[8.2] The Catalyst of the Dream

"It's him."

Yumeppo spoke those two words with pure venom as they came across the sight waiting for them upstairs. The figure that had its back turned to them, a winding staircase to their side.

The perpetrator of the attack at Kuroganedai Station. Or as he called it, The True Nightmare.

It was the same, indecipherable, shadowy blob from before, shouting at a woman on the ground in front of him with an outstretched arm. Much like before, it was all distorted, still barely resembling a person.

Its voice was garbled and layered, making it impossible to understand. But this time, there was one coherent word that could be clearly heard.

REVENGE.

The Memory's version of Keina remained frozen at the top of the staircase, as other panicked passengers ran from the danger. Yumeppo flew to her side, but couldn't do anything to directly interact with her.

The woman by its feet was difficult to see, but every detail of her was hauntingly defined. The terror in her eyes locked on the figure before her, the makeup that was smudged and ran with her tears, her messed-up hair and torn business outfit from the rough handling, and the bruising and dirt from being thrown to the ground.

She was utterly terrified and uncontrollably sobbing as she faced down the barrel of a pistol, her life coming to an end. As the blob finished ranting and once again emphasized its weapon at her, she made one plea.

One soft, desperate plea that was the loudest and most impactful thing in this Memory. Louder than its incoherent ranting, louder than its gunshots.

Help me...

With those two words, Keina sprang into action. Both of them.

"Keina!" Yumeppo cried out. But he fell on deaf ears as they both charged towards the figure as fast as they could. All Teru could do was rush in as well.

The Memory's Keina shifted her body shoulder-first for a tackle, while the real one threw Polaris straight at the True Nightmare. But only one of them landed their hit.

The blob making up the True Nightmare staggered back as the Memory's Keina rammed into it, its firearm sliding across the floor and behind the ticket gates in front of them. Polaris just harmlessly phased through it, travelling past it before plopping onto the ground.

"What?!" The real Keina quickly retracted her meteor hammer.

The True Nightmare's staticky noises intensified as its attention was focused on the Memory's Keina, her hands locked onto it. She was able to push back a little, but it was quickly able to slam her down onto the ground, much like the other woman.

"STOP!" Teru and Yumeppo could only yell in vain as it dragged her towards the staircase, their hands being unable to latch onto anything to make it let go.

But at the last second, the Memory's Keina swung her leg, hooking the True Nightmare and knocking it off balance.

And sending them both down the stairs.

As the real Keina tried to jump off after them, Polaris flying out, and Yumeppo trying to reach for his daughter...

Everything went to black as a sickening thud echoed throughout Kuroganedai Station.

---

Teru felt like Polaris for a split second as all three of them were spat out of the Ribboned Gate, flying at insane speeds into the lunar surface of the Moon Dream.

"We're back?" Teru looked around, quickly wiping his face from landing face down and getting a face full of moondust.

"Why...?" Keina looked spotless, presumably landing on her feet. "What happened to that me?!"

"AIH THWARE AIME GOENG TO TARE THUT PHOGEEN GUH AP!"

Yumeppo thrashed his plush legs, the only part visible of him from the loose pile of lunar debris he had crash-landed into. Teru and Keina quickly moved to pull him out.

"I think I understand." Yumeppo coughed, spitting out dust from his trunk. "It's Keina's memory, so naturally it would end when she..." Yumeppo trailed off, opting to slam the surface instead. "Dammit!"

"I didn't think that's how it ended." Said Teru, his eyes on Keina, leaving her a little flustered with his awe.

No wonder Director Mikuma said she kicked his ass. An unarmed high school girl versus a violent individual with a gun, and it ended in a mutual kill.

"Nobody died, Kasuga!" Yumeppo snapped with his correction at his choice of thought, clearly rattled.

"It's okay, I'm here, Dad." Keina held Yumeppo close as he continued to show his deep distress.

It was not only that he was amazed by, but also now knowing what finally made Keina act that day, which was apparently so uncharacteristic of her before.

Help me...

She was responding to a cry for help.

Even with the threat of gunfire and the threat to her own life, she chose to go save that frightened stranger, facing down an evil that everyone else could only run from.

"I-I just did what anyone else would have in that moment," Keina replied. "I wasn't thinking that far ahead, to be honest."

Teru shook his head. That wasn't true. He would've run too.

And even after suffering the consequences of not 'thinking that far ahead' for two years, she still answered that woman's pleas the exact same way.

Perhaps, she was trying to come to her aid even back when they first saw that memory, when they didn't know what was going on, and couldn't even see her in the darkness. Maybe she just knew.

Teru knew she was somebody who cared far more about others than herself, but even after all the time he spent with her, he did not grasp the full extent of it.

Polaris wasn't bolstering her with new courage with its unfathomable power. It was simply supporting somebody who already had it all this time.

Minazuki Keina was a hero.

"I'm... I'm just me," She was looking really embarrassed now, fiddling with Polaris. "But... Thank you for thinking that of me."

Teru looked back at the Ribboned Gate that was still open, hints of Kuroganedai Station on the other side.

"It looks like we can still go inside. He spoke with heightened determination. "It's Keina's memory, so it ends with her. But I think that also means we can see it again."

"And what are we going to do? Watch that happen to her again?" Yumeppo jabbed, with no real edge.

"No, we find the answer," Teru stated. "You told me a long time ago that not everything in the Dream has a meaning behind it. But if we can revisit that memory as many times as we want, then there's definitely something hidden in there.

"And maybe... We could even stop the Keina inside from falling too."

"It's not time travel, Kasuga. We can't even touch anyone in there, let alone change anyone's fate. I want to focus on the real one." Yumeppo turned to his daughter.

"I'm okay to keep going, Dad." Keina smiled. "As many times as it takes. I think Teru is on to something, too.

"I couldn't hit him with Polaris, but there has to be something else I can do with it in there! Why else would I suddenly have it?"

Yumeppo just sighed, outvoted 2-1. "Alright.

"Round two it is."