Aoi's room hadn't changed one bit. The sliding shoji doors, the tatami floor, and the faint smell of incense—everything felt like stepping into a memory. Hanabi sat cross-legged near the futon, a blanket around her shoulders, while I unpacked our things.
"You look worse than I thought," Aoi said, kneeling next to Hanabi. "You've been having dreams, haven't you?"
Hanabi nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the floor. "Not dreams. I think I'm going somewhere. A room with no windows. And there's a woman… she watches me."
"She speaks to you?" Aoi asked.
"No. Just… watches. But I hear her breathing. Like it's all around me."
Aoi and I exchanged glances.
I sat down beside them and pulled out the protective charm from earlier. "I gave her this."
Aoi examined it. Her brows tightened. "This charm is from that shop."
"You know it?"
"I've been there once. The owner doesn't sell charms to strangers. If he gave you this, then you're involved far deeper than you think."
She rose, crossed to her bookshelf, and pulled out a black-bound notebook. The pages were filled with drawn circles, ancient characters, and annotations in red ink.
"Your mother wrote this. She gave it to me before she passed, told me to hold onto it for when the time came. I think now's that time."
Hanabi looked at me in surprise. "Your mom? I didn't know she… left something behind."
"She was a spirit worker," Aoi said. "She helped people who were haunted, cursed, or possessed. And she feared something would come for her family eventually."
I swallowed hard. "You think that woman haunting Hanabi is connected to the thing I saw behind the door?"
"I know she is," Aoi said. "But I need to show you something first. Something you forgot."
Later That Night
The house had grown quiet. The rain outside began tapping softly on the roof, and the wind hummed through the narrow hallways.
Aoi lit a single candle, then motioned for us to follow her to the meditation room.
"Sit in the circle. Both of you," she said.
We obeyed.
Aoi sprinkled salt and ash around us, her lips moving in an old chant.
Suddenly, I felt it again—that lurch in my stomach, the weightlessness behind my eyes. I reached out for Hanabi's hand, and her fingers squeezed mine tight.
The room flickered.
The world dissolved.
Inside the Shared Memory
We stood in the same room—Hanabi and I. But this place… it was not real.
Walls pulsed like they were breathing. Doors appeared in every direction, but none of them led out.
A distant chant echoed.
Then I saw it—a little girl standing before a mirror. Her face was blank. Her eyes hollow. She turned slowly to look at us.
It was Hanabi.
But it wasn't.
"Don't trust her," the reflection whispered.
A sudden knock echoed.
Then another.
One of the doors creaked open.
And from behind it… the woman stepped out.
Hair black as midnight. Eyes wide and glistening. Her mouth opened, revealing teeth too long and sharp—and red dripping from her chin.
Hanabi screamed.
I stepped between them, my charm raised—
But she didn't attack.
She pointed at me.
Then to Hanabi.
And then she said:
"You opened it. And she kept it open."
A jolt shook the space. Everything blurred into light and shadow. The last thing I saw was the woman's hand reaching out, her fingers brushing Hanabi's shoulder—
Then we were back.
Back in the Real World
I gasped, breaking out in sweat.
Hanabi slumped beside me, eyes wide, breath shallow.
"She touched me," she whispered.
Aoi looked at her with alarm. "That means it's marked you. If it enters your dreams again, it can stay."
"What do we do now?" I asked.
Aoi didn't answer immediately.
Then she said, "There's one place where this started. Where your mother last sealed the spirit. The shrine. We have to go there. Tomorrow night."
I nodded, fear swelling in my chest. "Then tomorrow night… we face her."