Chapter 02
<i>”You know His punishments are not to be trifled with.”
A woman clad in white sheets, looking no less elegant than a fairy listened to the voice speaking to her from an abandoned small Shinto shrine hidden deep within the forests known to house spirits and Gods. Casually, she laid out the offerings that she had brought and responded.
“I know, and I shouldn’t have tried to shirk my duties… but what’s done is done.”
She sighed and sat herself down in a seiza on the dry earth. As she prepared some tea, a small orb started to materialize behind her, and soon morphing into a figure of a human. The new arrival sat with her legs dangling on the fence that surrounded the shrine.
“It is too bad you’re a guardian of dreams, not time nor fate, otherwise you might just be able to escape the consequences that way.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Would you like some tea?”
The deity offered, not the least surprised at the unusual entrance. Grinning, the new spirit hopped off the fence and sat informally on the opposite of the woman. Dressed loosely in a yukata with her sleeves rolled up, she picked up the tea bowl and drank from it.
“The tea you make never ceases to amaze me.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, my kindred spirit.”
“Mmhm. Fancy seeing you outside the manor though, even since… you know. I thought that piece of filth made sure that you couldn’t escape?”
“I’m sure you’re familiar with being omnipresent? But I’ll have to return eventually, I’m trapped to a bond with him. One that he so despicably created…”
“Pity. Are you sure you don’t want my help?”
“For the umpteen time, no.”
“Headstrong as always I see. But as a friend, it hurts me to watch you in confinement, and you can’t leave the world to be dreamless for long. He will find out.”
“Until then, right?”
Without another word, both knew that the topic was to end there. They remained seated until nightfall, in silence and observation…</i>
A dream just like any other, but there was no doubt that she did feel the wind caress her skin, the smell of damp earth, the giggles of spirits from deep within the forest, and how she knew her way around the maze of trees and illusions set up by the divine. She remembers the taste of the tea that she had personally brewed – green tea, and when she felt a wave of warmth pass through her upon hearing her confidant’s kind words. She was there, experiencing a memory once again, yet… everything was just a sensation. She had never been into a forest, she had no knowledge of tea brewing, and she did not recognize the ghostly being. Everything felt like a first time for her, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be completely so. It was like living another life whenever her dream involved this mysterious woman.
It has been about half an hour since she woke up, and she had made no attempt to move out of her bed since then. The sheets were now heated by the sun, and not even the discomfort of having the air conditioner turned off made her flinch. As her mother yelled for her to come out for breakfast, her mind was on the previous night’s conversation.
<i>”You’re wondering if your dreams are related to a story?”
Risa looked up in surprise, nearly choking on her second glass of cola for the evening. The two had earlier decided to stop by a restaurant for dinner rather than at either one’s home. Upon entrance, they were greeted by noise and nothing less. Both staff and customers, causing the tired girls to be slightly bothered, crowded the entire room. They were then led to a booth at the far end when Ai insisted on having some privacy.
“Yeah, I saw a picture that looked exactly like the woman from my dreams in that book you assaulted me with.”
“I said I was sorry! But that myth and legends book Aika wanted? Hmm…”
“So she could have been from a myth? Do you know of any that has to do with dreams?”
“Well, most people know of Baku, the dream eater…”
“But the woman I saw didn’t have body parts of various animals…”
“Wouldn’t be a woman if she did, huh?”
Ai shrugged and Risa made a face, disturbed by the imagery she is currently having.
“What about any other dream related tales? My dream had a guardian of some sort.”
“A dream guardian? None that I know of…”
“Oh… damn.”</i>
Her thoughts ended there, as abruptly as it had the previous night, without any other clue as to what her dreams had meant. She sighed and finally dragged herself out of bed, incredibly unexcited about starting a new day.
Somewhere pretty far away from our troubled idol, a girl in jerseys and shorts was running about the stadium in search of someone. Some of the others she had approached were wondering why she never thought of using the public address system. If she did, she would have found who she was looking for ages ago. As she ran from one end of the court to the other, she felt her collar being grabbed halfway. She felt the hold release immediately when she almost executed one of her many karate moves on whom she considers an assailant.
