Tap.
A ripple took form on the ground with a single tap of my step. It chimed with a soft ringing sound as it grew bigger, before it disappeared. I looked down to the glass-like surface underneath my feet and saw the faint reflection of myself, shattering slightly from the ripple. Towering high above my head is the ever same warm white sky.
I turned my head around to see a big tree surrounded with lush grasses, with a wooden swing tied on one of its branches. With no second thought I walked towards it. The sound following my footsteps echoing clear in my ears, and only in my ears. I always think that it is a sound only I can hear, no matter how loud it is.
Sitting on the swing is a little girl, looking no older than six. A huge smile is blooming on her face as two older figures accompanying her pushed her forward, causing the swing to move in a gentle motion. She laughed, they also laughed with her. The sight twisted my heart in a strange way, but I have no idea why. I get the idea that they might be a family, but I don't know why there's this nagging feeling in me. It's almost like I know something about it…
But that's such a nice dream she is seeing.
Tap.
I heard a sound. A light tapping sound of someone's footstep. The chimes are ringing in my ears, even when it sounds so far away. I turned my head away from the scene and tried to find the source of the sound, the sound of someone's presence.
It's weird. It has always been this way. I have always been walking through the dreams for as long as I can remember, but never once I have met someone else who does the same. But that ringing sound… There must be someone there.
And suddenly, the presence I felt disappeared before I can see its shape.
I can't help but thinking, what was that?
I can't say that it was a weird dream. Nothing was weird about that dream. It might be vague, but not weird. No, now that I think about it, it's not the dream that is weird, but me who happened to see that dream. It's like… It didn't feel like a dream at all, despite it being obviously dream-like. Warm white sky, crystal clear floor stretching as far as I could see, the serene feeling it gave me; you wouldn't find such place in reality.
I felt awake, as awake as I could be at that moment. But… But there's no way it can be.
I lowered my head for a moment. The wooden surface of the desk came to my sight before I closed my eyes. I certainly need to relax. Thinking about this has drained my energy off, making me feel restless. Let's take a deep breath and let the thought off.
Right after I did that, a soft voice came into my hearing. "Rin-san."
Raising my head up, I am met with a familiar face. Her turquoise eyes are on me, but they seem to be staring far off to somewhere else—I know she must be having something in her mind right now. "You look troubled," she added.
I quickly shook my head before she gets the wrong idea. "No need to worry about me. I just didn't get a good night's sleep but it's nothing to be worried about."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, really."
The look on her face changed. She doesn't express much of her feeling, and once she does it doesn't get any further than a subtle change nobody barely notices. But I noticed it anyway. There's an uneasiness reflected on her eyes, even though she's trying to hide it deep down in her heart. Miku-san has always been like that ever since I know her back in the first year… But that aside, I think I need to change the topic to stop making her worry.
"So, what brings you here?"
"Oh, the teacher paired us together for the literature class project, so I think we might discuss about it…"
"Ah, you're right." I think I am distracted enough to forget about the upcoming project already, even though the teacher has just announced it a few hours ago. "We only have a month to work on it, right?"
"Right, only a month for making a display and prepare for the presentation, so we should start working on it soon," she added. "I… I didn't mean to hurry you up or anything, but I think it would be nice to have things finished early."
"I can agree on that," I said, turning at her to give a small smile. "But you know, I'm really happy to be paired with you, Miku-san. From all the people in the class, we just happen to be paired together, isn't that great?"
She's caught off-guard right when I say that, the look on her face changed into one of surprise. She really wasn't expecting me to say that, it seems. Then with a small smile on her face, she said, "Yeah, I'm… also glad to be paired with you, Rin-san."
We went straight to the discussion about our project after that. Basically we were brainstorming ideas about what topic we should cover and how to deliver it to the other students during the presentation session. We haven't get far into the details though, since there wasn't much time left until the break ends.
"That should be enough for now…" I muttered after glancing at the clock hanging above the chalkboard. "Ah, maybe we can continue this later? After school, maybe, if you have the time?"
Miku-san shifted her gaze uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, Rin-san, I'm a bit short of free time lately…"
"N-no, it's alright! That's just some random idea, after all. It's okay if you have something else to do, we'll just continue tomorrow."
Miku-san is still looking away, seeming like she's feeling bad for turning me down. I really don't like making her feeling this way, but I don't know how else I should convince her otherwise. This whole thing is actually making me feel rather uncomfortable—and bad.
