Seraphim is a Bystander

Is Seras Just a Bystander?
 
While Aoi stood frozen in confusion, unable to grasp what had just happened, both the scythe and the Cornered Rat had vanished. Well, I can’t stay in control forever—guess it’s time to head back to the room.

“〈Teleport〉”
『Eh?』
In a flash, my view shifted, and we were back in the hotel room. I gently patted the sleeping Yuzu-chan before crawling under the covers and returning my consciousness to the inner space.

“I’m back.”
“Ah… welcome back?”
Aoi still hadn’t fully caught up with the rapid changes in perspective, but he still managed a proper response. Man… he really did grow into a good kid, huh?

“So then, did you get it now—that you and I are the same?”
“Uhh… well, I kind of understood it? At least by feel?”
He said he got it, but that little question mark at the end told the real story. Well, I’d forced the understanding on him through direct sensation—his reasoning could catch up later.

“Fufu, I’ll explain it all in detail now.”
“Thank you?”
Alright, now where should I start? Aoi probably had a million questions, but I should at least begin by explaining the basics myself.

“Let’s start with the reason we share the same body, okay?”
“Ah, yes. Please do.”
“To put it simply—we’re a case of split personality.”

In fact, when I was reincarnated, I specifically requested to be the hidden personality from that damn Creator God.
“Huh… So then, you’ve been inside me all this time?”
“Yep. Ever since you were in your mom’s belly, I’ve been with you.”
Aoi struggled to digest my words, his expression twisted in thought. Even back when I contacted him through dreams, he always seemed to find me somehow familiar—so it’s not surprising he could start to grasp it.

“…Were you… lonely?”
“……Huh?”
My thoughts ground to a halt for a second. Lonely? That was his first question after learning he had another personality inside him?

“Ahaha! Lonely, huh? That never even crossed my mind!”
“Huh? Did I say something weird…?”
Worried by my sudden laughter, Aoi looked genuinely concerned. Honestly, I thought I understood him better than anyone—with our thoughts and feelings constantly flowing into each other. But actually talking to him… it’s different.

“No, it wasn’t weird. And to answer your question, no—I wasn’t lonely. Like you probably noticed earlier, we share a lot, right?”
“I see… I’m glad.”
His sincere relief washed over me, and once again I was struck by how good of a kid he’d grown up to be. Aoi calmed down a bit and seemed to start thinking about the idea of a split personality more seriously.

“Um, you mentioned we share a lot. Like what exactly?”
“When I was using our body earlier, you noticed, right? We share our five senses, thoughts, emotions—everything.”
“…But I never even knew you were there until now?”

Well, of course that question would come up. Honestly, I thought that would’ve been the first one he asked.
“I was deliberately keeping it hidden.”
“Why would you do that?”

“It’s not like I had anything special I wanted to do. I didn’t want to interfere with your life, so I decided to stay out of the way and just watch over you from the shadows.”
“…Then why are you showing yourself now?”
Ahh… what would be the right answer here? I couldn’t exactly say “Because I wanted a long vacation”, and I didn’t want to tell him about the end of the world just yet either…

“Lately, things have been happening that you couldn’t handle alone. You’ve noticed, right?”
“…Is this about Rei-kun?”
“That’s part of it. I’ve stepped in here and there before, but since you were starting to become aware of me, I figured it was time to explain properly.”

Up until now, I’d been covering for things with memory tampering and such, but with Aoi’s mind maturing and my power being needed more often, it had gotten harder to hide.
“Normally, everything flows from you to me, so it wasn’t hard to keep things secret until now.”
“I see…”

Yeah, that wasn’t a lie. Aoi seemed to accept the answer for now and moved on to the next question.
“Then… why are we different in species and gender?”
“Ahh… I figured you’d ask that.”

The difference in species and gender was the most obvious—and the most annoying—thing for him to question. Becoming a seraph and being turned female were both because of that damn Creator God…
“Hmm… how should I put this… divine whim?”
“Ehh…?”

“Yeah, sorry, but I can’t really explain that part.”
“…I understand.”
“Thanks, and sorry again.”

I didn’t try to hide how genuinely bothered I was by the topic, and I let Aoi feel that emotion through our link. It seemed to be enough to satisfy him for now. Morning was almost here, and it looked like my explanation session had come to a close.
Just as I was mentally breathing a sigh of relief, Aoi suddenly spoke again, as if something had occurred to him.
“Oh—this reminded me. About the gender thing… can our body go back to normal?”

“Hm? Body…?”
At the same time, I sensed people starting to stir outside. And the moment I turned my attention outward, I realized—
Oh crap. The real-world body is still me.

“Sorry! I’ll explain later—waking you up now!”
“Eh!? Just one more thing—”
Before Aoi could finish his sentence, I clapped my hands together. His figure vanished from my space, and another set of senses opened up, just like always.

『…your name, Seraph-san!』
『Whoa?! Aoi—what’s with you…?』
『Huh…? Oh, my body’s back.』

Aoi shot up with a start, while Kenta—just waking up—looked at him with concern. Still flustered, Aoi stared down at his body, flexing his fingers as if to confirm everything was back to normal.
『Hey, Aoi? You sure you’re okay…?』
『Ah, Ken… yeah, I’m fine. Really.』

『…If you say so.』
Watching Aoi’s confused expression, I recalled the words he’d tried to say as he woke up. I hadn’t quite heard them clearly, but based on his thoughts and feelings, it wasn’t hard to guess. I opened a line of communication I’d always kept closed—intentionally.
“I’m Seras. Nice to meet you—officially.”

『…!』
Well, from here on, I plan to take it easy °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° as much as possible.