The girl in my dreams

Nightmare 06 – The girl in my dreams

After waking up, I immediately thought of a way to recover my memory and find clues about that girl.

Even after last night's nightmare, I still haven't gotten good leads. Whether about my memories or the girl in white, it was no good.

“Now, where should I start?” I asked myself as I sat on my bed. After a few minutes of contemplation, I realized that all my thoughts were just hypotheses and that I couldn't make any progress this way. I needed to take action, which required a solid foundation for my decisions. "So, first, I need to commit to one of my hypotheses and act on it."

The hypothesis I leaned toward the most was that the girl in white actually existed in the real world. I had no proof, and the theory that she was merely a figment of my imagination seemed more plausible. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to accept that. Denying her existence entirely felt impossible, especially when I remembered the emotions she had shown me.

"She's a human, and starting now, I'll believe that she exists somewhere in this world," I declared to myself. I stood up from my bed, looked out the window at the sky, and tried to boost my confidence. "All right!"

I knew that searching randomly might not be effective, but for now, I decided to look for clues within my room. But after an hour of sifting through my belongings...

"…It's no use," I muttered aloud. My room was just an average boy's room, and I had already checked everything that might hold a clue.

If only I could search my past online. A fleeting, idiotic thought crossed my mind.

The internet wasn't that convenient; it couldn't answer every question. If it could, many of humanity's problems would likely be solved by now.

"No, wait." My gaze shifted to the personal computer on my desk. The internet contained a vast amount of information, and details about the accident I had been involved in six months ago might be among them.

I powered up the computer, opened the browser, typed in relevant keywords, and hit search. Among the results, I clicked on the one with the headline “Ikebukuro Traffic Incident."

“…Just how idiot am I?” I stared hard at the screen, unconsciously muttering those words.

[ [ [] ] ]

I’ve been wandering aimlessly, never realizing I was leaving her behind.

[ [ [] ] ]

Immediately, I changed into fresh clothes and dashed out of the house without notifying my parents. I was no longer allowed to go out on weekends, but I couldn't care less about that now. My heart hadn't stopped racing since I saw it.

It was so simple. Why had I only thought of that now!?

I cursed myself internally as I rode the train. My destination was not within the neighborhood, not the school, nor the ramen shop. I walked at a brisk pace, unable to suppress the sense of urgency within me.

Within an hour, I finally arrived in front of a large building. It was a general hospital, and I was already sweating profusely by the time I got there. If the information I found online was correct, then...

In the lobby, there were only a few people, so I was able to easily ask the receptionist for the room number of the person I wanted to see. I rushed to the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. My footsteps echoed in the hallway as I was hit by the strong scent of disinfectant. I passed room after room, keeping my eyes fixed on the room numbers without slowing down. The people in the hallway looked at me strangely, but I paid them no mind. A few moments later, I abruptly stopped at a specific spot.

In front of me was a private room with the nameplate "Akasaki Yume.” Seeing the nameplate intensified my anxiety, and I felt my breathing grow heavier. Slowly, I opened the door and peered inside.

The room was of average size with a simple design. From where I stood, I could see a table with a vase holding a single flower. Beyond the flower, a window allowed sunlight to flood the room. A few medical devices, such as a heart rate monitor were visible, connected to the person lying in the hospital bed.

In the incident six months ago, I was not the only victim. There were two victims, and both ended up in a coma. The male victim woke up after two weeks but had lost all memory of his past—in other words, me. The other victim was a female who had been with me in the accident, and she was still sleeping even now.

“Yume Akasaki…" I called her name as I looked at her silently sleeping in the bed. She was a girl about 150 centimeters tall, wearing a white hospital gown. Her long black hair reached down to her stomach, and her closed eyes peeked out from the spaces between her bangs.

This girl, was undoubtedly, the girl in my dreams.

[ [ [] ] ]

To think she was so near—

The girl in my dreams, now a reality.

[ [ [] ] ]

I could never mistake this. She was the girl in white. This meant that she was real all this time.

The realization made my legs go weak, and I knelt beside her bed, clinging to it for support. I had seen her on the news, but seeing her in person was a different experience. Even now, I struggled to fully grasp the situation and felt a lingering confusion. I gazed at her beautiful face and reached out to hold her hand, gripping it gently.

"I still can't remember everything, but will you please wait for me? I promise I will recover the time I've lost. When that happens, please wake up, and we'll live together in this world."

It was my answer to her question from last night.

I stayed by her side for a little while longer before deciding to leave. My goal was to regain my memories as quickly as possible, and my next destination was Ikebukuro, the place where the incident happened.

In the long six months, the world had seemed gray and lifeless. But now, with each step I took as I headed out, it felt as if new colors were being added.

The girl sleeping in her bed had opened my eyes to the truth.

And now, it was my turn to wake her up.