Chapter 5: Atem

It happened far sooner than Shinku had expected.

She was lying in the dark of her box, which sat beside those of Suiseiseki and Souseiseki. Suigintou's box was propped up in the corner; Suigin herself was asleep on the couch downstairs, wearing one of Nori's nightgowns. For whatever reason, Shinku couldn't sleep.

She opened the lid of her box just a crack, and peered out. The first rays of morning were shining through the window, but it wasn't time to wake up. Everything seemed normal, so she closed the box again and stared into the blackness.

Holie's red light flickered behind her, and she soon fell asleep.

Holie...

Where are you going?

I can't see you...

My key...

Jun was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a piece of bread with jam and conversing with the twin dolls.

"Suigintou's finally discovered the joy of sleeping late," he commented, observing the doll-turned-human draped over both ends of the couch. She was certainly tall.

"Would you quit staring at her like that, desu?!"

"I'm not staring! Sheesh."

"You are staring, desu!"

"Whatever."

Souseiseki looked down. "Shinku is also sleeping late, it seems."

"...Hey, you're right," Jun said. "That's not like her."

Shinku awoke from her vivid dream with a gasp of pain. Her clothes pressed tightly against her body and then tore; the wooden box strained and the hinge broke, separating the top half from the bottom. She was left kneeling over the box as the edges dug uncomfortably into her bare legs and hands.

She heard loud footsteps jogging up the stairs; as the door began to open, she hid herself behind the edge of the shelves and draped her long hair over her body like a curtain.

"Don't come in h-" It was pointless. Jun had already opened the door and was frozen in place, staring at Shinku.

"GET OUT OF HERE DA WA!"

Jun obliged.

Shinku sighed sharply, then looked around the room for a moment. She went toward the closet, yanked a large T-shirt and a pair of khakis out, and went about putting them on. It felt odd and improper to be wearing a boy's clothes, but at least she knew him.

She opened the door just a crack, then pushed it open all at once. Unfortunately, Jun had been standing behind the door, but she said nothing as it hit him in the face.

Jun rubbed his eyes. Sure enough, standing before him was yet another unnaturally beautiful European girl, her long golden locks reaching all the way down to her toes and her vibrant blue eyes staring him angrily in the face.

Oh, and she was wearing his clothes. That was kinda a turn-on.

It took him a second to remember that it was Shinku, given the fact that she wasn't wearing her signature red outfit and her pigtails had come out, not to mention how she was almost as tall as he was and looked to be only a year or so older than him.

Before he could speak, Shinku cut him off. "You can have your clothes back in a second, da wa. I'm going to go change." She sped off toward Nori's room, leaving Jun in a daze.

Suiseiseki and Souseiseki ascended the staircase.

"What's going on, desu?"

Jun didn't move his stare from Nori's bedroom door. "Shinku..."

There was no time for Suiseiseki to ask any further questions before Shinku thrust the door open. She emerged in a light, summery green dress Jun had seen Nori wearing before on several occasions, and Jun's clothes were folded over her arm. He had a hard time deciding whether he preferred those or the dress.

Suiseiseki gasped; Souseiseki smiled.

"Wait, desu! So you became human too, desu?!"

Shinku nodded so subtly that it was almost invisible. "Apparently."

"How?!"

"I will explain." She moved toward Jun and the dolls, tossed Jun's clothes at him, and then turned to descend the stairs. They followed.

Suigintou was still asleep. Jun's side-by-side comparison of Suigintou and Shinku showed that Shinku was shorter but was better-endowed; Suigintou's figure said "model," while Shinku's said "porn star."

Except, of course, for Shinku's appearance of being no older than fifteen, which made it a bit creepier. Jun decided to remove those thoughts from his head.

"Now," Shinku began, "it happened while I was asleep.

"The dream I had did not take place in my dream world. It was a blank white space, so blindingly white that it hurt the eyes, and all I saw was Holie. I tried to communicate with Holie. But nothing happened. And then... then Holie went on the other side of me. So then I tried to turn around and see what was going on. I felt Holie enter my body, through my keyhole.

