4 – The same day, 4:30 PM

The Index wondered when the last time was that she had lain on the bare ground.

Oh, right, it would’ve been all the way back in high school. She had been on the softball team, and sometimes she’d get so exhausted she would lie down on the ground. Although now she could claim, for the first time in her life, that she had actually fallen asleep on the ground, for better or for worse.

Well, I suppose it’s something you could call a valuable experience, she mumbled to herself as she got up in reality. She unconsciously brushed off the hem of her skirt. But of course, since sleeping on the ground had only happened in her dream, her skirt wasn’t actually dirty.

Her bed was fully surrounded by curtains, but she recalled that there were four beds within their room. Their room was placed adjacent to the ability user, which was to say Katagiri Honoka.

She put on the watch that she had taken off for sleep. She had only been in the dream world for around two hours, which was a strange amount of time to sleep. Her head still felt heavy. Of course, given the dream she was in, her brain would have been so busy that she wondered if she had even gotten proper rest.

She really would have preferred to get more sleep, but didn’t exactly have that option. From what she could tell, the other three were already awake. She could hear them chatting.

With no other choice, she put on her shoes, pressed the wrinkles from her suit, and drew back the curtain.

She found Urachi sitting in a metal folding chair, writing something in his notebook.

His handwriting was bad. He always claimed otherwise, but from her perspective it just looked sloppy. She didn’t feel like peeking at his writing from the side, though. It wouldn’t have been appropriate behavior towards her boss.

Urachi closed his notebook, handing it to the other Bureau employee, saying, “Lock it.”

Kagaya took the notebook, placing his right hand on it. Any object that Kagaya used his right hand on would be unable to be changed. Used on that notebook, it could never be opened, burned up, or anything else. Even after Ukawa Sasane had used her ability to erase every building in the dream world, the door that Kagaya had used his ability on remained.

Could that notebook be so secret that he needs to keep it under a metaphorical lock and key through an ability? She immediately denied her self-question. If there was anything that important, he wouldn’t have even needed to take notes on it in the first place. His memory was quite excellent when it came to things like that.

“Do you expect Asai Kei to use a reset?” The Index asked.

Immediately after the question passed her lips, she realized how foolish it was. Of course Urachi expected that. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked for the lock on his notebook.

It was already proven that Kagaya’s ability would outshine Haruki Misora’s Reset when put to the test. There was no way that Urachi would just let such an ability run rampant without some sort of insurance. Urachi was using the lock to bring the contents of his notebooks over through a reset.

On the side, Ukawa muttered, “If Kagaya-san uses his ability on me, does that mean I’d make it through a reset? I’d rather not forget what happened today if I don’t have to.”

Urachi stood up from the folding chair, straightening his back. “The use of his ability on people is generally prohibited.”

A chill ran down The Index’s spine.

Urachi had clearly said “prohibited” and not “impossible”. The possibility of it working if he tried hung in the air.

But Ukawa left that alone, responding with a nod and a simple, “I see.”

✽

There were suddenly no more people in the surrounding area.

Asai Kei supposed that Tyltyl had erased the inhabitants of the dream world. It was likely that the only remaining individuals were those visiting from the real world.

The old man was sitting on the roots of a tree in his garden, having said he would sit there until he got tired. Nonō sat silently beside him. She looked the same way as when she sat at the shrine surrounded by cats.

Kei simply began walking. He didn’t offer any explanation as for where he was headed. Haruki followed behind him.

Ukawa Sasane had indeed destroyed every building and object inside those buildings, but she had evidently not erased the roads. They stayed down like webs of asphalt, dotted with holes. Kei walked along those roads, choosing to walk down the middle since there were no more cars or drivers.

“Are we still not going to reset yet?” Haruki asked.

“D’you think we should?”

Her face furrowed in confusion to the question. “I… do not know. But it certainly seems that the world has ended.”

That’s spot on, thought Kei.

Ukawa Sasane’s ability had very effectively brought an end to a world. She was convinced that with the destruction of the old, a new one would rise from its ashes. Would that really be the case? Kei didn’t know, but the place they were currently in seemed a far cry from happiness.

