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Kamome Gardens was cursed.
If you dared to venture beyond the gate after sunset, you would be whisked away in the night, never to be heard from again.
That was the rumor, anyway.
It was, of course, mostly unfounded. Mostly. The stories stemmed from a single disappearance in which the last known location of the "victim" was on the sidewalk outside the garden's front gate. No evidence ever suggested that they had actually entered the gardens. But it was enough of a connection that gullible schoolchildren and superstitious adults could grab onto for the purposes of crafting a good ghost story.
Nene Yashiro, having grown up in town, was all too familiar with the tales. As a kid, she had been spooked by the legends. Enough so that she may have taken the long way home for a couple years, admittedly. But now, she was far too mature to be afraid of such childish things. That's why, when Kamome Gardens posted an open gardener position, she was quick to apply and not at all hesitant.
Not in the slightest.
Her mouse had just gotten stuck for a moment as she was about to submit her application was all.
Regardless of how it came to be, though, Nene had been hired and she was settling into the job nicely.
Perhaps her biggest point of pride was the maintenance of the large hedge maze that was a popular attraction in the gardens. Upon her arrival, they had been… decently shaped. One could tell that it was a maze at least. Still, she knew that with some hard work and determination, it could become something spectacular.
So, over her first weeks of employment, Nene set out to tidy up the walls of the hedges, clipping and pruning and shaping until even the most scrutinizing eye would be hard-pressed to find a single branch out of place. The fruits of her labor were apparent and noticed by other staffers, earning her plenty of praise and welcomes from members of the garden's team.
One such coworker was Amane Yugi.
To be more precise, he had been the first to approach Nene, striking up a conversation in the first few days after she'd started. After that, their chats became daily occurrences. Almost routine. They often took lunches together and would share a word if they passed each other while on the clock. By all means, Amane and Nene had become fast friends.
It was during one of their lunch breaks when Amane sighed exasperatedly. "I suppose it's getting to be that time of year…" he groaned.
Nene swallowed the bit of food in her mouth before cocking her head curiously. "What time?"
"Autumn," he answered simply. "The time of year when all those spoOoOoOky stories start gaining traction again and I have to start chasing people out at night…"
Giggling at the dramatic inflexion, Nene raised a brow. "You work in wildlife management, not security. Why do you have to play bodyguard?"
"Have you seen mischievous teens on Halloween? Wildlife if I've ever seen it." That earned him another chuckle. "But really," he began, his arm propping his head up as he rested his elbow on the table. "People get superstitious this time of year and will do some ridiculous things to keep themselves safe."
"Such as…?"
"Like picking up a black cat off the street and… you know."
The morbid thought sent a chill up Nene's spine. "That's horrible!" she exclaimed, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth in shock.
Another sigh left Amane's lips. "I'll say. Luckily, I don't have to worry about people hunting cats here."
True enough. Nene hadn't seen any stray cats wandering around as she worked in the maze. "So then… what is it that you do have to watch for?"
"Birds."
"Birds?"
"Ravens, more specifically." Amane took a hardy bite of a granola bar and continued explaining with a cheekful of food. "They're omens of death, so people come around and harass the poor things." Suddenly a bit forlorn, Amane cast his gaze aside and swallowed. "I've found quite a few grizzly scenes in the past… I'd like to prevent coming across more if I can help it--"
With a bit of a clang, Nene stood from her seat, hands firmly pressed to the table as she leaned across it toward Amane. "Let me help!"
Taken aback by the sudden outburst, Amane stared up at her, his wide amber eyes meeting determined scarlets. "Help…?" he echoed.
Nodding enthusiastically, Nene kept her sight fixed on her coworker. "You shouldn't have to work extra hours on your own just because people are cruel! It's not fair! So let me take on some of it with you!" she demanded, leaning farther still and pushing Amane to lean back in his seat.
A bit of red dusted his cheeks at her proximity, and he was unable to keep his jaw from going slack as he continued to look up at her in awe. "I… Yashiro, I can't ask you to do that," he managed, eventually finding his words. "This is a wildlife management issue, not a gardening one."
"No, it's a people management issue." Nene's voice was adamant, enough to make Amane snap his jaw shut. "I'm helping. Be here tonight and show me what I need to do."
