Slumber
"Ow, w-where am I? What is this place?"
The place where he is was nothing but a dark and gloomy part of the city. It was ominous, lonely, and quiet. Nobody seemed to be around at all until he walked around to find someone at least. He later found a park, strangely it was all bright and filled with color. However, everything but the park was all black and white.
"W-what's happening here! Where is everyone?" Yomi, Chiyo, Tomo, Osaka, Sakaki!"
Tears began to develop in his eyes as he kept looking around.
"Did I lose them? Why does this have to happen again!"
"Wait a minute, this never happened to me before, why did I just say that?"
He takes a look on the brightly colored park.
"Could it be that...this park...could be related to my past? No it can't be, there's no way that I had a friend when I was a kid."
Just as Rono said that, he saw someone. It was a kid with pigtails, he knew very well that it was Chiyo Mihama.
"Hey Chiyo!"
"Go away." She said without hesitation
"What?"
"I said to get away from me and the others. You don't belong with us or belong in Japan in any way Rono."
"B-but why."
"Because you left your one and only friend Rono." Said a mysterious voice.
It was some kind of creature that had triangle and cat like ears on his head. He was oval shaped with long arms and short legs. He looks like a cat now that he stares at him some more.
"Who are you, and what friend!"
" I am Chiyo's father and second, I can not answer that for you. That is something, you must find out yourself."
"Hey! Wait! Come back here! I still have many questions I have to ask you!"
"I'll be on my way back. But what I told you is true. You're an interesting boy Rono, we should meet again sometime in the future. Now, it is time for you to wake up!"
"Wake up." It starts to echo
"Wake up." It starts getting louder.
"Wake up!"
*Rono gasps*
He immediately wakes up heavily breathing. He starts to calm down in a matter of seconds while he sweats profusely. Then he starts looking around him and finds himself in his room. In his discovery, bandages were tied around his head.
"Why do I have bandages?"
"Good, it was all a dream."
He walks up to his window and opens up the window. To his surprise, it was still nighttime.
"What the hell, what time is it?" He runs up to his alarm clock and finds out that it is 8:37 pm.
"What happened?"
He gets a flashback of the incident that occurred before he collapsed.
"So that means I fainted on the middle of sidewalk! But how did I get here in the first place?"
He suddenly hears something in his kitchen and smells something delicious. He slowly opens up his door and goes right to the kitchen and finds two people there.
"Chiyo, Sakaki."
"Rono!" They both said
They both ran up to him and out of nowhere, Sakaki hugs Rono.
"We're so glad that your okay!" Sakaki says.
"W-what happened here all of a sudden?"
"Right now that doesn't matter, we'll both tell you as soon as you eat up."
"Alright, that I'll do."
After a few minutes of explaining everything that happened to Rono these past hours, he felt very surprised how this had happened. He never collapsed that sudden in his life, not even in the heat! Never again will he go alone anywhere, he was afraid of this happening again. That's when the questions started rolling in during the explanation.
"How do you guys know where I live?"
"Oh that, we looked inside your wallet to see your ID to find the home address. We had no choice, we had to take you home to your bed." Chiyo said
"So you're saying that both of you carried me to my house, and into my bed!"
"Pretty much." Sakaki said
"Wow, thank you so much! I am dearly sorry for all of this Chiyo and Sakaki. I don't know how I'll repay you for all of this."
"Don't worry about it, it's what friends do after all!" Chiyo said with a cheerful face.
This is the first time someone's ever taken care of me besides my parents. He thought.
"Oh and we're also staying over tonight." Chiyo said out of the blue.
"Yeah that's goo- WHAT!"
"Since your condition right now is unknown, we have to stay over to see if anything bad comes up while in your sleep."
"B-but, what about both of your parents?"
"Don't worry about that, we asked them first of course."
"Okay but, why don't I go to the hospital instead?"
"No can do, there doesn't seem to be any serious injuries as of now!"
"Well, I guess you're right." He slouches down towards the floor.
"But who's sleeping where? I only have one futon for one person. I could sleep on the couch or one of you can sleep in my bed."
