My fan theory is that Mori based Elise's appearance on a long-lost love...
I included a side story about this in one of my fics, Locked In, and here is an excerpt of it from Chapter 13. The story involves one of my OCs based on Oscar Wilde, among other characters.
Details in this story would make sense if you read the rest of the fic, but as for now, here is the excerpt:
For Mori Rintarou, Ishihara Hanako was grace, beauty, and wit embodied.
When they met, the first thing he noticed was her long blonde locks that fell to her waist in wavy curls. The next was her bright blue eyes and that wicked, captivating smile.
They were kids from Shimane, the second least populous prefecture in all of Japan. Mori’s family was well off while Hanako’s parents were middle class.
He came from a family of doctors and samurais, while her family were mostly educators and inn owners.
He was well off. She was middle-class. Yet they’ve met each other because both Rintarou and Hanako were ability users — a rare occurrence and considered a national treasure, at least in their region.
Gifted children were usually separated from others, tutored by the finest instructors. At least in their generation, there were only the two of them. So they were forced to spend almost every waking day together in a government dormitory that also served as their school.
Mori was a quiet child, observant, and still. He would only talk back whenever spoken to — no more, no less.
A year into their forced proximity, Mori finally had his first, real conversation with Hanako. They were both in their classroom. It was a summer day and Hanako was wearing a brand new red dress.
“Stop staring at me. It’s creepy,” the girl almost shouted at Mori during their school break.
“I’m not looking at you!” The boy shied away. “I’m distracted by your stupid red frilly dress!”
“You!” She stood up and pointed at him. “You don’t talk for a year and the first thing you say is an insult?! My dress isn’t stupid! My dad gave it to me!”
“You look like a little kid wearing that,” Mori said.
“Well, we are little kids. Why are you speaking like an adult?”
“Because I’m smart as adults! And my ability is cooler than yours!”
“Nuh uh! My ability is better!”
Mori clapped his hand and a child appeared — a girl their age with dark hair and brown eyes. The boy twirled his hand and the girl did a pirouette. “She’s an avatar. She can fight for me, perform things for me and I can even change her look depending on what I like.”
Mori pointed to the girl and changed her hair color to brown and the blonde, light enough to match Hanako’s. And then her eyes changed to match the girl’s and soon, her face shape.
“Hey! That’s creepy!!! She kinda looks like me!”
“See? My ability is better! You can’t even use yours unless someone is dying!”
At that point, the two were already acquainted with each other’s abilities. Rintarou had Vita Sexualis, which allowed him to summon an avatar or another person he can control. Hanako can preserve life or suspend death before it occurs, for however long she liked.
The two got into a physical fight that day, which their teacher had to break up. And they’d get into more of these fights growing up but neither of them took it too seriously. In the first place, neither kid knew what it meant to have friends.
In their town, other families saw them as freaks while others were jealous of their special treatment.
Despite being at each other’s throats almost every day, Rintarou and Hanako were fiercely protective of each other whenever other kids tried to bully them in the slightest.
The Mori family was wealthy and had connections so they merely sneered at the mild ostracism. The Ishiharas, however, couldn’t take it. The family decided to move, giving up the benefits the prefecture offered them. They would rather live a quiet life in the mountains, far away.
And when Hanako left, Rintarou cried for days. He was alone. Truly alone for the first time, despite his ability of summoning any girl he’d like, ever since Hanako left, Elise’s form always reverted back to Hanako’s appearance. Perhaps it was his subconscious' way of telling him that she meant something.
The two wouldn’t meet again until they were old enough to go to university.
Mori moved to Tokyo and he was on his way to class when he got caught in a barricade created by student protestors. A large group gathered in front of his building. They were against the impending war.
“Are you also here to protest?”
Mori’s eyes widened as soon as he saw her. He would’ve recognized those golden locks anywhere.
The girl looked exactly the same, just taller and more mature. She wasn’t wearing a red frilly dress anymore, but a two-piece suit that showed off her long silhouette.
She was still effortlessly elegant, effortlessly cool, effortlessly magnetic.
“Rintarou?” She gasped and launched a hug that felt like an attack.
“Are you studying here?” Mori tried to push her away gently, feeling heat rising to his face.
“Yes, yes, I just enrolled and — ”
“Now you’re trying to stop the war.” Mori glanced at the placard she was holding.
The medical student thought it was foolish of this beautiful blonde to stop the inevitable. He was working on research about how to best equip Japan and use their gifted. There were already talks of forming a gifted army in Europe.
“I’m working on a cure. Deaths and wars are inevitable, Hana-chan” Mori said in the calmest voice but it still shook. He was just too excited to see her.
