Chapter 5: Warm Memories
I
I feel safe, Minami said, closing her eyes and trying to imagine a happy place while that monster still lingered somewhere out there, searching for her. There is a warm place of comfort and shelter that holds happy memories for me. I want there to be happy memories of Hotaru and I, together, in this house, this place, where we’ve always played and hung out and laughed and cried. We laughed so much, we cried so much, we loved so much, we hated so much. If these memories become corrupt…if this person takes that away from us…what do I have left?

Keep on thinking of that warm and happy memory, Takara urged. We’re keeping the creature at bay and I’m dealing with negotiations with Hotaru, though Hypnos isn’t beginning to budge. But no matter what, you must NOT reveal your position, or everything is lost.

Minami trembled, saying nothing. Her mouth felt like it was full of sawdust, and a tear trembled in her eye as It trekked down the curve of her cheek.

It should be me, Minami thought to herself, thinking of all the times that Hotaru helped other people out, giving all of herself selflessly, her time, devotion, and knowledge to make people be their best. Her never-ending optimism and cheerfulness, even in the face of being bullied. Not Hotaru. Hotaru doesn’t deserve this.

Stay strong, Minami-chan! Kaede said, sensing the cracks and fissures in Minami’s warm memory that she was trying to conjure and keep radiating around herself so that Hypnos didn’t penetrate her memory palace. Keep the barrier up by recalling warm feelings. Hold upon your friendship with Hotaru. Remember the happy times together. You will make it through this!

But if we don’t… Minami thought. What then?

Trust in us, Yukiko said. I know that’s asking a lot, especially since you’ve just met us. But we promise that we’re doing everything possible and within our power to do damage control on the situation. So far Takara is negotiating and everything is going as well it can, for the moment. But Minami, as much as it depends on us, you will keep your friend safe as long as you don’t let your fear overcome you and you don’t let Hypnos penetrate your Memory Palace. Okay?

Minami nodded numbly, before hiding her head in her knees as she sat on the floor, her pleated skirt splaying out. She wanted to hide her tears, her sadness, her fear. Though she was afraid for everything. That creature, Hotaru going into a coma—it didn’t matter if her own life was on the line. She feared her cowardice, and that she didn’t dare to act when it mattered. Schoolyard bullies were one thing. But standing up to a supernatural creature that could cause a coma in the real world in a fantastic realm where emotions and reality were turned upside down? She didn’t know how to deal with that.

Minami hoped beyond hope that Hotaru would be all right. She kept on trying to hold onto her warm memories, her happy place, though Kaede came into the scene with bad news.

Minami-san, Kaede said solemnly. You might not like this, but Hypnos is trying to peer into Hotaru’s memory for information about you.

So that’s what he’s been aiming for, Takara thought. Hotaru is resisting as best as she can against him, and I’m trying to use the hostage negotiation situation as a ruse to help stall things while Yukiko goes and rescues Hotaru from his clutches.

Just make sure that Hotaru will be okay! Minami thought fiercely before tears trekked down her face. It should be me who is rescuing her. I shouldn’t rely on someone else to do something that I was meant to do.

Sometimes it’s not bad to ask for help, Minami-san, Kaede said reassuringly.

Minami fell silent.

I know, but…

We all need help sometimes, Kaede said as she tried to soothe Minami with her words. We were all helpless as newborn babies and raised by someone. We are continually nurtured and helped by the community around us, who contribute to our growth and well-being. We are never alone, no matter how we may try to isolate ourselves.

Yukiko is handling it, Takara said in assurance, while Kaede projected a mental image of the scene in Minami’s mind’s eye about what was happening. Minami visualized the scene before her, where Takara was standing before Hypnos quite a distance away while Hypnos was holding onto Hotaru, clutching an arm around her throat and squeezing tight. Minami gritted her teeth in disbelief, and then in anger. How could Hypnos do that to an innocent high school girl?

However, Yukiko arrived on the scene, and she was sneaking behind Hypnos in the deserted Neon reverse colored Tokyo as she put a finger to her lips to gesture to everyone to be quiet.

I put a tag on Minami’s memory palace to make it invisible to Hypnos’s eyes, Yukiko said. However, I think that for the time being, retrieving Hotaru from Hypnos’s hands is the most crucial thing.

I can’t sit back and watch this, Minami said, pulling up her sleeves and wiping away her tears angrily.

Minami-chan, don’t leave the memory palace! Kaede warned. You’re safe there, and if Hypnos gets a hold of it…

You expect me to do nothing while my best friend is in the clutches of an asshole like Hypnos? Minami said. I’m tired of being afraid. I won’t be a victim. I’m going to do the right thing and help out Yukiko. I won’t be in your way…I promise!

Kaede seemed reluctant, though Yukiko considered for a moment, before saying, Very well. I will trust you on your word, Minami-chan.

Yukiko-chan!

Well, we can’t stop Minami if she wants to come, right? Besides, having her in sight would be the best thing for us. It WOULD be ideal if she stayed in the memory palace, but…

See, even Yukiko is saying that I can’t stopped! Minami said with a huff. Once I set my mind on something, I’m going to do it!

