“Please, explain to us what had happened, Umechan.”

Umechan looked over to her dear friend, still comatose on the couch, and nodded.

“The assignment we were given by Kaguya was to protect her *gardens in the Spirit Realm from behind attacked by the Maou’s minions. Before they finally reached the core, we were able to destroy them… But….”

“Did something happen to Sae?”

Another nod.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault—”

“It is!” She interrupted, tightening her fists, “She took a bullet for me! Because I was weak and couldn’t do anything.”

“But, if she didn’t do that, you would’ve been dead.”

“I know… I know that, but…”

Umechan…

“So, because Sae got hurt in the Spirit Realm, her soul is trapped.”

“When people enter the Spirit Realm, they don’t do it physically. It’s just their souls. They never gain any wounds or scars from injuries they attain, but the pain will feel real.”

“Sae’s injury was mortally drastic… Even if she had come back, she would’ve still been weak and needed to rest her powers.” Umechan looked back at her again. “But she never woke up. I’m afraid if she doesn’t soon, we’ll lose her… forever.”

“What can we do?”

“I know.” Miichan said, standing up. “One of us has to go in and bring Sae’s soul back.”

“Who?” Nana said, also standing.

Miichan gave a serious look to her.

“You, Nana.”

“What?”

“Nana, you have a strong psychic aura and sense of beings from the Spirit Realm. You’re the only one who’s able to do this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Your mind already has potential of linking to the Spirit Realm itself. All you need to do is go inside Sae’s mind, find the *gate that opens the Spirit Realm, and bring her soul back to her physical body.”

I could see such serious auras in their eyes, both of them with such intense gazes. My heart was pounding…

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

…..

“Isako.”

Isako bowed her head lowly as she faced her master.

“You have failed. Do you wish to meet the same fate as Kaiba?”

“No, sir.”

“Then, you will kill those girls.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Isako walked away and entered the dungeon where the ookami was kept.

She grinned, and with a snap of her fingers, the chains binding it disappeared. The wolf rose up, its eyes blood red.

“Time to get your revenge.”

A loud howl echoed in the stone walls of the dungeon.

…..

“So, tell me what I need to do.”

“Right.” Nana and Miichan both knelt down to Sae’s side. “See this earring?”

She pointed to the dangling earring on her left ear.

“Yes.”

“Touch it and then concentrate your energy on it. Once you do, you can channel Sae’s aura through it and enter her mind.”

“What do I do there?”

“There, you just go through her memories until you find the one that links her to the Gate of the Spirit Realm. Once you’re in, find Sae and bring her back ASAP.”

“Got it.”

“Okay. Jyaa…”

Nana nodded and stood up, bowing in front of us.

“Itekimasu.”

So diligent.

Miichan bowed back. “Iterashai.”

Nana knelt back down and touched her earring, closing her eyes as she concentrated her energy. Then, she slowly collapsed to the ground.

“Good luck,” I prayed softly.
…..

Nana woke up in a white room. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was blinding white. Her eyes squinted as she adjusted to the light entering her eyes.

As she blinked, she began seeing blurs of color, and finally, a picture formed. The white room transformed, and now, she found herself in a beautiful path decorated with pink cherry blossom petals.

It was the night of a festival, and just by the river where two girls. One was a familiar, boyish girl in a light blue kimono, playing with the water with her finger. The other girl was wearing a pink kimono and was wearing the dangling earring she saw Sae had earlier.

“Nee, Sayaka, look,” Sae said as she caught her friend’s attention, for she seemed to be staring at her beauty. “These petals, they look like they’re dancing!”

“You’re right.”

Sae giggled as she laid down on the grass and looked up at the sky.

“Tonight was so perfect~”

Sayaka simply smiled and laid down beside her dear lover.

Nana didn’t want to interfere with their sweet moment, but then she remembered this was a memory, so there’s no way either of them would notice her.

“Sayaka…” Sae spoke again. “I want to go to the moon.”

“..Eh?”

“One day, will you take me to the moon?”

Sayaka was a bit surprised by the sudden request, but she smiled and patted the younger girl’s head.

“Okay. I promise, I’ll take you to the moon one day.”

Nana suddenly felt herself being pulled back and now she was in a different memory. Sayaka was sitting at the top of Tokyo tower, staring up at the moon, when she suddenly got a text.

