They are rushing to Mina’s side when a shout halts them

“STOP”

“What? But Baba, she’s…”

“Don’t touch her just yet, let me see.”

Confused and worried, but Momo still holds back. She knows her grandma has reason.

Grandma Hirai crouches down, hovers her staff above the girl and starts chanting words they don’t understand. Nothing happens.

Momo doesn’t know the meaning, but she knows that is the old language, the one her grandma uses when performing rituals. What is even happening?

Meanwhile, Sana struggles in her arms, too anxious and worried about the girl. Mina is her best friend for god’s sake! What are the Hirais even doing? What are the words coming from grandma Hirai’s mouth, and why Momo is holding her back? They should tend for Mina. They must call the ambulance. They should get help!

The chanting stops after a while without any reaction from the smallest girl. The old lady reaches out and puts a finger to check for the girl’s pulse.

“Is she…”

Momo asks. Her voice cracks, fearing for the worst.

“She’s alive. You can touch her now.”

Only need to hear that, Sana wrestles out of Momo’s hold immediately and rushes to Mina’s side, shaking the girl vigorously.

“Mina! Wake up, Mina! What happened to you? Please wake up!”

Tears are streaming down the pretty face. Momo is crying too. She doesn’t know what happened to Mina, but there’s a horrible feeling bubbling in her stomach. She heard some stories and noticed how her family is always so cautious about this shrine.

“We have to get her to hospital! She needs to be treated.”

Sana says hurriedly, with a broken voice. She doesn’t know why the Hirai acts this way. They should bring Mina to the hospital right away! What are they even waiting for?

“What happened to her, baba?”

Her grandma, who is examining the broken statue closely, turns around but avoids her gaze. Momo feels her stomach sinking at this sight. Her grandma rarely acts this way.

“I’ll explain later. Now we must get help. Mr. Kimura, help us take her to our infirmary.”

“Infirmary? Why not hospital?”

Sana rarely raises her voice, but this is getting out of hand. It breaks her heart to see Mina like this, now Momo and Oba-chan are acting weird too? They are hiding something. Maybe they don’t want to bring Mina to hospital because of that. They don’t want others to find out.

“If you don’t want to, I’ll take her there myself.”

She says with an icy tone. It is decided. She will bring Mina to get help no matter what.

“No, it’s not that…”

Momo tries to stop her girlfriend. She wants to explain to Sana it’s not what she’s thinking. But then Momo realizes she doesn’t really understand any of this. She’s panicking. Her friend is lying unconsciously on the floor, her girlfriend is mad at her, and her grandma doesn’t make it clearer at all.

“The doctor can’t help her. Not with this. She needs to be treated, but not in this world.”

Grandma Hirai says pointedly, with such authority and composure that leaves no room for argument. Momo manages to lead Sana, too shocked and confused by the older’s words, away from Mina and let Mr. Kimura carries the youngest back.

The family doctor is summoned, but like Grandma Hirai said, he doesn’t know what happened to the girl. Sana never leaves Mina’s side. She changes to casual clothes, brought by Momo, right beside Mina’s bed, only a curtain away. Grandma Hirai is now going somewhere, making phone call, to find “connection to the other world.”

Sana doesn’t understand a thing, and Momo says she doesn’t, either. The girl is by her side all the time, only leaves for a short time to bring them clothes. They panic when Mina’s hand begins to turn black. It starts from the tip of her finger and spreads slowly to her hand and arm. Sana, in her distress state, almost jumps at the doctor to demand he do something about it. The poor man looks visibly shaken, saying he’s never seen anything like this in his 30 years of practicing. He suggests getting a blood sample to analyze. The weird thing is, the needle cannot get through the darkened skin, as if it has turned into statue. There’s no warm at all.

Momo is struggling to hold Sana from chewing the doctor’s head off when Grandma Hirai suddenly appears at the entrance, phone still in her hand, asks loudly

“Do you know anyone named Son Chaeyoung?”

“That… That’s Mina’s housemate.”

