Memory 3916
Her father sits across from her, eating his dinner in silence. Rin glances up at him occasionally, careful to avoid being accused of staring.
Something is different with him. He has never been particularly talkative after work, but something seems to hang over him now. He jabs at his meal aggressively. Mutters to himself. As if responding to someone. Her mother acts as if nothing is wrong, asks Rin how her day was.
It was good. She moves a piece of meat from one side of her plate to the other. A lie, but the last thing her mother needs is another thing to worry about. She hasn't been herself lately either. She struggles to wake up, and Rin has heard her crying a few times.
After eating, she clears her dishes, and sits back down to complete her homework.
Have you practiced today?
His voice makes her wince. Each syllable is staccato-sharp.
I will after this.
For a moment, his face contorts into one of rage, but he represses it almost immediately. See to it that you do.Memory 4058
Rin sits on the wooden floor. The walls arounds her shift and warp. Rain falls on her head, despite the ceiling above. A crash, like thunder or a car wreck, rings out from
behind her. She whips her head around.
There's now a door where there was once a wall. And standing in the doorframe, a figure with a sword. Rin leaps to her feet, begins to run. The ground turns from smooth wood to slick poured concrete, and every step takes all of her focus to avoid slipping. She hears a faint hissing above the sound of her footfalls. She glances over her shoulder. The figure is gaining on her.
A gnarled root cracking through the concrete catches her toe, and Rin tumbles to the ground. Pain crackles through her elbows, her knees. She tries to crawl away, but a hand grabs her ankle, pulls her. She rolls to her back and throws up her hands in a feeble attempt to defend herself. Looks up.
Her father.
It's definitely him, but it isn't-his face is twisted, contorted into a foul grin. He takes the sword and holds it up, just as she learned in her classes, preparing to deliver a killing blow. The hissing is overwhelming, now. His mouth is moving, but she cannot hear words. Only hissing.
From the darkness behind him, she sees a great white form move with terrifying speed. She tries to point, to warn him. He just grins, sword over his head.
It comes into view and her arm falls.
A snake.
She tries to scream, but no sound comes out. She watches as the snake swallows her father whole, sword and all.
Rin gasps for air as she awakens.Memory 4112
It's just a dream, Rin.
Her mother's voice is weak, but reassuring. Rin sits on the floor beside her mother, who is laying in her bed.
It didn't feel like a normal dream. Rin pulls her knees to her chin, hugs them. She's never taken a day off school, but she slept so little last night that she feels like she might pass out on the bike ride there.
Her mother sighs, partly exasperated, partly from the pain.
I used to have nightmares too.
Really? What were they about?
Oh, lots of things. About your father losing his job. About losing you. Sometimes it's your body's way of telling you that you're under too much stress.
What did you do to make them stop?
Well, nothing. I suppose my brain accomplished what it needed to. Worked through whatever was bothering it.
Rin looks up at her mother, who has rolled over to face her. She smiles, despite clearly being in great pain just being on her side.
Of course, the spider dreams never stopped.
Spiders?
Yes, big, hairy spiders. With big googly eyes. Dropping from the ceiling—
Her mother reaches out and grabs the top of Rin's head, ruffles her hair with her fingers. Rin jerks away, giggling. Mom!
Rin, I want you to do nothing today. No homework, no practice. Just let yourself relax. I promise, this will pass.Memory 4175
It says that rain can be a positive thing.
Rin looks up from her lunch at Nanami. She has a book of dream interpretation propped up on her knee as she balances a bento box on the other leg.
Like how spring rain means new beginnings.
Chiaki laughs. I don't think getting chased with a sword means rebirth. What does your book say about swords?
Nanami awkwardly flips through the book, nearly spilling her lunch on the floor. It... doesn't really seem like it applies.
Rin mutters at her friend, quietly, but forcefully. Go on, read it.
It means power. Strength. But usually people dream about having the sword themselves.
