When Sayuri entered her room after almost 4 months again, it felt strangely unfamiliar. With her fingertips she swept over her desk's edge, the window sill, let herself fall on the bed. The smell was different – of course. Usually your own home's scent is so normal to you that you don't recognize it. Now it was the other way round. 

And so Christmas Eve arrived. The Kobayashis sat together for dinner like every year: Sayuri, her parents and grandparents. The dark haired girl had collected so many questions during the way back home and she was determined to ask them all today. But Sayuri was so nervous about it. Why should her family tell her about all these weird things, if they didn't think it was important enough until now?

Sayuri: "Hey, um … So, obviously it's not a secret anymore that I somehow turned into a necromancer. Or that my ghost related powers activated out of nowhere. But how come? I mean, at school everyone is from a clan where everyone in the family has tangs and all … But I am the only one in ours? And then why would we have this rod in our attic? To whom did it belong before? And how did you know of the Northwind school?" She looked around the surprised faces. Everyone had stopped eating and talking. 

Sayuri's Dad: "Sayuri, does it have to be now? We're eating …"

Sayuri: "Yes! Because otherwise I won't get you all gathering at the same spot."

Sayuri's Dad: "All these things don't matter!"

Sayuri: "But they do! For me! I could always trust you with everything, but since I collapsed in the attic, I know there are things you just won't tell me! I'm attending a supernatural school and you want me to just accept it? I –"

Sayuri's grandmother: "It was mine. My baton."

Sayuri's Dad: "Okaa-sama!"

Sayuri's grandmother: "What, Izuya? There's no harm in telling her that."

Izuya: "But …"

Anzu: "Just let Mika speak, darling." She tried to soothe her husband, putting a hand on his thigh.

Sayuri: "So, you're a necromancer as well?" Her eyes grew big.

Mika: "Technically speaking, yes. But I don't actively use my tang anymore and I was never very eager to learn to expand my skills. And it's true that your parents don't have any supernatural powers. It's a foible of our kind and very common that the specific genetic marker skips generations before it pops up again. That's why we thought, you're left out as well. You might have learned at your school that tangs usually manifest within the first few years of your life and you didn't show any sign until recently."

Sayuri: "What about you, Maya-obaa-san? And Toya-jii-chan? Where's the rest from our clan then? And why just didn't you tell me all that earlier?!" //And what strange things did my grandma have in her baton? But I better not tell my family about this. I bet they won't tell me any more if I come up with these kind of problems I had …//

Maya: "My dear husband also was a necromancer. Yet choosing me, a simple woman from outside the clan. At that time … Oh I'm wandering away … We just hoped that at least you could have a normal life."

Sayuri: "At least me? What about –"

Izuya: "Silence!"

Mika: "No, son, you are silent now!" She got up from the table. "We left her in the dark for so long, we owe her some basic explanations at least. If not, she'll look for the answers elsewhere and that is worse than her own family just telling her! Say something, Kenjiro!" She looked to her husband who had started eating again.

Kenjiro: "Your mother is right, Izuya." He mumbled while chewing on his food. 

Izuya: "Hmpf!" He just started eating again as well. For him the discussion was over.

Anzu: "I know, you're just worried for our safety. We all are. But as things are now, we can't keep all the secrets to ourselves anymore." A sad smile.

Mika: "My dear granddaughter, please know there is a reason behind our secretive behavior. Our clan is really dangerous. We didn't want to have to deal with any of their machinations and thus we left. Escaping wasn't easy and our disguise mustn't leak out. So any information you get is really perilous, for you and for us."

Sayuri: "What machinations? What escape? When? Where? I want to know more about everything!" 

Kenjiro: "The less you know, the better. It's not that we do this to mock you, but we really cannot make a whole history lesson. That's why we sent you to the Northwind. Necromancer clans avoid everything that has connections to the council. So you will be safe there."

Sayuri: "Clans? Are there even more? And are they after us?"

Anzu: "We don't know for sure. It's a bit complicated …"

Sayuri: "Then why don't you just tell me?!"

Maya: "Because if someone finds all the information in your head … we don't know what will happen. Now we have told you all you need to know for now. The truth is, we don't know all the details, either. So please leave it at that."

Mika: "You might encounter more things that bode ill over time. But we beg you to not dive any deeper in our clan's history yourself."

On the one hand Sayuri was glad that she got some new information about the whole situation. On the other hand she had even more questions now. This whole necromancing stuff seemed way more complicated and risky than she had thought. How should she cope with all of this? Still she wanted to know more. What could be so terrifying that no one wanted to enlighten her? But she knew that if even her grandmother didn't want to talk about it, she definitely wouldn't get the answers.

Sayuri: "Okay … Thank you for at least telling me something. Merry Christmas, I guess."

🔹

The Lotusland – finally! For how long Sayuri had been waiting to get here? Gingerbread houses, rivers of milk and honey and everything sweet and edible she could imagine! Where should the girl start with gluttony?
Just as she wanted to dig in a huge pudding tower, someone called her name. She turned around and saw a familiar face.

Sayuri: "For real, that's all mine, got it? I'm not sharing anything with you, Toki!"

Toki: "Well, you're lucky then, I'm not here to eat." He laughed while approaching her.

Sayuri: "So, why are you here then?" A snippy voice.

Toki: "Hmm … you still haven't realized it yet."

Sayuri: "Realized what?"

Toki: "You're dreaming." He smiled.