"That's going to be a problem." Sakaki said in her soothing voice.
"Well it's either that or one of you will have to sleep beside me."
"That'll do." Sakaki said
"WHAT! I was only kidding!"
"Too late for that, we can't let you have a cold."
They all go to Rono's room while Rono gets out the spare futon and the girls set up their stuff for tomorrow.
"I'm figuring that Chiyo will be sleeping with me isn't she?"
"No, Sakaki said she would. She says that a child needs a full time rest."
Rono surprised at this answer, he blushes as he thinks about it.
"Ok. I'll take a shower first, besides I am the sick one right?"
They both sigh.
"Yes you are." Chiyo and Sakaki's sweat drops at the statement.
Later he takes a long and relaxing shower. As he gets out fully clothed in his pajamas, Chiyo and Sakaki then get inside the shower room to take a warm and relaxing bath.
"Miss Sakaki, why do you want to sleep in the same bed with Rono? I could of slept beside him."
"You need a good night's rest, he also tosses and turns during his sleep."
"How do you know?"
"Chiyo, back when we were kids, we used to have sleepovers at each other's houses."
"Wow really? What did you both do?"
"We would always play with each other outside the house and sometimes watch tv with each other too. At times, we would also study for the next test whenever it was necessary. It was the only way to get to know each other better."
"One time when it was my turn to sleep over at his house, I forgot my futon. He then asked me to sleep with him." Sakaki blushes before she says her next line.
"He was so generous to let me sleep at a warm bed with him. That's when I found out that he tossed and turned in his sleep."
"He turned over at my direction and out of nowhere, moved his arms around me and hugged me in his slumber."
*Flashback*
Young Sakaki's parents drop her off by Rono's house to sleepover. She feels if she is missing something, she knows that she already has her stuff like her pajamas, her toothbrush and her stuffed animal. Someone opened the door as she began looking through her stuff, it was Rono's mom who is named Aiya Matsumura. Although she didn't have Takayama as her last name, she suggested to her husband to call Rono as a Takayama.
"Hello there Sakaki!" She smiled to her
"Hello, how are you today?"
"I'm doing fine sweet little girl! Are you ready to sleep over?"
"Yes!"
As they both enter the house, Aiya called Rono to come down.
"Rono! Sakaki is here!"
"Coming!"
Before Rono began running down stairs, Sakaki immediately noticed that his dad was nowhere to be found. Every time when she visits, she finds him in the living room watching tv with his snacks.
" Where's ?"
"Oh he's at work, it's his turn for his nightshift. He'll come back some time between 12am."
"Now that I think about it, Rono was upset when he found out that he was working late this time. I think Rono's better now, because you came to see him. You should be happy for him."
Sakaki blushed at this statement, she'd never thought she would ever help him feel better. All those times they've spent eachother at the park usually ended with injuries. They both got hurt at times, whenever Rono got injured he would get up like it was nothing. Sakaki however, she would usually cry a bit if it hurts that much to her. Rono would come up to her and calm her down. Of course, he managed to do that too.
Rono finally got down the stairs to the hallway where Aiya and Sakaki were.
"Hi Sakaki! It's been a while since the last time we slept over!"
"Yeah it has."
They both run upstairs to Rono's room.
"Be careful up there, don't stay up too late!"
"Okay!"
They enter the room and walk over to his bookshelf with all the literature books and manga. First thing they took out was a manga.
"Sakaki did you get the latest issue of this manga!"
"No, I didn't have time to go to the store with my mom."
"Too bad, good thing I have it with me that way we'll both catchy up!"
After a few minutes it was decided that it was finally time to go to sleep. But first thing they would have to do was to take a shower. Aiya told Sakaki if she wanted to take a shower with her, she gladly agreed. When it was almost over for both Aiya and Sakaki it was time to wash their backs.
"Sakaki you want me to wash your back?"
"Yes please."
She began scrubbing her back, after a few scrubs she asked Rono a question.
"Hey Sakaki."
