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"Now we can keep that promise."

They were about to fall.

Along with Mayu.

She couldn't let that happen.

Mio ran toward the Kurosawa twins.

She had to make it in time.

At the last moment, as Sae and Yae were about to begin their flight into the Hellish Abyss...

Got it!

The younger sister's hands gripped the older sister tightly.

She did it.

Mio managed to protect Mayu.

"Sister..." said Mio with tears in her eyes, holding her twin tightly to her. "Sister... I made it..."

Only then did she notice that a crimson butterfly had flown over the Hellish Abyss.

"Thank You," came a quiet whisper that reminded her of both Kurosawa sisters.

Following one butterfly, others began to rise from the hole. A multitude of crimson lights illuminated the entire cave. It was a beautiful sight that Mio couldn't take her eyes off of. But there was something that made her uneasy.

Soon her attention shifted back to Mayu. At this point the younger twin began to worry. For her older sister's expression was completely blank and her gaze became dead.

"Sister...?" Mio tentatively tried to draw her twin toward her.

At that moment Mayu woke up and abruptly began to break free from Mio's grip, causing her to fall to the cold rocks while her older sister got down on all fours at the very edge in front of the Abyss.

"Sister!" the younger twin exclaimed anxiously, whereupon Mayu turned around. Her gaze floundered throughout the cave, her breathing was intermittent, and her whole appearance betrayed panic. Finally, after a moment, she managed to pull herself together and turn to the only living person beside her.

These words terrified Mio.

"Who are you? ... And who am I?"

"She's going to be okay, right?" asked a concerned Kei Amakura to the doctor. As she was told, he was her uncle, even though his age made him look more like an older brother, which was strange.

But to the girl, everything was strange now. In fact, the only thing that seemed right to her was her own name.

Mayu.

"Here's the thing... Amnesia is quite rare and can usually result from two things: damage to the brain or a traumatic event that can cause a person's consciousness to shut off access to memories. Your niece is lucky in a way. Physically she's fine, except for the leg injury, but as I understand it, she had it before she went missing?" explained the situation to an older man, with gray hair and wrinkles on his face. "So that leaves the second option, but there are complications..."

"What kind of complications?" asked the concerned uncle.

"Normally with this kind of amnesia, the brain tends to forget only the memories pertaining to its cause. But she seems to have managed to forget absolutely everything about her as an independent person. It's a wonder her mind hasn't receded to the level of a child!" exclaimed the doctor.

"But she will remember everything, won't she?" asked Mio quietly, holding the girl's hand. From the look of her it was obvious that she was ready to burst into tears.

Mayu was still not used to being looked at by someone who had the exact same face and called her her sister. Somehow that scared Amakura even more than the fact that she knew almost nothing about herself.

The doctor scratched his chin. "I won't lie to you, we can't say for sure when her memory will come back, or if it will come back at all. And if her memories do come back one day, no one knows how long it will take. It could take days or it could take years..." By the time he finished speaking, Mayu's "relatives" had turned completely pale. "Honestly, there's no point in keeping her here now. The best that can be done is if you surround her with care, coming here periodically for checkups. Who knows, maybe that will help speed up your relative's return to normal. I think we'll leave your nieces alone while you draw up the necessary papers?"

"Ah? Yes of course," followed the man, Kei, out of the hospital room, leaving the twins completely alone.

Finally Mio stopped holding back her emotions and pressed her sister's face into her chest, through sobs, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay... It's going to be alright..." the girl whispered in a husky voice. "I won't leave you again... I won't break our promise..."

Except Mayu didn't remember the promise that was so important to her twin. And she couldn't know if it was important to herself.

"Sister, wait for me!" shouted Mio as she entered the house.

Mayu sighed irritably. She was still uncomfortable with her "family". Yes, they were trying to help, but she just couldn't see them as family. Because of that, the girl was constantly looking for an excuse to leave home, just to be alone.

To try to be alone.

Because Mio insisted every time they went for a walk together, not giving Mayu any space to think things over in peace. Yes, it wasn't her fault, but everyone realized that the memories wouldn't come back that fast!

