NREM 3: Chizuru

"Wake up, Yumeji, breakfast is ready." Isana told Yumeji, who was face down in his bed.

Reluctantly Yumeji picked up his body and dragged himself out of bed. "I'll be right there." He said sleepily which made Isana giggle before she closed the door.

A few minutes later Yumeji came downstairs for breakfast and seemed quite energized. Merry, Isana and her father were already at the table. While in the middle of eating, Isana turned and asked Yumeji and asked, "Hey Yumeji, have you spoken with Chizuru lately?"

Yumeji stopped at her question. Isana knew nothing about the Dream World and the conflicts with Mistleteinn, so she didn't know that Chizuru had lost her soul and her dream from firing Lestion's gun. "No, why?" Yumeji replied, trying to play it cool.

"Well anytime I've tried talking with her lately she was acting like I wasn't there. Even when I asked her to come over a few days ago she just walked strait past me." Isana explained.

"Well I'm sure she's fine, maybe she's got something really important on her mind." Yumeji lied, trying to end the subject.

"But that's no excuse to be ignoring me; she could at least tell me what's going on." Isana griped.

"Just try leaving her alone for a while, maybe she'll come around." Yumeji said.

Isana sighed with defeat. "Alright," She groaned.

"Alright, who's ready for another one of my famous 'Yumeji Dream Reading'?" Yumeji asked playfully to his friends when they met at the school. He put his fingers into a circle over his eyes and looked around at his friends.

"I thought you say you weren't seeing as well a while back?" Saki asked.

Yumeji had said that before because he was asked to look at Isana's dream aura because she had been having weird dreams. The truth of this matter, unbeknownst to her, was that she had been possessed by a Dream Demon. Yumeji had lied about not being able to see the aura's lately to keep her out of the whole situation.

"Right, but it seems it was just a temporary thing because I'm back to normal." He said, once again lying since he never actually had lost the ability in the first place.

Yumeji read Saki's, Isana's and Mei's dream aura and told them what kind of dream they were likely to have that night; but of course did not read did not do the same for Takateru, as he did not wish to have his read, and Yumeji respected his wishes.

Just before class started, Yumeji saw Yoru enter the class. He looked out of place with his leather jacket over his school uniform and got a few strange looks from the other student who wondered if it was really okay for him to do so. But Yumeji had his own reasons for looking at Yoru.

Yumeji wanted to keep as close an eye on Yoru as possible because if he wasn't careful, Yoru would end up destroying countless people's dreams by killing their Dream Demons; and he wouldn't allow that.

However, as Yoru looked up at met Yumeji's gaze, Yumeji found himself being sucked into Yoru's Daydream. "What are you doing?" Yumeji asked as Yoru approached.

"Tell me something. Were you aware that Chizuru Kawanami used to have a Dream Demon?" Yoru asked, at which Yumeji was taken aback; how did Yoru know Chizuru used to have a Dream Demon if he didn't move here until after the fact.

After a second of silence, Yumeji answered. "Yeah, I knew about it…" He said, not sure where this was even going.

Yoru crossed Yumeji and went to the coffin he wrote Merry's name on, taking his index finger and wiping away a line of dust under it. "If you knew about it, and your Dream Demon friend can indeed send other demons back to the Dream World, why didn't you do so to hers?" He asked.

"At the point we first learned about Lestion, we weren't aware of Merry's power. It wasn't long before he and us were both working together to defeat Mystreltienn. The circumstances of his death were his choosing and out of our hands. And in fact he had initially chosen Chizuru as his vessel because she had no dream to be lost when he came to die." Yumeji explained the circumstances that surrounded the Mystreltienn events. "When that changed it was of course too late for a change in vessel, so he had no choice but to go through with it as originally planned. And we still hadn't really learned about Merry's power until after the fact."

"I see… Alright then, now I'll tell you something you don't already know. Because of the circumstance of her Dream Demon's death, she inherited his powers and has ended up the same as I am now." Yoru said, startling Yumeji.

"What, but I thought you only got your Dream Demon's power by killing it yourself?"

"Inadvertent as it was, she was still ultimately responsible for the elimination of its soul."

"But, if she's really like you then…"

"That's right; she has the ability to combat Dream Demons as I do. In fact I've talked to her about helping me when she regains the ability to act normally."

"You're saying she will eventually return to normal?"

"As normal as one can be after having lost their dream. She'll be just like me; emotionless, uncaring, and passive. If her Dream Demon chose her as a vessel because she had no dream to be lost, then she was probably acting as such beforehand as well, so for her, she really will be back to normal." Yoru explained. "That's the end of our conversation." He stated and closed his Daydream, landing him and Yumeji back in the same second that they had left.

Yumeji made an attempt to look as casual as possible as not to raise the suspicion of his friends. And when class started they all took their seats. The rest of the day went on without a hit, and Yumeji tried to think about Yoru as little as possible, but naturally that was difficult with them in the same class.

Still, Yoru telling him about Chizuru's condition shook him up a little. If Chizuru would really be like she first was when Lestion chose her as a vessel, there was no guarantee she would be on their side once she was. Before she became friends with Isana, Chizuru had many-a-time watched on the sidelines as Mystreltienn killed off Dream Demons for the purpose of killing her.

Chizuru would have no reason not to help Yoru kill off the Dream Demons and almost every reason to help him. Because of Dream Demons, Chizuru lost her dream; because of Dream Demons, she was forced into a battle that wasn't really hers; and because of Dream Demons, Isana, the only person she had truly looked to as a friend, meant nothing to her anymore.

Despite all of this, Yumeji waited out the school day until dismissal, at which time Isana and Yumeji began to walk home together. "Hey Yumeji, are you alright?" Isana suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Huh, I'm fine, why do you ask?" Yumeji replied.

"Well I feel like ever since that new kid, Yoru, came in the other day you've been acting a bit strange." Isana told him. Being such good friends and living together, Isana knew Yumeji like the back of her hand, so she could tell if he was acting strangely.

"What, no not at all!" Yumeji denied it quickly, doing his best to act as silly as he could. "Why would I be acting strange because of Yoru?"

"Well what about that time you took him into the hall his first day during lunch?" Isana asked, and Yumeji froze in place.

He simply overlooked how out of place that must have looked to the others. Yumeji sighed. "Alright you caught me…" He said in a voice of resignation. "I did that because I could have sworn I knew him before. I didn't want to say anything because his name was wrong. But it was still bothering me so I asked him about it out in the hall to be sure." He covered.

"Really?" Isana asked, not so sure he was telling the truth.

"Really, he just looked like someone I knew a long time ago, that's all." Yumeji confirmed.

Isana still didn't seem sure, but she accepted it. "Alright," she said with a sigh.

When Isana and Yumeji got home, they were greeted by Isana's father, who had just made a cup of black coffee for the one customer in the store right now. However, when the two of them looked to see who the customer was, they were quite surprised to see Chizuru sitting there, looking strait at them as if she'd come specifically to see them.

When you looked close enough however, it became apparent she wasn't looking at them both, but just Yumeji. Chizuru took a large sip of her coffee and asked, "Can I speak with you alone for a moment, Yumeji?"