a/n: listen to King by Lauren Aquilina. It helps the mood. trust me hehe. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Eunae is carrying her luggage to the front of her door, feeling yet excited to go to Japan for her summer break at her uncle’s place. She went there every summer ever since she was at kindergarten just because she likes it there, and there’s barely anything for her to do here at Seoul. But most of her wants to spend her summer at Japan just to meet someone. Just to meet her.

 

“There we go…” Eunae huffs cutely as she’s carrying her other things to the front of her door.

 

“Make sure you listen to your uncle.” Eunae’s mom says as she’s holding a spatula with her right hand. She’s cooking for dinner but Eunae can’t make it, since her flight is in a few more hours. Eunae is a bit sad since she really loves her mother’s homemade cook, but she tries to hide her sadness by thinking about Japan, thinking about her.

 

“Yeah.” The 18 years old girl says shortly as she runs back and forth and again carrying her bags, and also some souvenir to give to her uncle who lives in Japan.

 

“Do you have your handkerchief? Your ticket?” Eunae’s mom says worriedly at her beloved daughter as Eunae run everywhere in their house. “A nice pair of shoes?” Mrs.Jo continues to blabber as she keeps her eyes on Eunae all the time. “Wait don’t tell me that’s everything?”

 

“It’s fine mom, you don’t need to worry too much.” Eunae assures her mum firmly but at the same time using a polite tone.

 

“Make sure you don’t forget your luggage in the airplane, alright?” Of course Mrs.Jo’s caring (and a little bit obsessive) nature couldn’t help but to ask and give advice to Eunae. “Don’t zone out and miss your flight.”

 

“Yeah I got it.” Eunae assures her mom again, not a little bit annoyed since she’s used to her mom’s nagging on a daily basis. “Jeez. I’ve been going there every year, so I’ll be alright.” Eunae adds as she’s busy wearing her favourite black Adidas Allround shoe.

 

“Hey Eunae put on a hat. You’ll get heatstroke.” Her mom adds as soon as she stands up, ready to go to the airport.

 

Eunae looks at the light blue bucket hat her mom is holding for a straight ten seconds, before looking at her mom with a wide grin plastered on her face. “It’s alright! I’m fine.” And off she goes, dragging her cute black luggage and her bags along with her, feeling extra ecstatic on her holiday this year. Hell, she loves her summer holiday very much since she was six.

 

“See you!” Eunae chirps cheerfully as she skipped her way to the sidewalk, going to the airport. Her mom wants her to ride a taxi or uber but Eunae insisted on walking, since it saves money and also since the airport is just a few minutes away from their house.

 

After a few minutes of walking, Eunae finally arrives at the airport. While waiting for her flight, she sits down at one of the chairs there nearest to the windows. As soon as she sits down, she looks out the window and her eyes quickly trails up to the serene and tranquil sky, remembering her old memory at Japan when she was eight.

 

The first time I met her, was when I was six.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

‘On a hot summer day, I got lost in the forest of the mountain god, which was said to be where spirits lived. After running around searching for an exit, I became so tired I couldn’t move. When I started crying from fear and loneliness, she appeared before me.’

 

A six-year-old Eunae was sitting on the grass, surrounded by trees while hugging onto her knees and burying her face in between her knees, sobbing softly.

 

“Hey! Shorty!”

 

Eunae could hear someone, a girl, talking somewhere close to her. She raised her head up slowly and looked around her, trying to find where was the source of the voice came from. After looking around for a few seconds, there behind a tree on her left side, stood a woman, wearing a red, ed long sleeve casual button-down shirt with a plain black t-shirt underneath it accompanied with black knee ripped jeans and a dark blue high-top vans. She looked like she was in her late 10s or early 20s by the look of her height (Although her shoulder length hair was ash grey). The weird thing was that she was wearing a fox kabuki mask that covered her whole face, not that it scared Eunae though.

 

“Why are you crying?” The mask girl asked little Eunae while standing behind the large tree, which covered half her figure.

 

In a blink of an eye, Eunae stood up and quickly ran towards the girl, closing her eyes while crying. Relieved washed over her as she no longer need to worry about her dying in the middle of a creepy forest. “It’s a person! I’m saved!” She cried happily while keep running towards her mask-wearing-saviour.

 

Much to her dismay, the mask girl avoided her hug effortlessly and Eunae fell on the grass, face first while whining cutely. Pushing half her body up, Eunae looked at her ‘saviour’ with a ‘are-you-serious?’ look on her face.

 

“S-sorry.” The mask girl said apologetically and scratched her nape slowly. “You’re a human child right?”

 

Eunae quickly looked at the mask girl with a confused look. ‘Why would she be asking me that?’ She thought to herself silently.

 

“If a human touches me, I’ll disappear.” The mask girl looked at Eunae who was now sitting on the ground, few leaves stuck on her hair.

 

Eunae kept looking at the mask girl with a confused expression. “If a human…?” She wondered loudly. “You’re not a human?” The six-year-old girl asked innocently.

 

“I’m… something that lives in this forest.”

 

“What? Then… you’re one of the spirits?” Eunae asked, suddenly feeling excited instead of scared, since she didn’t think that a forest spirit that everyone is scared of could look so… normal.

 

“But… what do you mean by disappear?”

 

Eunae kept looking at the mask girl, waiting for an answer, or maybe an explanation. Realizing that she wouldn’t get any answer, Eunae tried to touch the girl once again. But, the mask girl avoided her easily. Eunae stood up and tried again, and again and again, and she failed, she failed again and again. The stubborn girl never gives up and lastly, the mask girl knocked her head with a big but short tree branch, not too hard but not too softly either.

