Even after she gained her strength, returned to school and settled back into classes after notifying the group of her recovery and what she knew of her attacker; she was still haunted by dreams of that golden dragon.
The dragon didn't understand its presence in her mind, neither did she, but it seemed intent on helping her understand her complicated relationships with its master and his friends. Her shadow self also seemed interested in the dragon's presence. When both creatures featured in her dreams, her shadow self would often try to climb all over the reptile, pulling at the creatures whiskers and tugging at its tail. To her surprise, the dragon did not react to her child self, just gently nudging her away until Naoto lost her temper at the child.
"Be gentle with her Naoto, she and you may be one and the same, but she is born from a fragile and broken part of your psyche. She will settle soon enough." Her lunch break in the library had involved her studying up on the mysterious occupant of her dream. She may not have been able to learn why he was there but at least more on what he was. She had fallen asleep at the desk again. "I see you have been reading up on me."
"I…fell asleep again, didn't I?"
"You are almost fully recovered, just a little more. It is merely a small nap so you and I may speak."
"That sounds…unsettling." Naoto rubbed her arm with her head down.
"When you are recovered, I will not need you to be sleeping to talk to you. That is what I believe at least." He wafted her shadow self with its tail to keep her from climbing on him.
"I…see."
"I feel my presence in your dreams is directly linked to your presence around my master."
"So you're saying, the more time I spend around him, the more I can speak with you?" She noticed how much more knowledge the beast was gaining. "I'm guessing being around him is helping you understand what you're doing here too."
"My master's presence does seem to help." He remarked. "Our time for now is over." Smoke engulfed her again.
"Hey Naoto-chan, where did you go to at lunch?" Rise pouted.
"To the library." Naoto still wasn't entirely comfortable around this girl.
"Oh well Senpai was looking for you."
"Thanks."
Sheltered from the rain, they were waiting for the dark sky to lighten up a bit as she twisted the detective badge around in her hand. They were idly passing the time talking about Yu and his life in Tokyo as well as the few glimpses into her childhood she was willing to discuss.
"If you wanted more answers, you'd be better to ask him for his help." It was like a thunderbolt in her skull.
"Naoto, are you ok!?" He reached forward to try and help her.
"F-fine." She grimaced through the pain. "I just thought he wasn't…nngh."
"Who wasn't?"
"I…I dream of that infernal gold dragon of yours!" She cried out in pain, barely able to keep her voice in check.
"W-what?" Her headache eased off as she felt a low grumble settle through her brain.
"That's a good girl now." He remarked proudly. Fuck you, reptile. She scolded it internally.
"I asked its name because…ugh…" She pulled her hat down over her eyes, to try and shield her warming face from him. "Since you guys saved me…that thing has been there. It talks as if it knows you, as if it knows me."
"Well what does it say?"
"Perplexing riddles and non-sensical gibberish, and it doesn't leave!" She snapped, as if it was Yu's fault the dragon was there, it probably was, but he wasn't aware.
He walked her back to the apartment she would be leaving soon, moving back in with her grandfather.
"Thank you, senpai." She bowed politely before scurrying off inside, shutting the door behind her.
"A drink would have been nice." He chuckled to himself as he walked in the direction of his own home.
She threw her stuff down in a huff, she was convinced that the stupid reptile had told her she was still too weak to hear it talking outside of her sleep.
"I am most apologetic." She closed her eyes to focus on the voice.
"What do you want from me?" She bit her lower lip. "Leave me alone."
"I can not."
"What!? Of course you can, shoo." She yelled, the voice was coming from behind her, even though she knew it was an internal voice she still pivoted on her own axis to face behind her.
It was a flickering image, faded like if it had emerged from the television, but it was without doubt that same golden dragon. She screeched as she fell back, feeling the pain reverberate through her pelvis. The dragon was coiled tightly, with the exception of the first few feet of its length, which held its head high above her, the head ornaments pushed through the ceiling, not making a dent.
"I can not leave, I told you already." It remarked. Cautiously, she crawled forward and held a hand out, she expected to feel the cold scales, but instead her hand fell back down onto the carpet, the dragon flickering around her hand.
"You're…hollow…like you just came through the television."
"An excellent deduction detective." It mocked. "So tell me, what do you know about me?"
"I…why are you bothering me?"
"I told you, I do not know. My master is clearly fond of you, or perhaps you need me here."
"Need you? Yes, clearly I needed a monster reptile that speaks non-sensical rubbish and tongues. Go back to guarding your celestial beast friends." She scowled like a small child throwing a tantrum.
"My dear girl." It bowed its head slightly, yellow fumes rising from its nostrils and the elaborate horns it had being shown in its full glory. "I am here for a reason, perhaps it is something as simple as to check you are safe."
"But then senpai would have told me about you, he didn't know."
"Subconscious perhaps?" It saw the spark in her eyes as if a lightbulb lit in her brain. "I'm sure my master can speak to the residents of the Velvet Room."
"Velvet Room?" She was curious.