Still wide-eyed and tense, Amane nodded obediently at the direction as he stuttered out, "Y-yes, ma'am."
At his cooperation, Nene relaxed a bit, returning to her chair and giving Amane some breathing room. "Good," she said, clearly pleased.
As she began packing up her lunch, Amane found himself lost for words, helplessly watching her tidy up until he could finally utter a quiet, "Thank you, Yashiro…"
"Of course!" she responded, standing from her spot. Pushing her chair in, she donned a warm smile as she began to take her leave. "I'll stay with you as long as you want, Amane!"
And with that, Nene cheerfully hummed her way back toward the hedges, a pair of unblinking golden eyes remaining on her until she was out of sight.
Night snuck up on Nene, the sun setting long before her evening meal was prepared.
Guilt pricked at her as she rushed through her cooking, cursing herself for not getting Amane's number earlier to tell him she'd be late. At the same time, she cursed herself for choosing to make something less than portable for supper. And when she finally sat with her dish of just-a-bit-too-al-dente pasta, she cursed herself for being safe and not blasting the burner as high as it could go.
Nevertheless, she did eventually make it out of her house, running down the street as she threw her jacket over herself.
The chill of evening was heavy around her. Even the energy she burned from her little sprinting bursts failed to combat the autumn cold.
She cursed herself for not grabbing a heavier coat.
But with the garden gate in view, there was no point in turning around to retrieve a replacement. Not when she was already so late. So, repeating her list of curses to herself, she fumbled with the lock until she'd unlatched it successfully, being sure to lock it behind her.
The gardens looked familiar in that way when one's intricate knowledge of a place chips away under the filter of darkness. Nene could look at the flowerbeds and recognize the patterns of the blooms, but until sunlight returned, they would look like nothing more than the memory of plants she'd cared for just the day before.
It was almost dreamlike, wandering around the entrance. Chatty patrons and the racket of coworkers' chores had been replaced with cricket calls and rustling leaves. With nobody else around, the plants could speak for themselves, their voices no longer muffled beneath the everyday noises of humanity.
However, as lovely as Nene found it, she wasn't meant to be alone.
Nene peeked around corners, drifted from one place to another, and waited patiently for Amane to show up. She had worried at one point that he'd left in response to her tardiness, but quickly tossed that thought aside. If there was work to do, he wouldn't leave altogether for a silly reason like that. He probably just got started with his duties without her… whatever those would be at such an hour.
It was just as she was about to venture off to look for him when the barely-there glint of something laying at the entrance of the maze caught her eye. Something small, no larger than a coin, just able to grab her attention despite its size.
Once she’d found her way to the start of the maze, she bent down to pick it up. She turned it over and over in her hand, inspecting the mysterious thing. It was smooth, almost glassy, with organic dips and curves around its edges. If it wasn’t for its unclouded translucence, she might have mistaken it for a mere pebble. It certainly wasn’t man made, after all.
What was this little thing? Perfectly fitting in the palm of her hand… All iridescence and shine. For some reason, Nene couldn’t take her eyes away. The light that played off of it was so mysterious and pleasant. She really could just stare at it for hours…
...If another glimmer hadn’t caught her attention.
A bit further down the hedges, at the first corner, sat yet another little trinket. Curious, Nene made her way down the line of bushes to retrieve the thing. Holding both in her hands, she couldn’t tell which she had picked up first. They seemed identical, a matching set. Both awkward in their slight wobbly roundness. Both glossy and slick to the touch. Both completely mesmerizing in their gleaming sparkle.
Had Amane dropped these perhaps?
Amane… That’s right.
She should have been looking for Amane.
Snapping back to her senses, Nene finally shook her head, trying to reset herself. She needed to find Amane. She promised him she’d be here for him, didn’t she?
Looking back and forth, she pocketed the twin gems. If these were here, then surely he’d gone deeper into the maze, right? She supposed it would be a good place to search for would-be trespassers and mischief makers who might think to hide in the thickets.
