Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

People are born and then die, no one knows what happens after death, maybe there is heaven, maybe there is hell, but maybe there is nothing. This is a strange question, maybe no one will answer. Oh no, there will still be someone to answer, just later.

On December 31, 2023, 15-year-old Takahashi Manami walked on the familiar street she passed by every day. It was now a late afternoon, the weather was a bit cold. She wore a long white dress, a pink coat and black high boots, she took care of it even though today was not a special day for her.

Today's street was deserted, there was no one else but her. The main reason was because this town was already sparsely populated, and the young people had now moved to the big city, so there were not many people left. She sighed a little as she thought about it, but it couldn't be helped, she didn't want to leave this place.

There was nothing interesting today, she planned to stop by her favorite bakery to buy a strawberry cake. She hummed a song as she walked, she didn't know what was about to happen to her, something that would end her life.

From afar, a pickup truck lost control and quickly rushed towards her, too fast and drove straight into the pedestrian walkway and instantly crushed the only person there, her.

Opening her eyes, she gasped for breath, a strange feeling appeared throughout her body. All around her was the unfamiliar face of a woman with a faintly happy expression, a scene that looked like a bedroom but was definitely not hers.

Chaotic thoughts filled her mind, questions that had no answers, and the strange feeling coming from this body that was too unstable for her. Her breathing was heavy, making it difficult to make even the smallest movements.

The woman in her thirties right in front of her now looked more worried after seeing her anxious state, she said:

-Are you okay Sayuri?

Hearing the word "Sayuri", she became even more confused, because she was not Sayuri, she was Manami. She looked at the mirror nearby, she was even more shocked.

The face in the mirror was so unfamiliar, it did not resemble her at all. Her big, round eyes, her slightly chubby face, were extremely adorable, she looked like a 5-year-old child. The fever-reducing patch on her forehead was also the reason why her breathing was becoming labored.

-Sayuri, answer me!

-I... I'm fine.-She answered, an answer that was not the least bit honest, because she didn't feel fine at all.

The woman clearly realized that she wasn't fine, but she also knew that she should leave "Sayuri" alone. Before leaving, the woman said:

-If you need anything, call me.

As soon as the woman left, she started searching the room, but her body was very weak right now, and it was almost impossible to move.

She was now slowly regaining her composure, she flipped through the items in this room to get more information.

Today was December 31st, but it was 1999, a time when she wasn't even born yet, the windows were closed and the curtains were drawn, not sure what the weather was like outside. This room was clearly her bedroom, it was quite large with the main colors being white and dark blue with astronomical items, quite strange for a child's bedroom.

She now decided to go to bed, being almost unable to move and the fever made her too tired and it was best to rest. She lay down on her soft bed, and fell asleep.

In her dream, strangely, it was empty, unlike a normal dream. The only thing that existed beside her was a person who looked exactly like Sayuri, while her appearance was exactly like her original appearance, Manami. In contrast to her expression that was not calm at all, that child looked very cheerful.

That girl looked lively, but a bit mysterious, that girl said:

- So this is the person in my body, how beautiful.

- Who are you in the end?- She asked, looking surprised and also somewhat confused.

- Hoshiki Sayuri, the real Sayuri, the owner of the body she was residing in.

Now, that girl snapped her fingers, her appearance instantly became exactly like her, exactly like Sayuri.

- I will explain everything I know to you, but there will be one condition.

- What condition?- Manami in Sayuri's form asked eagerly.

- That is, you have to find out why you are in my body, and then leave.

Hearing that condition, she breathed a sigh of relief, because she was not greedy, but also a little uneasy, because finding the reason was not easy. However, such a trade-off was worth it, she would be discovered by that woman that she was not Sayuri and not knowing anything was a huge disadvantage because she would have to search for all the information from the beginning, which could easily cause suspicion from the people around her.

- I agree.- She said, Sayuri also smiled contentedly.

Hoshiki Sayuri was the daughter of Hoshiki Minato, an astronaut who died 4 years ago, and Hoshiki Erika, a researcher affiliated with OTSO.

