On the day of my twenty-fifth birthday, when the sky was clear, my head was flown before the public.
My innocent brother Florensi had been killed earlier, and the execution took place in the midst of wailing and lamentations.
More than the people's abuse of me and the wild shouts of the executioner, my ears were filled with the desperate voice of Galatona - Gacchan, the spider fairy Alanya, who stayed by my side until the very end.
'Nyah-nyah-nyah!'
I'm sorry, Gacchan. We had talked about being together forever. ...
The heavy rug that has been raised on the stage called life is forcibly lowered by the hands of strangers.
My body sank into the bottomless swamp of death.
◇ ◇◇◇
The sound of Gacchan's screams in my ear was so loud that I could hardly hear her.
Gacchan's cries echoed in my ears.
She's a very quiet girl, but this is the first time she's ever made so many cries.
I'm just thinking about it when I realise.
I was supposed to have been executed earlier.
I was told that when sinners die, they fall into the inferno of the hell world and suffer in the magma forever. ...
'Gachan, why are you here!
'Nya!!!'
Gachan's meringue-white, cottony, fluffy body jumped into my face.
I rubbed my cheeks together and seemed to be pleased with something.
I was so happy that she had followed me to the hell world.
Gachan, you mustn't do this! Now go back to where you were--'
The moment I get up and try to persuade her, I feel uncomfortable.
I am now on a bunk with clean sheets spread out.
'This place is ...!
It looks familiar, my home that I haven't set foot in for five years.
'What on earth is going on here?'
I realise as soon as I put my hand to my cheek.
I'm not sure if it's a good thing that I've been here for five years, but I've never set foot in this house before.
What?
The nails that had been removed during the interview were clean, and the familiar rough hands were nowhere to be found.
'Gachan, what has happened to me!
'Nya.'
Gachan returns to me with a hand mirror. Is he trying to tell me to check myself in the mirror?
I remember people who used to know me saying that I looked like a different person.
I took the mirror offered to me and looked fearfully into my face.
What is this?
Her long blonde hair, which had looked like straw, had regained its lustre, and her blue eyes, which had almost gone blind, had regained their light. Her rough skin was smooth as silk, and her chapped lips were plump and blood-coloured.
It's hard to believe, really, but my reflection in the mirror has rejuvenated me.
Confused, I jump down from my bunk and check the seven-day-a-week calendar in my familiar bedroom room.
'The second week of the month of Mutsu no Tsukihi, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty of the Holy Calendar.
'Five years before the day of my execution--?
This means that I am now twenty years old again.
And it was also two months before my father died.
I opened my dresser drawer and found a pocket watch with the Duchess of Mendoza's family crest on it, which my uncle had stolen from me.
'The time is rewinding!
'nya.!'
Gachan replies as if to say yes.
What on earth has happened?
'So that means Florenci!
The memory of the moment his head flew off is clearly etched in my mind.
I rush out of the room and head for Florensi's bedroom.
It is still dim outside, and it must be early morning.
I open Florensi's bedroom and rush to the bunk.
Florensi, younger than when he was executed, was sleeping soundly.
In front of him, she pinches her own cheek as hard as she can.
'aah!'
This is not a dream.
The throbbing pain in my cheek told me it was real.
This can't be happening.
..
I woke her up when she cried out, clinging to the sleeping Florensi.
'Graciela sister, what is wrong?'
I woke him up, but he didn't get angry, he just spoke to me kindly.
'Were you having a scary dream?'
Yes, I was. What had happened so far must have been a bad dream.
Hugging Florensi, I cried until my tears ran dry.