【ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ】

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

You guys got a date? TvT I don't even have one so I decided to publish this instead!

The long wait is over! I guarantee that I did a good job writing this. TwT.... My single lazy ass decided to write above my limits.

Understanding the film was a little confusing when I first watched it. But after watching it the second time, I actually understand everything now! I actually watched it like ten times now. XD

Such a beautiful film! This should earn the title of the 'Movie of the century!'

Just a little reminder, I made up some of these rituals and traditions since google won't give me anymore information so don't comment things like It's not a real japanese culture or ritual cause I just made it up!

Also...Featuring....A female version of Amane!

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The sound of an alarm ringtone broke the silent. A voice of a young male preteen soon followed, groaning in annoyance that he was awaken from a comfortable slumber.

'I don’t recognize that ringtone' (Y/n) thought, still half awake. As she remembers, she was up all night and had only went to bed until it was dawn. She was working on a drawing on a sketchpad all night, room littered with crumpled papers since her mind was blank with the lack of inspiration. Her conciousness soon drift away again.

"...-N)...(Y/n)."

The girl heard a voice. A some what familiar one, whispering ever so gently on her ear.

"(Y/n)....(Y/n)...."

It was a voice of a young boy. The voice is earnest, pleading, as if the one who owns the voice was about to cry. The voice trembling with loneliness, heart ache was hidden in his tone.

"Don’t you remember me?" the voice asks anxiously.

'No, I don’t know you.'

The next thing the young girl knew is that she was inside a crowded train. Suddenly, the train stops, and the doors open. That's when she realized, why was she on a train. A pair of wide golden eyes hovers right in front of her. A boy in a uniform was staring straight at her, but the press of disembarking passengers was pushing him farther away.

"My name is...!" The boy shouts, undoing the cord neatly tied to his wrist, like a bracelet and holding it out to. Without thinking, (Y/n) reached for it. It’s a vivid orange, like a thin ray of evening sun in the dim train. She shove her way into the crowd and grab that color tight. "....Amane!"

(Y/n)'s (e/c) colored orbs flew open. The boy’s voice echoes through her mind, was still whispering in her ears.

'His name is Amane?'

As far as she knows, she had never knew that boy, or his name. She recalled the way he look at her. He looked really desperate, His eyes were brimming with tears, he look so broken. (Y/n) never seen the style of uniform he was wearing. His expression was serious, even grave. She never saw a boy look at her like that before.

But all she could think of that it was all just a dream, everything she saw was all a fantasy. It was not real. Only an illusion created by her mind during her sleep.

Thinking about it more seriously, (Y/n) cannot remember what his face look like. The echoes in her ears before fade away. As if nothing has ever happen.

She now had forgotten what was her dream all about.

(Y/n) could still feel her pulse racing abnormally fast, what ever she was dreaming about was already forgotten, no matter how much she tried to remember it. She sweating all over. She took a deep breath and sighed.

Only to hear a voice slightly different from hers. Not just that, she felt her chest lighter, looking below her, she sees that her breast somehow became flat. Her small cleavage disappeared.

Now she was confused, and a little frightened.

Looking a little lower she sees a something bulging from her red shorts, in between her legs. A little curious, she slowly touched it.

Only for her to let out a small shriek, realizing what it was. Her face became red.

"Amane?.......What'cha doin'?"

(Y/n) glance to the direction of the voice to see a boy around her age. He has round innocent golden yellow eyes and choppy black hair, there were two small fangs poking from his lips as he gave her a confused but slightly disturbed look.

He just opened a sliding door, but it seems that he saw what she had done. (Y/n) decided to give him a honest impression.

"I was just curious of what was down there... Huh?" (Y/n) look back at the boy and pointed towards him. "Um...Who are you? What are you doing in my room?"

"What are you talking about? You still asleep or something?" The boy looks thoroughly appalled, a little saddened. "I'm your younger twin brother, Tsukasa! Remember? Grandma told me to wake you up. It's time for Break Fast! Hurry up or we're gonna be late!"

