Chapter 51: Chapter 51 : True Name

In the Mental Space.

'Just over 200 m/s, not bad not bad.’

Rei was soaring through the skies. Lying flat on his stomach, his body was encased in a miniature propeller plane. The duo had a lot of future plans involving travelling great distances. They had many places they wanted to visit. The Psi Plane and its variants were brought into existence to satisfy these desires.

The idea of a Psi Plane wasn’t anything ground-breaking, rather, it was the go-to contraption for long-distance travel for Telekinetics. It was faster, safer, and more efficient than simply continuously Psi Stepping in a straight line. The Psi construct was so common that it was listed in the frequently used techniques section of many Basic Telekinetic Techniques handbooks. In most of these books, there'd be a number of illustrations of basic designs one could use. In addition, there'd be an explanation of the various parts of the plane and their purposes.

Following these guides, the duo constructed their own Psi Plane. The design had gone through many iterations in order to improve speed and stability. Eventually, they settled on the current three-blade propeller design. There was much room for improvement, but the two couldn’t complain much.

Swoosh!

Rei suddenly took evasive action. With it being a Psi construct, the manoeuvres it could make weren’t limited by fixed physical components. Rei showcased this property as he swirled wildly through the air, materialising and dematerialising components and even outright changing its shape and number of propeller blades. He zigzagged through the rocky mountain peaks, avoiding it by mere metres.

‘This is pretty fun. I should make an obstacle course, put a few circles in the sky, maybe have some ground to air artillery fire at the plane…and of course, have a dogfight with Ralf.’

At the thought, he couldn't help but turn giddy. ‘No, before that, we should verify this technique in the outside world.’ Rei's eyes drifted to the colossal numbers floating in the Mental Space’s black sky. ‘We’ve played turtle long enough. With our current power, I’m sure we can handle anything that comes our way….and if we can’t, he’ll surely be able to.’

As his thoughts moved to the ‘he’ in question, his other self's figure suddenly appeared in his view. Ralf raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Following the action, the entire virtual space shattered into countless shards of light until the Mental Space's darkness swallowed it up.

Interested in the 'why' behind his other self's actions, Rei swooped down. Landing, he asked, “What’s up?”

Ralf didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he began glancing at the empty space around him. “Rei, I’m going to do a super important experiment.”

“Oh, super important, huh," Rei’s brow raised at the words. Ralf was an exaggerator of note, whether it was super important or the exact opposite was something that could only be ascertained in the aftermath.

Ralf nodded, then ignoring Rei’s sceptical look, he explained, “Yes, super important. For it, I’ll need to be alone in the Mental Space.”

“Alone? I can’t just stay in the private dome?”

“Nope,” Ralf shook his head, “I need to be completely alone for the experiment to work.”

“Mmm,” Rei rubbed his chin. “What experiment are you going to carry out anyway?”

“A secret one.”

“I see,” Rei said with a shrug. “Kay, I don’t mind it. I’ll leave you to it the-”

“Wait there’s more,” Ralf cut in to explain. “It’ll take three hours of real-time to complete this experiment, so you can’t return before then. Also, you can’t peek inside or try to initiate the Mental Link. I need to be totally alone for this work.”

Hearing the conditions, Rei's confusion only deepened. ‘Why three hours? What’s he going to do in here? What's left to be done in here? Hmm, if it's something we haven’t already done, it can’t be ordinary.’

“Okay, sure. I expect great things.”

“Me too," Ralf said, his voice betraying a sliver of hope. He snapped his fingers and a silver door materialized behind him.

These silver doors were the official entry and exit points of the Mental Space. Ralf grabbed the handle and swung the door open to reveal the swirling black and white void leading outside.

Rei didn’t stand on cue and strode toward it but as he was a stride away from crossing over, he was stopped by Ralf’s hand which landed on his shoulder.

“One thing before you go, my other self.” After a pause, Ralf continued.“ What is yours is mine, what is mine is yours, what is ours is..."

