=====
 

No, not the boy, he corrected himself. Whatever Soma was now, it wasn't a boy.

And really, it might not even be necessary. He wondered how much Soma knew. He wondered if Soma knew. Soma kept his own counsel now, and Arikado couldn't blame him for that, but still, he'd have liked to know if Soma looked at him and saw him through his other self's eyes, saw Arikado as he used to be.

When you get to be as old as I am, Arikado was fond of thinking, you become impatient with uncertainty. You should be causing it in others, not experiencing it yourself.

And whatever Soma did or did not know, he knew that he needed Arikado. Arikado wasn't so sure about that, but still, he was pleased enough to teach the boy (no, not 'the boy') about his powers.

But now--

--the boy (no, damn it, not the boy) was beginning to indicate that he needed Arikado for other things, as well, and that Arikado was not pleased about at all. Oh, it wasn't so bad yet. Reaching for the same things at the same time, listening to Arikado with that certain brittle quality to his attention, ensuring that he drank just enough to make it unsafe to send him home, so that he'd end up asleep on the other half of Arikado's ascetically narrow futon.

And the worst of it was that Arikado did not know if it was entirely Soma's idea. Some mornings he awoke early and saw his father's sleeping face shining at him from under Soma's messy hair, so like his own would be without the dye, and he wondered--

--which one of you is it that's doing this?

And does the answer matter at all?

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