“Sayaka, come quick! Sae’s injured. Bring your healing water, hurry! -Yuko”

She felt another tug and now she was in a room with the three of them. A sudden slapping sound was heard.

Sae had slapped Sayaka.

“Sayaka, you idiot! You don’t understand how I feel!”

Yuko simply stood shocked as Sae stormed out, holding her bandaged shoulder. Sayaka fell to her knees and all the shorter girl could do was comfort her.

“It’s okay, Sayaka… Everything will be okay, I’m sure.”

“Yeah…” Sayaka said lowly, hugging her friend. “I’ll apologize to her tomorrow.”

Nana blinked and then she felt another hard tug. She looked and saw Sayaka collapsed on the ground, her body glowing. Sae was above her, crying.

“Sayaka… I’m sorry.. I’m so sorry..! This is my fault… If I hadn’t said that… You…”

“Sae…” Sayaka weakly raised her hand up and held Sae’s cheek.

Sae cried more as she took her hand.

“Please… don’t forget me, Sae… Keep our promise…”

“Sayaka… I love you.”

Sae leaned down and kissed Sayaka’s lips before she disappeared and dispersed into light, slowly floating up into the sky like stardust.

Then, Sae’s screams of agony filled the air.

“Sae-san… I had no idea,” Nana said. She felt tears building up inside, as well.

She was pulled into another memory again and saw Sae on top of the agency building, slowly walking toward the edge.

“That’s right… We promised.. to go to the moon together…”

“Sae-san, no!” Nana screamed, even though she knew it was useless.

Just then, she saw Mariko open the door and walked onto the roof. She ran and stopped Sae before she could fall, pulling her back.

“Sae, this isn’t the answer!”

“Let me go! Just let me die, Mariko!”

“Sae!!!”

“LEAVE ME ALO—” Her voice died down and her eyes slowly lost all light.

Nana saw a robed figure behind Sae. She guessed it was someone from the Senate.

Sae collapsed as her mind went blank. Mariko sighed as tears fell down her face. She knelt down and whispered to the unconscious girl, “I’m sorry, Sae. This is for your own good.”

She looked up as the hooded figure nodded. She wiped away her tears and nodded back before he disappeared.

Nana was pulled away and now found herself in the audience. A small voice caused her to look back and she saw Sae getting up from the couch.

“What happened..?” she said, holding her head. “What was I doing?”

She heard the door open and saw Yuko walk in.

“Sae.”

“Oh, hey, Yuko.”

“Sae, about earlier—”

“Hm? Earlier?” Sae looked at her with a confused expression. “Oh, you mean about me going to China. Hehe, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Plus, Mariya is coming with me.”

“Uh, that’s not what I was…”

Yuko had a strange suspicion in her mind. Something was wrong with her friend. But, knowing that she was heartbroken from her girlfriend’s death, she left it be.

“Nevermind.”

Sae merely shrugged it off and began to check her phone to see if Mariya texted her back, but then she noticed something strange…

“Hey, Yuko, whose texts are these?”

“Eh?”

“I don’t know who this is? Is it a friend of yours?”

Yuko and Nana both looked at the name she mentioned, and were shocked.

“Sayaka.”

“No, it can’t be…”

“Who’s Sayaka, Yuko? Someone you know?”

Yuko covered as she backed away from the girl.

“No…”

“I wonder who she is. You’ll have to introduce me. I’ll keep the texts if you want.”

Before she could say anything else, Yuko ran out of the room. Sae ignored her reaction, as she couldn’t understand what had happened.

Now, Nana understood. This is what the others meant when they talked about erasing Sae’s memory. She had no recollection of her lover, and now, it was as if she never existed.

“If that’s so… then, how did she remove the seal?”

…..

“Sae-chan!” We all turned as the door opened and a young girl walked in. “Ah, Miichan. Is she here?”

“Mariya…”

The girl named Mariya looked and saw Sae, running to her side.

“Sae! Sae, what’s wrong?! Wake up!”

“She can’t hear you.”

“Eh?”

“Her soul is still trapped in the Spirit Realm.”

Mariya covered , coming up to Miichan as she hugged the girl.

“I can’t believe this… We can’t let that happen again… I-if we lose her…”

“I know.”

After Mariya calmed down, she introduced herself officially. Her name was Suzuki Mariya, and she was a member of Akihabara48, as well as the Chinese division in *Shanghai.

Sae was also part of Shanghai48, and she came back in order to check up on her after learning what had happened.

