Chie spent her whole morning lost in a fog. Having no other options, she used a painting her parents had and choked back her scream when her finger slipped in with ease. She collapsed in bed with the memory of somehow seeing ice forming on her window despite the storm and snowflakes riding on the wind. She was so dazed she just ate slowly and didn't give her leftovers to Yakiniku, who whined at her several times over it. She just idlily tied her ribbon on her head and walked to school, somehow ignoring the cold rain on her shoulders and the water sloshing at her boots.
"It was true...everything was true..." She gasped to herself, her knuckles white. She caught sight of a familiar face and ran to catch up, pushing him aside gently.
"Satonaka-chan!" Yu gasped in disbelief. She tried to search his eyes but found nothing. "Forgot your umbrella?"
"I guess..." She shrugged, trying to shake away her daze. "May I hide under yours?"
"Sure," He held it over the both of them and she walked slower, trying not to blush at how close they were. They entered the school together and she took her seat, trying to mentally prepare herself for class. Her mental shock wore off, but she still struggled badly with schoolwork. But it'd be okay, right? Her parents were likely to pull her out of school either that year or the next, citing she learned enough and needed to find herself a husband. Then she could spend as much time with Yukiko as she pleased!
After their homeroom, a woman with a full head of curls and a sheer thin pink dress walked in, a book clutched to her chest. "Morning! I'm Mrs. Sofue, your history teacher! And I do love the topic. It binds us all together, endlessly flowing through the sands and waves of time. Isn't that a romantic thought? I love my romances too; this one is French! My outfit is from the country too," She stepped back to show off the minimal decorations and long white shawl. "I try to dress up every day so it's something new every time!"
Most of the students just stared, appalled, and whispered about how her dress was very sheer and shameful, wondering if their parents would approve. Mrs. Sofue just ignored them and began her lesson on prehistory, which Chie thought clashed with her dress, but what did she know? She wrote little on the pretense of conserving her ink and just tried her best to listen throughout the day. The girls gossiped around her in their little circles, whispering about the murder the previous day.
At the end of class, she gathered up her things and wandered over to Yu and Yosuke, sensing a lull in their conversation.
"Didn't you two hear? Konishi-senpai came across the body when she went on a walk." She repeated what some said at lunch.
"She was super melancholy yesterday...I wonder if I'll see her at the market today..." Yosuke trailed off, seemingly deep in thought. Chie pouted. She felt sorry for the poor girl, she truly did. She couldn't even begin to imagine how it'd feel to just happen upon something so horrific purely by mistake. "Hey, want to try inviting Amagi-san out today?"
"She seemed so busy this morning...she must be working hard," She didn't wish to admit she had been too dazed to even think about visiting Yukiko, but since the topic was brought up... "Did you guys do the trick? Did you see anything? I think mine was a girl...isn't that weird? She had curly hair, a furisode...it was hard to make out many details."
"Wait..I saw the same girl!" Yosuke commented.
"So we have the same soulmate?!"
"If that's the case...it's a threeway. I saw the same thing," Yu chimed in. "I used this old picture of my mother and uncle and when I tried to touch her, my whole arm got swallowed up. It might've been too small to fully suck me in though."
Yosuke laughed him off. "Sounds like a weird dream you had! Pictures don't act that way!"
Chie tried to hide her nervous swallow and just smiled. "Y-Yeah, it's pretty realistic, but still a dream!" She shoved down the memory of the cool air hitting her finger and a spring breeze that shouldn't have been felt, snowflakes in a spring thunderstorm. She was just dreaming too! "Anyway, how's the photography studio at Junes going? I never hear people talking about it."
"It's mostly older people who are into it," Yosuke picked up his bag. "But sometimes students, or parents who wish to photograph their kids' birthdays, come. Were you thinking about giving it a try? We got a new colorization method so your ugly green will still pop for generations to come!"