 

Eunae whined while holding her probably bruised head, burying her face between the grasses on the ground. “Y-you’re really not human after all…” She winched in pain. “No human would hit a child like that!” She added while sobbing, still holding her head.

 

“To disappear means to be obliterated.” The mask girl finally said after few minutes of shutting and avoiding Eunae’s touch.

 

Eunae quickly stopped sobbing and snapped her head to look at the fox mask girl, who was looking up the sky.

 

“That’s the spell that the mountain god placed upon me.” Eunae kept looking at the mask girl. “If I get touched by a human, that’s the end.”

 

Feeling guilty, little Eunae stood up and quickly apologised at the spirit. “I-I’m sorry.”

 

“Here, shorty.” The mask girl ignored Eunae’s apology and instead offered her the other end of the tree branch. “Grab the other end. You’re lost aren’t you?” The mask girl looked away from Eunae, straight front. “I’ll lead you out of the forest.”

 

Feeling happy, Eunae quickly run towards the mask girl to hug her, startling the latter with her action and once again, get hit by the branch.

 

“Didn’t I tell you…” The mask girl breathed heavily while holding onto her knees, trying to recompose herself.

 

“Sorry, I just…” Eunae said while rolling on the ground.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Both of them are walking in the forest not uttering a single word, on a cemented but old pathway which was covered in mould while holding onto each ends of the branch.

 

“It’s just like going on a date!” Innocent little Eunae chirped happily while walking beside the mask girl, who has her free hand inside her jean’s pocket.

 

“Not a very romantic one…” The mask girl replied monotonously.

 

Mask girl looked at Eunae for a few seconds before darting her attention back to the front. “You… aren’t afraid.”

 

Eunae looked up to mask girl’s side face, smiling before asking, “Of what?”

 

“Never mind.” Mask girl sighed internally, Eunae’s too young to understand anyway.

 

It was evening when they finally arrived at almost the end of the cemented pathway.

 

“If you go straight, you’ll hit the mountain path.” Mask girl said, giving direction to Eunae. “Bye.” She added.

 

“Are you always going to be here? If I come back here, can we meet again?”

 

“This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. Set foot within, and you’ll lose your way and be lost forever. You shouldn’t come here. That’s what the villagers say, right?”

 

Both of them kept quiet, only the sound of wind gushing through the forest was heard. Instead of being sad, Eunae smiled, and introduced herself.

 

“I’m Jo Eunae. You?”

 

Both of them were quiet again. Only the wind was heard.

 

Feeling dejected, Eunae frowned a little and walked away from the mask girl slowly. “Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with a thank-you present!” Eunae said with a determined tone.

 

She quickly jogged herself away from the mask girl, until she was interrupted by the mask girl’s voice.

 

“It’s Seulgi.”

 

Eunae stopped and quickly looked back, only to find that the mask girl was gone.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Walking on the mountain path, Eunae played with the tall fescue grass beside her with a branch she found on her way back.

 

“Eunae!” Her uncle shouted worriedly from afar.

 

“Ah, uncle!” Eunae hollered happily and quickly dropped her branch and ran towards her uncle.

 

“Eunae, you idiot!”

 

As Eunae was about to hug her uncle, her uncle instead punched her head as a sign of punishment for wandering around the forest alone. “If you go into the forest on your own and get hurt, what are you gonna do?”

 

Eunae cried and quickly hugged her uncle, making the latter’s anger subsided quickly.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Both Eunae and her uncle was walking to her uncle’s house rather quietly, since both of them were quite tired, especially Eunae. They were walking while holding onto each other’s hands.

 

“Uncle,” Eunae broke the silence surrounding both of them after a long time of walking slowly.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Is it true that there are spirits living in that forest?”

 

“Oh, the mountain god’s forest… Who knows.” Her uncle answered mindlessly, since he himself haven’t seen any spirits on the mountain before. “That’s what they say.” Her uncle added.

 

“When I was little, I wanted to meet the spirits, so my friends and I often went into the forest.” Eunae’s uncle started telling her his old story when he was still around her age. “In the end, I never met any, but I had the feeling I’d occasionally spot something from the corner of my eye.” Eunae kept looking at her uncle, listening intently to his story. “On summer nights, you could hear the sounds of the river coming from the forest, and now that I think about it, Iwa said she and her friends went and had fun at the summer festival in the forest. But there’s no way the villagers would’ve held a festival in the forest.”

 

“So then, whose festival could it have been?” Eunae’s uncle wondered loudly, before continuing. “It started this crazy story that they must’ve snuck into a festival for the spirits.”

 

Little Eunae kept looking at her uncle who was smiling while reminiscing his old story. “Man, that takes me back!” Her uncle laughed to himself while looking at curious slash confused Eunae. “We were so stupid back when we were kids.”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

It was time for bed, but Eunae couldn’t sleep a wink because her mind kept wandering wildly, thinking of all the events that happened earlier today. She kept tossing around on her bed, frustrated that she couldn’t sleep and she even felt excited to meet the mask girl with the name of ‘Seulgi’ the next day. After minutes of tossing around, Eunae faced the wooden ceiling, while thinking back what Seulgi had said to her earlier that day. ‘This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. Set foot within, and you’ll lose your way and be lost forever.’

