Narration, English
Japanese
'Thoughts, names'
Dreams, flashbacks, memories

He woke up in a white room. An unpleasant light irritated his bloodshot eyes, forcing them to close for a moment. Slowly getting used to the shine they began to look around his whereabouts. He was covered with a white duvet, lying on a white bed, surrounded by white equipment typical for a hospital. Confused, he glanced across the white walls. No windows, some long-shaped neon lamps occupying almost the entire ceiling, two doors, one in front of him, the other on his right, an IV attached to his right hand. He stared at the needle for a few seconds, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened. His gaze flicked along the tube running from the needle to the drip bag which was hanging above the bed. He sighed silently in questioning manner and inhaled, feeling something strange. There were two tubes in his nostrils that supplied oxygen. He could feel them running down his cheeks. Not wanting to move his right hand he touched the tube with his left one, what was a big challenge to him. It seemed to him that his body was too heavy to move anything.

Behind the door on his right must have been a long corridor because he heard somebody's footsteps. They were pretty quiet and uneven, just like someone was jumping instead of walking normally. In his imagination that someone looked like a small child who was going home from school with a knapsack on their back. But the footsteps weren't the only thing. A child's voice came from behind the walls and it was humming a happy melody. "Moshi moshi kame yo kame-san yo. Sekai no uchi de omae hodo..." it sang to the rhythm of jumping.

He tilted his head slightly, looking at the door. With a great effort he rested on his elbows when the footsteps stopped and the voice stopped singing. His hearing was impeccable, the child stopped in front of the door. The sudden silence rang in his ears, he felt weak and exhausted, the room began to whirl. That short trance was interrupted by the other voice belonged to an adult man who stopped at the mysterious door as well. "Kyo-chan! What did daddy say about approaching this door?"

"Do not come in," muttered the disappointed voice.

"Indeed. Now go to the kitchen, mommy prepared your favorite dangos."

"Hurray!" shouted the high-pitched voice, the patter of small feet raced probably to the mentioned kitchen.

The whole dialogue had been in Japanese but fortunately he knew a little of that language thanks to his father. Unfortunately, he still had no idea where he was and what had happened. One thing he knew for sure, he had to get out of there.

Focusing all his strength he jumped up from the bed, regretting that decision immediately. The dizziness became stronger and keeping the balance wasn't as easy as usual. And the horrifying sound similar to an alarm was tearing apart his swollen auditory canals. A strange knob protruding from the wall above the door started to flash red, coloring the whole room. In all the confusion he almost didn't notice that his body was covered with a long white hospital shirt. By the way it was a wonder how could anybody find such a big shirt? Both he and his brothers were giants. He himself was three meters tall and was the tallest, yet the lightest and the slimmest of them.

A group of men in white coats ran into the room, the noise became unbearable. Something wet and warm ran down his right hand. The men were shouting, their voices mixing with the alarm. He was quickly surrounded. Instinctively he tried to defend himself by waving his long arms. Despite the lack of strength his hits still made an impression on the men barely reaching his waist. There were too many of them, some rushed to his legs, trying to hold him to the floor. Too busy with the crowd of screaming physicians surrounding him, he didn't notice one man standing on the bed, a syringe in his hand. Ready to attack the doctor threw himself on his neck, resuming the struggle. He tried to throw the man off his carapace when suddenly he felt a prick in his neck.

Before he fell under the weight of the men, dazed by the injected substance, he spotted a little girl dressed in white shirt and pink dress with braces, standing in the door ajar.

When he opened his eyes once again to see exactly the same place, he wasn't alone. He didn't even know that it was possible to feel worse than the first time he had woken up in that white room. The pain, not too great, but strong enough to remember, was spreading all over his beak, forcing him to make a silent moan.

One of the physicians stood at his bed, he was wearing glasses, a thick notebook laid in his hand. The man was writing down data from one of the monitors without paying any particular attention to him. He used that fact to look around again because it was the only thing he had strength for. His right hand was bandaged in the place the needle had been and the IV was attached higher on his arm, the needle secured more solidly.

He wasn't sure how much those strange physicians knew about him, they probably had no idea he could speak. The tiredness was driving him crazy and he didn't know the reason for the feeling of such a heaviness. However, he couldn't allow himself any sleep, he had to find out why he was there, how he had found himself there and the most importantly, what those doctors were planning to do with him. He cleared his throat with difficulty, trying to get the attention of the man. The physician looked at him with bored eyes. He saw bloodshot eyes, swollen from the fatigue, long green mouth, but above it all was the uncertainty with hint of fear. The man wrote something down while murmuring a few sentences under his breath. The captured managed to understand a few key phrases which didn't say much. He had been described as an object of research, the physician had briefly described his condition as stable, he had also mentioned the names of several substances.

