“Why do you have this?”

Jiyong felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand when he heard the familiar voice. In fact, he had been waiting for that question, just so he could confirm his suspicions.

“Have you seen this before?” Jiyong asked as he eyed the little bell that was tied to his keys. While he was not known to hold trinkets like this, the fact that this old and tarnished bell had caught Seunghyun’s attention could only mean that he was no stranger to it.

“I had this,” Seunghyun said as he touched the bell gingerly. “The me in my dreams had this.”

“I found it amongst my granduncle’s belongings. It had been his friend’s but my granduncle kept it after his friend died.”

Seunghyun sighed and sat down heavily on the sofa. Suddenly, the studio felt smaller than usual and Seunghyun found it hard to breathe. “So I died.”

“Hyung,” Jiyong sat beside him. “We’re not crazy right? There’s something strange happening but we’re not crazy right?”

Seunghyun laughed bitterly. He didn’t like the heaviness that had descended on them. The nightmares were occurring almost on a nightly basis now and it was affecting his concentration at work. “Who is Kana?”

All he had to say was that it was just a dream and brush everything off as coincidence. But he was curious and wanted to understand how Jiyong was also involved in this.

“Kana is my best friend since middle school and she’s pursuing traditional arts in college now. Her family has been in the kimono making business for many generations.  I was so sad when she had to move back to Kyoto after high school!”

Kana bowed to owner of the ryotei.  She was already busy preparing for the concert but Kana couldn’t say no when one of Gion’s best ryotei was requesting for her to play at their establishment. It was just a coincidence that they were also Chiho’s relatives and Kana had never been able to say no to her best friend.

 “The guests are already here so if you are ready, I will show you to the room.”

Kana nodded and followed quickly behind the owner. While she always wore an elaborate kimono for this kind of performances, she would decline having her face painted and hair done in the traditional way. Today, she had one of her favourite kimonos on and her hair swept to one side in a loose braid. She kept her head bowed as they entered the room and waited until the owner was done with the usual introductions.

They are tourists – Kana thought to herself as she heard murmurings in a foreign language. As the translator continued, Kana carefully slid onto the cushion that had been prepared for her and readied her shamisen. OK – she took a deep breath and finally lifted her eyes to greet her audience for the evening. It was time for her to introduce the traditional song but no words came.

Seunghyun felt a numbness take over his whole body. If he had been shocked to see someone so familiar come into the private dining room, he was definitely on the brink of losing his soul seeing how she was reacting to him. “You know me?”

“Have we met?” Kana asked gingerly, not comprehending Seunghyun’s question. The owner turned to her in surprise and Kana quickly restrained herself. In all the emotional chaos, Kana had not used the Kyoto accent which was a must for performances.

“Do you know me?” Seunghyun asked again, nudging his translator to do his job. Kana glanced from one to the other, not sure if she could sound sane.

“Forgive her, mister,” the owner laughed daintily. “She must be shocked to see the handsome TOP from Big Bang here.” Kana didn’t quite understand but quickly recovered her composure when the owner tapped her knees gently.

The 30-minute performance felt like eternity for Kana. She could feel Seunghyun’s eyes on her the whole time and while she had many questions for him too, she had to do her job first. The fact that they couldn’t understand each other’s language also made it hard for Kana to try speaking to him.

Once again, the little bell on the shamisen case caught Seunghyun’s attention when Kana was packing up. The owner would usually come right before the session ended to ask for leave from the customers to Kana out, but she was late.

“He would like to thank you for your performance.” Kana looked up at the translator’s voice. Seunghyun had set a small sake cup at the end of the table and was holding the bottle, waiting. Kana bowed before sliding to the table and lifting up the cup.

“Tell her I’ve seen her in my dreams,” Seunghyun said. The translator was also his trusted colleague from the local agency and he smiled, almost laughing as he thought how Seunghyun could come up with such a pick-up line. As he anticipated Kana’s flattered reply, he was stumped by what she said instead.

“I saw him die in my dreams. Not here – but in a war, and in Yoshiwara.”

“Yoshiwara?” Seunghyun repeated, not waiting for a translation. He slid his finger across his neck. Kana felt a chill run down her spine but the door slid open then. It was time for her to go.

"Wait..." Seunghyun called but the owner had already ushered Kana out.