I never like seeing her that way.
The first time I saw Hatsune Miku-san was during the first year of high school—that was more-less a year ago.
Miku-san and I weren't in the same class back then, but I heard people's chit-chat about students from the other classes. About the good-looking guys, about the cute girls, the talk went around the class. Granted, we were first-graders who had just started our years in a new school, meeting new faces was something very exciting.
Naturally the talk about Miku-san—the mysterious loner girl from the next class—reached my ears. It was nothing but rumors, but listening to them made me wonder, is it true that she's always alone, or that she absolutely doesn't make any contact with her classmates? I thought that not everyone necessarily likes being in a large groups or socializing all the time, so Miku-san shouldn't be the odd one out.
But then I overheard a conversation between Miku-san and her classmate.
"Don't you feel lonely, Hatsune-san? We're feeling rather bad about… that you're always alone in the class. You really can talk to us if you have anything that's troubling you—"
"I appreciate that, but I…" There was a pause between her words. "I'd really rather be lonely. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it."
"Oh," came the other's voice. Her voice sounded far away. "I… I see. If Hatsune-san is okay with that, then I guess there's nothing we can do. Um, until then, Hatsune-san."
It appeared that she had left Miku-san by the soft sound of her shoes. Having just witnessed a conversation that confirmed all the rumors I had heard made me feel a tad uncomfortable. Not only that I realized that dealing with her wasn't as easy as what I initially thought, I was also starting to feel really bad for her. But it didn't seem like there was anything left for me to do, seeing that even her classmate was turned down.
Nevertheless, I needed to get back to my own business—the conversation I overheard made me stop on my track. I set a foot to the corridor where the conversation took place, but was faced with an unexpected situation.
I saw Miku-san crouching down while burying her face in her knees, seeming to be… crying. I could hear the sound of her muffled cries through her covered up face, sounding like she was trying to hold the noise down. Her body shook violently in every breath she took, and seeing that, I just…
Was it from the conversation before? Wasn't she the one who said that she would rather be alone? Why was she crying? Why did her cries… sounded so heart-wrenching?
Why was she doing this to herself?
It's a serene place with no single feeling of fear.
The sky is endlessly white, no clouds or anything tainting its pure, warm color. It is white, stretching as far as I can see. On the ground is a clear, glass-like surface reflecting the white sky. I'm standing in the middle of it, completely alone.
Tap.
A ripple grew from where I stepped my foot on the ground. At the same time a soft ringing sound started to echo in my ears. I watched as the ripple started to disappear, while in my ears the ringing sound faded away together with the disappearing ripple. Then slowly, I started to bring my feet forward, leaving ripples behind in every step I take. The ringing sounds continues to sound, overlapping one with another until it reverberates loudly—and yet it's still a pleasing sound to hear.
A floor with the color of the sky, it feels like I'm treading the sky, but the ripples make it seem like I'm walking on water instead. The soft sound that follows along my steps also makes this place almost unbelievable, almost dream-like.
Dream-like… Haven't I been here before?
After walking for a little while, something came into my sight. Something other than the white sky and glass floor, it's something that I can recognize as a scenery. It's a field with green grass covering the entirety of it. In the midst of it is a huge tree, standing strong, or at least strong enough to hold the weight of the wooden swing tied to it and the little girl sitting on it.
The little girl over there isn't the only person in the scenery, but there are two other people accompanying her, one male and one female. They seem to be comparatively older than her. Are those her parents? Either way, they're seem to be having fun. I cannot see their face clearly, but seeing their interaction makes me think so.
I walked closer. The ringing sound is still following me, but they don't seem to be bothered with it—it's as if they cannot hear it. They don't seem to see me, either, as they continue to have fun in their own world. But something else caught my attention; it doesn't really matter anymore whether they see me or not. And that's… Now that I can see them better, that little girl, the little girl with teal hair and bright turquoise eyes, really looks like Miku-san.
What… What is this place?
"What are you doing here?"
A sudden call from my back started me, making me whirl quickly to find its source. The clear voice pierced through the silence unlike the soft ringing sound before, almost as if it belongs to someone… and I really did find someone there.
Standing in the midst of white is a boy around my age. His messy blond hair is tied into a small ponytail on the back of his head, and his piercing blue eyes are staring straight to me. And on the sight of my face, he opened his mouth once again.
"Who are you?"
Next Update: November 11, 2017
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