Ghosts of Wonderland

Michiko

Halo Two: Michiko:

-Michiko-

I looked up at the mirror in front of me.

"Oh..."

I looked older. My actual age. I was looking at a woman with long midnight blue hair. I touched my right cheek. My face still looked young. The only signs of aging were around my eyes. Did I always look that tired? I looked so pale. My clothes hung off of my body. My hair looked so frail down to my upper back. When was the last time I saw her? Did she get thinner? I couldn't piece together what happened. Until now, I looked thirteen. Something must have happened for me to turn back to my real age.

I didn't get time to think about that.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I heard behind me. My stomach twisted up in knots. That's right. I haven't told him about this part of me yet.

I turned to see Masaomi standing in the doorway. He looked so confused. I pressed my lips together. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Michi-chan?" he asked. I froze.

"You recognize me?" I asked. Masaomi covered his mouth. I could see him putting the pieces together.

"It is you!" he said. My memories of him seeing me like this for the first time started coming back. Sometimes it would happen while other times it didn't. I was going to have to be careful with this. I didn't know what was going on. Something told me that this wasn't good.

"How much do remember?" I asked with my eyes narrowed. Masaomi closed his mouth at first.

"I've met you like this before," he said at last.

"Go on..." I said. There was a long pause. Masaomi took a moment to think. I fought to keep myself calm. But I couldn't stop my heart pounding in my chest. My mouth felt so dry.

"You and I grew close," he said in a quiet voice. Part of me dreaded pushing him on that line of questioning. I too remembered what he was talking about. I remembered his hands all over my body. I hadn't meant for that to happen. I wished that I could say that I didn't remember how it came to that moment, but that would be a lie. Given his current situation in this timeline, I'm afraid of what's going to happen next.

"Right..." I said. I noticed him staring at me like he was staring at a Rubix cube.

"What?" I asked.

"How did you end up like this?" Masaomi asked. I looked down at my pale and fragile body.

"I don't know," I said. As I said that, I had a feeling of what was about to unfold.

"Excuse me," I said. I reached over for the phone next to my bed. I dialed the number as fast as I could. I squirmed in place on the bed as the ringing filled my ear.

"Come on! Pick up," I mumbled. "Please pick up." It felt alien to use a landline now that I think about it. I perked up when I heard someone respond on the other line.

"Yes! I'm glad I caught you! I think we have a situation," I said.

-Tiresias-

We still can't find how they are getting the edge on us. I didn't know how bad until Michiko-san called me. The cell phone reception was taken out around Ikebukuro. I haven't had any troubles yet due to being outside of the city. However, I will have to go back to find the final Light Gate. Things here determined not to make this so easy for me. For all of us.

I took a sniff of the air. Yep. More of them are starting to come out of the woodwork to complicate things. Some of them might already be slipping out into the other neighborhoods around Tokyo. I haven't noticed anything amiss out here, but I'm not relaxing. I still have work to do. It didn't help that winter was here. We only have two more days until Christmas. I was reminded of this when Michiko-san called me.