Hearing about the work of the woman named Erika, Manami felt a little familiar, she had obviously heard the name OTSO somewhere before, but she kept quiet, perhaps it was just the name of an organization mentioned on TV so she felt familiar.

Continuing with the information provided by Sayuri, she learned that Sayuri was currently preparing to enter elementary school and had only one friend, Joujima Yuuki. Sayuri also added that there were strange events that had occurred, because humans had found something called Core Switch in 1991 on the moon.

-Wait, Core Switch?-Manami asked, trying to confirm whether what she knew was true or not.

-That's right, that thing called Core Switch, it has caused many strange phenomena around the world, so be careful with it.

Manami now searched through all her memories in the 15 years of her existence in this world, she remembered one thing, the reason why she found the name OTSO familiar, because Core Switch and OTSO originally appeared in a movie she watched when she was young, which was Kamen Rider Fourze.

Hearing what she presented, Sayuri looked surprised and also somewhat doubted what Manami said.

-But you said you had a friend named Joujima Yuuki right?-Manami asked, confirming the information that she had not noticed before.

When she saw Sayuri nod, her face paled. She remembered, something that she did not want to appear.

-Do you remember anything about this movie?-Sayuri asked, she did not believe it but also wanted to know a little more.

-Yes but not much, I watched it when I was very young, I only remember a few things.
-But Joujima is one of the main characters of Kamen Rider Fourze, and getting involved in something like this would be troublesome. Or...

Not letting her finish, Sayuri quickly objected:

-You can't stop playing with Yuuki-chan, we promised to be friends forever, breaking that promise would be bad.

So the two of them started arguing, one side didn't want to break the promise, the other side wanted to avoid trouble and danger.

But Sayuri won, because Sayuri was the owner of this body, basically Sayuri was superior to Manami from the start.

-Remember, I won't forgive you if you stop playing with Yuuki-chan.-Sayuri said and immediately disappeared from the dream with face somewhat angry.

Now only Manami remained in the dream, and she was quickly snapped out of it.

Chapter Text

Waking up from that dream, she was still on this soft bed. She was panting, she didn't know why, maybe it was because of that dream.

Her physical condition after that dream had gotten surprisingly better, it was obvious that she was cured. She wasn't sure what she should do now, the information she had now wasn't enough but it was still better than nothing.

She could move better now, she was almost completely healed.

She thought: "That's lucky, but Sayuri really values ​​Joujima, probably because he's her first friend."

She reminisced, remembering that Sayuri had told her earlier that she only had one friend, Joujima Yuuki. It couldn't be helped why she wouldn't let her stop playing. It was a bit wrong of her to argue earlier, but if she maintained a close relationship with Joujima, the chance of getting caught up in the plot would be very high.

She felt a little hungry now, she went downstairs. She had slept all night and her mother had gone to work, leaving her alone at home. Her food was already prepared and placed on the table, it had two Onigiri, some rolled eggs and apple juice.

She thought it looked quite delicious, honestly, she had to cook for herself before and because her cooking skills were very problematic, now, everything seemed delicious to her. It couldn't be helped, no matter how good the recipe was, it was all terrible, it was like she had no talent for cooking.

She quickly finished it, then went to brush her teeth. She also took a morning shower, it felt very comfortable.

But now she was thinking about why her mother left her alone at home instead of sending her to daycare? It was quite strange, because children this age were naughty, so it was safer to send them to daycare so they could go to work than to leave them at home alone.

It was because I was kicked out of daycare for being naughty.

Sayuri's voice appeared in her head, making her a little surprised and exclaim:

-You're still here?

I can't leave this body, of course I'm here, where else can I go?

-But can you be more specific? This is the first time I've heard of someone being kicked out of daycare.

Now she learned something, the reason Sayuri was kicked out of kindergarten was because she was... naughty.

-So what did you do that got you kicked out?-She ​​asked, she was now looking for something in the house.

That bastard pulled my hair first, he pulled it several times so I beat him up.