“So, Mariya… did you know about when Sae..?”

“Yes. Mariko informed me when she had transferred to Shanghai. She told me never to mention Sayaka.”

“It must’ve been tough.”

“It was. Sae loved her more than anyone… But, then…”

“Then?”

“She awakened.” Mariya said.

“Awakened?”

Ah, I think they mentioned this before…

*“The time of awakening.”

“Miichan, what does ‘awaken’ mean?”

Immediately, I felt the atmosphere become intense. Miichan looked at Mariya and Umechan, and they all seemed to agree.

They needed to tell us.

“The Awakening is what happens when one of regains are lost memories. After the Senate seals them away, the process of Awakening slowly starts.”

“And the Awakening can trigger many changes within the subject.”

“Like?”

“Well, most symptoms are very common, like when you have amnesia.”

“First, you start having visions of your past memories, or you see them in recurring dreams.”

Recurring dreams?

“Then, the symptoms will become more intense. Fevers, headaches, dizzying spells. And, you also start to hallucinate and become confused.”

Wait, those symptoms…!

“Finally, when the time of Awakening reaches its peak, the subject will fall into a deep sleep and will regain all of their past memories that were sealed away.”

It can’t be..!!

“I remember when it happened to Sae. It was during practice for a performance in the Shanghai48 theatre. It was extremely rare for Sae to become ill, so we were all worried. Then, she collapsed and was taken to the infirmary.”

“When she woke up, she remembered everything.”

Uso… masaka!!!

“******!!!!”

My eyes widened as a voice screamed in my head.

“Mako?”

“Kyaa!” I pushed Miki away as I felt her touch my shoulder. I panicked. My breathing was quick and sharp. “I… I-I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah… I’m fine.”

All those symptoms… they’re the same as what I’ve been experiencing.

Does this mean…someone erased MY memories?!

…..

Nana searched through more memories. She saw Sae going about her life as normal, with no memory of her past.

While she was in her apartment in China with Mariya, she kept looking through her phone.

She didn’t know why she hadn’t already deleted the messages from “Sayaka” left on her phone. She didn’t seem to have the feeling, even though she reminded herself to.

She looked through the texts. They weren’t conversations with Sayaka and Yuko. It was all with Sayaka and herself. She was confused as to how she could be so close with someone she had never met.

“******!” A voice rang in her head.

“Ah…” She dropped her phone as her eyes widened. “Wh.. what..?”

Then, Mariya walked in. “Sae-chan. C’mon, we gotta go to practice.”

“Mariya…” Sae looked at her friend. “Do you know anyone named Sayaka?”

Mariya paused for a bit before faking. “Hm? Sayaka?”

“Yeah. I think she’s Yuko’s friend, but, for some reason, I have a bunch of texts from her on my phone.”

“Mm…” Mariya turned away and tried to hide her tears. “Not sure.”

She lied.

Nana was pulled away from the memory again and was now in the Shanghai48 rehearsal hall.

She saw everyone in a panic as Sae was collapsed on the ground, her head burning with a fever.

They quickly took her to a separate room for her to rest, but inside, there was more. In her mind, memories were rushing back into her, tears running down her eyes as everything crashed into her like a tidal wave.

In the final crescendo of memories, Sae’s eyes shot opened. She remembered.

“Sayaka!”

Just then, Nana felt something in her heart. A hard tug, harder than before.

Her heart pounded hard. As if it would burst out of her chest.

She saw a figure in front of her before her vision blurred and she fell into darkness again, her world overcome with silence.

================================

Footnotes

*1. Kaguya’s Moon Garden – A special garden in the Spirit Realm created by Kaguya. It has Moon lilies, flowers with nectar that could be turned into medicine, and a large pond filled with ancient Moon water, that could physically and spiritually heal the wounded.

*2. Gate to the Spirit Realm – A doorway used to enter the Spirit Realm. It can only be opened by going through someone’s mind and is located in a specific memory, usually one of strong emotion.

*3. Shanghai48 (SNH48) – A sister group of AKB48 in Shanghai, China.

*4. Awakening – The process of regaining lost memories. After memories are sealed, the Awakening starts to process and slowly progresses inside a person’s mind until the peak of the “time of Awakening” is reached. Symptoms include frequent recurring dreams/nightmares, fever, headache, hallucination or confusion, and dizzy or fainting spells.