Dealing with the damage

~Chapter 17~

Naito and Airi were waiting for Kyuu-chan to recover. There was a mild light pulse coming from its core, lighting Naito’s chest as it was blinking gently. The sky had become darker, and clouds were gathering above their heads.

“We have to get out of here. If it starts raining, the water level of the river will rise. The ground is already quite slippery, so it will be very dangerous if it absorbs more water. Kyuu-chan, can you attach yourself to me? I can keep my arms stretched so you can rest on them.”

Kyuu-chan blinked vividly with all the power it could gather.

Airi stood up first, and grabbed Naito’s waist to help him, while he was holding Kyuu with his arms, one of which had Kyuu’s tail wrapped around it. He couldn't actually feel that he was carrying any weight. It felt more like he had a cloud in his arms; he could see it, yet could sense it yet he couldn’t feel its mass. He managed to stand up and started walking towards the stairs. Airi was walking behind them. Just before they reached the first step of the stairs, Airi’s voice pierced Naito’s ears. She had slipped and was falling down the riverside without being able to stop. Naito panicked for a moment and didn’t know what to do. He had Kyuu in his arms, and could’t leave him aside. On the other hand, Airi was falling, with a direction leading right inside the river.

Rain started falling. Oh, perfect. That’s the last thing that should happen now.

“Kyuu-chan, Kyuu-chan. Can you hear me? I have to go down. Airi fell, she’s in danger. You have to let go of my arm until I get her.”

Kyuu looked at Naito exhausted and half-conscious, and slowly relaxed its grip around Naito’s arm.

“Thank you, Kyuu-chan. I’ll be right back. You wait for me here.” Said Naito gently, and put Kyuu on the grass in the safest spot he could see. Then he started walking, descending as fast as he could, losing his balance too between his sloppy steps on the mud and slippery grass. Airi had stopped right before the river and had already stood up. Her clothes and her skin were covered in mud, and the river behind her had started to become very aggressive, as the wind grew stronger.

“Watch your step and grab my hand. No, not from there. Try stepping on the rocks. Yes, right here.”

The rain was getting heavy.

Airi managed to catch Naito’s hand and he tried to pull her towards him. She couldn’t find her balance and slipped once more. Naito kept her standing up, while he was looking behind him to check on Kyuu.

“Put more strength to your legs and stay calm. We have to go up slowly.” Naito had to shout to be heard in the rain and wind. Airi seemed to have heard him and tried to follow his instructions. She put her foot on a rock and tried to step higher. Once she reached Naito’s level, he grabbed her and climbed some meters as carefully as he could. At some point though, Airi lost her footing again, falling down and dragging Naito with her. This time the water was closer, and the ground was even more slippery. They were falling without stopping and their direction was leading them inside the river. Naito couldn’t think. There was nothing he could grab, nothing that would help him stop this fall. And Airi was disabling him to do anything else. At some point, when Naito was sure they were going to fall in the river, and was trying to figure out how they would survive from getting drowned in this aggressive flow, he felt something decelerating them.

Then they fell violently on something, and hit one another while crashing. Naito opened his eyes carefully, trying to avoid getting mud in his eyes. Suddenly he realised that he couldn’t feel the rain anymore. He could see it -it was a downpour- but he could feel not a single drop falling on him. First he checked on Airi. She seemed ok, although shocked. Then he looked around him. He could discern a very thin transparent shell. They were inside something that looked like a bubble, like a glass sphere. He tried touching it, confirming that there was indeed something solid surrounding them. Surprisingly, the sphere started elevating and moving upwards. Naito turned around. Kyuu was still lying on the ground, but there was this purple light coming out of his core again, illuminating the area around him. Being completely weakened and powerless, Kyuu-chan had saved them. The bubble reached the first steps of the stairs and disappeared. The purple light turned back to a fading pulse. Naito hugged Kyuu-chan, and put its tail around his arm.

“Let’s go home, Kyuu-chan. Thank you for everything.” Said Naito and started walking back home.

They had reached the market area, with the heavy rain still falling on them. Being completely soaked, Naito was walking with his arms extended in front of him, embracing Kyuu, and Airi following them quietly. Naito broke the silence.

“You’re coming with us.”

“What? Why?”

“First, my house is closer. We both have to take a shower. We are already very close to getting a cold. Secondly, we don’t know in what state the shadow is. Now is no time to be alone with it.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. I wonder what it will do after this..”

“We can think after we secure our physical health first.”

“Ok, let’s do that. Thank you.”

They walked to Naito’s house, completely exhausted and mentaly fatigued.

