5: Mania

"Mari...e...?"

Tomoe shook herself free from sleep and sat up. She could see the full moon high in the sky outside the window of the nurse's office. Moonlight, severed by the window frame, faintly illuminated the bed with its pale beams, reflecting off of the dust that floated in the air and making it shimmer.

It was quiet. Marie wasn't beside her. But she didn't feel uneasy. A sliver of a premonition budded within her chest. She had to make sure whether or not the "dream" she'd just had was real.

Tomoe got off of the bed and walked out into the moonlit hallway, making her way up the creaking staircase to the second floor. Dim light filtering in from the courtyard lit the hallway, as if showing her the path she had to take.

Returning to her room, Tomoe shifted her focus to it - the corner. The darkness. She retrieved a box from the low shelf, opened the carved wooden lid - which one could tell at first glance was intricately detailed - and revealed the snow white mask within.

"...The mask of the Vessel..." she murmured to no one in particular.

It was one of the masks passed down through Tomoe's family, which she had heard was a mask for the Vessel that hadn't been used in the Rogetsu Kagura. It looks like Marie, she thought, seeing it again. Maybe the hallucinations she'd had of the mask in that room, of seeing Marie's face as the mask, was an echo of her memory that she was to give the mask to Marie.

Tomoe suddenly realised something, then - the mask of the Vessel was supposedly based upon the face of the dancer who was to perform the role that year. If someone related to Marie by blood had been a candidate for the Vessel, then... To Tomoe, it seemed also as though Marie were fated to don the mask.

The rapping of a familiar knock reverberated around the room. Marie appeared from behind the door, seeming restless.

"Hey, Tomoe. I remembered. Before the summer holidays started..."

Tomoe nodded with a smile.

"...Maybe we've already found the answer."

"...Yeah."

Little needed to be said. This had to be the only path before them. They both thought the same way.

"The tape. From Ruka."

Marie held a package in her hand. Soggy due to exposure to the summer rain, it seemed like it had probably been left in her mail box.

"Properly, until the end."

Though she said little, Marie's intentions came through perfectly. Tomoe nodded.

The path they had to take was decided. No longer wandering aimlessly without a destination, the hope was plain to see on their faces.

"But first, there's something I want to do."

~~~

It was the dead of night, beneath the full moon. The sound of bell crickets chirruping, carried on the air, mingled with the loud cracking sounds of the pair clambering over the fence.

"I don't think I've ever done something so naughty before."

"I've always wanted to, though!"

"Me too!"

After having changed into their school uniforms, they had made their way to the school pool. Its calm surface was dyed black, reflecting the full moon in its ripples almost like a second night sky.

Marie was mostly quiet, but Tomoe could tell how she was feeling. Before they did it properly, until the end, she wanted to do something improper - that was what they had come there to do.

They stripped off their shoes and socks. Then they looked at each other, shared a nod, and plunged straight towards the rippling moon on the water. As if shattering the stillness of the night, two loud splashes echoed all around.

"Ahaha!"

"Heehee!"

The sounds of water and their laughter filled the air. Despite their uniforms growing heavier as they absorbed the water, the two of them had never felt more free. They splashed each other, laughed, dove beneath the surface, leapt back up, and laughed again.

Now, in that moment, the Moon would forgive whatever they did - that was how it felt.

~~~

Having lost all concept of time amidst their frolicking, the pair of them held hands and let their bodies go limp, looking up at the moon as they floated in the water. The waves they had made caused it waver and spread across the water's surface. Somehow, it seemed as though the moon in the sky was even closer and larger than usual, too.

At the same time, something about it seemed fondly nostalgic - as if she were returning to her mother's womb, drifting to and fro in amniotic fluid.

"We're gonna forget about this, too, aren't we?" Tomoe said softly.

She reached up towards the moon, then squeezed her flattened palm into a tight ball. Marie smiled as she watched her out of the corner of her eye, ever so slightly tightening her grip on Tomoe's hand.

"How could we ever forget something like this?"

Tomoe nodded in agreement. She's right. I could never forget this. Marie's words touched her on a curiously deep level.

"It's okay. I'll make you better, Tomoe, I swear."