He let his words drift off into non-existence as a warm smile surfaced on his face. "...well, you know the rest. Have a good trip out there." He patted Rei's shoulder.

On the receiving end of it, Rei felt a profound weight descend at the light tap. He turned to question his other self but upon doing so, Ralf, just like the virtual space, turned radiant before scattering into thousands of light butterflies. A few flaps later, all without fail dissipated into nothingness.

Rei’s eyebrows quirked up at the display. ‘Ah, guess I’m not getting an answer. He’s being more strange than usual. Oh well, let's get a move on.’ Rei turned back to the swirling void and took a step forward.

Passing through the void, Rei didn’t think too much of Ralf’s request or actions. Instead, his thoughts were mostly occupied by complex aerial manoeuvres and future dogfights.

But these thoughts were blown away as soon as his senses registered the surroundings he found himself in.

Instead of the usual black, the back of his eyelids showed a flickering red. Snapping his eyelids open, Rei caught the culprit responsible for this oddity. Two meters away, a lit fireplace was observed. Its flames danced atop the woods’ fallen corpses while attacking its remaining brethren with a crimson bloodlust.

Rei took in this massacre horizontally; on his side, his body lay fully stretched out on a comfortable sofa directly facing the fireplace. Had this been all he woke up to, Rei would shut his eyes and enjoy the feeling of the gentle heat caressing his face. But it wasn’t. Warmth’s assault came from multiple directions.

His head was currently resting on Hana's lap pillow. Seated on the right edge of the couch, she hummed a light tune while her eyes drifted across the open book floating before her. While reading, her left hand gently caressed Rei's head resting below. She ran her fingers through his hair while twirling and gliding. His longish locks were silky to the touch, making for a pleasant experience. Hana enjoyed the sensations reaching her fingertips.

Meanwhile, on Rei’s end…

‘Ralf, that bastard! So this is what he was planning. Was that experiment talk also bogus? No, the experiment he was talking about was probably this. Tsk, that bastard...' Not caring to finish the thought, Rei moved to get up but…

“Ah?”

Hana’s left hand obstructed his action and then ‘guided’ his head back to her lap.

Rei’s eyes flickered with surprise at her actions. “What are you doing?" he asked in bafflement while his left hand moved upwards.

Hana paused her reading and glanced down. “I’m doing what you asked. What are you doing?”

Hearing this, Rei had a bad feeling. “My memory is failing me. What did I ask exactly?”

“After planting yourself on the couch, you said that you had to maintain this position for the next ten minutes and that I should keep you from leaving it…no matter what,” she said, her last words sounding with heavy emphasis.

Rei’s eyes widened at her words. ‘How dirty. Your methods know no lows, Ralf.’

After a few seconds of cursing his other self, Rei regained his calm. “I see, I said that. You can forget it, I was just joking. Plus, I need to use the toilet, I’m at my limits.”

“Oh,” Hana’s lips curled up. “You mentioned earlier that you might use this excuse and assured me that you won’t need to go in the next ten minutes. You also mentioned that it wasn't a joke repeatedly.”

Rei’s face scrunched up at being predicted.

“Give up, until the clock strikes eight, you’re bound.”

‘As if,’ Rei’s left hand clasped around her wrist, ready to pull it off him. But at this moment, the colossal strength he could usually summon to his aid…failed to show up. He was paralyzed with emotion as memories streamed through his head.

“Ralf?”

Having her wrist gripped, Hana felt the tremble coming from Rei’s hand.

“Haa,” sighing, Rei released her wrist and returned his hand back to its original place. ‘No matter how strong we get, it seems we’ll never be able to claim to be undefeatable. Haa…'

“Ralf,” Hana repeated.

"It’s nothing. Till the clock strikes eight, fine fine. I’ll stay like this, carry on as you were.”

Hana smiled then resumed her previous actions.

