Mask


The first time I've seen her, I was chasing a squirrel around in the dark – nothing silly. Ken-chan has abandoned me, mumbling about 'pain in the ass' and 'not gonna fall for it'.

Her back, straight, yukata flowing, but the hair flowing even more. She turned around. I couldn't see the face, but knew only a special person could have such an appearance. But she had vanished sooner than the squirrel could flip its tail.

When the sun has been up, I saw her again, perched on a rock. At first I thought she was staring at something important. But later, after she'd vanished again – just how? - I couldn't find anything strange when standing in the same spot. Well, the only confusing thing was that smile – no, more like a smirk – when our eyes met.

The third time, I've slipped away from Baldy and Yumi before dinner. I played with my sword. Always so silent, a little bit mysterious too. I can never understand them. They reminded me of that strange woman. In the middle of a twirl, a strong clash stopped the imaginative circles. It had been dark – fall was nearing winter – and the swoosh caressed me longer than the strike, but that strange curve reminded me of that same sword I've seen so many times.

Number four – yes, I've been keeping count – was the strangest of this day. It couldn't be real, yet I knew it couldn't be an illusion or a hallucination. Not a dream, too: too strange.

I had been sitting on a dry spot, expression serious and focused, until Re-chan appeared. She hadn't walked towards me. No, she'd appeared in front of me with a leap, one step that would take a seated member much more steps.

Her expression seemed so...tense, anxious even. But Re-chan was never those things. And never would she show it so seriously. I peeked up, but her eyes were focused on the distance. The fingers resting on my shoulders twitched with every noticeable breath she took, lungs inflating again and again.

A loud hum, then I was swallowed whole, that giant mouth gently, yet firmly closing my view. I shouldn't had panicked. Even amidst my fretting and kicking and punching, I could hear voices. It was, should be, one person talking. Yet after giant tongue pushed me out, the imprints on the ground said there had been two persons.

But how can a twin sister be so different from Re-chan?