Hayasaka Dream - Shinomiya Kaguya Wants to Fly
Narrator: Dreams! The nocturnal process of experiencing often strange, imaginary worlds occurring only during the deepest sleep. According to the famed Sigmund Freud, dreams were the brain's way of processing and dealing with unsatisfied desires. A man in poverty may dream of winning the lottery. A woman with an unrequited love may dream of her man confessing his love. There is also the possibly of dreams venturing into the realm of the erotic for both genders. All scenarios designed to help the waking mind deal with difficult circumstances. However…
NOBODY BELIEVES THIS ANYMORE!
The vast majority of dreams are utter nonsense, random bits of information firing at high speed when the person is asleep. These days, leading neurology experts theorize that dreams are the result of random brain firing, causing familiar events and people to be arranged in an often bizarre arrangement. That is to say…
DREAMS ARE MEANINGLESS!
So called prophetic dreams may be nothing more than static the brain desperate arranges into a concrete picture. This is, of course, completely false in fiction, where dreams are a convenient way to unearth a character's subconscious desires for the sake of the audience. And thus, let us see what is underneath the many layers of Haysaka's mind.
I don't remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember was watching videos of catastrophic bridge failure, and the next thing I knew I was listening to the hum of some great engine. It was a different time, yet familiar.
I was not alone; Kaguya-sama was seated next to me, her legs pulled up towards her body. I did not blame her. She was being taken away from everything she had ever known, courtesy of her father, the head of the powerful Shinomiya business enterprise. Our destination was America, eventually to the city of San Francisco, the headquarters of the American division of the Shinomiya business group. It was a cruel move. Kaguya-sama finally found friends of her own, but her father decided she was growing too close. He said the move would be good for her, and of course, I was to come along as well. He had never considered much of me.
They hadn't even a chance to say goodbye. The best Kaguya could do was leave a letter to the remaining housekeepers. We don't even know if they got it.
We had a long flight ahead of us. We were riding on the Shinomiya family airship, the most advanced ship ever devised. The trip would be at most several days. Kaguya made no motion, staring down into her knees. I tried to lighten the atmosphere. "Why don't we listen to the radio?" I suggested.
Kaguya-sama said nothing and didn't move. Regardless, I turned on the radio, if anything just to pass the time for myself. After a few seconds of turning the knob, I heard a familiar voice through the speakers "…miya-san. We…" Kaguya-sama and I turned to look at each other. We know that voice. It was Shirogane Miyuki. I furiously turned the radio back to where I heard the voice. Shirogane's voice returned, clearer this time. "Shinomiya-san! The bird is in the air!" And then the signal abruptly cut out.
Confused, I turned to Kaguya-sama. Her eyes were wide, the first other emotion I had seen her express since we left. "What does it mean?" I asked her.
With a soft, almost dreamy tone, Kaguya replied. "It means he's coming."
Suddenly, the dream shifted. The plot advanced. Kaguya-sama and I were now in the great belly of the airship. We had found rifles, and we were planning our escape. Shirogane-kun and his friends had fixed up two planes just in time to head in our direction, and they were closing in. We just had to make it until they came.
Guards were coming around the corner, petty thugs hired by that accursed butler. I readied the weapon in my hands, and while my training with a firearm was limited, I was more than willing to protect Kaguya-sama through any means necessary. We managed to disable the airship's radio, preventing them from calling backup or scrambling additional biplanes. That left one, albeit glaring, problem: how to escape the ship.
Kaguya-sama had done the calculations, the maximum speed of Shirogane's plane, the average speed of the airship, and the wind predictions for our current altitude. Down in the rafters of the airship, there were spare ropes used for balancing the ship. If we could cut one loose, we could ride the rope down, where Shirogane and Fujiwara could then pick us up. It was a long shot, and there was much that could go wrong, but Kaguya-sama and run the calculations in her head, and I had never seen her make a mistake before.
We reached the areas just above the rafters. All we had to do was jump down, grab the ropes, rip through the skin, and get picked up by two rapidly moving biplanes. Simple.
Kaguya-sama looked at me, before preparing herself for the jump. "Thank you, Hayasaka. No wait." She paused. "Thank you, Ai-san."
I smiled back to her. "It's been an honor Kaguya-sama. But thank me when we're back in Japan."
She nodded and looked down. She readied herself for her descent. I readied my rifle, looking down the sights down the hall. Suddenly, footstep were approaching.
