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Mirror, Mirror

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"I've met you before," Toya says. He's used to seeing things that other people can't, although something about this one is different. He knows his bratty little sister, though, and this thing wearing her face is not her. It's pretty good at pretending to be, though.

He'd been worried about Sakura, right up until the not-Sakura had tried to set aside the bowl of soup to save for later -- which at least told Toya that the monster was going to be coming back. He doesn't know anything about what Sakura is doing aside from that it's way too dangerous for her. She's only ten, and a silly little girl besides.

"I'm sorry," The not-Sakura says. It's eerie. If he looks at her for too long, he can see another form just inside of the Sakura-form, one that keeps shifting and changing right before his eyes. As long as he keeps his eyes a little bit off center, it's easier to handle.

"You're sorry?" Toya repeats. "It's not your fault if that brat decides to run out into a storm. While she's already feverish and really sick," and the thought makes his stomach clench and his heart feel like it's been turned to stone. Gods -- Sakura, outside in this weather, and she's already been sent home from school and collapsed in his arms so he had to carry her home. Hands clenching at his sides, Toya tries to shake off the nauseating thought that something bad is going to happen to her. Sakura's a monster brat but she's not that stupid, she will be fine. She's been fine for this long.

"I'm sorry," The not-Sakura says again. She really does look sad, her hands twisting in the fabric of Sakura's bedsheets. "I'm sorry," She says once more. "That I hurt you."

Toya's eyes widen. He remembers what she's talking about, the first time that this creature had impersonated his sister. That had been why he was so certain that he'd met her before. She had been the spirit that had asked him for help, and then herded him over a cliff. At the time, Toya had assumed that she was a ghost, looking for something she'd lost during life. Afterward, with Sakura acting guilty and apologetic, he'd doubted the initial impression, because there was clearly something more going on, something that involved his sister. This spirit hadn't been human, for sure, but she also hadn't been a ghost.

Now, he knows that she's something else, a type of magic he doesn't understand, or even want to. "Did you mean to?" He asks her. He's curious.

She nods, managing to look miserably guilty in the same way that Sakura does, but without Sakura's obvious embarrassment. "I was wrong," She says. "You're not a mean person. I shouldn't have -- you were nice to me," 

Toya shrugs. He's been seeing ghosts and spirits for as long as he can remember. He can still talk to his mother, even though she's been dead for years. Perhaps it isn't normal, but it's normal for him, and he hasn't ever met a spirit who didn't deserve just a little bit of kindness.

"I'll make more food for when Sakura gets back," he says. "And I won't let on that I knew she was gone, if you're worried about that."

She smiles at him.

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