Yuma and Yume

I hate this reality. The mystery girl of my dreams just decides to show up and become part of my life. As far as pranks go, this one is definitely taking my sanity for granted. Yume sits quietly behind me as she pays attention to the teacher—just like any other student. It’s kind of weird seeing her in the black and red uniform of Hamiya High after seeing her in that pure white nightgown dress. There’s no way she’s actually from the moon or anything ridiculous like that. She’s probably just a student who came last night to enroll. I probably saw her somewhere recently so I dreamed about her. That’s all. Yep, that’s all. The rest is just a result of an active imagination.

Yume pokes my back and asks, “School’s kind of weird, isn’t it, Yuma?” You're the weird one here. “Never thought I would see myself sitting in a place like this.” I don’t even know why you’re sitting here in the first place. Go back to my dreams. “Hey, hey Yuma. C’mon, say something.”

“Something,” I say.

“…well, you got me there, you smartass.” She sighs. “Why don’t you even want to look at me? We have a contract after all.” 

Contract this, contract that. There’s no way that thing is real. I don’t want to look at her. If I see her face, I’m not sure if I could stomach the idea of a mystical moon girl who can revive the dead. She’s just a normal girl—nothing special, nothing more than a dream.

“Hey Yuma. Yuma, heeeeeeey. Yuma, c’mon!” She bugs me throughout the entire morning, constantly calling my name in a quiet tone throughout the first couple of classes.

                                                                     ***

The lunch bell rings. All I have to do is just get away from her for now. I need some time to myself—eating in peace without a girl annoying me. She seems real enough though…no, no, no! Stop. Yuma, there’s no need to do anything out of the ordinary. A normal life. I just want a normal life with no troubles or other people. There’s no reason to look for anything more than a simple, quite li—

As I stand up to get out of the classroom for lunch, three boys rush over, knocking into my shoulder, causing me to fall back down into my chair. “Ow…what the…?” I say. They gather around Yume’s desk, and she tilts her head to the side upon seeing them.

She peeks over the shoulder of the left boy to look at me, then she turns back to them and asks, “Uh…hello?” She looks back at me, as if she needs to keep her eye on me at all times. At least look at the guys who want to talk to you instead of me.

The meek boy on the right with brown hair and glasses averts his eyes and says, “Yume…hi! It’s nice to meet you! I…please have lunch with me!” Too nervous.

“Huh?” asks Yume. She blinks twice and her expression remains the same. “Lunch?”

The pompous boy in the middle with blond hair and a perfectly done tie presses his palm against his face and blurts out, “You idiot! Don’t just yell at her! Oh most beautiful Yume, I would like to enjoy a meal with you.” Too formal.

She looks at the three boys, turn her head from left to right. “Uh…” I can’t tell if she’s lost for words or dumbfounded. She doesn’t seem fazed at all. I’m starting to think these guys don’t have much of a chance.

The relaxed boy on the right sighs, shakes his head, and says, “Too much, man. Hey little lady, want to have lunch and then go out later?” Too bold.

 She stares at him with disinterest in her eyes, slowly moving them to meet mines again. “Go…out?” she asks. What do you even want me to say? Besides, this is my chance. She’s gonna be busy with them and probably any other guy who comes up to her. She’s too cute for her own good. I can admit that much.

“Yeah, like a date,” answers the left boy.

She looks over at the calendar hanging on the front of the classroom and responds, “Today is the twenty-second of April.” Wait, don’t tell me she doesn’t know what the other definition of date is.

“Huh?” asks the three boys simultaneously.

“The date. That’s what you said, right?” She smiles as she gives her reason. Is she actually proud of that answer?

The left chokes up a few words before finally saying, “Ah, no. I mean, going somewhere together. Doing fun stuff. Y’know, getting close with each other.”

She tilts her head to the side again. Then, she suddenly points at me and says, “I’m close with him already though.”

“Hah?!” I shout. My surprise escapes from my throat and ejects out of my mouth. Yume, please! There are some things you can’t just say aloud like that! “Uh…Yume?”

The three boys turn their heads back enough to glare at me. Ah, yes. I believe this is the moment where I should run away. I grab my bag and walk out of the classroom, letting my legs carry me away from this situation.

