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.

"Kirei chan..." Mizuki calls out slowly, disbelief, perplexed.

"I know you must be really confused why I did that. I don't know how you got involved in all this in the first place, but it must've looked like you were trying to save me from your perspective"

"But Kirei chan, that thing is not what you think-"

"I know perfectly well what it's doing Mizuki san, to my body. My actual body."

Mizuki shocked. But then she got reminded of Daisuke's earlier statement about Kirei being involved in this, that detail is starting to make more sense now.

"It's part of the contract after all.." Kirei continues explaining

"But you see, that's the price I'm willing to pay. The price for beauty, for us that was not born with the looks. It's too bad that I have to pay a hefty price for something others obtained for free, but I'm tired of complaining anymore. I just want the same thing, to feel beautiful"

"Why... Why would you chase that beauty so far to the point that it threatens your life..?" Mizuki unsatisfied with Kirei's decision.

She flashes a smile, not that of happiness, but that resembles a child caught in her action. A sort of guilty smile laced with relief of finally being caught.

"What's wrong with a girl wanting to be seen as beautiful? My encounter with Hizashi kun might've pushed me this time, but I've always, for the longest time, want to be pretty. Even if just... For a moment... I don't expect you to understand Mizuki san. For you, as long as you maintain that figure and work on the right part, you have potential to be as cute as Hanna chan. I noticed that about you"

Mizuki touches her own face, that remark was not something she expected in this situation. But, she's still waiting for Kirei's answer.

"But for me it's different, no matter what I do, I can't fix it. The guys always look at my face first before anything else. No matter how much I've worked on my figure, my style, my makeup, my grades even, even when I made the first move, trying every tricks in the book, even despite they having so much fun talking to me they can't get past the obvious flaw in my face!"

Past memories of her classmate's comment about Kirei flashes into Mizuki's brain

*Kirei is very good with makeup

You want to look more stylish? You should get advice from Kirei san

Which one suits you better, hmm maybe this one. But you should really ask Kirei san, she's an expert*

"I never have trouble making friends, the girls appreciate how much I know about styling up, the guys feel comfortable getting relationship advice from me, but none of them ever consider me as potential partner. It's worse when my parents try to make me feel better and keep telling me stuff like 'looks don't matter', or 'someday you'll find someone who can see your inner beauty' that makes me feel when worse, they're confirming my fear about HOW UGLY I AM!"

Kirei burst into tears. Mizuki reached out to comfort her but, she couldn't think of anything to say. Unlike Kirei's problem, she could fix her own problem with enough effort. It wasn't something she was born with. But Kirei's problem is something even more fundamental, every girl's insecurity. To be, undesirable, no matter what you work on. Mizuki can only listen. And perhaps, that's all Kirei need right now.

"Thank you, for being here Mizuki san. I know you don't mean anything bad. Perhaps, I'm the bad one, for being greedy despite the world treating me so nicely. My parents was always supporting me, my friends always cheered me up. Even when my family try to match me up with a guy with the same fate as me, someone who doesn't have a desirable look. He couldn't bring himself to desire me, but at least he can understand me. We both understand each other, and we both refuse to think that ugly people are only meant for each other. Almost like a universal caste, decided by fate itself. And I'm the wrong one for trying to go against that"

She wipes her tear, calming down.

"Do you know? The worse part about getting this new look is realizing how much I've been missing out. All the youth this and youth that from the magazine I've been reading, I've finally understand what they're all about only after getting this new look. Falling in love, getting a love letter, getting confessed to, going on a date, everything that wouldn't happen to the old me, that's what it means to be young... crazy how I got locked out of those wonderful school memories before I obtained this look"

"But that guy, your friend..."

She caught Mizuki's attention.

"I don't know how honest he's being. When he said he'd liked even before this all happened. But that did make me feel better. I guess, I don't need this anymore..." Finally the clasp of her hand breaks open. Disconnecting her ties with the ghost.

"Kirei chan!" Mizuki calls out to her, reaching for a hug. To comfort her one last time.

On the outside, while Daisuke is maintaining the girl's body. He sees the ghost slowly detaching from her body. The illusion breaking apart. The real Kirei, or what remains of her, starting to take form.

Mizuki reappears in the physical realm, still in a hugging position. She notices Daisuke and around her, she's back in the real world. However, the first thing on her mind.

"Kirei chan! Where is she? Daisuke kun!"

He didn't utter a single word, only pointing towards the decomposing half corpse. On her last breath.

"Huh? But why!? Daisuke kun! What happened to her!? We didn't kill her right? I THOUGHT WE ONLY UNDO HER POSSESSION?!!"

Getting worked up, Mizuki's very much disturbed by both what she just experienced and what she's seeing.

"Calm down Mizuki kun" he said calmly.

"This is not our doing, we only breaks her illusion"

"BUT THEN-?!"

"The guy at the train station gave me some clue as to what happened, and I have the time to check her body while you both were out" Daisuke explains as he lift the side of her uniform tops, revealing a brutal bruise on the left of her waist and even the side of her hips.

"During the earlier period of her possession, she got involved in an accident. The driver was shocked, it was late at night. But when he went down to check her he saw something horrifying, an unfinished possession of a girl with a broken pelvis. Suffice to say he was traumatized. After that, the ghost was practically controlling a dying body. You could say it's one perk of being under possession" that last part came out half jokingly. But Mizuki did not laugh.

She's still struggling to cope with what she just experienced, the feelings that was poured her way, and the convoluted reality of this supernatural phenomenon. She can only sit down, holding back her tears. But to little success.

"Why... does she has to go through all this...? How can one person... Be so.. unlucky..? Isn't it enough to just be-" her throat lumps with emotion, she breaks into tears. The one she'd been holding back while listening to Kirei.

"The accident was bound to happen as the ghost regularly took her body for a test drive while completing the possession. That wasn't being unlucky. Her reason for accepting it on the other hand..." He turns away from her while explaining, as if refusing to confront her while revealing the ugly truth.

"The easy answer is always to look beyond the physical appearance and find the beauty within. That's easy to say, that's what everyone says after all. However, the plain truth is that people will always judge you by your look first before getting to know you. Even if they fix their idea of you to be better after that, it doesn't change the fact that the first impression includes your appearance. It's hard not to be beaten down by that fact, especially..." He looked up to the ads board she'd gaze on earlier

"When those beauty have been commercialized to the point that you can't escape it. It's not a lie that having a good look opens up more opportunities on top of what you already have. As long as the world still appreciates beauty, the ugly will always feel unacknowledged. The ugly have to prove themselves to be likeable, the pretty have to mess up to be dislikable. That's just how the current society works."