I PERCHED Julio and Viv on my roommate, Harumi’s, desk where they could peacefully fall asleep. She probably wouldn’t mind, right? (Though in retrospect, I had brought what she considered a threat to our dorm. She had once told me not to trust Julio. She would have flipped if she found out I had placed him on her desk.)

I sighed. Thinking of Harumi saddened me a bit. She introduced me to what the Metropolis really was, an abandoned creation by the Author. She had opened this world to me before she disappeared. After going on an outing with her mother the previous day, she still hadn’t returned.

I checked my phone. No text. No call. Nothing.

I looked to Harumi’s leather notebook on her desk. She kept all of her school notes there, and now, even just after a day of being untouched, it had already acquired a thin layer of dust on the cover. A piece of paper was tucked neatly under it with Japanese writing on it:

クイン (Quinn)

春美 (Harumi)

Ever since Harumi had shown me how to write our names in Japanese, I instantly recognized the characters they made up of—which would later prove to be useful. There was a reason why Harumi kept her notes in Japanese instead of English, and it wasn’t because of language barriers.

I went to the bathroom, took a shower, and put on some pajamas. Before crawling into bed, I took another glance at Julio and Viv on the desk. They hadn’t stirred since I brought them to the dorm—and they weren’t dead, I can assure that. Both were breathing. But aside from the fact that they were freaking doves , something else baffled me.

Their injuries seemed to be disappearing.

I remembered when Julio reunited with Viv at the park. The monster Viv had defeated was beginning to stir, much to Julio’s horror. He said that monsters could regenerate themselves after an injury. Maybe there was a chance that people like Julio and Viv could, too. I then remembered that Viv had broken her ankle at the park, and after sleeping almost through the entire bus ride, she seemed to be walking just fine.

I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t realized that.

All this thinking must have been dangerous for me, though, because the dizziness was beginning to kick in again. Man, I really should have gone to the nurse’s office and have this head injury checked, but when I looked at the wall clock, it was already ten in the evening. The nurse had already gone home hours ago, and the infirmary would already be closed.

Great.

I sat on my bed, trying to ignore the pain, but I just couldn’t. It grew more and more unbearable, and the world around me began to spin. I needed help. (I became increasingly envious of Julio and Viv now. They had healing powers, and they could control it.)

Some time ago, Harumi and I were shopping at a nearby 24-hour convenience store, stashing up on some instant noodles and other junk food. I encountered an aisle where cheap ice packs were sold, making a mental note to myself: for emergencies.

This was that kind of emergency.

I pulled on a sweater and got out of my dorm room. And yes, I brought my phone and keys with me this time, thank you very much. However, because of so much worrying about leaving those said items behind, I later realized that I had actually left my wallet this time. I would have been penniless making my purchase at the convenience store so I would have to run back to the dorm and get it.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to do that. A good Samaritan was living in the dorms, and it wasn’t who I’d expect.

I must have passed out in the dormitory’s halls that night as I didn’t remember leaving. All I could recall was a strange dream, and it began with the melodic sound of a guitar.

I found myself in a room with gray paint peeling off the walls and cobwebs thickening in its corners. The windows were small, letting in very little light and air, and everywhere I looked, there was always a pile of moving boxes that stacked up way too high. Finally, at the far end of the room, there was a desk and a run-down stool that looked rather out of place. I for one wouldn’t be able to crack the books in this room; the working environment wasn’t conducive at all.

Strangely, it reminded me of St. John’s storage shed. (You guys already know what happened back there. Don’t make me say it again.) Because of that, I was a little apprehensive to go any further, but the sound of the guitar kept pulling me in.

Behind a pile of boxes, I found Rachael seated on the floor with her back against a wall and an acoustic guitar on her lap. I thought nothing of it at first, but I knew that I had slipped into dreamland again when I found Julio right next to her, and that, in itself, was impossible. Both lived in different realities, one harsher than the other, but something was comforting about seeing them together, and the smiles on their faces made it look like tragedy was something nonexistent.


They looked a few years younger, probably in their early teens, and both were in their St. John’s uniforms. I was witnessing a time in their past when fate still allowed them to be together. They swayed gently to the playing of Rachael’s guitar, and when she began singing, I was immediately haunted by the lyrics:

Sunshine in June
Was what led me to you
And you gave me a reason to stay…

Then, Julio sang along, and his voice blended beautifully with hers, but it only made the song sound sadder.

It was sweet summer lovin’
When the rain clouds rolled by
And you were taken away…

At those lyrics, Rachael’s playing grew softer, slowly coming to a stop. She let out a sigh of relief.

And for a while, everything was silent—until both of them burst out laughing.

“Oh, man. What was that?” Rachael asked.

But Julio just looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, not realizing that he was smiling like an idiot.

Rachael furrowed her eyebrows. “Uh… why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh—what?” Julio cleared his throat. “Oh—the song. The singing. It’s good. Yeah.”

She pursed her lips and stroked her guitar. “Hey, do you wanna get some milkshakes after school tomorrow? I found this really nice place… if only I could remember where it was…”

Both sat in silence for a while, their words lost in the calm breeze. Eventually, Rachael got to her feet, slinging her guitar case over her shoulder.

“Anyway,” she said. “I’d better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Julio followed her to the door. “Yeah—goodnight.”

Rachael leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, much to his surprise.

“Goodnight,” she said, then she skipped out the door.

That was the last thing I remembered from that dream, because the next thing I knew, it was morning.

Dawn creaked through the windows as a gentle breeze blew against the curtains. I was on a bed, staring up at the ceiling. In my peripheral vision, I noticed a few punk rock band posters decorating the walls. The study desk in the corner looked more like a vanity. Makeup products laid scattered on its surface, and a mirror hung on the wall.

This wasn’t my dorm.

I then heard the sound of an acoustic guitar being played, and I sat up to find Rachael—the girl I had always had bitter feelings for—sitting at the foot of the bed. She had her back toward me as she rocked back and forth with her acoustic guitar. She played slow like she was feeling every chord she strummed, and she remained silent, taking a moment to breathe in the morning air, before turning toward my direction.

“It must suck… to always be in sickbay, I mean,” she said.

“What?” I spluttered.

“I found you passed out in the halls last night. So I brought you in.”