Chapter Text
・Nene’s POV・
I keep having the same dream.
I’m growing a plant in a small pot. Each time, after much care, a small shoot sprouts from the dirt.
More watering, more watching. Time passes by quickly.
Then it’s grown, with a thick stem and leaves sprouting everywhere like flowers. But they are not flowers.
I look at a guide that explains the care for this plant. There should be flowers. Bright, beautiful flowers.
I look over the plant again. There aren’t even any buds. Something is wrong.
Then slowly it starts to wither, the leaves wrinkling brown.
No matter how much I water, and watch, and wait, and care.
A mysterious man in a mask suddenly appears and takes my plant away. He gives me a new one.
An inexplicable feeling boils in my chest—perhaps fear? Anger? Sadness?
No.
He tells me it’s better this way, to have one that isn’t diseased. One that isn’t destined to fail.
No. It’s important to me.
He starts to leave with my plant—the withering leaves jostle against each other and begin to fall in his wake.
No. Give it back.
I don’t want this.
I want—
…
And then I wake up in a cold sweat. Every time.
This dream has become the center of my life.
These past few days, it’s felt as if I’ve been floating through life. I’m not struggling, but I’m not happy. I feel so unbothered as if I’m living in a dream. Like I just need to wake up.
When did I start to get that feeling?
I think it was around the time of the culture festival.
Aoi-chan, my best friend, said I was acting spacey that entire day. I somehow forgot I was the lead in our class play.
And when the play was over, and everyone bowed, I looked in the audience and saw—
“Nene-chan, good morning!”
Aoi-chan’s voice interrupts my train of thought.
“Good morning,” I return with a smile.
“Nene-chan, are you okay?”
“Eh? Oh, it’s nothing…,” I say. I didn’t get much sleep last night because of that stupid recurring dream, and obviously, it’s showing in my appearance.
She gives me an unconvinced look. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I reassure.
…
How could I possibly explain this to anyone? They’d think I’m crazy.
My life is better than it’s ever been.
I just starred in the class play. I’m actually kind of popular. I get to spend a lot of time with Aoi-chan in the gardening club. I also get along really well with all of my other classmates; we can spend time just laughing and goofing off together. And after much time, I’ve been able to overcome some of my insecurities even.
So why does something feel so wrong? Like something’s… missing?
Everything I come across feels foreign somehow.
In the end, I have to just be blowing these weird feelings out of proportion, right?
Everything is perfectly fine.
…
“Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself, okay? Sometimes I worry you put other people or things before your own health.”
“I know, I know.”
Aoi-chan smiles. “Good.”
I think I need a distraction.
“Ne, Aoi-chan.”
“Mhm?”
“Would you want to hang out after school today?”
…
School is a blur, as always. Club activities are a the same way.
When I’m outside, working in the school garden, I get a strange feeling again.
These places that should be normal feel so wrong.
It’s okay, Nene. Hanging out with your friends always makes you feel better, doesn’t it?
I take a couple deep breaths to calm myself down. I push any weird emotions out of my mind.
Nothing’s wrong. You’re just overreacting.
I put away the gardening tools with a smile. I say goodbye to my classmates and fellow club members with a smile. I walk home with Aoi-chan with a smile.
Because nothing’s wrong.
Everything’s fine.
“So Nene-chan,” Aoi-chan says, “why did you want to have a sleepover all of the sudden?” She’s sitting on my bed next to me, pulling out her hair pins one by one as I watch my hamster Black Canyon run on the wheel in his cage.
I shrug. “I don’t know, it’s just been a little while since we’ve hung out outside of school like this.”
“Yeah, I guess. We see each other every day in school, though,” she giggles.
“I know… I just like to spend time with you, you know?”
“Aw, thanks, Nene-chan. I love spending time with you, too.”
We fall silent for a moment, listening to the squeaking of Black Canyon’s wheel.
“You know… I was a little worried. Recently, I thought maybe you were trying to avoid me. Maybe that you hated me… or something. But I’m glad that’s not the case!” Aoi-chan smiles warmly.
“O-Of course not! I could never hate you!” I exclaim. “A-And we can hang out like this more, if you want…”
She clasps my left hand in both of hers and looks at me with her doe eyes. “Could we…?”
I feel a blush creep across my cheeks. “S-Sure!”
Beautiful girls like her have a talent for making people’s hearts flutter.
“Anyways, do you have any place I can put these?” Aoi-chan changes the subject, gesturing to the hair pins she placed on the bed beside her. “I always lose them in my bag.”
“Sure, you can put them over there on my desk. Just don’t forget them in the morning.”
“I know, I won’t~”
“By the way, Aoi-chan, your hair looks nice down. You should wear it to school like that sometime.”
“Hm, I don’t know," she responds, not seeming to give it much thought. "My usual hairstyle is neat and easy. Plus, lots of members in my family do the same thing with their hair, so I like to do it too.”
“Well, yeah… I was just thinking Akane-kun might go crazy for you if he saw it.”
“Hehe~ very funny, Nene-chan. You know we’re just friends, though.”
She always says that, but I know that’s not how she really feels.
“I’m just saying! Don’t you think you maybe, kind of like—” I tease, but Aoi-chan interrupts.
“What about you, Nene-chan?”
“Hm?”
She smirks. “Your crush on Minamoto-senpai.”
“Haha, I don’t know. I think I’ve maybe… kind of moved on from that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve stopped thinking about romance for a bit. Like you said, I’ve got to put myself first, and take care of my own health.”
“That’s good,” she says.
“Mm.”
“Well, should we go to sleep, now?”
“Sure.” I get up to flick off the lights.
The two of us lay down under the covers. Since sleepovers aren’t really a common thing for us, neither one of us has a sleeping bag. Normally, this wouldn’t matter, but I worry I’ll wake Aoi-chan up if I have that same dream again. I tend to get up in the middle of the night when I do.
…
I can’t tell her. She’ll think I’m weird. Or crazy.
I can’t tell her why I’ve given up on romance. Why I haven’t even thought about relationships or Minamoto-senpai for that matter in a while.
After all, romance is a big topic of conversation between us.
What can I say? How much is okay to share?
…
“Ne, Nene-chan…,” she mumbles.
“Mm?”
“Don’t you think… something’s been strange recently?” she asks, her voice expressing her drowsiness even though it’s too dark to see her expression.
I sit up quickly. “What?”
Has she been feeling the same things I have?
“Aoi-chan?”
She doesn’t answer. I listen to her breathing become steadily rhythmic.
She’s asleep.
I collapse back onto my pillow.
I should try to get some sleep, too.
He picks up the pot with the wilting plant.
No.
I don’t want a different one. That one’s special to me!
The new, healthy one sits by my feet.
Please don’t take it away.
Don’t take it away!
Please!
The old masked man turns and walks away, apathetic to my pleas.
No. I have to get my plant back. I have to—
…
"It's okay. I am going to save you, Yashiro..."
…
I wake with a start.
A single word—a name, rather—echoes through my mind.
Hanako-kun.