Mizuki chan? What are you doing here?
Fubuki looks somewhat happy to see her.
[Mizuki kun! Respond! Mizuki-kun?]
After a brief second of indecisiveness, Mizuki decided to ignore Daisuke.
"Ah nothing, Fubuki Nee. I was just looking for something that flew this way."
Hiding both hands behind herself.
"Ah... I see... "
A weak reply. Disappointed, she calls out Mizuki's bluff as she spots the scroll behind the girl.
"You're with that bounty hunter huh, and I took the bait..."
"No! I-"
"It's okay Mizuki chan. I knew there was no chance from the start. I'm just glad I can see you again one last time"
"That's not it! I- I trust you Fubuki Nee!"
Fubuki's eye widened. Disbelief of what she's hearing.
"All those time before, I went to meet you without Daisuke-kun's knowledge!"
"I don't think all ghosts are bad! I can't trust my mom's story and I feel at ease with you!"
"Mizuki chan..."
Touched by Mizuki's confession, she let her guard down. Her hand trembles, almost trying to reach out to her little sister but still hesitating.
"Sorry I'm just- so happy right now..."
wiping her face, her expression paints her crying but her ghastly feature provides no visible tears.
"There's so much more I want to tell you, that I want to talk about-"
"It's okay Nee chan! There's no rush! If Daisuke kun ever comes this way I'll explain everything to him, I'm sure he'll understand. We can catch up some more after that!"
Fubuki's gurgling her words a bit, she's too overwhelmed with emotion that it's making it hard to speak. Mizuki just chuckles in response, understanding of their situation. They both shares in that chuckle, a sisterly bonding moment.
"This kind of reminds me, that one time when we were little. Every time you would get scared of the invisible monster, I would stay with you and pretend like I'm casting a protective spell on you-"
Mizuki turns sharply to her, trying to listen closer as if trying to recall those memories herself.
"-And then when they no longer bothers you we would always share a laugh like this... How I miss those simpler times..."
"That's fine, we can go back to how things were. There's a lot that has happened since then. After I explained everything to Daisuke kun we can take our time slowly to-"
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy-"
Out of nowhere the guy in question replies to Mizuki, at the same time trying to separate Fubuki's head from her body with one of his knife.
"Mizuki kun"
Quickly Fubuki stops his hand from digging further into her clavicle.
Not having enough time to react, Fubuki only managed to avoid the second knife from him. Jumping back with the other knife still lodged above her chest.
" *Grunts* So you were hiding in wait this whole time..."
That gentle look on her eyes disappeared and in it's place a haunting leer. The blood shot eyes of hers hidden behind the gentle mask she puts on.
Her real form.
Daisuke swiftly steps in to put an end to that banshee but Mizuki tugs his hand
"No wait Daisuke-kun, that's my sister! She's not here to harm anyone"
Fubuki she... this time they really don't mean any harm!"
"You -"
Before Daisuke could respond to her, the gigantic squashing hand of the ghost forces him to evade, taking Mizuki with him.
"Mizuki-kun! That's not your sister, it's trying to take advantage of your loss!"
"No Daisuke-kun! This time it's different! I can explain"
"Get behind me Mizuki kun"
"I know, let me talk to her, she will understand. She will listen to me!"
"Mizuki-kun!"
He holds her shoulder tight.
"They're not what you think they are! We've went through this before!"
"But-"
Before Mizuki can counter his claim. Daisuke drags her behind him, and parries an attack from the ghost. It changed form to something bigger and more lethal. Gnarling it's teeth at him.
"Get away from her!"
The ghost warns him.
"No Fubuki chan! Daisuke's not a bad guy!"
She tries to defend him from her rage.
But Daisuke hugs her tight and escapes several meters away from that spot, avoiding the ghost's second strike.
"Maybe this fight is too much for you Mizuki kun, stay out of this"
He instructs her while shaping a second blade to replace his missing one. Preparing to take on the ghost some more.
Mizuki who's still imbalanced from the leap, fell to her knees on the ground. But as soon as she can regain her stance, Daisuke already charges ahead. Exchanging slash and blows with the enraged Fubuki.
"No... Please... don't kill her..."
She watches nervously from the side as the fight grew more intense.