Kei recalled the Snickers bar he had in his pocket, pulling it out. “You want half?”

“What is that?”

“It’s world-famous chocolate. Ukawa-san gave it to me.” He tore open the packaging, splitting the bar in half. The nougat and caramel clung to the bar even as he pulled it apart. Kei had always loved that a Snickers bar felt sweet even as he was breaking it open.

Kei handed Haruki the bottom half of the bar, which was still in its packaging. She accepted it with a, “Thank you very much.” They both took a bite.

Swallowing the powerful sweetness in his mouth, Kei shared, “I gotta wonder what exactly Tyltyl plans to do about the world now.”

Wiping chocolate off her lips with her fingertips, Haruki answered, “I do not know. If Ukawa-san’s powers are truly stronger, then there may be nothing he can do.”

That was certainly a possibility. But what if the opposite was true?

“I’ve got a hypothesis.” With the idea Kei had in mind, a lot of things began to come together. Not absolutely everything, but the few remaining holes could easily be filled in later. “First, we have to assume Tyltyl truly is the god of this world. Let’s say that everything only happened because he wanted it to.”

“Would he be more powerful than Katagiri Honoka in that case?”

“I don’t really know, but for now, just assume he can do anything.”

“Understood.”

“Then, we need to go over the stipulations for entering the dream world. You sleep near the ability user, Katagiri Honoka-san, and you enter automatically.”

That entrance was the hospital.

Anybody entering the dream world would be exactly where they had come in from reality. He went to sleep in a hospital bed, and he woke up in a hospital bed.

“There may very well be a few more variables, but the limiting factor is that the hospital is always your entrance.”

Haruki bit down on her Snickers bar with her front teeth.

Kei also took a bite before continuing. “It would seem that even Tyltyl can’t change anything about the entrance. So, we have to discuss the location of the hospital.”

The hospital was located at the Eastern tip of Sakurada, just adjacent to the sea.

“But in the dream world, directions are mirror-imaged. That means the hospital is actually on the western end of town.”

In his mind, he placed a mirror perpendicular to the map of Sakurada, just next to the hospital. The Sakurada he and everyone else was on was reflected in that mirror. But when the mirror lifted up, there was only ocean.

“I’ve been thinking about why everything has happened the way it has.”

“Do you have a reason?”

“Think so. My hypothesis is that the dream world itself isn’t actually a mirror image.”

Haruki considered the concept for a while, but didn’t seem to fully grasp it. “I do not understand.”

“I’m saying that we’ve been on top of the sea this whole time.” Kei pointed ahead to the hospital, then further beyond to the white, misty wall. “When you think about it that way, it’s obvious why that wall’s there, and what’s on the other side.”

Haruki finally seemed to put it together. “You mean to say that… this dream contains the real Sakurada?”

“That makes the most sense.” Kei popped the rest of his Snickers into his mouth, taking a look around. He regarded the bare earth of a city where all man-made structures had been erased. “I don’t even think this is the dream Sakurada. It’s probably just a replica that Ttyltyl whipped up.”

Tyltyl made a replica of Sakurada, placing it over the sea. He then surrounded it with the white mist, completely obfuscating the real Sakurada.

But even he couldn’t do anything about the place people entered into the dream. So he inverted the town’s directions, allowing the hospital to stay while keeping the rest of the real Sakurada hidden.

That explained the white mist and the mirror-imaged directions.

“But why would he do something like that?” Haruki asked.

“That, I don’t know. The best explanation seems to be that he did it to protect the dream world from Ukawa-san.” Assuming his hypothesis was true, Ukawa only destroyed a replica of Sakurada, and the real Sakurada awaited on the other end of the white, misty wall.

“Are you saying that Tyltyl somehow knew that Ukawa-san would try to destroy the world?”

“Seems to be the case.”

“How could he have possibly known?”

“Got me. ‘Cause he’s God, I guess?”

That was a lie, of course. Kei was sure that if Tyltyl had that information, it came from Souma. Souma could have given Tyltyl more than enough information to build the fake Sakurada for Ukawa Sasane to destroy.

“How long have you known all of this?” Haruki asked.

