I’m here again. I see him walking forward towards a blinding light. I stay in his shadow to shield myself from the brightness, trying to keep my eyes open as I watch him get further and further from me.
I yell, “Hiroto…wait!” I reach out with my right hand towards him. Then, I start running. “Hiroto!” No matter how much I run, he walks further with each step—his shadow stretching well past me. “Come back!” I shout in vain. He doesn’t even turn around to look at me. My legs crumble to ash underneath me and I fall to the floor. I crawl after him—clawing at the floor to push myself forward. I can barely even make him out against the brightness anymore. His shadow stretches to cover the entire floor, leaving me to struggle in the darkness.
Hiroto, don’t go. Hiroto, please don’t leave me behind again. I can’t do this. It hurts. Everything hurts. My body feels anchored to the Earth as I run out of breath just trying to push myself up from the ground. It’s already been two years, Hiroto, but it still feels like yesterday for me. There are so many things I want to talk to you about, and there are so many things I wish you could talk to me about. So please, Hiroto, come back. Please come back. His shadow envelops the entire room, turning the world dark.
I sit up in bed and gasp for air. My heart rattles in my chest as I grab my phone. 3:34 a.m. Another night with this dream again. I know. He’s not here anymore. Hiroto is never coming back. I know this already, and yet, I still see him in my dreams. I lie back down and turn onto my left side. My eyes burn and my body aches. I close my eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. Why? Why do I keep getting that dream? I know he’s gone already. I saw it with my own eyes back then. There’s no reason to keep thinking about it. I start taking deep breaths to calm myself down.
Hiroto, was high school hard? Hiroto, how do I talk to people? Hiroto, what should I do after I graduate? Hiroto, Hiroto, Hiroto. Why does it hurt to remember you? Why do Mom and Dad not want to talk about you anymore? Why did you have to go?
I open my eyes and look at my phone again. 3:42 a.m. I turn onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. I’m tired. I’m beaten. After yesterday, all I want to do is just sleep. I close my eyes to try and sleep again. It’ll be okay, Yuma. Just sleep. Just keep your eyes closed and morning will arrive.
I should have stopped you. I should have not said I wanted to see you on TV. I should have been a better brother for you.
I open my eyes again. 4:11 a.m. All I want to do is just sleep. I turn onto my right side and shut my eyes.
There isn’t anything for me to do, is there? Mom and Dad don’t even have any hopes for me anymore. They just seem out of it these last couple of years. You were always the role model after all—I just always get into trouble.
Reluctantly, I open my eyes once more. 5:07 a.m. I give up. I sit up on my bed again, then open my phone and watch some online videos as I wait for my alarm to ring and the sun to rise.
I want to sleep.
***
I yawn as I stand outside of the front door to my house. I would’ve left by now, but unfortunately, someone wants me to wait for her today.
“Okay! Then, see you later, Miss Kentarou!” says Yume. She runs out the door and waves goodbye to Mom.
Man, how does she have all that energy? I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. I really need a goodnight sleep one of these days.
Mom, with her long brown hair that reaches her chest and soft brown eyes, sticks her head out of the doorway and says, “Oh, and Yume! Please look after him. He’s not as mean as he looks. Promise!” Great. Now she roped Mom into this madness as well.
“Don’t worry! I know Yuma’s actually a big softie!” Softie?!
I sigh and start walking away. She skips along after me and taps my shoulder. How long am I going to have to put up with her? First school and now home. I want to run away from her, but she wants to stick to me like glue.
“Foreign exchange student?” I ask. That’s Yume’s excuse for living with me. She certainly passes for one, but why couldn’t she have chosen anyone or anywhere else?
She looks up to think, then turns back to me and answers, “Well, it was the easiest thing to do. Besides, your parents were the ones who wanted to do the program in the first place, weren’t they?”
Maybe they did. They don’t tell me these things anymore. They didn’t kick Yume out when she first entered the house. Instead, they welcomed her with open arms. It was strange. I haven’t seen them that happy in a long time. Not since…well, how could anyone be happy after that?
“So you really did manipulate their memories to get in, huh?”
“Hmm? Not really. The only thing I did was make them remember that I accepted their application. It was already there after all.”
So they really did want someone to move in. Why didn’t they tell me then?
Yume asks, “It’s not like that extra room was in use anyways, right?”
I stop and just look at her. I click my tongue and keep walking, quickening my pace. She just has to say that.
“What? What did I say?” she asks while trying to keep up.
“Anyways,” I say to change the topic, “I still have a whole bunch of questions about you.”
“Sure! Ask away!”
She seems confident. Alright, let’s do this then.
“First off, what is this contract you keep talking about? I didn’t sign anything.”
“Uh…” She looks up to think about it. “Let’s just say it’s like an agreement more than anything else! I save you, you save me. Seems fair, right?”
Yeah, I know. The whole dying part was what started this in the first place.
“What if I don’t help you out then?” Surely, if I break the contract, then I can be free. Then again, I bet she has my life in her hands or something.
She answers, “Then I’ll…cry.”
Huh? What? That’s it? I thought it would be something more dramatic.
“Then I refuse to help out. How’s that?”
She suddenly stops. “Yuma…please…” Tears start to well up in her eyes. This girl isn’t kidding.
“S-So what? I’m not gonna help you out just because you’re crying.”
“Yuma…” A single tear rolls down her cheek. Damn, it hurts to see her cry.
“F-Fine! I’m kidding! I didn’t mean it!”
She wipes away the tears and smiles as if she didn’t just bawl her eyes out second ago. “Oh, okay!”
This girl is such a pain. What a sly demon.
“Besides, if I help you, you’ll leave me alone, right?” I ask.
She nods and says, “Of course! Obviously, once I get back on the moon, I won’t be here anymore.”
