(Partial) Explanation

Naoya followed Bai Rong back into her examination room. The space was still giving him whiplash, with its combination of old and new. This time, he wasn’t asked to sit on the table. Instead, Bai Rong took them to the back of the room, around a shelf and Naoya was surprised to see a whole other room there, accessed through another door. It was clearly a living space, with a kitchen and a sitting arrangement—another combination of modern appliances and historical furniture. Bai Rong waved for them to take a seat at the low table, while she fetched something from the kitchen space. Naoya still felt faint, and was grateful when Aki helped him sit down on the cushion.

“Sorry. I’m not the most active person, but I’m usually not that… helpless,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault.”

“Mhm.”

“Tea?” Bai Rong asked and they nodded.

Sipping the floral tea, Naoya felt his muscles relax. He wondered if there was something in the tea, or if it was just the painkillers kicking in.

“So, Naoya-kun, tell me. What do you know about ghosts?” Bai Rong asked.

“What everyone knows about them, I guess. Also that they’re not real.”

“So that thing which tried to pick out your eye yesterday, that was not real?” Aki asked.

“That was a ghost?” Naoya blurted out.

“Yes. The purple world you saw yesterday, and likely also through your right eye, is called the Deadrealm,” Bai Rong explained and poured herself another cup of tea. “It’s a place directly parallel to our world, but separated by a barrier maintained by naturally occurring energy. It’s especially potent in places you call power spots, but generally all throughout the world. Ghosts linger in the Deadrealm if they have unresolved issues, until they’re ready to move on to the afterlife.”

“That… seems fantastical,” Naoya mumbled.

“More fantastical than anything else that happened to you?” Bai Rong asked. “You’ll do better if you just accept everything I say as fact for now. I’ve seen your work. It’s mostly naturalistic drawings, but your sketches can be pretty fantastical.”

“You’ve seen my work? How?”

“Ruri can find anything she wants. Getting records from your school isn’t hard. Besides, you’ve posted a lot on your social media accounts,” Aki replied.

Naoya groaned. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone through my socials…”

Aki grinned. “It was enlightening.”

Naoya put his face in both hands.

“Focus, Naoya-kun,” Bai Rong continued. “This barrier can weaken and rupture. Then the ghosts have access to the real world, drawn to it to fulfill their desires. To prevent this, we draw energy from places that have it in abundance and fix the ones that were robbed of it. It’s not a perfect system. Even some places of energy abundance are wearing thin and we need to wander further than ever before. But you… Your eye. It just steals energy, not even to be reused. It’s a curse. You will have to visit abundant energy places to feed the curse. The energy might be lost, but your life will be extended until I figure out how to uncurse you.”

Naoya blinked into the room.

“Still with us?” Bai Rong asked.

“... yes. I think I’m going to just do what you tell me to until this,” Naoya said and pointed at his eye. “Is gone. I don’t want to know anything else. Ghosts, barriers…”

“You’re right. It doesn’t really matter to you. I’ll explain the procedure to Aki. He will accompany you to siphon the energy every day,” Bai Rong said. “In fact you should leave right now. You’re wasting away.”

Naoya coughed. He was feeling pretty beat up. His limbs hurt more and more, despite the painkillers and his muscles were aching.

“There are some teams out in Hokkaido to replenish our reserves. We’ll port to them to snatch a little snack for that cursed eye of yours,” Aki said. “Though the teleport doesn’t work inside HQ for security reasons. We’ll go upstairs again. Good thing it’s night. There shouldn’t be anyone around. I don’t think I’d want to go through the Deadrealm with you right now.”

“Just don’t tie me up again,” Naoya said weakly.

“You can tie me up,” Bai Rong offered helpfully.

Aki sighed. “For the hundredth time: I’m not interested in you.”

“In me, or in women?”

“Does it matter? Take your pick. Come on, Naoya.”

Aki pulled at Naoya’s hand, but the sudden movement made him feel dizzy and he fell over—right into Aki’s arms. His vision was swimming, and with only one eye his balance wasn’t particularly good to begin with.

“Fuck, sorry,” Naoya mumbled.

“I should apologise. Let me. You’re as light as a feather anyway.”

“Ha!” Bai Rong shouted when Aki pulled Naoya up into another princess-carry. “I knew it!”

Naoya instinctively blushed. Aki sighed once more.