Rei shut his eyes. The minutes passed by slowly as his heart worked to process the complex emotions flooding in. While taking in the many sensations, Ralf’s words at the doorway echoed through his mind.

These words weren't new to him. Since a certain incident, his other self had been repeating it over and over. Rei hadn't thought too deeply about them…until now that is. Delving into it, he finally understood his other self's intention.

Opening his eyes, he glanced toward Hana, whose expression was shifting subtly as her gaze zigzagged. Rei took in her beautiful facial features. ‘This is how my mom looked,’ his gaze glided to the fireplace and settled on a black and white picture, ‘and that’s how my dad looked huh?'

Rei made this assumption based on the extreme visual similarities between Ralf and himself. It wasn’t certain, but Rei ventured it was highly probable that their parents had identical appearances as well.

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‘It's strange. Somehow, they’re just like I imagined them to be.’

His mind drifted back in time.

Parents.

While this topic had lost its relevancy in his later life, early on, it was something that was on his mind nearly daily.

How would his life be if they had not abandoned him? Who they were? What did they look like? What type of people were they? Why had they abandoned him? Did they have a good reason? Would they come to rescue him?

These thoughts plagued the young Rei’s mind and inspired countless dreams and nightmares. Over time, his emotions and thoughts about them dried up. In the same way, they had abandoned him, his mind had abandoned them. At least this was what he believed.

Upon seeing Hana for the first time, that desire, the desire he had thought lost to him, made itself known in the depths of his unconsciousness. It stirred to life and began an ascent. Over time, this desire had become more and more clear, snowballing in size with each passing second.

Rei understood this desire’s trajectory but couldn’t stop it. Even if he could, his heart refused to. In his private dome, he’d find himself watching recordings of Ralf and Hana’s interactions just to experience the parental love he had never received. It was addicting. He couldn’t stop himself. He who loved warmth found a warmth incomparable to all others.

But at the end of the day, he wasn’t related to Hana. Even with the same appearance, she wasn’t his mother, but Ralf’s. His own mother had, for some unknown reason, abandoned him. This was Rei's feelings and thoughts on the matter.

He stopped watching recordings of Ralf and Hana's interactions and ceased all fantasies involving her as his mother. This worked well in scrubbing the notion from his mind but as a scrap remained…something unexpected happened.

Following it, his thoughts and feelings on the matter were forcefully reversed. Now, he couldn’t see her as anything other than his mother. His affection for her was no less than Ralf's.

But this was his side of things, what about hers?

Would she accept him if she knew he wasn’t the real Ralf, but a stranger from another world?

The option to keep it a secret forever wasn’t an option. Even if Ralf could hold his tongue, Rei couldn’t. Even now, mere omission caused negative emotions to claw at him. And its frenzy only increased with the passage of time. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he wouldn't be able to endure it anymore and it would spill out.

‘If she rejects me…what do I even do?’

The thought of her rejecting him once his real identity was revealed caused fear to grip his being. His body shuddered as he imagined such a future playing out. Once his mind latched onto the possibility, it didn’t let go and he began trembling.

*Tap*

His shaking was put to an end as Hana’s hand pressed down on his head.

“You okay there Ralf?”

Rei remained silent at the question. Hana didn’t rush him and continued patting his head. Her touch and words had a soothing effect to it. The ticking of the clock and the crackling of the wood filled the space. Ten seconds later, Rei, having found his calm, broke this silence.

“I’m not Ralf.”

Hearing this declaration, Hana’s expression didn’t shift in the slightest. “You aren’t, I see.”

Rei frowned at her nonchalant reply before moving to get up. This time, Hana didn’t obstruct him and he managed to sit up. He considered his options. After several seconds, he made his decision, one that prompted a sigh to escape his lips.

“Rei…my name’s Rei.”

“Ray. It’s a good name.”

“Thanks.”

Hana smiled then shifted her eyes off Rei, whose body was angled away from her, and back to the fireplace where she watched the flames flicker. A few seconds of respite passed by.

