2 – The same day, 7 PM

Asai Kei woke up.

He didn’t recall ever sleeping in the dream world. Instead, he was swallowed up by the pitch-black monster as it ate the entire school with him in it.

He slipped on his socks and shoes, getting out of bed. He was sure that Haruki and Nonō had already woken up before him. As he opened the curtains around his bed, he heard footsteps from outside the hospital room, and not just from one person. It sounded like several people were rushing about.

The door opened before long, and a man wearing a white coat entered. It was the doctor that had led Kei and his friends to their room just the day before.

His voice was louder than Kei remembered as he asked, “Did something happen in the dream world?”

The question was so vague that Kei couldn’t come up with an answer, so he counter-questioned with, “What seems to be the matter?”

“Katagiri-san’s brain activity has just plummeted. She’s receded to only the brain stem.”

“Does that mean she isn’t thinking any more?”

“Under normal circumstances, yes. But Katagiri-san is providing us with completely novel data when it comes to ability use in a coma. We’ve never seen her mental capacities at this low of a functioning state.”

Well, this wasn’t out of the question.

There were all kinds of outcomes possible when Mytyl recovered her memories of being Katagiri Honoka. Such a problem had always been on the table.

The doctor’s voice had returned to the state Kei remembered by the time he asked, “Do you know what the cause might be?”

“I don’t know. But it’s possible that Katagiri-san has stopped using her ability.”

“Why?”

“Abilities don’t work unless the user wants them to. If she came to the conclusion that her dream world was meaningless, then she may have stopped using her ability.”

It wasn’t too much of a stretch to imagine that Mytyl would have found Katagiri Honoka’s ability to be useless once she remembered everything.

The doctor shook his head. “But that’s ridiculous. She can’t wake up, so stopping her ability would be paramount to suicide.”

Right on the money, Kei thought.

The curtains on the bed beside Kei opened up, revealing Haruki Misora. Nonō wasn’t present. She had probably woken up first and left the room.

Seeing Haruki tilt her head, Kei explained, “It’s possible that the dream world has disappeared.”

“Is that okay?”

“No, it’s not okay. Not in the slightest.” It was the farthest thing from a happy ending. Kei couldn’t accept the current turn of events.

“Shall we reset?”

“Not yet. We have a little more time. Better to spend the time we’ve got trying to figure out the situation as best we can.” Kei turned back towards the doctor. “I want to try going back into the dream world.” Falling asleep would tell them if Katagiri’s ability was still active or not, but Kei knew he wouldn’t be able to go down easily, since he had just woken up. “Could you provide me with a sleep aid?”

After a moment’s hesitation, the doctor nodded. “Very well. Come with me.” He headed to the room’s exit, footsteps pattering.

“I’ll be right back,” Kei told Haruki, following the doctor out.

✽

He couldn’t remember how long he had slept.

There was a strange numbness in his hands and feet. There was a blanket over his chest, yet he couldn’t feel it.

The old man cracked his eyes open, finding himself laying down on a white bed.

A girl stood directly next to him. She had pale, white skin paired with long, black hair. At first, he thought her to just be an illusion, but as more time passed he realized she was all too real. She was gazing at him with a strange expression akin to crying.

Opening his mouth felt like forcing a rusty door. “I didn’t… want you to see me… like this.”

He thought he had spoken effectively, but the girl didn’t react as though she had heard him. She instead leaned forward, putting her ear closer to his mouth. But the old man felt foolish at the thought of repeating himself, so he stayed silent.

I didn’t want her to see me like this. His body was gaunt and his hair patchy and rough, showing his scalp in places. Four tubes were coming out from his body, tubes that he could no longer even remember the function of. All he knew was that they were necessary for his body’s survival.

It had been six years since his last meeting with the girl in reality. Those six years had aged him. Even more so once he had become bedridden.

The girl spoke, her face still warped as if she were crying. “How are… you feeling?”

He certainly wasn’t good. But answering like that wouldn’t help anything.

The old man smiled. “You should… try to… forget about me.”

The girl shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.”

Each breath he took whistled through his raw windpipe. Even breathing took almost everything he had. Forcing his breath into voice, the man said, “Nothing’s changed… these last… six years. There’s no… reason we… need to… see each other.”

The girl shook her head, looking for all the world like a stubborn and selfish child. “Not according to what you said. You told me that happiness was the person smiling beside you, didn’t you?”

Suddenly, it made sense. The old man understood.

The girl had been trying, and failing, to smile. The result of her failed attempts at a forced smile was her warped face, looking as though she were crying.

