Yuki dreamt she was back in her house, specifically in her kitchen. She saw her parents eating at the kitchen table, healthy and joyfully laughing together.
This felt weird due to the fact her last memory was about Riko attacking Sasaki and Sayuri. Yuki tried rushing towards her parents, attempting to hug them. However, their body's started to dissolve into smoke.
"Noo, don't leave me, please not again!"
Yuki now stood in the middle of the kitchen, back against the wall, as it felt like the walls were closing in on her.
Suddenly, she heard a crunching noise that seemed to be coming from the living room. She rushed there, to see Kenji Igaguri in a ghostly, transparent form sitting on the couch.
Right next to him was a haunting-looking lady with long, greasy hair, and her eyes had no pupils at all. She wore tree vines with leaves and different types of flowers, as her dress.
The woman smelled of mud and earth — it was a strong, heavy kind of smell.
"Kenji!!" Yuki said.
As she rushed towards him for a hug, Kenji, however, flustered, and waved his hands in a panic.
"Wait! Wait! Ayano, you can't tou—"
Yuki tried wrapping her arms around Kenji, but that was when she went through him and fell onto the couch.
Kenji then tried holding his laugh, as he turned to see Yuki facing the couch.
"I was trying to tell you you can't touch me. Sorry, Ayano."
Yuki slowly got up and then sat on the couch. She turned to the side to see the ghostly-looking woman staring at a mirror. Yuki, wondering what was so fascinating about her reflection, as Yuki pulled her gaze toward the mirror.
But this decision was a mistake.
Yuki saw from the mirror, the true form of this ghostly lady. Her whole body had no flesh left — it was a skeleton, just sitting there, waiting to die. Yuki fell back onto the couch. That's when Kenji came to her side.
"Hey, Ayano! Are you okay?" Kenji said.
"Who is she? Igaguri, do you know her?"
Kenji quickly glanced over to the lady looking at her reflection.
"She..." Kenji said.
Kenji's words got interrupted by this ghostly woman.
"My name is -------- and I'm ---------," she said.
Yuki's eyes widened — the ghostly woman's name sounded like complete gibberish to her.
Yuki turned to face Kenji, in a panic.
"Did you hear that?"
"Yes, but it's only due to the fact I'm no longer human." Kenji said.
Yuki, then thought back to when Kenji disappeared, causing her to suspect this woman of wrong doing.
"Hey lady, look at me when I speak to you," Yuki said.
The woman's head creaked, as she slowly lifted it to meet Yuki's eyes. Her face had no expression, but then, Igaguri got up, standing in the middle of the two.
"Hold on, Yuki. You don't understand what's going on."
Yuki then walked through Kenji's ghostly form, facing the woman once again. Kenji held his stomach, as he felt a little embarrassed.
"Listen lady, you better bring me and Kenji back to the real world, or else—"
That's when Yuki put her hand on her chin, as she thought of what she could do to this ghostly woman. However, before Yuki could say a word, the woman got up and revealed, the back of her right hand, a black tattoo of an upside-down crescent moon.
"Your male human, is lucky to have someone like you, all because faith had given you a 'Deathmark' on your chest, which enabled him to remain in this dream world that you have conjured."
Yuki looked confused after hearing those words. She quickly pulled her pajama shirt, and that was when she saw a dark purple circular tattoo with chains circling it.
"What? How did this get here? What's going on?"
The woman let out a dry laugh, as her smile creaked once more.
"You have been cursed."
"Cursed!!" Yuki and Kenji said in unison.
"You've been cursed since the day you were born, and it seems that all the supernatural elements that have been happening recently, have awakened your 'Deathmark.'"
The woman started to walk towards Yuki and Igaguri, each step reviving the flowers on her robe — only for them to die instantly with her next step.
She then leaned down, as Yuki covered her mouth and nose from the awful smell of mud she was protruding.
"I leave you with a gift and some advise. First the advise: This human that you seem to have a solid connection with, unfortunately his real body is stuck in 'Purgatory,' and if you want any chance of getting it back, find the magic tool causing the disappearances," she said.
Kenji turned to Yuki with a worried face.
"Look, you don't have to do this for me. It's way too dangerous."
"Shut up, Igaguri. I'm gonna say this once: I will get you back, no matter what!" Yuki said, with a smile.
Kenji's eyes started to water. He could not hold his emotion back.
"AYANO! THANK YOU!" he yelled, as he tried to hug Yuki but dramatically fell to the ground.
They laughed it off, as they both had a smile on their face.
Suddenly, the woman put her index finger on Yuki's forehead as she closed her eyes.
"Now, for your gift. Once you come back to the real world, you will forget about my existence. I will leave you with the knowledge you have acquired here — including how to utilize this curse to your advantage. Sadly, you will forget where this information came from."
"But... will I remember meeting Igaguri?" Yuki said.
Kenji then turned to Yuki with a saddened face, knowing the answer.
"No. You will forget having met him in this dream space. However, the feeling of having known him may linger, creating a sense of connection."
Yuki then clenched her fist till they turned white, knowing what she needed to do. Since, now she knew that she would forget about meeting this woman and Igaguri, all she needed to do now, was use the gift that she had acquired — to find the person with the magic tool causing the disappearances.
But then, one thing made no sense to her, and It just came to her mind. She remembered that Sasaki Shin had told her, she might be involved in the cause of the disappearances.
"Hey, before I wake up from this dream, could you please tell me how my Deathmark is involved in the disappearances?"
The woman's expression became terrifying as she grinned showing her perfect teeth — which then started to rot and grow back over and over again.
"The magic tool used in the disappearances has the same characteristics as your Deathmark — not only in the magic residue it produces, but even the same chains wrapping the curse can also be seen on the tool. But that is all I know. The rest is up to you to figure out."
Then the woman flicked Yuki on her forehead, and she dropped to the floor, her eyes turning heavy.
"Nooo... wait... I-I-I'm n-n-not th—done..."
Kenji waved at her goodbye as Yuki's vision turned black.
Suddenly, Yuki woke up, rain dropping on her head and thunder echoing in the dark sky. Her half-lidded eyes saw a dark mansion in the distance, and she wondered, where the hell she was.
Yuki then felt the mud on her knees, realizing she was in the middle of a muddy street. She slowly turned her head to the side and saw a man in a hunter's cloak, his right hand held in a knife-hand position. He wore white gloves with glowing magic glyphs, and he was aiming his fingers at the back of Sasaki's head.
Sasaki, who always had a grin on his face, seemed to lack one this time. He still had the magic collar on him, preventing him from using magic.
Yuki then turned to her left and saw Sayuri on the muddy ground. Her left leg was bleeding from what seemed like a bullet hole on her thigh. Sayuri's eyes were closed, and she was biting her red tie as hard as possible to quell the pain.
Finally, Yuki lifted her head — only to be greeted with a custom revolver to her face, lined with glowing magical glyphs.
"Welcome back, to the world of the living, Miss."