Chiaki laughs, points at Nanami with her chocolate bar. See, Rin? You just have to take the power. Next time you have the dream, try taking the power away.
I can't change the dream. It's the same thing every time.
The school bell rings, and Nanami shoots up from the hallway floor, pushes up her glasses. Come on, we're going to be late.
Chiaki points her candy bar at Rin now, shaking it, crumbs sprinkling the hall floor. You think Rin cares about being late? She's one of the bad kids now. She's skipping school, aren't you, Rin?
I was sick.
Yeah, sure. Sick. I hate Professor Morimoto, come on, let's skip.Memory 4222
Here she is again. The wooden floor. The rain falling from the ceiling. The crash behind her. She doesn't even turn around this time. She knows it's him. She rises to her feet and begins to run. It feels as though her entire body is made of jelly, like she is running underwater. She scans the ground intently for the root. Sees it. Attempts to leap over it. She can never dodge the root. It bends and whips into the air, grappling her, pulling her to the ground. That familiar pain radiates through her joints. She rolls to her back again. Looks up at him. That grin again. She tries to shout at him over the crescendo of the snake's hiss. Why? As if to respond, his voice mouths words, but no sound comes out. And just as he attempts to strike a blow, the snake devours him whole again, and Rin wakes up. She checks the watch beside her bed. Three in the morning. She knows she isn't going to sleep anymore tonight. So she sits up, stares at the wall, and waits for the sun to rise.Memory 4260
At her mother's insistence, she stayed home again today. But her mother is in no condition to keep her company. She needs her sleep. Rin instead pads around the house, looping between the kitchen, her bedroom, the living room. Can't decide what to do with her day. After the fifth or sixth time she looks in the fridge, she thinks of her father's office. Something overtakes her and she finds herself at his desk, looking over his papers. She checks her watch. Plenty of time before he gets home. She picks up a folder, flips through it. Nothing interesting. She carefully places it back where she found it. She rifles around in the desk, stops when she sees something hidden at the bottom. An old, leatherbound book. She picks it up, flips it open. The Yamaoka family. And the Yamaoka curse. She snaps the book closed, and feels an unfamiliar anger bubble up within her. Why does he have this? And why is he hiding it? She closes the desk, makes sure nothing is out of place, walks towards the door. And freezes. Her eyes rise up, above the door. She had never noticed it before. Or perhaps it hadn't been there before. The sword from her dream.Memory 4306
As the first patters of rain cool the top of her scalp, she realizes she is in the dream again. She pulls herself up and starts running again. The same dance. She runs, and keeps running. The root should have tripped me by now. A different kind of fear creeps up on her. This is new territory. Despite the fear, there was at least something comforting about the predictability of it. As she runs, she sees a different figure in the distance. She slows her run as she gets closer. The figure is massive, hulking over her. She has never seen him before, but she recognizes him immediately. Kazan Yamaoka. She gazes up at him, and hate washes over her. If he had just died, she wouldn't be here, stuck in this house, with these responsibilities, with this father. But she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Soon her father will come, and try and kill her, and the snake will stop him. As she thinks this, Kazan draws his sword. Holds it out to her. Gestures for her to take it. To use it to kill her own father. She hears her father's footsteps getting closer behind her. In a panic, she grabs for the blade, readies herself for his attack. Turns around. Her father is not alone. Behind her father stands another man. An older man, his eyes pleading for her to stop. She feels the hatred of Kazan emanate from behind her, almost like a heat. So this is Kazan's father. The hissing comes back, and behind him, the snake again. She lowers her guard, waiting for it to strike. To swallow her father. To wake her up. To stare at the wall until sunrise, to drag herself through the motions, to watch her mother continue to decay in front of her eyes, to watch her father fall deeper into whatever is wrong with him. The snake pauses, surveys the scene. This time, her father looks up at the snake too. All of them do. Something inside her tells her this is her moment. She raises her guard again and dashes forward, prepares to strike her father, to end this cycle. And stops. And drops the blade. And everything goes dark as she is swallowed whole.
