Once I make it to my room, I reach back under my bed, grab my “borrowed” book, lay back on my bed and continue reading.

As I’m reading, I can’t help but think about how that whole ordeal with Hiroko and her son was strange.

I mean was it just a monster in his dreams, the kind most kids his age would have nightmares about, or was it really a possessive yokai?

Well, it looks like it was really a yokai or something posing as a yokai and Hiroko’s origami crane did lose its power and become real.

I mean that should be a sign that the dream was more than a dream.

It was definitely something trying to kill Hiroki.

That really gets me thinking.

Is there something also trying to kill Shinichi?

I didn’t see anything when I was in his dreams but, I was getting a lot of resistance to the point of anger.

He’s usually awake at midnight so I can’t think of a connection there.

OH! That’s right “The Witching Hour” being at midnight is a more recent connection.

It was originally at 3am.

He usually falls asleep about that time.

So, is he attacked by a yokai just after he falls asleep?

If he is, then why couldn’t I see it?

Was Hiroki being sick the reason why the yokai decided he was weak enough to try to kill him?

Is Shinichi not being sick why I can’t see the yokai?

So many questions and so few answers.

Uhg! I slam the book shut.

I can’t focus on reading right now.

I might as well bring the books back to the library and spend more time with Shinichi at night to try to see if there’s anything there or I’m just being paranoid.

I gather up the two books I “borrowed” and pop back to the university library.

Once I arrive it’s still really early in the morning so they aren’t open yet.

I head over to the shelf where “The Witches Academy” series is and start to put the books back.

As I’m putting the second book back a librarian assistant walks by and sees the book floating in the air as I put it back on the shelf.

“KYAAA!” she lets out and collapses to the floor.

Oh please, you act like you never seen a floating book before.

Ok, she probably hasn’t but, overdramatic much?

Also, why are you here?

The library isn’t opened yet.

I look at a nearby clock and it seems it is time to open.

She was probably heading to the door to unlock it.

Hey, get to work will ya.

There’re students that need to use these books to study.

Oh well, I did what I came here to do and I can’t do much to help her so, I’ll leave.

I go to Shinichi’s apartment and he is still asleep.

He’s probably going to wake up soon.

I just decide to keep watch over him while he’s asleep to see if there’s anything that is strange.

As time passes, I don’t notice anything.

I bet I look like some crazy stalker watching him sleep.

His alarm goes off and he gets up to get ready for work.

After he leaves, I have time before he comes back from work so I continue where I left off in my book.

I start to think of an idea on what to do tonight as I keep a look out for something that could be attacking him.

I get near the end of book three and get ready for him to come back home.

Once he gets home it’s the usual routine of convenience store dinner and gaming.

I don’t know if he’s really in trouble but, he is in an endless loop of work, junk food and gaming.

It also looks like the only real human interaction he’s had is with my parents and the meeting with Takahiro.

That’s not really good either.

I think him going to see that project will be good for him and hopefully make him remember that he enjoyed what he was studying.

If he does remember, does he have a place that he can go to work at?

I think that might be something to look into but, things have to go smoothly and he has to want to move forward.

I’ve come a long way since I got here but, I still have a long way to go.

As I finish organizing my thoughts, I notice the clock is already past 1am.

He’s still playing but is starting to get a bit drowsy.

Although he’s getting sleepy, he still finishes playing the rest of the hour until he finally heads back to his character’s house and then logs out for the night.

So, it’s like I remembered, he’s awake during the timeframe that Hiroki was having his sickness.

Well, I guess I better see if there’s anything hiding.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I wait for him to fall asleep and then go over to him to go into his dream.

* * *

I open my eyes to a blinding light which is the sun reflecting off the white-yellow sand.

This appears to be a beach area of some sort.

The sand meets up with is, probably the ocean or some body of water.

Close to the water are giant crabs, about knee high, called Pinchers, wandering close to the water’s edge.

I am in that cute green outfit again, with a dagger attached on each side of my hip.

I continue looking around and coming out from an outcropping of rocks Shinichi is running toward me in a set of robes I don’t recognize from before.

It is what best can be described as a mix of wizard robes and a hoodie set with a white puff ball on the hood.

It has various shades of red and orange and has a small club hanging from his hip.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he says.

“Oh, I just got here.”

“Good! I changed to something we can level together.”

“It’s…interesting.”

“It’s Earth Mage. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the outfit either. But I can still heal us while we fight.”

“Oh! While we’re fighting, I have a few questions I wanted to ask you.”

“Funny that you say that, I have a few questions of my own as well.”

“I figured as much.”

“Get ready!” he says and then casts a spell.

The spell drops a small diamond shaped crystal by us, “there, that should give us some defense. Now do you remember how you fought that Bulbion? Do that on one of the Pinchers.”

“Ok, I got it.”

I pull out a bow, notch an arrow, aim at a Pincher and let the arrow fly.

It hits the Pincher.

As it heads toward us, I put the bow away and pull out my daggers and prepare to attack.

Shinichi readies his club and waits for the Pincher to arrive.

Once it arrives, I attack with my daggers.

“Shinichi, have you had any strange dreams where someone was trying to attack and kill you?”

“Not that I can remember. Usually, my bad dreams had been involving you. Not too different from the one I’m having now.”

“So, why do you think you haven’t woken up yet? I mean you usually do when I’m involved, right?”

“Yeah, I do. It may be because you are actually here, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am…sorta. Listen I don’t know if you’ll remember any of this when you wake up but, I am here only for a short time as a ghost.”

“I seem to remember only small things. Maybe we are here on a subconscious level”

Once we finish off this Pincher, I grab another one for us to continue fighting.

“Yeah, I noticed you weren’t fully aware of what we doing in the last dream together after you woke up.”

He casts some curing spells on us to heal us back to normal and once the new Pincher arrives, we continue fighting.

“Oh, so you are watching me outside of the dreams as well.”

“Well, isn’t it obvious by now? I’m a ghost.”

“That explains the falling books and the baseball. By the way what is with that baseball anyway?”

“Oh, it was something I picked up when I visited Seattle.”

“What? When did you go there?”

“It was a few days ago. I was testing something out and thought of the Space Needle and poof, I was there. Even though it was not really a planned trip, I still had to bring a souvenir back for you and Takahiro.”

Just after I finish my explanation to him, I land the killing blow on this Pincher.

I see a level up graphic above both of our heads.

“Woo, we leveled up!”

“Yeah, we did. Sadly, it’s starting to get dark out and there’s some nasty stuff that shows up at night. Also, it is about time for me to wake up. Let’s head to this little fishing village right around the corner.”

We head behind the rock out cropping that Shinichi arrived from earlier and sure enough there it is.

It has a long passage way and a set of gates to close off the entrance probably to protect the village from the “nasty stuff” Shinichi mentioned.

As we pass the gate Shinichi turns to me and says, “Well I hope we can keep doing this even if it’s only for a little while.”

“For now, yeah, we’ll do this again. There’re still a few things to work out concerning you.”

Everything starts to fade to black.

* * *

I open my eyes to him sitting up in bed again but, he’s not holding his head like before.

It’s progress…I think?

Maybe?

I hope.

I guess I should probably make sure he’ll go to see Takahiro’s project next.