 

Eunae covered half her face with her blanket, kept staring at the wooden ceiling of her room, feeling sleepy every seconds that past, and finally, she fell asleep thinking about certain someone.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

The next day, Eunae was standing at the exact same place she parted ways with Seulgi the day before. She was holding a bag; a thank-you gift she promised the ash grey haired girl yesterday. The surprising part is that Seulgi was waiting for her arrival while sitting on the cemented but old stair there.

 

“I didn’t think you’d really come back.” Seulgi muttered.

 

“You…” Eunae mumbled, making Seulgi tilt her head aside a little, a bit confused. Thank god her fox kabuki mask was hiding her expression or else Eunae could clearly see her knitting her eyebrows together.

 

“You waited for me!” Eunae chirped excitedly and quickly ran towards Seulgi, who once again knock her head with a branch, the same branch yesterday.

 

“You just don’t learn, do you?” Seulgi asked while sighing at the six-year-old.

 

“I was so happy, I just… Sorry.”

 

Seulgi leaped to the ground to where Eunae was winching in pain and offered Eunae to go somewhere. “It’s hot out here. Shall we go somewhere cooler?”

 

“What?” Eunae asked, feeling confused. Didn’t this girl hate her present?

 

“Don’t worry.” Seulgi walked up the stairs, leaving Eunae behind. “I’ll help you get out of here again.”

 

Eunae’s face beamed brightly and quickly stood up, jogged her way to Seulgi’s side.

 

They were walking up the stairs, deeper into the forest, while Eunae was eating popsicle happily. Seulgi was eating popsicle too, but stubborn Seulgi didn’t even open her mask, instead, she lifted her mask up till her nose level, only could be seen.

 

As they were walking after finishing their popsicle, Eunae could hear something between the tress on her left side. She ignored it and kept walking. However, the noise was getting louder and louder. Eunae looked to the source of the noise and she was met with a very dark and big (but not tall) figure.

 

“Seulgi. Is that a human child?” The dark figure asked creepily while hiding half its body between the trees. It has a creepy smile on its face and it has no nose, and the eyes were so round, like a tennis ball, making the figure looked scarier. “Can I eat it?”

 

Feeling scared, Eunae hid behind Seulgi, careful not to accidentally touch the latter.

 

“No. She’s my friend.” Seulgi protected Eunae.

 

“Is that so?” The figure asked before continuing, “Human child, please don’t touch Seulgi’s skin. If you do, I’ll eat you!”

 

Seulgi shooed the figure by faking her sneeze a few times. The figure was startled and changed into a fox, a two tailed fox, that has a peach fur.

 

“Oh! Is that a fox?” Eunae asked excitedly, and the fox quickly ran away from them.

 

“He’s another one of the spirits. He transforms to scare people, but he’s all bark and no bite.”

 

“Amazing! This is the first time I’ve seen a real spirit! So they do really exist!” Eunae hollered ecstatically while throwing her hands up in the air. “Amazing! Incredible! Fantastic!”

 

“So what did you think I was?” Seulgi muttered to herself while sighing at the adorable girl in front of her.

 

Seulgi decided to walk, ignoring Eunae who was celebrating to herself. Realizing that she was left alone, Eunae quickly jogged to Seulgi’s side with a big grin on her face.

 

“Seulgi, are you a No-Face or something? Why do you wear a mask?” Eunae looked at Seulgi’s side profile curiously.

 

“No particular reason.” Seulgi answered Eunae shortly. “Never mind me. Tell me about yourself.”

 

“Are you curious?” Eunae smiled widely again.

 

“That’s why I waited for you.”

 

~~~~~~~

 

‘The next day and the day after that, I went back to the forest. Those summer days, I ran and played all around the mountain.’

 

“Over here, over here!” Eunae chirped happily while running on the forest, leaving Seulgi behind. She was wearing a yellow sundress and a picnic hat that day.

 

“It’s better over there.” Seulgi said, pointing to a place in front of them. Out of the blue, the wind was getting stronger, making Eunae’s hat flew away to the tree branch. Eunae tried to take her hat back but she was short, so Seulgi helped Eunae took the latter’s hat instead and quickly handed the hat back to Eunae. “There.”

 

“Thank you!” Eunae wore the hat happily and twirl around before started walking with Seulgi again.

 

‘Even though it was silly, it was so much fun.’

 

Both of them were playing tag and Seulgi was ‘it’, so she was chasing Eunae around the clear field of the forest using a branch, they ran around a big tree, Eunae tried to ran away from Seulgi while the latter was chasing Eunae diligently till she fell on the ground, face first. Oh the irony. But Seulgi continued to chase Eunae nevertheless.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Eunae was plucking up flowers while Seulgi was laying on the grassy ground, looking like she had fallen asleep. Eunae finished plucking up few flowers, she noticed that Seulgi had fallen asleep. Eunae jogged and kneeled above Seulgi’s head, observing her curiously.

 

“Did Seulgi fall asleep?”

 

Eunae was tempted, tempted to open Seulgi’s kabuki mask. Since Seulgi’s asleep, she probably won’t realize it, Eunae thought. “It’s fine if I touch her mask, right?” So, Eunae took a hold of Seulgi’s mask, careful not to touch the latter, and opened the mask rather slowly. Her heart was beating so fast as she was lifting the mask up from Seulgi’s face.

 

Finally, after what it felt like forever, Eunae finally saw Seulgi’s face. And goddamit, Seulgi was beautiful. No, she was ethereal. Her face looked serene as she was sleeping, cute and small lips, pointy nose and she was ing pretty even if she’s sleeping. Her shoulder length grey ash hair was scattered on the grass and it still look beautiful. Eunae’s heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, Seulgi opened her eyes, her grey and shiny eyes startled the hell out of Eunae, making the latter jolted back and smashed the mask back into Seulgi’s face. “Ah, sorry!” She apologised, while Seulgi was winching in pain and quickly sat straight. “Attacking someone while they’re asleep… you sure are a scary little lady.” Seulgi huffed and looked at Eunae.

 

“I’m sorry, but you were pretending to sleep, weren’t you?” Eunae had a guilty expression on her face while looking at Seulgi.

 

“I looked normal, aren’t I?”

 

“Why are you wearing that mask?”

 

“If I don’t wear this mask, I don’t look like a spirit do I?”

 

Instead of answering Seulgi, Eunae looked at the mask girl for a long time, and both of them kept staring at each other.

 

“You’re weird.” Eunae finally muttered.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

“Um, Seulgi.” Eunae said as they were on their way back to their meeting spot. “I won’t be able to come here tomorrow.” The six-year-old girl said as they were walking down the stairs. “I told you about it before, right?” Eunae paused for a while before continuing, “That I’m just staying at my uncle’s place for the summer? So I have to go home tomorrow.” Eunae sighed and lower her head down while frowning, she really hates going back to Seoul.

 

Seulgi, who was in front, stopped walking and look at Eunae. “Will you be able to come again next year?” She asked.

 

“Yeah!” Eunae answered short, but full of joy.

 

Seulgi looked at Eunae for a little more before continue walking down the stairs.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

‘This is how summer became something I looked forward to.’

 

‘Seulgi waited for our promised summer.’

 