While his previous encounter makes it look like he's playing around, this time Daisuke actually looks like he's taking the battle seriously, sparing not a second of opening. Jumping from trees to trees to recover his defense and always encircling Fubuki to find an opening while evading her gigantic spectral claw. That giant claw effortlessly cuts through tall trees like grasses.
There's hardly any opening for her to intervene, this is beyond her combat level.
Only having to watch without being able to do anything makes Mizuki curse her own incapabilities. But at the same time she does not have the courage to raise an arm against Fubuki.
Though while Mizuki's mulling over that, Daisuke's anxious for a different reason.
'those claws are tough, every time we exchange blows I have to fortify my blade back or it'll break'
He thinks to himself while trying to put some distance between them.
'if I keep being on the defense I might even break my own form'
He steals a glance at the joint inside his elbow, a visible crack is extending over his arm.
Trying to break out of the melee, he tries gathering his SP but Fubuki see through his intention and instantly shatters his defense with a big blow.
His blade shatters into pieces.
As Fubuki's about to finish the job,
"Nee chan wait!"
Mizuki's voice halts her movement.
"No Mizuki kun run back to school, I've placed a seal on-"
Fubuki cut off his sentence and buries her claw into the ground through him. Nailing him in place.
"Stop Fubuki Nee, you don't have to do this! Leave Daisuke out of this and let's go back home, okay?"
Fubuki's bloodthirst eye softens.
"Mom... has been missing you... Dad misses you... I- miss you... So-,"
While she utters no words, the vicious ghost slowly approaches the petite unguarded Mizuki. It struggles to let out a speech at first, but Mizuki didn't flinch and patiently waits until Fubuki can utter a comprehensible word.
"Mi- zuki.. chan.."
Fubuki calls, while reaching out to Mizuki's face. Her fingertip touches her hairpin. Mizuki can only stand still, unsure of what to expect.
The huge monstrous Fubuki smiles a little.
"It looks... pretty on... you"
Fubuki's face softens.
"I'm glad..."
Her coarse voice also returns to a more feminine sounding one.
"You never get to see me wear them didn't you?"
Mizuki relaxes a little, relieved that Fubuki still remembers her after all that violence.
"Let's go home... Nee chan!"
The ghastly big sister nods in agreement. Before her face suddenly wrinkles back and she lets out a violent growl. She quickly turns around while grabbing Mizuki in a defensive stance, as if protecting her. Even Mizuki's surprised.
Standing before her is Daisuke, his left half is all torn apart, still stuck on the ground beneath the claw she left on him.
"Daisuke kun no! Don't hurt Nee chan any further than this!"
Realizing what has happened, Mizuki attempts a plea for ceasefire.
But Daisuke does not budge from his stance, with only one arm and a knife he goes on the offense.
"You have something of mine you fiend, give it back!"
They starts exchanging blows again with Fubuki forcing Daisuke on the guard. Although, Daisuke's attack proves to be futile, he can't keep up with Fubuki's defense with only one fragile arm.
"No.. stop.. you two... Daisuke kun please..."
Mizuki's exhausted.
"Snap out of it!"
Raising his voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Mizuki kun? There's no way that's your sister!"
"But you don't know that! This could be a unique case!"
"That thing has been terrorizing humans and already has a taste for murder, we can't let it live"
"But if Fubuki chan returns home with me, then maybe she-"
"Accepting that she's your sister means accepting that your sister is already dead! Is that what you want to believe?!"
"That's-!"
Her next words gets stuck on her throat for a moment.
"What if she was?! Then this will be the only chance I have to say goodbye!!!"
"There's no proof that your sister's already dead, there's still hope!"
"That... What do you even know about her?!"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FUBUKI CHAN?!!"
"You noticed it too didn't you?! Fubuki would never call them invisible monster!"
Mizuki's taken aback at his comment, almost in disbelief.
"Even when you secretly knew she can't actually see them, she would always try to convince you that she shares your vision. To be able to see them and fight them together with you! That was how the real Fubuki would remember those memories!"
She bites her lips, mad at him not because he's telling her what to believe but because she had the same thought earlier.
"What do you-?"
She tries to deny him but unable to.
"The longer you listen to her, the more she mess up your actual memories of your sister! If you keep believing her then you'll really be forgetting your real sister!"
"NOOOOOOOO DON'T SAY THAT!!!"