Hanako tutted as she waved a finger in front of his face. “Isn’t it better to prevent them?”
Then her eyes drifted to his ID around his neck. She grabbed it and pulled him closer to her to get a look. “Oh, I see… You’re a medical student… You profit and feel useful when people get hurt!”
A silly girl who dreams about peace…
“Yes, I am a medical student, but I am also a pragmatist who uses logic, theories, and pattern recognition to assess situations. Stopping this war is as impossible as stopping the flow of time itself.”
The girl had a determined look on her face. “Watch me.”
Mori smirked. “I will, Hana-chan!”
Then the medical student checked his watch and waved goodbye without looking back in his attempt to appear mysterious. He fought his way out of the crowd, trying to do it as coolly as possible.
He expected her to watch him go but upon glancing back, betrayed by his emotions, he saw her holding up her placard and chanting a witty two-liner spiel against the war. She wasn’t even looking at his direction! This both annoyed and intrigued the medical student.
They bumped into each other again during a school event, a free lecture given by the military which Hanako’s friends were planning to crash. Mori spotted her right away when the group was about to enter the venue. And stealthily, he pulled her out of the group ahead of time using his ability, copying someone who looked exactly like Hanako to join the protesters so that they wouldn’t notice she was gone.
It was a good call too because the military police arrested the student protesters just a few minutes later.
As the two ran to safety and away from the venue, Hanako whispered angrily, “You still have a habit of copying my looks? That’s way too creepy, Rintarou!”
“I can design her however way I like! And shouldn’t you be thanking me for now? Why do you keep joining that group of troublemakers anyway?”
“They’re not troublemakers! We’re trying to protest the war!”
The two finally reached a secluded area, behind one of the buildings.
Mori put a hand on her head as they were catching their breaths. “Still that dream, huh?”
Hanako looked up at him with her usual defiant smile. “Still very pro-war, huh?”
Mori’s heart leapt and he feared it would never come back down to earth. And in the remaining years of their university life, they would meet up every once in a while as friends to discuss politics, school, and very rarely, their abilities.
Mori had the idea to use Hanako’s ability as a way to save soldiers in the field or just civilians who happen to be battle casualties. When Hanako refused, he kept working on this thesis by exploring other ability users who could make this happen.
Though busy, every time his mind was idle, he thought about her…
And for some reason, he didn’t bother to change Elise’s appearance. To be more accurate, she was stuck in Hanako’s appearance.
The next time they met was after graduation. Mori was with William Wilde, whom Mori met during a medical conference. William’s family owned hospitals around the world.
William was a most sensible man. Strict, disciplined, and logical, just like Mori. This was why the two got along.
The only thing Mori didn’t plan was for Hanako to fall for William and for William to fall for Hanako. He blamed himself for introducing the two to each other.
And he distanced himself from the couple, focusing on work instead, which he started calling the “Immortal Army.” He slowly became recognized in the field and made important connections, including Natsume Soseki who introduced him to the emperor and empress. His plan to use abilities in the imminent war was highly considered.
He received an invite to their wedding which luckily clashed with a work schedule, but barely a year later, he received news about their pregnancy. And then of their plan to move to Dublin, to William’s family estate.
But this was just how things happen, Mori told himself. People come and go. Attachment is a curse, especially in unstable times.
What of her dream to teach the younger generation?
He felt infuriated that she would abandon her old self and settle into domestic life. It was unlike her. Had William changed her much? Or was she running away from war and from Japan, who would be a major player?
Before she left, however, she visited him in his apartment – the same one he lived in as a student. It was a room in a building that was a makeshift clinic where he interned.
“Still writing that paper of yours on the immortal army or the undead or whatever it is you call them?”
She was standing by the dooframe and she had her usual cocky smile. The only difference was the size of her belly.
Mori stood up in shock but it was quickly overpowered by his eagerness to see her face. “Hana-chan!!! You’re — ”
She almost tackled him to the ground in another surprise hug. He scolded her right after for being so reckless with her safety. According to his estimate, she was about 32 weeks pregnant.
“I couldn’t move away without saying goodbye to my babies’ godfather,” she told him.
They agreed weeks before that he would be the children’s godfather. William and Hanako owe it to Rintarou that they met, after all.
“So you and Will are really moving all the way to Europe? That continent is already unstable. I can’t believe you’re going closer to war, for someone so anti-war, if I remember correctly…”
“Ireland is neutral. We’ll be safe. Safer compared to here.”
“And you’ll move there for good?”