They stammer, no clue how Chaeyoung is here right at this moment.

“Lead her here.”

Grandma Hirai says to the phone and hangs up. She looks worried and worn out, a few strands of hair have fell out of the bun.

“She shows up at our door and demands to see Mina. It takes a whole team of guards to stop her.”

She adds when seeing the puzzled faces of the two girls, which doesn’t really make anything clearer. What the hell is Chaeyoung doing here? Why at this moment?

As if hearing their questions, Chaeyoung shows up at the door and rushes to Mina’s side, not sparing a glance to acknowledge anyone here. She looks disheveled, panting hard, as if she has run across the city here. She shakes, calls the girl, but to no avail, Mina remains still.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. We found her lying on the floor of our shrine.”

Momo mumbles.

“I didn’t know Mina has a companion.”

Sana can see Chaeyoung froze on her spot. Companion? Like… in life, or work? What does this even mean? She can only watch the said girl turn slowly to face the oldest, hand still holding Mina’s.

“Who are you? And how do you know?”

“I’m Momo’s grandmother. I can see it. I’ll explain the details later. But Mina needs to be treated right now. Do you know any good healer, or perhaps, a witch?”

The young girl looks skeptically at the older, weighing the options. She takes a look at Mina before nodding her head.

“We have to get to the woods.”

***

Car can only bring them the edge of the woods; they must walk from then on. Mr. Kimura offers to carry Mina but Chaeyoung lets out a low grumble and quickly takes the girl on her back. She might look small, but she is definitely strong. Even with Mina on her back, Chaeyoung is fast, leading them through the uneven ground of the woods. Sana makes a mental note to thank Momo later for bringing her clothes to change. She can’t imagine running in Kimono and Geta[1] on this ground.

After around fifteen minutes passing through the woods, following Chaeyoung out of the trait, they encounter a magnificent ancient ginkgo tree. Its branches fan out wide, separating from each other like the petals of a blossom. The tree stretches skyward in a lace of silent bark. If one looks closely enough, they can see there’s a faint glow, the sort that inspires the mind of imagination, opening doors to fantastical kingdoms. There is a fragrance here, a distinctive aroma of leaf and soil.

“Hold a leaf in your hand and follow me.”

Chaeyoung mumbles something to the tree and the branch above them shakes slightly, although there is no wind and the other parts stand still. Exactly six leaves fall down, so near that they need just hold out their hand to catch it. They quickly follow the youngest as she leads them go around the tree in a strange pattern.

Sana stumbles when her foot trip on one of the lumpy roots, almost falls down if not for Momo’s arm hold her back. She looks up to thank the older only to let out a gasp when noticing the scenery around has changed. Now they’re standing on the edge of what seems like a beautiful traditional Japanese village. Ginkgo tree still stands tall behind them, pleased with itself for leading them to this beautiful magical world.

They don’t have time to appreciate its beauty as Chaeyoung is quick to move. They all set on the way again, passing through the village. Most of houses here are made of wood, scattered around. They stop in front of a wooden gate, leading to a well-attended garden and a traditional house. With Chaeyoung’s nod of approval, Sana pushes the gate open for all to get inside and head to the house.

“Chaeyoung! We’re waiting for you—Wait, who are they? What is happening?”

A girl, with cute round face and big bright eyes, opens the door before they can. Her smile turns to frown when seeing Chaeyoung and a bunch of strangers. Chaeyoung doesn’t say anything, too tired at this point, only proceed to go in, with the baffled owner and others follow suit behind.

“Get Jeongyeon and Nayeon here! NOW!”

Chaeyoung’s shout is directed to the two new girls, one bright blond hair and one with dark brown hair, who just appeared alongside Jihyo. Not knowing what is happening, but depends on how Chaeyoung acts, Jihyo knows this is serious. So she turns around to face the two girls, who are too shocked to react.

“You two go get Jeongyeon and Nayeon, quick. I’ll take care of things here.”

It might be all the running has made Sana too diz