"Ah, perhaps something I should not have said, my master knows that none of you may enter. He isn't sure how he can enter it himself."
"So what is it?"
"A link between this world and the next, it's what allows him to summon so many personae. We are all born of different elements of him." The dragon noticed the interest in her eyes. "My master is unique, his heart holds many possibilities, whereas you and your friends are only on the course with one. Shadow Naoto, and her persona equivalent are a representation of what you repressed."
"So surely that means that Yu-kun has many repressed thoughts."
"I am not sure mistress." It seemed disappointed, head and snout almost touching the floor. "Perhaps it is just that he has accepted a bad hand in life."
"I think it may be in my interest to keep you around for a while." The detective concluded. "You seem to be privy to information that your master keeps locked in his head." The dragon seemed shocked.
"Be warned mistress, it is a double edged sword. I can tell him as much about you as I can tell you about him."
"Misstress? Please call me by my name."
"My master's name for you, Naoto-kun, is that better?"
"Yes, much."
"Until tomorrow." It bowed. "After all, I'm sure I'd be interested in those hospital results belonging to everyone." It teased.
"Don't read anything about me." She growled. "Hey hang on, how do you know about that?"
"I can read you like a book Naoto-kun." It bowed its head before vanishing before her eyes.
-x-x-
She held the paperwork in her hand, she had disposed of the medical files bar her own. She was still flustered, that bear had planned on announcing personal details – including her measurements to the rest of the group. She had heard most of the group disperse as she rushed off around the corner with the files in her arms. Her back resting against the wall, she sunk to the floor within seconds.
It was only my measurements, he could have read the 'long-term conditions' section…
"PTSD, Social Anxiety Disorder…what an unfortunate childhood you had." Her ears picked up the growl by her ear.
"…Don't bring that up…" She hung her head low.
"It must be painful." She turned to her left to see there was nothing there. "I don't imagine I am helping much, I will leave you in peace."
"You ok Naoto?" He stood over her, left hand on his hip, smiling down. As she looked up she realised how watery her eyes must have been, she quickly looked back down in a sharp movement, slamming her file shut. "Something in there you didn't want to see? Or is it just Teddie?" He glanced around the corner, noticing the blonde boy had gone bounding off down the halls.
"It's fine. Just Teddie and his embarrassing me." She mumbled.
"Hey cheer up, nobody really cares that much." He knelt down to her level. "Fancy some food?"
"Why?" She asked, head jerked up to meet his gaze.
"I thought you might want to know what I've discussed about Kohyru, and I know he told you about the Velvet Room." He raised himself back into a standing position, feeling his knees click back into place, he reached a hand down, which she ignored and pulled herself up into a standing position.
It was raining, and in his eyes that meant only one thing.
"What is this?" She asked, chopsticks nudging meat around in the bowl, revealing more meat underneath.
"This is the mega beef bowl, rainy day special, here at Aiya." He declared happily.
"And you expect me to eat all this?" She asked. "Can you even eat it?"
"Nope, Teddie can't either and look how much he eats." He chuckled to himself. "Look, enjoy it. It's my treat. I wanted to talk to you about Kohyru." He broke the chopsticks apart and picked up a piece of meat between them. "First, we dine."
It felt awkward, being sat alone with her senpai, she had barely spent any time with him outside of school, and it had never been alone before.
"…I could have bought the others along." He remarked, clicking his fingers to break her silent musing and turn her attention back on him.
"That would not be necessary, I am sure they would not believe you, or myself. Or be interested in the reason we are here." She was already full and she had barely peeled through the top layer, she placed the chopsticks beside the bowl and took a sip of the water she had ordered alongside the meal. "Forgive me senpai, I have never been good at eating a lot of food." She tipped the brim of her hat slightly, to hide the slight tint to her cheeks.
He had gotten half way through the bowl before he nudged it to one side, reaching into his satchel at the side of him in the booth.
"I figured you could read this." He offered her his own medical file. "Don't worry, it's not all of it, I got mine before the bear got it, I threw out most of the pages and kept this one."
"Senpai…why would you?"
"Read the bit I highlighted in the test results." He pointed out.
Patient shows abnormally high brain activity in regions associated with dreaming, when questioned, subject responded that he often exhibited unusual dreaming and has frequently experienced lucid dreaming and sleep talking.
"Why is this important?" She asked, trying to mask her true feelings under a stoic expression on her face.
"It says something similar in yours, doesn't it, Naoto-kun?" Her eyes widened momentarily. "I could take a guess, we went in one at a time, you, I and Teddie were gone longer than the others, Teddie for his x-rays and you and me for a brain scan, right?"
"How could you possibly have deduced that?" Something warm fogged her brain. "It told you, didn't it?"
"Kohyru? In a roundabout way, yes." He nodded. "I asked if I should be worried about you, if you had something wrong I should know. He ignored it. He said it was not his interest to read into your past." He shrugged.
"It is not my thing to tell Naoto-kun." She felt light headed as the voice called to her.
