I can feel myself again…is the transfer over then? I look around the area, it’s not too different than what it was like when the curse was taking over. The black that used to cover the place is still there, just that now, as waves, the color of white is swirling within it and the two blend into each other. Almost horrific.

Guess I’m still not awake then, but to think this is what my consciousness looks like. I’m pretty much calm but I feel like I should be worried for the health of my mind right now.

“What…..what have you…done to me….” The voice of a curse I though I’ve defeated comes from my rear as my concentration is being directed to the scenery. It takes me by surprise, I was sure I won’t see that thing ever again, or at least not this soon.

With a slow motion, I calmly and patiently turn around just to find the entity on its fours. It seems the curse is struggling just to survive. The substance that its body is made of drips down all over the ground as if its melting.

“Why are you still here? You are supposed to be dead.” With a single swing of my arm, chains that seemingly reach to infinity, take hold of its two arms as it kneels on the ground.

“Yuuna, how are you feeling? Are you ready to wake up?” As if an angel calling down from the heavens to me, the Mister’s voice reaches deep within my head. “Give me a few minutes.” I can’t have him recalling me until I get to the bottom of this. As I head slowly towards the chained up being, closing the distance between us, I question it once more.

My resting blade is removed from its scabbard resting on my waist and its tip lays between the eyes of this filthy creature. “Answer me, curse. Why are you still here?” It chuckles. “I guess there’s no point hiding anything from you anymore. You have full control over me now and having you come here to ask me over and over again feels like a pain. You could even search through my memory if you wanted to.” Its voice is crooked, it makes it pretty obvious how exhausted it is.

With closed eyes, I hide my katana and let out a faint, short sigh as I mentally prepare myself for whatever I’m about to hear. A technique performed by someone like the Mister didn’t work, is the curse stronger than him? But look at the shape it is in….perhaps, there’s a greater force that has prevented us from exterminating it.

I open my eyes again, indicating I’m prepared. “Alright then, speak.”

“What if I told you that I wasn’t always a curse…That I’ve been always here with you, since the very beginning.” I’m conflicted. What is it talking about? From the very beginning? What other than a curse was it then?

“What are you talking about? You were born from the soul transfer Himarin has performed on me.” The entity stares directly into my eyes, creating an eye contact I can’t make myself break out of. “Yuuna….or rather, sister. That’s only partially true. I’ve always been here. I was born with you, I lived through everything you have. The soul transfer merely gave me the power of a curse and the power to manifest a body, a presence of my own.”

I made sure in advance to strengthen the barrier in this space. Mister Abe isn’t hearing any of this, I can’t let anyone know until I make sure it is safe. Nevertheless, that doesn’t help the fact that I’m beyond confused right now.

“So….if you aren’t a curse made to destroy me, then what exactly are you?” The dark figure chained up by its two limbs exhales a small amount of air. “Sister….I’m you. We are two sides of one and the same person. Separated at birth….torn apart from each other.”

W-what? That’s me? Or rather, a part of me? I refuse to believe that this pathetic being has anything to do with me…..But, it was taken over by a curse….maybe it’s not actually that bad.

I’m confused, I want to scream, but instead I slightly lean my head downwards and cover my face in the eye area. “I think….I heard enough. We’ll talk again later.” I weaken the barrier and let Mister Abe know that I want to leave, but as I turn my back to my other half, a few last words exit its jaws.

“Sister….There’s a lot more you need to know.” As if letting out its last breath, the words it leaves lingering in my head are faint, almost as a whisper. My gaze diverts towards it with a wide-open glare of murderous intent as the space slowly falls apart.

“Oh, don’t worry. You will get your chance soon enough.” And within the next few seconds I exit my own consciousness. The next thing I know, a familiar, I wake up to a familiar green ceiling, with parts of the view being covered by three round objects. The heads of Hidiku, Mistress Nagi and Mister Abe.

“Yuuna! You awake?! Are you alright?!” That’s the first thing I hear and see. Hidiku swirling around as he’s losing his marbles. “Welcome back.” Says the Mistress with a faint smile as I slowly sit up while holding my head.

“What are you two doing here?” I thought they had training to do. Have they finished earlier? “You have been out for quite a while, Yuuna. They have already been enlightened about the situation too, so you needn’t worry about explaining either.” The Mister finishes off as the third and final one. I stare out of the window and what I thought was noon actually seems to be the night. Have I really been out for that long? Certainly didn’t feel like it.

I attempt to stand up, but as I do, my legs go all wobbly on me, as if I’ve been laying for days. Fortunately, before I get to fall, Hidiku’s here to save me. “Take it easy, the technique I’ve used is very draining for both the caster and the one it’s being performed on. There’s food prepared for you too.” Hidiku begins to support me as we head to another room, the dining room, positioned on one of the sides leading out of this empty and spacious living room.

“How are you feeling? Tell me if you need to stop.” Hidiku shows his concern, I appreciate it, but right now I have more important things to worry about.

———

Upon entering, the room is split up into two halves, one of which has a low wooden table with a pink, cherry blossom petal patterned blanket coming from its sides and covering up the space below the table. Around that table four thin cushions of the same pattern are placed. The other half of the room is made of a small corner kitchen with a shelf that has book stored in it and flower plots with colorful flowers placed on top in the other corner.

As informed, my meal is laying on top of the dining table. It seems like it was made only a few minutes ago as the steam is still oozing out of the orange surface of the Miso soup. I’m not a huge fan of it, but right now I’m glad for anything.

As we sit down at the table, me being the only one having a meal before my eyes, Hidiku rests his arm on the table, then rests his head on top of his palm.