-And what happened to him?-She ​​asked, she didn't think a 5 year old could cause anything big, when she was 5 years old, she just sat around playing with the toys in kindergarten all day and didn't do anything big.

Then I hit him in the face a few times, it seemed like his nose was bleeding.

She was shocked when she heard that, she didn't think that kids could fight until their noses bled, it turned out that there was a reason for being expelled, even if it was her, she would probably expel them too, because kids like that would cause a lot of trouble and other classmates would soon become the next victims.

I can read your mind.

Hearing that, she was a little startled.

-But is there anything fun here? I walked around the house and it wasn't fun at all.

-"Mom" is going to work now, right?

Of course, Mom has to go earn money, otherwise we'll starve to death.

She quickly found a laptop and brought it into the room. She opened it, but it needed a password.

-What's the password, Sayuri?

It seems like the password for these things is in the cabinet, the key is near the door.

Hearing Sayuri's words, she quickly ran downstairs and saw a bunch of keys hanging high up, there were at least a dozen of them, she could only try them all now.

She went to put a chair to get the bunch of keys, she also needed a computer to search for some more things.

She went upstairs to her mother's office and unlocked it, she went to the desk and tried the keys to open it. She finally got the password for the laptop, which was "g79TRQyNXC", she was pretty sure it was generated using some random strong password generator website.

There wasn't much to this computer, she could use it for entertainment and information searching. She was quite comfortable using it, of course ready to reset it and put everything back in its original place at any time.

-Sayuri, when will "mom" be back?

Usually it would be 5pm, but lately the workload has been increasing, she might have to work overtime until 8pm, my mom has been working overtime for the past month, not counting the two days I was sick.

-But today is 1/1 right? I thought I would get to eat something delicious.

Mom is too busy for that, she's about to get promoted soon so she's really busy.

So she came to a conclusion, although it was a bit hasty, but she was pretty sure that Hoshiki Erika was a pretty bad mother, her mother wasn't that bad either, although she was pretty sure that her mother wasn't a super great mother either.

Her whole day was quite free, she didn't need to do much now. She had a delicious lunch, which was a bowl of Takikomi Gohan that she had reheated.

She took two baths a day, mainly to keep it clean.

Evening, Erika still hadn't come home, it was strange, minutes passed but the door still hadn't been opened.

-Sayuri, why is your mother coming home so late? It's already past 8pm.

Um... I'm not sure, but let's go to bed now.

-Well, it's a bit early to go to bed now, I'll go look at the stars.

She said, she went out to the balcony now. She felt that today was still quite cold, the wind hadn't stopped, it was even a bit strong that it made her shiver. The stars in the sky were shining brightly, as if they were dancing in the night sky, making her unconsciously utter two words: "So beautiful."

This world was truly beautiful, completely different from the gray world she had lived in, or did that world also have a beauty that she had not realized?

She raised her hand, looking as if she wanted to grab a star, even though she knew that it was a far-fetched dream. Because the star was far away in the universe, how could her short arms reach it.

She suddenly remembered herself when she was Sayuri's age, she had also wished to become an astronaut, only to change a week later, there were many things that she had forgotten.

But while she was relaxing, she realized that she had “seen” something, something that should not have been visible in the sky.

She rubbed her eyes, confirming that she was not mistaken. She smiled, a smile that contained some kind of mixed emotion.

-So that’s how it is, I’m not an outsider.

What she “saw” was definitely the Presenters, the alien race that created the Core Switch.

Chapter Text

It had been many days since she had come here, nothing seemed strange to her and she had gradually gotten used to this life.

It was now the season when the cherry blossoms bloomed, she had also started going to school, which was not difficult since she had originally prepared to enter high school when she was Manami.

The sunlight gently shone into her room, she quickly woke up and drank a cup of warm milk, it felt really comfortable. She had breakfast, brushed her teeth and changed her clothes. The food had of course been prepared by Erika before she went to work, so she only needed to wash the dishes. Today she still went to school by herself, she had to admit that Erika was very busy, more than anyone she had ever met.

