Burn

I waited downstairs at Building 6, Unit 6, Gongnong Village. In what felt like the blink of an eye, Shouzi and Ma Yibing arrived. I checked the time; an hour had passed since Shouzi called me, not the blink of an eye I'd felt. My hand, gripping the lighter, was numb from holding the same position for so long, yet the lighter remained as cold as when I first picked it up, untouched by my body heat. I didn't know if it was the lighter's fault or the cold wind I was standing in, but my body just wouldn't warm up.

Shouzi held a transparent plastic bag, the dim light from the streetlamp revealing a dark mass of fabric inside. Ma Yibing, carrying a metal bucket and a bottle of cooking oil, trailed a few steps behind Shouzi, his eyes fixed on the plastic bag in Shouzi's hand, completely on guard.

"Let's go," I said, wiggling my fingers, feeling a dull ache.

Shouzi's face was slick with sweat, his demeanor like he was facing a formidable enemy. He turned and urged Ma Yibing to hurry.

Ma Yibing probably still had no idea why we were here to burn a kimono. He didn't have the mental capacity to consider it; the kimono that burned and reappeared had already captured his entire attention.

As Shouzi and Ma Yibing went upstairs, Shouzi told me how they found the kimono.

It couldn't really be called "finding" it.

They went to the drama academy, entered the theater club's office, and saw the kimono in the room where props and costumes were stored. It was hanging neatly on a rack, alongside other clothes from The Family, as if no one had touched it.

Shouzi, emboldened, had inspected it closely. There were no burn marks on the kimono; it was completely intact. As Chen Xiaoqiu had said, the material was exquisite, the craftsmanship superb, and it was perfectly preserved. It looked more like an artifact stored in a glass case than a costume from a student club.

Shouzi had Ma Yibing find a plastic bag to put the kimono in. He was a bit apprehensive as he handled it, fearing some kind of reaction, but the kimono behaved like any ordinary piece of clothing. He held it in his hands all the way here without any unusual incidents.

"Oh, right, I also asked. Starting with that Fan Wen, The Family has been performed four times by the theater club."

My steps faltered, "Four times?"

"Yeah, which means..." Shouzi grinned.

Which meant that perhaps four people had died before, and if you included Zheng Xiaorui, that made five. It matched the number of people I saw under the cherry blossom tree.

But it didn't seem like it should be counted that way.

I shook my head.

The three of us reached the sixth floor.

Ma Yibing shivered, finally remembering to ask a question: "Where are we actually going?"

Shouzi and I didn't answer, walking straight ahead.

The lights in the hallway here were out, whether broken or haunted, we didn't know. We both pretended it was broken and calmly turned on our phone flashlights.

The light swept across, and Ma Yibing saw the sign for Qingye. He asked cautiously, "Is there someone powerful here?"

Shouzi and I still didn't answer him.

Shouzi waited for me to open the door.

But I stopped with the key just before inserting it into the lock and hesitantly knocked twice.

Shouzi was startled, and Ma Yibing froze.

"Why are you knocking?"

"Did you rent this place?"

They asked two completely different questions with two completely different tones.

Shouzi sounded terrified, Ma Yibing sounded surprised.

I waited for a moment. No one answered from inside, and naturally, no one came to open the door for us. As I unlocked it, I said, "Uh... I'm coming in."

Shouzi grew even more frightened, forgetting his fear of the kimono. He clutched it to his chest, shrinking back like a young girl. "Hey, hey, hey, Qi Ge, what are you doing!"

Creak—

The door opened, the sound a little loud, perhaps because of the profound silence around us.

Both of them jumped.

"Come in," I said, taking a deep breath and stepping into the office first.

The office was even quieter than outside, not a sound to be heard. I scanned the room, saw no one, and felt neither disappointment nor relief.

Ma Yibing walked straight in. Shouzi, unnerved by my actions, now seemed more timid than Ma Yibing.

"Hurry up! Don't dawdle!" I hissed at Shouzi.

Shouzi, with an expression of heroic sacrifice, took a large step into the office.

"Close the door," I said again.

"Maybe... we should leave it open?" Shouzi negotiated, pushing the door open wider, making an escape route easier.

"Stop the nonsense!" I snapped again.

Shouzi eyed me suspiciously for a long time, but couldn't figure anything out.

I walked over and closed the door myself.

Shouzi jumped, startled, and took two steps back from me.

"Bring me the bucket and the clothes," I said, extending my hands to them.

Ma Yibing wanted to get this over with quickly and was very cooperative.

Shouzi handed me the kimono.

I poured oil over the kimono and threw it into the metal bucket. I still held the lighter in my palm. I didn't know what kind of divine or demonic object it was, but I prayed it would be useful, burn the kimono completely, and stop its mischief. After praying, I mentally chanted Amitabha and spoke to the kimono, urging it to ascend to the pure land quickly and cease causing harm.

As I muttered, I opened the pure silver lighter. The flame leaped out, its warm light adding a touch of warmth to the cold, dark space.

The kimono touched the flame and instantly ignited, turning into a ball of fire that burned with incredible speed.

"This should take care of it, right?" Ma Yibing asked us with a dry chuckle.

The skinny guy's face was grim. "How did that Lanlan burn?"

Ma Yibing's smile froze. "It... I heard it was matches... just like that..."

"Just like that, and not even ashes left?" the skinny guy pressed.

Ma Yibing started to panic.

The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

A kimono isn't paper; even paper leaves ashes. How could it burn so easily?

"Maybe it was some special material..." Ma Yibing thought hard, but that was all he could come up with.

The skinny guy was about to say something like "ghost material" when the fireball in the iron bucket burned out.

The kimono had multiple layers, a large one at that. It wouldn't have burned that fast even if doused in oil.

Ma Yibing didn't believe his own "special material" excuse, but he didn't believe any other "truth" either. He said urgently, "It's burned out, let's go!"

The skinny guy glared at Ma Yibing. "Let's wait a bit longer. What if it comes back..."

Before he could finish, I felt a cold gust of wind brush past me. I abruptly raised my hand, my arm swinging straight out in a circle, reaching behind me.

Both the skinny guy and Ma Yibing were startled by my movement. The skinny guy even took three steps back, putting distance between us.

My arm pulled me sideways, and I looked in the direction my arm was extending. My hand was clenched into a fist, as if I were exerting force, yet I felt nothing at all.

Just as the skinny guy and Ma Yibing were about to ask what was going on, something appeared in my clenched fist.

It was a piece of black fabric. The fabric expanded in my hand, growing until it took the shape of a garment, and the cherry blossom tree appeared, from crown to roots.

The skinny guy and Ma Yibing gasped repeatedly.

I couldn't make a sound, because I saw that the kimono I was holding by the collar wasn't hanging like a normal piece of clothing. Instead, it stood upright in mid-air, as if inside the garment...