“The bathroom is straight ahead, the door in your left hand. Go first. I want to take care of Kyuu.”

Airi looked at the black sphere that was still pulsing weakly, emitting this gloomy purple light, still in Naito’s arms. Then she took off her shoes and walked to the direction he pointed to find the bathroom.

Naito took his shoes off standing up and walked to the laundry room. He opened a drawer and took out the biggest and softest towel he could find and moved to the living room. He put Kyuu on the couch and created a small nest on the armchair with the towel, and once he was sure that it looked comfortable enough, he put Kyuu inside it carefully.

“Do your best and recover soon, Kyuu-chan. I’ll take care of you, like you did for me.”

He grabbed another towel from the kitchen to wipe off as much water as he could from his clothes and hair. Then he remembered he had to give a towel to Airi too.

“I’ll leave a towel outside the door.”

“Uhm...Naito?”
“Yes?”
“I’m gonna need some dry clothes too……”

Oh damn, I haven’t even thought about that…

“Anything is ok, just bring me whatever can fit me.”

Yeah, easy for you to say… I don’t even lend my pen to others..

He walked inside his room, opened his closet and checked the pile with clothes he doesn’t use so often. He grabbed a pair of sport shorts and a monochrome t-shirt he almost never wore.

“I’ll leave them outside the door too.. I hope they fit.”

She got out of the shower a few minutes later, drying her hair up with the towel Naito gave her. Naito’s t-shirt was too big for her female body, and it reached almost to her knees, covering the shorts underneath.

He held her own clothes in her arms.

“Let me take these, I can put them in the washing machine.”

Airi made a sudden motion, taking the clothes away from his hands.
“Uhm, no it’s ok.”
“It’s nothing important, you will have them cleaned in a couple of minutes.”

“It’s not that…”

“What’s the problem then? I kinda don’t like the idea of muddy clothes inside the house…”

“There are not only clothes here!” snapped Airi.

Naito remained silent and confused for a while and after some seconds he realised what she meant and turned red.

“Oh, uhm, I’m very sorry, I didn’t think about that. Sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s ok. I’m gonna wash them myself when I get home. I’ll leave them at the entrance next to my shoes.”

“You can use my washing machine if you want to.. they will be ruined until you get home if you don’t wash them right away..”

“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I cannot leave you like this.”
“Then give me your clothes too. I’ll wash them for you.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll probably not wear these clothes again. They already disgust me, just knowing what they’ve touched.”

Airi let a laugh get out of her lips. Finally the tension had lightened up a little bit.

“You’re as peculiar as ever.”

“Well..”

Naito was constantly looking at Kyuu. He was very reluctant to leave it alone.

“Go ahead, I’ll keep an eye on it.” Airi tried to calm him down. But he still seemed very unsure. He had to take this filthiness off him and wear clean clothes. He couldn’t stand the feeling of being wet and dirty. He took a deep breath and headed to the bathroom.

He closed the door behind him and started taking off his clothes. After taking a quick glimpse of himself in the mirror, he realised there was a big dark mark on his side. He observed it a little bit but couldn’t figure out where he could have gotten it. Even if he had hurt himself while trying to save Airi from falling, what kind of contact could lead to such a scar? It wasn’t even a scar. It was like gray ink on soaked paper. He went inside the shower and started cleaning himself as meticulously as he could. He scrubbed the black stain persistently, but the only thing he managed to do was make his skin red.

Once he was sure he felt clean enough, he got out of the shower, dried himself up and looked at the stain once more. He got dressed and after he wiped his hair with the towel, he opened the door to the living room. Airi was sitting next to Kyuu, which seemed to move slightly. Naito ran to it and checked it carefully, like a super-protective parent.

“I think it started recovering. Its light became a little stronger, see?”

Kyuu vibrated for a second, giving them a sign that it was ok.

Naito let a big sigh of relief come out.

“Do you think we should stay awake today?” asked Airi.

“I don’t believe there is a reason to. We can take turns sleeping, so that there is always someone to take care of Kyuu.”

“I think this is a good opportunity for me to sleep without the fear of the shadow appearing in my dream. I’ll take your offer, Naito.”

“You can sleep first. I will make some coffee and think of what we can do from now on. Let me get you a blanket.”

“Thanks, Naito. This actually helps me a lot.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Airi lied down on the couch, and fell asleep almost right away.

Naito made a cup of coffee, using his Caramel Blend to calm his nerves.

He filled his mug, left it on the table and went to get his notebook and pen. When he returned to the living room, Kyuu was wavering in his nest. He sat on the floor next to it and caressed it gently. Then he heard a muffled sound coming from Kyuu.