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say, thank you for spending time with my son these past two years. You really saved my son's social life, with out you who knows where he would be."
"Your welcome, I-I'm glad to be with him. It was about time I needed a friend too."
"One thing I have to tell you before we go to sleep, if you love someone very much, don't give up on telling them your feelings to them. Someday they'll return you the favor. Never give up Sakaki, never. That's how my husband and I got together!"
"I'll try."
"Love is a beautiful thing, it can be confusing at first but soon you'll figure it out to understand!"
When they both got out, they went to the closet to change in their pajamas to go to sleep with. Sakaki was first to get out of the closet and ran into Rono's room. As soon as she got inside, she remembered something. She forgot her spare futon!
"Oh no I forgot my spare futon!"
"Aw, so this means you can't stay over?"
"I guess so."
Rono began to think for a minute. Suddenly he got his idea.
"Why not sleep with me!" He exclaimed
Sakaki blushed for a minute there.
"W-what!"
"Why not? We can share the bed, I sleep on one side, you sleep on the other! It's the perfect idea!"
"O-ok." She blushed a little realizing she'd never been close to someone during her sleeping hours.
They both ate their bedtime snack and soon went on Rono's bed to finally go to sleep. Sakaki told him that she had to go to the bathroom to wash her face. So then she did just that, when she got out of the bathroom Rono was fast asleep. This made it easier for her to sleep more comfortable now that he's asleep. She got up to the bed and cuddled up in the soft and cozy blankets that was big enough for two people to use and laid down next to him. She barely even sleep that fast since there was a guy next to her.
After a few minutes of silence, Rono suddenly turned over to Sakaki and then put his arms around her. Sakaki was surprised of this, she'd never got a hug from anyone else but her relatives. On the inside she felt even warmer when his arms were around her. Because of that, it helped her sleep a lot better now that someone is protecting in her sleep. The warmth inside her caused her to hug Rono back in her sleep.
*Flashback ends*
"Those were good memories." She sighed.
"I see, if only he remembered you by sight. Then everything would of turned out alright!"
They both finish cleaning themselves up then dry up with the towels, walk outside to the closet with their towels covering the whole body, quickly put on their pajamas and make their way to Rono's room. Sakaki remembers one thing that her mother told her before she decided to take care of Rono.
"Sakaki if you ever take a bath in a boy's house, make sure to always look at the door. There could be a slight chance that someone may be taking a peek on you." This caused Sakaki to blush.
"Sorry to embarrass you, but it's true. I know that you feel heartbroken that he doesn't remember you at all since the last time you saw him. After all, boys do grow up and soon change during their years. I want you to be very careful when you get there. Alright!"
"Ok."
Sakaki was obviously looking at the door back when she took a bath. There was no sign of the door opening at the time. Not even small creak was heard too. Curiosity filled Sakaki's mind, she and Chiyo need to find out what Rono is doing.
"I wonder what is doing?"
They both slowly climb up the stairs, slowly tiptoed to the door and then turned the doorknob as quiet as possible. Slowly the door opened, to their surprise, Rono was in a deep sleep. They both sighed in relief, two of them were relieved that he was fine, as for the other was because he wasn't peeking the whole time.
"Looks like he had got a rough day today."
"Isn't it about time we sleep too?" Chiyo asked
"Right."
Chiyo sat down on the spare futon and laid down under as she tucked herself in. Sakaki got in the with Rono, before she went in, she blushed at the idea.
Don't worry, I've done this before! She thought to herself.
She cuddled up under the sheets and slowly closed her eyes. A few minutes have passed and she still wasn't asleep. Chiyo of course was knocked out in 3 minutes. She is a 10 year old child after all. Somehow Sakaki had trouble sleeping, it wasn't the fact that only lovers would do this kind of thing(unless if it were a sibling), but the idea that Rono forgot everything from Japan.
"Oh Rono why did you have to forget me. If you don't remember those memories again then what would your relatives in Japan would think? What I can tell you is that... I will always be by your side." She looked at Rono's sleeping face when before her eyes start to get watery.
