A long day behind her, filled with school, travel, and friends, Tsukasa prepared for bed. She'd finished her shower and was now pulling on her pyjamas. Oddly, despite all the walking she'd done that day, having been dragged out by her friend Konata, she didn't feel all that tired. She shrugged this off, supposing she'd feel tired once she was in bed. She climbed in, pulled the blankets over her, closed her eye, and...
...nothing.
Her eyes pooped open, a feeling of frustration taking over. She was not in the least bit tired, but she had to sleep in preparation for school the next day. She shut her eyes tight and tried to clear her mind...but something kept forcing its way in. Earlier that day there had been something she'd wanted to do, but the people she was with were busy, and she didn't want to disturb them while they worked. Konata had recently acquired a new game and was relentlessly playing through it multiple times, trying to get all the secrets. Her sister Kagami had been doing some work for her class; several forms had to be filled out and there were several complaints that needed to be looked over. Miyuki was the least busy, simply sewing a patch into the inside of her hat, but she had been across the table, and Tsukasa felt that she would have disturbed the other two with what she wanted to do.
The sound of a door closing signalled her sister going to bed, leaving only the sounds of the younger twin's clock ticking and her own heartbeat. She felt regret for not asking if she could do what she had wanted, but she really didn't want to disturb them. Not to mention that her sister had reprimanded her just a little earlier and she felt that if she had interrupted the girl she might have been snapped at. She knew it was stupid, not asking because she was afraid of being yelled at, but she held her tongue anyway.
Tsukasa rolled over onto her stomach and pulled the blankets over her head. She tucked her arms under her pillow with just her hands exposed to the air as they stuck out from the far side. She stayed like this for a moment, then she switched to her side, pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning her head forward, but the girl found this position to be ineffective. She decided it was time for her fool-proof method of getting comfortable enough to sleep, and changed positions once again. She balled one of her blankets up and wrapped her arms and legs around it, a lighter blanket covering her as she pushed her pillows away so her head was on the mattress. She closed her eyes and waited for her mind to go blank...
...except it didn't. Once again the regret from before clouded her mind, making sleep impossible for the young girl. She groaned in frustration and sat up, turning her head to her clock. The time was a mere twenty minutes past the time she'd climbed into bed, and she swore she remembered every second of it. She climbed out of bed and made her way to the desk on the far side of the room. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a small bound book. She opened the clasp, sat down at the desk, grabbed her pencil, and...nothing. She couldn't even think of a diary entry to help explain the current situation to herself, instead she stared at a blank page for a few minutes before sighing and tucking the book away.
She stood up and leaned against her bedroom door, the faint sound of steady breathing seeping in from the hallway. Tsukasa felt a small pang of jealousy towards her family members and how they could sleep that night, yet she didn't seem to be able to do so. She sank to the floor and stared at the wall across from her, contemplating what she should do. The feeling of regret was huge, despite it only being a little thing that she'd chosen not to bring up. Shaking her head, Tsukasa stood up and crossed over to her bedroom window, opening it she leaned out slightly, the cool night air a nice change. Admittedly, all she had wanted to do was play a game with someone, but they all looked so busy...she didn't understand why it bothered her so much. She sat down on the edge of her bed, her head still turned to look out the window.
Outside she could see the occasional vehicle pass by, and the sound of someone's pet could be heard every now and then. Just below the window, barely in her field of view, a bushed shook and a small cat came out. It stared at her for a moment; its yellow eyes a stark contrast against the dark background. The both of them stared at each other for a while longer, neither wanting to make a move first out of fear of alarming the other. The sound of a large truck passing distracted them long enough to break the deadlock, the cat taking the opportunity to dash off into the night. Tsukasa decided to wander around the house until she felt tired, so she grabbed her robe and stepped into the hallway, closing her door quietly behind her. She crept slowly down the stairs, taking care to avoid the creaky stair near the bottom, and stepped into the kitchen. She could probably cook up a breakfast and lunch for her family, cook up something extravagant, but she got the feeling that she shouldn't, that she might wake someone too early...not to mention it was only forty minutes after she had initially failed to go to sleep. Stepping into the living room, something through the window in the yard caught her eye; a shadowy object on the lawn, just outside of view. It shuffled around, and Tsukasa felt like she was being invited by it and she felt compelled to pursue it.
Quietly sneaking back upstairs, Tsukasa snuck into her room and changed into some warm clothes, her curiosity running wild. She made her way down to the front door, grabbing her coat and pulling on her shoes, before slipping out and locking the door behind her. The shadowy creature was still there, but it moved away every time she approached it, just to the edge of her view, seemingly wanting her to follow it. She obliged the shadow, her own curiosity getting the better of her, the regrets she'd felt before forgotten for the time being. It led her away from her home and down the road, not stopping for a second, yet slowing down when she did. She had lost all concept of time while chasing the shadowy, almost smoky, creature through town, failing to notice that the houses around her were growing larger and more extravagant. The creature slipped through the bars of one gate, forcing her to unlatch it and open the gate, which emitted a loud screeching noise despite being well-oiled.