"Go Kaguya!" I shouted. And she jumped, rifle in had. I looked down to see her progress, but when I did, I heart shots ring out. I fell backwards in reflex, and starting running back towards the hallway. My side was on fire, a stray bullet had found its target. From the location of the pain, it didn't seem like the wound was very deep, but would still require attention before too long.
Panic was threatening to cripple me, but I fought that down. I had no idea if Kaguya made the fall or not, but I didn't have time to worry. With the bullet in my side, I would never make it down like she did. There were soldiers coming quickly, and I needed to find a new way out. I readied the rifle in my hands, loaded a fresh bullet, and ran down the hall towards the engines.
The dream shifted again, a sharp, dynamic scene change. I was tired. My body was sore and aching. The radio was disabled, the engines had been sabotaged, and there was only one last obstacle in front of me. Hirata Yumeko, personal butler for Kaguya's father. A dangerous and well-trained assistant.
She knew Miyuki's and his friend's names. She knew where they were headed. As long as she lived, she was a continuous threat to Kaguya. After a long, bloody encounter, I had her cornered. I had shot her once in the left leg, and once in the left shoulder. She was huddled against a steel support beam, defeated. I stood above her, victorious.
She spat at me. "I might not make it away from this, but as I die, I will be able to say that I served the Shinomiya's loyally and faithfully. What will you be able to say, traitor?"
Taking my rifle in had, I pointed the bayonet end towards her. I stared her directly in her eyes. "I will say that I have done far more than served Shinomiya. I have loved Kaguya-san as a sister." With one swift motion, I swung the butt of the rifle against her temple. She crumpled to the ground, body still.
I let out a sigh of relief, then immediately regretted it. My stomach, just under my left ribs exploded in pain. Reflexively, I touched the side with my hand; the bleeding had gotten worse. The bullet was still lodged in my side, doing a rather poor job of sealing the wound. Vaguely I had the thought that if I made it through this mess, I would have to find some way to dislodging it and getting stitches.
I limped my way towards the captain's seat and sat down. The airship was rapidly falling through the air, brought upon by the many holes over the course of the battle. Despite the rapidly changing positions of the cloud, I could not help but be enamored by the beauty of the sky. It was so open. So free. Not like this airship, with its sole destination. That young man Shirogane, with his biplane and his dreams. Point his propeller in any direction, and he would go. I hope he takes Kaguya-sama somewhere far away. Some place with plenty of open sky.
The world was shaking, and my vision blurred. The jerking of the failing ship compounded the effects of the blood loss. Even with my meager medical expertise, I knew it would not be long before I lost consciousness. I stared out into the distance, hoping to enjoy one last sunset. In the distance were two small black dots, disappearing into the clouds. My heart soared. They made it. Miyuki did it.
I gave out a relaxed sigh and closed my eyes. My body slouched further down in the chair, fine leather, as expected of the Shinomiya family. Quite comfortable, in fact. In the back of my mind, I realized I could no longer feel the wound in my site, which was a nice feeling. Breathing was still painful, but even that was fading.
With another slow breath, I opened my eyes again. The dots were still in the distance, odd since I would have expected them to be over the horizon by now. Stranger still, now it appeared to be three dots. Two flying side by side and one slightly above them both. Then I realized the third and strangest feature of the dots.
They were getting larger.
Panic filled me. Had they managed to call the airbase before I destroyed the radio? Were they being pursued? No, if they have been pursued, they would have flown into the clouds where they could elude the fighters. There was no reason for them to make a complete turn around. There was nothing for them in this direction. Just the past. Just pain. Just loneliness. No, there was nothing to return to or return for.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing!
But there was me.
My eyes shot opened, and I stood up despite the numbness. Were they coming back for me? I told her not to. I told her to fly far away, get away from everything in her past. But my mind raced to find another answer. There wasn't one. That stubborn girl never listened to me.
I had to meet them. The airship had holes all over its shell, but there were only a few safe ones. Remembering the path here, there was an airlock just outside the captain's cabin. I limped my way there. Just before leaving, I took one last look out the front window. The dots were now much larger. Two of the dots took on the familiar shape of a biplane. I couldn't recognize the shape of the third. At their current speed, they would be arriving soon.