Chie rolled her eyes at him, but still thought about it as they walked out. It was just meant to be a change of topic, but she started thinking about how cool it'd be to pose with a sword or pole, posed in the middle of an action shot. She spun around then, kicking up her leg. "Could you photograph this? Hiyah!" She tried to keep the pose, shaking, her split-trousers revealing their form. Yosuke just shook his head as she finally put her foot down.
"You sure you don't wish to invite Amagi-san? She'd probably like this too." He asked once more as the trio walked over to the photography studio in Junes; she looked back at Yu and saw him keeping his head down.
"I don't think she'd get it." She shook her head, looking around. There were several painted backdrops of landscapes and numerous props set out neatly such as instruments and baskets. Directly across from the backdrops was a large brown camera.
"This place is huge!" Yu gasped. "I can't believe nobody wishes to use this." He ran over to a long sword and sliced the air with it, striking a valiant pose.
"You look like some old samurai," Yosuke laughed. "Oh, this is how much the colorization is..." He showed Chie a slip of paper, making her eyes widen.
"You're kidding! I'll just take the usual!" She wandered over and eyed the props, tying a hachimaki around her head and posing with her hands and one knee up in the air, trying to keep her balance despite wobbling a bit. "Come on, we look great!"
"You're going to have to hold that for a while," Yosuke tried to adjust the camera to capture both of them in the shot. "You sure you want to do that?"
"Fine, I'll be a musician instead! What instrument would suit me?" She tried to sort through the offered ones, shaking her head at them all. She pulled off the hachimaki. Yu put the sword down and instead studied the camera, trying to tap the lens.
"Miss, I think the shakuhachi would suit you best!" Yosuke grinned. "Just stand there and put your fingers on it!" He handed her a flute, which she rolled around in her hands.
"Really? I wanted something cooler!" She tried to hand it back, but he just gave it right back. "I said I wanted to pose!"
"And I said you'd topple over and mess your photo up!" He shot back.
"You said no such thing!"
"I said it with my eyes!"
"Well-" She briefly glanced over at Yu before her eyes widened and she gasped, poking Yosuke to make him look too.
"The hell?!"
Somehow, Yu's whole arm had been swallowed up by the camera, and he kept trying to push more of himself in, a curious expression on his face.
"You're being eaten!" Chie shouted. "How are you doing this?! It's a trick!"
"So does this mean...no way!" Yosuke shook his head. "You two are tricking me! I knew it!"
"I'm not tricking you! Yu-kun is!" She pointed to him. "I can't explain it!"
"Maybe..." Yu mused before he stuck his head in, making Chie gasp.
"S-Stop! You're freaking us out!"
"It's pretty spacious but empty in here...and dark."
"In where?"
"Don't tell me...you're inside the camera?!" Yosuke paled before he started bouncing around. "This is too much for my bladder!"
Chie just gave him a glare. "Are you seriously going to wet yourself right now?!" She studied Yu, trying to see if she could pull him out. "We have to get him out!"
"Excuse you, I haven't gone all day!" He ran off only to return a few seconds later. "C-Customers! They're coming this way!"
Her heart skipped several beats. "But he's stuck inside a camera! What do we do?!" She demanded. "We gotta hide him! Pretend he's the cameraman! Where's the tarp?" She tried to run around to the back of the camera only to collide with Yosuke, who panicked and ran in the same direction as her. They both yelped and lost their balance; Chie tried to grab onto something as she fell backwards, shoving against Yu.
She closed her eyes as she kept falling downwards into endless darkness, clutching at her chest. This was it, then. She'd die young and Yukiko would never get to see her again. Her poor parents would be childless and Yakiniku would have nobody to feed him scraps-
"Ow!" Pain shot up her back as she landed hard on it, some strands of hair coming loose and tickling her face. She tried to roll onto her stomach and squinted, seeing nothing but sickly yellow fog, thick and dense.
"That smarts..." Yosuke rubbed his back as he stood up.
"Are you two okay?" Yu asked, carefully helping Chie up.
