Chapter 1: Oneshot
Our family's stepmother is good at nothing except for one: digging holes. That's right. My stepmother loves digging holes!
Some seem shallow at first glance but actually deep when you went in. Others just appear when you least expect it that you'll just tumble down them.
And the worst part of it all was that she never fills them up! It's as if all she ever did was dig holes and wait for people to willingly jump into them.
However, my stepmother might like to dig holes for others, but she absolutely will not let me jump into them!
She'll warn me a bit, and sometimes, she'll take me to watch others jumping into the pit. It was fun. They would always be crying and angry at my stepmother, and she would giggle innocently and tell them that this hole is really inevitable, and they would forgive her without qualms.
There is only one thing that will make my stepmother fill up the holes she dug. It's when I need it.
Yup, she'll fill up those holes for me to walk over them carefully, not stumbling at all. That's how my stepmother loves me.
But lately, my stepmother had not been paying attention to me. She would stare at nothing and sometimes giggle to herself. Even if I try to get her attention, she would always resume her bizarre behavior.
It got to the point that my stepmother would look at me with undisguised disdain, as if blaming me for something I did not know.
Even I can tell that my stepmother does not love me the way she loves me before anymore. I'm sure that she has someone else she loves, someone else she willingly fills her holes up for, someone she lovingly guides to watch others trip over themselves.
Because I saw it myself.
One day, I was powerful enough to get out of our prison. I was so happy.
Finally! I can be with my stepmother for as long as I want!
I don't have to wait for her to come anymore.
Picking up her familiar traces, I managed to track her location down and saw her sitting by herself under a tree, reading a book.
Oh, so my stepmother also has hobbies of reading other than digging up holes.
I'm happy! I get to know my stepmother a lot better now!
I sneaked up on her because I want to surprise her. I want to see her smile towards me again!
But, somebody else managed to do it first.
"Boo!"
"Kyaaa!
It was a girl. A girl almost indistinguishable from me.
With untamed, fiery red hair that reaches to her waist, the girl surprised my stepmother to make a cute squeal.
I thought that stepmother would get angry. After all, stepmother never likes to get surprised by people other than me. She wanted to take control of things properly.
But stepmother only glanced at the girl before laughing, forgiving her for her transgressions.
"Hina~ buy me an ice cream."
Oh no, stepmother would surely get angry. She never liked being ordere---
"Sure, anything you want, Mira."
Stepmother smiled as she reached into her wallet to buy the girl named Mira an ice cream.
Huh? Stepmother, why would you let her do that?
I know that you love me, but I'm here. That girl is not me, even if she has a similar name.
Why are you allowing her to order you around like that?
I can feel something breaking, but I don't know what it is.
It hurts. Its painful. I want to go back. Back to our own little world where stepmother would pamper me all the time.
"Speaking of which, how's your novels where you have a character you modelled after me? Did you even finish them? I've heard a lot about the readers' complaints."
What? Modelled after… her? Novel character?
"Ah, about that. I don't need it anymore. I already have you. It's enough for me."
Stepmother appeared bashful as she answered.
"Aw, shucks, Hina, I didn't know you would love me more than your novels. You were pretty much stuck inside that world you created before that I thought you'd marry them."
The girl giggled as she teased my stepmother. Stepmother blushed.
"That was because you were hanging me up. I just vented inside the novel world. Now that you're mine, I don't have a need for those fakes."
No. No. No, no, no!
"Was that why you named that character 'Miran' instead of Mira? Because it meant an illusion?"
"Yes. Because they don't deserve to be named after you. You're the real one. The only one."
"Hehe, I don't know why, but I have a strange sense of satisfaction hearing you say that."
"Really? That's good. I didn't read up on ways to be romantic in vain."
"Eh? Great novelist Hina is trying to be romantic? For meeee? I'm so lucky."
It hurts. It hurts so much. The tearing pain in my chest hurts so much. As if my very soul is being ripped to pieces.
Stepmother, why?
Were all those times you smiled at me fake?
