Just Another Ghostly Story

Being Ugly

They're walking by the street at night. It seems Daisuke managed to open her up, she's actually laughing and having fun talking to him.
"I really appreciate you walking me home, Taguchi san. But I think I'll walk the rest of it by myself" Kirei politely tries to separate here with 'Taguchi san' Daisuke's not so original fake identity for this mission.
"Owh don't mind me, I still have more time for the day, I can keep you comp-"
"No! I-I'm really glad that you've done this much for me. I just- all this while..." She flustered a bit, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

"The truth is, I've always noticed you. Ever since that day..." Suddenly Daisuke breaks it to Kirei when she least expect it.

That caught her off guard, she'd practically only met this guy today but he's implying he'd long since known her.

"You may not remember it, but ever since that day last year, I've always been interested in you"

'last year? That's way before I got 'this', before I changed' she thought.

"You look a bit different now, but I still remember you. And always looking forward to this opportunity to talk with you. So when I saw you earlier, I rushed into the same train without much thought hahaha"

'so he dropped his stuff earlier because he was rushing to get in the same car as me' thinking about that makes her a little happy.

"But it's crazy. I wasn't even expecting you today, but we still crosses path. Almost like, it's mean to be.." he look at her right in the eye, almost hypnotically, she can't turn away from him either. He's echoing her own romantic ideal. And making her doubt her crushing on Hizashi.

'he has the same crush on me... before I changed my look. In the same way that I have my feelings for Hizashi kun... Could this be...?'

She's shaking in response, her lips trembling, her eyes watery. She wants to respond to his feelings but her body reacts too strongly that not a single word could afford to come out. She's crying but also laughing.

However, after she calms down, before she could muster a proper answer, she notices a billboard outside a convenience store. A  pin-up lady holding a drink. Kirei's smile slowly fades.

Daisuke notices her changing mood. He took out a small glass bottle and pulls the cork off.

"I'm sorry... Taguchi san.. I.. hope we can talk some other time, by then I'll give you-"

"Mizuki kun, Now!" Daisuke's sudden shout surprised Kirei.

Behind her is Mizuki, all teary eyed, grabbing onto the SP line on Kirei's back. Several dogs jumping at Mizuki and biting her but they don't make any damage to her cloth.

Kirei didn't understand the whole situation, but she realizes what Mizuki's trying to do, before she could pull off the thread

"Wait! Don't-"

But to their surprise, the one who turns back to grab the ghost was none other than Kirei herself. Mizuki did not anticipate her to take that action and thus not having enough reaction time to save her. 

Daisuke who was already collecting the ghost's SP into his bottle stopped halfway through and throws another kyokan knife he has in spare towards them, piercing them both and stabbing the SP thread into a wall.

"I'll leave her to you, Mizuki kun!"
The last thing Mizuki heard before fading into black, her hands still holding onto the thread but after a while she lost consciousness
'No! I can't... Let go! Kirei cha-'

And silence struck.

When Mizuki came to, she sees a familiar sight, it's almost like back when she got trapped with Daisuke in that white space, a Soul Cavity, or Reikan as he calls it. Not too far into the horizon, Kirei sitting down in front of an orb. She's staring silently at it.
"I know what this is, I've seen it in my dreams constantly ever since accepting it in me"
She holds it up, the haunting face of the ghost can be seen reflecting from inside it. Under it is a tail, trailing back to Kirei herself. The one coming from Kirei is of different color than the one coming from the orb, the split of the trail in the center is hidden by Kirei's grasp. She's grabbing onto the link between her and the ghost, even though evidently next to it are pieces of the severed knot, the one Mizuki tore off earlier, connecting them together.