Hypnos noticed that he was being surrounded, first by Takara, then by Yukiko, and then by Minami, who was stalking forward and stabbing a finger toward the man.

“I’m the one you want, right?” Minami said, holding out her arms wide. “Give back Hotaru.”

“Hmhm, little Minami-chan,” Hypnos said as he continued choking Hotaru and wagging a finger at Minami. “There is something that I’m looking for in your memory palace, and if you don’t give it to me, then I’m afraid that I’ll choke the life out of your friend here.”

“We’ll give it to you,” Minami said, as she quickly relayed a plan to her friends through Kaede’s telepathy. “I’ll even take you to my memory palace.”

“That’s a good girl,” Hypnos said, before eying Takara and Yukiko, who looked on edge. “Show me.”

Minami trudged along the landscape, showing Hypnos the memory palace that she hid within, before saying, “This is it.”

“It’s a rather interesting memory palace,” Hypnos said as he marveled at the detail in Minami’s visual imagination. “As I couldn’t gather any information about you from your friend Hotaru, she is useless to me. Though honestly, someone like that is a true friend indeed. You should be grateful.”

Minami said nothing as Hypnos carelessly tossed Hotaru aside on the ground, where she fainted on the spot. Minami hovered over Hotaru, trying to get her conscious again, though she and her newfound friends were standing outside the memory palace where Minami used her imagination to confine Hypnos in there.

Are you sure this is going to work, Minami? Takara whispered in her mind.

I don’t know, Minami said. But I’m going to make a gamble on it.

Hypnos, however, didn’t find what he wanted in the memory palace. Yet in a calculated move, he decided to do the one thing that he knew best—rain a hail of fire and destruction on the memory palace that comprised Minami’s carefully constructed memories, experiences, and personality. There was no way that Hypnos could escape otherwise, though if he was desperate enough to pull a move to do so, he would kill himself trying or if he survived, at least become severely wounded and have to recover this exploit.

The explosions and ash and fire sizzled and flared, and the PsiCo Team and Minami and Hotaru made their way to another dimension as Hotaru slowly began to flutter awake.

“What’s going on? Minami-chan? Minami-chan! What happened!”

“Minami sacrificed herself to save you,” Takara said a bit sadly. “She trapped Hypnos in her memory palace, where it’s impossible to escape from unless you have a Key to a person’s Heart. She gambled on Hypnos blowing himself up in there, either to become dead or severely wounded, so that he will be out of commission for a while.”

Hotaru’s lip wibbled, holding back tears.

“What do I need to do?”

“Go to your memory palace,” Yukiko said, as they slipped into the safe harbor of Hotaru’s memory of a special place that she and Minami visited with a palatial pagoda-style Japanese house that had displays of colorful fireworks and kites and dragon banners like colorful tropical fish swimming through a mass of crowds in yukata and kimono. “Reconstruct your memories of Minami, piece by piece, into the person that you know her as to make her come back to life again.”

"Eto, eto,” Hotaru said, fluttering her hands around wildly as she became flustered at the high task that was meant to be done. “Are you sure I can do it? Someone like me can do something as important as constructing an entire person back from the dead?”

“You’re the one that knows her best,” Takara said gently. “Plus you’re involved in this paranormal business with us now, whether you like it or not. I apologize that things have ended up this way, though to be honest, getting her parents involved would be something that we might have to investigate as well.”

“Minami-chan…” Hotaru said as she looked down sadly at Minami’s sleeping face. “Doesn’t have parents anymore.”

Kaede looked toward Minami sympathetically, before she looked toward Hotaru. “And you?”

“We have Auntie to take care of us,” Hotaru said with a smile. “She overlooks our schooling and we’ve been friends staying together in an apartment that Minami bought off and stays in. We stay and share an apartment, at times, though otherwise, Auntie comes and visits and makes sure that we’re okay.”

Yukiko fluttered her fan to her mouth for a moment, her mouth looking serious for a moment, before saying, “Well, we will walk you through the reconstruction process as best as we can, though mostly it’s about your memories and feelings toward Minami that will make her become the person that she has been again. If she will even be the same person again.”

“You mean Minami will change,” Hotaru said hesitantly.

“Or perhaps have no memories,” Kaede said, holding Hotaru’s hands within her own. “We wanted to make sure that you knew that, though, of course, we will do everything within our power to help and make sure that she’s as much as the friend that you knew before.”

Tears squeezed out of Hotaru’s eyes before she hugged her best friend tightly. “I just want Minami-chan back. Any semblance of her, even an echo of who she’s been, would be enough.”

“If you’re committed to it,” Yukiko said, snapping her fan shut. “Then let’s get started.”

“Okay,” Kaede said, guiding Hotaru through the process. “What is your happiest memory of Minami? Focus on that.”

