Oneshot based on a headcanon I made with Nemoto and my oc Valentina
The dreams started when Valentina was seven years old.
In this dream, she was playing on the swings—her favorite thing at the playground—when she heard laughter. She had stopped swinging a bit to see what was going on.
There was a circle of kids. Boys, mostly. Shouting things she couldn't quite make out, but she knew it couldn’t be good. She got off the swings and cautiously jogged over to the commotion. That’s when she recognized who they were surrounding.
Her twin brother, Shin Nemoto.
He was on the ground, curled into a ball. They were kicking him. Pulling his hair. Calling him weird, creepy, a freak. His glasses were on the ground a few feet away, one lens cracked. His lip was split—a thin line of blood dripping down his chin.
Val gasped at the scene. "Stop it!" she screamed.
She tried to grab the nearest boy by the arm, yanking him with all her seven-year-old strength. But he shoved her back so hard she hit the ground, the impact hurting her spine. The other kids just watched. No one moved to help. No teacher in sight.
Val groaned in pain, but she didn’t give up. "Leave him alone!" She scrambled up, tried to push through again, but someone blocked her. Then another. The circle tightened. She could hear Shin's muffled grunts as he tried not to cry.
She watched them hurt him.
And she couldn't do anything.
She screamed his name, but it got lost in the laughter around them.
She shot up immediately, her face already covered in tears. Her hands were shaking. Her heart was slamming against her ribs so hard she thought she might throw up. She could still hear the thud of their shoes against his ribs despite being awake now.
She looked at the time. **2:14 am**. She never woke up this early…but that dream scared her like crazy, she couldn’t calm down. She needed someone.
Val quickly stumbled out of bed, sneaking out of her room and going across the hall. She stood near her brother’s closed door. She felt bad for getting ready to disrupt his sleep, but she couldn’t calm down.
She sighed as she slowly opened the door. She took a little peek, seeing him curled up in his bed. Val slid inside and closed the door. "Shin?" She whispered, turning back to him. She didn’t want to be too loud, but she also didn’t want to be too quiet either.
But it ain’t even matter cause there was no response from him. Val frowned. "Shin!" She said a little louder. After that second time, he finally groaned, slowly sitting up. He looked irritated as he rubbed his eyes. "Val? What time is it? Why are you awake?"
"2:14 am…I’m sorry for waking you, but I had a bad dream." She stayed standing in front of his bed, trembling. "Can I please stay with you..?" He raised an eyebrow, "Bad Dream? What was it about?" She shook her head. "Don’t wanna say…" Didn't wanna think about it again from explaining.
He sighed. For a moment she thought he was gonna say no and kick her ass out, but then he lifted the blanket. She wasted no time crawling into the bed with him, curling herself into a ball.
They were both pretty quiet for a while. Then Shin spoke again.
"Why not go to Mom and Dad?" he asked. His voice was raspy from sleep. She stayed
For a second longer before answering. "Because they'd make it a whole thing. They'd wanna talk about it and ask questions and turn on the lamp and—" She stopped. Shrugged under the blanket. "It’s just better to go to you. I feel more comfortable…if that makes any sense."
He didn't say anything for a long moment.
Then she felt his hand rest on her shoulder.
"Okay," he said. "Then come to me whenever."
She smiled at him slightly, closing her eyes. As she started to fall asleep, she felt a whole lot better near his side.
She was fifteen, and the dream had changed.
This time, she'd be in the hallway at school, walking with friends. Then she’d see Shin—in his locker, sitting down alone, walking alone.
Every single time, she’d call his name.
He'd look at her for just a second, making a smile appear on her face, thinking he’d smile back or wave at her. But instead, he’d be blank in the face. Turning away and ignore her, or walking off like she didn’t exist.
Her smile would drop. "Shin? Shin!" She'd run after him. But the hallway stretched. The distance between them grew no matter how fast she moved. "Wait! Please-" She'd reach out. Her fingers would brush his sleeve.
He'd keep walking, and she'd be left standing there, hand still outstretched, as he disappeared around a corner.
She'd call his name again.
Val would wake up with her heart pounding and her throat dry, and she'd lie there staring at the ceiling. That dream got to her way more than the old one during as children. Because this one wasn't just a dream anymore…
It was actually happening.
She had always been popular with the other kids, more than him. But even then they’d always be together no matter what. But now she wasn’t so sure.
Val debated whether or not she should go check on him. Any time she did he would just brush her off. She didn’t want to bother him, but she also wanted to make sure he was alright. She wanted to hang out.
So she got her butt up and made her way to his room. When she got to his door, she hesitated a bit before knocking.
It was silent for a moment, she could hear rustling inside as he made his way to the door and opened it. His face was blank as he stared down at her, just like the dream. But even then she smiled at him like always.
"Hey! I was having some trouble sleeping again so I was wondering if you’d wanna watch a movie or so-"
"I'm busy." Her smile faltered at his interruption. Well alright, damn. But she still played it cool. "Oh…Maybe another time?"
"Yeah. Maybe." He said nonchalantly.
Then he closed the door on her.
Val continued to stand there for a moment longer, this felt worse than the dream.
She then slowly turned around and made her way back to her room. Tears fell down her face. This hurt bad.
She decided not to go to his room at night anymore. She'd told herself she outgrew it. That she didn't need to anymore. But it would’ve been nice to still hang with him.
She crawled into her own bed, staring at her own ceiling. They were really growing distance now.
But she didn’t know what to do about it.
The dream has changed once again. And for the final time.
She was an adult—standing in a crowd. A train station, maybe. People moving past her in both directions, blurry and faceless.
And yet, she managed to still see him.
Same build. Same way of standing. He was wearing a suit this time, but Val always recognized her brother no matter what.
"Shin!" She pushed through the crowd, shoving past strangers, calling his name. He didn't stop. She reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around.
Like one of those faceless mannequins... no eyes, no mouth, no nose. The shape of his face was right—the jaw, his hair. Even wore his glasses. But there was nothing behind it. Val’s eyes widened as she looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something—his name, anything—but no sound came out.
Had she forgotten what his face looked like?
He "stared" at her as she started to panic. Then he turned and walked away like nothing. And she couldn't follow. Her feet were stuck. The crowd swallowed him. She tried to scream, but her voice was gone.
So she just watched as he disappeared.
She woke up in her penthouse, alone, at 2:14 AM. The same time she did every night.
Her face was covered in tears. Her hands were shaking. The city lights outside her window painted the ceiling in pale gold. She was now rich. Successful. A known celebrity for almost everything, like she was the Barbie in their world.
But she couldn't seem to care about that. Not when she hadn’t seen her brother in years. The dreams didn’t make it better.
And wanna know what’s worse? Two days.
He'd been arrested two days ago. The news had spread through like wildfire—the Shie Hassaikai, that yakuza group, had gotten taken down by the heroes. And guess who so happened to be one of them? Shin. Her fucking twin. Getting taken into custody.
She'd seen his name on a screen. She'd read it over and over praying it wasn’t real.
Her brother was in the yakuza this whole time… and now he’s in prison.
She sat up and pressed her palm flat against her chest and tried to slow her breathing. She stayed sitting in the dark, alone. She hadn’t been answering anyone’s text messages or calls, hadn’t posted anything on her socials either. Even if it’s only been two days, everyone was worried.
But no one else crossed her mind at that moment. Only her brother did. She sat on her bed, allowing her tears to fall to her thighs. Letting the happy memory of the two of them go through her mind once more.
Because it was all she had left.