“Ah, Yuma! Wait!” She chases me as I leave, abandoning the boys in their own shock and frustrations. Everyone else remaining in the room see Yume running after me, and of course, they start talking to each other in hushed tones while pointing at us. Yume, you…

As I walk out of the door, I hear one of the girls whisper to her friend, “Hey, isn’t he that astronaut’s little brother?” I stop dead in my tracks right outside the classroom. “You know, the astronaut who—” I shut the door to the classroom behind me. Flashes of images of an older man with dark hair like mines, blue eyes like mines, patting my head, run through my mind. Then a memory of my mom waking me up in the middle of the night appears as the image of the man disappears. Then a memory of me walking in front of the television and seeing—no. I shake my head. That’s not something I want to hear right now. I don’t need that. That day never happened. He’s still…he’s still…!

“Yuma…?” I turn around and see Yume cracking the door open just a little bit, enough to peek through with one of her eyes. “Are you okay? You scared everyone when you slammed the door.” Did I really close it that hard? “You know you have me if you’re angry at something, or are you…angry at…”

I sigh. I scared her, huh? I look at her eye and say, “It’s alright, Yume. Let’s go have lunch.” Her smile returns and she opens the door. I walk down the hallway as the shade of the outside maple tree branches dance along the floor. Yume skips along after me as I walk towards the stairway heading up. I’m not going to be able to get rid of this girl, huh?

                                                                      ***

The sun is high in the sky as we enter the rooftop. Metal fences cover the edges of the roof, leaving a poor view for the ground below unless we peer through the gaps. There are a few people who come up here for lunch as well, but thankfully, we’re left alone for now. We find some shade to sit in. Then, Yume’s stomach growls.

I look at her when I hear the noise and say, “Sounds like you need to eat.”

She sighs. She grabs her stomach and says, “I forgot that I need food now that I’m like this.”

“Like this?” I ask while looking up and down her body. She’s just a normal girl from what it looks like. Well, normal except for not knowing what a date is, or how to keep thoughts inside her head, or skipping along in the hallways. Okay, she’s not that normal.

“Yeah, don’t really need to eat anything in floaty-woaty form.”

Floaty…woaty form? “You make it sound like you’re a ghost.”

Her stomach growls again. She pats her stomach and yells, “Ah, jeez! I get it already! I go one day without eating, and you’re giving up already!” Far from normal.

I take out my lunch box, open it, and start eating some leftover cooked beef. “Well, sucks to be you then,” I say.

“Share.” She pouts as she stares at me.

I eat another slice of the beef. “You know that doesn’t really work on me, right? Maybe the other guys might because of your looks, but I know more than enough not to fall for your charms.”

She finishes chewing a large portion of the meat and asks, “Hmm? What charms?”

“Wha—” I check my lunch box, and most of my beef was already gone. Only a single, flimsy blade of meat sits alone on a patch of cooked rice. My main course now burns away in Yume’s stomach.

She lets out a satisfied sigh. “Hehe. My powers sure come in handy in situations like this. Thanks a bunch, Yuma!”

Putting the topic of my stolen lunch to the side for a bit, I ask, “Powers?”

She points at my lunchbox. “Yeah, I took the meat, you stopped me, but then I made you forget that part. So simple. So easy.”

“Hold on, what do you mean you made me forget?!” That’s way more serious than losing my lunch. I don’t remember giving her my beef at all.

She looks up to think about my question, then she turns to me and says, “Right, you wouldn’t remember that part either…”

That’s just impossible, right? Then again, this girl has brought me back from the dead. I’m still not sure how much of that is true, but that memory still feels too real. “No way, you just took it while I wasn’t looking. That’s all.” I refuse to believe this girl is some kind of magical being.

She smiles and says, “Oh? Don’t believe me?”

“Of course not. Who would actually beli—”

She places both of her hands on my face and caresses my cheek. Her hands are quite warm to the touch. My cheeks burns up from her touching me and being so close. She looks straight into my eyes and asks, “Yuma, what’s your last name?”

My last name, huh? Simple enough. It’s one of the only things that identify me. Yeah, easy—too easy. It’s…what was it again? I write it every day on my assignments. It has letters in it. Of course it has letters. It’s not like it has any numbers in it. Wait, does it have numbers? Last names only have letters, right? I don’t think I ever saw any last names with a number in it. Wait, have I seen a last name lately? Didn’t Yume say a last name earlier today? Yeah, she did. She has a last name? Since when? When did I have a last name? I have a last name, right? Was I only ever known as Yuma? I’m just Yuma, aren’t I? Was there more to it? Last name, last name, last name…it surely exists. Yuma is my first name, so that would assume there’s a last name. Wait, what about second names though? Third, fourth, and fifth names are there too, right? To say a last name exists means that there are others in between too, right?! So my last name is there somewhere. A, B, C, D, E, F, G…nothing. Nothing at all. No last name comes to mind. I search within the caverns of my memories. I look, but it’s all muddy. My mind becomes a blur. My last name doesn’t exist. Last names don’t exist. A name is a name. There is no first or last. There is only—

Yume removes her hands and blurts out, “Whoops! Too much! I took away too much!”

