July 20th 2022, 11:42 PM

THEY’RE HERE!!! I’M SO EXCITED AHHHH!!! Let’s ignore how I’m awake writing in my diary so late.

So so so! Earlier today I woke my parents up at five in the morning like a kid on christmas morning. I mean, what do they expect? I hadn’t seen my friends in four months! Anyway, after I woke them up, my friends and I schemed in the group chat altogether.

Me

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS

5:05 AM

Hotene

I KNOW!!!!

5:05 AM

Me

I doubt they can see this right now but if you do

Hi guys! We’re gonna snatch you from the airport soon.

Minato if you’re awake your coming with us right?

5:05 AM

Minato

Yeah

5:05 AM

Me

Hotene you’re ready too?

5:05 AM

Hotene

Yes! Got my whole family army to help out to

5:05 AM

Me

Yay!

We’re coming for you guys!

5:06 AM

I rushed through getting ready and went over to Minato’s house. I knocked on his door and shifted the weight on my feet as I waited for him to open the door.

Once he came out of the house I noticed how horrible of a state he was in. His hair was a mess, his eyes were red and puffy like he was crying, and he had eyebags. Not really surprised, he’s still not really himself, but I did wonder for a split second if it had anything to do with my friends. I took his hand in mine, making him jump.

“Are you okay?” I mumbled.

“Yeah…” He wiped his eyes.

“Let’s get in the car. My parents will be there in a bit, they’re gonna eat breakfast in the car and bring us something too.”

I led him to the car. We took seats in the back, me near the left side and him in the middle.

After a few minutes, my parents entered the car, and handed us some onigiri, or rice balls.

The car ride itself was filled with conflicting energies, me being upset at Minato still being upset, but also me being excited enough to bounce out of my seat. I’ll admit, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to bring Minato, when he was upset, to meet my friends, who were otherwise happy to see us, but whatever. They wanted to meet him so of course I couldn’t say no! Plus he came with me too, so…

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Finally, we arrived at the pick-up area at the airport. We got Clara, while the rest of Hotene’s family picked up or sent taxis to get the rest of my friends. We sentenced Clara’s parents to the back back of the car, while Clara climbed in next to Minato.

Clara looked as tired and disheveled as usual, that flight probably made it worse for her to be honest, but she was smiley and everything as she greeted us.

“Kei!!!” She yelled as she climbed in next to Minato.

“Clara!!!” I yelled back at her in a similar fashion.

I stretched out my arms to her while she did the same, making Minato awkwardly serve as a weird middleman I guess?

“So, how have you been?” I asked.

“Same old really, what about you guys? And hi Minato, nice to meet you in person.”

Minato’s eyes widened as he turned to her, speaking in monotone English, very deliberately and slowly. “Oh, uh, yeah, nice to meet you too.”

We chatted the rest of the way, Minato only chiming in occasionally.

When she arrived, we showed her the spare room she’d be sleeping in for the night. My friends and I all had a sleepover at my house while their parents went to their hotels. As Clay, Luke, Anne and Jia all arrived, one by one, I greeted them happily, and things felt exactly how they did four months ago. Hotene started acting like someone part of my American friend group immediately, while Minato was still pretty quiet and shy among them. I can tell my other friends were pretty understanding of what I’d told them earlier so they were… gentle I guess I’ll call it? Anyway, we had a pretty fun time for the rest of the day.

I think jet lag caught up to my friends finally as at around nine-thirty at night they passed out, which was surprising because back in America that’d be like nine in the morning. I guess that’s a good thing, they’ll be used to the timezone in Japan a lot quicker.

Anne, Luke and Clay were in the spare room in sleeping bags, Clara got the one actual bed in the spare room, while Hotene, Minato and Jia were in mine. Minato and I tried to fall asleep, but we just couldn’t sleep for whatever reason.

I sat up on my bed and looked down at Minato, who was awake, sprawled out on his futon.

“Yeah, this isn’t working. Maybe we should just go downstairs for a bit or something.” Minato mumbled.

I agreed and I followed him downstairs. He jumped on the couch and I joined him at the opposite end. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

“I’m kinda hungry still, I’m gonna get a snack.” I stood up.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, I tip toed over to the kitchen. My ears picked up on the sounds of shuffling, but I thought nothing of it at the time, assuming it was probably just Minato. As I reach for a box of pocky, I hear from Minato, “Keiko! Get over here!”

Behind me Minato waved his arms towards himself by the window. I rushed over with a pocky box in hand. “What?” I asked.

“Look!” Minato pointed outside.

There she was, Kuchisake-Onna with the mask and scarf.

Aka, the Kuchisake-Onna we’ve been looking for. A fire lit inside of me. A fire of determination, that is.

“What do we do?” Minato whispers.

“Let’s try talking to her, I have the candy.”

“Alright, I hope this isn’t a bad idea…” Minato mumbled.

We slipped on our shoes as we slowly opened the door. Cool air greeted us as we slowly made our way over to Kuchisake-Onna, who walked on the sidewalk.

She turned to us as we open the door. My heart quickened. “Uh… Kuchisake-Onna!” I call out, way louder then I should’ve.

“Kuchisake-Onna? Oh no, I’m a human! I just happen to look a lot like one.”

I paused. I looked at her, then at Minato.

‘Are you kidding me? Was I wasting my time looking for a supposed Kuchisake-Onna when it was a human all along? Seriously?’ I thought. But I managed to not let my annoyance slip.

I asked, “Wait, so, you’re human?”

“Of course! Wait, are you the humans Naoko-chan has been talking about?”

Minato and I widen our eyes and glance over at each other. “Yes!”

“Naoko-chan said you guys were looking for a Kuchisake-Onna that spoke words any regular Kuchisake-Onna would never say, how’s that going?”

“We just solved it!” Minato turned to me with a rare smile.

“Wait, how? Oh… that would be me. Naoko-chan’s gonna be so annoyed, she wasted all this time on this, urgh!” She facepalmed.

“Have you figured out what’s with the regular Kuchisake-Onna appearances?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Well, now that we’ve finished that mission, maybe that could be our next mission?”

“Of course! I’ll inform Naoko-chan right away! Oh, by the way, what are your names?”

“I’m Keiko, and this is Minato.”

“Nice to meet you two, I’m Kagami! You should probably go back to bed now, sorry for the trouble,” she bowed before racing down the street and disappearing.

We slowly made our way back inside. I heard voices upstairs and my heart sank.

“Shoot, I hope we didn’t wake anyone up,” I mumbled to Minato as we made our way back up the stairs.

“Keiko, Minato! What was that?” Mom ran up to us in her pajamas.

“We just stepped outside the house for a sec, couldn’t fall asleep, no biggie,” the lie smoothly fell out of my mouth.

Mom breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her room, while Papa joined her soon after. Minato and I gave a knowing look to each other before we headed back into my room, where all my friends sat in a circle, waiting for me.

And then, this part isn’t anything special, we chatted quietly until everyone felt tired again and headed back to bed. I didn’t bring up what Minato and I were doing, but they definitely heard the door. No mention of Kagami-san or anything. Shoot, thinking about it, I didn’t even catch her last name. She seemed very sweet and cool. And pretty young, how old is she anyway?