Good. The sooner I help her out, the sooner my life can go back to being normal.
“Three people, right? Just have to help three people with their problems or whatever.”
She presses a finger against her lips and asks, “Did I say three?”
Don’t you dare change the amount on me now. You definitely said three.
“Yes. You did.”
“Ah, I did, huh? I kind of…made up that number.” She shyly smiles and presses her index fingers together.
I flick her forehead. I should’ve expected this. This girl just seems to do whatever she pleases without thinking about anyone else after all.
“You’re annoying. You can’t just make up stuff like that, you know?” I say.
“Owie…but it’s true that if you help me by helping other people, then I could go back.” She places her hand on the spot I flicked. “We’re just gonna have to…help others until it’s enough. Yeah, that’s it.”
I sigh. What am I supposed to even do?
“Then…how did you even find me? There are billions of people in the world, but you chose to annoy me,” I say.
“You mean, help you,” responds Yume.
“But yeah, how did you even find me at that moment?”
She looks up again to think about her answer. Then, she answers, “Luck!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“I-It’s true! Yeah, just…luck. You know, right place, right time. Heh.”
She flashes a smile. I don’t think I’ll get a proper answer out of her.
“Okay, fine. Going back to what we were saying before, how does helping people even help you get back to the moon?”
“Oh, easy. Basically, I just get enough hopes and dreams to become floaty-woaty again. Then, I can just fly back up there.”
None of that was easy or basic. None of that even made sense. Getting enough hopes and dreams? What the heck is float-woaty? What’s this about flying to the moon?
I stare at her as I try to process what she just said. Then I say, “…hello? Someone? I’m being pranked by an evil girl here.”
“Pranked? E-Evil? What I’m saying is all true!” She shakes my shoulders. “Yuma, it’s all true!”
I look away from her eyes. I can’t tell if my migraine is from my lack of sleep or Yume’s lack of sense.
“Okay, okay. Whatever. If you leave after I help you out, I guess it’s good enough then,” I say.
She smiles and bows, then she says, “Thank you, Yuma! I promise I’ll also try to help you out as well!”
I just hope she doesn’t make anything harder.
“Now then, how do we find these people?” I ask.
She blankly stares at me. Then, she answers, “I thought you would find those people.”
“You know, for someone who said you would help me, you make this much harder than it sounds…”
I trot forward—tired, confused, angry, and hopeless.
“Yuma! Wait!”
At this rate, this girl will never leave me alone.
***
I sprawl over my desk once again. It has become my daily routine before school starts due to how tired I am. I wish I could do this all day—just ignore school, classes, and other people.
Yume pokes my back and says, “You know class is about to start, right?”
I want to especially ignore this girl.
“Five more minutes…” I groan.
I didn’t get any sleep at all, so I’m going to cherish any time available to me. However, it’s too loud. The other students are talking too much and it’s difficult to sleep at all. Looks like I’m going to be awake for the rest of the day then.
I open one of my eyes and hear one of the girls say, “Ew. Why is that creep drawing Yume?”
Another girl close to her responds, “He’s fat and ugly too. Is he drawing girls because he can’t talk to them? Gross!”
I open both of my eyes to look at who they’re talking about. Across the room, I see a chubby boy with short, spiky hair and round glasses, focusing intensely on his phone. His finger moves occasionally across the screen—probably to draw a line. He occasionally glances at Yume, then turns his attention back to his phone as he keeps drawing. I can’t see the screen from this angle, but from what the girls said, he probably is drawing Yume. I turn around and look at Yume. She perks up in her seat when our eyes meet.
“Good morning!” says Yume. “It hasn’t been five minutes though…”
I sit up straight and respond, “I wish it was.”
I lean back further in my seat to try and see what the guy is drawing. I’m able to catch a glimpse of his screen before he spots me and shoves his phone into his pocket. It looks like it is a side portrait of Yume. Did I scare him though? I guess he’s one of those types who doesn’t like to show their art before finishing.
Yume tilts her head to the side and asks, “Yuma? What’s wrong?”
“Eh, it’s nothing. I just think you have another fan.”
Suddenly, he stands up out of his chair.
Oh no. Did I piss him off? Oh shoot. He probably thinks I snitched on him. I guess that makes sense. Nobody else has talked to Yume except me, and he knows I saw what he was drawing. Man, I really don’t want to deal with this right now.
He slowly walks over to Yume and me. Then, he says, “I am sorry!”
Well, I didn’t expect that. Shouldn’t I be the one apologizing for peeking on him?
“Uh…” I try to say something, but Yume beats me to it.
“Oh? Sorry for what?” asks Yume.
He bows repeatedly. After six bows, he stands up straight and says, “I wish to…I mean, I didn’t…I am sorry.” He flubs his apology and walks back to his desk with his head hanging low. A couple of girls laugh as he walks by. He rests his arms on his desk and buries his face into them. I hear a couple of muffled hiccups coming from him.
What was that all about? He didn’t do anything wrong.
I turn back to Yume and ask, “He didn’t do anything to you, right?”
She shakes her head and answers, “I never even met him before.”
How weird. He still has his face in his arms as the school bell rings. Class starts as usual.
“Hey Yuma,” whispers Yume. “He still hasn’t moved at all.”
Just like Yume says, that guy hasn’t moved from his position. Don’t see why that’s my problem anyways.
“So what?” I ask.
“So…let’s see why he acted like that in the first place then!”
“I…” I was going to respond no, but knowing Yume, she probably sees this as a chance to help someone out.
“C’mon, Yuma! It can’t hurt to ask at least.”
Well, she’s not wrong. I’ll talk to him later about what he was apologizing for then.
Finally, a chance to rid myself of Yume presents itself.
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