“But when… you’re with me… you can’t smile.” So you should just forget about me. The old man wanted to tag that line on, but didn’t have the strength. Still, he chose to leave things there. He had already said enough.

The girl’s face looked even closer to crying. She continued on trying to smile. No doubt it was to the point that even she knew it wasn’t working. But at the same time, she probably couldn’t think of anything else to do.

It hurt to see someone so young trying and failing to smile for him.

Being alone would be preferable.

“I will… be fine… alone.”

With those final words, the old man closed his eyes.

For a while, it seemed that the girl was talking beside him, but he couldn’t make anything out. Either way, he had no intention of saying anything more, or even reopening his eyes. He felt too tired to do such things.

He couldn’t have been asleep for very long. But by the time he awoke, he couldn’t hear the girl’s voice any longer. He felt relieved.

He slowly opened his eyes. Nobody was around. The only thing in his field of vision was a white curtain.

I’m used to being alone.

The old man had been alone for quite a long time. Long enough that he could hardly remember any different.

He had once been a mathematician, making his living by writing mathematical formulas in a notebook. He won several awards, but never attended any of the presentation ceremonies for them. He got married when pressured to. But even then, he was alone. It wasn’t as though he didn’t love his wife, but he had never felt a connection with her.

He spent almost all of his life alone, so he knew.

Happiness is the person smiling beside you.

He knew that was the truth.

What if he were in the dream world? What if he had a body that moved the way it did six years ago?

Could he have managed to smile alongside just one girl? Could he have made conversation with her without having to chase her away?

Now I’m trapped in paradise.

It was no different from having his soul reaped by the Devil.

He couldn’t help wanting to return back to that world.

✽

Nonō Seika was lost in thought as she left the old man’s hospital room, rubbing away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Why didn’t I try to visit him in the last six years?

But it was too late for such thoughts.

She knew that people grew old and died. But somewhere in her heart, she was still acting like a spoiled child. Six years ago, he was the strongest person she knew. He could take on the world, never get hurt, and live all by himself without any issue. Or at least, Nonō had believed that six years ago. She was just an elementary schooler, incapable of understanding the old man’s weaknesses.

So she didn’t even think of pushing herself to go and find him. She sold herself on the inevitability of his absence.

But I waited six whole years.

If she had spent those six years searching for him, maybe she could have found the words to tell him. Maybe the old man could have faced even his death with a smile.

But it was too late for any of that.

She returned to her assigned hospital room to find Haruki Misora sitting alone on one of the beds. Asai was nowhere to be seen.

Nonō sat down beside Haruki. The other girl spared a single glance in her direction, but otherwise said nothing.

“Where’s Asai?”

“He said he would try to sleep again.”

“I see.”

The two of them sat in silence, not another word passing between them.

That in itself wasn’t unusual. Haruki had been visiting Nonō about once a week in recent times. They had spent a lot of time sitting together in silence.

Nonō closed her eyes.

She wasn’t sleepy. But she really wanted to fall asleep.

I’ll go wash my face. That in mind, she opened her eyes and stood up. But suddenly, somebody grabbed her arm.

Who?

Naturally, the only person in the room was Haruki Misora. She spoke, still holding Nonō’s arm. “Is something the matter?”

“What do you mean?”

“You seemed to be… somewhat sad.”

Nonō was completely caught off guard. She sat back down next to Haruki. “That’s a surprise. I thought you didn’t have any interest in me whatsoever.”

“That would be incorrect. I actually have a slight interest in you.”

“You really shouldn’t say it’s only slight in this kind of situation.”

“I will take that into account next time.”

The girl was clearly wearing her heart on her sleeve.

Still holding Nonō’s arm, Haruki continued, “In the past, I trained myself to be capable of distinguishing between a crying face and a smiling face.”

“That’s a really specific thing to train for.”

“But it was necessary. When I look at you, you appear to be closer to crying than you are to smiling.”

“What of it?”

“I find the situation difficult to understand. It is my opinion that if you feel sad, then you should be sad, and if you feel like crying, you should cry.”

“Mm. That’s fair.”

“But also, if you find someone who is sad, then you must comfort them.” Looking straight into Nonō’s eyes, she asked. “Would you like me to comfort you?”

Haruki Misora’s got to be the only person in the world who could ask that question without any ulterior motives, Nonō thought. No doubt if she was told no, then she would just nod right along. The situation was actually quite amusing to imagine, making Nonō crack a smile. “You’re right. I’m sad. If I saw a cat right now, I’d just scoop it up into a hug without even caring about how it felt.”