Tsukasa closed the sliding door shut. (Y/n) tilted her head confused. Since when she had a younger twin brother?

She then hauled herself off the futon, she realized that she was currently. She does felt a little hungry. Suddenly, a full-length mirror in the corner of her vision catches her eye. Walking a few steps across the tatami mats decorating the floor to stand in front of it, She stared at her full-length reflection in the mirror.

She looks like an exact carbon copy of the boy who she just met a moment ago, except the boy earlier was already wearing a school uniform. Her on the other hand was wearing a white T-shirt and a red shorts. Choppy black hair that was sleep-tousled and sticking up in places. Big, curious golden yellow eyes stares back directly at her.

That's when she realized that she was in a boy's body.

Abruptly, the drowsy fog enveloping her body was gone. Her head clears instantly, then plunges into confusion that she could not help herself but scream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Amane! Hurry up, we're so late!"

As Amane open the sliding door and step into the living room, He was greeted by Tsukasa's impatient childish glare.

"I'll make breakfast tomorrow..." Amane assured him as his way of apology. He knew that Tsukasa did not actually cooked their morning meal but being the older one, he could not help but feel a sense of responsibility. Their grandmother was very old, he does not want her to do the chores around seeing that she was already feeling elderly pain.

He opened the rice cooker and scooping a gleaming white rice into his bowl. "Is this too much?" He asked himself before shrugging. "Oh well..."

"Thank you for the food!" Amane exclaimed as he poured a generous dose of sauce over a smooth fried egg, paired it with rice over his bowl. He started eating, somehow feeling eyes staring right into his soul.

"You're normal today." His grandmother told him, making him look up as he chew on his food. She was past eighty and wearing her usual traditional kimono that Amane was used to seeing.

"Huh?"

"He sure was something else yesterday!" Tsukasa grinned. Before looking at his older brother. "Screaming all of a sudden like that."

Amane look confused. His grandmother was suspiciously staring at him, his brother look really amused at whatever stunt he pulled yesterday.

"What are you talking about?" Amane asked. He could not even remember what happened yesterday, except for a strange dream.

Suddenly, the speaker over the door comes alive, deafeningly loud.

"Good morning, everyone." The emotionless tone of announcer greeted. Amane knew that this was the voice of one of his closest friend, Yashiro Nene's older sister. "This is an announcement from Itomori Town Hall...."

Amane lived on this place called, Itomori. A dinky little town with a population of fifteen hundred, so most people either know each other or at least know someone in common.

There are also speakers outside, all over town. So the broadcast echoes off the mountains and overlaps with itself all around.

Twice a day, morning and evening, there is a disaster-prevention radio broadcast that plays throughout the town. Every house has a receiver to faithfully relay the daily announcements about local events: the schedule for the sports meet, how to contact those who are in charge of shoveling the snow, yesterday's births and today's funerals.

"With regard to the Itomori mayoral election, which will take place on the twentieth of next month, the town election management committee has-"

The speaker over the lintel falls silent. The twins' grandmother was the one who turned it off. She cannot reach the actual speaker so she just pulled the plug. But even so, the gesture wordlessly conveys her anger. The twins knew exactly why she suddenly did that.

Amane decided to grab up the remote and turn on the TV without missing a beat. The beautiful blank face of the green haired news lady starts speaking.

"Closest on October 4th; We're now just a month away from a visit by a comet that appears only once every twelve hundred years. The comet will be visible to the naked eye for several days..."

Amane's eyes sparkled. He was actually waiting for this to happen, a few months ago, he read something about the comet, seeing that it was going to pass where he was made him excited, it was once in a lifetime opportunity. He was quite fortunate to be able to witness something so celestial pass the earth.

"With the celestial show of the century just around the corner, JAXA and research institutes worldwide are scrambling in preparation to study it."

There was a headline of text on the screen 'Comet Tiamat visible to the naked eye next month'. A blurry picture of a comet with long blue and purple streak appeared on the screen.