With no other leads, Nene carefully began moving forward on the hedge-lined pathways. It felt somewhat silly. In the daylight, she knew the place like the back of her hand. But at night, everything looked just different enough to put her on edge. Even the safeguards put in place to ensure visiting guests wouldn’t end up lost gave her little solace. Still, if Amane was patrolling within the maze somewhere, she had no choice but to comb through the place to find him.
So that’s what she did. Up and down the aisles of immaculately trimmed leaves, Nene marched onward, hoping to find her coworker sooner rather than later.
At first, the outset of her mission was relatively peaceful, akin to a midnight stroll. Clear night sky above her... Fragrant aromas of flowers hitting her here and there… She’d nearly forgotten her objective in the romance of the atmosphere. However, when a violent cracking sound blasted through the air, Nene was shocked right back into reality.
Ears ringing from the thunderous snap, Nene rushed further into the maze in search of the source of the noise. It didn't take long for her to stumble upon the bough that lay in the path of the maze, though.
There, centered in the trail, a large branch stretched across the ground. From the looks of it, it came from a tree rather than any of the hedges that made up the maze. Far too thick to be from one of the nearby shrubs and covered in leaves larger than the delicate ones of the maze walls.
If that was the case, though, then how could it have come to be there?
Nene eyed the branch as she approached it. She could see the breakage at one end, visceral and forced. It split and splintered into points and daggers, the exposed sapwood still moist. Fresh.
No other apparent clues gave Nene any possible inklings as to how, or why, the branch was in the maze. The only explanation she could put forth was that this was the work of those night time pranksters that were making trouble for Amane.
The thought irked her. "You know, this isn't funny!" she yelled out. "There are people that work here that already have enough to do without you jerks making things worse!" For a moment, she just grumbled, the image of Amane's warm smile on the day he welcomed her to the gardens prominent in her mind. "Have a little respect for others, damn it!"
As she chided her invisible audience with one last reprimand, Nene firmly brought her heel down on the side of the bough, the smaller offshoots shaking a bit. One such branch continued to rattle more than the others, however, without signs of ceasing.
Nene leaned down, ready to reach out, but before she could investigate further, a flash of something dark exploded from the leaves. Pain, sharp and biting, began to simmer beneath her skin, concentrated just below her eye and rounding her wrist.
Hissing at the sting, Nene flinched back, bringing her hand up to the scratch on her cheek. The vaguely familiar uneasy warmth of surfacing blood bloomed beneath her fingers as she pressed against her skin, attempting to dull the pain. After a moment of gathering herself, she whipped around to locate her attacker, finding a single bird perched at the top of the hedge.
Amane’s words from earlier came to mind as she shared a long look with the animal. “ Ravens, more specifically ,” he had said.
Come to think of it, had Nene seen any ravens in the gardens before now? Hummingbirds and robins populated the place plenty as she worked, but she was having a difficult time recalling seeing any ravens at that moment.
Regardless of what had or hadn’t seen before, though, there was no doubt that a raven was gazing down at her, the shine of her own blood tainting its talons.
Nerves gathered in Nene’s chest. It was only natural, having been nipped by the bird, for a bud of fear to blossom within her. Slowly, never breaking their shared gaze, she took a step back, testing her leeway. When the raven showed no change, she took another. And another. And another. And when the back of her leg bumped up against the branch, she took a large step back over it, keeping a cautious eye on the top of the hedges all the while.
In the end, there was no movement from the bird. Just a beady-eyed stare from the midnight sentry, monitoring the disruption she brought to its territory.
Though, as relieved as she was to round the corner and disappear from the raven’s sight, a dense foreboding sat heavily in her gut, the feeling of those darkened eyes never truly leaving her.
Nene glared at her wrist. The zing of her injuries had dulled some, but the bleeding persisted.
By no means was it a dangerous bleed. No, it was far too small a trickle for there to be any concern. However, the sensation of the drip building on her cheek was bothersome, to say the least, and the care she took in avoiding the brush of her arm against her clothes was inconvenient.
And so, making her way further through the maze, she stared at the rubied beads of blood braceleting her wrist with annoyed contempt.
However, one turn of a corner made Nene drop her arm to her side, forgetting the worry of staining her outfit as she laid her eyes on a group of ravens gathered in a tight circle.
