From Another World ~ Samo

~ Chapter 10 ~

"Yeah, we have nothing to unlock." Momo replied, before humming thoughtfully as she turned the book over. "Well, except for this. But it's not a real lock..." She studied the illustration of the lock on the underside.

We need to try it anyway.

Sana took the book from Momo, and their hands touched. Such soft hands.

"No, Sana...Look past her features..." 

Soft hands. Soft hands reminded Sana of 'Her'. 'She' was kind, thoughtful, but most importantly, 'She' was loveable. Momo was a little like 'Her' in that way. Momo was kind, thoughtful...She seemed loveable. Why was she so similar to 'Her'?

Sana shook her head, before trying the fake lock with the key. To their surprise, it actually fit in. Sana flipped over to the final page, but the key didn't even leave a lump on the inner half. It was as if it just disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, Sana twisted the key once, and the three girls watched in awe as the letters swam around on the pages. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were doing flips. They did nothing but blink silently until the letters finally rested into coherent words.

They looked at the front cover, and realised that something else had also changed. One of the girls suddenly had her face scribbled out with red ink. A bad omen. Why would anyone want her dead? 

Momo took the book back, and she flipped onto the first page. Despite it being an empty part of the library, they had to make sure nobody was around. Just in case they found out something they weren't supposed to. 

"15th August 1886. I'm sick of the world's ignorance. Our music is something new, something refreshing, and people are still wary of us. Why should our futuristic technology matter? Music is music." Momo skipped through some pages, before cocking her head. "9th February 1887. It's not Momo this time, it's Sana. I stole her diary."

Momo was surprised that they were writing in Japanese, but she recognised that their names weren't exactly uncommon. The coincidence was rather odd, however. She continued reading.

"I feel bad for Momo. She's stressed, and-"

The girl stopped when a page slipped out. Mina picked it up, before gasping.

"Im Nayeon, Yoo Jeongyeon, Hirai Momo, Minatozaki Sana, Park Jihyo, Myōi Mina, Kim Dahyun, Son Chaeyoung and Chou Tzuyu." She read out, and their hearts seemed to stop for a moment. "Us, Nayeon and her friends, and Chaeyoung and her friends?" Mina shook her head. "That's not just a coincidence..."

Momo exhaled a shaky breath.

"Um...Skip, skip, skip..." She muttered as she flicked through the pages. "18 March 1887. Nayeon's arguing with Mina again. I don't know what happened to them, but they'd better get it together before our next performance. I don't want them getting into a fight while singing 'Heart Shaker'..."

Does it say why they're arguing?

Sana asked.

"Hm...No. I don't think so. 28 March 1887. Jihyo's scolding Nayeon and Mina for almost starting an argument while talking to supporters...Skip, skip...30 March 1887. Mina's acting so weird recently..." Momo tutted as she continued moving quickly through the pages. "She's on edge around Nayeon all the time, and it's like she's trying to get closer to Sana on purpose. It's making Sana uncomfortable as shit, and either she doesn't realise it, or Mina doesn't care."

Mina bit her lip, hard. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and was lightly tapping her foot on the floor. Momo continued, before gasping.

"Girls...There's blood on this page."

The others looked at it, and their eyes widened. The page was indeed splattered with blood. Other than that, it was completely blank. Momo remembered what Sana had done earlier, and twisted the key once more. Similar to before, the letters just appeared in place, this time written in golden ink.

"5 April 1887. Something bad happened. Something really bad happened. I can't even-" Momo struggled to read where a tear drop had blurred the ink. "Why did she do it? The girls said we had to report it as missing. God, I can't get it out of my head." Another tear. "My diary got bloodied from when my arm was slashed. I can't write about what really happened. I need somebody to find this though, so I'll use a spell Mina taught us before she 'went missing'. When you read this, take this book and sprinkle it with dew. The truth will soon become known." Momo sighed. "Blank again." She twisted the key, but this time nothing happened. That meant it was really over. They stayed in silence for a little while, until Sana wrote something down.

1886-7? Why does nobody here know anything about them, it's only 2023 right?

"Yeah...I thought they would have been here much earlier than the 1800s...Maybe 1600s?" Mina agreed, pursing her lips. "And not only do they have the same names as us, but don't you think they look like us, but older?" Her eyes narrowed at the front cover. "And the girl with the red scribble; or Mina, definitely resembles me."

🐹🩷🐻

The girls soon left, not forgetting to take the book with them. They didn't check it out of the library, because it didn't seem like it was meant to be there in the first place.

As she walked, something felt weird to Sana. She was getting an uncomfortable feeling, and it made her scared. Without even realising at first, she latched onto Momo's hand, their fingers intertwining.

Soft hands. Sana felt a smile creep up on her face. She didn't really want to let go. It comforted her, and for the first time, Sana didn't think of 'Her'. All she could think about was Momo.