A Munto Fanfiction: Read Between the Lines © RedWingedAngel002
Disclaimer: Munto; Sora Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai © Kyoto Animation; Yoshiji Kigami and Tomoe Aratani
Genre: Angst and Friendship
Summary: Doubt bubbled anxious in her stomach. Munto would not be there to coach or catch her. She would be alone.

A/N: Munto encouraging Yumemi as her personal cheerleader is one of my favorite ship dynamics.

Songs: Hopes and Dreams by: Toby Fox

Japanese Index:
None.

"Talking."
'Thinking.'
Memories/Flashbacks

Chapter 5: Bonds

Light encompassed her vision, warm, she stepped into his beacon and out from the dark.

"Faster! There is no time!" Left of her, a golden star whirled into a lean physique, shooting beside at parallel height. "Here! You must be airborne!"

Yumemi grabbed his outstretched hand and squeaked when her sprinting feet picked speed too quick to keep up with and lifted off to nothingness. A surge of Akuto energy sparked in their contact, pushing a gasp out her lungs, alongside a rush of butterflies.

"Distribute your weight with your center! Use your knee to steer yourself!" His haste guidance steadied her teetering, but only just. She had to fly before even knowing the first steps. "Focus! Reach forth towards your goal!"

Doubt bubbled anxious in her stomach. Munto would not be there to coach or catch her. She would be alone.

"You can do this," he confirmed. Ruby eyes glimmered passed a whipping mane, tense with certainty. His palm gave a reassuring squeeze. "I believe in you, Yumemi."

Nodding, determination filled her up like a physical force, and she looked forward, to the open future. The possibilities were infinite. Her dream was within reach.

"You have got one shot! Now, go!" Grunting, he slung her across, releasing hold, and the distance widened between them.

Bubbled memories flashed in her peripheral in will of his heart. Familiar voices, of those she had never actually met, echoed all around.

Those memories then shifted to hers, and her dear friends: to her goal.

"Yumemi!"

Suzume cheerfully waved outside her bedroom window, surprising her when she had to stay home from their second grade fieldtrip excursion due to a fever. Just as she had given up hope, feeling helplessly alone, her friend was there.

After all, Suzume promised to eat lunch together the day before.

"Yumemi!"

Ichiko lunged furious at the boy, where small fists flew, and she fought tooth and nail to gain justice by the one who had called her a liar.

Crystalline tears brimmed, streaking, and she turned away ashamed—away from the violence. She was not strong enough. Suzume watched helpless, coping her with shielding arms, and two other preschool classmates pulled at the tomboy and her demands for an apology.

Ichiko promised to protect her, no matter what. Even against the inevitable.

"Go, Yumemi…!" Munto shouted as the end of the tunnel yawned open, widening to white.

She brought across her hands, feeling the exchanged Outsider energy prism runes up her shoulder, and she ripped open space-time. The seconds ticked back to where she saw Ichiko and Suzume fall from the Ferris wheel within Ryueri's mirror.

This time, she would protect them!

Her stomach dropped when gravity took effect, plummeting down the steep to her friends' petrified screams. Their small forms grew steady in size, and she pushed herself forward still to catch up to them.

"Suzume! Ichiko!"

Confidence. Hope. She would not lose them. She would be brave! Believe!

"Yumemi!" they both cried out, letting go of their safety circle and to her two ghostly hands. Snow hit cold and burning, but she did not close her eyes.

Focus! They were almost—

Almost—!

Her shoulders strained at the nick of time. Craning sharp and vertical, the girl kicked off the earth. An explosion erupted—a teeth rattling shutter—rippled in between transporting realms. Both Ichiko and Suzume squealed by the sudden blinding light, for her to flood with such relief in her success that their weight was effortless.

Looking down at the gape faces of her precious friends, speckled tears flew, and Yumemi faced in resolution to bring them to her world above with island skies.

A laugh broke to form a beaming smile. She did it! She really did it! She saved them…!

"Well done," her heart echoed. Yumemi knew intuitively that it was Munto.

"Thank you," she whispered back and long lashes waned closed.

A/N: A small update, I know, but I've been struggling heavily with writer's/art block. ;w;
—Ari [9.12.21]