Tomoe smiled. Up until that day, and from then onwards, those words indicated the path they must take - like the full autumn moon lighting up the cloudless sky.

~~~

They had arrived at the gloomy, deserted sickroom. The beds had been moved out of the way, leaving it open. Its angle was such that at this time of night, the light of the full moon shone directly in through the window.

Having changed into their normal clothes, the two stood facing each other. They had been living with this disease for so long. Even when their symptoms were mild, its phantom still clung on within their hearts. Can we keep going like this? Isn't there something we have to do?

That would come to an end today. They were going to perform the Rogetsu Kagura again and make it end; to set the hands of time that froze on that day in motion once more. Their resolves steeled, they exchanged nods.

Marie took the mask of the Vesssel from Tomoe, who nodded, taking a step back. Solemnly, she took a deep breath, then pressed the mask to her face. It was the same pure, unsullied white of moonlight.

Having waited for Marie's nod, Tomoe set the cassette deck she had brought with her on the floor, and played the tape inside it. Ruka's piano began to play a melody. Each and every sound unearthed part of a memory, blotting out her awareness little by little. After a moment or two, she realised that it was the kagura music she was hearing.

Marie began to dance. She leaned forward in an easy motion, swinging her arms. With closed eyes, and movements so natural it was almost as though she were being guided by something, she danced flowingly and without pause.

As the tune began to intensify, the steps Marie danced began to change with it. Both she and Tomoe, looking on, gradually began to feel a different scene overtaking the one around them: the one they had seen of the Rogetsu Kagura that day, appearing right before their eyes.

As she surrendered herself to the sight, Tomoe felt as if she were heading down somewhere far below the ground.

Further, further, so far down.

Deeper, deeper, deeper still.

Her body felt as heavy as lead. Each thought was a battle, as though having to force its way through mud. But still, even through it all, there was something she had to grasp hold of. The thicker and heavier it grew, the closer she felt she was to seizing something she hadn't realised back then.

This is it. This really was the answer all along.

Tomoe could feel ecstasy welling
　　　　　　　up from somewhere deep within her body.
It was almost like she could reach out and touch it.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　There was something right in front of her.
　　　They could finish the stopped Rogetsu
　　　　　　　　　　　　　Kagura - right then, in that very moment.
She reached out into the darkness and touched
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　memories flowing into―

But the scene of the kagura playing out before her eyes began to fade.

No. This isn't it.

A sense of discomfort swept through her entire body.

We had totally the wrong end of the stick this entire time...

The kagura was stopped.

But that wasn't what we were seeing.

It was something more ominous than―

The Rite of Descent.

The instant the words flashed through her mind,
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　fragmented memories
yes,　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　dancing.
The red of her clothes. The black of the mask. The white of the moon.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Dancing. Crazily.
Then, that woman's　　　　　　　　　　mask broke
　　　　　　　　　　　　　and her warped face

stared back at Marie from within her memories.

"...Ngh!"

Tomoe's sight was flooded in a deep red.

~~~

As soon as she heard the strangled scream, Marie's mask split in two, her field of view suddenly opening up. The strength sapped from her body, as if the strings that controlled her movements had been severed, Marie fell to her knees. She felt awful, as if her insides had flip-flopped. Nausea surged up from within her, and she reflexively shifted into a squat, her arms wrapped around herself.

What had happened? She didn't know; couldn't figure out what was going on. Had this not been the answer? Why? Words flashed through her head one after another, but the instant she saw Tomoe, all thoughts faded from Marie's mind.

"Tomoe!"

Tomoe had her hands pressed to her face, letting out strangled moans as she writhed around. Without hesitation, Marie tried to run over to her.

"Stay away!"

Her fierce tone alone caused Marie to stop in her tracks, unable to take another step. Her whole body went numb and stiff, feeling as though the blood had frozen in her veins. It was as if the laws of nature were preventing her from getting any closer.

Marie was breathless, her sight flickering. She couldn't even tell whether she was sitting or standing. She couldn't make sense of anything she was looking at.

Tomoe.

What's going on?

Tomoe.

Tell me, Tomoe...

~~~

Dragging along her numb, disobedient limbs, Marie crawled over to Tomoe's side.

"Tomoe? Tomoe? Tomoe?"

Her desperate calls went unanswered, the hand she grabbed as cold as ice. The place she was looking at, where her face should have been, was distorted and stretched, like paint poured into water.

The breath caught in Marie's throat. Her soft black hair, her smooth skin, her bright eyes, her long eyelashes - all of it had come apart, losing its shape. This is what the face of someone who's blossomed looks like, she knew instinctively.

"Ah... Ah..."

A chill passed through their linked hands. It felt as though something horrible was crawling up through her fingers, along her arm, through her heart, and into her brain. Her body wouldn't do what it was told. She couldn't breathe. Her thoughts evaporated, her hands and legs trembling uncontrollably. But she was sure that Tomoe's suffering was far worse than her own.

Forgive me. I never should've suggested this. This whole thing was a mistake.

"Ah... Ugh... Ngh..."

She couldn't even form words properly. Chills raced through her body, finally gathering within her face.

It's all my fault. I'm the one who did wrong. Don't let this happen to Tomoe.

Marie knew that it was all far too late, but she couldn't help but pray.

Tomoe, please... Come back to me...

At that moment, she felt as if her eyes met with Tomoe's, beneath the distortion. Tomoe was crying. Tomoe was smiling.

Her gaze turned to face in the opposite direction. It took Marie several seconds to register that Tomoe had shoved her away. Unable to resist, Marie slumped to the floor.

"Tomo...e..."

Why is this happening to us? It hurts. I'm in pain. I'm so cold.

"...Run..." she heard Tomoe's strained voice say.

I can't do that.

Marie grabbed onto the post of a bed, hands trembling, and pulled herself to her feet. There, reflected in the window, painted black in the dusk, was Marie's face.

"..."

Across it blossomed a beautiful flowe―