Deep within...

It has been a while since the previous vision dream occurred...

So when she realized she's having yet another vision dream right now...

It was when she least expected it.

Bella found herself facing facing the same Feudal Japanese village from her previous vision dream a week ago, except this time it's from a distance.

She still couldn't fathom why all of her vision dreams had involved this Feudal Japanese village one way or another, even though she's an American of Irish descent. Was there something about her family's history that she doesn't know?

"なぜそこに立ってるの?" A voice suddenly spoke out to her.

With her train of thought interrupted, Bella turned around to see who it was.

It was a young, brown-haired teenage girl dressed in a red blouse with long poofy sleeves with a white rectangular collar adorned with a yellow ascot, and a red knee-length skirt with frills. The girl is standing in front of what looked like a shrine.

It took Bella a few seconds of staring to realize that the red-clad girl is the silhouette girl she saw through Renko's eyes on the first day.

"あなたはローカルではありませんか?" The red-clad girl asked another question.

"Beg your pardon?" Bella asked back as she doesn't understand the question, linguistically.

The red-clad girl seemed to sigh before putting a hand to her face. "外国人?気..." She muttered something which, again, couldn't be understood by Bella.

Of course, the problem for both Bella and the red-clad girl is that they're both speaking in different languages, and neither could understand the other. And this probably isn't the red-clad girl's first experience with the language barrier, judging by her reaction.

Bella sighed. She found it hard to believe that even in a dream, the language barrier still exist. And she thought she could ask this girl some questions...

"たいへんすみません。" The red-clad girl said as she waved one hand in a way to indicate she doesn't understand Bella.

At least this time, Bella could understand one of the phrases used. "Sumimasen." It means "sorry".

"Su-mi-ma-sen..." Bella tried to apologize to the red-clad girl. Then she cringed at how she butchered the pronunciation enough to have the girl roll her eyes.

Bella quickly turned back toward the distant village, her face red in embarrassment. This is so awkward. Way to make a first impression, Bella... She mentally berated herself as she covered her eyes.

"Miss Hearn? Miss Hearn, are you still there?"

...

Y.G. International Academy

"Miss Hearn, are you still there?"

Bella is once again jolted back into reality by someone calling out to her, as she lowered her hands and blinked several times.

Unfortunately, the person jolting her awake this time was not Renko, or anyone of the other Sealing Clubbers. Rather, it was her English Language class lecturer, who isn't as friendly as Professor Morgan from Basics in Psychology or Professor Okazaki from Mathematics.

She just had to have a lecturer that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger (and spoke like his character from the Terminator films) for English Language...

And to make things worse, everyone else in the classroom - including Renko, Adam, Jing-Jun, and that braided European brunette - are staring at her like she's got something on her face.

"Your face is red, Miss Hearn..." The lecturer told her. His tone indicates that he is definitely not amused. "Is there anything you were embarrassed about?" He then asked.

"N-nothing, sir..." Bella replied. She felt like she needed to hide behind something, now that she gave her English Language lecturer a bad first impression...

...

As soon as the class is over, Bella hurriedly half-walked half-ran out of the classroom, wanting to get away from the embarrassment she just put on herself.

She still has two hours until Studies in Human Behavior and Mentality class begins, and she figured she'd spend the next two hours sitting all alone in a corner at the cafe near the campus.

Adam and Renko followed right behind, but kept their distance, having decided to give the American girl some time alone after the minor incident back there.

Jing-Jun, however, had some other ideas.

The Taiwanese decided to get close to Bella, walking by her side.

Bella, face still red, didn't spare a glance at the newest member of the Sealing Club.

"Maeriberi...I mean, Bella Hearn..." Jing-Jun said to Bella. "Do you...have time for...coffee?" He sounded like he felt awkward saying it.

Hearing that, the American girl stopped in her tracks, her face becoming redder than before as she glanced at the Taiwanese.

"Coffee...?"

...

Cafe near the campus

It was pretty strange.

One American and one Taiwanese, both of whom have only just joined a club of the occult, and whom have only known each other for a day, are sitting across each other at the same table in a cafe. If one were to ask anyone else in the cafe, they'd have thought it looked like an awkward date.

