7th of January, 4:55 am, Ai Hoshino's gravesite
Aqua is quietly sitting on a nearby bench, his eyes are heavy. The shadows have started to torment him more and more in the past few days; every time he closed his eyes, they came, every time he moved, they came, every time he thought, they came. And they only ever left after hours of silent whispers.
He gets up as he glances at his screen. The clock telling him that it strikes 5:00 in 2 minutes. He walks over to Ai's grave, standing right before it. Ruby still tries to visit at least once a week to maintain it. He, on the other hand, can't bear seeing the sight of it.
But today he came regardless. His thoughts might've been correct. Maybe he really can think of something when he is here. The graveyard is completely silent and void of any other humans; he even had to climb over the fence to get in.
He looks at his phone one last time, 30 seconds left.
Why am I expecting that I will just magically think of something once the clock strikes 5:00?
If I can't think of anything tonight, I'm going to get help.
I just broke into a graveyard because my thoughts told me to.
What if they tell me to hurt anybody…
He snaps out of it as he hears loud and rhythmic steps approach from his left. He wants to look at whoever is crazy enough to break into a graveyard at such a late hour. But he can't, for some reason; it feels like his eyes are forced to continue looking straight as the footsteps become louder.
The steps stop right next to him. He is still physically not able to look away from Ai's grave.
"It is so wonderful that I can finally meet you in person, Aquamarine Hoshino."
Aqua's entire body tenses up; the voice sounds gentle, kind, even.
"W-Who are you?"
His voice sounds hesitant.
The graveyard falls dead silent for a moment; the only thing Aqua can hear is his own heartbeat. Then the man speaks again.
"My name is Tera… Tera, the wise."
Aqua is finally able to turn his head ever so slightly. To his left stands a man who appears to be in his early twenties. He is blond and wearing a brown suit. A nearby lamp illuminates his face ever so slightly; his facial features appear to be rather European instead of Japanese.
Then, he finally takes a step towards Aqua. He is slightly taller, his metallic blue eyes glowing down at him.
"I know about your suffering, and I know who causes it. It is Tsukuyomi. I have also met her before… We are sort of the same, Aqua. You might not fully trust me just yet; it's natural, but please listen to me… Tsukuyomi feeds off the human soul to stay alive. To do this, she needs to make you suffer."
"Let's say I believe you. How did you know I was here today to begin with?"
Aqua's voice is cold and calculated. He already knows the answer, but he needs confirmation.
"Tsukuyomi once told you that there were others with supernatural powers. I am one of these people, and so are you. None others are as mighty as Tsukuyomi, but we have some useful techniques… My ability lets me influence another's psyche… The shadows you've been seeing for years weren't your imagination; they were my way of contacting you."
Aqua takes a few steps away from Tera, slightly startled by his response.
"B-But then you're evil, not Tsukuyomi. You've been manipulating me for years, edging me towards ending my life."
Tera remains completely still, his hands still buried inside his suit pockets.
"Please let me show you the situation from another perspective, because I believe you are biased…"
Tera waits for Aqua to respond, but all he gets is a gaze telling him to keep speaking.
"Okay. I know my methods were brutal, and I'm sorry for that, but there was no other way for me to contact you. Yet, I didn't edge you towards ending your life; I actively prevented it. Every time you were about to kill yourself, my shadows appeared, telling you to keep going, and now you finally managed to kill Kamiki; you achieved your goal."
Aqua thinks back to the way the shadows seemed to always appear when he was about to make a decision, something swaying him away from one outcome towards another.
"But you also kept me alive even after Kamiki had died. Why?"
"Good question. Because the thing you actually wanted wasn't to kill Kamiki… What if I told you that you could bring Ai back from the realm of the dead?
"What?"
Aqua takes a step forward, almost invading Tera's personal space, before he can contain himself again.
"But Tsukuyomi said that it's impossible… Oh… I think I understand now… But what do you gain from helping me?"
Aqua's tense body slowly begins to relax, and his heart beat slows down again, Tera's voice soothing him more than anything.
"Thank you for asking. What I gain is that Tsukuyomi loses, that's it. Our feud has been going on for decades. I was once just like you. I died and was brought back. But Tsukuyomi wasn't able to control me, thus she cursed me to wander this earth for eternity. I hate her so much it hurts. I want nothing more than to see the witch's plans fail miserably."
Tera reaches into his suit and pulls out a thick book. It's made out of some kind of black leather, and the pages look older than civilization itself. On its cover are 4 plain Kanji symbols, symbols which Aqua has never seen before. Tera hands it over to him; it is heavier than he had expected, but he still takes it.
"What is this book?"
Aqua gently moves his hand over the cover of the book.
"It is the reason why Tsukuyomi cursed me. She told me I flew too close to the sun, that I was poking my head into things beyond my comprehension. But in short, it's what holds the knowledge you need."
Aqua pauses his inspection of the book to look up once more.
"Thanks. I will use it wisely."
"Good. For now, I will have to excuse myself, but don't worry, I will always be with you. If you have a question, call for me… Till then."
Suddenly, the word around Aqua begins to fade. The last thing he sees is Tera turning away from him before his mind drifts off.
…
Hours later, he gets up again, the sun is already high above him, a gentle beam of light lands next to his face. He gets up, the book still lying beside him, so he grabs it and starts walking.
The walk home is uneventful, maybe even too uneventful; his shadows don't show up even once. Just a few hours ago, they couldn't be quiet for more than a few minutes, and now absolute silence in his head for easily 30 minutes. Could it be that Tera told the truth about the shadows' origins?
