Kurushimi stared off into the distance, her eyes looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her mouth quivered and her muscles twitched. As she felt the cold wind brush past her, she suddenly re-animated as if someone had switched her on. Her legs gave in and the dirt was blown aside as her hands impacted against the ground.

Her breathing ragged and her eyes shaking, she muttered out, “Eh? H-Here again…? Bu- I thought I was… Eh?” In her confusion, she wasn’t even able to form proper sentences. Her neck quickly snapping from right to left, she swept across her surroundings and confirmed her position was in fact the same dimly-lit forest accompanied by the same strange crystals that illuminated it.

Looking down at her hands which pressed against the forest floor, she noticed both hands were perfectly intact without so much as a scratch. She hurriedly stood herself up and patted around her body, prodding all over herself.

“I- I’m fine?” Kurushimi questioned. Not a single part of her body was missing, all of the flesh still perfectly attached. However, she could still vividly remember all of it. The dogs that chased her down, ripped her apart and ate her alive. The memory was fresh and most of all, she remembered the horrible sensations of pain. Just remembering caused her to shiver and go pale.

“What the hell is going on?” Kurushimi threw out another question, even though she knew no one was there to answer it. Unable to clarify her confusion, she walked over to where the puddle she had looked into before was. As expected, it was still there and the reflection still presented the same image of the porcelain-faced doll with silver hair.

She felt an odd sense of déjà vu as she pulled various facial expressions for the doll to copy. Except it wasn’t déjà vu as she had actually done this before! As Kurushimi thought this, she suddenly realised something. “Have I gone back in time?!” She shouted out.

It would explain why she was fine and why she was back here and not eaten alive by dogs… But in that case, the same events are due to repeat. Then… Kurushimi quickly looked behind her, meeting eyes with the canisfangs. She had noticed them a little earlier this time, noticing them before they made noise instead of afterwards. Unlike the first time around.

“Sh*t.” Kurushimi said, the dogs slowly approaching her just like before. Even if she had noticed them a little sooner, it didn’t make a difference. She had been too distracted gathering her thoughts and once again it was too late.

This time with no hesitation, Kurushimi immediately ran. Last time, she stood around like an idiot and let them get closer. This time, she would at least get a headstart! She made her way onto the same path as before and sprinted as hard as she could. The dogs shrieked as they chased.

After running as hard as her feeble legs allowed her to, she once again reached the split in the path.

“Left is bad! Left is certain death… So this time I will go right!” She spun on her heel and crossed her left leg over her right to change directions. She had begun to gain distance on the dogs like she had last time. If not for the ambush, she would have originally been able to outrun them, so this time..!

Breathing heavily as she came to a stop, she looked behind her and this time there were no dogs to be found. Honestly, Kurushimi had no idea how she was actually able to outpace them. She found it very strange that she was actually able to do so. But she had heard stories of people unlocking the limits of their bodies during desperate times… And she definitely wasn’t complaining!

If they had been on her tail still, that definitely would have been the end of her. She was completely exhausted and couldn’t run anymore. She found herself panting more than the actual dogs that had been chasing her! Words couldn’t explain how grateful she was that no one could see her right now.

“Hah… Where am I now then?” Kurushimi asked, taking in the spectacle around her. The new area she had wandered into definitely a sight to behold. The crystals were here but they had grown in size incomparable to that of the ones she had seen so far. They gave off light with a strange ambience which filled the entire space.

However, she didn’t spend very long observing the scenery. Now that the effect from the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, she was suddenly hit by a wave of tiredness. It didn’t take much steps for her to realize going anywhere wasn’t going to happen.

She quickly made her way over to one of the large crystals, resting her back against it for support. Sliding down it, she planted herself on the ground, looking up at the barely visible but beautiful night sky. ‘Tired…’ Her eyelids growing heavy, she closed them and slowly let herself drift off.

. . .

After an unknown amount of time passed, Kurushimi woke up. Slowly opening her eyes and yawning, she lazily looked around herself.

“Sh*t…” She said, instantly losing all sense of tiredness and cursing herself for falling asleep. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say she cursed herself waking up. Sadly, reality was a cruel thing. And it seemed reality really didn’t like her.

‘Kreeeeee eeee eeee…’ The dogs shrieked in a low pitch. The despair-inducing number of dogs she met before looked like nothing compared to this. There were simply too many of them. It almost felt like a joke. She had been surrounded completely on all sides. Everywhere she looked, they were there.

It didn’t take long for the dogs to move.

And once again, they tore into her skin.

But this time, they were even more violent. The dogs, desperate to get their fill among this large pack, mercilessly ripped off any chunks of flesh they could get to.

“Gufaghh! uuuuaaAAAA,AAAAAAAGHAAAAAAAAA!!” For the second time, Kurushimi died.

In the darkness, Kurushimi heard the same voice she heard last time.

“Haaa… To think you would have already failed twice.”

“I suppose I must help.”

The voice seemed to belong to a woman. Kurushimi couldn’t recognize the owner of the voice and neither did she get to see a body of any kind.

“What? Who are you?” Kurushimi attempted to talk in the darkness, but no sound came out. The woman spoke again, ignoring Kurushimi’s attempt to communicate.

“Again.”

“What do you mean, again?”

“Oi! What do y-”

Kurushimi’s questions fell on deaf ears. And before she knew it, she found herself in the forest again.