“Will’s planning to expand his family’s hospitals here. War, death is good business,” she said though Mori sensed hesitation there. “You said it before, right? If we can’t stop war, the least we can do is help people heal.”
Mori couldn’t believe her or what she was trying to imply. “Hana-chan, are you saying that you’ll finally use your ability to suspend death? During this war? In Will’s hospitals?”
“Maybe… Perhaps just for a few seconds so that loved ones can say goodbye to them if they need to,” she said, shrugging.
Mori slammed a fist on his table. “Such a mundane use for your gifts! If you allow me, we could have done something so much more! Like find a way to reverse death! Or increase the dimension range of your ablity.”
Hanako couldn’t look at him. Was she hiding something? She was making the face she usually made whenever she did something embarrassing.
“Rintarou, about that… I think I was able to do it…”
“Increase the range of your ability outside of a person?”
“Somewhat. But it’s like I was able to trap people inside… It’s complicated.”
Mori thought about it. The possibilities could be endless! “What if you use it in hospitals, doctors can operate on patients in a preserved time? And they can heal too! How long can you keep it up?”
Hanako started to leave the room. She was flustered and sweating. “I shouldn’t have told you…”
“Hanako! You must tell me! What if this is the key to my immortal army? Let them in a preserved time dimension. Please, you have to help me... The only other lead I have is this rumor about a little girl who can heal external injuries but I’d rather be working with you!”
“I told you, Rintarou, I don’t want anything to do — ”
“Hanako, please — ” He grabbed her arm as she was about to leave. It wasn’t too tight or forceful, just enough to let his pleading reach her.
“Rintarou, I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said in almost a whisper. “And the next time you meet me, I won’t be Hanako anymore. I’ll be Jane Wilde, a mother to twins.”
Mori let go of her arm. It was useless. Keeping her in Japan and even forcing her to user her abilities the way he wanted to was an exercise in futility. He knew this much. He knew it all along. After all, he was her friend.
“That’s… that would be wonderful,” Mori said in a calmer tone. “I hope that you and the kids would be able to visit Japan again soon.”
Instead of leaving the room completely, Hanako stayed rooted to her spot. It was only then that Mori noticed she was shaking ever so slightly.
“I think the babies are ability users and as the days go by, I feel drained…”
Mori grabbed her by the shoulders this time so that he would be able to look her in the eyes. “Hana-chan, are you drinking your vitamins and resting well? I can —- ”
“Rintarou, I think the babies can already activate their ability and they can steal or — ”
Mori cleared his throat. “Some babies do develop and already exhibit abilities within the womb. And if one of the babies has a stealing ability that also allows borrowing the stolen ability, then — ”
“I don’t care about that now. It’s just that I feel drained all the time. Little Orla and Oscar are too much for me, I think…”
So that’s what she decided to name the kids…
“Perhaps it’s the always-on or always active type of ability,” Mori offered as an explanation.
“Do you think I should actively use my power on the babies? Would it harm them?”
“Like a dimensional lock? Hmmm… Theoretically, it should work.”
“But wouldn’t it stop the development of the babies as well?”
Mori refused to answer. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to dispense medical advice that could potentially harm a person he cared about. But he also knew that Hanako couldn’t consult William about it because he didn’t know the struggle of being gifted.
He simply told her that he could research more about it and that he’d stay in touch even after they leave the country…
But Hanako and William weren’t able to leave as Hanako started to go into labor prematurely. She had to deliver the babies in Japan.
Mori heard too late that one of Hanako’s babies had died. The details relayed to Mori had been unclear but he made it to the hospital as soon as he could.
And when he got there, only William was in the room, stonefaced and staring blankly at an empty bed. His usual handsome face was ashen as if he hadn’t slept for several days.
“Will! Where is Hana-chan?” Mori shook his friend by the shoulders. “Will! Get a grip on yourself! I got a call from the hospital’s secretary! What the hell — ”
“Rintarou… Jane — I mean Hanako is missing…”
“Yes, people are looking but… She’s not anywhere…”
Mori helped the search party but Hanako and the babies were nowhere to be found. Later that night, he went back to his apartment.
And in a dark corner of his room, she was there.
Hanako was still in her blood-stained hospital gown, nursing a baby. Her blonde hair had gone lighter, almost white. She looked thin, frail, and drained as if she was never pregnant. Blood pooled around her in the floor.
He started administering first aid as a doctor and checking to make sure she and the baby girl she was holding was physically all right.
“Hana-chan, what happened to little Oscar?” he kept asking as he cleaned her up and dressed some wounds on her feet which she got from walking barefoot from the hospital. He still wondered how she was able to walk all the way to his apartment without anyone noticing.