"And then... then I woke up." She took a deep breath. "And I was like this."

Souseiseki nodded. "So it's the artificial spirit... We haven't seen Meimei, either."

"Yes. Holie was gone when I woke up. Still, I... I feel Holie's presence inside me."

"Well, if this is what we're supposed to do, we should go about doing it."

Suigin's eyes fluttered open. She could hear a hushed conversation going on behind her, but she was too disoriented to discern what was being discussed.

For several moments, she even forgot that she was human, but her long legs draped over the arm of the couch quickly reminded her. She groaned and sat up, peering over the back of the couch.

Jun, the twin dolls, and some unknown blonde girl were sitting around the table. At first, she assumed it was Nori. But between the fact that it was late enough now that Nori had left for school; the fact that the girl's hair was too light and too long, her eyes too shockingly blue, and her face too foreign; and the fact that Shinku was absent...

It was clear that Shinku was not, in fact, absent. The girl at the kitchen table was Shinku.

"Shinku!" Suigintou exclaimed. Shinku looked over from where she sat at the kitchen table, and flashed a quick smile at Suigintou.

"Good morning, Suigintou."

Suigin took several quick strides and reached the table, and peered at Shinku. "You... how did you find out? I wasn't mumbling in my sleep, was I?"

"No. Rest assured. I found it out on my own. Well..." She paused. "It came to me on its own, that is."

"Are you sure?" Suigintou still looked worried.

"Of course I am sure. Sit down."

As Suigin obliged, Suiseiseki continually looked back and forth between the two human Maidens. Jun wondered for a moment if she was running the same comparison as he had, before he remembered the whole "they're sisters" thing.

"So it has been established that the transformation occurs when the artificial spirit enters through the doll's keyhole and merges with her. I say," Shinku declared, "that we should definitely notify Kanaria and Hinaichigo of this at once."

"Wouldn't it be better to transform now, desu?" Suiseiseki protested. "I mean... well, I don't think you'd be able to feel this, but now that I know how it can be done, my body is calling out for it to happen..."

Souseiseki nodded. "There is a certain instinctive urge. However. I do feel it would be better to tell the others first."

"I'm changing." Suigintou got up, adjusting the thin spaghetti strap on her borrowed nightgown. "We really ought to go out and get those clothes, like Nori suggested..." She turned and headed for the staircase.

"Hey, Suigintou," Shinku called out.

"What?" Suigin stopped in her tracks.

She smiled. "I don't think you've changed as much as you think you have."

"...Eh?"

"Jun? Do you have an instant camera?"

"I have a digital camera..."

"Good enough. Bring it here."

Jun grumbled and marched upstairs. After a few extended moments of silence, he returned, clutching a small, silvery device.

Shinku took it from him. She aimed it toward Suigintou, then pushed the button. With a click and a flash, an image of the supernatural beauty was preserved; she was looking over her shoulder, wearing a candid yet photogenic expression.

"Now, come here, Suigintou."

Suigintou peered at the tiny screen of the digital camera. Shinku pressed a green button, and the image of Suigintou reappeared on the screen.

Across her back, partially obscured by her pearl-white hair, was a sweeping and intricately detailed tattoo of a pair of black wings. As Shinku zoomed in on the photograph, the individual fronds of feathers were visible.

The winged Maiden came back downstairs, clad in a black, pleated skirt and a dark blue halter top that fully exposed her back. Her hair was gathered in a loose ponytail with a black elastic, and draped over her left shoulder. She seemed significantly happier than before, even lifting her hand and waving. The ribbon attached to her wristband drifted through the air.

Shinku pointed at the band. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this?" Suigintou regarded it for a moment, then pointed at Jun. "He did it."

Jun looked over. "Hey, that's right. Shinku, did your dress rip? I can-"

"Please do." Shinku smiled sunnily.

Jun was thinking he could get used to this.