In general, Mayu's relationship with Amakura's family had lined up in a ridiculously strange way. She never got to meet her "mother" because, after the twins went missing, she became seriously ill and was therefore in the hospital in a serious condition. As disgusting as it was to think about it, the girl was even happy about it. Mayu didn't want to aggravate the woman's treatment by the fact that her daughter had effectively become a stranger. The best relationship had surprisingly worked out with Kei. He could immediately understand what was going on in Mayu's soul and allowed to build a distance between them, but was always ready to help if she wanted. For example, he let her read his work materials, such as folklorists' works, research on rituals, and so on. Quite an interesting read, allowing her to forget about her condition for a while.

With Mio, however, it was much more difficult.

Her "sister" tended to follow her relentlessly, as if Mayu were a leaf in the wind that could easily be lost. And that was infuriating, because even if the twin wanted to run away - and she didn't - it would still be almost impossible with her leg. But the younger Amakura wasn't embarrassed by this for a second. Sometimes it got ridiculous when the only time Mayu could be alone with herself was at night. And even then she had to take her chances, because Mio's sleep was surprisingly responsive.

The lousy thing was that Mayu couldn't blame her for that. She could only guess what it would be like to lose the person closest to you when they were actually next to you.

"Sister, do you need help?" asked Mio to the twin at the bathroom sink.

But God knows, this obsession was annoying as hell!

Suppressing the urge to groan, Mayu turned to the younger girl. "Mio, I'm missing memories of myself, not basic things like personal hygiene. I'm perfectly capable of washing myself without you."

"But I promised..." the twin began uncertainly.

"What, exactly? Treat me like a little kid?" interrupted Mayu. Damn, she couldn't hold that anger any longer. "Maybe my memories can't come back because they can't get through your cocoon of permanent protection?" snapped the girl at her "sister."

Mio recoiled in shock, as if she'd been struck, and then she looked down sharply. "You're right... I'm sorry. Just like then, it's all my fault..."

Damn it, Mayu didn't mean it. After all, Mio, for all the hyper-operaism, was a nice enough person who also, like her, didn't deserve all this pain.

"Wait, what did you mean, saying how then?" the twin tried to change the subject in a hurry.

Mio froze. It was a question she hadn't expected. Finally, biting her lip, Amakura answered. "As a child... The place where we disappeared... We used to play there often. And when it was time to go home, I ran ahead. You asked me to wait, but I just kept running, and then..." the girl swallowed hard. "...You fell off the cliff."

There was silence.

Finally Mayu rubbed the bridge of her nose awkwardly. "Okay... So what does this have to do with you?"

Mio looked at her sister in surprise. "Huh?!"

"You didn't throw me off the cliff yourself, did you? So it was an accident."

"Yes, but..." trembled Mio.

"It wasn't your fault. And if you think that if you'd stayed with me I wouldn't have fallen, that doesn't mean anything. Maybe we would have fallen together, but is that any better?" smiled Mayu wryly. "Look, I really didn't mean to be mad at you, it's just... I need some time, okay? At least think about it all. Alone," after which she put a hand on Mio's shoulder. "I'm not going to leave you."

Mio looked uncertainly at her sister and was surprised to find that her twin's brown eyes burned with confidence. After which she smiled back.

"Yeah, you're right."

The vacations are over.

Mio had to go back to school, while Mayu stayed home. Kay explained the situation to the administration and she was allowed to study at home for a while. According to her twin, Mayu's absence was attributed to illness, although the most incredible rumors are already circulating among the students.

Relations with Mio have generally become much warmer. Her younger sister had given her the personal space Mayu had longed for. Although the tension between them never completely went away, both girls were eager to communicate with each other. Chatting with Mio was a pleasure in itself, her twin proving to be a bright and energetic person who was impossible not to be drawn to. But there was a more self-serving reason.

The older sister wanted to understand what kind of person "Mayu" had been before she had lost her memory. Even after her discharge, the girl guessed that her behavior was different from what the Amakura family was used to seeing. From their memories, it appeared that Mayu used to be a quiet person, even withdrawn, always giving the initiative to her sister. Sometimes no one could even tell what was on the twin's mind.

An unpleasant discovery.

Mayu didn't expect to find out that she was the soul of the company in the past, but she hoped to find out who she was to people outside the family. And as a result, it turned out that outside of Mio's society, she didn't really need anyone. That's how secretive she was.

And that was frustrating, because while Mio was in school, she really didn't have anyone to talk to, besides Kei. But he provided for the sisters while their mother was in the hospital, and it would have been indecent to distract him unnecessarily.

But her uncle seemed to have a different opinion.

