Work Text:
An alarm wakes Ikki. He squints at his phone screen through blurry eyes. It’s early. Far too early.
The alarm says work. Does he really need to be up this early for work? His head throbs as he searches for the answer. What is work? Where is work? What does he do to prepare? Why didn’t past him put more information in the damn alarm?
He forces himself into a sitting position and stretches. His body hurts. His muscles scream and bruises over his arms and chest throb. There’s a cut on his cheek. From a fight. He remembers the fight. Of course he does. It was only yesterday. He thinks.
He’s been wrong about that before.
Has he? He can’t remember being wrong, but something tells him he has.
“Ikki!”
Ikki recoils as the demon pops into existence beside him.
Vice doesn’t react to his surprise. Pointing to a folded pile of clothes, Vice says in an obnoxiously excited voice, “Let’s get going! The bath house won’t clean itself!”
“Bathhouse?” Ikki asks.
Vice’s expression twitches. It’s not a human movement and it’s covered by the mask obscuring bottom half of the demon’s face. “Follow my lead,” Vice says, his bright tone wavering, “Trust me, once you start on a task your muscle memory will guide you through it.”
Ikki nods. He remembers this. Maybe remember isn’t the right word. There’s a sense of familiarity to it. He knows he’s heard this before but he can’t summon the actual memory.
His shirt says “Happy Spa” on the front. It must be where he works. Not just works. His head throbs as he pulls his clothes on. He looks around his room for information. It’s oddly barren. A pity that past him wasn’t considerate enough to put labels all over the walls to tell him what his life was like. Had past him not had these memory issues? There’s some soccer paraphernalia, but no pictures. Some frames are propped up in in the corner of the room. All of them empty. He must have taken all his memories down. Why did he do that?
“Ikki?” Vice asks quietly.
Ikki shakes himself. He doesn’t know how long he was staring at his blank walls.
Vice floats close to him. If the demon was solid, Ikki would have been able to feel his breath on his face.
“Tell me the names of everyone in your family.”
Ikki sucks in a breath. His hands shake.
“My father is Genta,” he says, his mouth moving without thought, “My mother is Yukimi. My younger brother is Daiji and my little sister is Sakura.”
Their faces flash in front of his eyes as he says the names. Just the faces. No specific memories.
Vice let’s out a soft sigh. “At least you still got that.”
Ikki walks to the door. Vice is right about the muscle memory. The door sticks a bit as he opens it, but his arm automatically jolts it so it opens smoothly and quietly.
His mom is in the kitchen humming under her breath as she folds towels. Ikki sneaks behind her. He doesn’t want her attention, doesn’t want casual questions about how he is. He certainly doesn’t want the risk that she’ll ask anything more complicated about what he’s done recently.
“Right,” Vice says, “Go right. We need to-“
“Ikki?”
Ikki freezes at his mother’s voice. Silly of him to think he could get past her, he thinks. Not that he can remember how easy it was to sneak around in the past.
“How did it go?” Yukimi asks softly. “Last night?”
“Not good,” Vice says.
“Not good,” Ikki repeats. He doesn’t turn to face his mother, but he hears her stand.
“Did he hurt you?” she asks. Vice shakes his head but she continues before Ikki can reply. “Did you hurt him? You can tell me, I won’t blame you. I just want to know what’s happening.”
Ikki looks to Vice.
“No one was hurt. At least no more than normal.”
“No one was hurt. At least no more than normal,” Ikki repeats. He turns to his mother slowly, nervously.
Her eyes shine with tears that are quickly blinked away. Her smile is sad as she approaches him. Ruffling his hair, she swallows before saying, “Ikki, please, tell me what happened. What did he say? Does he seem different at all? Better? Worse? There has to be something. Something to-“ she chokes on her words. The tears she just blinked away are already back.
Ikki pulls her into a hug as her thin composure breaks. She buries her head in his shoulder as he looks to Vice. The demon floats back and forth as if he’s pacing, but doesn’t offer any words.
Ikki wishes he knew who they’re talking about. He can figure it out. Most likely a family member, so…Genta? No. Daiji. Daiji’s not home anymore. Why isn’t he home?
“I don’t know,” Ikki says, finally, reluctantly.
His mom stops crying. Straightening herself, she cups his face in her hands. “I know,” she says softly, “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying so hard. I shouldn’t be putting even more weight on you.”
“Mama,” he says, voice tight. He wants to cry too. He wants to break down and admit everything. Admit that he barely knows who he is anymore and every interaction is nerve wracking and it’s lonely. So incredibly lonely.
“You’re doing so much,” she says a she tugs on his cheeks a little, just enough that signal for him to stoop low enough for her to give him a kiss on the forehead. “This has been hard on all of us but especially you. I don’t say it enough, but I’m so proud of you.”
He swallows the lump in his throat. He can’t do it. His mother is struggling too much to put this on her as well.
His phone buzzes and she lets go of him.
“George again?” she says, laughing softly as she wipes her eyes.
The name on the text is George. Karizaki George. The name is familiar, but the face doesn’t appear the way his family’s faces do.
“He wants me to meet him at the lab as soon as possible,” Ikki says and pockets the phone.
His mother sighs and purses her lips. “He’s been asking far too much of you recently. You deserve a break.”
Vice whispers in Ikki’s ear. “It must be about the fight last night. Maybe he found something.”
“It must be about the fight last night. Maybe he found something.”
Yukimi relaxes slightly, hope flashes in her bloodshot eyes. “Go then,” she tell him, “Tamaki will pick up your work.”
Ikki wonders who Tamaki is. He wonders where he’s going and how he’s going to get there. He doesn’t let the doubt show on his face as he says goodbye and follows Vice out of the house.