As the sun rose the next morning, I heard a creaking sound coming from above. It began to get louder and louder, culminating with the return of the man from yesterday. He was holding an assortment of chains in his hand.

The man sat in the chair, and he reached into a nearby box. Then he emptied it, laying a pile of necklaces beside us on the table. He then began to embed each of the painted rocks into the pendants of those necklaces, one by one. As I watched, I noticed that there were no smears of paint on the man’s fingers, which meant that we had all dried overnight.

Finally, the man picked me up with his tweezer and placed me inside one of the pendants. After this, I could only look at what was in front of me, with just a little bit of periphery on each side. It may sound bad at first, but there was a silver lining to this. If the flickering became too overwhelming, I could just look behind me.

Suddenly, I started to float in the air. I looked forward and saw the man looking directly at me. He was also holding something above me, likely one of the chains. The table began to get further and further away from me as the man began to take me somewhere. The entire time, I was swinging violently, loudly impacting the rocks beside me, all while the colors around me swirled and flickered violently. I looked away, trying to shield myself within the refuge of darkness, which was something I couldn’t believe I was thinking. After about a minute or so, the clattering ceased. I looked toward my front and witnessed the new scene that awaited me.

I was now outside, hanging on some sort of stand in front of the man’s house. There were also stands in front of the other houses across the cobblestone-laden street. Each one was filled with various products and paraphernalia. Besides me were other hung and painted rocks, along with some rocks on the man’s booth.

What was he up to? Why go through the effort to paint all these rocks? I would find out soon enough. But in the meantime, the man returned to his stand and flipped over a hand-painted sign. One side said closed and the other said open, and interestingly, both were painted in perfect Japanese script.

It didn’t take long for people to begin to walk over, and the area quickly became crowded. After all the commotion I heard yesterday, that shouldn’t have been surprising. But it had been a long time since I’d seen this many people at once. There seemed to be a couple dozen people just on this part of the street, and all of them were wearing medieval garb. I will note that making out colors or any specific details was very difficult because of all the green in my view, and I found it easier just to look at the silhouettes.

While all the passersby were walking around, the man began to shout.

“Gemstones! Get yourself some gemstones!” he shouted. “Buy them now while they’re still in stock!”

Of course, he was a con artist. Well, I guess it must have been far easier for him than getting some actual crystals. But who did he think he was fooling? Despite all the painting he did, the rocks near me still looked rough and textured. Were his efforts convincing anyone? The shopkeeper didn’t seem to care either way. And in any case, his shouting seemed to get someone’s attention, as a young man was walking over to us. Surely, he wouldn’t fall for this scam.

“Welcome to the Jewels of Heaven, selling exotic jewels unlike any you’ve ever seen!” the shopkeeper announced. “So, young man, which of these trinkets do you want?”

“Umm… This is for my wife,” the customer responded. “If I’m being honest, I’ll take anything.”
“I see… Well then, here is a ruby necklace, its intense crimson hues symbolizing the passion of a young woman’s heart.”

“Ok, sure, I’ll take it.”

Was this guy an idiot? It's clearly counterfeit!

“Hold on!" The shopkeeper exclaimed "If you want to purchase one of my ‘precious’ gemstones, then what are you willing to give me in exchange?”

What did he just say? Give him something. Such as what?

“Uhhh. How about this spoon?” the customer suggested, holding out a spoon.

A spoon. Was he serious? There was no way even this charlatan would accept something like that.

“I’ll take it! It's a pleasure doing business with you, sir,” the shopkeeper declared, giving the man the ruby necklace. “I’m sure your wife will love her new necklace, and please be sure to come back again!”

“Ok, sure thing,” the customer replied as he began to leave.

Were those two bartering? Did either of them have any actual money? And what was the point of this exchange in the first place? Nothing of value was gained or lost; at least, that’s what it looked like at first. But it turned out this customer wasn’t being honest either. I saw him run up to another stand, only to give away the necklace he just bought in exchange for something else. He then took that item and gave it away at another stand. Rinse and repeat. He soon left my periphery, and I wasn’t sure what he did after that.