"May I come in?" asked Kei from the doorway to Mayu, immersed in her own thoughts. Receiving the answer with a nod, her uncle strode into the room.

"I recently found out that a good friend of mine has a girl in his care, not much older than you and Mio," Uncle began to explain. "And she... Has been through a similar experience to the two of you. When she heard about your situation, she wanted to talk to you, and now she's standing outside the door. If you're not ready, you can have another..."

"It's okay. Let her come in," Mayu replied calmly.

Kei smiled. "That's the spirit!" and Uncle left the room.

In his place came a young woman, looking only recently graduated from high school. Her brown hair was tied up in a comb, and her deep brown eyes betrayed something otherworldly about her, which contrasted with the fact that the girl's own gaze was unsure.

"Hello," she began cautiously. "I'm Miku... Miku Hinasaki," after which she bowed.

"Mayu Amakura," the twin replied in the same way.

Neither of them understood how to start a dialogue.

Finally Miku decided to get right to the point. "I lost something to ghosts, too. My brother, to be exact,"

Mayu raised her eyebrows. No, she did not deny the existence of the otherworldly. Even if the older of the sisters couldn't remember exactly what had happened in the Lost Village, Amakura's first new memories were of her and Mio leaving it. And the twin quite saw ghosts encountered along the way, freed from the curse. "Okay. And what does this have to do with my amnesia?"

Hinasaki took a deep breath. Apparently, like for Mio, remembering the pain of the past was hard. "When I first got out of the cursed mansion, I didn't want to remember anything. At first I couldn't even think about what had happened. And I fooled myself. I fooled myself for a long time. But the truth was that in my dreams I kept coming back to how my brother had left me. Every time I thought of him... Even when I just looked at our picture, my thoughts still came back to how Mafuyu left me and stayed at Himuro Mansion," Miku said, then looked Mayu in the eyes. "I still want to forget about everything. But I can't. And you have to remember everything. You have a sister who hopes you'll go back to her. Maybe there are some things that make you feel uncomfortable or something like that?"

The twin only smiled sadly at that. "You don't quite understand my situation. The problem is not that I don't want to remember. I can't remember." Mayu's gaze lowered. "I'm really trying to remember. Even for my own sake. But nothing works. I don't have any strange dreams about the Lost Village, and if there's anything to trigger my memories to come back, I don't know what it is. I'm sorry, Miku, but if you came here just for me, I'm afraid it was for nothing. Your words would have helped Mio more than they would have helped me. She does sometimes have nightmares about that village.

Hinasaki nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," then she headed for the exit.

"Wait!"

Miku turned around bewildered. Mayu was looking at her with sadness in her eyes, as if her leaving might have hurt the twin.

"Is there anything you can tell me about yourself? Anything!" asked Amakura pitifully.

"I don't think my life could be particularly interesting," smiled Hinasaki embarrassedly.

"I don't care."

Perhaps Mayu will never remember her past life.

But she won't put herself back into the cage of voluntary isolation from anyone who wasn't Mio.

"Fine, I have the day off anyway," responded Miku amicably.

How could things get so bad?

"Sister, take the fever down, I'm getting fresh rags!"

It was now the beginning of September. After the Amakura family had learned of Yuu's death from Miku, after first meeting with whom the sisters had kept in contact, Kei had tried to cope with the grief by hitting work. Although their uncle tried to pretend that everything was okay, it was obvious to Mayu that he was just as "okay" as the twins.

Only he couldn't afford to be weak. Not in front of his nieces.

And then he decided to revisit the Kuze Shrine. And that's when the nightmare began.

It all started when Kei dreamt of a snow-covered manor house with his dead friends in it. He didn't share much detail, but at the time his sisters wrote it off as his uncle's nerves. But then Uncle started having headaches and hallucinations. A trip to the doctor was inconclusive, but it seemed that Kei himself was beginning to suspect something, urging the girls not to worry about him.

After that, Uncle Kei began to sleep more and more. The last thing he was going to do while he was awake was to go to Miku for some research on Yuu that might help his situation. And, though the twins weren't entirely sure if it was related to sleeping sickness or not, Kei's temperature rose.

Mayu was scared. She was confused and panicked again, just as she had been in that cave. The same feeling of helplessness and uncertainty. Only this time it was worse. Her uncle had already become a close person to her, someone she sincerely did not want to lose. And all the twin had to do was change wet rags.

