Unseen

Mirai Hoshiyuki

In a blink of an eye, a lightning bolt struck the rock that she was standing on. 

"YUKI!!" 

I rushed over to her but as soon as I stepped into the water, she came out unscathed. 

"W-what?"

She chuckled as she hopped of the rock, and walked towards me. 

"Just to explain it to you in simple words, this was the business I had." Yujiro smiled as she looked up to me, "I'm dead, Mide."

I can't describe how fazed I am right now. That explains everything; the reason why her hands were so cold, the secrets she's been keeping from me, why she couldn't tell me her name, why she didn't go into the house, basically everything. I was really talking to a dead person this whole time without knowing it? I had my suspicions, but I never thought it was real.

"Sorry for not telling you."

"Please don't tell me... you aren't Yuki-san's sister aren't you?" 

"Hah! I'm surprised you could figure it out, took you long enough for an idiot like you. She's already up there since you're curious." Yujiro laughed, "私は星雪未来です(My name is Mirai Hoshiyuki), I died 12 years ago, Yujiro Hasaki was my best friend and Yuki Hasaki's younger sister." 

As speechless as I was, it wasn't enough. Not long after, her fingers started disintegrating into bright lights that floated away in the light breeze that came after the rain.

"Well, I guess that's my queue to go." 

"Wait, w-what's happening?" I managed to gather my words before I could lose my last marbles.

"I dropped so many hints for you to go, but you still came back after so many tries." She sighed as her forearms started disintegrating, "If someone figures out who I am or remembers me, I will disappear. That was just the deal I made with Yujiro, the oak tree we sat under." 

"T-the others are also...dead?" Mirai nodded in response as I tried to process all the information as fast as possible. I broke down in response, hugging me legs in a crouch as tears started swimming down my cheeks. That earned me a sad smile from Mirai, who sat down beside me as she tried to comfort me.

I started giggling for some weird reason, I felt like I was going to lose my mind. 

"I won't last much longer so I'll do this one last time." Mirai said as she bit my sleeve and tried to pull it as she ran into the trees. My head whipped up and I shot up following her, ignoring the tears as I know that I haven't much time left with her.

We headed down a familiar path as she speeded through the trees like a whip. Alas we reach our destination, she brought me to the oak tree.

She hid behind the tree and I could kind of tell where she was going. With slight hesitation, I circled the tree and found her, "My name is Mirai Hoshiyuki, よろしく願。(Nice to meet ya.)" 

I smiled as I teared up to reply knowing that this was the last introduction that I was ever going to get from her, "I'm Mide Kazuku, it's nice to meet you, Mirai."

She jumped at me without her hands into a hug, trying her best to not let go. I embraced this hug like none other before as the cries we held back let loose. We screamed our lungs out, overtaking the fireworks' explosions. Her head tilted down as she looked at her obi, I take the hint and pull out her mask, placing it over my face. 

"じゃねえ、ミデ。(See you later, Mide.)" Mirai said as an ocean of tears claimed her eyes, but still her smile was plastered on her face. 

"またねえ、ゆきーちゃん。(See you, Yuki-chan.)" I barely manage to get that out as I tightened my grasp. The last of her faded into nothing, I fell to the ground now holding nothing but her mask. 

My face turned into a mess, mucus and tears streamed down my face as I scream and shout for there was nothing I could do to get her back. There was no 'see you tomorrow' for me nor her.

"AAAAHHHH!" I hug her mask as I let myself crumple on the grass, knowing that the next time I come back, I'll be missing that one reason I ventured so far. All I have left is the mask that covered up the pain of my best friend that I never could see.