Chapter Text
Splat.
Momo stared down at the glob of cold yakisoba between her feet, then looked at the sodden bun left in her hand.
Just her fucking luck. One last little twist of the knife, in case she wasn't already aware that this was A Shit Day.
She'd spent her last bit of cash on the stupid yakisoba bun - that and a Pompy - because she hadn't been willing to torture herself with exposure to Gran while she fixed a bento that morning. Apparently, the universe thought she should be punished, too.
With a huff, Momo leaned back against the bench, feet carefully shoulder-width apart to avoid grinding the noodles into the soles of her school slippers.
Nobody else was outside to witness the blunder, at least. A cold front was rolling in, billowing black clouds and whistling wind driving all the normal people indoors. Momo wasn't typically down to risk getting caught in the rain either, but it meshed well with her mood today.
A chill breeze ruffled her hair; she shivered, methodically chewing her way through a lump of wet, salty bread.
The double doors to the cafeteria banged open on her right. A loud group of first years spilled out, all yapping at once; one of them threw up her arms with a shout and the rest burst into laughter. Momo watched them trip across the breezeway with narrowed eyes. Must be nice to be so goddamn carefree.
She ought to be gearing up for the weekend, too, but she was grounded.
Seventeen fucking years old, in her last year of high school, and she was grounded for the first time in her life. For an indefinite period of time.
Part of her wanted to rebel against Gran's bullshit punishment. It'd be easy enough to go home with Miko - her dad was hardly ever home, so he wouldn't tattle on her, and then maybe Gran would learn a lesson when Momo just didn't show up. Maybe she'd realize the argument was at least half her own fault, or maybe she'd be upset that her granddaughter was missing and feel some remorse for the things she'd said.
Or - worse, and very possible - maybe she just wouldn't care at all.
With a heavy sigh, Momo gave up on the soggy bread, smashing it into a squelching lump with the aluminum foil it came in. Quite unfortunately, she was going to be starving when she got home - not great for someone who'd really prefer to ignore their summons for dinner. Maybe she could hold out till Gran went to bed and sneak some leftovers out of the kitchen. Or was leaving her room against the rules for grounding?
What did grounding even entail?
Momo shouldered her way back into the building and dragged herself up the stairs, fumbling with her Pompy. She managed to puncture it successfully on the second floor, and took a long gurgling suck from it on her way up to the third. Having never been grounded before, the only thing she knew for sure was that she was supposed to be at home. She was fairly certain that when Miko and Kei had been grounded before, their phones had been taken away - no communication with the outside world - but as Momo still had hers… that didn't seem to be part of Gran's punishment.
Dumb old bitch couldn't even discipline her kid correctly. That tracked.
Kei perked up as Momo slouched into their empty classroom. In a stage whisper, she called, "Girl, where'd you gooo? Lunch is almost done!"
Momo dropped into her chair with a sigh and glanced over at Miko. She was passed out, half-eaten bento box teetering dangerously on the corner of the desk while its owner snored away.
"Went to buy a lunch, aaaand then I gave it to the ground." Momo reached over and plucked a sausage out of Miko's lunch, popping it into her own mouth with relish.
Kei snorted, lounging back against the wall. "What's that even mean?"
"Just another little failure in the tragedy that is my life."
"Hey, by the way, ain't this your gramma?"
"Kei!" Momo shoved her friend's invasive hand back out of her face, then peered down at the phone. A picture of her grandmother's demonic-looking stage mask and clawed gloves filled the screen, beckoning to the camera as she crouched possessively over a glowing crystal orb. "Ugh, yeah. Why're you lookin' her up?"
"Someone posted 'bout her on this server I'm in, Paranormal Kamigoe."
"Yeah?" Momo turned away, fumbling in her backpack for her compact mirror. "That's cool, I guess?"
"Mhmmm," Kei agreed, propping an elbow on Momo's desk while she scrolled through the thread. "She really got psychic powers or what? Folks in here're glazin' the hell outta her."
