~It was not a coincidence~
-With Tatsuo Oshijima & Izumi Takino-
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Monday, March 25
Afternoon (2:15 PM)
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<Wait, she has been there the entire time and I haven't noticed?!> Oh god, now she's definitely sweating bullets. How could she
not have noticed Izumi, the girl with very bright red hair who was
also part of the dream? It's too late to ponder that now, cause it seems her question has been answered: That dream was not coincidental. Everyone who was a part of the dream has experienced it. It's quite clear to Yuuki that the combined powers of both fate and inevitability have led all three of them to this point.
Now if only she could stop rattling and sweating like a sweating rattlesnake...
Izumi had somehow failed to notice that another girl was present in the store at the same time as she was, one who Tatsuo seemed to know as well. Compared to herself, the other girl and Tatsuo seemed to have a much stronger grasp on the situation that was playing out before them. Part of that might have had to deal with the fact that Izumi... at least at the time, did not really put much thought into the dream she had had the previous night. However as time progressed now, she was definitely getting the feeling that there was something more to it than just being some crazy dream that possibly results from eating too much junkfood or something of the sort before going to sleep. In fact, as the two girls followed Tatsuo towards the back, that feeling of familiarity with the two was growing stronger by the second.
As he approached the wooden door Tatsuo did his best to calm his nerves. It wasn't altogether unusual to take customers into the back room in order to search for particular supplies or items. Akira kept a lot of oddities in the store, occasionally they'd have return customers asking for something in particular and in those cases Tatsuo would watch his father invite them into the back in order to get them exactly what they needed. The room itself was very spacious and chock full of interesting little tidbits, a large wooden table in the center of the room had various random and assorted chairs strewn about its round circumference, swivelling office seats on wheels, simple wooden chairs, a single recliner, a stool or two... all bits and pieces picked up by Tatsuo's father.
The walls were lined with racks filled to the brim with anything and everything. Canned food, electrical appliances, random gadjets, aerosol sprays, a whole crate of "Oshijima Brand Spirit Gum"... there was even a wooden stand filled with realistic replicas of medieval weaponry. There were no windows, cameras or other entrances and the space exuded an aura of privacy and secrecy, the only sound apart from the three teen's footprints being the gentle hum of the lightbulb illuinating the space and the soft rumble of the wooden fan that kept the area at just the right temperature.
One look at this place made it obvious as to why the shop was called 'Oshijima's Loose Ends'. Once everyone was inside, Tatsuo offered the girls a seat while he lowered himself slowly into the black office chair. "I think we all know that something exceedingly strange happened..." He began, doing his best to remain impartial and calm, not wanting to panic his these students, whom were almost certainly kouhai to himself. "This is... like something out of a manga, or the like, I should think. To be certain we all had the dream correct? Some creepy love parlor, hosted by a woman going by Juliette?"
Izumi raised an eyebrow. "She wore that purple dress, right? It looked like something you'd see on a maid, but... there's no way she wasn't an alien or something..." The girl knew that the woman had refutted that point, but the fact that she and the other two teens were now sitting in the back of a store recollecting the dream they had all shared seemed to only strengthen Izumi's resolve that the woman had some otherworldly powers. As if from boredom, Izumi began to spin around in her seat slowly for a moment, before stopping and glancing at Tatsuo from over her shoulder. "She was asking those weird questions, yeah?"
Tatsuo gave a grave nod in response to Izumi's description. Any doubts were gone now, that depiction of Juliette was spot on in accordance with what he remembered. "I'm not certain that she's an alien... however I suppose saying so is no less insane than claiming that she has some sort of supernatural ability to pull in the consciousness of various high school students, only to plant them into some sort of collective dream." He furrowed his brow and leaned against the table, clasing his hands together and resting them to his lips in a position of deep thought.
All of this was so surreal... this was the sort of scenario he'd play through in a video game, the sort of destiny oriented crap that was tied intrinsically to the main plotline he'd ignore while going off on a more interesting sidequest. "Destiny..." He mumbled. "This is... logic defying... but I'm not so stuck in my ways that I can't see the truth of this in front of me. This actually happened and amidst her psychotic questions, that woman, alien, whatever she is... mentioned something about destiny." It was hard for him to remember, it made his head hurt to try. Whenever he probed too deep into his sleeping memory to discover more, the pain only increased. He couldn't shake the image of a massive shield from his mind, almost as if it was blocking his vision, stopping him from learning too much, too quickly.
