Kasumi was never one to believe in ghosts.

'I'll only believe in things that I see with my own two eyes!' - that was the type of philosophy she held. Indeed, Kasumi held certain memories of her childhood fondly, such as when she had to coax her baby sister and reassure her that there were no monsters under their bed.

Such was the duty of the older one of course, especially when Sumire grew up to be the more timid twin. But even disregarding that fact, or perhaps, because of that fact that she had to be the grown-up, Kasumi's personality developed into one where she would never doubt the things that she experienced firsthand in her life. She would always move forward, two steps at a time, towards the future.

For the most part, that philosophy served her pretty well, as it made her, perhaps paradoxically, headstrong and fierce as if to carve out her own future, yet also easygoing and accepting of the way that events unfolded. If nothing else, it at least provided her with an unshakeable foundation of an identity to wade through the dimension she called life.

Yes - that was who Kasumi Yoshizawa was.

But for almost the first time in her 15 years of her long-lived life, Kasumi held doubts.

"Your sister was the one who pushed you out of the way of the truck."

...What did he just say...?

Kasumi stared at the man in front of him with what was presumably an incomprehensibly shocked expression. And it really was a 'presumably', because to be honest, Kasumi didn't even know what was on her face anymore. She had first gone from initial grief over Sumire's passing, to confusion and denial, to just outright shock.

This didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. She remembered, almost vividly, the scene that unfolded before her as she pushed Sumire out of the way of the truck. There's no way she could've misremembered something like that.

"Impossible…" she muttered.

"Sorry, what...?"

"That's impossible," Kasumi denied, a little louder this time. "It was me! Sumire walked out first onto the road, and I pushed her out of the way!"

She watched as Ren Amamiya's face crumpled in visible concern.

And seeing that expression, Kasumi couldn't help but get a little angry.

"Why...why're you making that face!?" Kasumi asked desperately, her voice raised a little. "You don't believe me, huh?"

Ren looked at her earnest expression and ran a hand through his bangs.

"Well, it's not like I don't, but…" Ren started. "There's no denying what's in front of us. You're perfectly fine without injuries, and your sister...well, yeah. And there were plenty of witnesses and spectators who can vouch that it was your sister who pushed you away."

"But…"

Kasumi trailed off, vaguely aware of the futility of this argument. How would you even argue something in your memory?

...In the first place, who even was this person supposed to be, and why was he even here? She wakes up abruptly in a hospital bed, and there's just this unknown person with no relation to her, dropping all of these bombshells. The circumstances were...dubious, to say the least.

She eyed the person in front of her warily, who presently was staring out the hospital window, apparently lost in thought. The cat he called Morgana popped up out of his bag, and he petted him absentmindedly.

That being said, however, he didn't seem that suspicious, and the concern that was present on his face did indeed appear to be genuine. And it's not like there would be any reason to lie - any attempt at doing so would be quickly found out.

Then that would mean…

She gripped the hospital sheets with her hands, scared to ask.

"...Hey…" Kasumi said hesitantly.

"Hm?" Upon hearing her speak, Ren turned his attention back to her.

"Is Sumire...really dead…?" she asked in that same hesitant tone, almost as if fearful for the answer to come.

Ren swallowed.

"...Yes."

"And...you saw it happen?"

"Yeah. You walked out into the street, and she pushed you out of the way."

"Y-you swear you're not lying?" Kasumi quivered.

"...I swear. I saw it with my own eyes."

Kasumi tried, with little success, to steady her increased breathing. Those words that came out of his mouth...she could feel herself starting to go into a cold sweat.

If that was true, then that would mean that she was the only one who thought their positions were reversed.

But more importantly it meant that, in this case...it was her.

She was responsible for Sumire's death.

No. That can't be.

It just couldn't.

Her memories felt so vivid; they couldn't have just been a figment of her imagination. She wouldn't accept that. For her sake, she had to hold onto that hope.