~~~~~~~~

 

“It’s cold!” A year older Eunae said happily while dipping her left leg into the pond, while Seulgi just watch the girl feeling joyful silently, sitting beside her.

 

“You’re weird. Of course the water is cold.”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

As usual, both of them were walking mindlessly in the forest, not saying any words to each other. The situation was not uncomfortable for them, no. Although it was silent, they thought that the silence was a good silence, and that it was the thing that made them even closer than before. As they were walking, suddenly a tree branch, a big tree branch came to life and formed a hand. “Seulgi!” Eunae warned but Seulgi wasn’t a bit scared of the living tree branch. The hand-like tree branch grab Seulgi’s petite figure, engulfed her into a hand-hug(?).

 

“It’s dangerous, Seulgi.” The tree warned her. “That’s a human child. If she touches you, you’ll disappear.”

 

“Thank you. I’m fine.” Seulgi assured the tree and stepped away from its grasp.

 

“Please don’t touch her, human child.”

 

“Yes.” Eunae answered shortly.

 

And Seulgi continued walking, to which Eunae followed quickly. She saw red Japanese traditional umbrellas forming at the corner of her eyes and decided to glance at her left side, and she was right. The umbrellas are really forming one by one as she was walking. The umbrellas are making a bell-like noise why muttering Seulgi’s name, telling her to be careful around Eunae.

 

The spirits can touch her, right? Eunae thought while looking at Seulgi, who was focusing on the pathway.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

‘Two summers passed. Then three.’

 

“Eunae!” Seulgi shouted, calling for the girl who she hasn’t seen, who’s hiding or maybe lost from her sight. “Where are you?” She kept walking. “Eunae.”

 

“Eun-“ “WAAH.” Eunae suddenly showed up on the tree, dangling herself upside down just to scare Seulgi.

 

Seulgi was startled, but the mask was covering her expression. Eunae who was wearing a blue sundress, and dangling upside down, making the skirt of her dress also dangled down since the law of gravity was not by her side that time, and Seulgi accidentally saw Eunae’s white underpants. Feeling embarrassed, Eunae quickly sat on the tree normally.

 

“What’re you doing?” Seulgi asked, mentally face palming herself.

 

“I wanted to see your startled face, but…” Eunae stopped talking, and stared at Seulgi who was on the ground. “At least when I’m around, can you take off your mask every once in a while?” She asked with a broken tone.

 

“That’s fine,” Seulgi said and was starting to took off her mask before continuing, “but is there a reason?”

 

“Not really, but-“ Before Eunae could finish her sentence, the branch suddenly snapped, falling her down from the high place.

 

“Watch out, Eun-“ Seulgi said and quickly ran to Eunae, spreading her hands to catch the latter who was falling. Seulgi kept running towards Eunae, who has her eyes wide opened, shocked that Seulgi was going to touch her.

 

At the last minute, Seulgi stopped, and Eunae fell on the bushes fortunately and didn’t injure herself severely.

 

“That was close.” Seulgi sighed in relief while watching poor Eunae on the bush.

 

“Yeah…” Eunae whined sadly.

 

“I’m sorry, Eunae. Are you okay?”

 

Eunae fell on the ground face first. “Thank goodness.” Seulgi said.

 

“Hey Seulgi.” Eunae muttered as soon as she sat on the ground, and Seulgi immediately squatted in front of the girl. “No matter what, don’t ever touch me, okay?” Eunae said while smiling. Seulgi didn’t say a word and kept looking at the girl. “Okay?” Eunae said, trying to smile but failed miserably. She started crying as soon as she finished her sentence. Eunae was sobbing while wiping away her heavy tears that fell from her eyes. Seulgi sighed internally and kept staring at Eunae, not saying a single word. “No matter what!” Eunae said in between sobs and lowered her head down. Seulgi was tempted, very tempted to touch the girl’s head to pat her. But she just couldn’t, no matter how hard she wanted to do it. She kept squatting, and Eunae kept crying. That’s how their day went that day.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

‘The next summer and the summer after that, I visited the forest.’