As the day continued on and more customers came and went, I noticed that only a handful of them actually kept their new ‘gemstones’. Most of the customers were just giving them away to other shopkeepers in exchange for other items. One guy even went full circle, coming here to get a ‘gemstone’, giving away at another shop, only to eventually come back here with an item he got from another shop. It was absolutely bizarre.

Another thing I noticed is that there were only a few people who actually kept their new ‘jewelry’, and all of them had given away more precious-looking items. Everyone else seemed to be in on the con, from what I could see. It just didn’t seem to matter to them that they were buying fakes. Additionally, you could roughly draw a path as to which stands people went to first and which ones they went to last. It was as if everyone was climbing up some sort of ladder, if you know what I mean.

But in the end, most people ended up at food stands, and it looked like they were willing to give away anything in exchange for food, which of course put them back where they started, not that anyone seemed to care.

As I was watching all this occur, I was confused at how normal this seemed to everyone. I couldn’t see any signs of chaos or confusion, no indication of fear or worry. Everyone just seemed to be living their everyday lives. Were these people natives? They had to be. I mean, if any of them were actually from Earth, wouldn’t they be confused over how different things were from Japan? They wouldn't be acting like this, right?

I could see people walking around having pleasant conversations, laughing and giggling with one another, their lives seemingly free of pain and strife. It was a sight that, after all my time in this world, looked completely alien to me. I simply couldn’t relate to any of them. When I was still at the lake, I saw myself in the objects around me. I could see from them my fears, my worries, and my sorrows. But in this place, I could only see an ocean of empty faces.

Suddenly, the waves of people began to part, their chattering giving way to hushed whispers. Most of them gathered near the walls, as if they were clearing a path for something, or rather, someone. It wasn’t long before I saw a familiar group making their way, one that made me feel a deep sense of disgust. It was the gang of murderers I witnessed a few weeks ago! I could recognize them from their silhouettes; they all just stood out like a sore thumb. But what were they doing here?

As they passed by, two of the girls, though I couldn't tell which ones, began to walk in my direction. In all honesty, I hadn't bothered to remember any of their names before, as I didn’t think I would ever have to see them again. But it looks like that wasn’t meant to be.

“Eeeee!!! Persephone! Look at all these crystals! They’re so pretty!” One of the girls squealed as she stood in front of the stand. It should have been obvious to her that these ‘crystals’ were all counterfeit, but I guess she didn’t get the memo. As for the other girl, Persephone, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, as she seemed to be looking elsewhere.

“Oh, but which one should I buy?” the first girl asked aloud.
“Make it quick, Amelia!” Persephone interjected. “We need to get back to the others.”

“But it's soooo hard to choose!” ‘Amelia’ pouted. “Hmm. Ummm… Oh! I know! I’ll get one for everyone! I’ll get a blue one for Arthur-san, a lighter-blue one for Kit-chan, a red one for Sophia-chan, a clear one for Myrtle-chan, and a purple one for you, Persephone-chan!”

“Thanks, but I don’t really need—”

“Oh! And I’ll get a green one for me, to match my eyes.”

Wait, she said a green one. Then that means… Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

“Alright, young lady,” the shopkeeper addressed Amelia. “You wish to purchase six of my gemstones?”
“Yes, I do!”

“Then what will you give me in return?”

“Oh, right! Ummm… Would these work for you?” Amelia asks, holding out six arrows in front of her.

“What!” Persephone exclaimed, “You’re giving those away?”

“Do you really think I’ll ever need them?”
“Hmm. Good point.”

After Amelia placed her arrows on top of the booth, the shopkeeper picked them up and placed them with all his other ill-obtained trinkets.

Suddenly, everything in front of me began to blur, and the violent clattering from the morning returned. I did the closest thing to closing my ‘eyes’ that I could do. I looked behind myself into the dark, hoping that I could ride it out.

Then, in an instant, the noise stopped. I looked in front of me and saw the tented ceiling of the booth at the end of a small tunnel, probably the inside of a bag. Unfortunately, I knew exactly what was about to happen.

“Thank you for your purchase,” the shopkeeper said as he handed the bag over to Amelia. “Please come back again!”