Yes - this person in front of her could've just been mistaken, after all. Maybe he didn't have his glasses on when it happened, or something. They were twins after all. It would've been easy to mistake her for Sumire. Yeah. Maybe-

"Kasumi!"

All of a sudden, she heard someone scream her name, and the hospital door slid open with great force. A middle aged woman walked in, her face in tears.

"!"

Mom.

"Kasumi!" she cried out, clearly distraught. She ran over to her, feeling various parts of her body over the blanket. "Kasumi, are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

"Eh?!" Kasumi said, surprised by the sudden onslaught. "I-I'm fine, Mom. Really."

Her mom looked her over a couple of times rapidly, unsure, but finally nodded hesitantly.

"You're okay. Thank goodness…" she said pensively, before letting out more tears again. "If I had lost both of you, I...I…!"

"!"

No, Mom, please. Don't do this.

Her mom crumpled to the floor, sobbing into Kasumi's hospital bed at this point.

"Sumire!" she bemoaned. "Sumire, why?!"

The sounds of her mom's cries filled the room.

Ren, still sitting in the chair next to the bed, lamented over the scene sadly.

And just like that, Kasumi's last hope, the one she clung onto desperately, flickered out into nothingness.

...

"...And so it is, on this day, that we remember her for her time here on this earth…"

Kasumi never imagined that the first funeral she would ever attend would be of someone who was the same age as her.

Much less her twin.

Looking up from the ground, she stared absent-mindedly at the casket that was sitting at the end of the room, behind the priest whose speech she had zoned out by now.

Inside that casket was her dead sister.

She repeated those words in her head. 'Dead sister'. How easily it came to her now.

In a way, it disgusted her. When she had first heard it from Amamiya-san, she vehemently denied it. She clearly remembered raising her voice and calling him a liar for saying such things. But now? Now, her mind was already used to the idea, despite it only having been a week since her death.

They do tend to say things like "time heals all wounds" or whatever, but in this case, just why exactly did it have to be so fast and true?

She looked to her right, where her mom was standing next to her. She had her hands in her face, weeping at the priest's speech.

Even now, she still cries for her dead daughter. She still has not gotten over the grief. Though the same amount of time had passed for both of them, her wounds had not been healed.

...Where were her tears? Where was her grief? Was her lack of those just an indication...that she didn't care? Was her love for Sumire so shallow?

Kasumi sighed a little internally. But whether she liked it or not, she couldn't control how she felt. Sumire was gone now. That much was a fact. This, at the very least, would be a constant for the rest of her life, and something that her mind perhaps accepted all too readily. She wasn't sure if it was just to cope or something, but she found the acceptance of death...an unsettling matter.

And to be honest, Kasumi was still having trouble understanding that - because while she had accepted Sumire's death at this point, she didn't comprehend what that really meant.

It meant no more ice cream after practice. No more bumping each other at the sink when they were brushing their teeth. No more having a buddy to talk to about pointless things while walking to school.

No more taking the gymnastics world by storm.

She thought back to the words that she had said to Sumire right before the accident.

'We're both going to take over the world - that's our dream, right?'

How foolish she was. And really, what a thing to say right before she died. If she could take it back - if she could go back in time, she wouldn't say such a dumb thing. 'We'. Hah! She almost wanted to laugh at her stupidity.

But then again, she couldn't even be sure that she actually did say it.

After all, in her memories, she should be the dead one; she was the one who pushed Sumire. But the rest of the world decreed otherwise. And given the circumstances, witnesses, and end result, what could she do but to simply accept that she was mistaken, and that her memory was the faulty one here?

Perhaps that was part of the reason why she accepted Sumire's death more readily, ironically enough. Because to not do so would be to bring that memory into contention, and she had no idea what the implications of that contradiction meant. If she did that, then she would have to consider her version of events as potentially valid. And given the evidence, to say that her random memory alone was the one that was right - where would that leave her? Crazy? Delusioned?

Her decision to accept Sumire's death was a way of assuring herself some peace of mind regarding said contradiction. It was, simply put...just a more logical conclusion that lined up with the universe - and at the same time, it tied up that loose string of a memory by declaring it as nothing more than a figment of her imagination.