(Insert Divider here)
The first thing apparent to her was that it was late, very late, the second thing to make itself known was that someone had entered their yard. Sitting up, Miyuki Takara fumbled around for her glasses and stepped toward the window. She peered out and saw someone crossing the lawn; her friend Tsukasa was chasing something that she couldn't quite make out. She couldn't tell if it was the sudden change in vision from having just put on her glasses, a trick of the light, or a weather phenomenon, but she swore Tsukasa was shrouded partially in a smoky shadow. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the sleep from her mind, and when she looked out her window there was only a light lavender mist where she'd last seen Tsukasa.
Miyuki blinked in confusion. She moved back to her bed, placing her glasses on the bedside table as she did so, and climbed under the blankets. She stared at the ceiling as she tried to process what she'd seen just a moment ago, the sight of her friend passing through her yard in the dead of night gave her much to ponder. She looked over at the clock, which told her that it was five past eleven, a time when she was sure Tsukasa would be asleep.
The sun had begun to rise when she lost sight of the creature she had pursued, as if the light had banished it from existence. Unsure of how far she'd followed it, Tsukasa found herself standing in an open field of snow, no landmarks in any direction and the skies above slowly clouding over. She gazed around in amazement; not stopping to wonder just how she'd arrived in such a place during the summer in a city that rarely gets snow. She tried to take a step forward, but something beneath the snow caused her to trip, giving her a face-full of the crisp white snow. She pulled herself into a kneeling position just as the sun disappeared behind the clouds, the world around her turning grey. At her feet, uncovered by her fall, was a metal bar, a large nail holding it onto a wooden base. Tsukasa blinked at the sight, the metal rail spike bore unfamiliar writing on it, suggesting that wherever she was, Japanese was not the main language.
In the distance, hidden behind a light fog caused by the snow now falling, a massive freight train travelled along that very rail line. The conductor eyed the gauges in the engine compartment while he sipped his coffee, the familiar landscape uninteresting to him. He lifted his gaze momentarily from the gauges to check for any sign of the weather letting up, and was surprised to see something in the distance. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from a cabinet and searched the distance for the object. His skin turned pale upon spotting an unnatural shadow on the track ahead, the snow around it seemingly twisted by it. Panicking, the conductor activated the airbrakes and emergency brake, then for good measure grabbed a rifle from the cabinet. It was not unheard of for someone to attack trains along this stretch of rail, but the occurrences were so rare that it was ignored for the most part and the safety of the trains were left in the hands of the men on board. A message came up on the intercom asking why they'd stopped, receiving no answer from the conductor as he readied to step from the train.
At the same time, Tsukasa lifted her gaze from the line and panicked at the sight of a massive freight train barrelling towards her at high speed. An unearthly screech ripped through the air as it came close, and the poor girl found herself paralyzed with shock and unable to stand. Luck, however, was with her for once, the train coming to a halt only a few metres from her. A man in a heavy coat emerged with a weapon in his hands, its barrel aimed at her. Tsukasa tried to shout out at the man, to ask him not to shoot, but she found her voice was trapped in her throat, the most she could do was rise to her feet.
This caused the man to lower his weapon slightly, he called out to the girl in a language she was not familiar with, his skin paling as he actually realized what he was seeing. He took a step towards her, his weapon now moving to the side as he made a friendly gesture. He dropped to the ground, however, when she simply faded away in a puff of lavender smoke.
Tsukasa was unsure of what happened, one moment she was being approached by an armed man, next she had taken a step and fallen through the ground, her vision going blank and a falling sensation making itself known to her. When she regained her sight, she found herself in a busy city square, people frantically going about their business in fancy suits and other forms of sophisticated attire, making her feel awfully out of place in her simple attire. She reached out to grab at a passing woman, but stopped when she noticed a faint shadowy smoke enveloping her arm. She retracted the limb to look at it closer, the smoke seemingly seeping from her skin, but at the same time never seeming to touch it. She grabbed her hand in a panic, bumping into a passing pedestrian.
The man made to shout at the interruption to his day, only to find no words for what met his eyes. His skin paled and he could only bring himself to do what his body made him do. He pointed at her, and he screamed.
People who had been ignorant to her presence now seemed to suddenly realize she existed, scurrying away from her in frenzy. Tsukasa wanted to explain to them that she wasn't going to hurt them, that she was nothing to be afraid of, but once again she found herself unable to speak.
She closed her eyes and grabbed her head, wishing this wasn't happening, praying it was a dream, pleading to the heavens for her to be home. The noise of the city died away, and when she opened her eyes she found herself standing ankle deep in a pond, surrounded by lily flowers and buzzing insects. She glanced around nervously, shifting uncomfortably as if she was trying to avoid being noticed. There were no people near her, just lilies as far as the eye can see. She stepped forward hesitantly, afraid she might fall through the ground yet again, sighing with relief when she found the bottom of the water. She took another step and met the same result, then again, and again, until she was walking normally, albeit without a destination in mind. She was starting to wonder where she was when her foot failed to meet the bottom and she found herself under the water, a vast expanse of water all around her and a smoky figured gazing at her. She could not breathe, the thought of reaching the surface being her top priority. Before she made her way up though, the shadow spoke to her in a blood chilling voice telling her to awake. Tsukasa burst from the water, only to find herself on her bedroom floor, no sign of the water or the strange figure anywhere.
Her door opened and her sister stood above her, fully dressed for school. Tsukasa's eyes filled with tears upon seeing her sister, and she tried to stand and hug her sister. But the words that came from her sister's mouth put those thoughts to rest.
"Hmm? Where's Tsukasa?"