"Just make up with him already, would you?" Tsukasa told his grandmother making Amane glare at his direction.

"It’s an adult problem." Amane told his brother. He hates the fact that their father was the mayor. He chose politics over his own family. But deep down, Amane couldn't hate him despite everything he had done. He was still their father after all.

"We're going!" The twins shouted as they waved at their grandmother before leaving the house. Walking to school.

They traveling down the narrow paved path that runs along the hillside and descending several stone-walled stairways, they emerge from the shadow of the mountain into direct sunlight. Below them is a round lake, Itomori Lake. It's calm surface reflects the morning sun, glittering and glaring as though nobody's watching. The deep-green mountains form their ranks under white clouds in a blue sky.

"Amane-kun! Tsukasa-kun!" A voice calls out from behind the twins. Turning around they saw Amane's two closest and only friends, Minamoto Kou pedaling his bike and looking somewhat happy, with Yashiro Nene sitting primly on the bike rack smiling at them.

"Hey, Amane! Tsukasa!" Kou greeted, already up and full of energy. Nene got off of the blonde's bike making him protests.

"Senpai, you don't have too. I'll let you ride 'till we reach school!"

"It's okay! I wanna walk with Amane-kun and Tsukasa-kun. You should too!"

Amane smiled at the scene. He was aware of the little crush, Kou has for the fat ankled girl. Sometimes just to get on the boy's nerves, he would flirt with Yashiro until she blushed red.

"Just smooch already!" Tsukasa whine, tired of how the two was being concerned for each other. The two blushed.

"No!"  they chorus.

It was so obvious that they like each other but kept on denying it so earnestly. This amused Amane so much. He was friends with the two for a good eight years. Yashiro was a few months older than him and Tsukasa. Kou being the youngest. They were all in the same class in elementary until now.

"Oh, Amane-kun, you look fine unlike yesterday." Yashiro commented as she walkes besides him. "Your also wearing that cord."

Amane look down to his wrist to see the tied up cord, his late mother gave him. He touched it gently. He always wore this where ever he goes. It was the only thing left that reminds him of his mother, it was also his good luck charm.

"Huh? What did happen yesterday?" Amane asked. He was still confused, since this was the same conversation he had earlier with his grandmother and Tsukasa.

"Hey, you did get your grandma to exorcise you, didn't you?" Kou asked, looking at him, worriedly.

"Exorcise?"

"Yeah, I swear you got yourself possessed by an evil supernatural!"

"...Supernatural? What are you talking about?" Amane frowned at the blonde's unexpected remark.

"Kou-kun, stop blaming everything on the occult. Amane-kun's probably just stressed, that’s all. Right?" Nene defended him.

"Huh? Wait, hold it- what's all this about?" Amane asked them, he was really confused. 'What exactly happened yesterday?'

All he remembered was the strange dream he had.

Tsukasa suddenly jumped on his back making him snap out of his thoughts. Amane almost fell but regain his balance. "Tsukasa!"

His twin just grinned.

"-And most importantly!" A deep voice from a megaphone got the twins and their friends' attention. On the other side of the road, with its rows of vinyl greenhouses, a little crowd of a dozen or so people is gathered in the ridiculously big municipal parking lot. Standing at its center, holding a microphone, was the twins' father, taller and bolder-looking than the rest. The banner he wears diagonally across his suitjacket proudly proclaims, Incumbent—Yugi Toshiki. Amane knew that he'll be stumping for the mayoral election.

"-Most importantly, economic revitalization, in order to sustain the village restoration project! Only when we have made that a reality will we be able to establish a safe, worry-free community. As the incumbent, I intend to refine the community planning I've been involved with and see it through to completion! I will lead this region with new enthusiasm, creating a local society in which everyone... From our children to our senior citizen, can relax and enjoy fulfilling, active lives. I have renewed my resolve to make this vision my goal..."

It such a skillful speech but for some reason it made Amane frown. His father's campaign address sounds like it belongs on TV, not in a parking lot surrounded by fields.