"I guess...but where are we? Surely not Junes?" She kept trying to take in her surroundings anyway, trying to see through the fog but making her head throb. "We're not dead, are we?"
"If so, this is a pretty crappy afterlife,"
"Look at this place," Yosuke wandered around, pointing to big umbrellas and lamps set out everywhere. "It looks like a studio, doesn't it?"
"Forget that! We need a way out!" Chie huffed. "You two dragged me into this, so you two get me out!"
"We don't even know if there is a way out!" Yosuke shot back. "We fell down pretty far,"
"So surely there's some way out?" Yu put in. "We just have to find it."
Chie and Yosuke nodded and started walking, trying to remain close to Yu so they didn't lose him in the thick fog. She knew they had no reason to be silent, yet they were anyway, the only sounds being the dull echo of their boots on the ground. She shivered at how even their footsteps didn't sound right.
The trio kept walking, their footsteps growing quieter and quieter until they reached a room with a simple cot spread out, making her shiver again as she looked around. "I think this is a dead end! This place is creepy..." She tried her hardest to not look around at the shredded-up photographs on the walls and the random splatterings of what she hoped was just paint.
"The fog is lighter here though! My head isn't swimming," Yosuke ran over to the window in the room and pressed up against it, knocking it with his finger before he sighed. "You're right about this being a dead-end though...I can't make out anything in there." He suddenly gasped and jumped, making Chie yelp.
"What?! What?" She clasped her hands together.
"I still have to go!" He dashed over to a random corner and started undoing his pants, making her face heat up.
"Are you serious?! You can't go here!"
"I don't want to wet myself! Just look away!"
"No! Yu-kun! Do something!" She glared at him, though he shrugged.
"What should I do?"
"Something! Stop him!"
"I can't concentrate anyway," Yosuke grumbled. "If I wet myself, it's your fault."
She groaned. "Like I care, you did it to yourself."
"This place is creepy though," He pointed up at a red cloth tied to the ceiling. "Is that a scarf? Were they..."
"And these photographs," Chie motioned to one. "They all have their face cut-out...someone hates this person." She tried to say more, to ask if they recognized the image, but her head stabbed sharply and she winced, holding it.
"Hey...my body feels heavy." Yu chimed in, hugging himself.
"Can we leave now? I feel sick too." She kept her hand on her head, trying to rub the pain away.
"Same..." Yosuke sighed and the trio left, Chie trying to not shiver at their echo-y footsteps and her throbbing head. She just wished to leave this creepy place forever and-
She glanced over at a sudden shadow moving through the fog; trying to focus on it made her vision blurry but she kept at it until the shadow moved again.
"You guys! Something's over there!" She urgently whispered, pointing. Yu and Yosuke paused and Yosuke tried to crack his knuckles as he walked forward.
"Show yourself!"
Chie huffed and tried to take a shaky fighting stance, her fists out. "Do you want to fight me?!"
"S-Stop! Don't yell at me like that!" The figure cowered as it came into view; a furry raccoon with a green vest and yellow peasant hat, but the thing she noticed most were-
"B-Big balls!" She blurted out. "You have big balls!"
"Isn't there a song like that?" Yosuke questioned. Yu stepped forward.
"Do you know where we are?" He asked formally but calmly, making the raccoon look at him curiously.
"This place has no name! It simply is," He frowned. "But it's not a place for you three to be! Someone's been throwing people in here and it's annoying! I've already had two the past two days!"
"Wait, throwing people in?" Yosuke blinked. Chie pouted.
"You three have to go! I won't have any more of this!"
"Why are you dodging our questions?!" She snapped, stomping her foot. "Why does my head hurt? Where's this place? What are you?!"
The raccoon darted over to Yu, trembling. "I-I'm trying to help you! You three want to leave too, right? I can help you!" He wandered over to an empty spot of the room and rubbed his paws together, waving them and causing a giant camera to appear. "See? Now you can leave!"
