The ship has left the harbour now. Although... instead of being on the deck and watching the waves, Jun and I remained in our cabins. As it turns out, both of us are motion sick from the swaying.

This was unexpected. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before so we weren't ready with items to help with seasickness. It didn't incapacitate us completely but we aren't exactly healthy enough to run a marathon either.

"Shun... window."

"On it..." How do you open this thing... It's bolted shut, I don't think these can be opened.

"Bad news, Jun. Can't be opened."

"It's ok. Let's lie down and hope we get better by dinner."

I'd normally be absolutely exhilarated to be lying on the same bed as Jun. But the nausea is overpowering every other thought I might have about this situation. Attempting to alleviate my seasickness, I think of various sea related jokes and talk with Jun.

"Jun, how are you faring? Heheh... faring. Get it?"

She shoves her rhino plushy in my face. "Miss Jun is very ill, please stop bothering her."

Puppetry?

Taking the tiger plushy, I start playing along. "Move aside Rhino! Lest you be eaten."

"Never!"

"Then a fight to the death it is..." We move the plushies around in an exaggerated fashion.

Eventually both our arms tire and we stop mock fighting with the plushies. But not before the tiger plushy playfully takes a nibble at Jun's shoulder. "For today, I shall let your master live, Rhino. Next time don't think I'll be so pleasant." Jun has a shocked expression on her face, she had not expected a surprise attack so quickly after the play fighting just ended.

"Fiendish Tiger! The next time we meet will be our last."

Playing with the plushies had taken our minds off of the nausea, and soothed us slightly. Jun and I fell asleep after, plushies in hand. Shortly before I fell asleep, I sensed something odd but it was too late. My mind had already fallen prey to the sleep spell.

Ai! What happened! This atmosphere. This hazy place, it's the dream world, isn't it?

"We got caught in an supernatural event again..." Turning around, I see Ai standing there. Not in my body, not speaking from my mind but genuinely standing there. This was the first time I had seen Ai the individual.

"Y-you..."

"Yo! Cat got your tongue, Shun? Relax. Think it through."

"This world is a mental space... Of course you'd be here."

"Mhm. Correct! Our mental connection is still active in this world though it seems. It would have been nice to finally get away from you."

"I could say the same for you. But there are more urgent matters besides that. Whose dreamworld do you think this is?"

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"Probably Jun." She answered without hesitating.

"No hesitation huh... But don't you think this dream's a bit weird?"

"How so?"

"We're standing on the ceiling..."

"Dreams are meant to be weird. Lets just pick a door to go through. The dream won't progress till we do."

"Then this door should be good. Look, it's pink, has flowers and animal characters on it. Compared to the other doors this looks like the most friendly one."

"Are you kidding me? That's the most dangerous one. It's always the least dangerous looking one that turns out to be the most deadly."

"This isn't a horror film, Ai. I don't think we have to look that deep into it. Or would you rather go through the black door oozing black liquid."

As if for emphasis, the door started rumbling and more liquid seeped out. Her eyes visibly widened at that.

"You know what, you're right, Shun. The pink door is fine. The pink door is fine."

"Yes. Let's quickly enter the pink door before the black door is broken down. Ladies first..."

"... I hate you." She opens the door and steps into the white void but not before grabbing my arm and pulling me with her.

Gravity suddenly turns the right side up and we both fall through the door, screaming.

"How long are we going to be falling for?" Were my last thoughts before crash landing on a white... fluffy surface? We were saved... But Ai had also somehow ended up partially landing on top of my back.

"Ai, get off me. You're crushing my spine..."

"Sorry~"

Looking around, I realized one thing. It was hard to see. Even more than usual. This wasn't my usual blurry eyesight either. It just seemed darker than usual...

All I could see around us was a weird white terrain and beyond that the scenery was shrouded with darkness.

"Hey, Ai. Can you take a look around and guess where we are?"

"I can't see anything though. This whole place is kind of dark... No wait. I see a bookshelf over there. And it's huge!"

A bookshelf?

"How huge are we talking here?"

"Mountain-sized."

Mountain-sized bookshelf, hard to see, darker than usual...

"Oh my god we've been shrunked."

I can barely make out something rectangular and white in the distance. That must be a pillow. And this soft, white material we're on must be a bed. So we're in someone's bedroom and we're tiny. What are we supposed to do now? This dream world is so much stranger than what I experienced last time. This one is more... fantasy-like.

Suddenly tremors rock the area, accompanied by an indiscernable loud noise, tossing Ai and I about. Which direction am I faced right now? Everything is shaking, my brain is splashing about in my skull, it's hard to think... Eventually the shaking stops and I push down my lunch back into my gut.

"Shun, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a bit."

"Well, when you're okay, we can go to that doll house on the bookshelf over there. It's safer than staying on this bed where someone could flop onto, accidentally squashing us."

"Yeah. Great idea. 10 out of 10." I'm too sick after all that shaking and just agree with everything she says.

Getting closer to the edge of the bed, I realize something. The air... is salty?

At the edge of the bed, there's a body of water between us and the bookshelf. Why is there an ocean here!? There's even sand! Sand!

"Hey look, Shun! There's a rubber ducky floating on the water." Ai looks at me with an excited look.

An inflated rubber duck in an ocean bedroom. I've seen everything.

"Don't you think this is weird? I don't trust it." How awfully convenient for a rubber duck to appear when we have to cross an ocean. I toe the rubber duck, checking for any traps.

"Oh come on, don't be a spoilsport!"

After Ai spent a lot of time convincing me it would be alright, we ended up riding the rubber ducky across the water to the bookshelf island. Well, I say convincing, but it was mostly her dragging me against my will until I gave up. Uneventfully we arrived, without any sea krakens or other sea creatures dragging us down into the depths.

"Finally we made it." I flopped onto the sand with what was probably an undignified appearance.

"I can't believe you're seasick even here. My fun ride was ruined."

"Sorry. I'll make up for it, promise."

"It's fine! Let's go inside the doll house now!"

How is she even finding this situation exciting?

"This isn't an amusement park you know..."

"Yup. But this isn't a horror theme park either, scaredy cat Shun. Come on, let's go in."

Well at least someone is having fun. Actually, this is probably the most fun Ai has had for a while. She's able to freely run around without any restrictions. For her sake, I guess I'll try enjoying myself for the time being. But I hope we wake up soon. I don't want to be late for dinner.