 

“I’m leaving!” Wearing her school uniform, Eunae bid goodbye to her uncle before running to the forest with a happy smile on her face, excited to show Seulgi her new uniform.

 

“Seulgi, I’m here again this year! Ta-da!” Eunae twirled around in front of Seulgi just to show the spirit her new uniform. “I’ve become a fifth grader!”

 

“Somehow, you’re starting to look like a woman.” Seulgi muttered silently, but loud enough for Eunae to hear her.

 

“I am a woman.” Eunae argued with a playful tone.

 

Seulgi stood up and walk away, as usual. “Shall we go?”

 

“Yeah.” Eunae nodded while smiling and followed Seulgi’s steps.

 

Both of them were walking beside the river, silent as usual. Seulgi was looking front while Eunae was staring at the older for a very long time.

 

“Hmm?” Seulgi asked when she realized that Eunae was staring at her.

 

“Nothing.” Eunae smiled, not looking away from Seulgi. “Even though I’m in middle school now, a lot of my elementary school friends are in the same class, so it doesn’t really feel like anything had changed. But rather than that…”

 

‘Our ages are gradually getting closer. Somehow, Seulgi ages much more slowly than humans.’

 

Eunae was playing kite with Seulgi, who was clueless to everything. She never had played kite before, so Eunae thought of teaching the spirit on playing kites.

 

“Like this?” Seulgi asked while holding the kite high above her head. On the other hand, Eunae was holding the string of the kite, feeling happy. “Yeah, yeah. When I start running, let go, okay?” Seulgi just nod at Eunae’s order, like an obedient puppy.

 

“Here I go!” Eunae yelled and started running. Seulgi quickly let go of the kite as soon as Eunae started running, and the kite flew up high in the sky, much to Eunae’s delight. Eunae was giggling the whole time she running, not feeling tired even for a bit. She eventually stopped running when the kite was flying securely up the sky.

 

Seulgi walked calmly towards Eunae, both her hands in her pocket, a habit she always does whenever she walked. She looked at the kite silently, before Eunae offered her to take the string of the kite. The spirit girl looked at Eunae and the latter grinned widely, still offering her the string. Seulgi nodded silently and took the string from Eunae’s hand, careful not to touch the latter, and is now controlling the kite. Eunae kept smiling while looking at the kite. She always smiles whenever she was beside Seulgi.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

‘As the years go by, my appearance changes, but Seulgi is almost the same as the day we met.’

 

It was evening and Eunae had to go back to her uncle’s home much to her dismay. They were walking silently, Eunae was daydreaming while walking. However, as she was walking, Seulgi stopped her steps, making Eunae do the same and turned her head to look at the latter who was behind her. As she saw Seulgi, Eunae was mesmerized. Seulgi was looking up the evening sky, not because of the sunset, but because of a butterfly that landed on the nose of Seulgi’s fox kabuki mask. Eunae looked at Seulgi who has her hand in her pocket (again) and also the butterfly on her mask’s nose. The butterfly wouldn’t budge not until Seulgi fully opened her mask slowly, smiling while still looking up the sky.

 

With one hand holding her mask and the other in her pocket, Seulgi closed her eyes shut, breathing peacefully, still had her head up the sky. Eunae who was looking at all this, held her breath because Seulgi look so beautiful, she looked ethereal with her calm face, appreciating the nature around her. The sunset was making her face even more defined and intricate, and Eunae thought Seulgi had never looked more beautiful than that time. Few butterflies were flying around Seulgi calmly, as if she was an angel to them.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Eunae was fanning herself using the hand fan her uncle gave her, since her uncle lived in the rural place, and he distaste using too much electricity. This few days Eunae’s mind and heart was going haywire every time she remembers or even thought about Seulgi. She didn’t know what’s wrong with her or how to fix her erratic heart every time the image of the spirit girl popped in her mind. Eunae was currently laying down on the floor near the door, while fanning herself mindlessly. ‘Someday I’ll be older than Seulgi, won’t I?” Eunae wondered silently while kept on fanning herself. She stopped moving her hands and stared at the wooden ceiling, which was reflecting the water from the pond outside her uncle’s house. She covered herself using the fan, trying to prevent the tears from rolling down her eyes. Eunae was staying in that position for a long time, until her uncle called out her name.

 

“Oh, Eunae.” Her uncle said as he appeared from outside, behind the main door. “I cut some watermelon. Let’s eat.”

 

“Okay. Yay!” Eunae quickly sat up, facing her back to her uncle, and walked out to where her uncle sat down. “Where’s mom?” Eunae asked as she sat down beside her uncle and took a bite of the watermelon.

 

“Out shopping with your aunt.” Her uncle answered her. “They went to buy gifts for friends in Yokohama. What time are you taking the plane tomorrow?”

 

“I don’t know, but they said I’ll still be here until the afternoon.”

 

“Is that so?” Eunae’s uncle asked and spit few seeds down to the ground, like a child before he giggled after doing so. “This summer’s weather was good, so the watermelons are sweet.” Her uncle smiled but quickly frowned, confusing the girl herself. “If it continues like this, then winter will be freezing.”

 

“Is it like that?” Eunae asked curiously.

 

“It is like that.” Her uncle answered her and continued eating the watermelon. “Since this area’s located between mountains and the ocean’s far away, the temperature difference between summer and winter is huge. The cold of a winter that follows an especially hot summer, could probably freeze the mountain god himself.”

 

Eunae quickly thought of a certain someone in the mountain.

