cyphre – thanks for the review man: huggles : And yeah, give Itsu-kun that mirror. Lol.
Abyssal Soul – thanks! I know you appreciate weirdness.
Chapter Two: Revelation
As Itsuki wept bitterly, he did not notice the second presence. Someone was there with him, sitting on a bench not far away from where he was. She was also feeling remorseful, as she had also killed the one she loved most. And she chose that moment to glance aside…and saw him.
"…Itsuki?"
Itsuki raised his head to see who had called his name. And that's when he spotted the girl. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Yae…is that you?"
The girl looked down and shook her head sadly.
"If you're not Yae…then who are you?"
Itsuki rose from his kneeling position to take a closer look at the girl who looked so much like his friend.
"My name is Mio Amakura", the girl said softly, wringing her hands in her lap. "I am…a Remaining as well".
Itsuki paused. The girl's face was filled with more sorrow than he could have carried in his own broken heart. Slowly, he walked toward the bench and sat next to her, but not too close.
"I have a feeling you have a lot of questions to ask me", he said. "And I have a lot to ask you as well".
"You were the only kind ghost in the village", Mio suddenly said. "Even though you thought I was Yae, you still helped mei n telling me what to do. But…I lost my sister despite all that".
"Wait", Itsuki held up a finger to silence her. "What are you saying? I don't remember any of those things. I just woke up awhile ago outside the village with a crew of men wearing white. But what I don't understand is why I'm still alive. I mean…I committed suicide by hanging myself".
"I just came from the village since my twin sister Mayu wandered there", Mio said. "Then I learned about the awful past of this village bit by bit as I delved deeper into the unknown".
"Amakura-san, would you care to tell me what happened first?" Itsuki asked, a far-off look in his eyes. "Because when I tried to kill myself, the village was still alive. I mean, the buildings weren't so rundown and…"
"I know what you mean", Mio said, not wanting the young man to have to say anything that would pain him. "Everything was destroyed in The Repentance. According to what I know, you 'died' before The Repentance occurred. Let me explain. When the Kurosawa twins tried to escape, Sae tripped and fell down on purpose, thinking her sister would come back for her. But Yae kept on running, so she alone escaped. Secretly, Sae did not want to escape. She wanted to push through with the ritual so she could be one with Yae. So she tripped on purpose and was caught by the villagers. They discussed what to do with her, and Ryokan came to the conclusion that she be hung and then thrown into the Hellish Abyss to see if she could appease the X by herself. But it failed. Sae's ghost along with that of the last Kusabi came out of the Abyss and destroyed everything. She was the cause of everyone's death, Itsuki. I know how much she means to you, but I swear I'm telling the truth".
Itsuki forced his amethyst eyes to meet Mio's sincere brown ones. He could see himself reflected in them as well as the truthfulness in her words. He bowed his head, staying silent.
"I'm sorry, Itsuki", Mio whispered. "You had to know what happened so you won't be confused. I saw everything through visions. I even had to battle Sae and the Kusabi myself".
"Battle?" Itsuki inquired.
"Yes", Mio nodded. "I found this mystical camera called Camera Obscura in the Osaka House when I first came here. It had the ability to exorcise ghosts, and it was my only weapon against all the abominations in the village".
"I see", Itsuki said. "Let me tell you my side of the story. I thought I died, but when I woke up here in the year 1956, I knew something had happened. Perhaps time in the storehouse warped. Whenever you entered the storehouse, you would be in some kind of dream world. The 'me' you have been seeing is probably the representation of the thoughts trapped in my subconscious. While the rest of the village was in its present state, the real me was suspended in time in the storehouse. And this is how I come to wake in the year 1956 without even aging since I attempted to kill myself around the years 1875 to 1889. I was just there, suspended in time. And time began to flow again when the men in white came to save me because they were able to revive me".
"What are you going to do now, Itsuki?" Mio asked. "Maybe you should find Yae. She's still alive".
Itsuki slowly shook his head.
"I don't want to remember anything about my past anymore. I want to forget everything because it's just going to make me miserable".
Mio felt a bit stung at the young man's words. He wanted to run away from his past by simply trying to forget it. It was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't bear to tell him yet when he was feeling so miserable.
"Sae was possessing my twin sister", she suddenly said. "Poor Mayu…we had to perform the Crimson Sacrifice as well to save the village. I killed her with my own two hands".
She sniffed as she raised her hands to touch the butterfly mark on her neck.
"At least you were able to make her a butterfly", Itsuki said gently. "I failed my brother twice. Once during the ritual, and the other in helping the twins escape".
Both were silent for a few moments, then Mio stood up.
"I…I have to go home. I don't want to stay here anymore".
"Take me with you:", Itsuki said. "I have no place to go…please…"
That's it for the second chapter! Man, that was long.
Thanks to Emi-chan of Beyond The Camera's Lens because she supplied the timeline in her site.