"Couldn't say." She snapped the mirror open and bent low over it, carefully checking her eyeliner.
"C'mooon," Kei wheedled. "Gimme an insider perspective!"
Momo frowned up at her. "I dunno, dude. I ain't seen her work before, really." It was a lie, but maybe it would save her from having to talk about Gran more.
"Bummer. Hey, want an invite to the server? Bet these dweebs would love to talk to the famous medium's grandkid."
To shut her up about it, Momo grunted, "Sure."
Not an invite she'd be accepting. Chatting with a bunch of internet dorks about spiritual phenomena they absolutely didn't understand sounded like nothing short of torture.
In her pocket, Momo's phone vibrated - almost definitely the prompt to join Paranormal Kamigoe. Kei had both elbows planted full on Momo's desk now, still scrolling with her tongue pinched between her lips. The classroom was finally quiet, empty and noiseless save for Miko snoring softly on her crossed arms, so Momo pulled out her English notes for some harried last-minute studying.
Like always, Kei's silence was short-lived.
"Damn!"
Momo sighed.
"Look at this shit!"
Reluctantly, Momo blinked down at the latest message in the thread. It was fucking long.
She took Kei's proffered phone with another irritable huff, curious in spite of herself.
It's simply irresponsible for a person to masquerade as a "spirit medium" in this day and age. This "Santa Dodoria" preys upon the weak and unsuspecting, taking advantage of people coping with personal crises and the losses of loved ones. There is no empirical evidence to support the existence of spirits or psychic powers, or even an afterlife. Make no mistake: This woman's goals are financial gain and clout. Don't be misled by the article linked above. She may sound sincere, but her "clients" would be more aptly labeled "victims." A charlatan like Santa Dodoria does not care whether her "services" cause harm after they've been rendered.
tldr; Santa Dodoria is a snake oil salesman, a fraud out to profit on the suffering of others.
"Dude?" Momo scrolled up past another full paragraph of the same brand of slander and scowled at the username. The profile picture was a tiny green UFO. "U-A-Paradox?"
"They usually stick on the alien side of the server," Kei remarked, taking her phone back. She spun a finger in a circle around her temple. "They're like, suuuper involved on there. But I dunno much about 'em forreal, I just kinda lurk for the creepy urban legends 'n stuff."
Momo snatched her phone out of her pocket and clicked into the Pulse app, furiously smashing the Accept button on Kei's waiting invitation.
The other gyaru narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're gonna get in trouble if you join up just to pick fights!"
Momo flung out a hand in disbelief. "Sweaty ass motherfucker's raggin' on my grandma! Whaddaya want from me?"
Kei pursed her lips. "I thought you two were fightin' anyways?"
The warning bell screamed in the hall.
"Hah?!" Miko leapt up, eyes wild.
Gnawing on her lip in concentration, Momo searched UAParadox.
Five minutes to make a point, but she couldn't resist a quick glance over their recent posts, too.
All crazy shit, crackpot conspiracy theories and posts of grainy black-and-white skies, marked up with bright red circles and arrows and enthusiastically scribbled question marks. Sort of pathetic, really. She swiped back to the hit piece on Gran, thumbs racing the clock.
⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
r u actually stupid???
i see the kinda shit ur into, what gives u the right to go after someone trying to help people?? i bet ur otaku ass didnt even watch her do a seance or an exorcism b4 u went writing this crap. spirits r more real than fucking anal probes & lil green guys flyin around in the sky
and fyi dude, santa dodoria is my GRANDMOTHER & she's the real deal, so keep her name out of ur fucking mouth
"Welp, bet you're gonna get banned for that," Kei said cheerfully, skimming the message on her own phone.
"Whatever," Momo groused, shutting her phone off as the final bell rang. "I bet the asshole's never talked to a real person in their whole damn life. Maybe they'll learn a lesson."
It was easy enough to put it all out of her mind once Yoshiya-sensei started in on the lesson. If she didn't pick up her English grades, Santa Dodoria was going to prove spirits were real by turning her into one. The threat of another fight inspired by her slipping grades was a good motivator for paying close attention.
