Disclaimer: I do not own Yume Nikki, it belongs to Kikiyama.
Madotsuki looked at the knife in her hand with something akin to relief on her face. It was identical to the one on the black floor. The girl switched it over to her left hand and was a little surprised that her grip on it didn't feel any looser or weaker. Then again, she was dreaming. She decided to put it back in her right hand.
That made… fourteen effects? Thirteen? She couldn't remember. Madotsuki always had a bad memory; her irregular sleeping schedule only worsened it. She had a number written down in her diary though; she just had to find that particular entry when she woke up. Not she really needed to know, she wasn't sure how many effects there were after all, but Madotsuki liked to keep track.
Without the Lamp Effect equipped, she could barely see anything because of the darkness. She activated that effect and her head turned into a lamp that illuminated her surroundings. She walked around aimlessly for a while, and eventually found the door to the Nexus. After she went inside, Madotsuki took off the effect and made sure to close the door softly. She didn't like loud noises, especially if they were repetitive.
She headed toward the center, footsteps echoing. A thoughtful look appeared on her face as she contemplated whether to end the dream now or to wander around more. It would be appropriate for her to wake up after collecting a new effect, but she hadn't even tried it out. She wasn't eager to do it though. It couldn't be counted as murder since it would be in a dream, but the idea of seeing any blood, internal organs, or hearing the scream the creature made before dying was not appealing to her.
She would be willing to use it on the nearest Toriningen, or any other denizen that had harassed or scared her before. Madotsuki never made note of where they were located at though. If she decided to test out the weapon, she had to use it on someone random then. An uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach.
Well… it wasn't like any resident in her dreams actually had feelings, emotions, or thoughts. They weren't real. They never spoke a word, or at least say something she could understand, and most never noticed her. Maybe the deaths wouldn't turn out as bloody as she expected too. Even if they did, she was capable of looking the other way or waking up to avoid it.
Madotsuki scanned the doors around her, trying to choose which world to enter. Her gaze stopped at one with small blinking lights, the door to the Neon World. The braided girl walked forward and opened it slowly.
She always found the Neon World to be quite pleasant. It was populated with many brightly colored creatures and the floor was covered with flashing tiles that made a pretty sound when she stepped on them. She received the Neon Effect from one of the inhabitants, Neon Parrot. Madotsuki liked the effect, even though it was rather useless. The Neon Parrot also reminded her of the main character of her only video game, NASU.
Madotsuki observed the creatures while they roamed, deciding which one she would kill. She didn't want to murder the Neon Parrot, and it would take a while for her to get to them anyway. She finally settled on the one that resembled an arcade machine. Out of all the denizens that one had the most diverse color palette: blue, yellow, purple, red and green. It was also the one she thought was the least humanoid, not that the others looked too human-like either. Nevertheless, it was the only one that was very similar to a real life object.
A grimace came onto her face as she walked closer to it. She equipped her new Knife Effect and slashed at the creature. Madotsuki braced herself, hoping the scream wouldn't hurt her ears and that there wouldn't be too much blood.
As the scream pierced the air, she immediately flinched. It barely sounded human, it was too distorted. However, Madotsuki recognized the screech. It certainly wasn't exact, but it sounded eerily similar to something she once heard in the real world.
"Mother…" She choked out as her face contorted from alarm and anger. Madotsuki almost dropped her knife from the shock, and barely noticed that there wasn't any fresh blood on it like she expected. The Neon Arcade Machine's blood spurted out for a second before it vanished, leaving no trace of slaughter. The death itself didn't frighten her and was not nearly as gory as Madotsuki worried, but the scream disturbed her to no end.
The girl absentmindedly brought her hand up to her cheek and pinched.
This was shorter than I thought I was going to make it but I think that's fine. I hope I improved from my first Yume Nikki fanfiction, I wrote that one ages ago and did spend a lot of time writing in between then and now so it probably wouldn't be dumb of me to think I got better.
I would love it if people told me what they thought of this but I won't mind not getting any reviews.