Aqua finally arrives at home, unlocking his front door and silently sneaking inside. It's 1:00 pm, so he doesn't expect anyone to be home anyway. Ruby is probably out somewhere, and Miyako has worked awfully hard the past few months.
He makes his way up to his room, shutting his door behind him and placing the mysterious book down on his desk. With a click, he activates his lamp. A thick cloud of dust greeting him as he opens the book for the first time.
The pages feel like even small contact would make them crumble, yet no matter how hard he touches them, nothing happens. The text on them is written with black ink, the style of prose and font look horrendous, and the language, while certainly being Japanese, doesn't make any sense to Aqua at certain points.
He starts to browse through it, but the book doesn't seem to have a table of contents, nor are the topics in alphabetical order. When Aqua wants to find the thing he is looking for, he would have to browse through all 1500 pages of it.
So he gets to work, analyzing every page carefully; some depict ancient tales, while others show battles of which Aqua has never heard. Other chapters seem to contain various rituals, some promising happiness, others to curse your enemies.
Aqua goes on, but it is no help; after the first 100 pages, he needs to stop. While the pages up to this point were readable, by now, he can only understand every other sentence for some reason; the grammar and general structure are just off too much.
He angrily shuts the book closed and places it to the side, instead turning his PC on and starting the research, looking for anything that matches even remotely.
He spends hours upon hours looking into this topic. The sky outside turns dark again, his fixated eyes turn red as they focus on the monitor in front of him. He is so close to it, he can feel it, just a bit more.
He continues to look through ancient archives; some words he read in the book are explained on various sites. He didn't even notice how tired he became.
By now, it feels like the book, which he placed to the side hours prior, is talking to him. It's whispering into his ear to continue, to keep going for his own sake.
7th of January, 9:00 am, Kana's house
Ruby wakes up, the sun dimly shining through the blinds of Kana's room. She initially had problems falling asleep, but eventually she managed to fall asleep too. She sits up on the couch, stretching her arms out into the air while quietly yawning, not wanting to disturb Kana, who is still sound asleep in her bed.
A warm ray of sunshine lands right below Kana's eyes, but she doesn't seem to notice it. Ruby's heart melts away as she sees the faint smile on Kana's cute face.
Ruby also lies back down, pulling out her phone and starting to scroll through social media since she doesn't know what to do with Kana still asleep.
She starts to scroll through the posts in which she was mentioned. At first, it's just fluff. Some people randomly tag her in various memes, others talk about miscellaneous topics, while most people either ask her about Keiko or Kana's current status. But then one post piques her interest.
The account doesn't have a profile picture or an actual name. The username is just a combination of random letters and numbers.
The text is just 7 simple words, 7 words that instantly remind Ruby of the reason why she slept at Kana's place to begin with. "Why didn't you come home last night? @RubyKawaii"
"What are you looking at?"
Ruby physically jumps up, her phone flying through the air. Kana managed to get up and walk up to her without Ruby noticing.
The time seems to slow down as the phone starts to descend again; luckily, Kana catches it before it can hit the floor. Then, she instinctively looks at the screen.
The room falls silent for a moment as Kana reads the message. Ruby doesn't dare to move.
"Ruby, what is this?"
Ruby remains silent, looking down at the floor, while Kana's eyes glare down at her. A moment later, Kana looks back at the phone, reading over the message once again.
"Is this why you wanted to stay with me?"
Kana bows slightly down and uses her hand to gently force Ruby's head to look at her; her eyes look distant, and her cheeks are bright red.
"I'm sorry that you had to find out… You already have more than enough trouble, and-"
"Hey, it's okay."
Kana sits down next to Ruby, their shoulders lightly touching each other.
"This is a serious matter. Do you want to tell me more about this guy?"
Ruby gently shakes her head.
"No, I don't."
"Come on, look at me. I let you in, and now it's your turn."
Kana reaches out of Ruby's hand, gently squeezing it.
"But you also needed your time to process."
Ruby's voice is quiet.
Kana grips her hand even tighter. She knows that now it's her turn to be the supportive one.
"That's true. But your situation is different; you're in direct danger. Have you at least told Aqua?"
A knot forms inside Ruby's chest at the mention of Aqua's name.
"I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. I am strong enough without him."
"I understand… But then let me help you instead."
The room remains silent for a long moment before Ruby speaks.
"I think that this has been going on for a long time. He recently gave me a picture he drew… It's… it's of me sitting in my room… I don't know what I should do; he even broke into my house. What if he placed cameras around my house while I was gone? What if he made weird videos and pictures of me while I was naked? This could ruin my career…"
The pain in her voice physically hurts Kana. Ruby's words are quiet, yet echoing back and forth in Kana's head, amplifying every time they bounce off the inner walls of her head.
"Should we inform the police?"
Kana's words are meant as a consultation for Ruby. She places her hand on the side of her head, gently pulling her closer.
"NO."
Ruby jumps up from the couch, startling Kana.
"What if he really has those videos? This would only anger him."
Kana also stands up, placing her hand on Ruby's cheek, temporarily forgetting about her scar and that she wasn't even able to look at anybody just a day ago.
"What should we do then?"
Ruby remains silent, seemingly thinking.
"Well, he will probably want something from me eventually. Depending on what it is, we could maybe catch him on our own then."
Kana stays silent for a moment, knowing the risks that come with this method.
"Alright, but if this becomes too much, we'll tell somebody.