12 Roses

14 | Curses and Voices

"Um, in exchange for her powers... I agreed to go with her."

"What?!"

"You mean... death?!"

"What were you thinking?!"

Before Yuta could get to Rika, it seemed like she shrunk and turned into a young girl with long brown hair and a knee length dress.

You raised a brow, holding Toge's shoulder as you moved behind him.

Approaching claps gained your attention and you viewed Gojo walking towards you. "Congrats. The curse is broken."

"Who are you?"

"Everyone's favourite, good-looking Gojo-sensei."

"What curse?" you asked.

"I thought that Yuta's theory was interesting, so I looked into his lineage. Rika's was complete a long time ago, but Yuta's was quite the search. And we found out..." Gojo held up to peace signs. "Apparently, you're a descendant of Michizune Sugawara. It may be super distant, but we're relatives!"

Your brows shot up and you turned to the innocent and tired looking boy. "Who...?"

"One of Japan's big three vengeful spirits," Maki explained.

"Yuta, you're right," Gojo continued. "Rika isn't cursing you. You cursed Rika."

You gazed upon the young girl, pity filling your eyes. At her age, you knew that all you were doing was running around your family's flower shop.

Guilty tears streamed down Yuta's face.

"It's all my fault... Turning Rika into a curse, hurting so many people. Because Geto was after me... everyone nearly died."

But before he could rip out his hair in anguish, Rika took it upon herself to remind him of one thing as her arms wrapped around him.

"Yuta... Thank you. For giving me the time. For letting me be by your side. I've been happier these past six years... than when I was alive."

She pulled away. "Goodbye... be well."

A smile spread across her face.

"And don't come too soon, okay?"

And she was gone with the wind, as little stars that found their place in the sky at last.

•••

When you opened your eyes, you were met with the ceiling of one of the rooms in the cabin, but it wasn't yours.

Your head pounded and you couldn't figure out if you were freezing or boiling, burying your face into the sweater that clung to you and trying to convince yourself that the room wasn't spinning.

It was sweltering under the blanket but the moment you took it off, it was like being thrown back out into the snow.

Your eyes burned and watered when you tried to go back to sleep so you slowly slipped out of bed to try and wash your face.