazement. Téo was sitting on a bench a few meters away, staring at the calm water before him.

  Meanwhile, Victoria, Harry's sister and only Téo's best friend, was still napping, her head resting on Téo's thighs, the rest of her body stretched across the bench where he sat.

  [Téo - Confident & Motivated Voice] ...Do you understand now, Harry? How far I am willing to go to protect my best friend, Victoria. Even though she is your amazing little sister. [Subtle, sincere & passionate sigh] -

  As Harry considered how to respond to Téo's words, he felt the intensity of Téo's willpower and the pure, beautiful love he bore for Victoria, even though he was only ten years old, just like her.

  Harry was suddenly struck by a temporal deceleration that seemed to engulf the entire park and extend across the city, though he was the only one to perceive it among all those present.

  He also noticed that the world around him took on surreal negative hues, emanating from the space where Téo sat next to Victoria.

  However, it turned out he was not the only one aware of this strange phenomenon. Simultaneously, Téo displayed a look of disbelief and fear in response to the intense release of energy affecting his nerves, coming from the "thing" nearby.

  As Téo considered using his Oculi abilities to the fullest to free himself from the temporal suspension imposed on his entire body, and then attempt to protect Victoria and Harry from the possible threat near them, he was shocked by Victoria's sudden disappearance.

  Moments before, she had been asleep across his thighs, but now her body seemed to vanish before his eyes, leaving him horrified at the scene.

  A deep ache gripped Téo's heart at the overwhelming fear that something had happened to Victoria.

  The idea he initially formed, based on what he had witnessed, only intensified his anguish and fear.

  At the same time, Téo's Oculi abilities surged to their maximum in response to the intense emotional spike within his heart.

  This granted him no less than the strength needed-though at a slightly high cost to his essence-to turn his gaze from where Victoria had been across his thighs.

  Toward the source of everything. That "thing" hovered a few meters away from him, near the center of the park's large lake, while he remained seated on the bench.

  In his eyes, burning hatred was visible as he gradually lifted his face to confront the "thing" fully.

  Above the lake, a humanoid figure made entirely of light floated, emanating from its own body pulses of air that rippled outward at its sudden appearance. It hovered a few meters above the water.

  Gradually, moments later, the luminous humanoid began to descend gently, its feet approaching the lake's surface. Its landing was soft and delicate, conveying not a trace of danger to anyone in the city.

  Meanwhile, Harry stared at the luminous humanoid with a completely blank expression, while Téo readied himself to advance, driven by his thirst for vengeance against the mysterious glowing being.

  Téo believed that the disappearance of Victoria-the girl who had just been asleep across his thighs-was entirely the fault of the luminous humanoid floating serenely above the lake.

  At the same time, the focus returned to the mysterious humanoid causing ripples through reality itself within a few meters around it, producing, subsequently, nothing less than a subtle "crack" of the air expanding in all directions.

  Just as Téo was about to strike successfully, a sudden, powerful constriction gripped his heart, instantly deactivating his Oculi abilities, which had previously been fully engaged for some reason.

  This revealed, not only to Téo but also to Harry-whose chest ached in synchronized response-that the mysterious humanoid was not a threat at all. Instead, it was Victoria herself, right before their eyes.