Sunset

"…is someone following me?"

The stranger, who could have been mistaken for Yuki-onna if it weren't for the time of year, suddenly looked back. she’d a serious expression, even fierce, but still retaining an elegant beauty.

Her changing facial features — sometimes sharp and stern, sometimes round and gentle — confused the guys, making it impossible to determine whether she was a hero or a villain. Her long fringe of white hair fluttered in the wind, hiding and then revealing her bright yellow eyes, glowing in the evening shade of the trees.

The image of some mythical beast was complemented by pointed tufts of hair on the sides of the top of the head, which looked a bit like horns or cat ears.

"She noticed us!"

"Quiet! This is impossible."

It seemed the stranger simply decided that they were unworthy of her attention and continued her way along the hilly path. Even though the cloaks regulated the outside noise, the singing of the cicadas seemed deafening.

Sometimes the noise was diluted by small waterfalls that they passed by and. However, amidst this monotonous singing, the couple clearly heard the clicking of okobo - Japanese sandals with a high platform - which the stranger was wearing as she stepped on the stone tiles.

Half an hour later, she reached the entrance torii with a sign on top that read "Tsukiyama Family Cemetery." The stranger froze in front of the entrance, as if she was waiting for something.

"What is she doing?"

“I can’t make it out… My thoughts are too chaotic… she’s remembering something.”

"She twitches her nose and ears like a cat!"

Miku was amazed by the zoom, one of the functions of the cloak.

"Oh, I feel a bit seasick…"

"Nobody asked you to repeat it!"

"Wait, do you hear?" Keshita asked suddenly.

"What? "

"That's right! The cicadas have stopped singing."

“That’s true, but it’s not completely dark yet and the heat hasn’t completely subsided…”

"I can't break through her barrier… This is the first time. Not counting self-control in front of you."

Keshita focused on the stranger, trying to understand what she was thinking. And then, slowly, in fragments, as if in a trance, he began to speak.

"…a wedding… I hear music: shamisen lutes, koto zithers and fue flutes…a girl who looks like a stranger in a white shiro-maku kimono and a guy in a black hakama. They’re undergoing the harae purification ritual, but…it's strange, as if it were a more distant past, but she hasn't changed much."

"You’ve such a broad musical knowledge?"

"No, these concepts were in her head."

"Wait. What do you mean she hasn't changed? Was this just recently?"

"It's a Shinto wedding, which traditionally looks pretty much the same these days. But it feels like it was a long time ago… The girl's name is Ami, and her future husband is Yomi!"

Yomi's medium-length black hair covered his ears, although it didn't stop him from listening to Ami's heartbeat, and his long bangs didn't prevent them from casually meeting glances. The girl's sunny yellow eyes and the boy's eyes, which were the opposite color - like the front and back of the moon. One of which looked rather burnt out or blind. At the same time, Yomi had a kind and calm expression on his face. However, it also created the feeling that there was something mysterious hidden behind it.

“…they swear to love each other until death… Yomi leans towards her daughter-in-law and whispers to her that she’ll love her even after death…”

"How romantic…"

"No!"

Pain distorted Keshita's face.

"Yomi… after the wedding, he took Ami to a small shrine in the Izumo mountains, which I wanted to dedicate to Izanagi, but on the way back…"

"Come on, continue!"

"…he was killed by a swarm of maddened cicadas."

"Wha-a-at!? I thought they were harmless… although they can bite, but this…"

"Yomi was cremated and buried here. Ami was the last one to mourn him right in the rain… It can't be! H-how is that possible!?"

"What now?"

"The rain has turned back!"

" What do you mean? «Poured» upwards?"

" Yes, moisture rose even from underground. Their family believed that the cursed rain took their souls after death. Ami didn't want to put up with this and covered Yomi's grave with an umbrella. The puddle that had accumulated underneath lifted her into the air and…"

Keshita shared, looking somewhere into the distance, and after a pause, he suddenly screamed.

