Work Text:
Akira leaned on the counter, tapping their pen against the blank journal page. Click, click, click. The store had a sudden lull, and it drove them to capture one of the ephemeral memories that floated in and out of their mind. But the hum of the machinery echoed the thoughts in their head, droning on and on endlessly. It dissatisfied them. It stirred up a restlessness that they hadn't felt before. There was something else. But if they were to try to capture it, it would flutter away like a flower petal on the wind.
The cold air blew their page away as they were interrupted in their lack of productivity by the door opening and a group of noisy men in businesswear entering.
"I'm telling you, though, it's so weird! It's been the same dreams over and over for the past, like, year!" They casually greeted Akira as they continued with their conversation, filling up their cups of ramen and looking around for some snacks and drinks.
"Yeah, so?" another responded. "Write a book about it, or something."
"I will! It'll be a bestseller, and it'll all be based on a true story!" The first man laughed, as did his companions, nudging each other gently. Akira watched, as they so often did. In the conversations of others, there were always snippets of what sort of lives they lived. A bunch of salarymen. They'd probably all go home tonight, a little drunk, and do something to unwind before starting a new day tomorrow. One would probably have another strange recurring dream. Even in the mundanity of such a life, weren't there beautiful, interesting stories to be told?
"A true story?" said one incredulously. "About wizards? Get real, man."
Akira straightened up a little, their eyebrows pushing together as if trying to solve a puzzle in their mind, with pieces made of smoke that held their forms for just a second. It dissolved into wisps as the men approached. The one talking about his dreams gave them a bright smile, as if he hadn't just caught them slacking off.
"Just this for today," he said, giving them the space to ring him up as the others made their way up in turn.
"Sure thing. Wizards, huh..."
"Oh, not you too!" He hid his sunny face with one hand as another chuckled, seeming to be hiding real embarrassment behind a veneer of humor.
"This guy's always talking about it," a friend chimed in. "Like, 'oh, I had another dream about wizards last night.' I keep telling him, dude, put the RPGs down for a while."
"I don't play RPGs!!" he insisted.
"That's pretty interesting, though... I'd like to hear more about it some time," Akira mused. Immediately, the men broke out into whistles.
"Look at that, you finally found someone like you!" They pushed him a little further towards Akira, whose face flushed as they realized what they were implying.
"Not like that!! I'm sorry!" They leaned away, glancing off to the side.
"Aw, really? You're pretty cute, though." In his awkward situation, he pulled back and winked at them, but his face carried the same tinge of embarrassment that theirs did. "Really, though, if you wanted to talk some time, I wouldn't mind. It's not like these guys are any help. Nothing weird."
"Right..." They pulled out their notebook, and he wrote his number down in it. Before they could offer any kind of response, they were drowned out by congratulations, and he was pulled away. As they watched his retreating figure offer a shy, silent apology, a petal drifted across their mind - he felt awfully familiar.
They walked home in the late night, their journal empty save for the hasty scribbling in the corner. They looked at the number, and as they pulled out their phone to draft a text, the light of the full moon reflected off the black screen. They looked up and snapped a picture of it.
"I'd better show this to the cat lady later..." Something about their heart pained under the moon's glow. The silent elevator ride up to their apartment felt oppressive. Even though nothing was out of place, they reached for something that wasn't there.
They sat by the windowsill, looking out at the street whose lights never seemed to fully turn off. What few stars they could see twinkled faintly. In this city full of millions of people living their own lives, they suddenly felt completely alone. They pulled out their phone.
[20:26] Sent
So, wizards, huh?
Beyond that, they scrolled through some social media and put on something nice to listen to as they got ready for bed. They fell asleep, wondering what they would do without smartphones, and awoke feeling a little more tired than usual, before they got a response.
[06:14] Received
Sorry about ghosting you lol Kind of had too much to drink, wasn't really in any state to respond.
[06:18] Received
Anyway, yeah, it's the strangest thing. It's not just that they're recurring dreams, but they're super consistent, and when I wake up, it always feels like something is missing.
[06:20] Received
Do you want the whole essay via text lol Or should we meet up? It can be a public place, I know that was kind of weird back there.
[06:29] Sent
Let's get some tea. I have school today, so later in the afternoon, if that's alright.
[06:31] Received
Sure, that's fine. I have work too, anyway, so see you then.
They smiled a little. Unwise as it was to meet up with a stranger, they couldn't help but remember his sunny disposition and playful smile. As they walked casually down the street, a cat followed beside them. He looked up at them with eyes such a magnificent crystal blue that they felt otherwordly, and meowed at them as if greeting an old friend, before parting ways.
After getting through another school day, they headed over to a familiar tea shop. The waitress smiled at them with her kind eyes, and made it just how they liked it. The cozy atmosphere and gentle, comfortable taste seemed to warm up their soul.
"Hey," came a voice from behind them. The same man in the same suit smiled gently, taking his place across from them. When he was alone, they felt the atmosphere he radiated, like he was a person that you could talk to about anything. "Do you wanna do the nice getting-to-know-you stuff first, or dive right in?"