 

“Um, uncle…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Seulgi was holding a thing, a scarf, which was wrapped in wrapping paper neatly. Eunae decided to give Seulgi a scarf for winter.

 

“Please use it in winter, okay?”

 

Seulgi glanced at the scarf and look at Eunae back.

 

“Bye!” Eunae said shortly and quickly scattered her short feet away from there, away from a confused Seulgi.

 

“Okay.” Seulgi answered as she watched Eunae’s back.

 

“See you next year!” Eunae said and waved her hand to Seulgi for the last time before walking away again. Seulgi waved back at Eunae, smiling from behind her mask.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

“Eunae?”

 

Eunae turns her head to look at the source of the voice and finds out that it was Nahyun, her classmate who was calling out her name. Eunae is looking out the window of her classroom this whole time before Nahyun interrupts her little daydreaming session.

 

“Shouldn’t you be heading to your next class soon?” Nahyun asks out of curiosity.

 

“Ah, you’re right!” Eunae says and quickly takes her stuffs to go to her next class. “Everyone left already.”

 

“I’ll see you later.” Nahyun bids Eunae goodbye before walking out of the empty classroom.

 

“Okay! Thanks.”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

It is winter and Eunae is walking to her home with a poker face. It is cold and she couldn’t help but to think of Seulgi’s well doings back in Japan. She arrives home after a few minutes and is watching the News while eating with her parents. Surprisingly she has no mood to eat that day.

 

“Thank you for the food.” Eunae says shortly and quickly stands up, wanting to go to her room as soon as possible.

 

“What? You’re done?” Her mom asks her curiously, since Eunae is the type to eat a lot at home. “Ah, you probably ate before dinner, didn’t you? If you snack, you’ll gain weight.”

 

Frowning, Eunae glares at her mom since she is really not in the mood today. “I didn’t eat anything!” Eunae shouts, startling her mother and even her father. “Jeez. I’m gonna take a bath.” She grumbles and stomps her feet to the bathroom, while her mom looks at her with a worried expression.

 

After finishing her bath, Eunae covers half her face with her thick blanket, and stares at the ceiling again, something she likes to do these few weeks. While staring, she feels sleepy and her eyelids feels heavy, and she finally fell asleep.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

On her way to school, Eunae once again feels unmotivated and having no mood while walking on the walkway.

 

“Good morning.” Nahyun says as soon as she catches up with Eunae, looking at the girl.

 

“Good morning.” Eunae says monotonously.

 

“There, near your feet. It’s frozen.” Nahyun says, warning Eunae.

 

Eunae quickly stops her track and looks down. Indeed, the road is frozen, she could slip easily if it weren’t for Nahyun’s warning.

 

“You’ll slip. It’s dangerous.” Nahyun adds more. Looking at her side, Eunae realized that Nahyun is giving Eunae her hand, so that Eunae could hold onto it and walk safely.

 

“Thank you.” Eunae sighs in relief and hold Nahyun’s hand firmly, and continue walking.

 

“It’s cold today. Haven’t you been a little out of it lately? Actually, you’ve always been that way but…” Nahyun voice trails away as Eunae is no longer listening to her and instead her thought is on someone else.

 

I want to see Seulgi.

 

At the exact same time, in Japan, Seulgi is wearing the scarf that Eunae had given to her. She is sitting on the stairs, where Eunae would usually show up. She opens her mask and looked up, breathing the cold air surrounding her in the forest.

 

I want to, touch Seulgi.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

“Is that your new uniform?” Seulgi asks as she sees Eunae clad in her high school uniform.

 

“Yeah.” Eunae answers while smiling softly.

 

Both of them walk into the forest, doing their daily routine these past few summers.

 

“Time really flies, doesn’t it? You’re already in high school, huh.”

 

“Yup.” Eunae answers shortly, while smiling.

 

Both of them are sitting on the open field, in front of a pond, not saying anything while just enjoying the scenery, enjoying each other’s presence.

 

“You don’t come running at me anymore these days.” Seulgi brakes the silence and looks at Eunae.

 

“I learned my lesson after all those beatings.” Eunae says while pouting remembering about those beating Seulgi used to give her.

 

Both Eunae and Seulgi keep quiet again, enjoying the scenery.

 

“I’m looking forward to it.” Eunae starts to speak again. “In three years, when I graduate, I plan on looking for a job here.” Eunae’s ambition perks Seulgi’s attention up. The grey haired girl looked at Eunae as Eunae continues, “Then I can be with you more.” Eunae says while looking up the sky. “In autumn, winter, spring…. Always. Right?” They looked at each other as Eunae finishes her words.

 

“Eunae.” Seulgi finally break her silence. “Let me tell you about myself.”

 

Eunae’s eyes widen hearing Seulgi’s sudden story about herself. Seulgi hugs her knees as she starts to speak, looking at the pond in front of them.

 

“I’m not a spirit. But, I’m no longer human. It seems like I was once a human, but when I was a baby, I was abandoned in this forest. I’d only just been abandoned, so I cried helplessly, as if to call back the parents who left me. They say I didn’t stop crying for a long time. I should’ve died then, but the mountain god appeared and cast a spell that allowed me to continue living. So that I never move on. I’m like a ghost.” Seulgi is no longer hugging her knees. Instead, she looks at Eunae straight in the eyes, although her mask prevents Eunae from realizing it.

