It is dark when her eyes open. She is standing near the koi pond again. The moon keeps playing hide and seek with the clouds. It is summer maybe because she can smell jasmines somewhere in the garden. It is quiet, and peaceful. Suddenly she feels liquid running down her cheeks. She touches her face to realise she is crying. Why is she crying?
As she puts her hand in front of her face, she was wearing a white, plain kimono. She hears a noise behind her. It is Saito. He comes closer and touches her face. She mutely registers her surprise. He says, with great sadness, "I never wanted this to happen to you and brother."
"Whatever is going to happen will happen, we mere mortals are dust to the great flow of time Saito-chan," she says. She puts her hand on top of his and leans into his palm. She continues, "At least I still got you."
"I should have married you," Saito says.
"Yes. But you loved your brother more. But…we need to be careful. You cannot be seen with me like this. After all I am now Kenji Tamako's widow."
He solemnly nods as she removes his hand from her cheek. He crosses his arms behind his back and looks up at the sky. He sighs, "Nanami? Do you still love me?"
She says nothing at first. Then she turns around and softly says, "I still love you and Nagisa paid the price for that."
"You are still thinking about that?"
She sharply turns around and says, with venom in her voice, "You killed her Saito!"
"Nanami…" he looks on dumbfounded as she turns her head again and slowly walks away.
Mai walks down a corridor next. A cold hand grasps her and pulls her back. She looks about but finds no one. Then suddenly the scene shifts. The ground beneath her cracks and she falls through it. She brings her hands forwards to grab on to something, anything but it is useless. She notices that she is no longer in a kimono; her hands are bare. So she is no longer living in this dream through Nanami. This is her own.
She hits the ground. It is cold. The place is shrouded in complete darkness besides the sole light that falls on her from above. Where is above? She looks up but the light hurts her retinas, she cannot see an end.
She takes stock of her surroundings next. She gets to her feet and walks around a bit. The light follows her, lighting the way—except there is nothing to see. She feels like she is a never-ending tunnel. She increases her pace and soon enough she is running. But she is getting nowhere.
What is going on? Is she…trapped in her own mind?
Ayako, after fixing Naru, enters her room. She is a little surprised to see Mai fast asleep at this odd hour but says nothing. She has a little problem of her own now. The hypothesis that she could be pregnant is slowly turning into a fact she can no longer deny. She is half excited, half worried. Are the even ready for a baby? They are financially secure and they are not exactly too young for children. She rubs her face in frustration. What is her problem? Maybe Mai could help. She looks over at the sleeping girl and suddenly remembers the way Lin behaved a few minutes prior. He was walking down the corridor from their room. Did something happen between them?
She leans closer to Mai and her doubt turns into certainty when she sees the dried tear tracks on her face. Mai was crying? Did he make her cry? She frowns. Should she poke her nose in their business? Then she shakes her head. No, Mai is like a younger sister she never had. This is her business. She gets to her feet and decides to find Lin.
Lin is leaning against the tree and looking over the smooth glass-like surface of the lake. The heavy feeling in his chest refuses to go away. He wants to do something about it. He wants to understand his feelings. He had never been in love. How does love even feel like?
He hears footsteps behind him. He perks up thinking it might be Mai. Alas, his hopes are crushed when he sees it is only Ayako…and she looks very angry. She walks up to Lin and grabs his collar. The taller man stumbles and expresses surprise by the forcefulness. Ayako squints her eyes and her lips are pressed so tightly, it is almost entirely linear. She hisses, "What did you do to Mai, you emotionless alien robot?"
He drops his gaze and whispers, "Am I an emotionless robot?"
Ayako releases his collar, confused she asks, "What?"
He refuses to make eye contact with her. He mumbles, "Mai is in love with me and…I don't know what to do."
Even though he was speaking in a low volume, she hears it. Her anger recedes. She chuckles. He looks at her, confused. What is so funny?
As if hearing his question loud and clear, she answers, "Koujo Lin, you are an idiot. No, you're not an emotionless robot. You are human in spite whatever you may do. You don't need to do much. Just stop overthinking. Love is simple, we, humans, tend to complicate it." And then she walks off, feeling very smug at what she said.
Lin keeps looking at her back. He felt like maybe, just maybe, the clouds in his head has lifted. It is simple, why mess it up right? He smiles and runs his hand through his hair. Sometimes Matsuzaka says the damnedest things.
He decides to try see Mai again. Maybe this time he can make her hear what he really wanted to say.
She aimlessly walks about, thinking and wishing that she might find some way of escape. Suddenly the scene changes. Now she gets this distinct feeling that she just might be in somebody's play and they are changing the backdrops. She squashes her fears as she concentrates on the scene in front her. Two young men, hidden behind a tall tree, spying on a young girl with messy hair.
"Kenji, I bet you a few dozen scrips, you cannot win over Nagisa any day!" one of the men say. Mai deduces that if that is Kenji, then this is Saito. She frowns at the things he says though.
Kenji grins smugly and says, "It is on. Even though I think Nanami is much more beautiful, and let's not forget dignified!"
"Okay, make her fall for you in a week!"
"You are on!" She is really getting mad at them two.
The scenes change and morph with scraps of words floating down to her. From whatever she can hear she fathoms that the seduction of Nagisa for winning a bet continued for some time. The crazy whirlwind of colours and words stop. It gets stabilised and she is standing near a waterfall. It is misty and if she wasn't scared she would say the place was beautiful. She spots Nagisa ankle deep in the water, chanting.
Then Mai watches in fearful awe as her chanting increases. Her entire body convulses and the water violently laps around her feet. With a jolt, Mai notices Nagisa is dressed in a white burial kimono. Then it hits her the kimono in which Nagisa has always appeared before them is white like this. This means, that this scene could be the precedent to her death at Saito's hands.
Nagisa cries, "Kenji lied. But he doesn't know, he doesn't know that Nanami and Saito are in love with each other! I want to ruin them all for playing with me! Gods of the underworld, I want my vengeance, give me the power to exact revenge on those who have wronged me!"
Mai clasps her hands over her mouth as Nagisa brings out a dagger from the folds of her dress and stabs herself in the heart. She falls on the water and the crystal clear water swirls her blood like ribbons until her very kimono gets stained red. It is a truly horrific sight. But the horror doesn't end here.
Nagisa comes back to life. She tilts her head sideways as if listening to something. Mai too tries and to her surprise she hears a kind of low mumble in the wind. Sheer terror grips her as she cannot understand them completely but judging by Nagisa's expression, she does. She gets out of the water. Her face is blank. She passes Mai and walks off, probably to the direction of the wedding.
What just happened? If she killed herself, how did she reanimate herself? Did she or did that voice do something? But then again, did Saito kill a corpse? She didn't reanimate herself then!
Mai has to wake up. This is not right. She needs to wake up and tell everyone. But again that conviction grips her that this isn't her dream. Someone is showing her all this. But who? And more importantly, why?