Putting that aside for now, I had to find a way to communicate with them. The airlock seemed undamaged despite all the chaos, and there was a single parachute left, which I slipped on. I tried to see out of the small porthole, but the dots were completely obstructed by the front of the ship. That left me with one last choice: I had to open the airlock.
The door was opened by a simple valve on the adjacent wall. With the last of my failing strength, the door swung open. The air pressure difference and the strong winds pulled me towards the open sky. I managed to hold on and put my face past the door. The wind threatened to blow me away, but I had to stretch a little further. I needed to see them, even just a glimpse. My Kaguya-sama. Don't leave me behind.
I stretched out my neck as far as I could safely go, but I couldn't find those dots anymore. I looked all around that horizon, but they were nowhere to be found. What happened? Was I mistaken? Maybe they hadn't turned around after all.
But before I could contemplate further, the airship suddenly lurched forward. The great steel machine was finally collapsing. I managed to keep my footing on the metal grating, but my hand precariously slipped off the door. My balance shifted back and forth, my arms were waving furiously trying to keep my weight behind me. If I could just keep my weight behind me, I could fall back into the ship, instead of plummeting into the ground.
Just as I managed the get a good enough footing to throw myself backwards, the ship lurched again. This time there was no saving my footing, I was launched forward. The clouds began to race upwards. Instinctively I pulled the cord on the parachute, but I reached upwards it was gone. Looking upwards I saw the remains of my parachute, the strap ripped off during the fall. Vaguely I realized there may have been a reason it had been left behind.
Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the pain, but I was surprisingly calm about my rapid descent. The sunset sky was beautiful. With only sky and cloud around me, the only colors were a flurry of oranges and yellows, with little pockets of blue on the other side of the horizon.
Kaguya-sama hadn't come after all. But that was for the best. Find your horizon, Kaguya-sama. Fly far away, where your father will never touch you.
That was the right thing to think, perhaps. The noble thing to thing. The Buddha would be proud of these thoughts.
But these were not my thoughts. Instead, I was angry. I was about to die, and I was angry. I found the energy to yell.
"Don't leave me behind Kaguya-sama!" I screamed, despite the wind easily drowning out my words. "Take me to the sky with you!" If these were my last words, they were going to damn good ones.
"Find your horizon with me!"
With all my heart, I screamed, "Fly away with me!"
Suddenly there a white light, and the sound of fluttering. There was a soft voice, "Geez, Hayasaka. You didn't have to yell so loud."
I looked up and Kaguya-sama was holding me by the hand. The clouds were still moving, but I was no longer falling. Instead we seemed to be moving forward, as if gliding through the air. As if flying.
My vision was consistently blurry at this point, but the light emanating from Kaguya-sama seemed to be in the shape of large, angelic wings. But this was far beyond my comprehension.
Kaguya-sama spoke again. "You didn't really think I'd leave you behind, did I?" Her smile was soft and warm. I hadn't seen a smile like that in years.
"Never, Kaguya-sama," I managed to say. And with that, my strength left me. I could no longer lift my head to see her. I began to close my eyes.
There was a hectic voice from above. "Hayasaka? Hayasaka?! Ai-san! Shirogane-kun!" And then, the rapid fluttering of wings, the hum of a familiar biplane, and then the sweet, silent darkness.
The next morning I awoke, feeling surprisingly refreshed. "How strange," I said to no one in particular. Without dwelling on it too much, I began my morning routine. I got dressed into my main uniform, pulled my hair into its usual ponytail, and went to awaken Kaguya-sama. To my surprise, she was already awake. She was standing by the window, looking out onto the gardens, illuminated by the morning sun. The sunlight made a faint glow around her body. Images of my dream returned to me.
"Good morning, Kaguya-sama." I greeted her.
She turned around and smile, "Good morning, Hayasaka." She must have seen the confusion on my face, as I was remembering last night. Visions of violence and blood, but also of love and loyalty. Kaguya asked, "Hey is everything okay?"
I snapped out of it. I returned the warm smile. "Of course, Kaguya-sama. I was just thinking that you looked like an angel."
A/N: Wow this was much longer than I thought it was, but incredibly fun to write. Let me know what you think, and I might turn this into a full-blown story with all the pieces added, and some backstory, and possibly a more mature story. It'd definitely be after I finish this one, though.
Also let me know if you liked the narrator. I'm on the fence, really. It's funny, but doesn't quite fit with a story centered around Hayasaka. Either way, let me know!