Chapter 15: Muffins, donuts and clouds?

NOAH

That day, when I finally defeated the Hollow, Cassie woke up.

She didn’t remember anything about the day she tried to take her own life.
But maybe that’s for the best.

She’s recovering quickly, and by tomorrow, she’ll finally be discharged from the hospital.

But now… there’s something else that needs to be resolved.

Melody.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing bad happened to her.
It’s just that, somehow, instead of me crossing into her world… she’s now here, in mine.

Knowing her story, how she lived all alone for a decade, I can only imagine how ecstatic she must be.

But the question is, Is she staying here permanently?

For now, she’s been staying at my place.
Unbeknownst to Minnie, I’ve kept her hidden in my room. The only thing I’m praying for… is that Melody doesn’t do anything crazy.

After leaving the conservatory, I stopped by a bakery and bought a ridiculous amount of muffins and donuts.
I had no idea what she liked, so I just bought almost everything.

Minnie, of course, immediately noticed something was off.
She knows I’m not exactly a sweet tooth, so when she saw the bag, she squinted at me like I was smuggling contraband.

All I said was, "They’re for my friends."

When I got back home, I expected to find Melody doing something wild, like maybe building a pillow fort or trying to tune my guitar backwards. Instead… she was gone.

Not in my closet.
Not under the bed.
Not anywhere in my room.

I started searching the whole house, calling her name in a whisper. Maybe she was exploring, or maybe she got lost.

And, stupidly, I asked Minnie if she’d seen a girl around.

She immediately gave me that look.

"Buying sweets? Sneaking a girl in here? Are you telling me you brought a girl into this house?"

I froze. I didn’t know how to respond.
So I just said, "No."

"I caught you playing music the other night. Don’t tell me you’re also bringing girls into your room—"

"I thought Cassie came to see me," I blurted out.

Her eyebrow arched. "Cassie?"
She quickly added, "You know, she will be discharged tomorrow."

"Did I say Cassie? I meant Yuki." I smiled awkwardly, holding up a muffin like a peace offering.

Minnie sighed, grabbed the chocolate muffin, and went back to her paperwork.

"For the record," she said flatly, "I haven’t caught any girl in this house."

That… didn’t exactly make me feel better.

I went back to my room, determined to find some clue about where Melody had gone. At first I was focused on my open laptop, where it was written random wording.
That’s when I noticed it, the window.

It was open. You are got to be kidding me.

She left through there.

I ran outside immediately, ready to grab my bike and start searching,
when I suddenly heard a voice.

"Hi, Noah."

I turned toward the sound and froze.

There she was.
Melody.

Sitting casually on the rooftop, legs dangling over the edge, smiling like the morning sun after a long storm.
“Melody?”
She climbed down from the rooftop, somehow landing on her feet like it was the most natural thing in the world and she grabbed my hand pulling me with her deciding to take a stroll around town. While I was smiling.

We ended up on a quiet hill, sitting together on a bench overlooking the lights below. I unpacked the bag of muffins and donuts, and we started eating while the night breeze brushed past us.
While I was eating, I looked up at her and she was looking at me curiously, like she has something to hide, so I asked, "Do you have something to ask me?"

"I just have one thing I would like you to do… I’d like for you to—" She hesitated, her voice softening as she looked down, fingers nervously brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Then, almost in a whisper, she said, "Could you please teach me how to play your guitar?"

"My guitar?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded quickly. "Mm-hm."

I smiled. "Is that all? Sure, why not,"

Her face lit up, and she clapped her hands once, unable to hide her excitement. "Yay!"
Melody took a big bite out of a chocolate donut and her eyes lit up like she’d just discovered treasure.
"These are so good!" she said with her mouth half full. "It’s so sweet and soft and… fluffy!"

I chuckled. "Glad you like it. So… what do you usually eat in your world?"

She tilted her head, thinking. "Hmm… the clouds!"

"The clouds?" I repeated, unsure if I heard that right.

"Yeah! Whenever I feel hungry, the clouds shape into cubes or pyramids or spheres or even stars." She gestured with her hands, mimicking each shape with excitement.

"And how do they taste?" I asked, smiling.

"For breakfast, they taste sweet. For lunch and dinner, they’re a bit salty."

"What about dessert?"

She blinked, then frowned slightly. "Dessert? …Nothing, I guess."

I nodded slowly. "What about drinks? You can’t live just eating clouds."

"You can drink the sea!" she said cheerfully, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

I almost choked on my muffin. "You can what?"

"The sea! It’s clear and cool and sparkly!"

"Right… well, in this world, drinking the sea can actually kill you."

She puffed her cheeks. "That’s dumb."

I laughed. "Man… I still can’t believe you’ve been living all alone in that world."

Melody looked down at her donut, her voice softening. "It’s not that bad. Sometimes it’s lonely, yeah. But that world never lets me get hurt. Well… except when the Hollow shows up. Then I have to deal with it myself."

There was a small silence. The wind rustled the trees, and the night felt calm, too calm for everything we’d both been through.

But then, Melody suddenly sat up straight. "Enough about me!" she said, crumbs still on her lips. "There’s a question I need to ask!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait, but I had something I wanted to ask you first."

She pouted, crossing her arms. "Nope! Mine first! Pleaaase? Pleaaase?"

I sighed. "Fine, go ahead."

She grinned mischievously. "Say, why did someone call you Michael Mercury?"
"It’s a long story," I said.

"You already said that," Melody puffed her cheeks. "So better spill it out, or else I’m going to jump off this edge."

