Chapter Seven: Festival and Friendship

"Are you alright? You look like you ran here."

Yomi was out of breath. She had not run exactly; her geta prevented her from doing that. However, she had moved as quickly as she possibly could away from her house with that girl in it.

"I'm fine," she panted, "I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be late." Mato gave her an odd look. Yomi stood up straighter and smiled. "Don't worry about me! Let's just go have fun!"

The sun slowly dipped below the horizon. The strings of lanterns were lit, bathing the entire area in multi-colored light. It was a proper festival, with vendors lined up in stalls. Yomi could see small stands selling masks and jewelry, carnival games, and snack food vendors. Here and there the two of them also ran into some of their classmates. Some Yomi recognized with difficulty, though she was thrown off by the fact that they all looked younger. Others she did not recognize at all, and simply pretended she knew.

When the girls got tired of walking around, the two of them sat down on a bench under one of the trees. Then they began to talk. Yomi could almost fool herself into thinking that she was already back home.

"…So then Kohacchi-senpai says 'we're going to do a lap around the entire eastern edge of the school!' and this one girl just faints right away."

Yomi giggled. "She sounds like she really wants you to win

Mato sighed. "It's so easy to talk to you, Yomi."

Yomi smiled. "You too! I think I could go on for hours."

"It's weird, though."

"Oh? How is it weird?"

"It's like…it's almost like you've known me for years. You always know exactly what to say, and you say it so easily. Like you're a good friend that I made a long time ago but I don't remember at all.

"What if…" Yomi trailed off. Did she really want to tell Mato this? In Saya's office she had been desperate for anyone's help and had blurted out everything, but normally it was a topic she avoided. For weeks afterward she had not even discussed it with her own Mato; the one that had saved her. It had just been too tender of a subject.

Mato was still waiting for Yomi to continue. "What if what?"

"What if I said that you and I have met before? In another time, in another world, you and I met and we became really good friends. We spent years together; going to see movies, camping in the woods and talking about which classes we dislike and what we wanted to be when we grew up." Yomi looked around her at the bright lanterns hanging from strings and from the vending stalls. "Even going to festivals a lot like this one."

But then you started to drift away from me. A little bit at first, then slowly more and more. You didn't notice it, and I tried to pretend it wasn't happening. By the time we noticed what was happening it was too late; I had been taken away from you."

"What happened then?"

Yomi smiled. "You came to save me."

There was a long silence. Mato stared off at a stall where one of their male classmates was trying to impress his friends on a rope ladder game.

"Wow, Yomi. I hope we can become as good of friends now as you say we did."

"Hey! Hey, Mato!" The call came from behind the two of them. The two of them turned.

Yomi was surprised to see Saya and Yuu walking toward them holding large balls of cotton candy, both wearing yukatas in bright colors.

Mato waved. "Hi Yuu! Hi Saya-chan-sensei!"

Saya smiled at Yomi. "Fancy running into the two of you here. Are you two enjoying yourself?"

"Yes," Yomi replied. There was something behind that smile, Yomi thought. "Yes, it's been wonderful!"

Yuu pointed excitedly "Hey! Mato! Look! There's a basketball-throwing game over there! Come on! Let's see if your three-pointers are as good as you say they are!" She began eagerly dragging Mato over to the booth.

Mato laughed. "Okay, okay Yuu! You don't have to pull!"

Yomi watched the two girls who were her friends back in her own world. Then she turned to Saya. "You want to talk about something, right?"

Saya nodded. "Right. If you're going to spend any amount of time in this world, I think that it's time I tell you how the situation lies. Maybe that way we can avoid any misunderstandings."

Dead Master walked through the maze. Somewhere, there had to be another portal to where the red-eyed one had taken Chariot. She could not help but feel that the red-eyed girl was crucial to her returning home, but Dead Master had no idea how.

She felt a familiar presence. It was watching her from somewhere, though she could not tell exactly. She looked around, trying to find out where it was. It could not possibly be her imagination; that feeling was too familiar.

There she was, up on top of the wall. Black Rock Shooter. And yet it was not quite her; Dead Master could see that at once. The differences were subtle, but unquestionably there. Like everything else in this world that was and yet was not her own.

Black Rock Shooter dropped to the floor of the maze. For a long moment, the two girls stared at one another, neither one daring to move. Then, finally, Black Rock Shooter extended her hand. An offer of friendship? Of assistance? Perhaps.

Dead Master looked into the eyes of her most hated enemy. Then she turned down the passage she had intended to go before the other girl had appeared. Even though this was another world, she would not join forces with Black Rock Shooter so easily. She would find her way home without any help.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching her from behind. Within a few moments Black Rock Shooter entered Dead Master's peripheral vision. It seemed that she would have company. Dead Master smiled. For now, that was alright.

The two girls walked side-by-side, onward toward their shared goal.