Both people have yet to say anything to each other, and both have yet to touch their coffee either.

"So...why you, of all people decided to ask me out for coffee?" Bella then broke the silence.

"Because..." Jing-Jun began, sounding like he was still thinking of what to say.

"Because what?" Bella wondered out loud.

"Because..." Jing-Jun swallowed as he worked his courage to speak out. "Because...I think I know what you saw back at English Language class..."

That prompted Bella to raise an eyebrow.

Jing-Jun coughed once before continuing, "It was...a panoramic view of a Japanese village...was it?"

Bella raised both eyebrows in surprise. The Taiwanese's guess was nearly spot on. "How'd you know?"

Jing-Jun fumbled a bit as he worked out how to say it. Then he took a sip of his coffee. "I think I've had a brief moment of precognition shortly before class began..." He said as he set the coffee down.

"Mind elaborating?" Bella got curious.

Jing-Jun cleared his throat before beginning. "At that time, we were all waiting for class to begin. Then all of a sudden, we were all in class already, with everyone either taking notes or just listening to the lecture. Except you. At first, I thought you were simply spacing out. But then, time seemed to freeze as a bubble appeared before you with an image of the aforementioned view..."

"Then?" Bella interrupted.

"That was when my vision ended..." Jing-Jun finished his statement bluntly.

"Oh..." Bella reacted to the statement, also bluntly. "But how do you know it was a moment of precognition?" She then asked.

"Remember our English Language lecturer?" Jing-Jun pointed out. "I saw him in my vision lecturing about verbs and nouns before you had your vision. He was lecturing about the exact same thing when he caught you with your face red..."

Bella didn't respond to that. Her face became red again.

"And for the record, I saw the lecturer in my vision having an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I first thought is just my precognition substituting the unimportant details. But then he appeared in real life looking just like that..." Jing-Jun then added.

Bella's face is still red, but now her lips cracked a smile she tried and failed to suppress on hearing the last part.

It seems that Jing-Jun is having the same problem too. "I also tried not to think too hard about it..." He said as he made a sound like he was trying to suppress a giggle. "But I cracked too..."

The two soon gave in to their urge and laughed together.

"Anyway..." Jing-Jun added as he calmed down. "The point is: I've had a similarly embarrassing moment when I was in high school, but none of my classmates and teacher back then cared about it. So don't let that affect your mood."

"I get your point." Bella said.

Before either of them realized it, their fingers had inexplicably crossed together.

It took a full minute for Bella to realize it was happening.

Her face as red as human biology would allow, the American girl withdrew her hand and looked down in embarrassment.

"Anyway..." Jing-Jun decided to change the topic. "All these talks, and we've completely forgotten about lunch..."

"I'll pay..." Bella, still red-faced, offered.

"For chicken and ham sandwiches?" Jing-Jun asked as he raised one of his eyebrows.

...

Meanwhile, at a corner in the same cafe...

"They've only met for one day, and yet they are already acting like they're official couples!" Renko complained as she watched Bella and Jing-Jun getting along so well. "Why doesn't she act like that with me?"

"Because you're a girl?" Adam responded rhetorically.


Just a filler chapter to establish Ke Jing-Jun's personality.

Speaking of, am I really shipping Bella with Jing-Jun? This chapter suggested so, doesn't it?

And now that Spirit Dream has officially concluded, I plan on temporarily putting Mystical Knowledge on hold as I start work on the sequel series which will be covering the Windows One era of games, and a spin-off series based on Curiosity of Lotus Asia which will introduce Morichika Rinnosuke into the YMC-verse proper. But first, I have something else I plan on doing. Check out the official Young Maiden's Chronicles Tumblr for more details.

With that, we probably won't be seeing Bella, Renko and the International Sealing Club again for a while. But don't worry, I'll get back to them ASAP.

"And that, as they say, is that."

Afterword ends here...


Hakurei Shrine

"She's gone. Am I imagining things?" Reimu wondered as she watched the mysterious blonde-haired visitor simply popping out of existence.

Shrugging, the shrine maiden decided to forget about the matter, and get back to sweeping the shrine grounds.