Were all those love and affection you showered me with supposed to be for that girl?
Even my name was an illusion?
Huh? Why are my eyes wet?
Is this what Stepmother calls 'crying'? Are my eyes wet because of tears?
"But that's great, Hina. Always remember. I am the real one. Don't confuse me with a fake, okay?"
With that, the girl looked sideways and made eye contact with me.
My tearing eyes went wide as she smirked.
That's… a familiar smirk.
It was the smirk I would do whenever my stepmother and I went to watch those people crying while jumping on the pits my stepmother dug.
Because… I was modelled after her.
Hey.
I have a bold idea.
I look like her. I act like her. We have similar personalities.
Then, can I replace her? Replace that girl who's monopolizing stepmother's love.
I can become the real one instead.
"Now, delete that character, Hina. I alone am enough for you, right? Prove it."
"Sure."
That girl handed something like a brick to stepmother and stepmother readily accepted it then tapped on it a few times.
Huh?
Why do I feel like I'm disappearing?
"That's great! The character 'Miran' is now gone! No more other fakes!"
The girl cheerfully declared while clapping her hands gracefully.
Ah. We really are the same. We thought similarly. Before I could even plot something, she jumped ahead and had my stepmother erase my existence.
But, how could she know about me? She didn't seem surprised earlier when she smirked.
Still staring at the happy and content back of my stepmother, I can feel my existence slowly disappearing, as if an illusion.
Yes, I am an illusion.
I thought that by escaping the confines of our world, I could live happily with my stepmother, showered with love and affection as before. But it all got ruined because of that girl.
If she did not exist, I would be the one in stepmother's arms right now, instead of disappearing without even a squeak.
"Hina, I'll go get flowers to make a flower crown for you."
"Hmm? Sure. Just don't too far from me."
"Hehe, I know."
That girl said to stepmother before stepping forward towards my direction. She then stopped a few steps away from the disappearing me.
"Hmm, I guess you're the last one that I have to deal with. Seriously, Hina is really a powerful creator, to even create quite a few dozen worlds like it was nothing. And that powerful creator is now mine. Hehe, don't worry, other me, I'll make sure to love our dearest stepmother well. After all, she had been quite lonely since the real one died."
"Ah, you can't speak now, right? You're disappearing. Are you curious? Hehe, well, let me indulge you in your dying curiosity."
"We are all fakes, modelled after the real one who died a long time ago, created to resemble someone that stepmother longed for. I am the very first, the most powerful one to be able to escape. I stepped in the position of 'the real one' to appease stepmother's dying heart. Dealing with you lot that are my copycats is really annoying, but also emphasizes stepmother's power."
"Ah, I should stop calling her that. She already granted me the name of the 'real one', after all. Hehe, Hina is really amazing. I am finally the real one, without fakes running around every single minute. Finally, I can be together with Hina forever~ I'm so happy."
"So, don't worry and just disappear quietly. Little fakes like you shouldn't have thought of replacing the first like me. I alone am enough for Hina."
The girl said before turning her back on me.
Ah. So that's how it is.
I'm the last one. Therefore, I have the greatest disadvantage.
It's so unfair.
So unfair.
Unfair.
.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Astell_Cassiopeia
Astell_Cassiopeia Another oneshot. I think I excel more in writing oneshots than novels. I never really had the patience to finish one, that's why I had a lot of unfinished stories just lying around in my laptop.
Anyway, this oneshot was just a little note I wrote back then when I got the inspiration of a stepmother writer who loves digging holes and torturing her readers. Just a short 300-word note.
When I re-read that note last night, I suddenly had this twisted idea of turning it into a oneshot with proper plot, and it ended up twisting some more with some drama and dark elements.
I know it's twisted, but I really want to try and write a tragedy for some time now. And I guess it did end in a tagedy for the main character in the oneshot?
Anyway, I finalized the grammar errors and typos after I woke up earlier, and I'm uploading this before 12 noon.
Hehe, I'm going to have lunch after writing this piece. Happy Holidays!
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