 

“Eunae.” Seulgi mutters silently, as if she’s broken, and this is the first time Eunae had seen this side of Seulgi. “It’s okay if you forget about me.” She stares at Eunae for a little bit more before looking at her left palm with a poker face behind the mask. “A body that’s maintained by magic is very weak.” Seulgi adds, still looking at her palm. “If it touches a real human body, the spell will break and the body will disappear. It’s such a fragile thing. How long can you-“

 

“Something that disappears when touched…” Eunae interrupts Seulgi. The latter looks at Eunae and she was smiling warmly at Seulgi. “It’s just like snow, isn’t it?” Eunae proceeds to look at the ground. “Seulgi, I thought of you during winter. Even during autumn, and spring.” Eunae smiles and look at Seulgi back. “Seulgi, don’t forget about me. Don’t forget.”

 

“Time might separate us some day. But, even still, until then, let’s stay together.”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

“Spirit festival?” Eunae asks curiously at Seulgi. They are currently fishing some fish using traditional fishing rods.

 

“No, a summer festival held by the spirits.”

 

“There’s not much of a difference.” Eunae mutters quietly, but loud enough for Seulgi to hear.

 

“The nuance is completely different!” Seulgi defends herself, still looking into the river for her bait to get eaten.

 

“Nuance?”

 

“When you were little, I thought you might get scared, so I didn’t invite you. But tonight, can you sneak out of your house? I’ve wanted to go with you for a long time.” Seulgi says, resting her cheeks on her left palm while her other hand is holding onto the fishing rod.

 

“I-I want to go!” Eunae says excitedly and immediately forgets about her fishing rod. She clasps both her hands together while grinning.

 

“Meet me at eight at our usual place.” Seulgi says and looks at the latter.

 

“But a festival filled with spirits sounds a little unnerving…” Eunae says, suddenly having second thoughts on going to the festival. “On top of that, it’s at night.”

 

Seulgi who sees Eunae worried expression, opens her mask and assures the latter. “Don’t worry, on the outside, it’s not very different from a human festival. It’s supposed to mimic human festivals, after all. And I’ll protect you, Eunae.” Seulgi proceed on wearing her mask again.

 

“When you say things like that, it makes me want to glomp you.” Eunae says and closes her eyes in excitement, feeling happy over her imagination.

 

“Do it.” Seulgi says, looking into the pond. “Seriously.” 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Seulgi and Eunae arrives at the festival and both of them are wearing kimono. Eunae thought that Seulgi is beautiful when she wears kimono but kept her thought to herself, feeling shy to compliment the latter. Eunae sees spirits everywhere around her, and she isn’t feeling a bit afraid since Seulgi is there beside her, protecting her.

 

“It’s true. It’s just like a human festival.” Eunae looks around, feeling mesmerize at the resemblance of the festival with a normal one. “Are they all disguised by humans?”

 

“That’s right. Impressive, isn’t it?” Seulgi huffs, feeling proud of her kinds’ efforts. “I’ve heard that sometimes even humans unknowingly mix in.”

 

Eunae giggles and wonders out loud, “Like Iwa and her friends, huh?”

 

“Who?” Seulgi asks and Eunae smiles at Seulgi warmly, ignoring her question and proceeds to walk ahead of Seulgi.

 

“Eunae.” Seulgi takes out a long cloth out of her kimono and hand one end to Eunae. “Tie this around your wrist. You’ll get lost.” Eunae nods and quickly ties the cloth to her right wrist, while Seulgi ties the other end on her left wrist.

 

“It’s just like going on a date!” Eunae chirps.

 

“This is a date.” Seulgi mimics Eunae’s tune and giggles to herself. Eunae unknowingly blushes at Seulgi’s mimic and smiles at the girl. “Shall we go?” Seulgi asks.

 

“Yeah,” Eunae answers, still blushing.

 

They are walking slowly around the festival, around the stores that is set up there. Eunae smiles the whole time they are walking, she’s having the time of her life, having a ‘date’ with someone she likes very much.

 

They watch the fireworks, while the other spirits and humans hollers and shouts of excitement while looking at the fireworks. They walk to one of the stores there, a store that sell rotating fans. Eunae blows at one of the fans and it rotates, to which Seulgi copies Eunae’s action. Opening her mask, Seulgi blows on the fan, making it rotate, while Eunae giggles looking at Seulgi’s cute action.

 

Next, they go to a cotton candy shop. Eunae is waiting for her cotton candy to be made patiently. After a few seconds, the cotton candy finally finished being made, Eunae take it excitedly and as she was just about to bite on it, the cotton candy transforms into clouds, floating into the air. Eunae’s face beamed as soon as she sees the cotton candy floating away. Seulgi smiled warmly at Eunae’s cute antics about the cotton candy.

 

After that, they watch traditional Japanese lion dance performed what it seemed to be two humans. As the performers are performing rather diligently, suddenly, their costumes flies away, revealing one of the forest spirit there, half lion half wolf figure. The crowds laughed at the cute mistake, including Eunae and Seulgi. The spirit quickly runs away from the scene, leaving behind its costume and the laughing crowds. As they are laughing, suddenly a group of kids passed in between Seulgi and Eunae, startling the duo. They danced at the middle of the crowd and looked at both of the girls. “Ew, a couple!” The kids tease Eunae and Seulgi.

 

“Hey!” Eunae shouts, feeling embarrassed while the kids laugh and run away from the both of them. After the kids ran away, Eunae laughs at her ridiculous action while Seulgi looks at her silently.

 

They continue to walk again, this time passing a fishing game on their right side. “Look! That kid has a tail!” Eunae says as she points to a boy who is trying hard to catch a fish in the big wooden bucket. Seulgi just nods, and Eunae continue walking ahead few seconds after staring at the boy’s fox tail.

