Chapter 12. Empty

Uzuki messages me.

"Hey, I guess we are fully ready at this point. I'll send you some pictures and information"

Right away, some pictures of a random girl.

That girl I just met, actually. Yoshiko, was it?

Then her school ID

'Sayoko Nishima, 2nd year, Sakurayama High'

...or not Yoshiko, apparently. Did she trick me? Well, no time for that.

I go to a nearby corner and transform into her. Fluffy black hair, a beauty mark under her right eye, height, everything.

...everything but the voice.

"Got any voice references?"

"No but just pretend you're sick or something. Believe me, no one will notice"

I'll try to mimic her voice as I heard it before.

I send her a selfie.

"Now what?"

"Go to her house and check everything."

"You know this is illegal, right?"

"It's for humanity's sake, just... just go, ok?"

Humanity? When did this turn out to be a worldwide issue?

Well, I head to her house and open the door with her keys inside her bag.

"I'm home..."

No one answers.

I go and inspect the rooms. Every single room is empty. No one in sight. But the furniture is there. I open the fridge and see a scary display: 12 milk bottles in the same position, with the same amount of milk. 12 olive containers with the same number of olives in the same position. 12 apples with the same markings, placed exactly as the others.

I go to another room, then another. Anything that is more than 2 pieces is...duplicated times 12. Pillows, cleaning liquids. A room has 12 exact copies of the same book.

And on the floor, 4 letters.

'Stone', 'Branch', 'Cowry', 'Dragon'

I open them up. Inside them, common items. An old lotto ticket, a map with train stations circled, sand, and a piece of holographic paper with a note:

'I don't want to do this anymore. I know there is one more left but I'm sick of this. I've given my life because of you and I can't continue. I can't go on. I'm going back.

-Sayoko'

Well...I guess these are the items.

I put them in my pocket, then I get a message from Uzuki.

"How's everything going?"

"Found some stuff on the floor, but the house is odd."

"Okay, now act as if someone was on the house. Be her."

"How am I supposed to be her if I don't know her?"

"Just try"

I roll my eyes and check what she has.

Bunch of horror flicks. Every single one times12.

12 dresses

12 uniforms

24 pairs of shoes, which I think 12 for school and 12 for going out.

I drop on her bed and stare at the ceiling.

"Man, why do I even need so much stuff?"

A smell creek on the room. Like miso soup.

But...no one was there.

"Honey, dinner's ready!"

What?!

But no one was there!

Okay, so...acting.

"C-coming!"

As I step out of the room, I can see a girl lying on the couch, a lady and a small child.

"Are you feeling better, honey?"

"Uh...my throat is still sore."

"That's my sis for you!"

Who are these people even?!

I sit at the table and there it is. Miso soup. There wasn't even miso on the fridge.

"Yay! I'm starving!"

The little boy runs.

"Dad will be late so... let's eat."

We start eating. And I... don't feel right. This isn't my family. This isn't me.

All my life I wished to be someone else but now everything feels... off.

"Is there something wrong, sweetie?"

"N-No, I'm still sick. I think I'll go to my room. Can you help me, mom?"

"Of course, let's get you up..."

She carries me by the shoulder and takes me to what I assume is her room. No more repeated empty stuff. This is an actual room.

She puts me in bed and walks away.

"Tell me if you need anything"

I take my phone out. As I imagined, it's the same generic block I saw before. On the screen, only two icons: Call and contacts.

I press contacts and start scrolling.

Akaza, Mamoru

Kasuga, Tsurugi

Koizumi, Mizuho

Kobayashi, Maki

Shimura, Kimiko

H

Hayabusa, Sakura

Wait, who's this H? It's the only contact without a full name.

I open the conversation.

"You're missing one item. Get me the robe"

The robe?

Is this the person that has been dealing forbidden items?

Wait...

Cowry, branch, stone, dragon...

Robe...

"Kaguya's forbidden tasks!"

As I yell, the room goes back to normal, well, as normal as it was before.

My phone is back, I call Uzuki as fast as I possibly can.

"Uzuki what was that?!"

"Surprise? The brush actually does something other than change your appearance, my theory is that it can also recreate scenes! Nifty, huh?"

"You could have told me that!"

"And ruin your acting? Although, I think something or someone beat me to it."

"Right, the dealer is looking for Kaguya's forbidden tasks."

"...Okay? How do you know that?"

"They already got four, I'm looki-"

Uzuki spits something.

"You have what?! No! I'm coming right away!"

She hangs up. I check the room and look around for more clues, but I got nothing. Minutes later, the door sounds.

"I'm almost there...huff... almost..."

Uzuki is almost crawling on the floor, shaking.

"Uzuki, are you ok?"

"Who invented stairs?!"

She starts putting herself up and catches a breath, she then extends her hand.

"The items... let me see..."

I show her the envelopes, she frowns.

"Put them back in your pocket, and don't let anyone have them"

"Take the brush and paint me. Imagine anyone you saw on this house"

"Anyone?"

"Yeah. Oh, also do that on yourself too, anyone is fine"

I use the brush on her, she looks now like the younger girl, which I assume was the sister.

Then I use the brush on myself, now I'm the mother.

"Now what?"

"Act. Let's do it! I haven't done this in years, it's going to be super fun!"

"Uzuki, I don't know why you get thrilled by this type of stuff but... let's do it"

We stand in place.

"So...what's your name or whatever?"

"Mom, that's not the way to talk to your daughter."

"Okay, I need character, what's your name?"

She looks at me, serious.

"Okay, I'm Sakura, you're Minami"

"You know this is super weird, right?

"Well, it's the best way to play! Let's go and paint this empty room into a world of imagination!"

That line was super cheesy.

But in a way I get her.

Because for me, she is part of my family.

"Right! So...!"

I look at myself in the mirror, I'm some random woman on her thirties.

"So..."

Acting a family...

"So...?"

How was that like, again?