Good Night's Sleep - Ryo

Ryo laid awake in the bed. The room did feel more at home with the new furniture, but it also felt weird to not live with Hiro, or the rest of the band for that matter. He hadn’t even spoken to any of them. He couldn’t remember ever going a day without seeing Hiro’s stupid face. Not since they met.

He turned to the side. The fish seemed to stare into his soul. He pulled it closer. Aki was right, it did feel somewhat less lonely. Even more so with the smell of her lingering in the fabric.

She had helped him put in the textiles into his room while her friend had built all the furniture. The woman had built them like it was the most exciting thing in the world. Maybe it was her passion? Like music used to be for him.

He turned to the other side, fish still in his arms. The neon sign lit up the room. His old one had been one color, so he had set this one to the same purple. Would he miss being in the band? Maybe.

He didn’t know anymore. Nothing had really mattered in a while. Did anything matter now?

Of course, Hiro still mattered. The rest of the band too.

And Aki. Aki mattered a lot more than he wanted to admit. Did he matter to her?

He thought back on the day. Those guys had implied that she used to want to marry her person. That thought alone formed a warm pit in his stomach. If that was true, did that mean that she had waited for him until she gave up? If he had met her earlier, would she had wanted him then?

No! He didn’t even know if that had been true. But Shiraki had also said that she had wanted that once.

He shook his head. If he thought about it too much, the nightmares might get worse. It was better to bury his head in the fish and enjoy being enveloped by purple light.

***

When Ryo opened his eyes, he was standing in the rubble of a city. What city it was wasn’t clear. But if he would guess, it was Tokyo. The city always seemed to have this odd feeling surrounding it. Kind of like a suffocating hug. Like home, but it also felt as if it rejected him.

He sighed and started walking around. Someone, somewhere, must be able to tell him what had happened.

Rubble and vehicles were spread out like someone had dropped them from the sky.

Time travel still messed with his time perception, so he didn’t know how long he had walked around the surface before he spotted a metro entrance. He should have gone there earlier. People tended to gather underground when the surface was a mess.

“Stop! Who are you?” A group of people, armed with brooms and shovels, met him halfway down the stairs.

He instinctively raised his hands. “No one. What happened here?” Was this a time where time travel still existed? Or was it one where they had stopped traveling?

“You’re another time traveler, aren’t you?” a young woman asked.

Ryo nodded. Another? So there was someone else here?

“Like we told this sweet woman earlier, a group of people went mad after they started using this new cold medicine.” One of the men smiled at him. “Like you may know, that thing evolves like nothing else and this new medication helped. But it did something to these people. They destroyed everything in their path and overwhelmed law enforcement with their numbers.

“They have been taken care of, for now, but we feel safer here than above ground until we know for sure.”

Another medicine released too early. Ryo sighed. It was nothing new, but at least it wasn’t another war. These were easier to prevent.

“Thank you.” He was about to turn when he remembered what the woman had said. “You’re a time traveler too, aren’t you?”

The woman smiled. Her eyes were a deep blue and her dark hair almost reached her shoulders. And despite her being an adult, something about her looked almost childish, even compared to him.

“Yep. Why?”

He considered asking if she knew about that other woman he saw sometimes. The one with golden eyes, who always seemed to be aware that he was there.

But he decided against it. It wasn’t like he was her often. Besides, she seemed older than this woman anyway.

“It was nothing. Good to see I’m not the only one.” He waived at her and went back upstairs. It was time to report to his father what he had learned this time.

***

He woke up from the rustle in the kitchen. He tried to blink to adjust to the light in the room, which was a whole lot easier with the neon light, compared to if the sun had reached him. But he still wanted to fall back asleep.

He stopped himself in the thought. He hadn’t felt that way in years. Most often, he wanted nothing more than to escape the nightmares. But he didn’t remember having them this night. Had he dreamed anything at all?

“Good morning.” A beautiful woman stood in the kitchen. His kitchen? No, right. He was in Aki’s apartment. “Slept good?” She smiled at him, but something in her eyes seemed stressed. Was she late for work or something?

“Good morning.” He scratched the back of his head. It felt oddly familiar. Maybe he had dreamed something anyway. “I actually think so.”

“I told you the plushie would help.” Her eyes fell to the floor. “I’m about to head to work. Will you be okay on your own?”

“I’m not a child.” He chuckled. “I’m more worried about you. What’s up?”

“I’m fine.” She turned away and grabbed a bottle of tea from the fridge. “Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone.” She took a few steppes into the hallway to put her shoes on.

“I’ll do my best. Good luck at work.” She wasn’t fine. He wanted to comfort her. But what could he do? It wasn’t weird that she didn’t want to open up to him. “And tell me if I can do anything.”

“Thank you.” She gave him a strained smile. “I’m off.”

He let his eyes wander around the apartment. What was he supposed to do while she was gone? Well, he could always start with breakfast.

Despite him saying he wasn’t a child, making sandwiches for breakfast felt a little childish.

Childish? Something about that made him feel like he should remember something from his dream.

He shook his head. No, he shouldn’t over think his dreams. It hadn’t been a nightmare. He should just be happy about that.