Chapter Text
Momo sits at the shore, enjoying the mid-afternoon sun. The rays hit her skin stings less than sitting there at noon and the breeze is getting colder as the hours go by. She mindlessly stares at the thin line that separates the sky and the sea, calm waves occasionally grazing her legs. She snaps out of her trance as she feels a delicate tap on her shoulder.
“Momo-chan, let’s go back. Baa-chan might look for us.” She dusted the sand off her legs and went after Mina.
The two cousins spend the whole summer in their grandma’s house before flying to Korea for their senior year in high school. Something about their grandma missing them since they’ll be studying till college in the neighboring country.
“Don’t you think it’s getting a little boring Minari?” Momo kicks her feet as they walk to the beach house, “You’re getting sand inside your wet flip-flops, how are you not comfortable with that? Plus, didn’t you like boring? You can’t even hold eye contact with the passersby that talk to us” To which Mina gets a smack behind her head from Momo. “I just want something exciting since we’re about to leave Japan, you know?” This got her cousin to raise her brows, “Be careful what you wish for, Momoring.”
-
“Girls, mind if you help Mitsuki-san and our cleaning ladies with the attic? You might find things you want to keep or bring with you in Korea.” An old lady calls their attention, “And wash your feet Momo-chan, it’s covered with sand.”
“Yes, baa-chan!”
Grandma Myoi loved collecting things, from small trinkets to huge paintings and other relics, and kept them around the beach house– so many that some are stowed away in the attic. Momo and Mina seem to share the same interest since Mina collects lego and video games while Momo has her shelves with barbie dolls. The girls hurriedly cleaned themselves up to help out with clearing out the attic.
“Make sure to wear your masks girls, it’s dusty. We don’t want you getting allergies.” Mitsuki-san, their head butler, reminds the girls, to which he gets a collective “Yes Mitsuki-san!” from the cousins.
“You guys weren’t kidding with the dust huh,” Mina glides her finger along a metal shelf, getting it gray from dust and wiping it off using Momo’s shirt. To which her cousin chased her, attempting to wipe the dust off of her clothes too. Their banter was cut off by Mitsuki-san, telling them off. “Some things here are very fragile girls, let’s not move around too much.” Mina sticks her tongue at her cousin.
“How’s that for fun, Momoring?” Mina nudges her cousin.
“Whatever,” the latter rolled her eyes and helped with passing out the boxes to the cleaning ladies.
-
“What did you find?”
“I think this is Dad’s game cartridges, the console looks busted though, I might look up some working consoles online for ‘em. You?” Mina waved a plastic box, plastic inside it making sounds. “I haven’t really found anything interesting for me though, some paintings looked beautiful but I think it’d be a hassle to bring some. Helping Mitsuki-san and the others was something though. At least he didn’t bore me by telling me stories of how grandma got some of these” gesturing everything in the attic. “Hey, there are still boxes left unopened– let’s go through that. We might find something for you.” “Yea-” They were cut off by Mitsuki-san. “We’ll be taking these outside to dust them off. Please be careful here girls, some of the things here are very fragile.”
The girls opened several boxes, flipping through thick books which seemed to be bound with leather covers, and went through the different-sized frames left. What caught the two’s attention was a corner of a dull golden frame, about three feet peeking out. The frame seemed to be carved with so much detail, despite sitting in the attic for years, it shone out among the others which were greatly stained with age. The cousins seem to share the same thought and started to carefully remove the paintings lined up ahead of it.
They removed the thin fabric and revealed a painting of a blindfolded woman standing on a spherical object, wielding a scepter and something that’s taken the shape of a horn. Despite being blindfolded, the woman held immaculate beauty. The way she posed was beyond graceful and the cousins were left stunned by its beauty. The details were so intricate, it looked like it was made by deities. Momo heard a weird sound and stepped closer to find the source of the sound; “Momo-chan, I think we should go, I’m getting the creeps.” Momo grabbed her cousin’s wrists and placed her finger between her lips, Mina was trying to pull them back.
Momo re-examined the painting, maybe she could find out what this artwork is called. She bent down and saw a gold plate engraved with its name. “The lady of.. fortune?” she whispers as she traces the letters. This seemed to have heard her since the carvings around the frame began to glow. Mina started to freak out and attempted to drag Momo out of the attic, with the latter being stronger, she pulled Mina and made a loud thud. Both were now on the floor as the painting started to come out to life and stepped outside the frame. Mina, out of fear, helplessly covered her eyes with her free hand while the other was in a death grip by her cousin. Momo seemed to be calm yet so stunned by the scene unfolding in front of her, mouth opened and eyes gleaming.
Mina gathered the remaining resolve out of her body and pulled Momo back, the poor girl still can’t move her legs out of fear. This was the least she could do to attempt to save their asses. The girl from the painting had completely got herself out, losing her balance, and fell on the floor on all fours, panting.
“Oh god,” Mina shields herself from the scene, Momo letting go of her hand. She cautiously crawled towards the woman, who was still blindfolded. Carefully, Momo held out her hand to check if everything that was happening was real. The mysterious woman’s skin was soft and it felt so real. The woman was still ducking her head from what seemed to be exhaustion, “Hey,” Momo started off, the woman groaned in response, still catching her breath, the fabric covering her eyes starting to slip off. Momo took it on herself to gently remove the fabric offending the woman’s vision. The moment they made eye contact, the woman smiled.
“Found you.”