TURNING RED 2 : White Code

Chapter 8 - Half of me

I find myself, or rather my spirit finds itself in an astral world, I am in the courtyard of an ancient Japanese temple lined with cherry blossoms, in the center of this courtyard, just under my feet, is the giant dial of a compass indicating the 4 cardinal points. I look around trying to figure out how to get out of here and back into the real world. Something catches my eye and in front of me appears the spirit of my ancestor Yazu Kazu, he has a desolate look and makes a large mirror appear in front of me a bit as if he was doing it reluctantly, in the latter I see my reflection with brown hair, the one I was before all this...the one I really don't want to become again, but I feel pushed towards this mirror, as if an invisible force is leading me there against my will . Arriving very close to the latter I put my two hands in front of me to gain support and prevent the invisible force from crushing me against except that my hands pass through it like a liquid element and I jump in surprise sending the tiger's paws coming out from my side of the mirror making the same movements as my hands. The pushing stops and I manage to extract one of mine from the surface but I feel on the contrary this time that the other is as if sucked by the mirror and if I do nothing it will cause my whole body to inside, I then try to free it by pulling on it with the other and putting all my weight on it in the opposite direction but to no avail I continue to be sucked in little by little. My feet which serve as supports end up passing through and being sucked in as well, now I struggle with all my strength to try to get out of this trap, but the force of the mirror is too great, it is then my legs which pass through, then the bottom of my bust, while the same limbs of the tiger appear in the same way on the other side, then finally my bust is also caught and my head ends up passing to the other side of the surface. Through the latter I can see the face of the tiger with its luminous eyes, he too does not seem to want to leave me, with tears in my eyes I extend my free arm, the only limb that remains to me on the other side in his direction as if I wanted to grab his, he wanting to do the same but alas we pass through each other, no hold possible on each other. Finally, despite all my efforts and until the last second when our fingers brush against each other, we find ourselves separated, the tiger and I, I see him one last time on the other side of the mirror before the latter disappears, leaving me in the dark total. Things are also happening on a physical level during this time, my body levitating in the circle of light feels agitated and the spirit of the tiger ends up emerging from my chest and he doesn't look happy , Mr. Gao holds out a jewel representing Yin and Yang in front of him and sucks the tiger inside.

The circle of light goes out, my body falls to the ground and they stop singing, I end up opening my eyes a little disconcerted, wondering if I dreamed or not... only... this feeling of emptiness inside me as well as the brown color of my locks falling in front of my eyes remind me that all this is very real. I get up and look around, no one dares to look at me except Ming. I feel very angry, and I yell at them to know how they could do this to me and it is precisely she who approaches me telling me that I should rather thank them because despite everything they decided to give me a second chance by separating me from the tiger because according to her it is an evil and dangerous spirit which pushed me to do bad things when I realized it and now I could start again on good foundations but in the meantime she keeps the jewelry with the spirit of my tiger because she wants to speak firmly with my parents and give it to them. Mei always unlocks the door of the temple without a glance or a word and opens it as if to invite me to leave... well don't tell me twice I have no intention of staying any longer a long time here surrounded by all these... people... I hate them all as much as they are. I stride towards the exit and stop in front of Mellin, I ask her how she could betray me like that when we shared the same kind of gift that made us unique but once again I only have silence and the absence of a look as a response, I huff in annoyance and I tell her that ultimately she was right and that we must not see each other again, I then go through the doors of the temple, I turn around one last time looking at them all with contempt and I wish them that their little tourist business continues to operate before leaving.