Fake Doria -Hajiro- [Complete]

▼ This is a series of short stories. You can read it as is, but I recommend starting from here.

When my parents died and my younger sister was murdered, I stopped caring about everything.
I didn't want to live in a world where I was all alone, so I just kept sleeping.

When I realized it, I was trapped inside a circular mirror.
From time to time, strangers with frightened faces would come by and build something around the mirror, but I just kept sleeping, and it seemed they forgot about me, as the building grew old and fell into ruin.

The roof is cracked, and I can see the sky.
Bathed in the light streaming through, grass grew in one spot of the shrine, blooming with pink flowers.

It was one night when the air had begun to soften little by little.

I felt my sister's presence right beside me.
She wasn't actually there. So, surely, she wouldn't notice me.
It was like a residue of thought. It was intense anger. It was jealousy. She was manipulating someone, luring them to the brink of death. I knew, in a way, that similar souls to the one my sister had become were wriggling about here and there.

Ah, I thought, she has been consumed.

Even though Father had always told us.
We sisters possess power and knowledge different from ordinary people. That we are from a long line of sorcerers. That is why we lived in hiding deep in these mountains.

So we wouldn't be persecuted. So we wouldn't be used. And so we wouldn't destroy anyone.

That we must never be consumed by anger.
He told us strictly, over and over.

That is why, at the moment of my death, I bound my own heart.

In contrast, my sister was killed while screaming, 'I want to live,' 'I don't want to die.'
That is why I thought she must have been consumed.

Since I've just woken up, and it's only a whim, I'll help that girl.

I close my eyes.
I saw a girl walking slowly like a marionette, and a man trying to stop her.
Like pulling on strings, I drew the young girl to this place. I put the man who was with her to sleep. I'll make someone nearby notice.

It had been a long time since I used my power.
Ah, damn it. I miscalculated the force.

I pulled too hard, and she collapsed into my nest, the mirror.
Her palms fell against it. With a crisp sound, the mirror cracked. I was sucked into her.

Memories flowed in, rustling like sand.

Oh my, in this child's memories, there is someone I recognize.

But surely, it's a fake. It's not that person who tried to save us sisters back then. They just look similar. It's something completely different.
It's something completely different.

This child was hurt by that man, wasn't she? Poor thing. It's okay. I will make you forget everything.

Unnecessary bonds should just be severed.

Trapped inside that child—inside Chikage—I have watched the path she walks.

Chikage was a pure child.

Since we didn't perform the 'vessel ritual,' I cannot move of my own volition.

I try speaking to her occasionally, but perhaps my power is too strong; even though Chikage hears me, she doesn't even feel a sense of dissonance. She must have thought it was her own thoughts.

But that is fine.
Even if we cannot talk.

I repeated the cycle of sleeping and waking, drifting through the world.
It is not much different from before.

When I realized it, her family had grown. The shadow I saw when we first met was gone, and Chikage had a dazzling expression, spending her days in quiet happiness.

Watching that, I felt happy too.
While being carried by Chikage, I enjoyed the outside world that had changed so terrifyingly, and felt as if I were raising a child.

Even though I am not alive myself, I spent a reasonably happy decade.

Until the connections of the past appeared before my eyes.

That was the man who followed me all the way to the mountain back then. I knew it immediately.

He is bewitched by my younger sister. What is that? That black feather. Isn't it the forbidden art that Father spoke of? I wonder how many people he has killed.

That child has no choice but to fall into hell. When I thought that, I felt empty.

No matter how much I told Chikage, it was no use.
I contacted the company and jumped onto a train heading in the opposite direction. Chikage is heading toward my old home with strong determination.

Stop. Please.

This time, I didn't say it for Chikage's sake. I just don't want to see it. I don't want to know about the sister who has fallen.

I thought this before, but Haguro.
Have you forgotten about me?

Eventually, when Chikage and my sister met, that child, Haguro, finally remembered everything. Ah, I realized that she had been living in a fake body, having forgotten even herself.

The expression she had back then, as if the words 'Sister Hajiro' had just slipped out, was the real her, even though she was inside a fake body.

The shrine where Haguro is enshrined was vastly different from my place.
It was a beautiful shrine hidden quietly in the depths of a cave, adorned with crystals. There wasn't a single weed. Even the mirror was polished so well that there wasn't a single drop of cloudiness.

It's terrible. I couldn't help but think it was rude to make such a difference between sisters.

But.
Even so, Haguro's grudge did not disappear, did it?

When I said that, Haguro cried. While shedding tears, she threw away the mirror enshrined as the sacred object at the same time she left her body.

Clink.

Breaking the silence of the cave, a sharp sound echoed. The shattered mirror fragments flickered in the dim light.

The girl who was inside the mirror and Haguro swapped places.
And then it broke. Now, no one can swap places anymore. This world today is convenient. But, it seemed that the knowledge and techniques of the curse were not passed down.

Surely no one can reproduce it.

Chikage's hand moves by my will.
It touches the mirror fragments.

There was a sensation of being pulled in, and I, too, had entered the mirror.

“The two pillars, sealed themselves...? What is happening?”

A girl with an atmosphere similar to Chikage said, looking bewildered.
She was a woman dressed in a black suit, wearing no makeup.

She’s a jujutsu practitioner. Her power doesn’t seem that strong. But she can see us, can’t she?

With a silly “Eep!” sound, she peered into the fragment we were in with teary eyes.