“Na..i..to”

Naito did his best to catch what it was saying; even in the dead silence of his house, Kyuu could barely be heard.

“What is it, Kyuu-chan? Are you alright?”

“I” “alright” “Naito” “has” “stain”

“I got what? I cannot understand you..”

“The” “sha..dow” “left” “a” “stain” “on” “Naito”

He remained silent for a few moments. Now he realised the meaning of its phrase. He was so concerned about Kyuu, that he had completely forgotten about the mark on his side. But how did Kyuu know? He didn’t see me naked, and I didn’t say anything to it or Airi.

“I” “sense” “it”

“What is it? Is it dangerous?”

“It” “is” “its” “ash”

“I don’t want to exhaust you… but I need to know if it’s something I need to worry about.”

“I” “don’t” “know”
“it” “is” “not” “from” “this” “world”
“It” “wants” “to” “go” “back”

“Where does it want to go?”

“To” “the” “dream” “world” “of” “Airi”

“What does that mean? How will that affect me?”

“Later” “I” “have” “no” “energy”

Naito felt chills running down his spine. He didn’t know what to make of this information. He didn’t want to disturb Kyuu anymore, since it was him who brought it to its current state. He tried thinking logically to calm down. If it was something too dangerous or urgent, Kyuu would have used his energy to tell me what to do before it’s too late. There’s no way it would let me like this without ensuring my safety. Let’s forget it for now and wait for Kyuu-chan to recover. I have to rethink what happened.

The shadow was never aggressive until now, even when I provoked it. I tried to talk to it when I was alone with it in the cafe. Instead of getting angry, it seemed to get more interested in me. Maybe it plays it dumb. It hasn’t hurt Airi so far. What if there’s something it wants from her, and it is trying to find out where it is? Maybe it will hurt Airi once it finds a way to get the information it wants.

Why did it react to Kyuu-chan so aggressively? It definitely felt threatened, and it was the first time it showed such behaviour. It could see Kyuu-chan right away too. It must have happened because they belong to the same world. It seems that the shadow views the world like a computer. Once you enter data in a specific format, it can start building environments around it. If it doesn’t have the information it needs in a specific format, then the information exists without being used. The host - Airi - must be something like the administrator of the computer. Even if somebody else adds information to the database - the shadows subconsciousness - it will not be able to use it, but barely stack it somewhere in a kind of memory that isn’t being actively used, but it will be, once the administrator activates the access, by enabling the external source - that would be me. Airi has given me access and the rights of an administrator by acknowledging my user information - image and name. Now the shadow can use any information I provide to it.

Naito sensed a weird pain on his side which was followed by a strong wave of drowsiness. How weird. He was writing down all of his thoughts and possible explanations he could use later. He also kept possible scenarios about situations in which they could experience and plans that could be used in each case. His problem-solving skills were functioning like an IF-ELSE algorithm. If this happens, do this. Else if that happens, do this. He wanted to be ready for any possibility.

After around 3 hours, Airi was sleeping safe and sound, while Kyuu started to move again. Naito heard him immediately.

“Kyuu-chan? How are you?”

“I” “can” talk”

“I am glad I can hear your voice strong and loud, but it would be better if we could try to keep it down. Airi is still asleep. Do you think you could do it?”

“Yes” Kyuu sounded almost like a whisper.

“Are you alright now? Is something wrong?”
“Almost” “fine” “This” “world” “exhaust” “me”

“I” “need” “more” “energy” “here”

“Are you hurt in any way?”
“I” “don’t” “get” “hurt” “I” “absorb” “any” “kind” “of” “energy”

“I am relieved to hear that. Kyuu-chan, you have to tell me about the stain on my skin.”

“Let’s” “talk” “in” “your” “dream” “this” “is” “very” “tiring” “for” “me”

“Oh, I understand. Of course. Let’s wait for Airi for another hour and then we can do it.”

Kyuu lit up cheerfully but still looked weak and fatigued. It hadn't moved from its towel-nest and Naito was still worried, even if it told him not to. He really wanted to wake Airi up, but his pride kept him from doing so. His patience paid him back, since Airi woke up after 40 minutes.

“You can stay in the living room. I will go inside my room and sleep. Kyuu will come with me - I don’t know if I will manage to get him out of my dream again. It’s something I have to test. Don’t leave the house for the time being, and try not to make a mess or move my things around Ok?”

“I just woke up, I didn’t even listen to your voice.” complained Airi.

“I said..” tried to repeat himself frustrated.