"You know it's gonna be Yugi again in this term anyway." The whispers from the crowd was heard making Amane's mood even darker. "It sounds like he's been spreading lots of cash around."

"Hey, Yugi."

"...Morning..."

The greeting comes from three classmates, Amane's wasn't really fond off. They were the ones who thinks that they were so popular that they often sees Amane, his twin and his friends their target with their snarky comments over every little things.

"The mayor and the contractor." One of the three says, shooting a deliberate glance at Amane's orating father. In which Amane follow their gaze, seeing Kou's father standing next to his, beaming. He's wearing a jacket from his construction company and an armband that says Yugi Toshiki Supporter.

The only guy in the three, looks back at Amane, then at Kou, and continues. "Their kids are all buddy-buddy, too. Did your folks tell you to hang out together?"

Amane look down and walk faster, wanting to get out of there. Kou gritted his teeth and glared at the three. Nene looks a little worried for the two.

"Amane!"

A loud voice booms out. Amane's breath catches in his throat. He froze feeling embarrased that the attention was on him now. His lowered his mic midspeech to shout at him without the aid of electronic amplification. The whole crowd turns to look at him.

"Amane, straighten up!" His father ordered. "Tsukasa! Get off of your brother's back and stop being childish! Grow up!"

Amane flustered red. His father literary embarrased him infront of a lot of people. His brother was included too, he almost forgot that he was riding on his back, fooling around.

Tsukasa got off, and started walking next to him. Amane glance at him to see that he was almost crying, his head down.

The crowd was whispering. "He's even tough on his own family."

"I'm impressed."

"That’s the mayor for you."

Amane heard his classmates snickering.

"Ooh. Harsh."

"So embarrassing."

"I kinda feel a little sorry for 'em."

"Amane-kun... Tsukasa-kun..." Amane heard Nene called out. But he and his brother kept walking away. Away from embarrasement.

"Right in front of everybody..." Amane muttered, not bother looking at his brother who gave him a sad look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please don't ask me "Who goes there?" I'm waiting here for my love, in the September dew. " Amane listened to his sensei who was currently reading a poem out loud in class. "Tasokare. This is the origin of the word Tasogare-doki. Tasokare means 'Who is that' or and 'who goes there?' You know the word twilight, don't you?"

Speaking in a clear voice, Their teacher, Tsuchigomori writes Tasokare in big letters on the blackboard.

"Twilight, when it's neither day nor night. It’s a window when outlines blur, When the world blurs and one might encounter something not human. It's a time when people encounter demons or the dead, and it has another name that reflects this. They say, though, that even before that, it had other names."

Tsuchigomori wrote the two terms on the board. "Older expressions include  karetaso-doki and kawatare-doki."

A student began asking a question, Amane didn't quite heard what he asked since he was busy taking notes.

Turning to the next page of his notebook, he expected to see a blank like it should be but instead he sees words written in large font.

'Who are you?'

Amane stared at the letters in confusion. The sounds around him suddenly faded and grew distant, as if being absorbed by the unfamiliar handwriting that he knew wasn't his. As far as he remembered, he didn't lent his notebook to any of his classmates before.

"...gi. You're next, Yugi Amane." The voice of his sensei's gruffed voice broke him from his trance.

"Oh! Yes!" He quickly stood up, hastily.

"Begin reading on page ninety-eight." Tsuchigomori told him. Scrutinizing face, He adds, hiding his amused tone, "Good to see that you remember your name today, Amane."

The whole class bursts out laughing. Making Amane even more confused than he was already is.

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"You don't remember?" Tsukasa asked his brother as he took a bite of pork from his bento that his grandmother prepared for both him and Amane. It was currently lunch time. Since Kou and Tsukasa were in the other class, him, Tsukasa, Nene and Kou decided in to having lunch together, underneat a huge tree just outside their school.

"...No." Amane answered.

"For real?" Tsukasa asked again.

"Yes, for real," Amane answer, taking a sip of on his apple juice box. Kou looked at his friend as if he was some inanimate oddity.

