Chapter 14 (Bonus): Reb!rth
Warning: This chapter contains death, ghosts and other supernatural things
It had been a day since they had pulled Cherry aside to tell her she was going to be debuting with New Dawn's new group. She hadn't been with New Dawn for too long, so this had surprised her. She wondered if it was because she had been in a group before, but she had a suspicion that it wasn't quite that easy.
Now she was sitting in an dark practice room, empty except for her. She found that dancing was an easy way for her to get lost in her thoughts. When something didn't make sense, she danced. It usually worked. This time, it didn't.
Cherry had danced for two hours, but she still didn't understand what game New Dawn was playing. She knew they were playing some game. The whole world knew that, once the CEO of RE:VENGE had opened up about her problems with Park Dohee. They were both trying to become popular and beat the other. No one else mattered in this game except New Dawn and RE:VENGE.
Except everyone had thought New Dawn would try to duplicate FMC, RE:VENGE's group. Create their own eight-member girl group based on dark fairytales. Cherry was one of those people who had believed that. She knew that if they were creating a parallel, they would add her. That's why she joined, because she knew it would be an easy debut.
She was the sister of Saki and Hanni of FMC. She would represent one of those girls in this new group.
When they announced her, she wasn't surprised. What had surprised her was when only four other names were called.
FMC had eight members. Reb!rth had five.
New Dawn was playing at a different game, one that Cherry hadn't expected. That was why she couldn't understand her place in the group.
Then there were the other members of the group. Talented girls, all of them. Yena Yu, who had one of the prettiest voices Cherry had ever seen. Roh Minerva, known for her striking visuals. Lee Seoyoon, who was the perfect all-rounder, talented at everything she touched. Then there was Katie Miyakawa.
Katie had been named lead rapper, but Cherry couldn't see it. She hated listening to the girl sing, and it had surprised her when Katie had made it past all of the elimination rounds.
Then there was the person Katie claimed to be. Miyakawa, the same last name of Saki. Cherry's adopted sister. Everyone in their large, adopted family knew that Saki had a younger sister who was supposed to come with her when she was adopted. Then her sister had died and she had come alone.
Cherry had avoided her because of this. She had never spoken to the girl, because she didn't want to know. She didn't want to know how her name was the exact same as Saki's baby sister. Why she looked just like the girl in the photos Saki would occasionally show them. Her black hair, brown eyes, sharp face all reminded Cherry of Saki.
Saki had grown up believing her baby sister was dead. Cherry had grown up believing Saki's baby sister was dead. So how was this girl who had died at a young age about to debut in a K-Pop group?
Of course, it could all just be a coincidence. Katie was a popular name in the US. Miyakawa was a common surname in Japan. But how could she explain the way Katie looked exactly like Saki, down to her tight, anxious posture and the terrified look in her eyes?
Then there was the fact that Cherry wasn't from this world. Saki, Hanni and her were all from a parallel version of Earth. When her sisters had moved to this world to debut in FMC, Cherry had followed them, desperate to get away from her family that was slowly falling apart. She had been immediately scouted by ADORE and had joined their group St4rlight.
How had Katie got here? Unless a version of her who wasn't dead existed in this world, which Cherry guessed was a possible option.
The door of the practice room opened, startling Cherry. She quickly stood up as Katie walked into the room. Both girls froze as they eyed each other, unsure of what to say.
"You can use this practice room! I was just about to leave!" Cherry said quickly, running to the lockers on the side of the room to grab her bag out. Katie watched her silently as she did it, her face dark and contemplating. Cherry tried not to make eye contact with her as she rushed to the door.
"Wait."
Katie's voice was sharp and demanding. Cherry immediately stopped in the doorway as soon as she heard it. She slowly turned around, still not meeting Katie's eyes.
"Why do you act so cold towards me?" she asked in an icy voice. Cherry tried to supress a shudder that ran through her body as the girl spoke.
"How is it that you look exactly like my sister?" Cherry asked, looking up to meet the girl's gaze. She tried not to flinch as Katie's cold, brown eyes met hers.
"You already know why. I'm her sister, Katie. Didn't she ever tell you about me?"
"She told me you were dead."
Katie paused, then smirked. "Did she ever tell you how I died?"
Those words were enough to make Cherry's blood run cold. Her bag fell to the ground through frozen fingers, but she didn't stop to pick it up as she raced out the door.
☆☆☆
Heart pounding, Cherry pulled out her phone. She was connected to the StoryTeller Society network, so she was still able to access the internet from her world. Which was what she needed at the moment.
She had hidden herself inside a janitor's closet outside of the practice hallway. She shared a dorm with Katie, so she didn't want to risk her walking in on what Cherry was about to do.
She clicked on the search bar and quickly typed "Katie Miyakawa" in. Saki had never told her the circumstances around her sister's death, all Cherry knew was that she had died in an accident. Part of her brain wondered if Katie had said that just to terrify her. There was no way that girl was the same person as Saki's sister. She probably just had fun tormenting younger trainees and used Cherry's blurted question as a way to control her.
Despite that, Cherry had to know.
Very few links had popped up with her search. Merely an obituary, a link to an orphanage's website, and a news article about Katie's death. Cherry clicked on the obituary and was surprised to see it didn't have much on it.
At the top of the page was a picture of Katie. Cherry was right, Saki's sister and the future Reb!rth member were one and the same. Hands shaking, she scrolled down.
"Katie Miyakawa, an orphan living at New Haven Orphanage, has passed away on Sunday, August 28th. She is survived only by her older sister, Sakura Miyakawa. Services will be held at the New Haven Cemetery…"
Cherry didn't finish reading. She clicked back to the links and went next to the news article, but that yielded little else. Katie had been born in New Haven, Wyoming, to two Japanese immigrants. They had died shortly after, leaving their two daughters to New Haven Orphanage. Katie had been found dead in her bed one morning, but no one knew what had caused it.
That baffled Cherry. In her world, ghosts weren't uncommon. She guessed that was who Katie was, and she had somehow followed Cherry there. For what reason, Cherry wasn't sure. Especially since this girl looked way older than the child featured in the obituary's photo. Cherry guessed she couldn't have been much older than eight when she had died.
Was she murdered? Did she want Cherry to unmask her killer? By why not enlist Saki, her biological sister, to do that instead?
One more link rested at the bottom of the search. It lead to a YouTube video, so Cherry pressed on it, although she didn't have much hope that it would lead to anything interesting.