“Those female ghosts in horror movies don’t usually have canine teeth like yours. You’re actually kind of cute,” I said as I untied the rope around her and helped her down, brushing the dust off her clothes.
Her expression darkened at my words.
“Cute? No way. I won’t allow you to call me that.”
I thought, “Well, it’s my mouth—I’ll say whatever I want.”
Before I could respond, she turned around, and my breath caught in my throat.
On her back was… another head.
At least, that was what I thought at first.
The face on it was smiling at me.
But when I took a closer look, I realized it wasn’t a head at all. It was a massive lump, nearly half the size of her real head, with eyes and a nose drawn on it. She had even styled a small tuft of hair, tying it up and letting it fall around the “face.”
That was why I’d mistaken it for another head at first glance.
Her smug voice came from behind me.
“Well? Are you scared now? Bet you won’t say anything like that again!”
“Hey, what are you—” she started as I pulled a bow out of my pocket and clipped it onto the little tuft of hair on the lump.
She froze for a moment before walking over to the mirror, tilting her head back to look at the lump on her back.
“Now it’s not just cute,” I said with a grin. “It’s even prettier.”
Her face flushed red in an instant.
“R-Really? Everyone says my lump is ugly, that I’m a monster, and no matter how many times I try to cut it off, it won’t go away.”
I looked closer and noticed the lump was covered in scars, some deep, some shallow, with dried blood crusted over.
“Of course not. If you can’t get rid of it, then why not change how you see it? Think of it as a gift from above—something that makes you special and different from everyone else.”
She stared at me for a moment before suddenly throwing herself at my legs, clinging to me without saying a word.