"Listen, Amane. Yesterday, you forgot where your desk and your locker were. Your hair was all mussed and cowlicky, like you haven't combed it the moment you woke up."

"What?! No way, are you serious?!" Amane stared at the blonde in disbelief. He just imagined what he looked like yesterday and he was a little freaked out.

"Yeah, you acted like you had amnesia or something yesterday." Tsukasa piped in.

Flustered, Amane began to think back. There was something really off. He can't remember anything yesterday.

Thinking a little more harder, he suddenly do remember little bits and pieces.

He was in unfamiliar town somewhere. A reflection in a mirror, of a girl. That was all he could remember.

"Ummm... It feels like I spent the whole day in this weird dream. Like...a dream about somebody else's life?...Mm, I can't remember much of it..." Amane told them.

"I got it!"

Nene shouts all of a sudden, making the boys jump. She snatches up her half-read issue of the occult magazine MU and shoves it under the boy's noses, spit flying enthusiastically.

"Memories of your past life! That's what that is! Yeah, I know you're gonna say that it's not scientific, but if you put it another way and say your unconscious mind got linked up with a multi verse based on Everett's many-worlds interpretation-"

"Senpai, I don't think that's possible." Kou told her, dismissing her crazy theory.

"Yashiro! Were you the one who scribbled in my notebook?!" Amane asked her, before turning to his brother. "Or maybe it was you, Tsukasa! You're always playing a prank on me!"

"Huh? Scribbled?" Nene look at him.

"Huh?! It wasn't me this time, I swear!" Tsukasa waved his hand, rapidly. Wanting to show that he was innocent.

"Um, nothing Never mind." Amane sighed.

"Anyway, Amane. You really were kinda funny yesterday." Tsukasa said, dropping off the notebook incident. "Were you feelin' sick?"

"Hmm... That's so weird. Maybe I really am stressed..."

Amane went back to eating his lunch with the boys. Nene already finished hers and was already absorbed in her magazine again, as if nothing ever happened.

"That's gotta be it! You've had all kinds of stress lately!" Kou agreed, his mouth full.

Amane sighed. It must be it. Setting aside the election, he realized that the shrine ritual was tonight. He groaned, in this tiny little town, why do he have a father who's the mayor and a grandmother who's the chief Shinto priestess at the shrine? Infact, he was suppose to be there at tonight's ritual since he was the next head of the town's shrine. It was his first time leading the ceremony since his grandmother thought that it would be a good experience for him.

"I wanna hurry up and graduate and go to Tokyo. This town is too cramped and too tight!" Amane whine.

Kou nodded, understandingly. "I know how it feels! Everyone wants me to be on the site learning explosives. I won't be doing that! I wanna follow my big brother in tokyo. I wanna see what the city holds that made it all and mighty!"

"Kou, once we graduate, let's get out and go to Tokyo together! Even when we're grown up, in this town, we'll still be stuck with the school hierarchy!" Amane told him. "We'll never be free of these moldy old traditions! C'mon, Yashiro, Tsukasa! You two are coming with us, right?"

"Ofcourse I will! Where ever you go, I'll go, Amane!" Tsukasa grinned and tackled his brother on to the grass below them.

"Hmm?" Absently, Nene looks up from her magazine.

"...Were you even listening, senpai?" Kou asked.

"Mm. I don't really, uh... I think I'll just live here for the rest of my life."

The boys sighed at her response. This is one of the reason why Nene will never have a boyfriend. Then again, Amane, Tsukasa and Kou never really have a girlfriend before.

The wind whispers gently. Below them was Itomori Lake. Placid, calm, and completely disinterested.

The town doesn't have a bookstore or a dentist. There's one train every two hours, buses come through only twice each day, the citizens don't really get any weather reports in the area. The convenience store closes at nine, and it had only sells products like vegetable seeds and high-grade farming equipment.

The four was now walking home. School was done but Amane, Kou and Tsukasa were still ranting the flaws of their town.

