“ARE you possessed or something?” Tomoko asked immediately after Yura opened the door the next morning. Tomoko visited Yura like this daily.
Yura stiffened.
In just the day since they’d last seen one another, Yura had developed large, deep bags under her eyes, noticeable even to a complete stranger.
She’d checked herself in the mirror since waking up. But, from the look on Tomoko’s face, it was clearly worse than she thought.
Obviously, it was from not sleeping at all the night before.
No matter how she tried to shake it off, the persistent dream clung to her more maliciously than any had before.
She was far beyond exhausted, still Yura rubbed her bleary eyes and forced a smile.
“Oh, I’m fine.”
“And what about the band-aid?”
Yura hid the hand she had placed on the gate to the yard.
The second she’d awoken from that awful dream, she’d flailed and cut her hand on a decorative pitcher she had at her bedside.
Seeing the blood at such a horrible moment obviously added to her stress.
Tomoko gazed at her friend with a look of pity. Yura was clearly embarrassed about her clumsiness.
“I’m just really careless…”
“Did you watch something weird before bed?”
Tomoko’s words were innocent, but still, they sent a chill through Yura.
The truth was, she had.
After seeing that weird sight the night before, she had that terrifying dream.
Sometimes she’d have particularly strange dreams, ones she couldn’t help replaying in her head. The incessant parade of thoughts wouldn’t stop, and she’d end up shivering in her bed all night, bleary-eyed, waiting for morning.
“I’m guessing I was right on the money! You dork.”
Seeing Yura’s reaction, Tomoko burst into laughter. Her laugh echoed through the crisp morning air. Hearing such a jovial laugh comforted Yura.
“If you get so freaked out by horror movies, just don’t watch them. You’ll get traumatized and lose sleep,” Tomoko said with a laugh, smacking Yura on the back. “See, nothing to fear! Just forget about it.”
“……”
Yura gave a small nod, unable to come up with anything else to say.
What Tomoko said made sense, but it was easier said than done.
When Yura closed her eyes, the images from the dream came rushing back.
If she focused her senses, she felt she could even smell the iron.
She’d never in her life had such an intense dream.
The sun’s rays warmed the chills running down her spine. She became dizzy, like she’d caught a bad cold. But as she closed the gate, she tried to give the worried Tomoko a little smile.
“I’m sorry, I’m really okay.”
“…I see. Well then, about that mirror…” Tomoko pounded her fist into her hand and changed the subject.
Yura opened her bag and pulled out some report paper as they walked along.
On the front were some of the one hundred famous waka poems; on the back were several math formulas. Today, they had two quizzes, so she intended to study along the way.
“I looked into it,” Tomoko said, “though I still have no idea why you’re suddenly so interested.” She held up her index finger. “I asked Papa about that mirror. But he doesn’t know a thing about it. Not even who made it.”
It figures. While she was disappointed, Yura was not surprised.
With so many different items coming into the antique shop, it was only natural that he wouldn’t know the origins of each and every one.
Tomoko seemed to have remembered something else.
“Well, we did figure out something. To be considered an antique, most items have to have some value to them. But that mirror seems to be special. When I asked why, he said that when he was a young man, that mirror was given to him in a shop similar to ours from Russia or Zimbabwe or somewhere. He didn’t have an eye for beauty back then, but apparently, that’s how it ended up in the shop.”
Russia and Zimbabwe? They’re opposites—north and south. Yura nodded ambiguously as she reflected on this fact.
Tomoko pulled a face.
“Well, I know that’s kinda vague…but it’s a fact that mirror is no normal antique.”
“How so?” Yura asked excitedly.
Tomoko gave her a glance, probing whether or not she really wanted to know. Yura nodded fervently—satisfied, Tomoko continued.
“That mirror,” Tomoko began, holding up her index finger once more. “Well, it might be hard to tell at first glance, but it’s double-sided.”
“Double-sided…?”
“Yup. Its elliptical shape spins on a vertical axis.” As she spoke, she drew an ellipse in the air and pointed out the top and bottom. “The mirror is laid into its frame and the center spins like a revolving door. Since this was a decorative mirror, there apparently used to be something there. But since we’re using it as just a mirror, it’s just been hung on the wall. We think maybe it was used for some sort of special ritual. That’s why it’s double-sided.”
Yura frowned. Tomoko mimicked her look.
“Wanna check it out? We could stop off for a bit.”
Tomoko, intent on never being late and maintaining perfect attendance, always called on Yura super early in the morning. It threw Yura off in the beginning, but after three years of friendship, she was used to it.
Even as the road they walked was a residential school road, bereft of any shops, the silly conversation Tomoko led as they walked to school made it fun for Yura, like a morning walk. Knowing this, Tomoko continued coming by each day.
Even when she called Yura the day before to tell her about her chipped tooth, she was neither angry with her brother for causing it nor was she in shock at the injury. She was more upset about her efforts for perfect attendance and never being late having all gone to waste.
Without a word, they passed the turn they’d normally take and continued on the road to the shop. They quickened their steps to make their downhill journey easier.