“Ray, this isn’t our first meeting, right? The incident with Turner, it was you who was present at that time, right.”

“It was,” Rei affirmed, eyes studying the shadows that danced on the cream tiles.

“I see. I never got to say it back then, but thank you. You really helped us out.”

Rei furrowed his brows. “For a parent whose child’s body has been overtaken, you’re pretty nonchalant. For all you know, I could be Dimitri…why are you so calm?”

“Dimitri huh. I’m pretty sure you’re aren’t Dimitri. Though, even if you were, I don’t think I’d act any different. And overtaken? I don’t think that’s the case. This whole situation was put into motion by Ralf’s will, and if he willed it, I have no cause for concern. I’m not worried at all,” she said, her voice light and as free from worry as she stated. “I don’t know much about you, but I know one thing,” she paused and her voice filled with seriousness, “ you’re someone who’s managed to gain my son’s trust, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Rei stayed silent, which Hana took as her cue to continue on.

"You’ve given your name, but what else can you tell me about yourself? Favourite colour? Favourite food? Anything is fine, I just want to know more about the person sharing my son’s body. So Ray, will you indulge me?”

Rei took a deep breath before responding a few seconds later. “I don’t mind, but it’ll take some time to get through all of it.”

Hana smiled. “We have all the time in the world, go ahead.” She floated the book away before cupping her cheeks with her palms and staring at the fireplace.

Rei mimicked her actions and then began a lengthy account. Once he started, he surprised himself by what he was spilling, and yet couldn’t stop himself.

His story, from his upbringing to his end and then his afterlife, Rei left little off the table. Ralf and his parallel self-relationship, how Ralf had really spent his ten years in his world…for two hours straight, Rei continued offloading information onto Hana’s brain.

Hana's mind was woefully unprepared for the numerous revelations she was bombarded with. Still, she hung on, asking questions from time to time, which Rei answered without reservation.

“...and that’s it.” Finishing up, Rei was greeted with silence.

“That was a lot to take in,” Hana said after a few seconds of silence, her voice a little jittery. “Honestly, this poor brain of mine will take a while to process it all.”

Rei’s eyes began to dim at these words. “I see.”

As he fell into despondency, Hana got up and circled to his front, lowered her hand on his hung head, and rubbed.

“Still, there’s one thing I have processed,” she said, voice now firm and filled with certainty. She gently pushed against his forehead, guiding his gaze to meet hers before continuing,“...and that is, that I’ve got another son to love,” she said while flashing a sweet smile his way. “What do you say, Ray?”

Rei’s answer came immediately as he threw himself into her arms. “Mom.”

Hana returned his embrace. Her heart stirred with emotion as she felt the hot liquid slide down her neck.

“My other self has failed you, but I won’t…ever.”

“Umm,” was all the trembling Rei could manage as he clutched on tightly.

Hana smiled and nodded.

With the flames flickering off their forms, the two, now mother and son, would remain like this for several minutes.

*Tap*

Receiving Hana’s pat, Rei dropped his hands to his sides.

Hana smiled and ruffled his hair. “You’re more compliant than Ralf is, good boy.” She then returned to her seat. The book from before was floated back to her side. Before getting into it, she glanced at Rei and patted her lap. “I’m going to be here for a while, feel free to rest your head here again.”

Rei didn’t hesitate and immediately made himself comfortable on her soft thighs. He shut his eyes and basked in the warmth. A slight smile formed on his face.

Hana’s heart swelled up at his actions. “For a long time, I hated Ralf’s Unique power. It had taken my beloved son away from me. But now, my feelings have changed. It’s brought so many good things, and you're the best of it. Having two sons, I couldn’t be happier," Hana said, joy radiating from her voice.

Rei absorbed it as a jubilant smile bloomed on his face. After a few seconds of soaking in these feelings, he corrected his mom’s understanding.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, it’s not just us two…there’s a third.”

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