"There are no big chains like McDonald's or MOS Burger, but we have two sleazy snackbars."

"There's no work, no girls come here to find husbands, and the daylight hours are short."

The boys usually find the the town's sparse population refreshing. They were almost proud but today, their despair was in earnest.

Nene was walking besides them, off in her own world. Having enough with her friends's constant whining, she irritably cuts into the conversation.

"Geez, can you three just be quiet!"

"What?" The boys asked, simultanously. Nene gave them a small smile.

"Forget about all that stuff. Wanna stop at the cafe?"

"Huh...?"

"Eh...?"

"Wha...?!"

"A cafe?!" The boys chorus in perfect unison. And for some reason, this made Nene back away, creeped out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here." Kou handed out the cans of juice from the vending machine. With a motorized whine, an old man riding his electric scooter home from the fields crosses in front of the four, and a passing stray dog sat down and yawned.

The cafe was not exactly what Amane had been expecting. It was not one of those fantastic, fabled spaces that serves delectable treats. It was just a neighborhood bus stop out in the middle of nowhere with a vending machine and a bench with an ice-cream sign from about thirty years ago plastered to it. The four cramped side by side on the wooden bench, sipping their juice with the dog rests at their feet.

The boys knew that Nene didn't really tricked them, but what did they expect from a small town they live in?

"Okay, I'm heading home." Amane stood up and waved at his friends. His twin brother quickly drank his remaining bevarage before tossing the can into the garbage bin.

"I think it's about a degree cooler than it
was yesterday." Amane said as his brother jogged besides him.

"No, I think it's a degree warmer."

"Good luck for tonight, Amane-kun!" The older twin heard Nene said.

"We'll come by and watch later." Kou promised him.

"You seriously don't have to! Actually, don't you dare!" Amane shouted, looking back at his friends. He heard his brother laughed making him sighed and continued walking home.

He was getting nervous as the minutes pass and the close he got to his house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Awww, I wanna go. Can I go now?" Tsukasa grumbles. He really didn't want to wind thread around the ball-weights. "Aren't these jobs suppose to be for the shrine maidens?"

"Now, now, Tsukasa. Be patient." Their grandmother lightly scolded him. "The shrine maiden is not here yet. There is no one here, besides you and your brother to do the threads."

The constant click of spherical weights knocking together echoes in a workroom big enough for only about eight tatami mats.

"Listen to the voice of the thread." The elderly priestess said to her youngest grandson, her hands never pause in their work. "If you keep winding threads that way, before long, emotions will start running between you and the thread."

"Huh? But thread doesn't talk." Tsukasa objected.

"She meant that you should focus." Amane told his twin.

"Our braided cords-" The twins' grandmother continues, ignoring Tsukasa’s objection. The twins were wearing Yukatas with their grandmother wearing a kimono. The three was currently finishing up the cords that were going to be used in the ceremony, tonight.

Braided cords are made of thin threads plaited together into a single rope. It was a traditional folk art that had been handed down for a very long time. The finished cords are quite colorful, with all sorts of designs braided. That said, the work takes quite a bit of skill, so the twins were helping their gradmother in doing so. Unlike Amane who knew how to braid cords, Tsukasa was spending the time doing assistant work, winding the threads.

"Our braided cords hold a thousand years of Itomori's history. I tell you, that school of yours really should put priority on teaching this sort of town history to you children. Listen, two hundred years ago..." Their grandmother began storytelling.

"Here we go again..." Amane muttered with a small smile. He already heard the story dozen of times since his grandmother had been teaching him the traditions. He was the next in line, shinto priest of his family's shrine after all.

"A fire began in the bathroom of Mayugorou Yamazaki, the straw sandal-maker, and it burned up this whole area, including the shrine and all the old records. It was what people call-"

The twins' grandmother glance at the eldest twin, wanting him to be the one to continue.

"The Great Mayugorou Fire." Amane answered, making his grandmother nodded in satisfication.

