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At age 7, Grandma lectured us at the big, old cherry tree in the backyard.“Kotone… Washio… Come here!” as she pointed out at the clearing underneath the tree.“Now, do as we practiced.”Kotone and I sat down in meditation. Together with Grandma, we closed our eyes and concentrated.Meditation has never been my strongest suit so I opened one of my eyes to look at how my twin sister Kotone is doing.I have never seen a more beautiful sight in my life before. Kotone had a serene look on her face amidst the starry night sky and the falling cherry blossom petals. Before I realized it, I was openly staring at her. A moment cut short when Grandma reprimanded me.“Washio, Concentrate!”I closed my eyes again in haste. Grandma always knows if I’m goofing off during meditation practice. Was this one of the gods’ powers?“What can you see? What do you feel? Can you hear them?”We both spoke in unison, “It will be a good year, the gods said.”Grandma praised us with “Very good!”She patted our heads and smiled lovingly.“Your spiritual powers have matured enough to sense the gods’ will. It’s time for you girls to learn about the family’s learnings.”Kotone and I opened ours eyes and beamed at each other. At last, our hard work is finally paying off.Grandma continued, “The Hoshizora family has served the local gods since time immemorial. As a token of gratitude, the gods have allowed our family to borrow a small amount of their power. Grandma, Papa and Mama will teach you a lot of things so continue to do your best, okay?”We shouted a big “Okay!” before blurting out the first question that came to mind.“So Grandma, will we learn why we have our names here?”I showed her the names engraved at the inside of my right forearm. Kotone looked at her left forearm and presented hers as well. The identical markings on both forearms, Washio written vertically on the right and Kotone written vertically on the left, had always puzzled us ever since we saw Grandma has our late Grandpa’s name on her left palm and Mama has Papa’s name on her right ring finger.Grandma looked at us solemnly and said, “I’ll tell you when you get older.”***At age 14, Kotone and I had grown popular due to a variety of reasons. As part of the Hoshizora family, we had people recognize us as those cute shrine maidens during events. Meanwhile, I had become the ace of the archery club while Kotone had become the beauty of the tea ceremony club. Despite our drifting interests, we are still together for most of the time.So it wasn’t a surprise when boys confess to one of us on a daily basis. And since we are together often, confessions are sometimes made to the wrong girl. We always had fun with that one. Sharing confession stories to each other had become a sort of inside joke between us.That is, until one day, the daily gossip was about Kotone.“Good morning, Washio! Where’s Kotone?”“Good morning, Suppi! Kotone’s at home. She said she’s sick.”Suppi is the astronomy club president. She recently transferred here and immediately founded the astronomy club. She recruited us just so she could have the minimum required members for club status and dismissed the fact that we have other clubs. Apparently, she could organize everything herself. She only needs us during stargazing events since we are, in her own words, “walking advertisements that also know their stuff“. She had become our best friend since then.Suppi crossed her arms. She looks tense. I was about to say something before she closed the gap and whispered something to my ear.“How did Kotone’s confession go yesterday?”“What!?”Gossip was usually the first thing we talk about in the morning but this is the first time I’ve heard something about Kotone that I do not know. Nothing happened when we went home together and Kotone never mentioned anything. Was it during club time?Suppi had stepped back and crossed her arms again.“She didn’t tell you?”She had this worried look in her face. Probably, mine too since she stopped asking about it and went to another topic. I could only nod and shake at her while I thought about Kotone. I sighed. This is going to be a long day.***I hurriedly went back home to check on Kotone.Mama had seen her at the cherry tree so I hurriedly went there. Wasn’t she supposed to be sick?I found her meditating with that same serene look she had back when we were kids. Even back then, she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, which is weird because we have the same face. I feel my cheeks getting hotter.“Washio, let’s talk later,” Kotone said, eyes still closed and her posture never broken.I nodded. She smiled. I could feel my cheeks getting much hotter than before as I quietly left my sister. I’ll deal with whatever’s bugging her and probably about that confession later. For now, a cold shower seems to be a good idea.***Later that night, Kotone and I had our talk. She held my hand as she talked about the confession that’s plaguing my mind all day. On how the very feminine club president of the tea ceremony club had confessed to her and despite turning her down, had shaken Kotone’s core with questions about herself. She was so shaken that she had to ask the gods for help. And when I arrived that afternoon, she had found her answer.Kotone confessed to me right there and then. My dear Kotone, looking at me with eyes full of love, holding my hand, it was too much. I accepted without hesitation. We shared our first kiss at the privacy of our own room.***At age 16, Kotone and I finally learned the significance of the markings on our forearms. As Grandma explained, our gods’ power is guidance. This power commonly manifests in the stars which guide people through the dark or through locations or even their destiny. The red string of fate that is said to bind soulmates is also part of this power. For the Hoshizora family, the names on our bodies are our own red string of fate. Usually, only one name is seen on family members. As Grandma further explained, family members with two or more names are tapping more into the gods’ powers. Unfortunately, the additional names bring harm to that person’s life, one of them ultimately killing you.It was chilling to say the least. In the same day, we found out our soulmate and how we will die. I held a crying Kotone later that night. A bit later, I found myself crying too.Ever since then, our chaste relationship had become more intimate but then, the nightmares started. We both get them from time to time but on a stroke of luck, not both at the same time. The nightmare always end with someone dead but the last thing we always see before we wake up drenched with sweat is our bloodied forearms.Suppi has been worried too. She had forced the information out of us but could only silently support us. Club activities provided us some relief at least. Thank the gods for that. Or maybe not, since they are the ones who put us in this predicament in the first place.Papa had to introduce new issues as well when he started entertaining marriage meetings, much to our dismay. Apparently, we need to start planning our future. I scoffed at the idea of marrying someone else. Kotone is my soulmate; I will only be with her.Unfortunately, everyone’s patience could only hold on so long. Papa had hold off the meetings after many failed attempts. He did give us an ultimatum though. After graduation, he will marry us to the first one who is interested regardless of our opinion. And with that, Kotone and I agreed to put the second part of our destiny into action.At midnight, we tiptoed out of our room while grabbing a box cutter on the way out. We went to the cherry tree in the backyard. In one last act of defiance, we carved umbrellas above our names using the cutter. We sat there underneath the tree, holding hands and bleeding to death.“Washio…”“What is it, Kotone?”I stared at the sky adorned by the bright moon. I wish we could be together in our next life..."The moon sure is beautiful today."Washio kissed me for the last time."I love you, too."We held hands until everything faded to black.