Sayuri ran along the cobbles. It was dark, however, shadows were everywhere, hunting her. What did they want? But this wasn't important now anyways. She had to run. Run and don't stop. Run and don't look back. No matter how long she was already running, no matter how much her legs were exerted. 

But the shadows were fast, faster than her. The girl felt like getting slower the more she tried to press on. The shades eventually got her and ran through her body. Sayuri screamed in pain, but nobody would hear her cries. She just kept running. More and more shadows caught up to her, infused her and left a burning pain slowly filling up her body. Tears poured down her face and she fell over. Without being able to dodge, she hit the cobbles. But this wasn't enough for the shadows. Non stop they pervaded her body, her heart, her soul. She could feel it to her fingertips until everything went numb. Did she lose? Would they stop now? How would she even realize it?

Suddenly Sayuri heard steps coming towards her from behind. Closer and closer until the person stopped behind her. If it even was a person. She forced herself to turn on her back. It was so hard, since her limbs were still paralyzed. But at least she could feel the pain again. That was a good sign, wasn't it? She based herself on her lower arms and pressed her teeth together, because of the tension in her muscles. But who she saw was even worse. Blue-green dyed hair, red eyes, evil smile – Kazuo. Have they been his shadow creatures? What did he want? Did he not have had enough already? He crouched down and looked at her with his creepy face. He reached out his arm to grab her. Or to hit her? What would he do to her? She covered her face with her arm, that's all her body could do right now. She waited for an attack, but it never came.

Kazuo?: "Sayuri, you can stand up!" a gentle voice.

Slowly she uncovered her face again, now looking at a face far from creepy.

Sayuri: "T-Toki?! W-what are you doing here? Where's Kazuo? And his shadows?" She looked around. No shadows. No other person was around. Just the gloomy endless street with the cobbles.

Toki: "Wait, I'll help you." He held out his hand and Sayuri took it tentatively so he could give her a leg-up. They walked next to each other in silence for some time until Toki stopped. "You created a really heavy world … don't you think it's time for something different? Maybe … a nice meadow or something?" He smiled.

Sayuri: "What? What are you talking about? I created nothing, Kazuo was here and the shadows, I …"

Toki: "Oh … so you're still unaware you're currently dreaming?"

Sayuri: "I'm dreaming?! Oh …" //Well, that would make sense? But this means Toki isn't real, either?//

Toki: "You had a nightmare. Or still have … at least the setting is still the same, even if Kazuo is already gone …"

Sayuri: "Wait …" She realized something. "You said you're a dream wanderer! Does this mean you just entered my dream?!" //How embarrassing! He saw me weak and crying … oh god!// Her cheeks got really really hot.

Toki: "Uhm, well, so …" He scratched his head awkwardly. "Let me explain!"

Sayuri: "I'm hoping you'll have a good explanation! It's really sly to sneak into my dreams all of a sudden!" She crossed her arms.

Toki: "I just … couldn't sleep, you know? I was thinking about today. So much has happened and especially for you this has to be super weird. I can't even imagine how you might have felt. For all of us it's just normal, b–"

Sayuri: "Come to the point …"

Toki: "Yes … I actually just wanted to say sorry. Cause I hit you …" He looked away.

Sayuri: "I already said it's okay. I'm fine. No need for haunting my head!" She wasn't sure how she should feel about it. With Toki coming into her dreams, did it make it better or worse?!

Toki: "Even so, I'm honestly sorry! I'll make up for it! And if I ever see that shadow guy again …" He clenched his fist. "But I'm glad, you're okay." He looked back at her and smiled a little. "And … I thought I could show you my tang! But I might have chosen a bad moment, since I didn't expect you to have a nightmare. But hey, at least I could distort your dream matrix and end it … at least … partial." The dark scenery was still everywhere. //Usually the dream worlds change with the dreamer's mood and feelings. So, I guess, Sayuri isn't okay at all …// 

Sayuri: "How … does this actually work, then? You're not in my room, are you?!" //Doesn't he dare!//

Toki: "What? No, no, no, that's not how it works! I just need to know roughly where a sleeping person is and think about it. I mean, I could bring my body into you – wait that sounds weird – but mostly my physical me just stays where it is, since it's very exhausting transferring both. A disadvantage is, anybody could try to harm me now and I couldn't do a thing. But if I was here completely I'd have the same problem if someone harms you."

Sayuri: "So that means, you imagined me sleeping?" She completely ignored the rest he was saying.

Toki: "Wha– uhm … that's not even the point here!" He turned away again feeling slightly embarrassed. "And moreover you seem to still have some problems, since your dream world still looks like this!" 

Sayuri: "Well, then change it!"

Toki: "This is your dream. You have the biggest influence on how it looks here. I can wander through your dreams, but as long as I don't do anything, it's yours to change it. And I told you before, I suck at creating illusions."