The moment she removes her hands, my last name jumps out at me at all angles in my head. “Kentarou. Kentarou. Kentarou!” I keep repeating it to myself as my last name floods back into my thoughts like a dam breaking down. What was that? Why was it so hard to remember something I know more than anyone else?

“Phew, I thought I lost you there,” she says, letting out a sigh of relief. Her face returns to her soft smile. “So, believe me now?”

I let out a few more breaths to stop my heart from beating so fast. Then, I say, “I-It’s just a last name. It’s not like it’s that important. B-Besides, I just forgot it for a bit since you suddenly asked me while being so close!”

“Hey Yuma, do you remember my last name?” she suddenly asks.

“Tetsuro,” I answer. I won’t let my memory fail me again. “Hah! Take that!”

Her smile grows wider and she lets out a small giggle. “So you were listening to me then. You even remember!” She lets out another giggle. “And you tried to look so bored and uninterested too. What a liar!”

I feel my cheeks warm up again—feeling hot from her smug look. I turn away from her gaze. It’s not like it’s important to remember her last name. To me, she’s just Yume anyways. She’s just a weird girl with some weird powers and habits.

I mumble, “Just…don’t do that again. Memory isn’t something to tamper with. Plus, that was felt way too uncomfortable. No more.”

She scratches her left cheek and says, “Hmm…well, fine. Since you said so, I won’t do it anymore. Good thing you didn’t say that when I was changing everyone’s memories of me to get into the school. That would’ve made things a lot more difficult…”

I turn back to her with my mouth agape and ask, “W-What do you mean everyone?”

“The entire world, of course!” She smiles as she answers me. Once again, she seems proud of her answer.

I grab and shake her, then yell, “You can’t just suddenly do that to so many people at once!” A few students look my way after hearing me. Please, don’t think I’m the crazy one here. I’m just trying to stay sane after hearing something so ridiculous. This girl is absolutely crazy! Please believe me!

“Ah! Yuma, stop! I’m getting dizzy!” I let her go, and she slowly kneels onto the floor. “It was the only way for me to stay by you though, so I had to…”

“No more!”

She nods and utters, “No more…”

That would explain why everyone just suddenly accepted her into the classroom. It also explains how she so easily got into the exact same class I’m in. My throat hurts from yelling too loud. My head hurts from thinking about all of this. My stomach hurts from not eating enough. The school bell rings to signal lunch is over. Seriously, can this day get any worse?

                                                                      ***

After getting away from more guys trying to ask Yume out and having their hearts blown up by her strange answers, we finally make it out of the front gates of the school as the day ends.

“We going home, Yuma?” asks Yume.

“Well, I am. I don’t know where you live,” I answer. Where would a girl like her even live? “You going to stay here?”

“Huh? Why would I? I got a home too, you know.”

“You…don’t live at the school?” I thought she would since that’s where I met her. Then again, if everyone can see her, then trying to live in a school with security guards and locked doors would be kind of difficult.

“Not even I want to stay here all day and night.”

Good point. I don’t know anyone who could stomach that. “Then, where do you live?”

She takes my hand and says, “I’ll show you!”

Wait, not now. Not when a whole bunch of students are walking out to see us. “Wait, Yume!” I yell in protest. It was hopeless. She giggles and pulls me along.

We walk down the sidewalk that curves around the hill the school sits on. The sun settles in a warm orange glow as it sits low in the sky. Maple trees line the road as the sidewalk gradually bends down—making it easy to walk up and down every day without a hassle, especially with the shade the trees provide. A few cars drive by as they pick up students and head back home. A couple of students on bikes ring their bells as they speed past us, and Yume waves back with a cheerful smile. At the bottom of the hill, we turn right onto a street I walk on every day to school. Not many people drive through here since it’s a bit tight with cars and pedestrians having to share the road. A few street lamps hang overhead, although the second and seventh lamps stopped working long ago. Trash cans line this road whenever it’s Tuesday, meaning I usually have to wear a mask just to breathe on my way to school in the morning.

We keep walking until we reach a single story house, painted in brown by the owners after the previous white paint peeled off nearly a decade ago. It’s a familiar house—one I see every single day whether or not school is open. These days, only three live in there.

“We’re here!” announces Yume. She points at the house and says, “I live there starting today.”

Yeah, I know this house. There’s no mistake. The place that Yume lives is…

I yell, “Why are you pointing at my house?!”