Tonight, while I rode the train back to the place I thought I had left for good, I dreamedā¦
I dreamed that I was in a world of magic and fantasy, and I was seventeen againā¦
I fought to save people from monsters and evilā¦
There was a girl that fought with me, but I could never see her face. It was always shadowed outā¦
Even then, she was precious to me. I knew her without needing to see her face. She was my kouhai, my best friend. I taught her everything I knew, and I was proud of how hard she workedā¦
We lived together, in the city. We went to school during the day, and we fought together at nightā¦
One night, we slew a horrible evil together, and we were so happy with our teamworkā¦
We had grown so close that my heart wanted moreā¦
I wanted us to be more than best friends⦠I loved her as more than anything words could describeā¦
When we got home, I told her how much she meant to me and she did the same in returnā¦
We had fallen in love, and we wanted to show one another that loveā¦
We embraced, and we kissed. My heart raced, and my body longed to belong to her. We made love that night, and we held one another as we sleptā¦
In that dream, I knew what true happiness was, with someone whoās face I never sawā¦
But even then, the truth was that I felt something real in that dream. It made me wonder if that was the reality, and the life I had lived up until this was a dream. Everything my life was supposed to be was gone, and what it had changed into after you disappeared Sayaka-chan, was all wrongā¦
And just as I was accepting that very thing, I heard familiar voices calling to meā¦
"Wake up⦠Wake up Hito-chanā¦" One voice said. Was that Sayaka? Another voice spoke up, filling me with warmth just from itās sound. "Sheās really sleeping deeply, isnāt she?" Who was that voice? I felt like I should know it. "Ahhhh, Madoka-chan, you know her. Sheās just faking it to listen to see if we talk smack about her. Iāll just shake her awake." Madokaā¦Ā ? Was that Akemi Homuraās old friend she talked about? But whatās Sayaka doing with her? "Hito-chan! Hito-chan!" Sayaka started to shake me.
________________________________
"Hey! Wake up! This is your stop right?" The train attendant had thankfully woken her from her sleep. Shizuki Hitomi opened her eyes to see an all too familiar train station. It was in fact, her stop. Mitakihara, where she swore sheād get away from after she graduated high school. What was she doing here? She told herself it was because she had a job interview, and just to visit family, but was that it? She would soon find out.
The car ride home with her parents driver was quiet, and boring as always. Once she got there, it was the usual. There was wine, and a full course meal. It was very much no different than it had always been. The only difference was that she had just turned twenty three, and she was a university graduate. She was being offered a position at a well known company in the city, and she would be here for a week or so.
Instead of staying at her familyās home, she opted to stay at one of their properties. They owned most of the city, so there were a lot of choices. The place she had chosen to stay in held some memories. The previous tenant was none other than her old friend Akemi Homura, who she hadnāt seen in years now. They did keep in contact via facebook. But it was of course, impersonal. It did seem that Homura was happy being in a relationship with Kyousuke, who from what Hitomi knew, sheād been with for a long time. It was a shock to Hitomi when the two broke up almost a year prior to this day. She had hoped nothing terrible happened between her two friends.
Hitomi finally laid her head down on the bed her parents had put in Homuraās old two bedroom apartment for her. Sheād emailed the company to let them know she was in town, and that sheād be ready to meet with them in a couple days. Who knew what this trip was going to bring? āI canāt believe this place still has the same scent.ā She looked up at the ceiling, halfly expecting her phone to start ringing any second. Sheād posted on facebook that she was in town, so it could happen at anytime. As fate would have it, the door lock began to turn, making her jump up, having been in deep thought. āHello?ā It couldnāt be a burglar, could it? The person had a key. Her parents would never let a key get into just anyoneās hands. She had seen their process of renting. āWhoās there?ā Did her parents really not tell her she had a roommate? They would⦠She sighed, walking to the door and opening it. Who she saw there made her jaw drop to the ground.
"A-Akemi-san? Is that really you?"