Trepidation froze her in place. If one bird could gash her skin like it had, what could a flock do? The thought made her swallow dryly and, without realizing it, she was wishing that Amane was with her. Amane worked in wildlife management. Certainly, he’d know how to handle this. He’d know what to do.
Amane… At that moment, the safest place Nene could be was with Amane…
She needed to find Amane...
CAW!
Nene jumped at the bird’s call, her eyes blowing wide open in fear as she noticed the gathering all turned to face her.
After the single shout, the birds were quiet, simply watching Nene with those same eyes as the first raven had. Their stares felt heavy on her, pressuring her to make a move. At the same time, they felt empty, giving her no hints as to what they wanted or expected from her. Perhaps that was what was most terrifying: the absolute inability to read these creatures.
Fortunately, Nene was not long without some guidance. Mere moments after gaining her attention, the group shifted, creating a small opening to allow her access to see what had them so preoccupied before. This time, she could feel the expectation on her shoulders一the patient gaze of the ravens encouraging her closer.
Her steps were small, anxious. But the birds sat in wait, seemingly content to allow her as much time as she needed.
Upon reaching the circle, though, she’d wished she’d taken more.
Mangled and broken, the body of a cat lay twisted before Nene. She could see its dingy bones peeking out from behind patches of stripped skin, tufts of fur torn away. Viscera that had been yanked out from various wounds sat around the poor thing. If she’d had the thought to do so, Nene could have pointed out the organs, recognizing their shapes as those of a human’s. But these were so much smaller. Almost saddeningly so. Still, the familiarity had her own stomach churning.
The scene was abhorrent and revolting. And surrounding it was an assembly of unfeeling and cold stares, boring into Nene.
Suddenly, she was dizzy with fear. “Y-You… Why would you show me this…?” she asked.
No answer was offered. Only more of those awful eyes on her.
Once again, Amane’s words returned to Nene’s mind. “ Luckily, I don't have to worry about people hunting cats here ,” he had said.
Disbelief shuddered through her. “Is that because of you…?” Nene looked to the group, their stares telling her that she already knew the answer.
Even more now, she felt nausea creeping up her throat. Unsure if she could swallow it back, Nene slapped a hand over her mouth, taking a few steps back before rushing off away from that horrible place.
Unfollowed, but not unwatched.
Eventually, Nene found a spot in the hedges to force her head into, heaving heavily to no avail as she spat out nothing but the saliva that had gathered in her mouth. Despite the lack of vomit, she still felt weak, as if she had emptied her stomach into the bushes. The thought of going home had occurred to her, but was almost violently tossed aside as she remembered that Amane was here. Somewhere. She just had to find him.
To keep herself moving, Nene spent a few minutes reminding herself that ravens were scavengers, hunting birds. There was nothing unnatural about the sight she’d seen. It was simply nature at work. And when small sparks of doubt crossed her mind一the almost comprehending stares and the birds’ communicative actions一she was quick to shake them away, determined to lull her sense of safety back to her.
Perhaps a bit later than she would have liked, Nene did manage to proceed onward. But as she did so, she began to wonder. Was the hedge maze really this large?
It was hard to say how long she had been walking, her sense of time utterly worthless at this point. And even if she had been wandering in circles, the maze was built so that the exit was easily discoverable. After all, it was a garden attraction, not some kind of test or trap.
All she could do, though, was move forward, she supposed. But with every corner she turned, with every new pathway that stretched ahead of her, Nene’s sense of dismay grew stronger and stronger.
Soon enough, she had to face it. Something wasn’t right.
As soon as she’d admitted it, a burning ache stirred from her wrist and under her eye, no doubt from the scratches she’d received earlier. Frustrated, she grabbed at her forearm to intercept the pain. When she felt something that wasn’t skin under her palm, she blinked.
“No, no, no…” she mumbled.
Smooth… Silky… Layered…
“Please, no, no, no…” she begged.
She shrieked when she saw the patches of jet black feathers scattered about her arm.
Taking a few in her fist, she ripped them from her skin, immediately screeching at the bolt of pain that flooded through her nerves. Tears began pouring from her eyes as blood did the same from her arm.
