Chapter 1:

Chapter 1. Masked fool

Shadow of the Crimson Moon

I can't go to school. I can't sleep, can't eat.

My mother just got...bloomed? Whatever was that.

What do I do? Should I call the police and tell them "Hey, a shadow came in and a bunch of roses came out of her"? You can do better than that, Ai.

Wait...Houraiji, that's it!

I put my uniform and go directly to newspaper club.

The school was busy, as always. As I walked down the hallway, people just walk away from me.

I knock at the door of newspaper club and slide the door open.

"Hey, I-"

There is no one in the room.

Well, maybe she's busy. I don't know. I'll wait for her here.

I sit down at a nearby chair and fiddle with the brush. The images come to my mind. The flower scene, Houraiji telling me I should love myself or whatever...

"...exactly what do you know, Hikari?"

The door slides open again, it's Katsuya Nozomi.

"'sup prez!"

She hugs me from behind.

"...h-huh?! what are you doing?!"

I push her off me

"Well, someone's grumpy today"

"Touch me again and I kill you, I swear"

"Wow, chill, Hikari, I was just-"

Hikari? Why is she calling me that? Im different. Houraiji Hikari is taller than I, has silky, straight hair, and she always acts with style and grace. I am... well... A mess. Greasy uneven short hair with the occasional roach tangled, goblin size and attitude. Now that I think about it, Katsuya is like Houraiji's best friend. It's impossible she confused me with her.

I turn around; my eyes catch a reflection on the window.

Hikari Houraiji is there. Sitting exactly where I am. Looking back.

I look at my hands, my uniform. Everything looks the same for me.

I'll test something out. I cover my mouth in a cute way and arrange my non-existent hair.

"My apologies, Nozomi. I am practicing being more intimidating for an acting assessment. I guess it must be funny for you to see me in such a way"

I accompany it with a cherry on top: a stupid cute giggle.

She's relieved.

"Thank god, i just thought you were going mad or something. Oh, you sure look intimidating, prez!'

"Thanks, Nozomi. Now, if you excuse me, I must go to the bathroom"

"Sure, I'll be here"

I stand up and slowly walk thought the door. Passing through the same crowd, everyone smiles and waves. I wave back.

I enter the bathroom, my whole expression changes.

"No, no, no, nope, no"

I look at myself in the mirror. Now it's beyond a doubt. I have become Hikari Houraiji.

"So you noticed, huh?"

I jump to the side, the real, actual Houraiji is standing beside me.

"H-How did you?"

"I'll explain. In the meantime, you don't have that brush with you, I figure."
"No, I left it on my bag at the club"

"...I'll go fetch it, stay right here."

She starts walking to the door

"And Hibana..."

"Y-yeah?"

"If I don't come back in exactly 5 minutes, don't look for me, instead, look for Hoshino"

"Hoshino?! but how will I-"

"Also, if anyone stumbles on your way, you're my twin sister. Uhm....Let's call you Himari. Himari Houraiji"

"What are you babbling about?!"

She didn't even let me finish and left. I lean on the washlet and stare at myself.

This is...not that bad. It's nice to look at the mirror and see a pretty, clean version of myself. Yet looking at my hands and touching my hair gets me back to reality.

I stare long into my eyes, or rather, Houraiji's eyes. Her hair. Her face. The little birth mark on her neck. I smile, frown, giggle.

This...is not bad.

I step out of the bathroom and walk towards theater club. There is a lot of stuff I want to try as Hikari. Walking down the hallway, people actually greet me. "Hi!", "Good job today!", "What a lovely evening, isn't it?".

I arrange my invisible long hair, walking down the hallway like nobody knew who I was. Like I wasn't Ai anymore, not even in mind.

This is awesome! Maybe I could take a walk around some temples and snap some pictures with one of her cameras! Or maybe I could stay like her forever and live a totally new life!

First of all, acting. I go inside theater club, get into a nice wardrobe and reherse in front of a mirror.

"Oh, Romeo, where a-"

A guy from another class is inside of the room. I was so excited I didn't notice. I turn around and back away from him slowly.