So, in the end - that's what she did. She begrudgingly accepted this world for what it was, Sumire's death and all, and locked away her version of events deep within her heart.

"...so that she may rest in peace. Amen."

A chorus of people repeating the prayer brought her mind back into the funeral procession and made her acutely aware that the priest's speech had ended. With his exit, people started to shuffle around, picking up their things and getting ready to leave or greet her family.

Kasumi looked out the window of the church where the funeral was held - it was already nightfall, judging by the lack of light coming in.

'Another day has passed, huh?'

Turning back to the main hall, she saw quite a few of her family acquaintances around her parents, expressing their condolences and otherwise lamenting the loss of her sister. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about the way this scene unfolded...irked her.

...No, that was a lie. She knew exactly why it bothered her so.

Either way, she didn't want to be here for the rest of this.

Making her way to the back of the crowd, she tapped her dad on the back to get her attention. When he turned around, she gestured towards the door.

"Hey. I'm going to go take a walk."

Her dad's face betrayed his worry. "A walk? This late?"

"Yeah. I can get back home by myself. Don't worry, I won't be out too late."

"But…"

He glanced at her again, and gave a small sigh of resignation.

"...Okay. But be back home before midnight, okay? You don't want to worry your mom even more."

"I know. Thanks."

And with that, she turned towards the door and started to walk out.

Despite her voicing her appreciation for his approval, she couldn't help but bite her lip in slight frustration that he actually agreed.

...It all bothered her to no end.

...

The heavy wind blew past a girl all by her lonesome, trekking a path that housed her as its only visitor.

"God, it's windy up here," Kasumi muttered. "I should've brought a jacket."

She complained, but she knew that she did it to herself, coming all the way here.

Presently, she was hiking up a windy mountain path, about 20 minutes out of the main Tokyo metropolitan area. Thankfully, the funeral was located towards the edge already, so she didn't have to travel too far to get to the trail.

Well, she said she was going to go take a walk, but…

To be honest, she herself didn't even really know why she came here. After she left the church, she let her feet take her wherever and, well...here she was.

In the past, she and Sumire would occasionally come here to take a hike. The incline was fairly steep - good for endurance training. But more than that, it was sort of off the beaten path, so they could enjoy the trail all to themselves. Of course, that meant that the path wasn't perfectly paved, and there were some edges that didn't have a guardrail, despite the potentially hazardous cliffs. Regardless, though, that wasn't a big deal for either of them.

Other than that, the trail here didn't hold any real meaning, so it's not like Kasumi had a particular reason for choosing to come here. At the very least though...she could be alone in her thoughts.

It was weird. The decision to try to be alone wasn't because she felt depressed, or wanted to wallow in self-pity, or anything like that. On the flip side, she didn't feel lonely at all, given all the people that reached out to her in wake of the news breaking out. But still, she wanted to be alone. Or, rather, she found the company quite...suffocating.

While walking up the steep hill, she thought back to the funeral procession, and how her dad had let her go off on her own so easily. Her dad wasn't strict, per se, but in the past, he never would've let her do something reckless like that. The consideration he gave her now, and the eggshells her parents walked around her to try to make her feel as comfortable as possible; she didn't like it one bit.

And then there was everyone else at the funeral. They were saying things like "Sumire was such a bright child", and "she'll be missed dearly", but none of them spoke of the circumstances regarding Sumire's death in the first place.

Maybe they didn't know. But regardless, whether it was done out of ignorance or consideration, Kasumi hated the kindness shown to her in order to avoid confronting the elephant in the room. Because at the end of the day, if her memories were wrong, then that meant on that day, the reason why Sumire died was because of her - because she herself ran out into the street, for whatever reason. She had inadvertently killed Sumire.

Kasumi knew that they didn't say anything out of consideration for her. She understood that. Even still though, that only made her feel more guilty for a crime that she didn't remember committing. It wasn't exactly survivor's guilt, but...she couldn't really bear to see people mourning Sumire's death when they didn't address the truth of the matter.

