BACK TO THE VILLAGE AGAIN
A FATAL FRAME FANFICTION
Chapter One: After the Runaway Ending
No matter what happens…I'll forgive you…
Mio…
At exactly seven o' clock in the morning, Mio snapped awake from her before school nap.
"Mio, we're going," her uncle Kei asked, as if he knew she was awake.
She looked at herself in the mirror and fixed her uniform. It was he first day of school today, after that little incident in a not-so-little place called 'All God's Village'. "Coming, Uncle Kei!" she called.
Her uncle's friend, Rae, was already in the car. She hopped in the back seat and they drove off. Once they arrived, they all got down from the car.
"Want us to accompany you inside?" Kei asked Mio.
Mio shook her head. Her uncle and his friend got inside the car and drove off. Mio watched them leave, and then looked at her school things. She used the black bag she picked up from the village. Everything she collected before running away was there, and the guilt for leaving Mayu behind was still inside her as well.
That was just last night, but I feel as if it were so long ago, Mio thought to herself. She looked around and thought once more, doesn't this look familiar?
Instead of entering the school already, she headed east of the school. She found herself surrounded in a beautiful forest…or woods, more specifically. But not just any woods. The woods leading to All God's Village.
Mio did not hesitate to cross the river and walk straight towards the village. Mayu, I'm coming!
Meanwhile, her uncle was still on the road when he reached into the glove compartment and saw a piece of paper.
"What? Mio didn't take her permit for starting late with her?" he asked, turning the car around.
Mio found herself face to face with so many familiar houses and objects in the old village. The horror she had just recently escaped was now terrifyingly real once again. She took out of her black bag the Camera Obscura, just in case she needed to take a snapshot or two.
Instead of going inside one of the houses, she headed straight for the storeroom where Itsuki, the Tachibana twin, was locked. She figured he would be able to help.
She pushed open the door and ran towards his window, only to find nothing. She sighed in disappointment. Just as she was about to leave, a bright red…no, crimson butterfly rose in front of her face and looked as if it was looking her in the eye. Whatever it was, it caught her attention.
The butterfly flew out the storeroom. Mio wanted to ignore it, but remembered how butterflies always helped her find her way. She stepped out of the storeroom and followed the butterfly. It was headed straight for the Ceremony Master's house, also known as the Kurosawa house.
At around eight, Mio's classes started. Kei looked in her classroom to give her the permit, but she was not there. He stepped out of the school and decided to go east of the school. Maybe she got sidetracked or something, he thought.
He kept heading east until he reached the woods where he came to a very important realization. "Could Mio have gone inside the village to retrieve Mayu?" he cried, running into the village as well.
After a few minutes of running with the butterfly, Mio grew a bit tired. She decided to stop at the front door of the house. She noticed that no spirits have been around for her to shoot. She lifted her camera to her eyes and looked around with it. Once she reached south of where she was facing, she ended up about twenty centimeters with a sad-looking girl in a white kimono. She snapped a photo right away. The camera labeled the spirit 'Yae Kurosawa'.
Once she took the picture, the spirit did not disappear. Instead, it stepped back and revealed something she was stepping on. A pink crystal.
"Is that…Mayu's charm?" Mio asked, picking up the crystal. She took out the Spirit Stone Radio from her black bag and listened to Mayu's thoughts.
All that was heard was a girl giggling.
Mio gasped. She stored the crystal in her black bag and ran off to save Mayu…despite not knowing where she was.