Crimson Dream
Crimson Dream (紅い夢 Akai Yume) by Masako Tsukimori is the fourth chapter in the Zero Shisei no Koe Comic Anthology.
It tells the story of Musubi and Tsuzuri Osaka, the Twin Shrine Maidens featured in Fatal Frame III, and the time shortly before their Crimson Sacrifice Ritual at All God's Village.
Story
Trapped in the Manor of Sleep, Tsuzuri and Musubi reflect on their childhood in All God's Village, many years ago. They remember their nurse fetching them in from the field where they had been playing, and the way Kayo ran away as they approached. That evening, they asked their father why they were different from other children in the village. He told them that they were God's Children, who would become Shrine Maidens and save the village. Their mother became distressed and ran from the room, crying. The twins commented that she often cried when she was alone. They talked about the connection between them that allowed them to feel each other's pain. Earlier that day, one had fallen down and hurt her leg, and the other had a bruise in the same place. Tsuzuri believed that they were one person in two bodies.
Several years later, the twins were walking through the village together and saw Kiichi Murakami, a boy they both liked. Musubi told Tsuzuri to go home without her, and ran to meet him. Musubi confessed her feelings to Kiichi, but he rejected her, saying he could never be associated with twins. The two girls came to believe that they had nobody but each other to turn to.
As the day of the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual approached, Tsuzuri and Musubi had to move to the Twin Houses for their purification. They were still ignorant of the true nature of the ritual; their parents had told them only that they would become one and save the village. On the day of the festival, the Veiled Priests came to lead them to the Hellish Abyss, where the ritual would take place. When the priests explained what they would have to do, Tsuzuri was horrified, but Musubi said it was their fate to become one. As Tsuzuri strangled her younger sister, she felt her thoughts and suffering being transferred to her. Musubi was cast into the Hellish Abyss, and the bruise on her throat turned into a crimson butterfly, the sign of the ritual's success.
Tsuzuri became a Remaining, her hair white from the shock. Some time later, she entered the Manor of Sleep with her sister, and they became trapped. They continue to wait there together.
Characters
- Tsuzuri Osaka
- Musubi Osaka
- Unnamed mother
- Unnamed father
- Unnamed nurse
External links
- Scanlation by Abyss (BCL)