"You can make things appear out of thin air? Like magic?" She blinked, trying to see how the camera worked. She felt a furry paw shove into her back and she yelped as she got pushed through the lens, her body turning rubbery as she hit the loose dirt of the marketplace, moaning.
"Why does it have to hurt..." Yosuke rubbed his back as he sat up and noticed a greeter running past in uniform.
"Everyone! We're still in the middle of our evening fruit sales! Whether you're looking for something more local or something exotic from overseas, we're sure you'll love the prices on them! Don't miss out on adding some sweetness to your meal tonight!" She waved down a family who just entered.
"Crap, it's that late already?! How long were we in there for?!" Yosuke choked.
Chie slowly tried to pull herself up, moving her hair away from her face when she noticed a painting of a woman standing up in one corner. Her image of a soft kimono and mysterious smile with done-up hair belonged to many women in the city, but she made a name for herself due to her haunting renditions of popular folk songs. It was a painting while the ones they saw were photographs, but Chie was sure she'd never mistake that kimono for another. She pointed it out to the other two as she stood up, wobbling.
"Yeah, she's the one whose husband had an affair, right?" Yosuke said.
"I thought it was the other way around."
"You think that creepy room had something to do with it? Like the noose..." He trailed off and she felt a shiver go down her back. Her head felt stuffed with cotton. "Let's just forget this whole thing even happened! It was a bad dream!"
"I just want to go home..." Chie sighed. "See you at school tomorrow," She parted ways and just walked home, keeping her head down. She briefly wondered if she should try to visit Yukiko before her head throbbed and made her wince. No, bad idea. She just needed to go home and sleep for eighty years.
Her house was on the more meager side, built with just two bedrooms and one main room to accommodate everything, but she preferred it that way. The moment she arrived, Yakiniku barked and yipped, jumping up and down to the best of his ability despite his fatness and small legs.
"Someone missed me," She teased, kneeling on the floor and patting her lap, allowing the Japanese Chin to jump in easily and curl up. "Have you been a good boy while I was gone?"
Yakiniku yipped in affirmation as she gently scratched his ears.
"Who's a good boy! Who's a good boy?" She kept petting the black-and-white dog before she shivered uncontrollably, shuddering. "H-Huh...?" She gently ushered Yakiniku off her lap and tried to stand, shivering more. "No way...am I sick?" Or maybe it was...
Maybe she should turn in early. There'd be school in the morning and she'd go see Yukiko afterwards, even invite Yu if he wished to come. Everything would be back to normal at last. It was all just a nightmare.
She headed into her room, ignoring her parents' voices as they debated what to do with her come the next spring, marriage with some local boy or send her off to do factory work in a big city? They debated it every other week and never seemed to reach an agreement. In the privacy of her own room, she pulled out her braid and ribbon, letting her hair fall to her back. She slipped on a white skirt to sleep in and curled up in her futon, trembling and shivering.
Wait, was that her breath she could see?!
-Photography was actually super huge in Japan ever since it was brought over during the 1870's. Even people who were very strictly traditional got at least one photo taken just because. Photo studios were everywhere and a source of fascination to the Japanese who enjoyed posing with various props. Due to this, despite having a wealth of Japanese photos from this period, the vast majority of them are just staged of samurai and geisha, not accurate depictions of life at the time. They also had an early colorization method used before most of the West where photos would be colored by hand and this was also super popular and widely used, hence why many of the photos you can find are colored.
-There's an old schoolyard song about tanuki that's sometimes sung, it goes 'Tan-tan-tanuki's bollocks, Even without wind, They swiiing-swing' referring to the big testicles these yokai are said to possess.
-The life of a teenage girl in Japan back then was that, especially in the countryside. Either she's sent off to make money for her family by working in a factory in the city, or she got married to a local boy her parents chose. Rarely did she pass high school, with most either leaving or being made to drop out by 16.
-Japanese Chins are breeds specific to Japan. Basically, I wanted a Japanese breed that wasn't a Shiba Inu lol