“Well, I don’t know it. I’m just guessing. Could be wrong.”

That was why he hesitated. He could have been entirely mistaken.

But at the same time, he just couldn’t think of any more reasons that explained why the city was mirror-imaged and surrounded by a white wall.

“What this all means is that we need to meet up with Tyltyl,” Kei concluded.

If all of Kei’s predictions had been correct, Tyltyl would most likely be on the other side of the white wall.

Having finally finished her Snickers bar, Haruki nodded beside him.

After a lengthy walk, Kei and Haruki finally reached the white, misty wall. It stood in the same place it always had, towering above with no end in sight.

“What shall we do?” Haruki asked.

“Well, I was kinda hoping my cell phone would ring or something,” Kei admitted. It certainly would have made things more convenient. With no other option, he stood in front of the white wall, speaking to it. “Tyltyl. We’re here to come meet you. Will you let us through?”

That left the rest up to the whims of a god. Kei didn’t really know Tyltyl well, but thought his entreaty would go over fine. Souma Sumire’s message hadn’t been seen through yet, after all. Above the god of any dream world, and even his own thoughts, Kei believed the most in Souma Sumire’s vision of the future.

Suddenly, the mist before them cleared, making a pure white tunnel just large enough for a single person to walk through. It was notably easier to traverse than their trek to the Cat House.

Kei and Haruki glanced at each other, then stepped into the tunnel. It wasn’t a terribly long tunnel, looking to be just over 100 yards long. After a short few steps, he could begin to see the end of it.

“It’s… really here.”

The directions weren’t flipped, and there was no surrounding white wall. Ukawa’s ability hadn’t actually removed every single building. The real, familiar Sakurada stood before him.

People were passing their days normally in the town. They came and went, bus doors opening and closing at the nearby stop. The dream Sakurada had never been injured to begin with.

Kei let out a sigh. “Thank goodness. I was so worried that I had it all wrong.”

It wasn’t a logical guess, just a guess.

But Haruki’s voice rang from beside him. “But that was your conclusion. It would be strange for it to have been wrong.”

How could she say that so easily? He didn’t know how many times he must’ve failed in front of her.

“Tyltyl’s probably somewhere in town,” he said.

“How shall we search for him?”

Kei took a look around. He half expected to just find Tyltyl standing around somewhere. Since he had let them through the wall and everything, it wouldn’t make any sense to refuse a meeting as things stood.

It was only then that he noticed.

A bus was at the stop, completely off-schedule. Kei pointed to its destination display. “Guess we don’t need to look that hard.”

The bus destination flashed “Tyltyl”.

“Are we getting on?” Haruki asked.

“Of course.”

They approached the bus, climbing up the steps. The bus was entirely empty. The two sat down beside each other, and the bus doors closed as the vehicle took off.

“Where will this bus be taking us?” Haruki wondered.

“Heck if I know.”

The bus moved at a constant, unchanging speed. There was no traffic, no waiting for turns, and every light turned green as the bus approached. Wouldn’t it be better to just fly or something at this point? Kei wondered.

Haruki had been looking out the window, but she suddenly whipped around to look at Kei. “Ukawa Sasane rejected this world.”

“That’s true.”

“Would you accept this world?”

Shaking his head, Kei answered, “I’m really not too sure. For example, if you wanted to settle down here, I’d definitely reject the notion enough to try and bust you out.”

“In that case, will we be reporting the failure of the world’s destruction to the Administration Bureau?”

“Maybe someday. We’ll leave it be for now.” Kei glanced out the window, beholding the city as sunset began to overtake it. “I’m of half a mind to agree with Ukawa-san, honestly. Maybe more than half. At least, I don’t think she was completely wrong.”

The dream world they beheld was certainly not right. He couldn’t offer specific criticism, but he felt that there just had to be a better alternative.

To put it the way Ukawa Sasane did, he could feel it in his gut. But still.

“I don’t know what happiness means for other people. Maybe for Mytyl, living in this world like this really is happiness. Maybe she really could live here happily, without any of the deceit involved.”

A real Blue Bird for one person could be fake for another, and a fake Blue Bird could be real in someone else’s eyes.

