Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
This white paper umbrella with a pink cherry blossom design was the same one from her Visualization experience!
Why did this umbrella appear here? Was she actually in a Visualization? No, this was a dream… were Visualizations and dreams connected?
Chiaki didn’t understand… but this wasn’t important right now.
The important part was this umbrella… could she use it?
Chiaki took the umbrella by its handle and opened it up!
The umbrella instantly started glowing white. The pressuring force she sensed instantly lessened, and her consciousness became clearer.
A white barrier blocked the falling cherry blossoms and weakened the sound of the mysterious singing. This white barrier also started dispelling the deep chill on her right leg.
“Thank you…” Chiaki expressed her thanks and decided not to think about how this umbrella appeared here.
Something flashed in Chiaki’s eyes as she looked over at the ice-cold white mist behind the torii. She then slowly closed her eyes.
“Mom…”
Chiaki emptied her mind and did her best to recall and find any shard of memory that should have existed.
A chill gradually enveloped her entire body, making her feel like she was slowly sinking into ice-cold water.
If it wasn’t for her paper umbrella’s barrier protecting her, this chill would surely freeze her over, either kicking her out of this dream, or causing something even worse to happen to her.
Fortunately, not only did this umbrella create a white barrier, it even gave Chiaki a gentle and warm sensation that helped her to resist the cold. It made her feel as if she was holding onto Seiji’s warm hand.
“No need to rush. Take your time and properly remember.” Chiaki felt as if she could hear him saying this to her.
Feeling reassured, she continued maintaining this condition and sinking her consciousness down even lower, gradually losing her sense of self, forgetting where she was currently as well as where she was going.
Chiaki then faintly heard her father’s voice.
This wasn’t his typical icy voice, but rather a gentle one instead. He was saying words that she couldn’t hear clearly, but it was clear that he was using a gentle tone…
The first word Chiaki heard clearly was her own name.
She then heard another name.
Chiaki’s remaining consciousness made her grab onto this memory shard, which then slowly floated upwards. She forgot the words she just heard, she forgot what she just recalled and dug up. It took everything she had to tightly grab onto this one and only memory shard that she’d obtained.
As her consciousness floated upwards and the chill gradually receded, Chiaki suddenly felt a powerful obstructive force!
The memory shard was being pulled away, and her consciousness was being pressured… Chiaki felt incredibly uncomfortable!
She absolutely couldn’t let go!
Chiaki withstood the pressure to the best of her abilities and tried her utmost to protect the memory shard.
“Hurry and let go. Otherwise, you won’t be able to return,” a mysterious voice suddenly spoke to her.
“N… no!” Chiaki refused.
“That umbrella’s power is limited and won’t last much longer. Once its power is used up, you’ll be finished.”
“I have to take this back with me!”
“That’s not something you should have. Leave it behind and give up on it.”
“I can’t give up on this!”
“You’ll die if you insist on being like this.”
“I won’t die!”
“You will die, because you’re really weak.”
“I won’t… Seiji will protect me!”
Even though Chiaki felt more and more uncomfortable, even to the point of feeling pain, she still adamantly resisted against this mysterious existence.
She then heard a sound that resembled both a sigh and a chuckle.
“Alright… I’ll give you a chance.” The mysterious voice suddenly became much clearer. Chiaki could now tell that the voice sounded young and female. “If you can pass my trial, I shall allow you to keep this, along with letting you have even more. You won’t be able to take this trial on by yourself. You’ll have to take it with a minimum of six people other than yourself…”
Chiaki then felt something being transmitted to her mind as all the pressure on her suddenly vanished.
The memory shard was no longer being torn away. Chiaki’s consciousness floated upwards with no restraints as the chill completely vanished. She then opened her eyes.
Chiaki stood in front of the torii while looking at the white mist in a daze as she finally spoke her mother’s name which she had finally been able to recover…
“Chihiro…”
Chihiro Wakaba was her mother’s name 1 !
As if Chihiro heard her daughter’s summons, a hazy figure slowly appeared within the white mist.
“Chiaki…” a faint and distant-sounding female voice spoke up.
“Mom!” Chiaki widened her eyes and reflexively reached out, wanting to touch the person within the white mist.
Before her hand could cross the boundary into the white mist, a hand suddenly reached out from within the mist and took her hand!
This hand obviously belonged to another female. It was rather cold.
“Chiaki… you’ve grown up,” the female voice spoke in a gentle tone while clutching Chiaki’s hand.
“Mom…” Chiaki also clutched this hand, feeling like this all seemed so familiar.
Although Chiaki had lost her memory, her body could still remember—this was definitely her mother’s hand!
Indescribable emotions began to well up within her. By the time that she came to her senses, her face was already covered in tears and she was crying.
She wanted to talk, talk to her mother about so many things, but she didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t cry. I’m really happy to see my daughter again…” The gentle female voice also had tears in her voice. “You’ve grown up… you’re so beautiful…”
Chiaki kept crying as she tightly gripped her mother’s hand and listened to her mother’s words. Yet, her consciousness was gradually becoming blank and she could feel herself being forced out of this dream.
She tried to resist, but was unable to do so.
“…Don’t come here anymore…” Chihiro told her daughter as her voice faded and became ever more distant.
“No! I will come again… I’m going to take you back with me…”
“It’s impossible to return… Don’t think about me… Live together with your father… Live well for yourselves…”
“Dad still remembers you! He misses you even more than I do… He needs you…”
“Chiaki… take good care of him… I love both of you…”
“Mom…”
All the cherry blossoms faded as the dream disappeared in a haze.
Chiaki opened her eyes in the real world, being left with nothing but confusion and tears.
Seiji was sitting on the side of her bed, holding her hand in worry, just like the last time.
“This time… how were things?” He used a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.
Chiaki stayed still for a moment while digesting everything that had happened before she slowly began to speak.
“I can remember my mom’s name now… I think her name is Chihiro… I think I met her… I held her hand, and talked with her…
“And… I need to pass a trial…”
“A trial?” Seiji was surprised to hear this.
“Yes, a trial… I need six people… I mean, at least six people apart from myself… within one day…” Chiaki furrowed her eyebrows. “I can’t remember who told me this… but I don’t think it was my mom.”
“Then that might have been the god who spoke to you.” Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes. “The god gave you a trial, and you must take it together with at least six other companions… What will happen if you pass the trial? And if you don’t pass the trial?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you determine your companions or begin the trial? Do you know that?”
Chiaki fell silent and closed her eyes. It was evident that she was doing her best to recall.
“Umbrella…” Chiaki muttered in a low voice.
“Umbrella?”
“In my dream just now, I think I saw the paper umbrella from my Visualization experience.”
“The paper umbrella from your Visualization experience…” Seiji widened his eyes in surprise. “You entered the Visualization world during your dream just now?”
“I don’t know… that’s all I could remember.”
“If you remembered it, it’s probably meaningful. Could it be that this god’s trial is to take place during Visualization?”
“I think so.” Chiaki opened her eyes.
“If this trial is truly to be undertaken during Visualization…” Seiji thought of something that caused his mouth to arc upwards. “This might be highly advantageous for us!”
The special Spirit Image within his Spirit House had the unique trait of causing everyone who used it to meet “that person.”
Although every person would have different experiences during Visualization, “that person” had shown off incredible power in everyone’s experiences. Not only was he skilled at suppressing all sorts of demons and monsters, he even had the power to suppress the gods.
“That person” referred to Seiji Kamijou!