Hanako looked up at Mori after he had dressed her wounds. It was as if she finally noticed he was there.
“I saved him, Rintarou. I saved Oscar…”
“Hana-chan, save your strength. I called Will and the ambulance should be here any minute. They’ll take care of you… How did you even get out of there?”
“Rintarou, you’re not listening! I saved him… I found a way…”
“Where is little Oscar?” Mori finally asked, eyeing just one baby in the room.
“He’s here,” Hana said as she raised the baby girl. “He’s with us…”
That was when Mori realized that his dear friend and the girl he loved had lost her mind. He bit his trembling lip as he gave her a comforting hug.
The hospital never found the body of little Oscar. And whenever he asked William about the incident, his colleague remained tight-lipped.
As if Oscar never existed.
The next time Mori saw her was a few months later, in their home, when William thought that Hanako had recovered. They lived in a Western-style mansion hidden in the forest surrounding Yokohama.
Hanako was in the nursery, rocking back and forth in a chair while holding a baby girl swaddled in the finest cloth money could buy. She was humming a nursery rhyme, one that Mori couldn’t recognize.
There were lines on her forehead as if she had aged several years but she was still as beautiful as the moment he met her.
“Hana-chan,” Mori called to her.
“Rintarou!” She smiled brightly and stood up. “Come see Baby Oscar and Orla… But I think she looks more Japanese than Western, so I decided to give her a Japanese name too. Michiko. Sounds nice, right?”
Mori approached her, cautiously and confused. “Oscar? Hana-chan, Oscar is…”
She giggled and handed the baby to Mori. “He’s here. They’re both here!”
Mori thought Hanako needed time to accept the truth so he played along. He didn’t even tell William about this strange encounter. But it seemed that William knew that Hanako needed a new environment so he brought her to Dublin so she could raise Mio in peace. It was a good call as Ireland declared itself neutral during the war. It was mostly unaffected, save for a few stray bombs sent by Germany that was meant for Britain.
Mori got busy again and work in the military got in the way. He finally found another ability user he could use for his Immortal Army — a young, free-spirited girl. And for a while, he forgot about Hanako.
The next time he heard from her was when he was dishonorably discharged from his position because his golden girl, the very foundation of his Immortal Army, tried to blow up their entire squadron. He had to take responsibility, of course.
She called his office phone, the building where his small clinic was located.
“That was unfair, Rintarou. This whole stupid war, this stupid government, everything is unfair. I’ll make sure to stop this war,” she told him. “In the meantime, why don’t you work at William’s new hospital in Yokohama?”
“I… I can’t. If people knew about my past, I’m sure William’s patients wouldn’t be comfortable having me there…”
“This isn’t like you, Rintarou. You used to be such as headstrong, confident doctor.”
“Suffice to say my experience in Tokoyami Island humbled me a bit,” Mori replied. “As for now, I’m working as an underground doctor. The only patients who wouldn’t mind working with someone like me are fellow criminals and — ”
“Stop! Just stop! You’re not a criminal!”
“I’ll personally do something about it — ”
“Are you finally going to allow me to work with your ability and — ”
A giggle from the other end of the line. “Not that, but we may move back to Japan soon or at least I would…”
“Huh? Is there anything here — ?”
“The war has to stop. I have to do something about it. I’ll see you soon, Rintarou.”
But soon after, he heard that she joined another dangerous group — a bunch of radicals. They called themselves the peacemakers. Others called them traitors.
There were seven of them.
And Mori never knew up to which extent Hanako was able to grow her powers or discover the depths of its use. But he had an inkling that she had something to do with trapping the ministers who negotiated the terms of peace.
There were rumors that the ministers argued for months even if they had only been missing for days. Of course, none of them lived long enough to tell what really happened. Most of them were killed by Mimic. Or so the story goes. Her involvement was never proven.
And it seemed like the Wilde family and their connections were powerful enough to cover for her — at least for the year or so that she remained alive and well. Her health deteriorated quickly after the war. And soon, she was dead. He only heard about it but he didn’t have time to mourn. He was in the middle of a coup to take over the Port Mafia.
Mori stared at the glass of red wine in his hand, at its deep ruby color that reminded her of Hanako’s favorite dress when they were younger. It was the same type Elise liked to wear.
The avatar — a copy of his childhood love — sat on the floor, scribbling on a blank piece of paper.
“You’re thinking of her again,” Elise said as she continued drawing.
“Your Elise. The real Elise.”
Mori sighed as he swirled the blood-red wine in his cup. “Her name wasn’t Elise. It was Hanako… And she was never mine.”
