Chapter 21: Waking up.

“Wake up, sleepy boy,” a sweet voice says.

“Maggie?!” I say, suddenly opening my eyes.

“Who else could I be?” Maggie says, laughing. “You fell asleep after eating that giant sandwich on your own. Let’s go home. It looks like it’s about to rain.”

We’re lying on top of a picnic blanket somewhere at Yoyogi Park. My head rests on Maggie’s lap as she strokes my hair. Gray clouds cover the sky.

“Then we should leave,” I say, standing up.

“What were you dreaming about?” Maggie asks as we start folding the blanket and picking everything up.

“I… don't… remember?” I say, scratching my head. What was I dreaming about? You’re not supposed to forget a dream this quickly. “I guess nothing.”

“Oh! Come on,” Maggie says, smiling. “You know you can tell me if you were dreaming about me, right?”

I stay there, thinking, until some raindrops bring me back to reality.

“Let’s go,” Maggie says. “Or we’ll be late for the movie.”

We start running to the closest movie theater as the rain starts pouring down.

“Two tickets for Demon Slasher: The Return of Goroku, please,” Maggie tells the clerk.

“Didn’t Goroku die in the last movie?” I ask Maggie, confused.

“You know what these franchises are like. If a character turns out to be very popular, they bring them back from death. Otherwise, they won´t sell as much merchandise,” Maggie explains while we line for popcorn.

We order a massive bucket of popcorn, some candy, and two large sodas.

“Why did we order so many things if we had lunch already?” I ask, taking the heavy tray.

“Come on! It’s a special day,” Maggie says. “Not every day your favorite character gets resurrected.”

“Okay,” I say as we walk to the cinema. “But I’m not finishing yours.”

We walk into an empty cinema room and sit in the center row.

The movie is quite interesting. I still can understand how Manjiro and his friends were able to bring Goroku back from death with the power of whitening toothpaste. But Maggie is enjoying the movie a lot. I guess the producers saw an opportunity for good publicity in the movie and went all in.

"That was a crazy movie!" I say as we walk out of the cinema.

"Well, it was expected since they hired new writers for this movie," Maggie says, shrugging. "They just wanna squeeze all the money out of Goroku fans."

We keep talking about conspiracy theories on why Goroku was resurrected and what it means to the main storyline.

Out of the cinema, the rain has stopped.

As we walk back home, Maggie stops in the middle of a bridge. Her figure bathing with the colors of the sunset.

"Rin. I have to tell you something," Maggie says.

"What is it?" I ask.

"You're going to be a father," she says, running to hug me and smiling.

"I'm pregnant!"

"Am I going to be a father?!" I say with a strange mix of joy and disbelief.

"Yes!" Maggie exclaims, and I hug her.

I'm going to be a father?!?

"Since when did you know?" I ask, touching Maggie's flat belly.

"Eleven months!" Maggie says.

"Eleven months?" I ask, bewildered. "Don't you mean days?"

"Nop, months!" Maggie confirms. "If it's a boy, I want to call him Goroku."

"But that's not possible," I say.

"Don't you like the mane Goroku?" Maggie asks, disappointed.

"No," I say. "It's not possible that you've been pregnant for eleven months."

"Rin, wake up!" Mom's voice says.

I wake up panting and sweating on my room's bed.

"You had a nightmare?" Mom asks.

"I think so," I say, rubbing my eyes and shaking off this odd sensation.

"Well, hurry up," Mom says, giving me my perfectly ironed uniform. "You don't want to miss White Day at school."

Mom leaves. I change and go downstairs.

I eat a slice of bread with milk for breakfast.

"You better not forget the chocolates you made for Ellie," my sister Ayaka says, giggling.

I take a tiny transparent bag filled with chocolates of different colors and shapes and put them inside my backpack.

Dad takes us to school.

"Have a great day," Dad says before leaving.

"Good luck with Ellie!" Ayaka says, patting my shoulder. Then she runs to meet with her friends.

I stay there for an instant. I'm not sure where to go. Which year am I in?

"Rin-chan!" Mills shouts from the entrance door.

I run to reunite with him and Honda.

"Did you watch yesterday's episode of Dramatic Islands?" Honda asks.

"Yes!" Mills says. "It was insane!"

I walk in silence behind them until we get inside our classroom. 6-B, the signboard reads.

No way! Am I living this day? Again?

The school day begins as always. Japanese, math, English, and science. The bell rings for the break. Everyone rushes out of the classroom.

"Come on, Rin," Mills says. "Are you staying today?"

"Don't wait for me," I say. "I'll catch up with you later.”

Honda and Mills disappear into the hallway, and I stay alone in the classroom.

I take a folded paper note out of my backpack, leave it on top of Ellie's desk, and run out of the classroom to meet my friends.

I watch with Mills and Honda the many proposals happening in the playground. Nervous boys handing chocolates to girls who sometimes take them and sometimes leave them.

"Ha! Poor fools!" Honda says, laughing.

I have to pretend a nervous laugh while I wish to run with luck after school.

When we're back in the classroom, I get a glimpse of Ellie's desk. The note is no longer there. Yes!

I spend the rest of the school day distracted, looking through the window. Thinking about the words I’m going to use to tell her what I feel. This is sixth grade, I'm a man. This is the moment to do it.

Time passes slower than any other day at school, but the bell finally rings.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I say to my friends and rush out of the building.

I run to the hallway behind the basketball court, take my chocolates out, and fix my hair.

I rehearse my speech, and when I turn, Ellie is there looking at me.

Wait a minute! I don't remember it happening this way!

Back when I was in sixth grade, I left a note telling Ellie to come here after school, but she didn't come. Seo and Ayasaki, Ellie’s best friends, appeared and broke the note in front of my eyes. They mocked me, telling me I would never be good enough for Ellie, that I didn't deserve her. "Ellie would never set an eye on someone as ugly as you," they said. Then they took my cholates and smashed them to the ground and left. Leaving crying.

Then why is Ellie standing in front of me right now?

"This is for you," I say, giving her the chocolates. "I…I like you, Ellie."

"You like me as a friend?" Ellie asks, confused.

"No," I say. "I like you more than a friend."

"Then why don't you say the word?" Ellie says, smirking.

"I…" I stammer."I…lo…"

Ellie laughs.

"How do you want me to answer if you can't even say it?" Ellie mocks.

"I…" I try as hard as I can, but the words just won't come out of my mouth.

"Save the trouble, sweetie," Ellie says. "I don't like you."

The young Ellie shifts before my eyes into her nowadays version.

"I've never liked you," she says. "I just used you when it was convenient."

"That cannot be," I say, clenching my fists. There's something slimy next to my hand.

"I need a real man," she laughs. "Not one that goes crying like a baby every time he feels insecure."

"No," I say. "Ellie said before that she liked me."

"Huh?" she says.

"You're not Ellie," I say.

I grab the slimy mass with both of my hands and smash my head against it.

The illusion vanishes before my eyes, leaving a giant shape-shifting mass of charcoal slime in front of me.

"Rurn. Fufugo!" I scream.

A flare of blue flames burst out of my left hand and impacts the creature, who shrieks as the fire consumes its body until there's nothing more than ashes.

I turn around. There’s another nietrav on top of Ellie. The real Ellie.

She's unconscious.

I blast another spell to the nietrav, who whales until carbonizing.

"What happened?!??" Ellie shouts.

"I think we bumped across a pair of illusion-creating nietravs," I say, helping Ellie to stand up.

A stomping sound comes from the distance. Maybe more nietravs.

I look at Ellie. "Let's run!"

And we disappear into the unknown ahead.