 

They arrive at a kabuki mask store. The store sells lots of kinds of kabuki masks. From a scary one to a cute one to a funny one. Eunae touches each one of the kabuki masks that are display there. As she was touching them, she squatted at the end of the store to touch the last kabuki mask. However, as she was caressing the masks softly, the mask suddenly moves, startling Eunae. She found out that it is not a mask, instead it is a real human being! The owner of the store who is sitting on the chair!

 

“I-I’m sorry!” Eunae immediately apologises and walks away from the store quickly, dragging Seulgi with her.

 

Both of them are now walking in the forest, away from the festival. Eunae prefers to be in a quiet place with Seulgi. “Wow, that was so weird!” Eunae says, still feeling her adrenaline rush from the spirit festival. “Everyone went all out with their disguises, didn’t they? It was like a mimicking competition!”

 

“Is it like this every year?” Eunae asks while walking beside the pond.

 

“Yeah, every time summer comes around…”

 

After a few minutes of walking silently along the pond, Seulgi decides to break the silence. “Eunae,” She mutters. “I can no longer wait for summer to come around. When I’m away from you, even though I can’t be around crowds, I want to go see you.” She says while keep looking forward, avoiding Eunae’s stare. Eunae is really tempted to hold Seulgi’s hand, to see, to feel how soft, how warm her hand is. But she resists and clenches her hand into a fist.

 

Seulgi stops walking, making Eunae copy her too. The grey haired girl took off her mask, and place it onto Eunae’s face. Eunae is confused to why is Seulgi trying to do. After placing the mask onto Eunae’s face, Seulgi leaned close, very close to Eunae’s face and plants a long kiss on Eunae’s (the mask’s) right cheek. Seulgi smiles after doing so and keep walking, letting the mask on Eunae’s face. Eunae could see Seulgi’s beauty from the mask’s eyes especially under the moonlight that makes Seulgi’s grey eyes glow more. The older smiled softly at Eunae. “That mask…” Seulgi keeps smiling. “Have it.”

 

They continue walking silently, the mask still on Eunae’s face.

 

‘Seulgi probably won’t come to that place next summer. This is definitely our last…’

 

As they are walking, suddenly, two kids run past them and one of the kid, a boy almost trips on himself. Acting like a reflex, Seulgi grabs the boy’s hand, preventing the boy from falling down.

 

“Are you okay?” Eunae asks in worry.

 

“Yeah. Thank you!” The boy says and continue chasing his friend into the woods. “Be careful okay?” Eunae smiles and waved at both of the kids before they fade from their sight, into the woods.

 

Eunae looks at Seulgi who is keeping quiet all the time, and realizes that Seulgi’s hand which had touched the boy is glowing, and bits of her fingers evaporates into the thin air, glowing turquoise in colour. Eunae’s eyes are wide looking at Seulgi’s hand.

 

“S-Seulgi?” Eunae asks in fear while keep staring at her lover. “W-was that boy a human?” She asks more, trembling at every words she mutters.

 

“I didn’t know… I didn’t know that he is a human.” Seulgi mutters and looks at Eunae straight in the eyes. Her whole body is glowing right now, as if she’s going to vanish any seconds from now.

 

Eunae’s eyes are teary. She couldn’t believe that this will be the last time she will ever meet Seulgi again. “Seulgi!”

 

Seulgi smiles softly, the corner of her eyes are teary too. “Come here, Eunae! I can finally touch you.” She says and spread her arm wide to catch Eunae’s hug. Every bit of both her hands are disappearing in the sky, and Eunae has never feel as broken as that time.

 

Opening her mask, Eunae run towards Seulgi as hard as she can and engulfs Seulgi into a very tight hug, burying her face into Seulgi’s neck. ‘She’s as warm and as soft as I thought her to be.’ Eunae thought sadly while hugging Seulgi tightly, crying her eyes out while smiling sadly. Seulgi hugs Eunae as hard as she could, even though she feels herself vanishing away from Eunae. Her whole body is glowing the longer Eunae hold onto her, and finally Seulgi vanishes completely, making Eunae fall onto the ground, hugging Seulgi’s cold grey kimono. Eunae keep hugging onto Seulgi’s kimono, though she knows too well that Seulgi is no longer beside her, forever. She was crying her eyes out into Seulgi’s kimono, not wanting to let go of the clothing. The turquoise particles surround her for a while before vanishing into the thin air, the last presence of Seulgi ever.

 

I love you.

 

“I love you, too.”

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Grabbing Seulgi’s fox kabuki mask, Eunae walked alone in the forest, for the first time ever, without Seulgi beside her, guiding her way back to her uncle’s village. Eunae looked at the mask with a poker face, before hugging the mask close to her heart.

 

‘Deep green. This is the mountain gods’ forest.’

 

“Eunae, thank you. We wanted to be with Seulgi forever, but… Seulgi wanted to touch a human.” The forest spirits say to Eunae, expressing their gratitude to the girl. “She finally got to be hugged by a human.”

 

‘I probably won’t be able to look forward to summer for a very long time. My chest will hurt. My tears will be overflowing. But this warmth in my hands and these summer memories will live on in my heart.’

 

‘So, let’s go. Let us go.'

 

 

 

End.

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: okay did you guys found out what anime is this fic based on? hahahhahaha lmao pls dont kill me. I promise to give u fluff next time huehuehuehuehue.

Pls upvote if you like this story and dont forget to comment your thought even a smiple one ^^ 

i love you guys! BYE!