Chie blinked twice and then opened her eyes wide. She stared at the empty bright abyss.
"Where . . . am I?" she asked, standing up.
"A dimension," Sana said and appeared in front of her.
Chie gasped and started to run away. Sana grabbed the back of her blouse and forced her to turn around. Chie, breathless, turned and stared into Sana's penetrating eyes.
"Do you think I'm going to hurt you?" she asked.
Chie couldn't respond. She felt that if she did, she would start crying. Already, her eyes burned with yet-to-fall tears. Sana clamped her hands on Chie's shoulders and dug her nails into her flesh. Chie gasped at the sudden pain and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Aw, don't cry," Sana said, grinning. "Don't cry. You look so much like Anas when she killed herself. I bet you even have the scar."
"Sc-scar?"
"In the middle of your chest, somewhere near your collarbone, there should be a scar. Look." One of Sana's feathers cut a bit of the top of Chie's blouse. Just as Sana had said, there was a scar there: a pinkish oval-shaped slash.
I've never noticed that before.
"Kaikatsu, let me talk to Sana."
Chie didn't even respond. She was stiff with shock and fear.
"Kaikatsu, listen to me! She's going to kill you."
"You know what the interesting thing is?" Sana asked, releasing Chie's shoulders. Her nails were covered with crimson blood. She twirled a lock of Chie's hair. "Your face, eyes, nose, mouth, ears; they all look exactly like Anas's. You're almost like her mirror image. Sure, you're not really pretty and your colorings may be slightly different, but other than that . . ."
Sana stopped talking when she noticed Chie's lips moving.
"Speak up," she said.
"Why?" Chie whispered, trembling. "Why do you . . . keep repeating history?"
Sana grinned and grabbed Chie once more. "Why, little one? Let me show you why."
With that, Sana pushed Chie off the bright abyss into something dark.
"Kaikatsu!"
Luckily, someone caught her in mid-fall.
Sana frowned. "Dark."
Chie's eyes opened wide. Her chest fell and rose rapidly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Dark asked.
I can't breathe well. My lungs feel like they're freezing over. I'm getting cold. What---? Anko-chan!
There's was no time for explanations from anyone. Chie's body grew longer. Her hair slowly became redder than brown and her eyes lightened.
Dark gasped. "Saki!"
Saki stared at him and flew out of his arms. "Dark, it's you!"
"Well, what an unexpected surprise," Sana said, smiling. "I haven't seen you in quite a while, Dark. And the last time I saw Anas was in Hinageshi."
Dark blinked. The name sounded familiar. Then he remembered the conversation Daisuke had had with Chie.
"Why do you have lots of poppy flowers here?"
"For Hinageshi."
"Hinageshi?"
"Poppy flowers were my mom's favorite flowers. She was even named after them. See? Hinageshi means 'poppy flower'."
"You mean Chie's mom?" Dark asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. I killed Hinageshi Ryoyu, Jin Ryoyu, Madoka Shinchu, and Ryo Shinchu." She held up four fingers, smiling proudly. "And those idiots were the parents of Shikatsu and, according to Anas, Kaikatsu."
"You're a disgrace," Dark snarled. "A disgrace to all of us."
"Disgrace? Oh, please." Sana rolled her eyes. "How am I a disgrace? Aren't you one, too? And isn't Anas also a disgrace? After all, she did kill me for something that was all your fault."
Anas gasped and turned to Dark. "What? What is she---?"
"Shut up, Sumiko!" Dark shouted. "Don't tell Saki."
Sana grinned. She was clearly enjoying this. "Don't tell your beloved Saki what? Don't tell her that---?"
Before Sana finished her sentence, Dark charged toward her with murder in his eyes. Before Dark could even strike a blow, someone brushed him off.
"Krad!" both Anas and Dark said at the same time.
Krad smiled at them both. "Dark, Saki, nice to see you. Now, Dark, why were getting near Sumiko?"
"He's so mean, Krad," Sana said in whimpering voice. She even managed to fake a sob. A very realistic fake sob.
"You dare hurt Sumiko again, Dark!" Krad demanded. "Now I really must kill you!"
Okay, so it turns out that I have come down with something and I'm not sure what it is. I just know that I have a really high fever. Not high enough that I can miss school, but high enough to leave me very uncomfortable. Anyway, does anyone have a clue about what's going on? Dark did something bad that hurt Sana and Anas very deeply. Maybe even Krad! Oooh . . . Nah, it's not really that bad. Well, I guess it depends on your point of view.