"You're pretty upfront," Akira responded lightly. "I'm Akira Magi. I'm a student at the University of Tokyo."
"Yuuki Hiyori. I'm just your average salaryman." He got some tea for himself, a fruity herbal blend that swirled a red color in the cup.
"I don't know if that's giving yourself enough credit. Surely you have an interesting story to tell."
"Eh, it's not even about my own life, though."
"But it's because it's you that you can tell it in a way no one else can."
That made him pause for a moment. "I guess you're right." He leaned his chin on one hand, deep in thought. "Basically, it started off as a weird dream, right? I didn't think much of it. But then it was... It wasn't just the same dream, but it was the same people. I never remember their names, but they always look and act the same, and it's always the same world. After a few times, I was like, did I watch a weird TV show and forget? After ten times, it starts to get suspicious, you know? I even looked it up, thinking I was losing my mind, and got all these bunk websites saying I'm gonna get bad news or get involved in a scandal or something. But it's been months, and I'm not really the kind of guy that gets into trouble- Are you taking notes??"
Akira glanced innocently up from writing in their journal. "Should I not be? I guess I just got the urge to document it..."
Yuuki hesitated, then let out a cheerful laugh. "No, go ahead. I should probably write it down too, actually." He drummed his fingers on the table, as if trying to tug at a memory that didn't quite come clearly. "I guess I'll go get a journal. Anyway, so I doubt it's anything prophetic, right? Either that, or I'm gonna have some sweet adventure with a bunch of wizards. That doesn't sound half bad, actually, thinking on it..." His gaze fixed on a point in the distance, a world forming itself in his mind.
"You said there were reoccurring ones, right? Could you describe them?" Akira flipped to a blank page, pen at the ready.
"Oh, yeah. The one I see the most is this cute little guy. He's got white hair, and it kinda makes me want to ruffle it. Serious little brother vibes, for sure. I think he usually dresses pretty fancy... Like a prince or something."
"He sounds cute... I'd like to meet him," they mused, sketching out their interpretation.
"Ah, it's shorter than that... And... Man, I wish I could remember anyone's name or anything. But yeah, whenever I dream about him I wake up with the warm fuzzies. Who else... Oh, this one guy. Listen, I've always called myself straight, but sometimes I seriously have to reconsider. Especially if I'm dreaming about some dude... But I swear, he is so hot. And..." He knitted his brows together before tapping his chest on the left side. "He's got a tattoo or something here... I remember that, because one night I was like, 'hey, what's that?' and he just undid his whole getup to show me. He's always got his hair done up messy... Except when it's down. And these eyes that feel like they're looking through you... Hey, am I gay?"
In their surprise, Akira laughed. "I can't tell you that! No one can but you. This guy does sound pretty sexy, though..."
"Yeah, you're not drawing him hot enough. Let me." Yuuki took the journal from their hands and put his own interpretation on the page, heavy on the bishounen aesthetics in his rendition of a man who looked otherwise like a somewhat disheveled bartender. Following that, he scratched over some parts of the first boy, adding scribbly notes pointing to certain places, and then filled up the page with a third drawing, a man with a small ponytail and different-colored eyes. He stared at it for a long time, drawing an arrow pointing to the left eye, and eventually crossing it out.
"This guy stands out too. He's like the sun... He likes the first guy, and they're always getting up to antics together. He might be a knight? No, now that I think about it, he definitely is, he's always got that big sword. That thing's cool, by the way. It makes me want one, but what kind of weirdo just has a sword lying around, you know."
"That kind, apparently. Princes and knights and bartenders, huh... It definitely sounds like a cool plot for a fantasy novel or something."
"You think so? There's a couple of pretty ladies, too... Not nearly enough, though." With that, he continued to the next page, sketching out some women, followed by a few more men. His annotations gradually grew more and more hastily-written, until they petered out entirely, and he put the pen down. "I think that's all I've got for now. Maybe I could write a book about this... But I'm more of the idol game type, so it'd be better as a gacha. I'd definitely whale for the little prince here," he joked.
"They are all pretty good-looking... You like idol games?" A spark came into Akira's voice at the last question. Though they were total strangers with a generational divide, brought together by sheer chance, they were nevertheless together - pulling out their phones to compare their mobile game accounts, drawing strange visions from another world, drinking tea in a cafe like they'd been reunited after an unfathomably long time. It was all strange, and at once all so natural that it felt as if some of the smoky puzzle pieces had taken form and laid themselves out to begin a beautiful mosaic.
When Akira walked home in the night, they felt as though they could touch the moon, if they only reached out. The glow illuminated their fingertips, which felt the cool air of the world around them. For better or worse, they were here, in this plain, imperfect world polluted with the light and sound of a million people in the city. Every one of them with a story, that, if left unheard, would fade away.
They decided to call some people they hadn't spoken to in a while.