"How is he?" asked Mio, who had returned from the bathroom.

"Same. His temperature is still high," the older sister answered muffled.

"It's about time we tried to give him some antipyretics. Go get the pills, I'll keep an eye on him."

Mayu was still not sure if she was grateful for the errand or if its simplicity only reminded her of its uselessness. But in opening the medicine cabinet, the twin didn't notice her accidentally knocking over a small box that fell to the floor.

"Ow!" exclaimed Amakura, lamenting her sloppiness. "Okay, I'll pick it up later," Mayu said to herself, picking up the pills. However, as soon as she turned back around she noticed that the box had opened when she fell, and its contents were...

Camera Obscura.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll go on without you!"

"Wait! ...Mio please, don't leave me..."

"...We'll always be together. We promised..."

Mayu stood with her back to the Abyss. In front of her stood two twins in white kimonos. One of them had blood on it.

The twin in the bloody kimono approached Mayu.

"Don't be afraid," she whispered.

Then the kimono-clad twin threw Mayu into the Abyss.

"SISTER! SISTER!" shouted Mio to Mayu, shaking her by the shoulders.

The older twin was trembling. She was sitting on the floor, and her right leg hurt badly. Tears flowed from her eyes, and her gaze flitted across the room until it focused on Mio.

"I remember..." whispered Mayu.

"Do you remember it?" pointed her younger sister toward the camera.

"No, Mio," Mayu said through sheer force. "I remember you."

Mio began to tremble, aware of her sister's words. She began to sob, too, until she finally clutched Mayu to her, tucking into her shoulder.

For a time, the twins forgot everything around them and just let themselves cry with happiness.

The Amakura sisters sat on a bench, looking out over the lake that buried the Lost Village beneath the water column.

Kei recovered. As it turned out, he himself was the victim of a curse that was tied up in guilt. Luckily for their family, everything turned out all right.

"You still don't remember what was in that place?" asked Mio of her twin.

"Nope. It's all cut short the moment we first got here the last time, and then it's like a clean slate until the moment when... You know how it is," the older sister replied, gazing into the water.

"Maybe it's for the best," the younger twin replied, crossing her arms in front of her.

They just sat there for a while, immersed in their thoughts and memories.

Finally Mayu spoke up.

"Mio, I want to apologize."

"For what?" the younger sister wondered.

"For everything," the twin replied firmly. "When my memories first came back... They didn't just appear in their place. It was like I was looking at my life from the outside. It was horrible. All I was doing was limiting you and trying to make it just mine."

"You're exaggerating," Mio replied.

"No! I deliberately tried to isolate us from everyone by making you take care of me!" insisted the older sister.

"I was taking care of you not because of your manipulation. Besides, of the two of us, you were the one who always needed more care. Especially after that fall."

"But I jumped off the cliff myself that day out of fear that you would leave me!" cried Mayu pitifully, then, realizing her confession, looked away sharply. "There, I have confessed it. Now you're going to hate me, aren't you?"

Mio pondered defiantly. After which she cheerfully announced her verdict.

"No!"

"But-but why?" the older sister asked in shock. "All this time you've been feeling guilt that wasn't there!"

The younger twin shrugged her shoulders. "But you were scared after what I said at the time, weren't you? Besides, honestly, I always suspected you jumped yourself," Mio replied. "Look, maybe I really would have been angry if you'd told me that before everything that happened in that village. But now? I don't even want to think about it."

Mayu sighed. "So you don't have to keep that promise anymore. You're free of it."

"I keep our promise because I want to," the twin replied earnestly, looking her sister in the eye. "And I'll keep it. Well, unless you yourself want us to break it."

Mayu only looked at the lake again. "You know, now that I think about it all... I've been so stupid, haven't I? I spent my whole life dreading the moment when we would be separated, forgetting about living in the present. It was so wrong."

"Maybe she took your fears away?" suggested Mio.

"What do you mean?"

"Remember you saw the Kurosawa sisters along with the memories. The ones in kimonos?" the twin asked, getting a nod from Mayu. "Maybe Sae took your fears with her, too, before she left?"

Mayu only raised an eyebrow, then smiled with mild irony. "Okay, but then she could only take the memories of the village. Otherwise, I'm jealous that the places of our childhood games were the last ones only you saw."

Mio laughed.