"Amano-san, Mido-san, why are the two of you here in the first place?"
Mido Ban stopped in his tracks. The rest of the group did like-wise.
Before his partner could reply, Ban asked in return,"Why do you wish to know, Mio-chan?"
Ginji couldn't believe his ears. His pal was actually using 'chan' to address a stranger. Even the girls at the Honky Tonk and the Poison Lady never got such treatment. He knew then that Ban respected the girl. Exactly what he was impressed with, the blond Get Backer didn't know...
"I thought this forest was a rather secluded place. In fact, my onesan and I used to play here secretly when we were young," replied the spunky teen.
Ban sat down on a nearby rock.
"Promise me that you sisters wouldn't over-react if I say it."
Mio nodded immediatly. Mayu thought for a while, before doing the same.
"Both Ginji and I are from the future. That baka set off a time machine by mistake, and got us stranded here," said Ban, pointing his finger at a now tare Ginji.
Silence. Then Mio started laughing out loud. Mayu giggled.
"You got to be kidding, Mido-san."
"I wish I was, Mio-chan. But that's the truth. We don't even know where or when in time we are. Can you enlighten us on what date today is?"
Amakura Mio stopped laughing when she noted the serious tone in Ban's words. Her twin ceased her giggles too.
"Today is the fourteenth of February in the 31st year of the Showa Era (1956)."
"Arigato..."
31st year of the Showa Era... Amakura... Cursed village...
"Oh, crap..." The cigarette in Ban's mouth dropped to the ground.
"What's wrong, Ban-chan?"
"I remember reading something when I was still being looked after by Maria."
Ginji turned back to his normal self. Ban's reading literature in his younger days consisted mainly on witches' stuff, things like spells... and curses.
"In the 31st year of the Showa Era, a pair of twins was reported lost in the forests near Nodagawa."
"Nodagawa? That's about 15 kilometres from our town," volunteered Mayu.
"The names of the twins lost... were Amakura Mio and Amakura Mayu."
The sisters gasped.
"But Ban-chan, surely there are many twins with the same names around in Nodagawa..."
Ban wanted to laugh at his partner's naivety. But now was not the time.
"That's not the point, Ginji. When the police launched a search in the area, they eventually... found one of the twins. The girl had a butterfly-shaped tattoo on her neck."
"When found, the twin was in a state of shock. Her sister... disappeared, as though she had vanished into thin air."
"The girl who was found... was Amakura Mio."
Mayu's knees grew weak. Her sister hurried forward to steady the trembling girl.
"That damned grandma of mine knew that something was going on. She asked her best disciples to check out what had happened exactly. One was Maria Noches. The other was a man. Ginji, you know him... as Lucifer."
Maria-san and Lucifer? Ginji realised then that the Witch Queen was indeed a woman worthy of her title.
"The two managed to dig out the truth behind the disappearance. The place where the girls went missing was formerly the site of a village where a terrible ritual was carried out... and it involved twins."
"The village practiced a distorted form of Shinto worshipping, where it was believed that human sacrifices must be made regularly. But the priests of the village honden decided that this sacrifice must be a unique one."
"The chief priest decided that a twin was to be sacrificed every ten years in a grisly ritual. During the ritual, he or she was to be strangled by the other sibling. The body will then be thrown into an abyss where the villagers believe the kami of the area to be residing in."
There was silence when the Witch Queen's grandson paused to recall more details.
"Ban-chan, how did you know all this," Ginji couldn't figure out why his best pal would want to learn all these seemingly useless information.
"That old lady wanted a documentation of all such happenings around the world...so that her descendants who inherit the Snake will get himself or herself better prepared for such things."
"Anyway, the ritual was carried out successfully for many years until the mid-1880s. At that point in time, the pair of sisters who were supposed to carry out the ritual decided to escape instead. Only one managed to do so. The other was sacrificed, or so the accounts go."
"But the vengeful twin refused to accept her fate. Her restless soul laid a curse on the village. By absorbing the essence of those who had been sacrificed previously, the girl slaughtered everyone and plunged the village into a neverending nightmare of darkness and malice."
"After this incident, there were no more mentions of the village... until 1956. Soon after Amakura Mio was found, a dam was constructed in the surrounding forest. From then on, there were no more stories concerning the area..."
"A dam was to be built in this place sometime in the near future. That's why Onesan and I decided to come here one last time... before it disappears," said Mio.
By now, Mayu had turned absolutely white in the face. The poor girl was trembling from head to toe and the Get Backers could see that she was trying hard not to cry.
"Wait...," exclaimed Mio, suddenly realising the full implications of Ban's words.
"Do you mean that... I'll kill Onesan... with my own hands?"
Ban nodded gravely.
"That's impossible! I would never hurt Onesan!"
"Don't be too quick to pass down conclusions, Mio-chan. The hands of fate work in mysterious ways. Perhaps it's only through Mayu's sacrifice... that the curse may finally be lifted."
Mio gripped her sister's hand tight, and clenched her other fist.
Ginji turned towards his partner.
"Ban-chan..."
Mido Ban began to think very hard. Though he knew that it will be difficult to defy destiny, he too, like Ginji, wanted to help the twins escape their fate. Call it pity if you would. But the Master of the Jagan knew how it felt like to be cursed...
"I know, Ginji..."
"Amano-san, Mido-san, can I ask a favour from both of you?"
"What is it, Mio-chan," asked Ginji.
"If my onesan is to come under any danger, will you two protect her?"
Ban saw those eyes before. When Fuyuki Shido went down on his knees to... beg for the GB's help, Mido Ban had seen that exact expression in the Beastmaster...
Now, a stranger girl was begging him to save her sister.
"We're not protectors, Mio-chan," replied Ban.
Ginji stared at his partner.
"But... we're the Get Backers! I promise you, if Mayu-chan is to be taken away from you, we'll get her back," said Ban with a grin.
Ginji smiled.
"That's right, Mio-chan! That's our job! And we have a 100 record of getting our clients' stuff back!"
"If it's lost..."(Ban)
"We'll get it back!" (Ginji)
"For we are the Get Backers Dakkanya!"
Upon hearing their corny slogan, even the frightened Mayu managed a smile. Mio bowed deeply to the duo.
"Arigato gozaimasu..."
"Now, for the payment..."
Another hard stare from Ginji was enough to stop Ban's words.
"Hey! I was just joking man!"
With the duo's reassurance, Amakura Mio regained her confidence.
"All right then! Let's go! We can't be staying here the whole day!"
Smilingalong with the spunky girl, the GB duo followed behind the twins as they continued on towards the village. As they moved on, the duo couldn't help but notice that Mio was still holding on tightly to her onesan's hand...
Atogaki (Afterthoughts)
- The Showa Era is the name of the reign of Emperor Hirohito, who was Emperor from 1926 to 1989. (On a side note, though he actually took over in 1926 when his father died, he was not crowned until 1928) He is the father of the current Emperor Akihito, whose name of reign is Heisei. Even today, many Japanese still prefer to use the Heisei era to indicate the year, e.g. 2005 is the 17th year of the Heisei Era.