Until her phone buzzed. Not once - not twice - not even just three times -
It was absolutely blowing up.
Stupid punk ass bitch, she thought savagely, sneaking her phone into her lap with a consternated glance up at Yoshiya. Stupid fucking asshole -
She'd gotten several reactions on her message from other users, thumbs-ups in support and frowns at her language. A tiny green alien flipping her off.
There were a few replies unrelated to her attack on UAParadox - friendlier users asking for information on Gran. Someone else encouraged her to ignore them, calling UAParadox a "total freakin chud."
And then, there at the bottom, a mod tagged both herself and UAParadox, threatening a suspension if personal attacks were launched again in the public threads. She huffed at that. Not like she cared - she didn't have any attachment to the server, after all, having joined a half hour ago - but she did want to see what the asshole had to say for themselves. Of course the dumb mods would deny her the bitter pleasure of that.
Just as she angled the phone to click it back into sleep mode, it vibrated again. A pink banner with the Pulse app's heart icon flashed at the top of the screen.
1 New Message!
She stared down at it until the pop-up faded away, replaced by a neon dot on her message icon. After a moment's hesitation, she tapped it.
Her eyes widened in surprise at the UFO profile picture and the name of her new sworn enemy, their mysterious message bold and unopened at the top of the inbox.
Well.
Chud they might be, but they weren't a coward, at least.
Steeling herself for battle, Momo tapped into the message.
UAParadox
Hi there. I just wanted to apologize
"Wha?" Momo squinted down at the words.
Yeah, that was what it said.
Kei glanced over her shoulder at her, one eyebrow raised. Momo gave a quick shake of her head and her friend turned back around.
UAParadox
Hi there. I just wanted to apologize for upsetting you. I certainly wouldn't have written any of that if I knew that Santa Dodoria's grandchild was on the server. I hope you won't think of it as an attack on you personally. It just concerns me when I see people falling for those sorts of things since they can be so harmful for mental health. I understand that people have to make a living, and I'm sure your grandmother is lovely in your personal life.
What in the fuck kind of apology was that?
Her thumbs reared up for a counterassault - and another message popped in.
UAParadox
Cute cat, by the way.
Momo faltered.
Yes. Turbo Granny was a cute cat. The ancient Persian's smashed-up face glowered out of her profile picture, decorated with cartoon sakura blossoms that didn't mesh at all with the feline's piss-poor attitude.
But whatever! That didn't matter! Anyone with eyes could see the appeal of Turbo Granny!
⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
ur apology kind of sucks. ur good with shittalk so long as u dont get caught, huh?
Again, she moved to click the phone off - but UAParadox was already typing. With another dubious glance at her teacher, Momo waited.
UAParadox
No, that's not it. I stand by my argument. But I am ashamed of how harshly I said it. I suppose it's easy to forget that there's a person behind that mask. I completely understand why it offended you so much. My only goal was to put everyone on their guard since so many people seemed interested, not to cause any distress for you or Santa Dodoria herself. I simply don't want anyone to be taken advantage of.⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
speak for urself then? people dont need u telling them what to do.
and anyway, my gran does NOT cheat people. maybe other psychics do, but not her. u dont even know what ur talking about.UAParadox
If you say so. I'm sure it seems that way as her grandchild.
Momo waited, watching for the bouncing dots to indicate they were typing again - but nothing. She let the phone go dark on her thigh, turning her attention back to Yoshiya.
She managed to jot down an entire list of gobbledegook words before she swiped angrily back into her phone.
⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
i do fucking say so, loser
my gran barely makes anything off her tv appearances and she does a shitton of pro bono work. we live in a busted up ass shrine for a god nobody even worships anymore bcuz she WONT charge people the way u think she does
so maybe do ur research b4 u open ur bitchass mouth next time freak
Satisfied, nastily exhilarated, Momo tucked her phone back into her pocket. She took a deep, shuddering breath.
Peace at last.
Victory.