“I could just leave him to die on you in here. See what you do with the curse once it’s set free. Is that what you want?”

Bai Rong huffed and waved them away. Naoya tried not to look at Aki as they walked, but he couldn’t help it. He’d always been interested in both men and women, and when he thought about it, Aki was both of them in one. He was handsome in a… severe sort of way. The perpetual frown, sharp angles of his face. Not exactly Naoya’s type, if he compared him to the type of faces he was drawn to in dramas and films… but handsome anyway. When they emerged back into the large room above, it was indeed night. The dome was barely visible in the soft darkness. There were lights dotted throughout, but they were low. Naoya was glad no one seemed to be here to see his shame of being carried like this.

“I’m sorry you have to do this. You were assigned to me, no?”

Aki looked down at him. “I know you’re not doing it on purpose. What kind of person would I be if I let you suffer?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anyone here. I don’t know what you’re doing or why I was even cursed. I can only hope you’re a good person because I’m literally in your hands.”

“That’s… fair, actually.”

They emerged into the night, a light rain falling. The air was cool. Aki put Naoya on his feet. Some distant lights on the other side of the lake reflected on the water surface, shimmering. In the distance, the city lights of Kyoto shone through the bad weather. It would have been a beautiful sight, but Naoya’s vision was swimming. He let himself be drawn through another light, when he was suddenly assaulted by a freezing breeze.

They were standing on the side of a mountain, in the middle of a snow bank. The sky was clear, silver moonlight illuminating the scene like out of a fairytale, making the snow seem like it was glowing.

But…

“Damn, it’s freezing!” Naoya shouted.

“A second,” Aki said and picked up his phone. “Yes. We’re here.”

From the shadows, a figure popped into existence. Naoya jumped in surprise despite his state.

“Where…” he muttered.

“Deadrealm,” Aki replied. “Kazu, did you find the place with the highest density?”

The man took his bird mask off. He looked like a regular salaryman without it—except they were meeting him in the middle of the night on a mountain.

“Do you see that valley over there?” Kazu said and pointed behind them. “No ski lifts or hiking paths there. No great waterfalls, or other interesting scenery. It’s untouched.”

“Great, thank you. Have the team collect the rest of energy after we’re done. I’ll call you.”

Kazu glanced at Naoya, then pulled his mask back on. “Sounds good.”

His gloves started glowing and he disappeared once more. Aki pulled similar gloves on and held out his hand. Naoya took it, shivering. A moment later, the light around them shifted hue and turned purple. Naoya was no longer holding hands with the man Aki. She was the woman Aki.

“I can move faster in the Deadrealm,” she explained. “Hold on.”

It felt like she was tearing Naoya’s arm clean off as Aki jumped into the sky, pulling him with her. He screamed in shock as they flew over the mountainside, snowy forest rushing past them. He was sure it was a beautiful sight, but the panic won out. They dipped into the valley mentioned earlier, the light of the moon fading in the narrow stretch. It was inaccessible and looked hostile in the purple hue.

Naoya rolled his arm, words of complaint already on his lips, but when he saw Aki’s expression, he swallowed them. Male Aki was right: His version in this world was angry.

“Wait here, I’ll check the surroundings,” she said curtly, but when she left, she also left some sort of spell which warmed Naoya’s body impossibly in the middle of the deep snow.

It took a few minutes for Aki to return, and when she did she looked satisfied, at least.

“This is how it’s going to go: You take off the bandage and open your cursed eye on my command. I’ll be monitoring the surroundings for any appearance of ghosts. Once I tell you to, the eye is closed again. Understood?”

Naoya nodded.

“Words.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Look at that tree over there. Yes. Begin.”

Naoya cautiously unwrapped the bandage. His eye was itching like crazy. Did it know it was going to be fed? What kind of curse was this?

“Okay, now.”

Naoya opened his right eye and immediately, a sharp pain lanced through him. He startled, shifted, but Aki’s hands were on his shoulders from behind, steadying him. The landscape in his right eye was the same as the left, but the purple was glowing. He could see it in the air, like a network of connected clouds—a universe stretching out into the darkness.

It was beautiful.

“Stop!” Aki shouted.

Naoya heard her, but he didn’t know what she was saying. There was only this shining beauty in front of him, this magical energy, this…

“Containment unit on my position.”