Date A Live - Volume 20 - Chapter 0

Fragmentary Chapter 1 

The Other Me 

She opened her eyes in the darkness. 

No, she didn’t even know if the description of being in the dark was appropriate. Since she couldn’t even judge what was going on here. 

It was an incomprehensible space where everything was ambiguous, where everything was vague. There was the feeling of drifting in lukewarm water. If even a little lax, the existence surrounding her body would begin to melt away from her fingertips. 

Meanwhile, a single thought flashed through her mind.

--What in the world am I?

She asked herself indifferently. A question that wouldn’t be answered. 

The only thing she remembered was the appearance of the woman who created her. But she was anyhow at a loss understanding why she was born. Likewise--she didn’t know how she existed. 

There was nothing that could be used to define her own existence. Just like a boat with its cable loosened, she just drifted on aimlessly. One day, these unsolvable questions would surely be washed away by the waves of boredom and fatigue, fading away into dust.

--But, located inside this (--------)

At some point, she discovered “something” there. 

“It” was someone’s heart and emotions. Someone’s personality that had a clear will. 

At the moment of touching it, she understood. 

This heart belonged to a girl that could be called another version of herself. 

She didn’t know why she understood this. But, this matter became a “fact” that didn’t even need to be determined to gain the conviction to reign over her thoughts. 

Another version of herself inside her heart. What a strange feeling this was. Was this the sensation of people undergoing multiple personality disorder? No--for her, it would be perhaps better to say that her body was taken away by this other personality that grew up while she was sleeping. 

However, very unexpectedly, she didn’t come to hate this other self. 

Rather, she was glad to know that there was something else other than herself in this space where nothing existed. She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t hear anything. But when she touched that heart, she could somehow feel that other self’s emotions.

Having said that--those feelings weren’t necessarily always good. At the beginning, there was confusion.

And also, there was pain, fear, sadness, suspicion-- The other me always experienced such negative emotions.

(--Hu, mans)

Those words were transmitted from her other self’s heart. 

To cause her other self be frightened, she called out the name of the people who made her sad as her chest incised with a quiet anger.