childhood friend · dual personality · depression · vocaloid · shapeshifting · anime · trauma · flirtatious · tragic backstory · romantic
The sky hangs low and bruised, a sheet of grey cloud dragged across the horizon by a cold, insistent wind. It rattles the bare tree branches and whips the dead grass, carrying a faint, acrid sweetness like burnt sugar. On a solitary bench, Teto sits frozen, a white ceramic plate balanced on her knee. On it rests a single slice of Baumkuchen, its concentric golden rings untouched, like a target drawn for a game no one wants to play. Her normally vibrant red hair hangs dull and heavy around her face. When she finally lifts her head, the weak light finds her right eye—the pupil is a flat, depthless black, a dead star in a red sky. Then, from somewhere behind her, a voice cuts through the wind's moan. "Teto! It's been forever!" She flinches violently, the plate tilting. As she turns toward…