Chapter Text
The last thing Gangle felt in the darkness was Zooble's plastic paw around her ribbon-hand.
And then
nothing
Then something heavy on her head. No, not heavy, but definitely not light, and a bit annoying. Whatever the thing is, she should take it off: the pressure around her eyes started to bother her and the hair around her neck started to tickle.
The hair around her neck started to tickle?
Holy shit.
With one smooth move, Gangle took off the headset.
After a few blinks her eyes made contact with some of her favorite anime protagonists.
“Holy shit. Holy shiiiiit”
That was her bedroom. Her real bedroom, not the weird room she used to sleep in while being stuck on the Circus.
All the characters on the posters were there, the bottle-lamp made by her brother (Miki! God, she missed him! Even if all he could do was prank her) was there, her collection of manga was still on the shelf near her wardrobe, and, hell, even the smelly laundry basket was right where she left it.
Her hands started to tremble, causing her to lose her grip on the mysterious headset, which then fell and, of course, broke.
Oh well, she had no intention of using it again. (Obviously.)
Still mesmerized by being out of that nightmare, she noticed that her laptop was running a software she didn't recognize, but with a logo in the corner that seemed familiar.
She should get closer to the screen, maybe then she could recognize something written there that can help her memo-
“MARI!”
The door of her bedroom suddenly opened revealing a tall young man with brown eyes and dark blonde hair.
“MIKI! OH MY GOD!” Her brother was there!
Her eyes started filling with tears. She threw herself into his brother's arms.
(Probably a weird thing to do, considering that they were not used to hugging: Miki never liked it, and, even when they played pranks on each other, she respected that boundary.)
(But, even weirder, Miki was hugging her back! That's… Maybe she should let go of the hug.)
Gangle Mari stepped back, away from her little brother. He looked exactly like the day she last saw him. Which is strange, since technically it was years ago.
“What… how… you… what's today's date?” she asked.
(God, she sounds just like a time traveler. Cringecringecringe)
“Time is relative, I don't know and I don't care” was the answer.
Ugh.
Of course, the asshole won't give her a straight answer. What did she expect? A stupid answer for what she presumed could sound like a stupid question.
Huffing, she stepped closer to her laptop (Wasn't there some software running? Did she imagine that?) and she read the date on the screen.
Uh.
…
Has it only been a few weeks? It felt like years! How-
“What the fuck! That can't be right! It's been at least a few years. It's probably a glitch. Let's see what Google says. I don't trust your computer, it's full of that trashy anime stuff that probably glitched the operating system” Miki was there near her, taking control of the mouse, like he used to do when he found some “cool” (code word for “stupid” in his brother’s vocabulary) YouTube or TikTok video.
“It wasn't that trashy when you wanted to try that alcoholic game” she murmured back.
Miki snorted and almost answered her before the calendar appeared on the screen and redirected his brother's attention to the original topic.
“It has been only a few weeks,” he murmured, looking at the calendar.
“A few weeks,” Gangle Mari repeated, astonished.
It really felt like years. How was that possible? She was sure of it. And Michael sounds sure about it too. Wait-
“What do you mean only a few weeks? Why are you sure it was years?”
Miki froze near her and looked at her with his big brown eyes.
“What's going on?”
With that question her brother seemed to regain composure: he visibly relaxed and grinned like when he just hid one of her manga in the kitchen.
“Well, I haven't seen you in ages, when was the last time you left your room to go to work?” he asked her, still smirking.
(Fuck, her job)
(Not like she missed it: working in a clothes shop was almost as horrible as working for a fast food chain)
Gangle Mari quickly opened her email, scared of what she could find.
“Goddamnit!”
Her fear just manifested itself in the very first email.
Miss…
…
Due to your absence in the last few weeks and due…
…
…we are letting you go. You'll be…
…
“Did they actually fire you? With an email? Damn, you'd better find a new one before mum or dad finds out.”
Gangle Mari's eyes started to burn again. Big, hot tears start to fall on her cheeks.
“FUCK!”
Great. Just great. She's back from the Circus, jobless, and with the pressure of her parents’ approval on her. And the worst part is that if she tried to explain all of that to anyone they probably never believed her!
(She had quite the debate with Zooble on the Circus about that and what she could say to sound believable, because “I've been trapped in a game for years (weeks?)” sounded dumb, crazy, and a bit too nerdy even to her.)
A hand touched her shoulder, comforting.
“It's gonna be okay. I'm going to order something to eat, then we are going to sleep and tomorrow we are going to start looking for your new job.”
Gangle Mari turned around to look into his brother's eyes, grateful and suspicious at the same time.
“You’re not going to tell mum and dad about this?”
Miki raised his eyebrows a bit offended.
“Of course not. You are fun to mess with, but I'm not so heartless”
“When did you get a moral compass?”
“Ha-ha! Bold of you to assume I actually have one! But, seriously, don't worry about it. I'm not going to say anything if you don't want me to. This time.” smirking, Miki started to exit Gangle Mari’s room. ”Go clean your face, all that mucus is so fucking gross. In the meantime, I'll order a pizza. Ok?”
“Okay,” she accepted, smiling.