All of a sudden, Rono turned over to Sakaki's side and quickly put his arms around her. She was surprised by this, she finally had the warm feeling. It's been so long since she had this, all of this caused her to slowly close her eyes. She was finally able to sleep soundly as she slept with a smile on her face.
The next day.
Sakaki and Chiyo woke up, the room was still dark because of the curtains covering the windows. Chiyo got up and stretched her arms up way up high. Sakaki slowly woke up, but before she got up from the bed. She didn't open her eyes, she moved her arms around Rono's side, she soon found that Rono wasn't there. She opened her eyes up and looked around the room.
"Where is he?"
"No idea, I barely woke up."
Both of them got up to out in the unformed for school. Sakaki prepared Chiyo's pigtails as Chiyo looks herself at the mirror. When finished, they opened the door and discovered something new. It was a mysterious aroma, a stomach growling mysterious aroma. Rono was cooking something up for breakfast they assumed. Both ran downstairs to see what he was just cooking up. He heard them coming and looked over behind him.
"Oh hey guys! Hungry?"
"Yes please!" Chiyo said in her high pitched voice.
Rono had set up the food on the plates and placed it in front of them. Sakaki and Chiyo looked at the food strangely, this sight was an odd one. All they could recognize was the scrambled egg, but what they didn't recognize were three sides of on the plate. One looked like white-ish shredded cheese, the other had 3 slices of thin meat, and finally the last looked like a flat cake with with butter on it.
"What's this?"
"What do you mean? Haven't you ate this before?"
"No." They bother answered at the same time.
"Oh wow how dumb of me, this isn't America!" Chiyo and Sakaki's sweat dropped, it was so obvious.
"Ok let me introduce you both the meal for breakfast today! This right here is called hash browns, it's basically shredded potato. I recommend eating it with ketchup if you want it to taste good. Next up, is the bacon. This comes from pig's grease, it may sound gross but it's actually good if you try it. Don't eat to much of it or something might happen."
"Like what?" Asked the curios young girl.
"Well, it's better if you don't know. Ok last but not least, is the pancake. This is thin layer of batter mixed with eggs, milk and flour! It taste very good, especially in the morning! But if you want the best experience, try it with syrup!"
Both of them got convinced by his word, they were both hungry anyways so they dug in. Both tried the hash browns first with ketchup.
"Mm! This is good!" Chiyo said with her mouth full.
"Delicious." Sakaki said
Next is to try out the bacon, both picked up the strip of bacon and took a bite.
"Mm! This is even better! I love the crispy texture!"
"Not bad!" Sakaki said
"Chiyo don't speak with your mouth full!"
"Ok."
Last but not least were the pancakes, they both cut out a slice of it with the syrup on top and slowly put it in their mouths to taste it. Chiyo felt as if she were in heaven when eating it, her face was full of pleasure.
"Amazing!" They both said.
"Damn it, how can Chiyo become that cute!"
"Thank you for the food!" They all said
As they all ate the American breakfast together, they discussed what they were going to do that today. When they finished they got to the door and before they left to school, Sakaki and Chiyo told him something.
"Thank you Rono for making us breakfast, it was really delicious!" Chiyo said.
"Thank you Rono." Sakaki said in her cool and soothing voice.
"Oh don't worry, it's the least I can do to repay you two. Again, thank you for everything last night!"
They all walked towards the street to go to the high school. Another exciting day is waiting for all of them.
All of them made it to school without stopping, unfortunately the cat that lived in the alleyway wasn't there. Soon Sakaki, Chiyo and Rono climbed upstairs to the homeroom. When they entered everybody stared at one of them. It was Rono who they were staring at. He was still wearing the bandages he had on back at home. He'd forgotten that he still had it on. Taking it off was no problem, but he had to roll it off his his at least two times. It was usually at least one time people had to take it off if it wasn't that bad of an injury. He took it off and a huge surprise startled him. The inside of the bandages had cold, dried up blood on it. His eyes widened on how much blood there was on the bandages. In everyone's surprised eyes, they could still see the dried up blood on Rono's forehead. Even some fresh blood oozing out a bit from the minor cut.
