The bus slowed, then let out a creak and hiss as it came to a stop. The lamps outside revealed their stop waiting for them outside.

             "Up, up, up," Heejin patted their shoulders as she made her way to the doors. Everyone followed suit, slinging their bags over their shoulders. Hyunjin bent down to pick up some wrappers left on the floor. ViVi and Haseul were already making their way back ahead of the rest.

             Lip walked over to Hyunjin, her figure only growing in size as she got closer.

             "How'd you find out about this other world? Have you," she lowered her voice, "been there, before? We plan on going there, right?"

             "Well, you know I've been here for a while, right? In the beginning, it was Heejin and me, and for a while it seemed like that's all there was to it. She wasn't alone, I wasn't alone - we had each other. None of this "saving people" was a part of it until we found our house and discovered we'd already been there. I got freaked out, started questioning what was real and what wasn't. Whether Heejin was who she presented herself to be, whether I had brought this upon us somehow... and it was a lot to deal with." She picked up a cigarette and tossed it in another waste bin. "When Haseul came, spirits lifted. Something about her made it look like we were coming together now, for something bigger. More important, we also started noticing how different and 'magical' things appeared, if you'll allow me to use that word. As you know, eating it takes you someplace. When I found out about it, I had been sitting in my room, putting away my clothes."

             She sighed, watching her feet pass each other one after the other. "When I say this, I swear I have no explanation for it. ViVi is going on about theories, but again, it's too early to say anything for certain. I was putting away my clothes, and I had looked up to see how I looked in the mirror. This was before we had taken them down, I had mine above my dresser. Anyway, my reflection was just watching me. Not following my movements, but sitting on her bed while I had been up with my clothes. If she talked, I would have screamed and dashed out, but it never came to that. She pulled out this can and… passed it through the frame onto my side. I took it, gave it a look, but it was just cherries, which makes no sense either. I looked up and my reflection never went out of the ordinary again. From then on, I've been trying to open up the mirror from our side - I can have it open for about a minute, but it drains me."

             "And at some point, you ate one? One of the cherries?"

             "Yeah, and that was incredible, but now you've felt what that must have been like. Takes you back and forth. I didn't bother looking for whoever that was, I needed to be back with Heejin. From then on, though, we've had that as another tool in case of emergencies. Look, the point is this: the more that happens, the more we strain to unlock the secrets that hide from us. Can you see how twisted this becomes if we don't keep track of all that's happened so far? To connect all the ends, we've been chasing for answers. Maybe not 'why,' we may never know, but perhaps 'who'... who am I to have been given this secret, this power, this growing need for connection? Who are you, or who are you destined to become? What needs to happen in order that you get there?"

             Much of what Hyunjin said poked at Lip's curiosity, a need to ask many questions bubbling up inside the more they talked. The facade of their house only carried that much more weight now as they passed through its frame, a protective shield against the outside world. Walking in, the lights set a shine around the room, illuminating the girls in conversation. Something caught Lip's eye to her right, so she looked over. At the top of the stairs, ViVi sat with a cup of water, motioning for her to hurry on up. Lip made her way to the kitchen and grabbed some grapes before heading upstairs.

             "Come on, bread genie!" ViVi called out before dashing to her room.

             Hyunjin jumped in her seat, "Huh? What?"

             "Okay, so here's the deal," ViVi called out from her room, deep in her suitcase, "if we can see the other side, you and I go in. It'll be ten or twenty minutes, at the most. I'll bring my phone so that we don't get lost. If we find anyone, explain everything that's been happening and then show them the way out with us."

             "You and me, or you and Hyunjin?" Lip asked.

             "You, obviously. Hyunjin makes sure we make it out," ViVi explained.

             Lip knocked on the bathroom door, then went in. Flicking on the light, she washed off the grapes with the sink water. Giving them a good rub, she wiggled them from above, sprinkling droplets onto her shirt. The faint blue tint of the transparent shower panels shone in the reflection, the toilet next to it. The door swung open and ViVi's head poked through.

             "I'm bringing a jacket, do you want yours?" She pulled against the fabric towards her face.

             "Sure. How much of it is the same, do you think? Is it night there when it's night here?"

             "... I'm not actually sure. I feel like it should, though." ViVi came back with Lip's jacket, handing it to her. As Lip slid her arms into it, ViVi took her place in front of the sink, casting Lip farther back into the room. "Hyunjin," ViVi called out, "are you up yet?"

             From their room across the door, her head popped out. "I sure am. You'll have ten minutes, then I'm opening it up for you to come back."

             Lip spoke up. "But how come it doesn't stay open or closed? Why does it go on and off?"

             "Where we are is like a strip of paper," Heejin came in from the starway, "and its ends connect to form a loop. Whenever we're on one side, this other place is on the flip-side. As we travel along its edge, at some points in time we're closer to the other side." She made an "O" with one hand and her index finger on the other circling the rim. "That's when it's easier to bridge the gap, when the other side is closest… exuding its presence to our side, and vice versa. Well, right now my hand is just a normal circle, but pretend it's an oval, where the long sides are closer together."

             "So, what is it," Lip said aloud, "twice a day? Does it take a day for us to end up where we started?"

             "Up to now, that's what it's been looking like. Be careful. We'll be here if anything happens. If an emergency breaks out, call us."

             "Guys, stand back from the door and have it open," ViVi stated, still dead-set on watching her reflection. The rest shuffled out of the way, leaving her and Lip in the room. Lip took a few breaths, then looked at ViVi.

             "Is it supposed-"

             "Look," she cut in, her voice squeezed out in a whisper. Looking forward, the light outside her door glowed from the yellowing light in the hallway. In the reflection, though, the frame was illuminated with a bright light. ViVi reached over to the switch and flicked it off. While their room fell into darkness, the reflection stayed exposed, to the point of casting a faint light on their own faces. In the midst of the deepening night, sunlight filled the air across the plane.

             "Hyunjin, can you pass the jar?" Her face pointed towards her room, yet her eyes were locked on the mirror. Hyunjin, lying across the bed, got up and handed her one made of glass, tall and narrow. About 10 or so cherries stacked upon each other filled it up, a metal cap on top. Twisting it open, she yanked two out, handing one to Lip. After sealing it shut, she slid it into her jacket pocket, zipping it shut afterwards.

             "Ready?"

             "Yeah, let's go."

             ViVi pinched the stem off, flicking it on the floor, then popped it into . "Watch for seeds," she made out before a gust of wind shook itself around then. Startled, Lip took a bite of hers then grabbed onto ViVi's wrist. Again, darkness began to cloud around them until they shot off into nothing. Their sight collapsed to a single point before vanishing completely.

             A low rumble shook them as they flew through a void, the deafening wind tossing their hair in six different directions. Ahead, it opened to a field, growing larger, brighter, softer, warmer until the wind slowed. The darkness launched them through the opening onto the ground. They crashed onto their stomachs, the dirt rough against the arms. Trees surrounded them about half a kilometer away, a group of birds shaking branches as they left for the sky.

             The breeze filled their lungs.