Sayuri didn't know what to say. But Toki was right. This incident still bothered her. It was like nothing she had ever faced before. Maybe this whole world was already too much for the girl? While she was thinking about it, Toki stretched out his hand, letting a small light arise, forming into a pretty blooming white lily flower in his palm.

Toki: "If I was able to create useful and proper illusions, I'd always ensure you had good dreams."

Sayuri looked at the flower, Toki had created according to her name (editor's note: »Sayuri« 小百合 is japanese for »small lily«). A fragile white lily in the dark. It looked translucent, surreal. And so it was. Just as she tried to touch it, it popped. A sloppy illusion from an untalented boy after all … And as their eyes met the next moment the world stopped for a very long second.

Toki: "I … should let you sleep. See you tomorrow or something."

And before Sayuri could respond, Toki vanished. She looked around and saw the dark had also made way for a clear starry sky as well as she was now standing in a meadow with culms waving gently in a non existing wind.

The next morning Sayuri woke up slightly confused. And as she stretched herself, the back pain came back immediately. Toki really made an accurate hit on her spine. Had he only hit Kazuo … Kazuo … the dream … Right, there was something. Toki also had been there. It was just a dream, wasn't it? But it was one of Toki's powers to access dreams, so what did that mean? Has this been a real experience then? How could you dream reality? And how could a dream even be something real? Should she just ask him? But what if it really just was a dream? That would be very embarrassing then … Sayuri better not think about these kinds of things for some time at all to save her sanity. It was her first day of school after all and she should concentrate on the timetable with all the new subjects she would have to attend. The clock told her she had even woken shortly before the alarm would have ringed. Sayuri slowly got up and sighed. She got herself ready and met Hana in the common room.

Hana: "Good morning, Sayu-chan! Look, Kira left us some croissants for breakfast! Isn't she gorgeous?" She barely ended her sentence and was already chewing on the food.

Sayuri: "Oh, yeah, that's really considerate." She smiled. She didn't even think of how to get something to eat at this school. Yesterday evening she was way too troubled to think about eating, but now that she thought about it, her tummy was really empty. Thanks to Kira she now had some breakfast.

Hana: "Are you excited?!?!" The tiny girl was totally jittery herself. 

Sayuri: "I'm not sure … More scared I'd say."

Hana: "Aww, no need to! I'm here to help! I promise this school year will be totally amazing!"

Sayuri: "Thank you." Sayuri really was relieved to have Hana as a roommate, classmate and comrade. So she wouldn't be all alone in this. "I'm really curious about all the subjects … I mean I know nothing. And you do this all your life?!"

Hana: "Yeah, it's not like normal school at all. We learn all the casual stuff before we get here. This place is really focussed on people who want to master their tangs and also do jobs related to them!"

Sayuri: //Aaah … Why did my parents do this to me?// She cried in her thoughts.

Together they made their way to their classroom. Luckily both got a seat next to each other, after Sayuri could convince Hana to not choose a seat in the last row. She even sat next to the window where she could permanently stare out, while Hana was already chatting with some other girls in the class. The only thing Sayuri heard was someone asking for the numbers from Hana's brothers. But she had no interest in such topics right now. Her eyes concentrated on the clouds, while her thoughts were directed on the small object in her bag – this damn black-golden rod, getting her into this in the first place. It happened about two months ago … 

Sayuri had been in the attic, just looking for some childhood photographs. For some reason she got nostalgic after her friend Momoko told her about her big brother becoming a father and the baby being so cute. She couldn't remember how she looked and her memories in general were kinda hazy from this time. But this was normal, wasn't it? So she thought, it was time to look it up again. Her mother said, those old photos should be up here. How kind. Didn't such pictures belong to a cheesy album stored in the living room? Whatever. After looking around for a short while, she saw a slim wooden shelf, not even having a back cover, with some stacked boxes. Now that looked promising! But then something else caught her attention. At the top was a small black casket with golden ornaments. What was in there? Maybe some old jewelry from her mom or grandmothers? Precious memorabilia like old love letters from her father? Sayuri had no clue why, but this box now had her full attention. She wanted to look inside so badly, but unfortunately she was too tiny to grab it. Without much thinking, she stepped on the first shelf to lift herself up and tried to grab the casket. But she lost her balance and fell over along with the shelf and its contents. Luckily the shelf was so light that Sayuri didn't get hurt badly. She was just covered with papers, dust, boxes and many scattered photos and pushed the shelf away from her moaning. But there … The casket was next to her head and intact. She got up her knees and tried to open it, as …

Hana: "Sayu-chaaaaan! Are you dreaming or what?" She brandished her hands energetically before Sayuri's face.

Sayuri: "Huh, what?" With a puzzled face she looked at Hana. She has been completely lost in her thoughts.

Hana: "Our teachers Miss Osakabe and Mister Takano are just around the corner. It's about to start now! Yay, I'm so excited!"