"Sakaki...Chiyo... I'll be back." He said in a shaking voice.
He leaves the room to go to the bathroom to wash his face. He looks in the mirror and checks on the now slightly healed cut he had.
"Did I really fell that hard back there?"
He made his way to the nurse's office to check if he needed any medications. She did have to put some rubbing alcohol on his cut, obviously he flinched when she applied it on the forehead. What had to be done next was to another bandage around his head again. Out of nowhere, he had the thought of something that scared him. If Sakaki and Chiyo wasn't there with him, he would of been lying on the street still.
He bows down to thank the nurse for the treatment before he left the room. 20 minutes have passed since he left the classroom. He wasn't expecting anyone to worry about him in the first place. As he got closer to the classroom. A voice whispers in his head.
Don't you think like that. Said the mysterious voice
"What the? Who's that?"
"That voice... It sounds like me."
He shrugged it off and moved on to get to his destination. As soon as he opened the door, the students were all collaborating with eachother on some kind of worksheet for English. He looked around to find the others. When he found the Azu-girls he immediately noticed someone was missing. Rono looked at the other direction just as he found Sakaki dashing towards him.
"Rono!"
She hugs him as she got close to him. A very tight hug that prevented Rono from escaping. It took a while for them to part from eachother. She looks around Rono's face and body to see if anything bad happened to him when he left. Only difference she found of him was the new bandage.
"Are you alright Rono? Anything happened in there?" She said as she continued to inspect Rono's head.
"Yes Sakaki, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, don't worry about me too much."
He walks up to to ask her what they were doing for today.
"Oh so the slacker finally shows up!" She grins.
"Huh, I wasn't slacking!"
"Ah calm down I'm only kidding. Right now we are working on English Literature. Go get a partner, the only person left is Tod right there." She points at Tod.
Rono goes over to Tod to sit on the desk beside him.
"Hey Tod, I'm your partner for today."
"Oh really, Alright. By any chance do you know what this passage means? I get everything else, but this part makes no sense."
"Ok, let me see. What book are we reading?"
The book was called Tales of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Back in America, this was one of the last books he had to read for middle school. He ended up having to read the whole book in a matter of weeks. Having no friends at the time was lonely, so he had no choice but to read it anyways. Remembering what every line meant was no problem for him.
The passage Tod was talking about was the famous introduction of the whole book. For every student in his class in middle school, it was the easiest to figure out. But since it was the first time for Tod to read a book in English, it made sense.
"What this means is that this world... Is made up of a lot opposites. ["It was the best of times and the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."]. You get the idea."
"Wow, you read this before haven't you?"
"I have."
"Thanks, oh and one more thing." He leans close to Rono's ear to whisper something.
"How are things with you and Sakaki?" He whispers.
"What do you mean?"
It took a moments for him to process this kind of question to his head. He really doesn't know anything about relationships, or anything lewd.
"Oh! Nothing, what makes you think that?!" He blushes while rubbing the back of his head.
"Recently, I've seen you become friendlier to Sakaki everyday, too friendly now that I think about it."
"How!"
"Sometimes I see you walking with Chiyo and Sakaki together."
"Ew, stalker."
"Shut up, I'm not a stalker!" He says out loud causing the people surrounding them to stare at him.
"Um, never mind that. What I'm saying is that nobody has ever gotten that close to Sakaki before, except for her friends. You however, are the first guy to bond with her. She's usually quiet most of the time."
"Really, how come she isn't when I'm around her?"
"Don't know, it could be that she has known you before, or she likes you."
"You mean as a friend?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Tod face palms, he figured that Rono doesn't know anything about relationships at all. Not even a single bit!
"Never mind!"
Class almost came to an end, Yukari announced something before the that.
"Ok class! For homework tonight, you have to make a summary of the first chapter. Another thing, I won't be here tomorrow so you will have a substitute!"
"If you don't do the homework, there will consequences. Good luck and goodbye."
The bell rang as she ended the announcement.