“Woah, chill Konno. Someone could get hurt here, and what’s the rush?”
“Ah, Satoda-san! I’m sorry, but have you seen Yoshizawa-san?”
“Yoshiko? Yeah, that depressed soul over there. Can’t miss her.”
Satoda Mai pointed back with her thumb, directing the younger girl at the person on a bench who was bent over, face in palms. If life were fictional, an area of a radius of 3 meters from Yoshizawa Hitomi would be visibly dark and extremely gloomy. Konno Asami simply gapped at her futsal captain.
“I swear I’ve already passed by that seat a million times…”
“You know how it is when everyone has their hair dyed the same color.”
“Ah, you’re right. Thanks anyway!”
Konno, polite as ever, bowed to her teammate and rushed off, more or less actually unaware of her captain’s current mood. Stopping in time before she would crash into the benches, Konno called out to her captain.
“Yoshizawa-san!”
No response.
“Yoshizawa…-san…?”
The futsal captain finally reacted by raising her head slowly, and looked at her teammate and ex-musume with big, desperate eyes. In a second, the tall and not-so-manly-anymore woman jumped to her feet and held a tight grip on the younger’s shoulder. In return, the girl froze upon contact, in shock.
“KONKON!! What am I to do?!”
“EH?!”
“Someone’s going to die before they are even supposed to die!”
Konno watched her captain freak out (and not make sense anymore) in front of her, and on the inside, she was also freaking out at this outburst, regretting on ever volunteering to find the elder in the first place. Calling the captain to attend a strategy meeting was one thing, spending an hour finding her was another, but dealing with this wasn’t something she had expected. She wished she were in New Zealand with Ogawa Makoto right now, thus leading to her wondering about what sort of food they had over there. But her ponderings were cut short by her captain shaking her by the shoulders violently.
“I-I don’t know, but oh! I think.. Uhm.. I think I hear Erina-chan calling!”
Turning to the unsuspecting Hello!Pro egg member and also a member of Ongaku Gatas, Konno waved in her direction. Mano Erina couldn’t do anything but look confused, wondering why her teammate was waving at her, let alone why the other girl from a distance looked like she was being forced to smile while being held at gun point.
“I’m coming, Erina-chan! Excuse me Yoshizawa-san, but seems like I’m uh… needed! Yes, and there’s a strategy meeting waiting for you upstairs, so, yeah. Please report soon, later!”
Barely managing to squirm her way out of her captain’s grip, Konno quickly ran towards the reserve Gatas player, who wanted to flee for thinking that the other was now crazy. Hitomi on the other hand, was left alone and upset again, completely forgetting what she had just did. She sat back down on the bench and invited the dark backdrop and depressing atmosphere back. This all lasted for as long as her break was, until training started again, 15 minutes later.
After 2 hours of non-stop drills and practice matches, a paramedic was called in. Everyone but Hitomi crowded to a corner, either curious about what paramedics actually do, or actually in need of one. Hitomi sat back down on her not so comforting corner again. Just as she thought that she could have the next few minutes of privacy to herself, she felt the side of the bench sink slightly.
“Yocchan, what’s with you today?”
A squeaky and girly -then again, maybe not so high pitched anymore, but to her it will always be that way- voice came bursting into Hitomi’s ear. She chose to not respond, however, leaving the owner of the voice to start dishing out her complaints.
“You missed almost every possible goal and injured more than half the players of EACH team! We play futsal, not dodge ball!”
Looking up with a frown, Hitomi looked at her companion. One can count the seconds with a hand when she looked back down on the floor, muttering a half sincere apology.
“You better be sorry, look at what you did to my pretty knee!”
Her friend raised her right leg and pointed at her bruised knee… hard, as if to make a point and in the process forgetting how injuries are supposed to feel. She quickly hugged her leg in agony as pain surged through her body. but that was the least of her problems. Right beside her, the woman that could probably come up with a hundred and fifty reasons as to why her injury isn’t completely a bad thing, is in fact NOT saying a word. Feeling suspicious, she got up and limped her way to stand in front of the other and pointed at the gloomy captain, her other hand resting on her hip. No one ignores Ishikawa Rika and gets away with it, let alone when she has a black and blue knee in need of tender loving care.
