Chapter Six
Yume doesn't sleep properly. If she did, it's likely she would be in the hospital from stress or lack of rest by now. It always feels like there is too much to do, and never enough time to do it. Early mornings are for breakfast and workouts, or breakfast and runs. Then a nap. A few hours before lunch are for chatting with the neighbors before dance lessons or her lunchtime runs. Then she chats with the neighbors some more, or hangs out around the neighborhood café, before making her way back home for an afternoon nap. Then, chores and dinner before another nap. And then research, and then her final hours of sleep for the day.
It's a lot of napping.
Until she can handle a day without needing all that sleep, it's her schedule.
Literal and figurative nightmares all around.
This means she's up when the phone rings during researching hours.
"Ishii family household, Ishii Yume speaking," the young girl chirps into the phone at eleven o'clock at night.
"Yume!" Futaba cries into the phone. "I had nightmare."
Yume blinks.
I will hug you twice as hard when we meet again, sweet angel.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Yume asks, putting her computer on stasis mode. The older girl curls up on the couch, waiting until Futaba calms down enough to talk.
"There were monsters," the girl on the other end mutters. "They come human dogs and sick mummies."
Yume frowns. "Is your mother alright, Futaba?"
"Un!" Futaba says. "She work and Sojiro gone. That why I call you!"
"Good," Yume says seriously. "Call me when you need help. Are the lights on in your room?"
"Un," Futaba confirms.
"Good," Yume repeats. "Light keeps the bad monsters away."
"…what about under bed?" Futaba whispers.
"They won't hide under your bed," Yume is quick to assure. "They don't want you jumping on the bed and hurting them."
The phone goes silent for a few seconds. Then the sounds of springs squeaking. Futaba 'oof's and comes back on. "No monsters under bed!"
"Un!" Yume agrees, her head nodding. "You're safe now."
Futaba breathes out a relieved, heavy breath. "Thank you, Yume!"
"Of course!" Yume says, clutching the phone closer to her ear. "I get nightmares too."
"I help you!" Futaba say sternly. "Go jump on your bed!"
Yume blinks; startling when hand goes to her eyes and comes back wet. She doesn't even know why she's crying. Why should she be crying? "Thank you, Futaba. No monsters here."
What's there to cry about?
"Mhmm!" Futaba says proudly. "We are Phoenix Ranger Featherman!"
Yume wipes the remaining tears from her eyes. "Who?"
Futaba gasps loudly, almost drowning out the door closing on the younger girl's side. Yume tenses, but hears a familiar voice call out, "Futaba? Why are you awake?"
"Sojiro!" Futaba whines, sounding far away from the phone. "Yume doesn't know Phoenix Ranger Featherman!"
"Yume?" Sojiro asks. The phone moves. "Who is this?"
"Hi Mr. Sakura!" Yume says cheerfully through the phone.
"Yume." She can practically see his deadpan. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"
"I couldn't sleep," Yume says cheerfully back. "Futaba called me since she had a nightmare."
There is a pause. "Is that true, kiddo? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Un!" Futaba shouts. "And you weren't here! I phone Yume!"
Sojiro sighs. "Sorry kiddo. Let's get you back to bed. Say goodnight to Yume, yah?"
"Night!" Futaba shouts.
"Night!" Yume calls back. She startles, hand going to throat because the word sounded… sad.
"Don't hang up," Sojiro warns. "I'll be in a few minutes."
"Okay," Yume nods unseen. And so she waits, wondering why she would cry. Why would she be sad?
I was a grown adult, Yume thinks, hugging her knees to her chest. I'm better than this. Why did I cry?
The only answer she comes up with; Yume still feels like a child.
"Yume?" Sojiro whispers to the phone. "You still there?"
"Ee!" Yume confirms with another unseen nod. "Hello Mr. Sakura."
Sojiro sighs. "Are you doing alright?"
I was abandoned for my second life, Sojiro. I'm never really alright.
"Ee!" Yume confirms with a forced happy tone. Her head rests on her knees instead of bobbing. "How are you?"
"I'm alright, kid," Sojiro sighs. "You should go to bed."
"Okay," Yume says quieter. "Um… goodnight, Mr. Sakura."
"Good night Yume."
The man doesn't hang up. Yume waits a few seconds, and then lets out a soft 'bye' and turns the phone off.
Tomorrow, Yume thinks, staring at the computer as she passes it. The phone goes in the cradle, and then her feet carry her to the apartment door. I'll go to the other world tomorrow.
She doesn't touch the door, just stares at it. Yume fidgets, slowly coming to the conclusion that no… she isn't an adult. Memories of another life – knowing she was an adult once – doesn't change that she isn't now. She wants to think she's better. She wants to be more mature. Find a reason to keep going. Make connections so that she wants to stay. She – Yume – wants to live.
Love.
Hug.
Be a person who helps.
She is a four year old who feels deprived of human touch. There is no constant affection she had grown used to when her parents were around. None of the little gestures she grew up with in her first life's family. A real child would have broken down by now, and this was her body's way of saying the care of another is appreciated; is part of who she is.
Futaba phoned. She didn't forget.
Yume wants to knock on Ms. Eguchi's door and ask to stay the night.
…
She turns around and goes back to her computer.
She'll ignore her problems.
They won't matter when a plot kicks in.
The girl starts her computer.
I'll go to the other world tomorrow; Yume sniffs and wipes her eyes. A quick check. A look around. I won't leave the area.
But first…
Time to see who's expected to show up.
The app can only activate on certain phone models; and a computer, evident by Yume downloading it to hers. The big difference between the flip phones and the computer is Yume's ability to type faster and dig deeper on a computer.
Flip phone texting brings pain.
"I was right," Yume breathes, looking at the master list she digs up. Everyone who owns a phone with the ability to have the app is right in front of her. Thousands of names. Her first search, Eguchi Hitoshi, comes up a success. "And the green dot means…"
Active.
There are approximately two hundred phones with the app active worldwide.
Her name is on the list.
"What does the yellow dot mean?" she muses softly.
Next to Hitoshi's green dot is said yellow dot.
Next to her green is nothing.
Three people have blue dots next to their green dots.
What does it all mean?
Yume shakes her head and grabs a pen and paper. She'll figure it out later.
Fifty-seven names are written in kanji. Of those, forty-one names belong to Japanese citizens. This means some of the thousands of names are in Japan, but she doesn't have the time or a program to search them all. There are no phone numbers, so she can't look by area codes either. Her fingers itch to search those with English and Italian names, but she resists and digs a bit deeper into the forty-one people.
Eguchi Hitoshi and thirty-five other people have green dots by their names. Including Hitoshi, six of them live in Tokyo.
Ishii Yume and four other people have no dots beside the green one. Only she and Murakami Kayo live in Tokyo.
Aki Tetsuya is the only kanji name on the list, born-and-raised in Tokyo, with a blue dot.
There is nothing special about him.
Tetsuya is a no one with a mediocre life. He has a mother, a father, and two younger siblings. He gets average grades, though they had been slowly inclining last year. Also last year was the time he started to be seen in photos with three of the green-yellow dot people. Yume looks up the name of the fourth person she sees him with, and the English name is a match to another green-yellow dot name on the master list.
Some more digging reveals that Kayo is also a known associate of Tetsuya's.
So is Hitoshi.
And the other two green-yellows.
Meet the main character.
Yume yawns and shuts off the computer, throwing her notes in a desk to be organized later.
Now, do I go looking for them… or let the plot come to me?
Maybe I'll be lucky and won't get involved.
The next day disproves that theory.
A/N: Thanks for reading! So… any thoughts?
Thank you, Guest, for your review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again!