"What? They named the fire after him?!" Tsukasa exclaims, startled. "Poor Mayugorou." He then muttered. "Having his name stick around cause of something like that."

"Thanks to that fire, we don't know what our dances or the patterns in our cords mean anymore. All we have left are the forms. Still, even not knowing, we mustn't ever let the forms disappear. The meaning in those shapes is bound to resurface someday."

Amane listened quietly. He already knew this after all, but he still insisted on listening.

"Here, at the Yugi Shrine, that's our solemn duty. And yet..." Amane glance at his grandmother who lowered her mild eyes, sadly. "And yet, that foolish son of mine... As if abandoning the priesthood and leaving this house weren't enough, he had to become a politician..."

Their grandmother sighed. Amane stared at his finished cords, brightly colored cord from the round stand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have one more, my man." Yugi Toshiki said as he poured more sake in the cup of his contractor. He smiled. "I'm counting on your help again."

"Leave it to me." Kou's father, grinned. Drinking the alcohol, all in one gulp. He was  already drunk. "You'll get votes from the Kadoiri and Sakagami Districts."

The mayor and his men were currently drinking together inside the minamoto household. Their public campaign was a complete success that they got the attention of a lot of citizens. To celebrate, they decided to go drinking at the contractor's house.

"I smell corruption." Kou joked, making his little sister, Tiara laugh. He was currently preparing dinner with his five years old little sister watching. He could hear the conversations of the drunken men from the other side of the room.

"Silly, Onii-chan!" Tiara giggled, making her older brother slighly smile. The door swung open, and his druken father entered the kitchen where he and Tiara were currently in.

"Bring us a few more hot sake." His father demaned, making the younger boy sighed.

"Okay."

"Kou, come help on site this weekend." His father told him, ruffling his daughter's blonde locks as he passed where she sat. "Learn how to use explosives."

"Yes." Kou muttered, preparing the sake just as his father told him.

"Can't hear you."

"Yes!" Kou huffed in annoyance. He soon served the sake to his father's guest and went to put his little sister into bed, after she ate her dinner.

Sometimes, he hate his father. Kou was still young, barely even a teenager to work on a construction sight but here he was, being forced to do labor by his own father.

His other brother was always the favored sibling. Having a perfect personality, perfect grades and manners. He was always the one who pleased their parents, that he was allowed to move to tokyo for highschool. But the older sibling was not that good at chores or other labor works.

That's why Kou was the one who covered this up.

Kou opened his bedroom window and peaked to the direction where Amane's house was. The whole street was lightened up and traditional music was playing on.

"We both have had enough, don't we?" Kou sighed. He then glance up to a portrait, where he, Tiara and his older brother was smiling brightly. It was taken when his older brother graduated middle school. "I'll see you soon, Nii-san."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was that time every year where the Yugi Shrine holds its harvest festival. Being the only girl, Amane and Tsukasa's older cousin, Hanako was the one who would wear crisp shrine maiden outfits and jingly hair ornaments. To go out in front of the standing audience at the kagura hall, and dance the dance their grandmother had taught her. She lived on the other side of town which is why she wasn't always present around the house, only during sacret events like now.

It was one of the traditions whose meaning was lost in the fire, and was suppose to be performed by two people, moving in sync. Seeing that there was only one girl in their family, the tradition had no choice but to be improvise.

Amane watched his cousin holding bells with colorful cords tied to them, ringing them as she twirled around and around, making the cords flare out and trail behind her. He was wearing the traditional shinto priest outfit, that his grandmother forced him to wear. He was sitting on his knees, right behind his dancing cousin,who was close to finishing her dance.

Tsukasa was nowhere to be found. Amane knew that from the moment the ritual was about to start, the younger twin was quick on his feet and fleed away for him to be not apart of the event.

Earlier, During his ritual for the harvest gods, he spotted both Kou and Nene out of the corner of his eye and got even more depressed. He knew that he couldn't curse them for watching his ritual since he was currently sending a prayer for the gods, thanking them for a successful harvest. It would have been a complete blaspheme.

