"A night sky I recognized…" I muttered.
My head felt dizzy as I woke up. I saw the sparkle of light from above, and the bright moon shining its small light towards me. My entire body felt like I was lying down, I looked around and saw a figure above me.
"Hinako…?" I said, while my vision was muddled by a feeling of sleepiness. However, I could see barely a smirk from the figure.
"Wrong! try again," said the figure with a teasing smile and voice I grew with. All of the muddled vision in my eyes suddenly became clear as I saw her gently rubbing my hair.
"A… Akemi?!" I yelled immediately as I took a second glance at her and my surroundings.
My head was comfortably placed above a soft thigh I longed for. I could see a bench I'm lying down on, and the eerie atmosphere of the night time inside a park.
I tried to sit down beside her, however she stopped me from going away with her lap pillow. She kept on gently patting my hair with a smile. Her purple hair glowed magnificently under the moonlight.
"Hey, Sayoko, do you remember this place?" she asked, while pointing out the nearby swing. I observed everything around me carefully. It was an ordinary park, however it was a breath of nostalgia for me. I remembered my time with Akemi as we used to run around childishly.
I looked at the girl giving me a pat, "Shut up."
She was taken aback by my response. Her eyes stared at me as it gave a pained expression of a lonely middle school student.
"Why?" asked the girl.
I enjoyed the evening breeze while laying down my head on the girl's thigh. I took a deep breath to compose my thoughts. I could see the trees swaying around in orderly fashion as I looked at two little girls playing around the park as they ran.
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"You're not real," I replied expressionlessly.
The two children playing were looking towards us with a carefree expression for a moment, until they ignored us as they continued to run around. One of the girls was holding a scissor and a dolphin plushie.
I sighed at the sight of the scenery I was seeing. The girl giving me a lap pillow was smiling at my reaction, "You really liked that dolphin, don't you, Sayoko?"
I ignored her voice as I observed the scenery of little girls running around in the middle of the night. They were simply elementary girls playing around beyond curfews, yet they look comfortable playing around at this hour.
The girl with silky black hair and shiny blue eyes was holding her dolphin and scissor while running, until finally she tripped and fell.
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"Are you okay?" asked the other little girl with purple hair worriedly. She rushed towards her friend as she saw a terrible wound on the black haired girl's wrist from the scissor she was carrying.
"You were quite a clumsy one, weren't you, Sayoko?" said the girl beside me with a smile as she observed the two elementary students, just like me.
I sighed and yelled, "Akemi, shaddap!"
The girl laughed in amusement at my sudden outburst. I was sure she found it childish, however I couldn't care less. The only thing I wanted to do right now was to stop having this scene played before me.
The elementary student saw her fallen friend as she tried to gently touch the wound on the black haired little girl. A sudden glow appeared on the wrist of the black haired girl as it eased the cut from the scissor.
"You left me," I muttered.
The girl smiled at me, as if she was expecting my words. Her calm demeanor and kind expression would make anyone melt in cuteness. However, no one realized her as the true beauty.
"I was a lost cause," replied the girl to my muttering.
I sighed in annoyance at her reply, "So was I."
My mind felt groggy as I tried to rationalize myself from this absurd conversation. This wasn't my first hallucination, but I still couldn't help but give in on trying to converse inside this temporary hallucination of loneliness.
With the last scenery of the two little girls hugging together, I stared towards the girl giving me a lap pillow straight in the eyes.
"I will never forget you, Hoshimi Akemi."
As I felt my vision losing its light, my mind was transferring into somewhere. I could sense a familiar sensation of a hand rubbing my hair, and a beautiful lullaby.
A familiar scenery of the school rooftop filled my vision as the sunlight of spring gave me a warm welcome as I awoke. I looked above towards someone.
"Sayoko, you're alive!" A familiar voice rang as the owner of the voice gave me her thigh as a lap pillow for me.
"Hinako…" I muttered.
Hinako's eyes were tearing with a sad expression as she was holding my hand. I felt something familiar in the palm of my hand, a knife.
"When you were sleeping, you kept on holding it subconsciously," Hinako explained.
I could only muster the strength to reply with, "I see."
Hinako looked at me with a relieved, beautiful smile as she said, "Thank goodness, you're okay, Sayoko."