[1.2] The Dream Cruise Date

Teru looked around his room and out his window. 

He was definitely back in his home, and the outside showed a neighborhood firmly at ground level with him, the moon being the only source of light both inside and out.

"A date on the school rooftop, turning into diving off the edge of a skyscraper the height of Tokyo Skytree... With umbrellas." He muttered to himself as he swept his black hair out of his eyes and checked his phone on the nightstand.

3:08 AM. With a stray 'in case you missed it' notification about something unimportant on social media.

He groaned. He apparently forgot to mute his phone, and that one sound was enough to take him out of the Dream. Or that it was the sound in conjunction with the falling that jerked him awake.

Teru made sure to mute his phone this time, tossing it back onto the nightstand, and threw the blanket back over his head.

It was way too early for him to wake up or start studying. Besides, he couldn't leave her hanging.

After all, Keina was probably still waiting for him at the bottom beneath all the fog, not realizing that he woke up prematurely on her.

---

It didn't take long before he returned to the classroom, back in his red school uniform and his head once again mint green. The room, the students and the teacher were all the same as before.

A sign that today's dream hasn't been fully reset.

This time, he made a beeline for the door, ignoring the teacher yelling at him to sit back down or the students staring at him. Like before, it didn't matter.

They were just part of the Dream, after all.

The rays of the sun remained a persistent presence as Teru followed his path from before. The same sunlight that concealed the dystopian, typhoon-riddled skyline on the rooftop.

His hand paused on the handle when he got to that door—that same stupid door that vanished on him earlier from the outside.

Either this was a one-way door, or the Dream forgot it was supposed to be there and erased it when nobody was paying attention to it.

He took a deep breath before turning the handle.

Hopefully, his umbrella was still there. Otherwise, he wasn't sure how he was going to get down.

---

Turned out he didn't need to worry about how to get down.

Instead of concrete, the door opened to a row of oak boarding and white guard railings, with short stairs down both ends leading to more flooring below.

The rain had stopped, and the weather was clear. But now there was nothing but nature beyond the flooring. 

A clear sea, sandwiched between tall rocky cliffs like a narrow race track. A breeze fluttered through, this time not trying to beat him up, as the ground he was on swayed back and forth once more.

Was this...

"A ship?" He looked back. The door from his school had once again disappeared, this time replaced with glass sliding doors that held an atrium, the scale of which defied the size of the outside which held it.

Further back was the rest of the deck, scaling so far back that it should have been impossible for it to navigate any tight turns in this narrow environment. Inside and out, there were people scattered around, taking photos, enjoying drinks, and relaxing.

'Ship' was an understatement. This was a full-on cruise.

Two white recliners were plopped in front of him, a side table in between holding a plate of iced drinks garnished with lemons, and a familiar-looking umbrella—now larger in size but with not much sun to provide shade from.

"There you are, Teru!"

It was Keina, getting up from the lounge chair as she skipped over to Teru. She was no longer in his school's uniform, now wearing a white sunhat and a beige cardigan over a sky blue dress that shouted 'vacation mode'. Stylish sunglasses covered her eyes, making her pink eyes pop through the dark shades.

"You came up with this at the bottom?" Asked Teru as Keina led him over to the chairs.

"It was crazy!" She said excitedly. "The fog became the sky, the buildings turned into like these cliffs on the side... What was it called again?" She snapped her fingers, trying to recall the term.

"A ravine!" She beamed as she pointed at him. "You took a while to get here, though. You found another way here other than falling?"

"Kind of. I got woken up by my phone, so the door from my school sent me here when I went back to sleep."

"...Oh."

She took off her glasses as her energy faltered. Her now unobstructed eyes were etched with concern.

"Is... Is it okay that you're back here, then?" She asked, her voice softer, gripping her shoulder.

"Yeah, it's still three in the morning. It's too early for me to be doing anything else." He assured. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay, whew." She relaxed a little. "I wouldn't want you to neglect real life just because of me." She looked away, staring at the horizon between the sides of the ravine with a wistful look on her face.

"I can't tell what time it is outside, after all. In the real world."

Teru joined her in watching the sea get split down the middle by the bow of the ship, the sound of flowing water filling the ambience as it sailed through the ravine.

"...Nearly two years, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, according to Yumeppo. You said it's April now?"

Teru let a sigh slip at that reminder. "Yeah."

She gazed at the sky, speaking with a casualness that was at odds with her predicament. "Just a few months then, and it will be the two-year mark." She closed her eyes.

"Two years of this Dream."

Teru could only nod in solidarity. Keina had told him as much when they first met, but it was still hard to fully comprehend.

Dreaming for almost two years, cut off from the waking world.

What put her in this sleep to begin with, and why she couldn't wake up.

And how he even managed to enter her dream in the first place, and his own role in all of this.

There was still so much that didn't make sense. It was still entirely possible—even after several visits—that none of this was real, all one elaborate trick of his mind brought forth by recent events.

Teru focused on her face, but it gave nothing away.

He couldn't possibly fathom what she must be feeling.

"Well, this is just my timeskip arc, after all!" Keina declared with a thumbs up.

Her eyes twinkled as he nearly tumbled over from her remark.

"That's how you're framing it?" He asked as he caught his balance.

"I'd say two years is a pretty fitting amount of time for one!" She winked.

"Still, I'm pretty much on hiatus from real life, but you're living it right now. So you have to take care of yourself, okay?"

Teru looked away for a brief second. Before clenching his fist and gently taking her hand in his, fully capturing her attention, her pink eyes locked with his green.

She was taking everything in great stride, but that only sparked an urge to say something.

"You'll wake up again, Keina. I know it. That's why we're out here together, right?"

"Finding the Perfrec... Perfect Dream Date."

He bit his tongue for stuttering at such an important moment. He tried to play it off with a wink, but blinked instead.

Keina didn't respond right away, giving herself a pause before she opened her mouth with a soft giggle and smile.

"Yeah. Thanks, Teru." He felt some flutters as she voiced her appreciation.

"Still, I never thought I'd be asked out in my dreams." She bounced back to her usual self with a teasing tone. "You must have been popular with the girls at your school."

"T-That was when I thought you were just a part of my dream!" He stammered, now red in the face and covering his eyes with his hand.

She giggled almost knowingly as he squirmed.

"Well, I kind of am in a way, right? I'm a part of your dreams. And you're a part of mine."

"Are you two done flirting-ppo?" 

A squeaky, mascot-like voice called out to the two from the other lounge chair, followed by the slurping of a straw.

The two took a step back from each other in surprise as they faced what looked like a small blue elephant plushie that a kid would leave behind.

"Yumeppo!"