After taking a few deep breaths and swallowing loudly he finally dared to speak in English, hoping that the man would understand. "What are you going to do with me?"

That caught the doctor's attention. Without looking away the man wrote something quickly, closed the notebook and put it on the monitor. "This can talk?" he asked more himself, taking off his glasses and brought his face closer to the one lying in bed.

"Only few Japanese speak English fluently," he replied, unable to stop himself.

"How can you talk?"

"What is this place? How did I find myself here? What do you want to do with me?"

The physician chuckled quietly, not answering any of the questions he had been asked and he patted the captured's face. The man took his notebook and left the room, leaving him all alone. "What did they give me?" he mumbled during his unsuccessful attempts to move something other than his head and neck. He could still feel all his body, so what was happening to him?

He didn't have time to think about his situation because the door on his right opened again. A small girl, the same he had seen before losing his consciousness, looked through the small crack into the white room. Back then he had thought he had seen an angel, a guardian watching over him in that difficult time. Now he could look at her more closely. The girl slipped inside and closed the door quietly behind her. She was wearing the same white shirt and pink dress with braces. Her plump legs were covered with white tights and she had wooden flip-flops on her feet. Her black hair was cut perfectly straight and it reached her shoulders, her forehead was covered by bangs. Like every child about three years old she had chubby face and hands.

The girl approached the bed without a trace of fear, only a childish curiosity in her amber eyes. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, her two ambers versus his red whites, the scarlet mixing with brown irises. The girl's small hand touched his bandaged one in a silent gesture. It looked as if she wanted to heal the wound with a simple touch.

Guessing the child's age he thought that they both knew Japanese on a similar level. Only that thought prompted him to ask the question. "Hello, little one. Will you tell me you name?" His face arched, trying to smile.

The girl lowered her gaze slightly, smiling shyly. He expected that reaction, all children could be afraid to talk to strangers. But he drew more attention to the fact that the little one wasn't afraid of him, she was rather excited about his presence. She clenched her plump fingers around one of his thick ones, trying to touch his face with her other hand. Eventually she reached his collarbone and began to stroke him like a domesticated pet. Her palms were sticky and warm, he could feel the smell of bubble gum, probably the soap. Looking at the girl who was being busy by 'petting', the questions were still rolling in his head. "Is this place your home?" he asked. Kyo-chan nodded her head while touching his arm and clenching her hands on his bicep. It was a strange place for a home for such a child. He expected himself to be locked in some lab or something like that. "Where is your home? In what town? Do you know?" He spoke silently and slowly for her to understand him and not to get scared of so many questions. He managed to move his left arm above his body and catch the small hand, holding it gently so as not to hurt her. Her hand was drowning in his three-fingered large one.

The little girl looked at him with a small smile from ear to ear. One thing was for sure, wherever he was and whatever is awaiting for him, she had nothing to do with that. She was just an innocent toddler.

In that moment the very same man in glasses he had tried to make a conversation with a few minutes earlier walked into the room. Seeing the small girl by the bed, the physician ran to them and picked her up from the floor, then moved quickly away with her in his arms. He must have been her father. She didn't mind the sudden change of position, smiling at her dad. "Daddy asked you not to come in here, princess," he said with a paternal smile, bringing their foreheads together.

"Ryū!" the little one screamed, pointing her finger at the lying one.

He frowned, understanding the meaning of that word. She was so delighted by her discovery that he had no heart to lead her out of her mistake. So he said in English to her father. "I'm not a dragon."

The man gave him a quick look, then put his daughter on the ground and pushed her lightly towards the door. "Mommy called you, princess." Excited by the news, the girl ran out with a squeak, leaving her parent alone with the prisoner on the bed. The doctor closed the door behind her, then returned quickly to him, giving him a vicious look. "Listen, mutant. I don't know where you came from or why you can speak but I won't give up such a chance when it dropped down straight from the sky."

Straight from the sky? Something shone in his head, yes, a plane! His brothers and father on the plane to Japan. An accident in the luggage compartment. "You caught me and immobilized me. I think you owe me an answer to at least one question" he replied calmly, fearing that something terrible might await him him for raising his voice.

"So be it, one question and only one, reptile."

"What is this place? A hospital, a lab, a single-family house?" He didn't hide the slight frustration due to his position.

"Yes, indeed and correctly. Now that I've answered your question I can examine you and officially start working on the 'Childish Dream' project."