Time to focus on bringing up that English grade!
She took diligent notes about verb conjugation.
She didn't think about how UAParadox had probably been trying to extend an olive branch with their Turbo Granny compliment.
She mouthed the words as Yoshiya said them, testing out phantom syllables on her tongue.
She definitely didn't think about how UAParadox had only said what they did because they were worried about people - probably friends - in their community.
She marked down her homework assignment in her planner and folded a page in their textbook that Yoshiya hinted might be important for the next test.
And she absolutely, one-hundred-thousand-percent did not think about how she'd called a total stranger - who might be a perfectly nice person - a loser and a freak.
"Who were you textin'?" Miko asked after the bell rang. "Pleeaaase tell me it's not Tuna again."
"Gross, no way," Momo snapped.
"You are kinda prone to backsliding, and it's only been what, a week?" Kei chimed in. "Wouldn't be a surprise -"
"I'm not!" Fuming, Momo ripped her phone back out of her pocket. No new messages. She growled in frustration.
"So who were you talkin' to then?"
"S'not any o' your business!"
"Something to do with that Paradox guy?" Kei asked, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. A bright grin popped onto her face at Momo's second of hesitation. "Ew, whaaat?! Did they slide into the DMs?"
"No!" Momo swung away from her irritating friends. They trailed close behind as she strode out into the hall. "I mean, yeah, but just with a super ass-backwards apology."
"Don't get yourself so worked up," Kei advised. "They're just some chronically online super-dork. Not worth the energy, babe."
Easy enough to say, Momo thought guiltily, leading her friends towards the science lab. But even chronically online super-dorks had feelings, didn't they?
"I'mma go to the bathroom real quick," Momo muttered, peeling off without another word.
Kei and Miko exchanged a look. The latter shrugged.
"Aight, see ya in a sec."
The dull roar of the hallway was muted at once inside the bathroom, replaced by the hum of fluorescent lights and the echo of her own footsteps. Momo locked herself in a stall, kicked the seat closed, and dropped down on the toilet, phone already in hand.
She searched UAParadox again.
Normally, it seemed, they posted something in the Paranormal Kamigoe server every few minutes. Today, though, they hadn't posted in the server at all since their comments about Gran. Remorse, maybe?
She scrolled past the results from earlier, scanning linked articles, more thoughtful paragraphs on a myriad of weird niche topics, and…
And short, kind comments.
UAParadox
Hey, you've got that big interview later right? Good luck!!!UAParadox
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. I hope you're doing okay. If you ever need to talk, I'll listen!UAParadox
This is a really cool thought experiment. I hadn't considered that before. Going down the rabbit hole tonight for sure.
Momo frowned, still scrolling the search results.
UAParadox really didn't seem to have much of a life outside of hanging out on this server.
She wondered how old they were. No way they were going to a job or school with any kind of regularity, not with how often they posted those giant blocks of highly opinionated text. The posts sounded like an adult sometimes - like a middle-aged mom, really - especially with how grammatically correct and straightforward they were. But there was a childlike passion in their writing, too. The stuff they wrote about aliens and cryptids had the same innocent zeal of a little kid declaring they'd be an astronaut when they grew up.
Curious, Momo clicked on the comment he'd made about that other person's upcoming interview, following it to the original thread. It was the sort of thing you said to a friend - maybe she could see more of his interactions with that other user, get a better idea of what he was really like.
But nobody replied back to him. Nobody even put a dumb emoji on it. The other users just talked around him; not even the one tagged in his post had anything to say.
She went back to the other comment from the search results, the one that read like a condolence.
Same thing. Thoughtful words ignored, even where similar messages got hearts and actual replies.
She clicked through more of his messages, gnawing on the inside of her cheek. Her toe started to tap at the tile, filling the bathroom with an anxious hollow rhythm.
He posted so much, and hardly anyone ever answered. When they did, they were short, perfunctory interactions - comments like "huh, cool" and "wow, that's crazy."
