No matter how hard Keiko tried, her Spirit Eye wouldn't activate. This was expected, and yet Keiko still felt disappointed, every single time she tried. Back inside the house, she could hear Kaori and Kasumi laughing as they conversed.
"Seriously, you haven't... in such a long time!" Kasumi said. Keiko could barely hear their words.
"Kasumi, I don't... It would be..."
"You have to move..." Kasumi argued about something. "You need to dust off down there!"
"Hahahaha!" Kaori cackled. "Stop!"
Keiko sighed and stood up, rolling her shoulders.
"..." For a moment, she tried to picture herself in a similar situation. Surrounded by friends, a smile tugging at her lips, their joyous voices coalescing with her own, but she couldn't. Such a fantasy just felt wrong. Like it didn't belong to her. No matter how much she might have wanted to experience that, she simply had to understand that her path was different.