Sayuri: "What? Wait …" Now it was crystal clear to her. "Oh shoot. Couldn't you have let me stuff myself first? Now I don't wanna eat this anymore." She was laughing while going away from the pudding tower, but then she got serious again quickly. "And … didn't we agree on not just hijacking my dreams?" //Does my Seclusion not work while I'm sleeping? Sigh …//

Toki: "Huh? Didn't you get my message? The checkmarks said it was read …"

Sayuri: "Message …?" The girl thought about it. And indeed. She remembered. She was chatting with Hana and a push-notification from Toki came in. The preview didn't reveal much, but just as she switched conversations, her mother called for dinner and so she forgot about it. "Ah, yeah, I saw it, but I didn't read it. So technically I didn't see it, so … uh …"

Toki: "Sorry. I shouldn't have automatically assumed you read it without waiting for your answer." He scratched his head. 

Sayuri: "Well, at least you tried. But how did you get here? I mean, you said, you have to know where a person is."

Toki: "Ah, yeah, that brings me to one of the reasons why I'm here! Ootsuka-sensei told me to practice during holidays. And you know … You told us the town name, plus I've been in your dream before, that also helps a lot."

Sayuri: "So, you wanted to see if you can find me despite the difficulty."

Toki: "Exactly!"

Sayuri: "Okay. Congrats, I guess?" She smiled. At the same time she was asking herself if she'd ever get somewhere with her own tang. She didn't want to stay behind. Nevertheless Sayuri was happy she could help Toki in improving. "If you don't tell me that I'm dreaming, I won't realize it myself, will I?"

Toki: "I don't know. Hana for example can tell. But we've known each other since forever. So you might recognize it some day as well." He shrugged.

Sayuri: "I see … That means I'm currently at your mercy to tell me if you visit my dreams after all. You do, don't you?!" Her eyes grew bigger while suspiciously looking at the dream wanderer.

Toki: "Of course!! I would never … Sayuri, do you really think that badly of me?" You could clearly see how dejected he was.

Sayuri: "Ah, no! No, no! I don't!" She immediately regretted what she said. Why was she always saying mean things to people she didn't want to hurt in the first place? She reached out to him with her hands, but stopped. She was too far away to reach him anyways. Her voice sounded more desperate than she intended when she continued: "It's just like you said. All this is not normal to me. For months I'm forgetting my good dreams or maybe I don't even have any and all that's currently left are nightmares, I –"

Toki: "Sayu, try to calm down … your dream world …" Allaying he held his hands up.

Sayuri looked around. Oh. It was getting very dark in Lotusland and all the food started to melt. Has this been her doing? Probably, it was her dream after all.

Sayuri: "H-how do I stop this?"

Toki: "You … could try to talk about what's bothering you."

Sayuri: "I'm not bothered by anything …" That was obviously a lie and her dream world reflected that as the ground started to rip apart. 

Toki: "You sure?" He jumped to the right, to not fall through a gap in the ground. "I mean … your dream is turning into a nightmare. When we met on the roof the other day … there already was something on your mind, wasn't it?"

Sayuri nodded guiltily.

Sayuri: "But in the end it's just a dream, right? If I wake up, it won't matter that everything here is falling apart."

Toki: "Yeah, and I won't force you to tell me anything. But on the one hand, forcing yourself to wake up from a dream that you're aware of, isn't easy. On the other hand …"

The ground beneath the necromancer girl was shaking and splitting apart. She wanted to avoid the gap, but tripped. If she fell into the abyss, where would she land? But Toki immediately appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the wrist.

Toki: "… you need a good dream to remember eventually." An encouraging smile while he was pulling her up.

Sayuri was still debating with herself. Should she open up to Toki? There was no harm in doing so, was it? But she was so ashamed of herself. Showing someone her vulnerable self, complaining, burdening someone with her problems and concerns … But she had to cope with this all alone until now and maybe this was the therapy she needed after all? So the girl took a deep breath.

Sayuri: "Alright. I guess you're right. But actually … I have a lot of issues right now …" She looked away.

The world of gluttony just fell apart more and more second after second. Both were standing on a small piece that was left from the former ground. 

Toki: "I'm in no hurry. I'll listen."

And so Sayuri started to vent. She told him about the nightmare she had that night, but she also told him about all the other things she kept to herself for so long. From the time when she was overpowered by her baton, her strange visions she couldn't allocate, about how she just couldn't make any sense of Vincent, about all that she had found out about her family and the questions she still had. 
And Toki just listened. He didn't interrupt her and he didn't judge her. After Sayuri had spilled everything that had dwelled inside of her mind she felt so relieved that she started to cry.

Sayuri: "I– I'm sorry …" She wiped her tears away, but they just kept flowing.

Toki: "Hey, don't worry, it's alright. Look at your dream world!"

She only realized now that the darkness had vanished, that the rips and holes in the ground were gone and all the sweet things had given way to a field of lily flowers. So it really did work.

Sayuri: "Th– thank you … Now I'll definitely remember a good dream for once." She mumbled with a tear-stained face, but still a small smile on her face.

Toki: "Well, I didn't do anything in particular … but I'm glad I could help. Oh! But before I take my leave. There was another reason I came to visit your dream." He scratched his cheek with his finger while looking anywhere to not meet Sayuri's eyes.

Sayuri: "Huh, what is it?" At least she didn't cry anymore.

Toki: "Since I only entered past midnight … it's the 31st … so … Happy Birthday!"

And before Sayuri could say anything, Toki just gave her a tight hug. He was gone the moment he was whispering to her that everything will be alright.