His mood turned sour when he also saw his three other classmates, making fun of him for wearing a ridiculous priest attire.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he noticed that his cousin had already finished her dance and was kneeling on the floor, doing the next part of the tradition, infront of everyone who were watching.

Kuchikamisake. Other people called it, Mouth-brewed sake.

It is the oldest type of sake in Japan. Chewed up rice, mixing it with saliva, then just let it sit, it ferments and turns into alcohol. Then it will be offered to the gods. Amane was somehow relief that he didn't have to do that infront of everyone. He and Tsukasa had already made theirs earlier, seeing that priests should do it more privately.

For some reason, he felt a little bad for his cousin who was in need to do it in public.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cheer up, Amane! Who cares if people from school saw you?" Tsukasa asked, as he help his brother out of his priest attire.

"It must be nice being carefree... You weren't the one who was chosen to be the next head priest." Amane glared at his younger twin brother as he put on a clean white shirt. They then, left the shrine office
entrance.

After the harvest festival, to close out the night, Amane along his cousin, Hanako attended a banquet for the local men and women who helped with the festival. His grandmother was the hostess, seeing that Amane wasn't that good with the crowd.

Amane had entertained almost desperately, wore himself out, after making a few conversation with the old men and women in the banquet.

"You kids can go on home." His grandmother told him and that's when he found Tsukasa. Longing around the food area as he stuff his face with food. Amane literary dragged his brother out of the party with their grandmother, cousin and the other adults are still at the shrine office, carrying on with the banquet.

"Tsukasa, do you know what the average age was back there, in the office?" Amane asked his brother. On the grounds, all the lights on the shrine approach are out, and the cool sounds of insect songs echo all around the thirteen years old twins.

"I dunno. Sixty?" Tsukasa shrugged. Not really caring about the ages of the elders around Itomori.

"I did the math in the kitchen. It was seventy-eight. Seventy-eight!"

"Huh?"

"Now that we're gone, it's ninety-one in there! They're pushing a hundred. They're in the final stage of life. The underworld might send a reaper for the whole place!"

"That sounded so cool!" Tsukasa grinned.

Amane wanted to facepalm. How can his brother be this dense? What he was trying to say was for the two of then to leave the town before they become one of the elders. Old. He didn't really want to live his whole life in this town. Giving up with conversing with his brother, he look at the sky. The vast expanse of it is filled with dazzling bright stars, shining transcendentally. He wished that he could be a star, away from all the troubles of the world.

"...That's it!" Tsukasa exclaimed as they descend the shrine's long stone stairway, side by side. "Amane, why don't we do that thing like before!? Hanako-nee already did it too. Why don't you chew up a whole bunch of that sake, we made earlier and use it to pay your way to Tokyo?!"

"You've got quite the mind to come up with that..." Amane commented, laughing slightly at his brother's wide imagination.

"You could send snapshots and making of documentary videos with it and call it 'Shrine Priest Sake'  or something! I bet that'd sell!" Tsukasa explained, making Amane a little worried for his own brother's sanity. The younger twin didn't know much about the real world, and everything was not the way he sees it. He then realized that Tsukasa was actually concerned about him, in his own way. "Well? What'cha think?"

Amane began to think. He then blushed when he realized it. "Wait, no! It'll be against the liquor laws!"

Amane didn't know what had gotten into his mind, because the next thing he knew, he broke into a run. All sorts of incidents and feelings and prospects and doubts and despairs are jumbled together inside of him. Ready and was about to explode.He run down the steps, taking them two at a time. He stood infront the torii gate and suck in a huge lungful of chilly night air, letting out the bottled feelings from his chest.

"I'm sick of this town! I'm sick of this life!" Amane yelled. "Please make me a cute Tokyo girl in my next life!"

His wish echoes around the dark mountains, then disappears as though drawn into Itomori Lake below him. The words came out on impulse, Amane knew that it was a childish wish, but what else he could say?

He really want to see the city rather than the small mountain town, he was born in.