She burst out, trying to drown his voice in her doubts. But while her mouth keeps arguing, her body subconsciously understands the assignment. He has a point, "Fubuki" needs to go.
As if having a mind of their own, her hand grasp tightly the knife that's buried into the girl's clavicle, the gift from her earlier bouts with Daisuke. As if anticipating that move, Daisuke jumps in between the massive claws hindering him and helps Mizuki push the knife further inside.
As the ghost gasp for air in Fubuki's voice, writhes in agony in Fubuki's face, Mizuki steels her heart to finish off her task. With Daisuke's hand guiding the way, she drags the cold merciless tool in her hand outside the girl's neck, ending "Fubuki's" life and killing off her childhood with it.
With an explosive blow, "Fubuki's" core violently tear off her own body and distorting every bit of her SP into disarray. A ghastly howl accompanies the misshapen jumble of SP before it disintegrates into nothingness.
The chaos subsides.
"You... did it..."
"Shut up-" swiftly she replies.
"Mizuki kun I'm... I'm sorry you have to do that..."
No response.
The air goes silent. Mizuki didn't let out a single noise after completing her mission. No celebratory outburst, no requesting praise from her teacher, no sigh of relief for a mission well done. Just empty deafening silence.
Quiet as it may be, after a while, the jolts from her shoulders are very much noticeable. She's suppressing it.
"It's.. you don't have to hold back, Mizuki kun"
Still no response to Daisuke's comment.
Until he touches her shoulder to which spontaneously she turns, holding back intense emotion like she's about to explode on him. But the only thing that came out was a brief unintelligible scoldings.
Her throat is lumped with pain, messing up her sentence, her eyes too flooded to see clearly, her teeth clenching, restraining a volatile anger.
Until he just hugs her
"I'm sorry..."
"THIS IS YOUR-!!!"
Still trying to vent her anger towards him, the blame.
But at the same time, all the vague but warm emotion, a nostalgic past that she can only barely recalls gushes into her mind and blends together in a series of jumbled sequence.
{Her first time riding a bike, }
{Their roleplay session to fight her fear, }
The tightened muscles in her knuckles loosened.
{Her first schizophrenic episode at school under everyone else's scornful eye, }
{Fubuki's company when no one else understands her fear,
"Don't worry, Fubuki Nee will never leave you alone"}
Immediately Mizuki burst out in tears. Unable to even be angry anymore. She holds him tightly as if looking for something to support her unstable body. Wailing her heart out like she never did for years till now. It's been a long time since this young girl genuinely cries.
All that bottled up emotion looking for an opening to escape, all her frustration, finally finding their way out.
She cries without even trying to hide her face, nothing else matters anymore. She already lost the closest thing to her that she already forgotten. Right in the brink of reclaiming them too. Not only of her sister, but of her childhood. A part of herself.
Even if she's not sure which one of them is real or just an illusion from the ghost, even if that fact alone already deeply frustrates her, the regretful feeling she have now at least, is real. This sense of lost is hers.
That night, after her tears all but dries up, she fell unconscious right after, fatigued after such an eventful and emotionally tiring night. After sending Mizuki back home, he notices her hand clutching onto something. As her grips loosen from her sleep, from it falls a hairpin. Mizuki's red hairpin. So red was the hairpin that it occurred to him, tonight was their first kill. An actual kill. Claiming one's life, even if a ghost, it's still a life.
Between the crimson red hairpin amplified further by the moonlight, and the strong implication of what had happened today, Daisuke too got struck with a familiar memory of his own. A dreamy scenery.
"This is..."
He finds himself staring down a piece of paper, tattered and in pieces. But the main body of content largely intact. Beneath the blood soaked sheet, a children's drawing of a demonic face sits in the center of the paper. An artistic rendition.
The demonic face resembles an image from a poster. Two standing zigzag stroke that almost connects on the last stroke. It's a pattern on a mask. These posters are plastered all over the city. The city, an arrangement of adobe houses walled with stones and hardened mud.
In the distant, under the moonlit night, a child hides behind one corner of the houses by the street. Peeking at him. Pointing at him, as he turns back to himself. He lifts his hand only to see a bloody arm, it's not his. The blood brightens up and covers his vision, kicking him out of the dream. But this dream, is not one he would forget. A gift from his past, a bloodstained memento.