Chapter 7: Conscious

How long was Makomo in the Nightmare Realm? It must have been pretty long because she tried to lucid dream and summon objects in real life. It was another reminder of what she lost. Makomo's downtrodden mood did not go by unnoticed.

"You seem down," her Grandpa stated, handing her a cup of tea.

"I… I guess I'm still in shock." She carefully weighed her words. "We almost lost Emiko."

"I see. I'm glad she didn't remember anything from whatever awful nightmare she had." He nodded. "By the way, what happened to your hair clip I made?"

"Huh?" Makomo reached up and realized it was gone. "I'm not sure…"

The news was filled with reports of victims of the sleep curse waking up. Everyone celebrated but Makomo was reminded of the one she could not save. She sketched Sabito's face, promising to commit it to memory. He never once appeared in her dreams, even when she tried to manipulate the events. Had he truly existed? Why couldn't she see him again? Did that cursed Nightmare really erase him when the realm was destroyed?

Yet life went on. Makomo's students began to read fairy tales, chatting about dreams coming true. She had to step out of the classroom for a moment to calm down. She was slowly becoming jaded.

A dream come true… how would that work if I can't even see my dream!?

Several months passed. Some days she felt more like herself, other days were filled with despair. Emiko once asked her about the sketch of Sabito.

"Who is that?"

"Someone I once met in a dream."

"He looks handsome!" the young girl giggled.

Makomo managed a smile. "Yeah…"

"Makomo," her Grandpa knocked on her door. "There's a young man here to see you."

If this was her Grandpa's way of ensuring great-grandchildren, by setting her up, she was not happy.

"I'm not expecting anyone." She didn't even look up from her work. "Tell him I'm not here."

"Makomo-nee," Emiko bounced into the room. "He looks like that picture you drew."

"That's impossible-"

Could it be?

Makomo decided to look, just in case. She told herself she shouldn't get her hopes up because she would just be disappointed. But part of her wanted to believe. Slowly, she opened the door.

There he was.

"Makomo, it's been a while." He even had the same gentle smile.

"Ah I'm dreaming," she laughed. "My imagination is so cruel!"

"No this is real."

Reaching up, Makomo poked his face. It felt real, but so did everything in the nightmare. It wasn't until Sabito took her hand and pressed something wooden in her palm that she realized she was awake.

It was the fox mask hairclip she lost.

"You put it in my hair before I pushed you out of the Nightmare Realm." He explained. "That's how I escaped, because I had an item from your world. I woke up in the middle of a field."

Carefully, Makomo cupped his face. "It's… it's really you…"

"I'm here," he hugged her. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you."

She returned the embrace, crying all over again, this time her tears held joy. They remained in each other's arms until Emiko ran outside and hugged them too.

"Memorize this information then pound it into your bones. Do you want to fight like a man? Then start by doing this!"

The adult men's kendo class was almost over. Makomo watched as the students executed swings in unison. Emiko trotted behind her, cheering them on. She was famous among all students for making drawings of them. Sabito looked up and saw them.

"That's enough for today."

The bundle in Makomo's arms began to move. Soft cries bubbled up, catching everyone's attention.

"He wants his Dad," Makomo laughed, handing the baby to her husband.

A flash of red appeared in front of them.

"Ah you brought my great-grandson!"

"Oh Grandpa…" Makomo smiled softly. "Are you enjoying your retirement?"

"Yes, more time to spend with this one," he cooed at the baby, waving a toy. "Yumeji! Look here!"

"Grandpa is that a-"

"A stuffed shinai? Yes it is! It's never too early to get a child into kendo!"

"He's three months old!"

Nonetheless, he held the toy out to the baby boy who held onto it with an iron grip. Sabito simply laughed and moved Yumeji's arm to execute various swings. Seeing this made Makomo extremely happy.

Yumeji, a child born because a dream came true…

… because Makomo's dream came true.

Conscious: A waking state or state of awareness

Thanks for reading!

A few fun facts:

- I listened to a lot of video game boss battle music to get into the right mindset while writing

- I came up with this story back in 2015 but couldn't figure out how to write the characters

- While researching about dreams, I found out that I am a lucid dreamer!

- As soon as I finished writing this fic, I had a quadruple dream-ception and it was weird!

- There were way too many ideas coming out of my brain so I had to write them all down and go to the list when writers block slapped me. This meant I wrote 3 stories at the same time. Normally I hate doing that because the ideas and emotions tend to bleed across the different stories, but I think it was okay this time.

- I actually dreamed of a singing chicken in a tutu as a child

- I cried while writing this…