Trust

“No… How? You’re… you all are…”

“So lifelike? Yes. It’s a mercy which was granted to us in exchange for our service,” Aki said.

“I don’t understand.”

Aki looked at the incense burner. The smell was sweet and cloying.

“Lie down, then I’ll tell you.”

Naoya complied, because he was both tired and interested. Besides, with Aki close, he felt calmer. Aki had already become his anchor in the middle of this chaos.

“You know that ghosts can flee the Deadrealm through the rifts. But to affect change, to fulfill their desire that keeps them tangled with the living, they have to possess a human. Like my mother did to you at Nishimon Gate. Like all of us did.”

“That means, you too?”

Aki nodded. “My twin sister Akie and myself… we died in an accident when we were young. Dying young comes with regrets, you know? Though I don’t know where my sister’s soul went, I feel her close in the Deadrealm. The other ghosts disguise themselves over there, but I wear my sister’s face.”

Naoya’s eyes fell close as Aki explained. The incense did its work.

“I will talk with the guardians about my mother. About you. Don’t worry, everything will be solved once you wake up.”

“Your mother…” Naoya whispered and opened his eyes a fraction.

He put a hand on his upper arm, where the blood was seeping through the bandage. Naoya took a deep breath and then looked at Aki with a smile.

“We have to save her, of course. She’s your mother.”

“But you—”

“She hurt me, yes, but I think she was simply desperate to get to you. To help you. I’m already in the middle of this. Let me see it through.”

Aki leaned over him and cupped Naoya’s cheek with one hand. He searched his expression, and Naoya quietly observed Aki’s features—the sharpness of his cheekbones and the deep colour of his eyes. A ghost? He seemed… so real.

“Naoya. Thank you.”

He kissed Naoya’s forehead and the other’s eyes fell close, lured into sleep by warmth, smell and closeness.

——

Naoya woke up with a start. His right eye was burning. Even though it was forced close, he could see flickers of purple light inside his eyelid. The incense had burned out, but the sweet smell still lingered. Bai Rong hadn’t lied—Naoya’s sleep had been deep and dreamless. After the horrific vision, he still dreaded closing his eyes again, but at least he knew that these people could be trusted.

Even though his body ached in places he didn’t even know existed, nature called relentlessly. He struggled to the bathroom to answer the call, the harsh light making his head hurt.

And then he made a mistake.

Naoya looked up, into the mirror. He could see a white hand reaching out from inside his eye, grabbing the cloth bandage and throwing it on the desk. He reached for his head in reflex, but when he tried to grasp the hand, it turned on itself and scratched him. With a scream of pain and horror, he grabbed it again—both hands this time. He managed to grab a hold of it, but it only served to make him fall face first into the mirror, as he yanked on his own head. The mirror shattered, glass shards raining down on him, a thousand tiny cuts.

And the hand… spread out in front of Naoya’s face to protect it from harm.

He sat on the floor in front of the bathtub, panting in shock, holding his right eye closed. The hand was gone.

“I know you’re scared,” he whispered. “I’m scared too. But your… your Acchan is here. And if you really want to help him, you need to cooperate. We need to cooperate. You’re inside my head. You must feel I sincerely want to help you too.”

Sudden vertigo made Naoya’s stomach flip. He held onto the rim of the tub as his vision swam. And when he opened both eyes again, the world looked normal. No purple, no Deadrealm, no pain.

“Thank you,” he said with all his heart. “Aki is advocating for you. If what he said is true, you might be able to meet him again. Just… the more you harm me, the harder that will be.”

Naoya’s hand moved on its own. It smeared the blood, which dripped from the many small cuts on his body, across his skin, until his finger was dripping with it. It repeated the movement several times to write a message on the cabinet door beside him. Just two characters.

信頼

Trust.

“Thank you,” Naoya said again.

He sat and stared at the message for a long time, until the door to the bathroom opened and Aki looked at him in horror, taking in the scene of fractured glass all over the floor and Naoya bleeding from a hundred tiny cuts.

“Naoya. What… Don’t move until I clear a path.”

Naoya was exhausted, but also strangely at peace. He put a hand on his eye and smiled at Aki.

“It’s alright. I talked to her. We came to an agreement.”

Aki looked like he was about to cry. He took a towel and put it on the ground, so he could walk over to Naoya. With some effort, he sat him down on the edge of the bathtub. Luckily, the cuts from the mirror weren’t deep. Still, Aki searched every exposed part of his skin and carefully pulled out the few remnants that got stuck. Through it all, Naoya just watched him work diligently, silently observing Aki’s concerned face.

“Your sister’s name was Akie?” Naoya asked, as Aki held his arm to rebandage the bite wound among all the other small patches.

“Mhm. Akito and Akie. We were always together, even as teenagers. Together until the end.”

“How did you… No. Don’t answer that if you don’t want to.”

“An accident. Earthquake. We were at school. Not the only people hurt, but the only ones who died, as far as I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I was too. That’s why I’m here. Come on, let’s go back into the bedroom. This place is a minefield. And… tell me what happened?”

Naoya followed Aki and sat down on the edge of the bed. Aki helped him dress in fresh clothes while Naoya recounted his interaction with Aki’s mother. Aki grew somber as Naoya explained, his expression unreadable. Finally, after helping to tie Naoya’s shoes, he kneeled in front of him and held both of Naoya’s hands.

“Thank you, truly. You were forced into this situation and hurt so badly, but you still want to help my mother. I don’t know what to say…”

Naoya shook his head. “I felt… she was forceful, but there was so much sadness and longing underneath. I can’t help it.”

“You can. You have every right to demand a quick solution.”

Naoya felt a surge of emotion rushing through him, which made his chest clench in a wave of sudden affection.

“Maybe I just can’t bear to see you sad.”

Naoya leaned down, and before Aki could react, pressed their lips together. Aki sputtered and pushed him away, and the shove made Naoya realise what just happened.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what…”

“That wasn’t you?”

“It was? It wasn’t? I felt… it’s no longer there.”

“You felt what?”

Naoya wrenched his hands. “For a moment? Like I was madly in love with you.”