Walking on the path that she had been shown, the cherry blossoms falling here, she felt a little lost and resentful. She saw that all the children were accompanied by their parents, or at least by their relatives, only she was alone.

She thought to herself: "It feels like I'm gradually becoming a real child. But I'm already 15 years old, I can't be that childish, adults have jobs too."

She walked to school, and right after that, someone behind her patted her on the shoulder.

-Sayu-chan, you're early.- A little girl's voice rang out and she immediately recognized who it was, it was Joujima Yuuki, Hoshiki Sayuri's only friend.

-Good morning, Yuuki-chan.- She said, she had practiced calling Joujima "Yuuki-chan" like the real Sayuri, it was a bit difficult but not impossible.

-You've been staying at home lately, I was worried, are you completely well?

-I'm feeling better now.-She replied, honestly, she stayed home not only because she was sick, but mainly because she couldn't remember the way and was afraid of getting lost.

The two of them were in the same class, and there was also another person in the class who would appear in the movie, the person who would become Kamen Rider Fourze, Kisaragi Gentarou.

Their homeroom teacher was Ms. Shinanome, a teacher who was a little over twenty-five years old, and was quite gentle and friendly to her.

The basic lessons were easy and that was why she was quite idle. She didn't have any problems with these lessons, of course, she wasn't really a child.

Time felt a little slow, or was it because she was in a hurry? She wasn't sure, because for her, time was immeasurable, those frames of reference weren't very accurate, it changed, a little bit each time, to the point where she didn't even notice until some point.

-Hoshiki, what are you thinking about?-Shinanome-sensei said, obviously noticing her lack of concentration.

-Nothing, I was just thinking about the games.

-Next time, please pay more attention to the lesson.-Shinanome-sensei said, her voice kind as she continued to help the other students who were doing well with their work.

Their lesson today was to practice writing katakana, well for her it was a piece of cake, the only thing she was afraid of was kanji, even though she was a native Japanese and her grades at school weren't low, but when she downloaded the JLPT N2 mock test, she almost failed because her kanji was wrong in all sorts of places.

Now it was recess time again, the bell rang and the children quickly ran out of the classroom. She took out the ball she found in the warehouse, and went to Yuuki's desk, she didn't want to play alone, it would be boring.

-Yuuki-chan, do you want to go down to the playground? I brought a ball.-She said, showing Yuuki the ball she brought and Yuuki didn't refuse her.

-Let me play with you!-Gentarou's voice reached her ears, even though she didn't really want to, she had no reason to refuse.

The three of them quickly went down to the schoolyard, where the children were playing around.

They played a ball game, feeling a bit relaxed and also a bit happy.

"Being a child is so much fun, why didn't I feel that way when I was little?" She thought to herself, when she was little she wasn't the type to smile much, she also stayed at home like now and thought that the outside world was boring, but clearly it wasn't like that.

She had wasted her childhood, that was for sure.

But she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost got hit in the head by the ball, but luckily she reacted in time to catch it.

-Sayu-chan, why are you so distracted today?-Yuuki asked, looking worried about her.

-Oh, nothing, I've just been having some trouble lately.-She changed the subject, after all, she couldn't say what was on her mind, it was strange from a child's perspective.

-What happened? Tell me about it.-Yuuki was nosy, Gentarou wanted to hear too, so she had to tell something.

She decided to tell the story about how she "saw" the Presenters, she thought that was the most reasonable thing to tell. Yuuki had the same experience as her, Gentarou would know about it eventually, telling them wouldn't have much of an impact.

-I've experienced it too, it's really interesting!

-The universe is so vast that there are many things we don't expect.-She said.

The feeling of "seeing" Presenters was very strange, it felt like it affected the depths of her heart. She herself didn't understand, but it also made her want to meet Presenters, a thought she had never thought of before.

Could it be that people who had the same experience as her would have the same effect? ​​It was possible, but she just thought that this was a far-fetched thought.

The break time was over quickly, so the kids returned to class to study.

Don't forget your duty, it seems you're relaxing a bit too much.

-I didn't forget, don't worry.- She muttered, while math class started.