"The princess of Sakurayama at theater club, of all places. Who would've thought you'd die in such a place?"

"Die? what are you...?"

He holds a knife and lunges towards me.

I grab him and throw him to the ground, the knife flies away and lands underneath a chair.

He stands up

"Not this time"

He points at me with a TV remote controller and presses a button. A sudden chill runs through my body. I can't move at all.

He walks towards the knife and grabs it, then walks towards me.

"I've got to say, this was way easier than what I thought"

"I agree with you, pal. That was super easy, ya feel?"

Katsuya just appears out of nowhere and grabs the guy on the shoulder. He turns around and tries to use his remote.

It's gone now.

"W-how did you...?"

"Looking for this?"

Hoshino holds the remote controller on her hand.

"You-!"

The guy releases himself from Katsuya's grip and runs towards her.

Then, music starts playing.

Old idol music.

He stands in place and wobbles around, like being pushed on different directions. I try to look at what he's seeing, but I'm still locked in place. The only thing I notice is that there is another person there, and it seems to be moving around. Like...dancing?

Hoshino takes out a book and bonks him in the head, incredibly soft, almost lazy. The guy stops moving.

"Okay, so now, you're not in love with Hikari Houraiji, as a matter of fact, you find her quite ugly. Instead, you find more value in loneliness and acceptance of one's self, so your philosophy will be looking for academic excellence and make your family proud"

The guy just stands still. Hoshino looks at me and points the controller at him. He looks frozen in place. Then she points it at me, I drop to the floor.

"Wh-what is-What....what is...!"

She grabs the book; she is about to bonk me.

Houraiji grabs her by the arm.

"Houraiji, let go or there will be consequences"

"Listen to me, Hoshino, she is worth it"

"Worth it?"

She turns and sees her

"Worth of what? She's just another bully, I actually waited a long time to do this so let me-"

"I won't allow it. You touch her with the book and I'm out"

"You what?"

She puts the book down

"You heard me"

Hoshino is steaming mad. She calms down and looks at me.

"You're ok...for now"

"Yeah, I guess we need to explain, right?"

"Im...sorry, about everything. My mother... uh... died last night. I don't know how to explain it. But she just burst into petal-"

Hoshino gets close, her look is way more serious now. Something i've never seen in her.

"She burst into petals, and you saw a shadow inside her?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"A level 4, I believe. I heard about it before. A knife of some sort."

Houraiji nods.

"So the good news is that, whatever that was, it wasn't your mother"

I look at her.

"...is that supposed to make me feel better? Because I'm not. If that wasn't my mom, then where is she?"

Hoshino closes her eyes, avoiding my gaze.

"I don't know. Somewhere else, I guess. We'll check on it."

"She also found this"

She hands me the brush. Hoshino opens her eyes and looks straight at the glowing brush.

"...interesting. I asume you have no clue on what this does, or do you, Hibana?"

"What do you mean by know what it does?"

Hoshino grabs my hand and puts it on the bristles of the brush.

"Think of you. Of your identity"

I close my eyes, and picture everything.

"Now open your eyes"

I open them up, Houraiji has a mirror pointed right at me.

"I'm...back to normal?"

Hoshino stands up and starts walking around.

"Okay. In fantasy media, normally we have this thing called mana. Mana comes from the earth and there are individuals who can harness that energy, right?"

She adjusts her glasses, she expects an answer, but I'm too shocked to reply.

"Well, here it comes from above. The moon, specifically. And you don’t harness it. It just goes wherever it wants to, like-"

"Like a make up brush?"

"Exactly"

She grabs the controller.

"These are called 'forbidden items'. They can be simple things as a fridge magnet that can hold as twice as a regular one, or-"

She points at another girl in the room, the one that was dancing, that's goofing around. Pressing the pause button makes the girl stop.

"Literally freeze a person"

"Okay so...why are you telling me all of this?"

She un-pauses the girl and she keeps goofing around

"Because Hibana, apparently you're 'worth it'"

She looks at Houraiji. I look at her as well. She sighs.