And maybe there were some that, no matter how hard they looked, could never find a real Blue Bird. If they couldn’t, was it really so wrong to let them believe in a fake one, as long as it made them happy?

And we live in a world where some people have the ability to know the future.

The very same world that was written out and determined by the Script. What would happen was always going to happen. People couldn’t choose a future. If the ending written in the Script demanded for the Blue Bird to fly away, then Tyltyl wouldn’t be able to stop that, no matter how hard he tried.

That must be true despair.

Or at least, it would be for some people.

I’m letting my mind wander too much, Kei realized. He had thought the reality of the Script hadn’t really affected him too much. Evidently he needed a little more time to let everything sink in after all.

Shaking his head, he went on, “I’m still not too sure what the right thing to do here is. It always takes me so long to make my decisions. I know that reality calls, and we have all sorts of limits on our time, but I want to question as many things as possible before coming to a complete answer.”

He didn’t have the same strength that Ukawa Sasane possessed. He couldn’t allow himself to leave everything up to intuition. And unless he could come to fully understand who Mytyl and Tyltyl were, he wouldn’t be able to make a decision about what to do with the world before him.

I guess a real stickler for me is the existence of that monster.

The monster. That great thing that came out at night, destroying the town. He couldn’t begin to fathom why such a being would exist. It felt so alien and disgusting. Ukawa Sasane had claimed its existence proved that Katagiri Honoka also hated the dream world. It was certainly possible. But it just wasn’t enough evidence by itself to convince him.

He really wanted to learn what the monster was.

The bus took them to a junior high school campus. It wasn’t the junior high that Kei had gone to, but it looked fairly similar.

There were no students to be seen, likely because it was a Sunday. Their bus crossed the school yard, stopping just before the building. The door opened, and Kei and Haruki disembarked.

They heard a thumping sound from higher up.

They looked up, sourcing it to the second floor classroom all the way to the left. A man in his early twenties was knocking on the glass from the inside.

“Is that God?” Haruki asked.

“I dunno. I haven’t met Tyltyl yet, myself.” Their only interaction had been through the phone.

The pair entered the school building. Shoe lockers were lined up at the entrance, and two pairs of green slippers were placed in the hallway. Kei and Haruki removed their outdoor shoes, putting on the slippers. Their footsteps echoed in rhythm as they stepped down the hall.

Nothing stuck out as strange in the school building. By all rights, it was just an ordinary junior high school. They went up the stairs, walking down the corridor towards the room they saw the man in.

The sky from outside the window was entirely dyed in the colors of sunset.

“I feel like Traumerei is gonna start playing or something,” Kei commented.

Haruki looked up at him. “What song is Traumerei?”

Kei hummed the melody.

Traumerei was penned by Robert Schumann as a part of his piano collection, “Scenes from Childhood”.

Katagiri-san was 14 when she went under, Kei considered.

She had been asleep for nine years, putting her at 23 years old. 14 years old. Just about the age of a junior high schooler. Her memories of reality stopped at junior high. No wonder Mytyl was around 14.

Only one classroom door was open in the hall. Taking a peek inside, Kei saw a young man sitting in the middle window seat. He was crouched, hugging one knee.

The man spoke.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting.”

Kei entered the classroom. “Are you the god of this world?”

“Mhm. I am Tyltyl. The false god, created for this very world.” The man’s face was heavily shadowed by the setting sun, almost blotting out his smile. The classroom bathed in the dusk was like the inside of a closed toy box. Tyltyl looked every bit like a doll put away inside. The remnants of previously tumultuous activity hung in the air, dissolving in the setting sun. It had no smell or color, but the feeling still filled Kei’s chest as he breathed the air in. It was nostalgic.

Still seated at his desk, Tyltyl pointed to the chair in front of him. “Please. If you’re here to talk, then sit.”

The surrounding desks and chairs all began moving. They shuffled away, as if retreating from Tyltyl, yet the chair he was pointing at spun in circles. Eventually, it came to a rest, facing Kei.

Only one chair… Kei whipped around.

At some indiscernible point, Haruki Misora had vanished.

End of Chapter 2