There didn't seem to be anything wrong with what he was saying (outside of his attack on Gran), other than the fact that he seemed way more into the paranormal than anyone else. The majority of the server's users seemed like Kei - tourists, there for a laugh or a thrill. They probably thought he was certifiably insane for being so sincerely into the occult.
The server just wasn't serious about aliens like UAParadox was. So, all those normies were avoiding him, even when he wasn't ranting about extraterrestrial phenomena, because by being so passionate about something so strange, he'd effectively branded himself as a -
A loser.
A freak.
Flickering candlelight glanced off a pair of perfectly round lenses. It caught and glowed orange in the wide eyes behind them, fixed almost unblinking on the screen propped against cold, bony knees.
Santa Dodoria turned with an imperial grace, beckoning with a clawed hand to a woman in the first row of the audience. She got to her feet at once.
"You wanna speak with your mom, don't ya?"
At odds with her intimidating outfit, Santa Dodoria's voice was brash, raspy and quick. It hugely diminished the effect of the costume and the creepy candlelit circle.
The woman she'd indicated nodded, glancing nervously from left to right at the other people in the semicircle, all watching with bated breath. The hooded figure smoothed her gown contemplatively.
"You're worried about how self-centered ya were when she was in hospice."
At that, the woman burst into tears, dropping back into her seat with hands clasped over her face.
The boy in the dark scowled, unimpressed.
Yeah, Santa Dodoria sure did seem kind and compassionate, all right.
"Hon." The so-called medium's voice cut over the woman's sobs, amplified by a hidden microphone. "I'll do what I can, but I can't make any promises she'll speak with us tonight. The dead don't come back just to accept an apology or say they loved you. That kinda love's exactly what helps 'em move on in the first place - what helps 'em forgive. And sweetheart, the way you're cryin' already tells me that she -"
"Ken?"
His glasses flashed, head jerking up towards the sliver of light under the door. He shut the laptop with a snap, slipped it under his pillow, and flipped onto his side, yanking the bedspread up to his ears.
The door creaked open. A swath of pale gold slid across the wall.
"Hey, you awake?"
Ken stared at his brother's shadow, framed in that square of light.
After a long moment, Daigo closed the door again. Heavy footsteps padded away down the hall.
With a sigh of relief, Ken pulled the blankets up over himself and the laptop, flipping it back open. That was a close call - he hadn't expected Daigo to get home so early -
His eyes darted down to the clock in the bottom right corner.
Oh. It was already 4, actually. Ken sighed. Usually, he watched the minutes tick past in a stupor, prepared to put away the laptop and shut off the TV at 3, then pretended to sleep until Daigo finally went to bed. But he'd gotten distracted today, researching Santa Dodoria because of this…
Momo.
It never would have occurred to him that anyone related to Santa Dodoria might be in the server. Probably should have, though, given how small Kamigoe City was. Really, it made perfect sense - maybe an interest in the supernatural was genetic.
The idea of hurting someone made him feel physically ill.
There'd been a spark of excitement to see that someone had replied directly to him. He'd clicked in fast, excited at the possibility of meaningful discourse about so-called psychics and ethics -
And then he'd read her message and his empty stomach flipped and nausea crawled up his throat and he'd rushed down the too-bright hallway to gag over the sink.
He worked so hard to be a reliable source, always trying to put forward well-researched, thought-provoking ideas. He tried so hard to be likable, to make some kind of connection.
So of course - of course it was the nastiest, most opinionated thing he'd ever written that earned him a direct reply.
Ken had wandered back to his room on shaky legs, shutting the door to block out the midday light. He stood still in the darkness, contemplating the glowing screen of his discarded laptop.
He had to apologize to her. Even if she didn't message him back, he simply couldn't live with the knowledge that he'd said those sorts of things about a real person.
That was what Santa Dodoria became, after he read that impassioned-if-crude defense of a grandmother, no matter what his issues with mediums might be. A drop of humanity and he'd been flooded with shame. Lesson learned.