“I know what you said. Go sleep and I will just stay here like a loyal dog, waiting in silence with my phone. I won’t touch anything, don’t worry Mr. Freaky. Goodnight.”

“Smart-ass. Goodnight.”

Naito went inside his room with the towel nest and Kyuu in his arms, and closed the door behind him. He lied on his soft and comfortable bed, putting Kyuu next to his pillow and closed his eyes. All this time he was practicing Lucid Dreaming, he had managed to use many techniques for falling asleep fast and easily. So he didn’t have a problem getting into the N1 Stage of sleep in less than 5 minutes.

He opened his eyes inside the dream and the first thing he did was look to his left. Kyuu was floating next to him happily and full of energy. It had successfully jumped into his dream.

Kyuu seemed like it had fully recovered from the shadow’s attack. Naito was feeling a great relief and couldn’t hide it, even if he tried to.

“Welcome back, Kyuu-chan.”

After he formed the environment of the dream into something comfortable - a room full of pure white cotton, where he could sit and talk to Kyuu without any disturbances, and most of all the feeling of cleanness. He definitely needed a thought-detox in order to erase the emotion of filthiness he felt while he was sliding off the riverside getting full of mud and who knows what else.

“There are many things I want to ask. First of all, I want you to explain to me what this stain is. Should I do something about it? Is it dangerous?”

Kyuu-chan started explaining to Naito as clearly as it could.

This stain is a part of the shadow’s existence. Since it doesn't have a strong presence in this world, its body feels like very heavy smoke. If you ever go inside a room that is filled with this smoke, you will see that everything starts getting black because of the carbon it carries when it flies in the air. The shadow flew right through you and Airi, and it obviously had contact with you, and let this stain on you. The stain still belongs to the shadow and it behaves like a living organism that wants to go back to its natural environment. You would guess that this environment would be the shadow itself, but actually it is not.

The stain doesn’t feel this world as its natural environment; nor does the shadow of course. But the shadow has an ulterior motive and this is the reason it stays in this world, even if it doesn't feel comfortable here. It is very weakened in this world, and it constantly feels the dream world dragging him back. But Airi doesn't even sleep that often, in order to avoid seeing it in her dreams, so the shadow rarely feels this pressure and has time to recover when it happens.

The stain will want to come back to the dream world, and the only way it can do so, is by using you as its carriage. It will make you feel sleepy, so that it can try entering your dream world.

“But it doesn’t come from my dream world, how is it going to get inside the dream of somebody else?”

That’s something I don’t know. I only felt its intentions. And this is what I made of it.

“Is there anything we can do to avoid it?”

There is unfortunately nothing to do to avoid letting it in. But there is possibly a way to deal with it afterwards..

“You mean inside my dream?”

Exactly. Like we planned to do with the shadow. Deal with it from the inside. But the problem is that.. It may already be inside your dream.

“How will I know that?”

You will know when you wake up. If the stain is still on your side, then it hasn’t managed to get in. If it’s not, then we have to come back and look for it, before it starts .. doing things.

“Like what?”

Like trying to take control over your dreams, and change them as it likes. Like it does with Airi’s dreams.

Naito remained silent for some seconds looking very skeptical.

“So if we cannot avoid letting it in.. Maybe there is a way we could..use it.”

Is there something specific you have in mind?

“Oh yes, I do. My initial plan is to make Airi fight that thing in her dream by following my instructions. Since she proved to be very .. uhm.. let’s say weak, I thought of trying to deal with the shadow in the real world, but not with my own strength - since the shadow isn’t affected by physical attacks from this world. So the next plan was to have you help me deal with it. This plan has also gone to the gutter, since the shadow has gained more power all this time it spent in the real world, while you have just appeared for the first time. After all these failures- which I don’t take as failures, rather as test and trial - I got a very interesting idea. If the stain can enter my own dream world, even if it belongs to another dream world, why can’t something from my own dream world enter Airi’s?”

I can’t say anything to reject that theory. It may be possible. But is this “something” me?

“Well, that was my first thought. But to be honest, I don’t trust Airi with you, and I don’t think she will be able to communicate with you in her own dream world. She will also not be able so send any commands like I do. So...there are two options. The first one is that you enter Airi’s dreams and I try to control you from the outside (like it happens in sleep therapy)- which is completely absurd and useless, since I will not be able to see what is happening, and the second one is to follow you.”

Inside Airi’s dream world? I don’t know Naito..But we don’t have anything to lose, I guess. I have no idea if it’s safe for you to do something like this. What if you cannot get out?

“This is how you will help me. Teach me how you managed to get out.”

You sure think big. But I’ll try my best.