“My happiest memory?” Hotaru asked before her face lightened up into a sunny smile. “There’s so many I couldn’t possibly name them all! All the big moments and small moments…I’m just happy to be by Minami-chan’s side. When she protected me from my bullies today, I…I felt so proud of her. She’s so strong. I wanted to be like her. And seeing her like that made me stand up to my bullies for the very first time.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Kaede nodded as she began jotting down some notes and doing the ‘reconstruction process of Minami’s memories by placing a glowing blue light on her hands and pressing it toward Minami’s forehead. “What else?”

“I know that Minami can be fierce like a tiger when angered, though she only really fights for her friends rather than using her anger as an excuse to lash out at innocent people,” Hotaru giggled. “She’s always on the side of justice, and she likes ghost stories like I do. She gets good grades, is athletic, and is very skilled at art. She loves science and math and wants to get into the video game industry or some kind of technological sector. Though she and I won’t admit this at school, we’re both avid anime and manga fans and keep up with the latest trends and shows and stories.”

“Sounds like you two share a deep history,” Yukiko said with a warm smile toward them before she said. “I’m writing down the tags of invocation to impart the words that manifest her knowledge and personality, and will help seal her vessel into the physical body so that it doesn’t wander as a revenant in the Phantom Realms.”

Hotaru clapped her hands against her mouth, looking horrified. “That can happen?”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Yukiko said solemnly. “We’ve seen many things in our line of work. Things that we wish we hadn’t, but have happened because life isn’t filtered through rose-colored glasses.”

“But Minami-chan will be okay…” Hotaru said as she bit her lip and tried not to squeeze out unbidden tears. “Will she?”

“Don’t worry, Hotaru-san,” Kaede said gently, as she continued to emit a glowing blue light toward Minami’s forehead. “You’re doing a great job. I think that we have pieced together a suitable soul reconstruction of Minami, though it’s not quite complete yet. Yukiko, if you would.”

“Right, darling,” Yukiko said, as she unfurled her fan again and folded her hands together into a Buddhist incantation of the soul invocation. “Soul invocation, may this vessel be contained within and the entity known as Minami Tachibana stay housed in her Memory Palace, which will be reconstructed alongside Hotaru’s with this Key. And the memories and knowledge that each of us have on Minami will contribute to a more complete picture and view of her person.”

“What do you think of Minami-chan so far, you guys?” Hotaru whispered, and she cried, and cried and couldn’t stop crying as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve. “I’m so sorry, I want this to work out, I really do! Minami wouldn’t cry like this, but she would tell me it’s okay for me to cry! She tries to be so strong all the time…so much that she broke, and it’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault, Hotaru,” Takara said as he gazed upon the sleeping features of Minami, who Kaede and Yukiko were working together to reconstruct into the person she once was as best as they could.

“You say that, but I can’t help but feel responsible,” Hotaru said as she turned away, averting her gaze from anyone’s eyes.

“If responsibility should be laid upon anyone,” Takara said as he sagged his shoulders. “It should rest upon me. I could’ve done better with the hostage negotiation. I could’ve persuaded Minami to not go through with this plan. We were in a desperate situation, but we didn’t have to sacrifice someone outside of our group to do it. We’re truly sorry, Hotaru-san…if you’re angry at us, I wouldn’t blame you.”

Hotaru shook her head. “You wouldn’t have been able to stop Minami-chan from doing what she did. When it comes to me, she would part Heaven and Earth to run down the person who put harm against me.”

Hotaru looked toward the paranormal team in turn, before she bowed to each of them individually. “Thank you all for trying to rescue me and trying to rescue my friend. I trust that you have the situation under control, and are doing your best. And I’m sure that…Minami put her trust in you guys too.”

Takara gestured to Yukiko before Yukiko checked something on her onmyoudou ofuda. She held it up to her lips, and kissed it, before letting it drift to the wind and it led back to the original dimension where Minami’s original Memory Palace was stored.

“That means the coast is clear, everyone,” Yukiko said. “Hypnos must’ve been really out of commission if I can’t sense his presence anymore, though I have a feeling he has escaped rather than died. But still, he’s gone, which is where luck is on our side.”

“So we have to reconstruct Minami’s er, Memory Palace?” Hotaru said curiously as she cocked her head to the side.

‘It seems that some part of Minami was left intact,” Kaede said as she indicated a blue blog that was probably a piece of Minami’s spiritual power within, a nebulous wisp that whirled and spiraled like a koi fish in the air. “So she didn’t completely regress to a newborn babe with no memories or skills. However, the one thing that she lost, even when we’ve reconstructed her soul and can make her a living, animate person again…is her memories. I’m sorry.”

Hotaru clapped her hands against her mouth, before she let out a great cry. Kaede leaned forward and hugged the sobbing girl, then Yukiko joined in and she rubbed Hotaru’s back in comforting circles while Takara looked on, taking Minami’s hand and clutching it as though he were a prince coming upon a sleeping princess to wake her up from her slumber with a kiss like Sleeping Beauty. His violet eyes remained solemn, and they all knew that there was more work to be done still. But even though the process of soul construction was being done, one thing was known—that Minami, despite being alive, would have no memories of her past at all.