So, in times like this, she preferred to be alone. Better to avoid those attempts at pity than to take it in and pretend like she's a victim.

"Haah, haah…"

She caught her breath briefly on the steady incline as she gathered her thoughts. Though they had trekked this path before, Kasumi still had a little bit of trouble getting to the top each time. After steadying herself, she started climbing once again, guided by the faint moonlight lighting the path in front of her just enough for her to see. And when she eventually reached the top clearing…

"...Wow…" she murmured in amazement.

...She was greeted by a sight she had never seen here before.

"It's so pretty…"

An array of twinkling stars, illuminating the night sky, as far as the eye could see. Having only come here during the day when she hiked with Sumire, she had no clue that such a sight even existed here. Each one twinkling as bright as the last, the stars shined, greeting her upwards stare.

Finding a small patch of grass to lie down on, she sprawled out on the ground, mesmerized by the new scene before her.

The stars were so bright, she almost couldn't believe it. She had been out of the Tokyo metropolitan area before, but this was the first time she was seeing them so clearly.

'How long have these stars been in the sky?' she wondered. Even if this was the first time she was seeing them so clearly, they had always been there. And they would continue to be there, long after she was gone from the Earth.

What must it be like on the other side? If someone was on the other side of one of these stars, peering at Earth...would they see her live her life? Would they see Sumire, and know that she lived?

Compared to the stars, her life was a tiny speck. A quintessentially miniscule amount of time. Blink, and it's over.

Given that...would she even leave an impact on this world? ...Was there even any meaning to her own life?

Upon stumbling on this thought, Kasumi shook her head fervently.

'Ah jeez. Now I'm thinking about the meaning of life?' she thought. 'How cliche.'

It wasn't like her to get overly sentimental or caught up in philosophical questions such as those. And also, it was too early to have a mid-life crisis.

"...Oh well," she eventually murmured. "Maybe it's okay once in a while."

Seeing the stars, it really did evoke that kind of feeling out of her. ...Just a little, though.

She lied in that same spot, for what felt like hours, just admiring the skyscape above her.

"I wish Sumire could've seen this, at the very least…" she whispered.

But as if to wake her up from that foolish thought, the wind blew across the landscape again, making her acutely aware of the dropping temperature and the fact that she was still in a dress from the funeral procession. Her exposed arms and legs shivered in protest.

Perhaps it was time to go back.

Reluctantly peeling her eyes away from the sight before her, she got back on her feet and started the long trek back down.

The start of the hike downhill made her realize that going back down would take much longer than she had originally anticipated. Given that there was limited light, she had to take her time so as to pinpoint where along the path she could use as a foothold.

'Will I make it back before midnight?' she thought absentmindedly. Pulling out her phone, she checked the digital display for the time.

11:20. She only had 40 minutes until the time she promised with her dad.

In her mind, she mentally calculated the amount of time it would take to get back home. Given the lack of traffic at this time, she would probably spend around 25 minutes on the train. Which meant that she had...15 minutes to get down the mountain.

...Yeah. Not happening.

She made a silent mental apology to her dad for not making it back on time.

"...Heh. I wonder if he'll actually get mad at me this time," she chuckled softly. "Maybe he'll even - uwa!?"

She didn't get to finish that thought.

Not paying close attention to where she was going, she accidentally stepped on a loose piece of rock right around the bend that was hidden in the dark, causing her to lurch forward. And at the same time, a strong gust of wind howled next to the mountain, causing her to shift her weight onto the leg facing the outside of the trail.

And that action was enough to cause the loose sediment on the edge to crumble.

It all happened so fast. Without her foothold, her left leg quickly sank, and given that her weight was shifted forward, she couldn't stop her momentum from moving forward.

The next thing she knew, she was falling off the side of the cliff.

'Ah...I'm so stupid.'