I blinked. "You wouldn’t."

"Oh yeah?" she tilted her head, scooting closer to the railing. "Remember, I don’t have any instincts about lethal actions anymore. So I wouldn’t even think twice before jumping. I’m not in that world now, I could actually die for real."

She leaned forward, her face inches away from mine, eyes wide, lips pouting in mock seriousness. I instinctively leaned back.

"Wow," I muttered, "you’re seriously cute when you’re threatening me."

"It’s not a threat!" she said, though her smile betrayed her. "It’s promises!"

I sighed. "Alright, alright. You win."

She grinned and sat cross-legged on the bench, waiting expectantly.

"So… I go to a conservatory called Amadeus Academy."

"Oh, I know that! I saw you perform, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. Anyway… I came to the school with, uh, false documents. The name Michael Mercury wasn’t exactly my idea. A friend’s uncle helped forge everything."
"So of course, when I started playing to get your attention, someone had to recognize me from school and started chanting that fake name."
Melody tilted her head. "Why would you need to fake your name? Why go that far?"

"It’s… because of my parents," I said quietly. "Especially my mom. She hates music."

"Why?"

"I don’t know." I stared at the donut in my hand. "And unfortunately, my dad just follows her lead. They wanted me to go to medical school. My dad wanted me to follow his steps, and my mom wanted me to do anything that doesn’t involve music."

I scratched the back of my neck and said, "This guitar… it’s not even mine. My teacher, Mr. Birdwhistle, gave it to me. It’s thanks to him that I could really hone my skills."

Melody tilted her head. "Did you learn to play guitar at school?"

I shook my head. "No. It was actually my grandfather."
"Before coming here, I used to live in Shirakawa-Mura," I began, my voice softening with a hint of nostalgia. "It’s a small town near the mountains—and the snow there is something you could never imagine."

I smiled faintly, letting the memory linger for a moment. "That’s where my grandparents used to live."
I might’ve been really young back then, but I still remember how much he loved music. He even told me he would give me his guitar someday."

My voice dropped a little. "But then… he just disappeared. My parents never told me what happened to him."

"So the only memory of your grandfather is this guitar?"
"No this isn’t my grandfather’s, it’s from Amadeus Academy, my teacher gave it to me,"

"So what about your grandfather’s guitar?" Melody asked, her brows drawing together.

I exhaled slowly. "My mother took it. And she threw it away with the trash."

"What?" she whispered, stunned.

"I saw her toss it outside the house," I said, the memory tightening my chest. "I planned to sneak out and grab it back, but by the next morning, it was gone. I guess someone stole it."

My hands tightened slightly around my current guitar. "That was the first time my mother showed any sign of hating music. And to this day… I still don’t know why. The only reason I could think it’s my grandparents disappearances, but it feels stupid to get angry with music."
Melody looked down for a moment, her fingers fidgeting with the paper wrapper. "That’s awful…" was all she managed. Then she glanced up at the sky and said softly, "Don’t worry. They’ll accept music eventually."

I gave a small, bitter laugh. "How can you be so sure?"

"I’m sure of it, after all it’s the heart talking" she said simply, like a child making a wish and believing it’ll come true.

For a moment, her tone changed, colder, but sincere. "Also… they’re your parents. If they really love you, they need to accept every part of you. Whatever reasons they have, your happiness should matter most."

Her words hit harder than I expected.

"Do you…" I hesitated. "Do you have parents?"

She smiled faintly, eyes drifting to the night sky. "Maybe I do… or maybe I don’t."

"Who knows," I said, trying to lighten the mood, "maybe you were born from a flower."

Melody laughed softly, a small, melodic sound that warmed the air between us. Then, without warning, she leaned her head gently on my shoulder.

We sat there in silence for a while, watching the lights flicker below the hill, her hair brushing against my sleeve.

We eventually talked about how she ended up in my world. Apparently, it was because I was the one who sang.

Before, it was Melody who reached across worlds with her song, but this time, it was me. Somehow, my voice had brought her here. I wasn’t sure how it worked, but I guess… it’s a good thing.

She smiled faintly, saying that maybe the song we shared had bridged our worlds together, a melody that finally found its echo.

But there was still one question left lingering in my mind.

"If you’re here," I asked, "then what about the Hollow? Will there be no problem now?"

Melody didn’t answer right away. Her gaze drifted toward the horizon, where the last light of day sank behind the hills. The wind carried a faint hum, hers, soft and almost trembling.

"I don’t know," she finally said. "But if the Hollow followed me here… then I don’t know if my voice could work."

Her words hung in the air like a fading note."But even if I’m in danger," Melody said, smiling as the evening wind brushed through her hair, "you’ll be there to protect me. Now—should we resume our date? Since last time we were rudely interrupted?"

"Date?" I chuckled. "But this time you won’t be able to fly. It’s not like in your world."

"That’s exactly perfect," she said, twirling once before facing me again. "I can finally walk through crowds like everyone else, no shortcuts this time."

"So then, my Running Man," she continued, eyes sparkling, "do you want to take a long walk?"

I crossed my arms. "Before that, I gotta ask, why do you keep calling me your Running Man? You have to tell me, since I already told you about Michael Mercury."

Melody turned her back toward me, her hair swaying gently in the breeze.

"I’ll tell you…" she said softly, glancing over her shoulder with a grin, "…if you perform in front of a crowd."

"Seriously? That’s not fair."

Her laughter rang out across the hill, carried by the wind like a song only I could hear.