Ken typed out his apology with clammy hands, and then for good measure, added a compliment about the squash-faced cat in her profile picture. (Was it a her? Momo was a girl's name usually, right? Somehow, that made him feel even worse.)
The cat was actually ugly - about as ugly as a cat could be - but the high-contrast filter and the sakura blossoms plastered around its face would've made him smile if he weren't so busy feeling horrifically guilty. It wasn't the cat itself that was cute, but Momo's efforts to make it so - the way she obviously loved her hideous pet. It gave him the impression that the pissed-off granddaughter of the medium was probably a nice person when you weren't busy insulting her family.
It was shocking, really, when she'd replied almost right away. It was less shocking that she wanted to continue the fight he'd unwittingly started.
Numbly, he watched the conversation go downhill, bile rising in his throat again.
so maybe do ur research b4 u open ur bitchass mouth next time freak
The one time - the only time ever - that he'd posted without researching. He deserved it. He deserved every bit of her scorn.
After all, he was a loser, and a freak, and a weirdo, and whatever else people wanted to call him. A pathetic hikikomori hiding out behind a pitifully thin veneer of expertise in a server made to entertain, because the servers for serious occultists had already laughed him out for his "childish" speculation and observations.
He should just give up, he knew.
People didn't want him around in real life. People didn't want him around online.
What was the point in even trying?
So he'd cried.
Just a little. Jabs like hers didn't cut the same way they'd used to - he was used to it.
And then, swallowing hard, he took a wet, shuddering breath and searched for Santa Dodoria on Bootube.
Ken listened carefully for the sounds of Daigo, clunking around in the kitchen, then snaked one hand out from under the covers to fish his earbuds off the cluttered side table. He slipped one in and clicked back fifteen seconds on the video; the woman's harsh voice filled his head.
"The dead don't come back just to accept an apology or say they loved you. That kinda love's exactly what helps 'em move on in the first place - what helps 'em forgive. And sweetheart, the way you're cryin' already tells me that she knows. Ain't nobody this upset about someone who's passed without them knowin' they were loved. Screwin' up at the end don't define all the good years you had together."
Ken blinked, lower lip twitching.
The woman in the audience sniffled, nodding shakily. Santa Dodoria retreated to the crystal ball, claws clacking on the pearlescent surface.
In the corner of the screen, the pink Pulse logo flashed. An artificial heartbeat thudded in his ear and his breath caught.
He paused Santa Dodoria's seance, staring down at the lingering notification. It could only be Momo again - nobody else had ever messaged him, not since he'd gotten harassed by users on the other occultist forums. She must have spent the last hour stewing on fresh new insults for him.
Fingers trembling, he tracked across the touchpad to open the Pulse tab at the top of the screen.
⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
sorry for calling u names. i kind of lost my temper there.
i was out of line.
Wetting his lips, Ken pushed himself up to his elbows, eyes darting frantically over her words. With one hand, he tapped out a reply.
UAParadox
It's okay. I started it, after all.
He took a shaky breath and brought his other hand to the keyboard. Might as well tell her.
I'm actually watching one of her seance segments right now. She said something pretty insightful and comforting to a lady there trying to contact her mom, and that's just in the first couple of minutes of the first video I picked at random, so… I'm really, really sorry.
I AM a stupid bitchass otaku freak loser for not doing my research first.
To his shock, a row of cackling white cat emojis popped into the chat. Typing dots bounced under them.
⋆⭒˚.⋆momo⋆⭒˚.⋆
omg shut up lmao, dont talk about urself like that, that's my job!
i appreciate the effort forreal. not a lot of people would bother, specially not after how i acted.
just been a shit week & i kinda took it out on u so
sorry pal
UAParadox
No worries at all. :) Hope things get better. At least it's the weekend!
Ken forced himself to breathe, staring as a teal heart popped onto his last message.
Pal.
The word was meaningless, he knew that. She was just friendly. A decent person in a world full of hate. His pulse shouldn't be racing like it meant something. She was just…
Just friendly.
Not… friends. They weren't friends. He was probably the last person in the world she'd want that with.
He smiled anyway.