"Earth to Naoto-kun." Yu called her attention back to him again. "I think Kohyru is born from my honesty and integrity. He seems to be determined to keep certain details to himself."
"Senpai, the Velvet Room, what is it?" She asked, the bowls had long since gone cold, the little girl working behind the counter from Naoto's class had taken the bowls, the money Yu had left and offered them tea. Naoto had noted down a few things her senpai had mentioned of interest during their conversation in the notebook from her satchel.
"I don't know myself." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But there's a girl there, her name is Margaret, she seems to believe Kohyru's presence in your head is for the same reason he coiled around you in the laboratory. I subconsciously offered you my support. The end product was his presence in your thoughts."
"That sounds absurd."
"So does a world in a TV." He retorted.
"True, and I regretted not believing Yukiko-senpai that the TV world existed." She leant back, tiredness fogging her vision and clarity. "It does not explain how he moves between us, and shares our thoughts, why that persona …or why it seems to have only happened to me." She sighed, one question answered, many more came forward. "So many questions and mysteries…"
"Senpai, it is getting dark, I am still not of complete health, perhaps we should be leaving." She nodded towards the door. "I am sure Dojima-san must be curious as to where you are, as well."
"Of course, I'm sorry I don't have any more answers." He bowed his head. "It's a neat little mystery don't you think?"
"If that is what you wish to call it." He noticed a slight curling of her lips, as if she was happy at that notion.
"Of course I do." He smiled. "Oh I have work tonight, so I have to get straight on the bus, but at least let me see you off to the end of the shopping district." She shook her head, not able to mouth the words to decline the offer.
It was on the walk back across the North Shopping District, passing by the shrine that he noticed the man clad in all black. He was convinced he had not seen him when they left Aiya, but the man seemed to show an interest in the silverette as he made his way by. The man knew of Yu's relationship to Naoto, and the questions he asked were curiously, and loosely based around the young detective's profession. He took the card from the man, slipping it into the front pocket of his bag before getting the bus.
-x-x-
"You are indeed intrigued by mysteries." She ignored the flickering image only she could see as she began moving around the room packing things into boxes and suitcases. She did not have many belongings in the apartment, but it was better to do it this evening that before her grandfather's secretary collected her to make their way to the estate later in the week.
"Well of course, a detective solves mysteries." She landed on the bed, her energy drained after barely packing a thing. "Did you need something of me Kohyru?" She sat bolt upright, moving to carry on her packing.
"I just wished to speak." The dragon spoke normally with a calm and steady voice. "What is it the doctor said, this is a lucid dream, was it?"
"How come only you get to decide when we speak?" She asked.
"I do not. Only you or my master have control of that." It noticed the change in gait, the sudden sharpness of her movements as she swivelled to face it.
"Me!?"
"Yes of course, it is your thoughts and memories and mind I take residence in, you could lock me away in a tiny little box should you really choose." It smirked. "Yet, whilst you may not know why I am here, or just what I am capable of, you seem to be eager to speak to me."
"Capable of?"
"I sense that I may be of more use to you than I am at this current moment in time. With your strength returning, I can feel a strong sense of control wafting over your emotions and myself and your shadow. I sense we may be of a benefit to you." It paused, noting how winded she looked. "Perhaps you can continue your packing another day mistress – I mean Naoto-kun – as you appear most tired. You mortals, humans in particular, are strange beasts."
"I'm strange?" She placed her hat on her bedside table. "Says the giant gold celestial dragon that may be spying on my thoughts to give my secrets to its master."
"A master who is even stranger than you." The dragon hovered over her, and for a brief moment she was tense. "I mean you no harm, but considering how tight a restriction I am under, I can not harm you, even if I chose to hurt you. And you are strange, talking to the gold dragon hovering over your bed nobody else could see me. At least, not with your and his current bond, and your strength." With that, he left her. She had blinked and missed his departure.
"What? Come back! I have so many questions. I…thought you said I could call you…come back…"
"I am sorry…you are not strong enough…" The growl echoed through her head. K-Kohyru...please...
-x-x-
"She grows most excitable at the prospect of mysteries, doesn't she master?" The dragon's voice was not an unfamiliar one to him, coming across as a deep rumble from a far recess of the mind. He was referring to when Yu had given her the card, and how she babbled almost excitedly at the prospect of solving another mystery. "Perhaps this can help strengthen your bond, even help you understand about me, why this has happened, why or how you willed this to be." Yu remained calm, wanting to make sure any thoughts were not vocalised in the middle of class. Instead, he doodled responses to the dragon's remarks on the notebook in front of him.
"What is this?" It growled, noticing a particular note scrawled at the top of the sheet.
Answer me this dragon, is she unwell?
"Master, she is not unwell, or at least not in a way you should concern yourself. Alas, as I told her myself, this ability is a double edged sword. I am not willing to tell you what I saw on those papers through her eyes. Just as I am not willing to tell her about that strange little excitement you feel whenever she mentions mysteries and her eyes light up."
Checkmate Kohyru. You win this round.