“AzusaAzusa, ...Azusa...!”

A middle-aged woman hugged the “vessel” that Haguro had been in just a moment ago. Within her arms, the body of her real Azusa sank limply.

As if resisting something, Azusa’s eyelids slowly opened. As if something that had been frozen for a long time had finally thawed, she blinked rapidly.

“Mom...”

A raspy voice spilled out.

“Azusa, you’re not a fake anymore, are you...? Azusa...”

Her voice was hoarse, and it was impossible to tell if she was crying or laughing. While wetting her cheeks, the mother called her daughter’s name over and over. As if to reclaim all the time they had lost──.

And Haguro watched the scene with an awkward look on his face.

Unlike me, whose time stopped when I threw myself away, Haguro had grown into a tall, adult woman.

Haguro turned her eyes toward the woman who seemed unable to move her body well. She was called 'Azusa'.

She seemed unable to fully organize her heart.

Squish. As I reached my hand toward the sky, I had the sensation of grabbing a soft peach. Just like that, as if being sucked out, I went outside.
It seems the fragments can be entered and exited freely.

“Eeeek!”

The medium woman looks at me with teary eyes.

I took the hand of my younger sister, who had grown much taller than me, and walked toward the other side of the tunnel.
There, many, many proofs of my sister's sins were wandering about.

Haguro said in a trembling voice.
I gently rubbed her back. While she was being swallowed, what on earth had happened to this child?

That's right. Originally, she was a kind child. She had childish tantrums and selfishness. But she was a child with a good heart.

There is a sensation like the depths of my chest are being scorched. The heart I should have bound is trying to run wild. But. I take a deep breath. Like extinguishing a fire, like creating a wind inside my heart.

Haguro's eyes wavered.

"If you aren't a god, then I can help you pass on, too."

The female medium, who had been trembling just a moment ago, followed along.

With a crisp pop, she removed the lid of the rouge. She quickly applied the bright red color to her unadorned face.

Her expression suddenly sharpened. I see, for this girl, not dressing up is her form of purification.

As she chanted a prayer, the wandering spirits were all at once enveloped in golden light.

Those who ascend, those who fall──.

"Mother, why am I an adult?"

The woman who had been possessed by Haguro until just a moment ago stared at her own palms in confusion. She had a lisping, deeply childlike air about her.
Her mother simply held her, weeping.

I ordered the female medium to follow the two of them.
Going to hell can wait until after that.

Transferring through several trains, the mother and the woman returned home.
The scenery flowed by outside the window. From the city to the mountains, from the mountains back to the town. As the sun dipped low, the colors inside the train car changed as well.

By the time I reached the house, it was completely covered in twilight.

It was an old-fashioned house nestled between the mountains.
A single egg-colored light hung alone at the entrance. As my mother was clattering about trying to get her keys out, the sound of running footsteps echoed from deep inside, and the door swung open with force.

Mama, read me a picture book today...

The one who came out was a small child who looked very much like the woman.

Mama...?

The child raised a voice of confusion.
Her eyes were directed at the woman who was a 'vessel' as if frightened, but they were filled with distrust.

Hey... you're not Mama, are you?

Seeing the child sobbing away, Haguro let out a 'Airi...' and shed bitter tears.

She tried to reach out many times, but her hand never reached her.

Airi kept screaming that she was a 'fake.' She threw a tantrum, rolled on the floor, and tears spilled from her large eyes. Her mother stood protectively in front of the confused Azusa.

No. This Azusa is the real one.

The mother's eyes were terribly cold.
Before long, Airi cried herself to sleep.

In the kitchen, the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board rang out rhythmically. The smell of onions that would bring tears to one's eyes drifted through the air, but it was soon overwritten by the scent of butter. It made a pleasant simmering sound.

I'm making the doria that Azusa likes. Welcome home, Azusa.

Haguro said with a sullen face.

I saw something glinting in Haguro's palm.
I must make sure the sorceress doesn't notice. I sigh.

In the end, Haguro couldn't let go of her obsession.

Haguro pursed her lips.
Among the men who fled to the village, he was the only one trying to stop the reckless acts. Even though the color of his soul was completely different.

A graduation album lay open at the corner of the dining table.
The face of Azusa reflected there looked somewhat young. It was strange that even though it should have been the same face as the woman in front of me, the expression was completely different.
More spirited, confident, and a little mean-looking.

Tucked into the gap of the cover was a drawing of a cat, seemingly drawn by a child.
Written on the edge of the paper was "Azusa".

The mother closed the graduation album, left only the drawing, and threw it into the trash can.

The sorceress quickly applied lipstick.
She said she couldn't let the gods pass on to the afterlife, yet she said that. Liar.

The end opened its bottom.

While still clutching that man's soul, only Haguro was being dragged down.
Even though what lay ahead was hell, that girl was crying while smiling. I reached out, but I couldn't reach her. Like when you put two magnets of the same pole together, I was repelled with a snap, and I was carried upward, upward.

By an irresistible force.

The steam from the doria gently hid Haguro's tearful face.

(5,000 characters)

Thank you for reading along!

This story would not have been born without Yasu-san's project, and I wouldn't have written the continuation if Konishi-san hadn't told me they wanted to read a serious one.

I wrote it in a burst of momentum, so once things settle down, I'm thinking of rereading it, revising it, and submitting it to the horror novel category on tales.

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