"Aaah! Lightning! Lightning struck her, and she fell to the ground from a great height! After that, everything was like a fog… "

"Your story sounds more like the ravings of a madman than usual! I’m becoming more and more convinced that we’re participating in some kind of hallucinogenic experiment, and not…"

The stranger suddenly moved and finally decided to pass through the torii. At that moment, she dissolved into the haze, leaving only her silhouette visible.

"Let's go! "

"Wait." Keshita stopped her. " Something's wrong… look, Ami turned around abruptly!"

The silhouette of a girl hid from something behind an umbrella, around which black smoke concentrated, and then dissipated, being reflected.

"I can't make out anything that's going on there."

There was a thick haze around the top of the mountain, but near Ami the fog thickened in a special way, as if it was dancing around her or, on the contrary, she was fighting with it. Suddenly the couple felt some kind of stench coming from that direction, even the cloak couldn’t hide it completely.

"What disgusting! " Miku covered her nose and mouth and muttered. " Can you read her mind? "

"No." Keshita also plugged his nose. "The blocking ability has increased… I can only «see» fragments."

"She raised her hand in our direction and twirled her umbrella strangely. What does that mean?"

“…oh, sacred goddess Amaterasu, grant me then the sunlight…”

"Does she pray?"

Miku wondered if Ami was holding a prayer service or a ritual dance… But all her thoughts were dissolved by a sudden flash of light. A huge radiant stream formed between the setting sun and the torii. Due to the speed of propagation, it was impossible to determine in which direction the light was moving: from or towards the sun?

"What the hell is this!?" Miku couldn't hold back any longer.

"I-I-It's impossible…" Keshita bumbled with his eyes wide open. “She created this light!?”

"W-wait, this isn't real, right? Professor, did you see this?" She asked Miku over a non-existent earpiece. “Did you also give me the drug without my knowledge?”

“We got rid of the connection… but it wouldn’t have helped here anyway, this flow creates powerful electromagnetic interference.”

"Sorry, I don't understand what's real anymore. The light has faded, she's leaving!"

The pair continued through the torii and felt that the atmosphere here was indeed gloomy: significantly increased humidity from the fog and a strange pressure, as well as a foul smell. They examined the "battlefield" and found many dead plants, infected with some kind of black liquid. But most of the area was burned by that light.

"That light was real. How is that possible?" Miku was confused.

"Even the most powerful lasers can't do that… but I've never seen an invisibility cloak before either. Apparently, some technologies are better hidden…"

"Do you think she shot something? An umbrella? How much energy does that require and where do you get it from?"

The questions were growing. The pair had to continue following Ami. But the closer they got to the top, the thicker the haze became. They’d to shorten the distance to keep up. But Ami didn't seem to notice, distracted by something else. She kept spinning and running, as if she was looking for someone or something.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Thoughts are confused…"

"Yours or hers?"

"Her, of course."

Keshita responded by turning towards Miku. But instead, he saw someone completely different, but at the same time familiar. The cloaks allowed them to see each other, but Keshita's mind became clouded, and he again saw the Black Rabbit.

"Is it because of the cloak? But I've seen her before…" Tamiya thought to himself.

"She's leaving, let's hurry!" Said Miku or Black Rabbit.

"W-wait for me!" Keshita ran after her, who was hiding in the fog. "Wait! Wait! Where is she running to?"

Keshita continued to run after the silhouette dissolving into the haze until he finally lost it.

"Damn it! Miku, where are you!? Not again…" Keshita was worried.

"I'm here, what's wrong with you?" A voice came from behind.

"How good." Keshita turned back happily. “Huh? W-Who are you?”

In front of him stood a girl with short white hair hidden under a black hood with rabbit ears.

"Have you forgotten? You're strange. You called me Black Rabbit." The stranger answered. "We need to run quickly. "You can't stop in the suicide forest!"

Twilight.