A Sister's Quest
“You don’t trust me very much, do you?” You begin with an obvious observation, probing for cracks in Uehara’s sullenness.
Listening to your question, she snorts derisively, her lips twitching in a mocking smile. “Why ask when you already know the answer? I would be the biggest idiot in the world to trust you. My sister believed in your lies, trusted the mask that you wore. I won’t.” The knife waves menacingly, warning you to keep away.
“What lies did I tell her, Uehara-san?” you ask calmly.
This only seems to enrage her further. “You know full well what you did, Shinohara Seiji! You seduced Seika-nee for your own whims, and then trapped her in
here!” She gestures at the surroundings – the entire hospital – and glares at you.
Seika. The name rings familiarly in your ears, yet at the same time you are unable to recognize it.
“So you are here to rescue her?”
Uehara falters, and shakes her head. “Not at first, no. I didn’t know what happened to Seika-nee when I went to Ikei, only that the truth of her disappearance was somewhere in here. That’s what the message said.”
“What message?”
Uehara fumbles in the pockets of her skirt and brings out her phone. Thumbing through it, she opens up a text message and shows it to you:
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
If you want to find out the truth about your sister, come to Ikei Hospital.
It is a short, terse message. Remembering her stated reason for coming here, you ask, “So that story about visiting a friend in the hospital… that was a lie?”
“No, that part is true. We do have a friend in the hospital. Well… had. I’m guessing you killed her too.”
“I’m no murderer.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“If I were, I would have killed you by now, Uehara-san.”
“You’re just taunting me, trying to torment me by dragging things out.”
“No, I
truly think we need to work together to survive, and to do that, I need to know what
you know about me.”
“Don’t play dumb with me! I know you remember everything by now… I can see it in your eyes.”
You shake your head. “I remember something. Not everything. I certainly don’t remember being Shinohara Seiji.”
“My sister sent me a picture of the two of you, together. You are Shinohara Seiji. The same Shinohara Seiji that suspiciously disappeared when my sister did. Don’t even try to deny it.”
The very thought of it seems strange to you – that you have a forgotten lover, buried somewhere in the depths of this labyrinthine hospital. “We’ve never met before all this happened, then?”
“No,” Uehara admits. “We wouldn’t have met when she was with you. If I was around… if only I was with her…” She bites her thumb, glaring at the floor, and continues to mumble. “It’s all their fault. If they hadn’t… if Mother hadn’t… Seika and I wouldn’t have had to part ways…”
“What do you mean? ”
She sighs wearily. “Didn’t Seika-nee tell you about me? I think she must have. Why do you insist on pestering me so?”
“I told you, Uehara-san, I don’t remember.”
You should just get to the part where you push her down already, Acchan.
Patience. You keep a steady, quiet gaze on Uehara, ignoring Ei’s yawning complaints.
Clicking her tongue in displeasure, Uehara begins to talk. “I think you should have realized it by now, but Uehara is not my real family name. How could it be, when Seika and I are twins?” Not wanting to interrupt her just as she’s beginning to open up, you remain silent. “The Tendou clan has a long and prestigious history in this region, especially when it comes to matters of the supernatural. It was about ten years ago, I think, when they asked our mother to conduct a purification ritual.” Her expression darkens, and her voice softens into a whisper. “Something went wrong then. People died. The clan decided to put all blame on Mother, claiming that she didn’t follow
this procedure or
that ritual properly. It was all nonsense. She wouldn’t have made a mistake. It wasn’t her fault. It is absolutely impossible that it was her fault.”
“She… survived the ritual? She wasn’t amongst those who died?” you ask tentatively.
“Yes, she didn’t die then,” nods Uehara. “But she might as well have. The decrepit old people in charge decided to cast us out of the shrine since we allegedly shamed the clan… but at the same time, they needed someone of my mother’s blood to be her successor. Of the ones suitable, there were only my sister and I.”
“And they picked her.”
“She was the older one. The stronger one, in their eyes,” shrugs Uehara, with a tinge of resentment colouring her words. “My mother and I were thrown out, left to fend for ourselves. After a while, she moved in with a man, and took his name. My mother wasn’t really the same afterwards, however. She told me once that what she saw during the ritual would always stay with her. It could never be washed away from her eyes, no matter how many tears she shed… and finally, she hung herself a few years back. It was only after her funeral that I began corresponding with Seika-nee again, but we did not meet up in person often.”
“So, Uehara…”
“That’s right. It’s an adopted name. Not like it matters. I wouldn’t want to carry the Tendou name anyway,” she says bitterly.
“But you still carry their
omamori around, don’t you?” you guess.
“They’re not mine. They belong to Seika-nee,” she states flatly.
“Are you collecting them as a keepsake?”
“Playing dumb again, Shinohara? These charms carried part of Seika’s essence. Once I collect all of them, I would be able to find my way to her. The entire hospital is like a living maze, with the true path to its center constantly changing and hiding itself. The charms are the only way to meet her again…” her face twists into a scowl, “and they only appeared to you.”
“Because of my… relationship with her?”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps because you are the one responsible for putting her into this situation.”
You frown. “What, exactly, do you think I did, Uehara-san?”
“She was constantly in Ikei hospital for a period of time, though she never told me why. It was at Ikei that she met you. From her messages, it was clear that she would have done anything for you, Shinohara. And once I reached this world… once I pieced together what actually happened to Seika-nee…” Her eyes flash with deadly anger. “I cannot be more certain that you are guilty.”
