Crying Night

Fifteen: Death

"Onee-sama... is Tekko?" I repeated the revelation she gave me.

"Yes... it's true..." Hoshi-onee-sama lowered her head in shame.

I started to piece together some things. The confession ordeal, especially, became clear: How Taiyou was there to get me through the gate, the fact that Senaka Teko got everything on tape, despite reporters being strictly prohibited, and how she knew exactly where I was. Also, how fast she swiped the camera from me that time, and how she somehow knew that Hoshi-onee-sama would be fine with her, despite not meeting her. It was because Teko was my Onee-sama all along.

But some things didn't make sense. For instance, why was Onee-sama keeping watch on me in the first place with Concealment? Was it really necessary? And why did she change her personality so much? Which person was the true Kusari Hoshi?

"I know your head must be swirling with questions, but I can't answer them." Hoshi interrupted my thoughts. Did she know that I was thinking of asking her stuff?

"But, I can tell you that I will keep on caring for you and watching over you as Senaka Teko."

"Onee-sama...? Why are you...?" I shook my head as she coughed up blood.

"I knew I would die here today. What I didn't know was that you hadn't found out that I was Senaka Teko. But...I have to let you know something..." She was getting weaker. 

Blood oozed out of her wound as I held her. It almost seemed to make a magic circle.

"No... Don't..." I grabbed Onee-sama's hand.

Onee-sama looked at me and shook her head. 

"Don't tell Teko that she's really a fabricated personality, or else I will truly die. I will rest in her, but I won't be able to come out. So, this is goodbye, Tsuki... Also.............." She whispered something in my ear I will never forget as her voice grew weaker.

Her eyes grew dim, and her hand grew limp. I held Hoshi-onee-sama's lifeless body, and I wept so much that it seemed like my sorrow would never end.

I don't know what happened after that. But, when I woke up, the entire house had been destroyed to nothing, and Senaka Teko was lying in a crater next to me where our house once stood. The house that we worked so hard to obtain disappeared. 

Despite my sorrow, I could not cry. I could only kneel and scream.

On that day, leaving more questions than answers, Kusari Hoshi died, burying many truths except two.

"I had an oracle when I was ten from the first Moon Power holder, and she gave me the power to see the future on top of Concealment. I will give Teko my powers, but you will have to live without me."

And...

 "I love you. I always will."