This wasn’t possible. This was just a bad dream. Nothing more than a nightmare. Soon she would wake up and go to work and Amane would be there, saving her usual chair for their lunch break and they would laugh and chat and--
CAW!
Broken away from her thoughts, Nene looked up to the sound, gasping in horror at the sight of dozens, maybe hundreds, of ravens perched across the hedges.
All with eyes trained on her.
“No…” she muttered, turning round to see all of them above her. “S-stay away… Stay away from me…”
They could understand her. She knew they could. Those cruel eyes, empty as they seemed, could feel her fear and terror. So why wouldn’t they just leave?! What did they want from her?!
“ GET AWAY FROM ME!”
And then she was running. Faster than she’d run in her life. Her lungs were emptied of air and full of fire, legs straining under the fatigue. Wind whipped beneath her feathers, an uncomfortable new sensation…
No, not her feathers. She refused to claim them like that…
Guttural croaks and gurgles surrounded Nene from above. As she kept running, the birds began chattering and cackling, no longer silent nightwatchers. Was she just a spectacle to a crowd of corvids? Existing solely for their entertainment?
And suddenly, turning what must have been her billionth corner of the night, she saw it. The wide exit that led to the fountain in the center of the gardens.
And there he was.
Endearing lanky figure.
Choppy ebony locks.
Large golden eyes.
And that warm and welcoming smile.
Amane didn’t say a word as he opened his arms, a gesture Nene was all too keen to follow as she rushed forward, loud sobs cracking her voice. “A-Amaneeee…!” she cried as she dove into his chest.
“Shh, shh, shh,” he hushed, running a hand through her hair as he wrapped the other around her back. “It’s okay, Yashiro. I’m right here.” If his touch was velvet, then his voice was an aria as he continued peppering her with small comforts. “Let it aaall out. That’s it.”
Nene gasped and shuddered until she’d cried herself exhausted, unable to even sniffle through her weariness.
“You’ve been through a lot tonight, huh,” came that soothing voice.
“Mmhmm.” She nodded, rubbing her face into Amane’s chest a bit.
“Well, you’ve done so good, Yashiro.” Putting his hands on her shoulders, Amane gently separated them, eyeing her up and down. “Just look at you.”
A tired blink was the only response Nene offered.
With great fondness, near reverence, Amane traced his fingers down one of her arms. “They’re coming in even more splendidly than I thought they would.” Then he turned his attention to her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. “Those pretty red eyes always leave me breathless. They’ll be absolutely stunning against your plumage.”
Exhausted, Nene could only echo his words. “Plumage…?”
No more than a whisper, Amane continued. “You’re really beautiful, you know, Yashiro.”
“I am…?”
“You are.” Slowly, steadily, his thumb stroked across her face in long brushes. “Would I lie to you?”
A moment of silence passed as Nene considered the question. Or perhaps as she basked in the comforting attention. She wasn’t quite sure anymore. “You wouldn’t lie to me, Amane,” she answered.
That warm smile was evident in his voice as he responded, “Exactly. And I would never hurt you.”
“You would never hurt me,” she answered. Or repeated, rather.
Amane’s chuckle sounded distant, as if she was drifting away, but she could feel his lips press against her cheek more vividly than anything she’d felt that night. “You know, Yashiro,” he started, “I can’t tell you how happy it made me when you said you’d stay with me. Ever since your first day here, I haven’t been able to tear myself away from you. That’s why,” he paused as he gently rummaged through one of Nene’s pockets, pulling out the two shiny trinkets that had lured her into the maze earlier that evening, “I’d like to take you up on your offer.”
Eyes half-lidded, Nene watched as Amane popped one of the rounds into his mouth, a hard gulp emanating from his throat as he swallowed. And then he pressed the other to her lips.
“Stay with me, Yashiro,” he urged. “Forever. The ravens will adore you. I already do. I’ll give you everything , if you just become my queen.”
Whether it was the exhaustion, the comforting tone of Amane’s voice, or the haze of wondering if she was in a dream, it didn’t really matter. In that moment, as she parted her lips and swallowed the gem, she felt true warmth at the genuine joy that lit up those amber eyes of his.
“Welcome, my love,” was the last thing Nene heard before falling asleep under Amane’s sweet kiss.