“You cannot accuse me of some crime without explaining what I am guilty of.”
“
Everything that has happened!” she shouts, your rational calmness finally irritating her beyond her limits. “All the people who have died! You took this land’s tradition and perverted it for your own selfish ends, and for what? Just to see if you could!” She throws her knife to the floor angrily, where it clatters under a couch, and pushes you down with both hands. “Isn’t that right, Shinohara? You knew of Seika-nee’s connection to this place, and I am certain you got close to her just because of that! Admit it! Stop pretending to forget! Night after night, for a hundred nights you play the fool, your masks changing endlessly to hide the foul core of who you really are, and I am just
so tired of it!” she screams in your face.
Uh… Acchan… aren’t you supposed to be doing the pushing down here?
As she grabs your collar and begins shaking it furiously, an image begins to form in your mind, white noise that blanks out all of your thoughts before resolving itself into a clear picture…
that of a massive web spun into the form of a white sphere, and the long-haired girl who looks just like Uehara buried at its center, the strings of the web stretching from under her closed eye-lids. Eternally asleep yet ever-watching, as though the web is a dream that she must see lest the silk evaporate into nothingness… or worse, take a life of its own. That is where Seika is, that is where she is waiting for you to rescue her-
“-to rescue her…” you mutter.
“What?” snaps Uehara, her face still uncomfortably close.
“I… I still don’t remember everything, but I do know one thing.” You feel an inexplicably painful stirring in your chest, looking at Uehara’s face from such a near distance.
They look too much alike. “If what you say is right… if I
am Shinohara, and I have his memories and his desires… then there is one thing that I can say that is definitely not a lie. Shinohara Seiji wants to save Tendou Seika as much as you do.” If those are truly his thoughts, this is the only way you can sensibly interpret that feeling. Of course, it does not mean that you feel the same.
I am my own person... aren't you?
“I don’t believe you,” she repeats blindly. “I don’t believe you. I can’t believe you.”
“You said it yourself, Uehara. The amulets appear in my presence. You won’t be able to locate them all without me. Whether you believe me or not, you
need me.”
“Maybe they would appear to
me instead if you were not here, if you were dead… but the amulets are pointless now anyway,” she laughs bitterly.
“Why?”
“I had already succeeded in collecting all of the charms. All one hundred of them. In the last night I brought them to the basement… and…” She holds her head with one hand, clearly frustrated. “I think I saw someone… Something happened, I’m not sure what, then he told me that you were the last key. That I had to turn you into the gate, the sacrifice. That if I did not, you would reach Seika-nee by yourself. I thought I had made it. I thought I could finally reach Seika-nee, but it was all useless in the end…”
It looks like when she woke up in Kaimei, Uehara had thought herself to have drifted even further away from Seika, and despaired. “The Witch and the Maiden… they are one and the same after all…” she whispers before falling silent, doing nothing but clinging onto your collar, droplets of tears sporadically falling off the tip of her chin.
Thanks to her words, you begin to reflect on your experiences in the last night. The Juunimon and the girl you saw sitting in the branches… Seika. The charms that Uehara collected, and the path into the abyss. All of those, you think, are related, but you are unable to draw proper connections between them at the moment. Not least because Uehara is still straddling you, making it hard for you to concentrate.
You start to call her name.
“Ue-“
“U-Uehara! Are you alright?” Sakimura bursts into the door without warning, and gapes in surprise. He must have been worried enough to come rushing, unable to sit still and wait for her to return. “What… what is going on here?” He looks at both you and Uehara, your clothes disheveled, her sitting on top of you.
“O-Oh, nothing!” says Uehara brightly. She hops off of you quickly, patting the back of her skirt. “Just a bit of wrestling. We are both wrestling fans, Shino… Shinoseki-san and I, and we thought we’d do a bit of light sparring to sharpen us up! Who knows what manner of evil is lurking here, right?” The tension has passed: you suspect she will not be trying to kill you for some time now that most of her pent-up stress has been released through bullying you.
“That’s… that’s right, Sakimura-san. It was just some training,” you say quickly. Now that you concentrate, you can hear other footsteps coming along. You begin to ponder your next course of action. You must have been brought here for a reason. Uehara has told you something of what she knows, but you get the feeling it is not
all she knows, and even if she had told you everything you would still be unable to see the full picture.
***
A. You decide to explore the hospital further on your own. You think you have gotten all you can out of Uehara for now. As you suspect you were not brought to Kaimei by accident, you think that there must be something you are meant to find here. The others would only hold you back and waste your time.
B. You stay, and wait for the others to arrive. There is safety in numbers, whether be it through friendly cooperation, or through the procurement of cannon fodder. Besides, Uehara still hasn’t told you everything she knows, you’re sure, and you would like to question her further when you have the time.
C. You ask Uehara to come with you to explore the hospital together. Unfortunately, Sakimura is around, and the others are not far behind: he'll definitely make a fuss about coming along, and things might get uncomfortable very quickly.
***
Acchan, that soul was quite malicious! I've made great progress towards recovering my full strength, so you’ll be able to unseal two spells instead of one this time!
Pick two:
I. A spell to slow down the movements of spiritual entities.
II. An incantation that will briefly increase the user’s physical agility.
III. An ability strengthening the user’s dimensional bond with the grimoire, allowing it to vanish and teleport to the owner at will.
IV. A ritual to conjure a physical barrier that works against corporeal beings.
V. An incantation to sever matter and space, creating a gap where there had been none.
