A win-win friendship

~Chapter 10~

The sunrays were crossing the room all the way from the window to Airi’s face. It was the first time Naito could see such sincerity in her eyes. Until now she was behaving wearing a mask, made up especially for her, in order to let nothing of her life get away.

“What do you mean it followed you?”

“It’s obvious what I mean. I can see it in the real world now, not only in my dreams. And I’m sure I am not dreaming when I see it.”

“I don’t mean that, I mean how it followed you? How did that happen?”

“If I already knew, I wouldn’t be going through all this mess. I have been searching for a way to send it back, or better, make it completely vanish, for whole weeks. There are not many things on the internet that can be taken seriously, and I haven’t been able to even find something to start from. At a point where I was completely hopeless, I even tried testing my luck with something I found on the internet after many hours of searching. I had no other choice but to try it. It was a website about the occult that mentioned lucid dreaming as a means of astral projection.

Of course I don’t believe that something like this is possible since it’s not scientifically proven, but...I never believed a creature from my imagination could materialize either.

So I contacted the administrator of the website, who was willing to help me get a grasp and find a path to solve this.

He told me that something can be manipulated only in the world it’s been created in. That means that if I want to make it disappear, I have to deal with it from inside the dream. He also told me that when it’s inside my dream, it can hear my thoughts and keeps them as data. When I am awake, it’s disconnected from my subconscious, so instead of my thoughts, it can only hear my actual voice and drain info from there. The more it knows, the more it can get into my life. I have never spoken about your house or your neighborhood, so it could not follow me here. I saw it stop outside of the manga-café. Probably it returned to my house.”

“It’s still very hard for me to believe all this, but I have no choice at this point. What else did that person tell you?”

“Well, the thing is that.. In order to tell me more about the whole situation, he asked me to meet with him. He couldn’t trust his “knowledge” with someone from the internet - which I thought was logical at first- but he wanted to help me get over it. He was very cautious about things that I could use to start my own occult group, so he didn’t want to tell me anything else. But when we met.. Well.. It was the day at the park.”

Naito was a little shocked at this point. Not because of the turn of the events, but mostly because of the assumption he made just based on what he saw that night.

“Oh.. Uhm...I have to apologize to you. I thought about it very coldly. It would never cross my mind that a person would have a good reason to reach this state.. I thought it was just a bad date or something.. I am sorry.”

“Don’t be. Anyone who could see that scene would have assumed exactly that. After all, you kind of saved me that day. Who knows what that dumbass could do. Molesting me would be the lightest. Let’s just say it was good that you were there. I should be apologizing, because I never had the chance to thank you properly.”

Seeing her so composed and sure about what she was saying, he felt a great relief. There were still remnants of guilt inside him, but he was sure they would fade away in time. He nodded with understanding and got a sip of his tea.

“I wanted to make sure you would not make the same mistake as I did, but my action was not that innocent. Since I went that far as to say all these things to you, I expect that you would return the favor. I wouldn’t ask for your help if it wasn’t the last option I have. So I am asking you bluntly. Are you in or out?”

“I am not that ungrateful of a person. I also have something I want to achieve by doing all this, so helping you will be beneficial for me too, in order to reach my goal. So I don’t have too benevolent intentions myself even now. I’m in.”

She spread her arm in front of her and gave her hand to him. He looked at it for some seconds, not being used to handshakes and general touching, and after some hesitation he gave his hand to her. It was officially a win-win deal between them.

“You said that there is a possibility that my mind has created something too. I have to admit that I have met a creature at least two times until now. Thankfully not only it seems friendly, but it also does things I asked from it. I believe that in my mind it’s the materialization of my subconscious. I felt the need to see what the power of my will looked like, I guess. It’s easier to understand and manipulate something, when you can see it or hear it, when you have actual proof of its presence.”

“That’s true. You seem to read a lot too. Not only about lucid dreaming, but.. Psychology, if I am not mistaken. That creature seems to be benign. It must be like a familiar spirit or something. I suggest you keep it close.”

“I have given it a name.”

“That’s very clever. Making it personal will keep it close. Nice one, Naito.”

Naito felt a warm emotion being born inside him. It was the first time after many years, since he had received acknowledgement or a compliment from somebody outside the university or school. It felt a lot like something his mother would do. He was feeling very hesitant towards this whole situation. He didn’t like new relationships forming in his life. On the one side he was feeling uncomfortable and uneasy, but on the other side, something was drugging him deeper in this weird friendship. It has to be true that all human beings are sociable animals.

“What do you want me to do now?” asked Naito.

“I am trying to take small steps in this. One of the things I was trying to do is follow the information I already have on the matter, meaning that I was trying to deal with this thing from inside of my dreams. But when I tried to “summon” it, there were times when it would not show up. So first, I want to find out why this creature doesn’t appear in my dreams when I want to. It must be outside somewhere, but why doesn’t it follow me? It can hear my subconscious when I sleep, so there is no reason for it to stay outside. If you think of anything, feel free to share it.”

“How will we exchange information?”

“Here, let’s exchange numbers.”

For one more time, Naito felt extremely uncomfortable. Most of his contacts were related to the university, or were old friends, with whom he had no contact in years. He wasn’t the most sociable person. He hesitated once again, but gave his smartphone to Airi to pair it with hers.

♪ Kling-Kling ♪

“All set. I am sorry I filled your head with so much. But the sooner you know, the better.”

She left her cup on the table and stood up.

“I have to go now. First I have to find the “thing” and then go back home. If anything new happens, I will let you know. Do the same.”

Naito followed her to the door. He waved at her and waited until she walked quite far away. When she reached the street that headed to the manga-café, he spotted it.

The shadow tailing her.