Tsukumodo:Volume 2 Make-Up

When and how do girls learn to do make-up?

On TV, you can often see children literally turning themselves into monsters using make-up when mommy's not around, but I've never seen something like that in real life.

As for my own environment, I noticed that the girls in my class have started to do make-up about the time when we entered high school.

But not only at make-up are the girls ahead of us guys, but also when it comes to clothes and stylish haircuts. They must be more sensitive to fashion than us.

There are fashionable guys here and there as well, but that's the minority. It tends to be acceptable for men to be indifferent about this sort of thing. Not that I want to claim that I'm the standard, but it's a fact that I couldn't care less about fashion.

I suppose girls read magazines to get better in this field? But I don't believe that just doing that would do.

Which means that they must ask their friends or their mothers for advise on make-up and fashion.

But girls who do not have any friends and parents are at a disadvantage in that case.

Mm? Who I'm referring to, you ask?

Nah, I'm not thinking of someone in specific of course.

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A wide range of bottles was placed on the desk.

Toner, milky and normal lotions, liquid foundation, cream... skin protection cream, hydrating cream, skin care cream... after-care articles to use after washing one's face or applying a face masque, or before putting on any make-up...

Since I hadn't had the slightest idea what to use when for what purpose, I'd just randomly bought a few things, but I was none wiser now that I had lined my purchases up.

In fact, this was only a small portion of the cosmetics available. All I could say at the moment was that face masques were still too high-level for me.

It was about ten in the evening, and I was holding my head in font of the mirror and a bunch of cosmetic products while still in a slip dress I had put on after taking a bath.

Supposedly, it is necessary do something about dry skin after bathing, but I didn't even know why my skin would be dry when I had just taken a bath. In addition, toner and such could supposedly not only be put on, but had to be massaged in.

(Anyway, there's no use in sitting on my hands.)

I decided to start while referring to my book.

I carefully poured some toner on my hands and moved them in circles over my face to massage it in. Following the instructions of the book, I also applied some to other places like my arms or the nape of my neck.

I was afraid that I would have to go through the same procedure again for the lotion and the foundation, but they were declared optional, so I omitted them altogether.

Thinking that the majority of all women were doing this every day, I felt deep respect for them.

I had just started doing cosmetics myself, too, but I didn't know how long my endurance would last.

(No, this is the wrong mindset.

I must absolutely not give up.

Otherwise, I will end up like...)

I looked at a certain crumpled picture on the table.

I tried to flatten it in my palm, but the picture remained crumpled, and the person in it remained as wrinkled as an old woman.

The incident occurred several hours ago.

Towako-san was away for her usual purchases, while the two of us were looking after the shop.

During my break, I went out to buy some things. When I came back, I put the groceries into the fridge, and was about to place a castella cake, which I had bought to go with tea, on the table in the living room when I suddenly noticed a camera there.

It was a rather old-looking analog camera, and so I was tempted to take it into my hands.

That's when it happened.

A loud shutter sound resounded.

I hadn't operated the camera, so either I had touched a wrong spot or it had activated on its own.

Discomposed I put the camera down.

...Someone else might not have noticed, but I was indeed discomposed; because I feared that the camera might be a Relic.

Because of their special powers, it's impossible to predict what effect an unfamiliar Relict might have. Towako-san had the bad habit of just leaving Relics lying about from time to time.

How careless of me. I had been way too incautious.

I should have taken that possibility into consideration before touching it.

What if the camera had the power to suck up souls? In the past, we had come across a statue that would kill anyone who touches it, after all.

While I was mulling over these things, the camera produced a mechanical sound and printed out a photo. As it seemed, it was a Polaroid camera. But what was going to happen now?

I took the picture and took a look at it.

"Is this...?"

It was then that Tokiya peeked into the living room from the shop.

"Something wrong?"

"Ah, Tokiya. Look, this camera..."

"Mm? Ah, don't touch it, okay? It's a Relic Towako-san left there."

"So it really was a Relic."

"Hey, don't tell me you actually used it?"

I quickly shook my head, hiding the picture behind me.

"Yeah, you wouldn't," he said, "But seriously, be careful! It was a real mess when I touched that wallet Relic, you can take my word on that."

Of course, Tokiya had made just as many painful experiences with Relics as I. So if Tokiya was warning me about it, what kind of harm was hidden in this camera?

"T-Tokiya... What power does this camera have?"

"To tell the truth, it's nothing sensational actually," Tokiya admitted as he entered the living room. After he had come over to the table, he picked up the camera, and rotated some kind of dial, and eventually took a photo of the castella cake I had put on the table. After a few moments, another picture was printed out with the same mechanical sound like before.

He took the photo and showed it to me.

Needles to say, a cake was in it. In that photo, however, it looked spoiled—almost rotten—and had a slightly different color.

"Why does it look different?"

"Well, you can take photos of the future."

"Of the future..."

"Aah, but there's a catch...," Tokiya said as he took a piece of the castella cake, and took a bite of it. "The picture only shows you how it would look after a certain period of time without taking account that it might get eaten like now."

"How much time would that be?"

"In this case, maybe a year? Do you see this dial? You can set the number of years here, according to Towako-san."

"T-To how much was it set before?"

"Before?"

"I mean, w-was it also set to a year before you took this picture? It wasn't, right?"

"Err, how much was it again? I didn't really pay attention, but I think it was 16 years? Yeah, approximately. Only got a glimpse, though."

"16 years?"

"Yeah."

"Did you say sixteen years?"

"Yeah. Something wrong?"

"No."

He shrugged and went back to the shop after he had taken the last bite of his piece of cake.

"I see, 16 years...."

I took a look at the picture, which I had accidentally crumpled up.

Deep wrinkles that weren't due to the picture being crumpled, snow-white hair, ragged clothes—

It was a picture of a girl called Saki Maino, 16 years from now.

...In other words, me.