---
We were walking through a forest that slled like mint and regret.
It had been an hour since I got sneak-attacked into a magical stream by a pair of mystery hands. And now, dripping wet and emotionally unstable, I was being led by a girl who claid to "never go anywhere she didn’t know anything about," yet sohow still looked like a Disney elf about to drop a nature docuntary.
Rin walked ahead like the trees were her roommates. Akane followed with the kind of grace that made stepping on a twig look like ballet. i was sowhere behind muttering to a squirrel that may or may not have been flipping her off.
? I was still trying to figure out how I lost a rigged ga of rock-paper-scissors. Again.
"Anyone else notice the trees are... moving?" I asked.
"They’re not moving," Rin said without turning. "You’re just walking wrong."
Right. Walking wrong. In a forest. Cool.
---
Ten minutes later, we were back at the sa rock that looked suspiciously like a sleeping possum. I nad it Gary.
"Okay," I said, pointing, "we’ve passed Gary three tis now. Either Gary is teleporting, or we are."
Akane knelt next to the rock and whispered, "Gary, is that you?"
Gary responded by opening one eye and farting.
"I vote we bla Rin," I said.
"I vote you shut up," Rin replied, still not looking back.
---
Then ca the weird animals.
First was a butterfly the size of a frying pan. It had sparkles on its wings and looked like it ca with a subscription to a fairy tale. i reached out to touch it.
It scread.
Like—full-on banshee wail.
We all jumped. The butterfly took off, did a loop in the air, and dive-bombed my face.
"NOPE!" I scread and ran straight into a tree.
Rin finally turned, "Yeah, don’t touch anything unless it touches you first."
"Isn’t that advice for dating?!" I said, trying to extract a splinter from my forehead.
"No," i said, "that’s just common sense."
---
Next, we saw a herd of bunny-looking things. But these weren’t regular bunnies. Oh no. They had fangs. Glowing fangs. And their fur puffed up like angry cotton candy.
"Awww," i said.
"Don’t even—" I started.
One of them hissed.
Another launched at a tree and bit clean through it like a chainsaw.
We all backed up slowly.
"They’re territorial," Rin explained. "We should leave offerings."
I blinked. "What offerings?"
"Your dignity," Akane offered.
"Already gone."
Rin threw so berries into the clearing. The bunnies sniffed them, made suspicious growls, and then bounced away.
I exhaled like I’d survived war.
---
That’s when the illusions started.
First it was small stuff—i saw a bush full of strawberries that turned out to be frogs. She scread, they scread, it was chaos.
Then I saw my own reflection in a puddle, except the reflection winked at and gave finger guns.
"What?" I muttered.
"Don’t look at forest puddles," Rin said. "They’re dramatic."
"No. I’m dramatic. That thing winked at ."
---
A few minutes later, we ca upon a tree with a door in it.
"Don’t go in," Rin said quickly.
"Wasn’t planning to," I muttered. "But thanks for assuming I have the self-preservation instincts of a horror movie side character."
The door opened by itself.
A small creature walked out. It looked like a squirrel mixed with a mailbox. It handed a leaf and waddled back inside.
"Am I supposed to tip it?"
"No," Rin said. "But don’t throw the leaf away. That would be rude."
I tucked it in my pocket. Because why not collect cursed foliage now?
---
Then, we got separated. Not like horror-movie-oh-no-I’m-alone separated. More like we blinked and suddenly I was walking with three versions of Rin.
One Rin was serious. One was smiling way too much. And one was upside-down for no reason.
"Okay," I said slowly. "This is either a hallucination or my teenage hormones finally evolved into sentient beings."
All three Rins spoke at once:
"You should run."
I ran.
Imdiately ran into the real Rin.
"Nice jog?" she asked.
"There were three of you!"
"Flattering."
---
Eventually, we found a clearing that didn’t shift when you looked away from it. We decided to rest there.
A bird flew down with three heads and demanded snacks. i gave it trail mix. It nodded politely and flew away.
"Okay," I said. "Let get this straight. The forest is alive, the animals are scary-cute, and even puddles have attitude?"
"Yes," Rin said, yawning.
"And this is normal?"
"No," she said. "This is Tuesday."
---
Later that night, while I was trying to fall asleep under a leaf that was definitely watching , I heard Rin say softly:
"The forest doesn’t like strangers... but it doesn’t hate you either."
"Thanks?" I said.
She smiled faintly.
"That’s probably the best you’ll get."
I went to sleep hoping my dreams wouldn’t involve winking puddles or bloodthirsty marshmallows.
Spoiler: they did.
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