“I have a cat strap on my phone. Would you like to hold it?”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll let you comfort me instead.”

“Understood,” Haruki nodded, finally releasing Nonō’s arm. “Is there some kind of problem?”

“The old man’s in a room nearby.”

“The Cat House Gramps?”

“Yup. I think… I want him to be happy.”

“I too believe that happiness is preferable to unhappiness.”

Nonō nodded. “He said that happiness is the person smiling beside you. But when I was there… with him… I couldn’t smile.”

Haruki tilted her head. “Why not?”

Her question was so innocent.

“He’s just… so aged. It hurt to look at him, somehow. It made me sad before I could even try and control it.”

She knew that growing old was natural and inevitable. She thought that knowledge would be enough to get her through. But that sure didn’t work.

I was stupid. So stupid.

Thinking about it in hindsight, she’d never been able to smile before when faced with aging. But cats didn’t care how she looked, so it didn’t matter how sad she was.

“I’m so weak,” Nonō murmured.

“Kei once said that humans should be weak,” Haruki responded.

“There’s a time and place for it. But right now, I wanna be strong enough to show him a wonderful smile, even if that means lying to him.”

“Can you not think of any other way to effectively smile?”

“If I was in the dream, I probably could. But it’s not like I can just go right back in there or anything.” The Bureau certainly wouldn’t allow it.

Haruki nodded. “Kei said the dream world has likely disappeared.”

That was new. “Then that means… he lost the dream world, too.”

No doubt that caused him sadness. He couldn’t even retreat into his study any more.

The room’s door opened, signaling that Asai Kei had returned.

Intending to end the conversation, Nonō said, “Putting this all into words really helped sort through my feelings. Thanks.”

But Haruki shook her head. “We have not yet discovered a solution. Perhaps we should consult Kei about this.”

“You mean… I have to say all that again?”

But that would be so embarrassing, Nonō thought.

✽

Asai Kei went to sleep in Katagiri Honoka’s room. The two white pills he was given certainly helped speed up the process.

Yet he never entered the dream world. No matter how much he thought back to the time he had spent asleep, he only got memories of sleeping. Kei concluded that the dream world had in fact disappeared.

His head felt incredibly heavy on the walk back over, no doubt due to the effects of the sleeping pills. He tottered back to his original room with awkward, unsteady steps. Once there, he saw Haruki Misora sitting beside Nonō Seika.

Haruki Misora immediately led with, “Please listen to what Nonō-san has to say.”

Kei nodded, sitting down in a metal folding chair. But all during Nonō’s narration of events, Kei felt his interest being pulled not towards her, but instead Haruki.

Since Haruki had met Tyltyl, something seemed ever so slightly different about her. But he couldn’t notice anything significant in the current situation, since she was just sitting there beside Nonō.

“Is there anything I can do?” Nonō asked.

Kei forced his bleary consciousness to focus on Nonō. “Well, you want to be the Cat House Gramps’ friend, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“So he won’t be lonely.”

Nonō nodded. “I’m absolutely sure that people who give milk to cats hate being alone.”

Uh-huh. I guess that makes sense, more or less.

Kei tapped his temple twice before asking, “Say, Nonō-san. Is what you want for the Cat House Gramps to not be lonely, or is it for you to be the one by his side?”

He figured Nonō would catch on to what he meant.

She nodded immediately. “I don’t need to be the one he befriends.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I had already left him alone for six years anyway.”

I can work with that. “Okay, then.” Kei turned towards Haruki. She was also looking at him, so their eyes met.

“Shall we reset?” she asked.

Hesitating slightly, Kei asked, “Haruki… What happened when you met with Tyltyl?”

He wanted to know what was making her appear so different. If he just reset, then all those changes would be ripped away.

Haruki Misora shook her head. “Nothing special.”

Kei sighed internally. “I’m pretty confident that I know your voice, expressions, and tells better than anybody else.”

“Indeed.”

“So I know that you’re hiding something.”

“Yes. I am aware.”

“Okay.” If that was the case, there was nothing he could do. Taking a deep breath, Kei steeled his resolve, then said, “Haruki, let’s reset.”

Every single time he said that phrase, he destroyed something. But he had always been aware of that. The ability to erase anything and everything couldn’t always be right. This reset would most definitely take away certain parts of history. It would take away time and emotion that Haruki Misora had been building up.

But Kei had decided that when he saw sadness before him, he would reset to make sure it would disappear. That had been his decision two years ago, and he would continue to stick to it.