The mountain was easily at least as high as a ten story building from the bottom. And given that she had just started trekking downwards, the most she could hope for was a fall height of no less than eight stories.

There was no living through this.

Given another chance to live through the sacrifice of her dear sister...and for what?

"...Sorry, Sumire," Kasumi said, her voice lost in the wind. "...Sorry your sister is such an idiot."

With no-one other than the stars to bear witness to her stupidity, Kasumi helplessly fell to the base of the mountain.

And for the second time in her life, Kasumi quickly saw nothing but black, the twinkling lights overhead disappearing in an instant.

...

...Ugh.

When next she regained consciousness, all Kasumi could feel was absolute grogginess.

'...What...happened?' she thought dizzily, trying to gather her thoughts.

Everything was black. She couldn't see anything. Almost like…

...Oh.

That's right. Now she remembered.

She was dead.

'And what a way to die too.'

Fell off the side of a mountain. Nice going.

So, that was it. There goes her life as Kasumi Yoshizawa.

But if she was dead, then would that make this...the afterlife?

If she could still think, and had a conscious, that would seem like the most reasonable answer. But why was it so black?

And also…

Kasumi took a sniff, and instinctively crinkled her nose.

Since when did the afterlife smell so...clean?

Err, but, wait. She recognized this smell. What did it resemble…?

Racking her non-existent brain, she tried to recall the scents that she was recently exposed to.

'Oh! It smells like antiseptic, like that time at...'

"!"

Kasumi's eyes flung open, and she rocketed herself into a sitting position on the bed, as if waking up from a long, long nightmare.

...The hospital.

She was here, again.

"Err, good morning. Or rather, good evening? Uhm, you sat up pretty quickly. Are you okay?"

"Wha…?"

A familiar voice, with that familiar greeting.

...No way.

She turned her head slowly, hesitantly, looking to her left.

By her bedside, there he was.

Wispy hair and squarish glasses.

The person that was there last time she awoke in the hospital a week ago - Ren Amamiya.

"Amamiya...san?" she uttered in confusion.

"Eh? You know my name?" he replied, slightly confused.

"Huh? What do you mean? Or, rather, what's going on…?"

He was here again...? Had he been the first one to find her again? What were the odds of that?

No, but in the first place, it should've been impossible to live through that fall...

"Oh - right. Sorry," Ren said, looking away in slight embarrassment. "I know this must be pretty sudden for you."

He cleared his throat as if to restart.

"Well, it seems like you might know me, but let me just re-introduce myself," he nodded. "I'm Ren Amamiya. I was the one who called the ambulance after the accident. The paramedics said they needed a volunteer to help escort, and since I had seen the entire thing and was worried anyways, I came along to the hospital."

'...What?'

Upon hearing those all too familiar words, Kasumi froze.

"Mreow!"

"Ah, and this is Morgana," Ren continued, scratching the chin of the black cat that popped out of his bag. "He was also quite worried about both of you too, you know."

Her blood turned ice cold. She gripped the hospital sheets so hard that her knuckles started to turn white.

"Uhm, miss?" he said worriedly, after noticing her expression. "You don't look so good. Do you need me to get you something? Water, or a doctor, perhaps?"

"...What…"

"Hm?"

"...What time is it…?" Kasumi barely managed to croak, avoiding looking at him entirely.

"The time? Uhm…"

Ren took a look at his watch, then responded.

"It's almost 8. It's been a couple of hours since the accident at the Shibuya intersection."

Kasumi put her hands to her mouth.

It was all she could do to resist the massive urge to scream.

A/N: This chapter took slightly longer than usual for me to write, considering the length. This was mostly due to wanting to capture Kasumi's thoughts and personality accurately; I tried hard to make her personality distinct and different from Sumire, which was harder due to the limited interactions we have with 'Kasumi', and just the fact that I'm more used to writing from Sumire's POV.

Regardless, that's it for now! Let me know your thoughts and theories!

Unsure if I'll be able to get the next chapter up by next week because I will be pretty busy, but I will try my best! Until next time.