“Okay! Who are you and what did you do to my Yocchan?!”
“She got into deep shit and is now too busy trying to save her behind from being fried…”
Rika took a surprise step back. Where’s the ‘Sorry Rika-chan’ or ‘I’m just tired’, or both that she wanted to hear? It would’ve been easier to forgive her friend that way, but of course, it was always easy when things go <i>her</i> way. What disturbed her more was that Hitomi spoke as if it was serious.
“Yocchan? Talk to me, you’re never like this…”
Shedding her spoilt and childish mask, Rika squatted down and places a hand on the other’s knee. Feeling a sense of much needed comfort from that very touch, Hitomi finally lifted her head, appearing a lot more lethargic than the rest of the players and there were visible eye bags. Rika gasped at the horror of what having no make up can actually do.
“Yocchan! You look like a zombie!”
“Urgh…Rika…not now…”
“And sound like one too!”
Hitomi quietly glared at the girl, causing her to clam up. Rubbing out the fatigue from her face, she took a deep breath in hopes of relieving her troubles for now. She managed to regain her composure after some time. By then, Rika’s legs had already gone dead and she had to crawl her way back to sitting on the bench.
“Rika-chan, can I talk to you?”
“Duh, of course.”
“What if… you know, you indirectly place someone’s life in danger?”
“You killed someone?!”
Rika shrieked, shifted two seats away from Hitomi. Being in an enclosed area doesn’t help when her voiced echoed throughout the stadium, catching the attention of everyone. Naturally, players, coaches, and even the security guards outside turned their heads towards the duo, some in surprise and others in fear for unspeakable reason.
“In a game! A video game! I didn’t really kill someone, haha… that’ll be preposterous! Heh…ridiculous…”
The futsal captain flustered, yelling and screaming across the court. Hearing the denial from one of the best players in the team, the crowd swatted their hands in the air and turned back around to continue with whatever they were doing, disappointed with the false alarm. Sighing in relief, Hitomi turned back to Rika in annoyance. Smiling sheepishly, the usually bubbly girl shifted back to her original seat.
“Great, why not tell the world while you’re at it?”
“My bad… but you could’ve been more direct!”
“Or you could be less dense.”
Hitomi muttered the last part, but Rika caught on fast, of all things she could’ve been more sensitive to.
“Anyway, I mean, let’s say a vengeful murderer was let loose and you were the one who released him and now he’s off to kill that person who landed him in jail in the first place.”
“First off, I’m not born to work with criminals. Secondly, are you for real?”
“I’m serious here!”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Track him down before he gets to his victim? Or find the victim first to protect him or her?”
“…”
Logical points. Hitomi was taken aback by this sudden manner of intelligence coming out of her ‘charming’ friend. Fiddling with an imaginary beard, Hitomi was enlightened. She jumped to her feet with a smile for the first time today.
“You know, those are actually pretty good ideas!”
“Of course, I’ve been borrowing some of Fujimoto’s western movies.”
”Good, good. Keep doing that.”
“But she’ll start charging me! They don’t come cheap, you know! Oi, Yocchan!?”
As Rika whined, Hitomi had already made her way towards the exit, ignoring the rest of practice and silently plotting a way to amend for her grave mistakes. Offended by being ignored again, the older girl chased after her friend, leaving behind a group of eggs and two seniors with no idea what to do without their captain. Actually, only one of them was at loss.
“What’re we going to do now, Asami-san?”
Konno jumped at the question, herself not knowing what’s next. Before she got a chance to speak, Mai had already wedged herself between the two girls, putting her arms around their shoulders.
“Ramen for everyone!”
“But I don’t like ramen…”
One of the eggs spoke up, earning a look of utter disbelief from Mai.
“Blasphemy! You will have ramen and you will like it! Let’s go!”
Some cheered and some were uncertain, but by the end of the day when the managers and administrators returned to the stadium for a last minute briefing and observations, the entire place was left empty except for a lone soccer ball...
A/N: OOC? Cameos? Confusion? Next Chapter please? ;P
Topic: Dream's Last Chapter // 11 (Read 25572 times)