“So, what exactly happened?” He asks with curiosity glittering within his iris. I split my chopsticks as I’m about to dig in and reply casually. “There was this curse that tried to take over my body, so I kicked its ass. No big deal.” Hidiku’s head slightly slides down his palm, as if it is covered in butter, as he quietly repeats “No big deal, huh?”, just barely enough for me to hear.

“A lot more I need to know, you say…..” The words of the entity resting within my mind stick with me like glue. I will talk to it tomorrow.

“I’m going to bed.” After two minutes of staying in the room, I finish my meal and clean up after myself. “W-wait, you are done already?” I look at him with a confused expression. Why is he so surprised? I haven’t eaten all day. I exit the room and head to hit the blankets.

———

“…”

This place again. Why am I in my own consciousness this time?

The chains I’ve left behind to hold the entity at bay rattle behind my back, followed by a cough. Before even turning around, to face the being, I question its intentions.

“What do you want? Are you that impatient to talk with me?” I rotate my head just enough to give it a cold look with a single eye. “P-Please forgive me, I just thought it would more preferable during the night, so I don’t waste any of your needed time.”

Well, someone became really soft and obedient. Did leaving it here chained up for this short amount of time deal that much damage mentally…..or is this what it’s actually like without the curse controlling it?

With a snap of my fingers a throne of dark matter emerges from the ground before me. I sit down, legs crossed as I lean on one of the arm rests. “So, what is it that you want to tell me?” The shadow is hesitant. “It’s about us, or rather, about our past.” My….past? Just like the raging waves of an ocean, the confusion as well as curiosity flood my mind. “You make it sound like I’ve accomplished something. I’m pretty sure my life was nothing out of the ordinary until a few days ago.”

My other half shakes its head. “I’ve phrased that wrong, let me correct myself. What I meant to say was, I want to talk about our family’s past.” I’ve heard stories from mom and dad about their demon hunting days and such but there was nothing special about that either. Were they some sort of heroes back in their days? Or maybe evil criminals?

The entity has paused. My curiosity is killing me, I’m craving answers. “What about it? Are you going to tell me we are some sort of a family with a special bloodline that will turn me into a hero? Honestly, I that would be pretty cool.” It became even more hesitant. Come on, is it trying to make me suffer!? “That’s not exactly it….but you aren’t too far off.” Oh, it was meant to be just a joke. I really hope I didn’t miss with the hero part.

“You see….the thing is-” Suddenly, loud cracking sounds echo throughout the space, it’s falling apart! “Hey, what’s going on?!” I yell out at the shadow, expecting answers as I nearly lift myself up the chair out of surprise. “You are waking up….there’s no time, we will have to continue later.” Hey, hey, hey….you must be joking! I didn’t find out anything yet, what the hell! “We haven’t even been here long enough here for it to be morning, you can still call me back, RIGHT?!” The shadow looks at the ground with shame. “I-I’m afraid I’m still recovering, I won’t be able to bring you here until next night.”

For real…..this sucks. The glass like plates peel off the space like paint peeling off walls. And before I know it, I’m back in my room, staring at the dark ceiling above me, but….this sensation.

“Mom….what about my….” Hidiku holding me in his arms, he’s sleeping like a log though. It makes me feel embarrassed and thus turns my face red. “goodnight….kiss.…” Hidiku says as he sets up his lips for a smooch. I stare back at him for two whole seconds with murderous intent as a nerve pops up on my forehead.

I’m about to end this boy’s life.

First thing I do is grab him by the head and smack him straight into the flooring. As anyone would, Hidiku wakes up instantly and begins to yell in pain as he curls up on the ground and holds his head. He’s confused and scared at the same time, I can see it on his baby face as I descend to him and grab his collar.

“Y-Yuuna” Small droplets slowly appear in his eyes. As soon as I notice, I begin to roughly shake him all over the place. “WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR DEAL?! WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP FOR SUCH A STUPID REASON!? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME SUFFER!?” Tears begin to spill out of my eye sockets.

Poor Hidiku. As he’s being twisted like a snake, like a swing, his head goes back and forth. “YuUnAaA” He’s about to yell for help but before he can, I unleash my second wave. “YOU NEED A MOM TO GIVE YOU A GOOD NIGHT KISS?! WHAT ARE YOU? FIVE?! THEN GO ASK THE MISTRESS! I’M SURE SHE WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY! I MEAN DID YOU SEE HER FIGURE? HER HIPS ARE PERFECT AND NOT TO MENTION MELONS! I’M SURE SHE WILL LET YOU DIVE RIGHT INTO THEM!”

Ah….my jealousy is leaking

“YUUNA! WHAT ARE YOU-” Hidiku is cut off by the sound of a blade being drawn out of its scabbard. That slight scraping sound more than enough to stop us in our tracks and freeze up. We are left staring into each other’s eyes with cold sweat running down our heads, as we both know very well who is paying a visit.

“I’m sorry, what was that? I’m afraid I’ve misheard you. You wouldn’t mind repeating yourself so I can make sure, right?” With terror on our faces, we slowly direct our gaze to the Mistress standing in the entrance. Hidiku passes out immediately after witnessing her sadism covered expression with her katana right before it. I revert my eyes to Hidiku as his action takes me by surprise.

“H-Hidiku?!” Crap, I need to get out! But when I try to move, it’s already too late. The movement of my body forces my eyes to lead up to where Mistress Ena stood, but instead of her whole figure I only see two eyeballs staring deep into my soul. “Now, what was that you said?”

My tears begin to travel once again.

“MOMMYYYYY”