"Perhaps... our meeting here is less so coincidence and more so part of this plan that has been laid out before us." Tatsuo said, hesitating on his words as he strung them together tentatively. "If all of this is real then surely us meeting here isn't just a coincidence... it has to be connected, the sight of one anothers faces lead us to unlocking our memories of last night fully and we are only a few of those whom were present, so perhaps..." He relaxed back into his seat and crossed his legs slowly. "Do you see what I'm implying?"
Izumi stopped spinning in her chair, a rather blank expression gracing her features. "Uh... Of course I get it, who wouldn't?" She said, causing Tatsuo to bristle slightly. "I just wanted to make sure..." He sighed in response. "This whole situation is insane, it's expected that quite a few of us, when faced with the reality of things, might struggle to wrap our heads around it all." Yuuki slowly nodded. "Yes, it really is...I've been trying to think of something,
anything, that would make this situation more plausible...But my mind either starts to hurt, or it draws a blank, questioning its plausibility…" She shakes her head. "I honestly thought that sounded good enough in my head...Sorry if it sounded weird." She suddenly unzipped her jacket, revealing a black shirt underneath it. Even though her sweating fit has come to a close, it seems to have made her a bit hot.
"So like... what should we do? Pretend it was just some strange happening and never speak of it again? Try to track down all those other people we saw in the dream?" Izumi questioned, glancing between Yuuki and Tatsuo as she spoke. She had never dealt with this kind of situation before, and was understandably at a loss at just how to proceed with it all. A small flush came to her cheeks as Izumi realized that she had been looking at Yuuki a bit longer than she meant to."I-I mean, it would sound totally weird to just walk up to people and ask if they remember us from a dream, right?" Yuuki blushes a little, and covers her face with her hands, realizing that she did
exactly that, when she came up to Tatsuo and Izumi almost as soon as she came to the shop.
As the girls stated their points, Tatsuo took a sharp breath, before calming himself down completely. He couldn't let himself fall into confusion and worry at this point, he decided that it was his job to keep things on track. He could place aside his own worry and uncertainty for the sake of Yuuki and Izumi at least, even if the mere notion of this experience left him rattled. "Don't worry, maybe it seems odd to be so forward, but I don't think it will be entirely necessary." He paused and unfurled his hands into a more open gesture as he explained. "From my understanding, it didn't take much for us to come to the realization that we had shared the dream. After all, if nothing else, we recognized each other very quickly." He leaned forward a little more. "Consider then, that if by seeing just one or two of the others from the dream we realized the truth... it stands to reason that seeing three of those people from the dream approach you at once would leave very little room for doubt." He finished with a nod, before slowly rising to stand. "I don't think ignoring this will get us anywhere, I have this sinking feeling that no matter what, escaping these circumstances isn't an option. The best we can do is hope to learn and understand what exactly is going on... and I think that locating those from the dream will be the quickest way to do that."
"The city's pretty big though... That's a lot of people we're gonna have to go around and ask," Izumi chipped in. Still, she seemed somewhat upbeat, despite the fact that a lot of work seemed like it was going to be placed before her. "Guess it's a good thing I workout so much then!"
At that moment, a call came from inside the store... and Tatsuo felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up as he heard the booming voice of his father. "Oi, Tatsuo... everything alright?" He quickly started to walk over to a rack on the wall of the room, grabbing two packs of special apple flavored gum and tossing one each to Izumi and Yuuki both. "I can't let my father know about all of this, god knows what he'll do if he catches wind of some supernatural dreamscape. I have to work today but tomorrow I'm free... and I think it would be a good idea if we got together and started searching... if that suits you both, just play along when he walks in here, all right?"
"No worries, my lips are totally sealed!" Izumi replied. The girl even went through the rather overly exaggerated animation of locking her lips with an imaginary key. Yuuki just did her usual slow nod, to which Tatsuo responded with a nod of his own, his grave expression changing to a manufactured smile as the door opened behind him. "Yes, my apologies that took so long... haven't had anyone request some 'Oshijima Brand Apple Bubble' in quite some time."
As Akira entered with a stern expression, he quickly changed his posture to represent a sort of prideful joy, the realization that his products were being purchased forming a large grin on his lips. "Ahh! Like the gum huh? If people are asking for it I'll have to churn out another batch and put em out on the storefront again!"
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It didn't take long for the group to return to the store proper with Akira in tow. No more words were exchanged in regards to the odd dream and the circumstances of their meeting, but the knowledge of the plan they had concocted together was still fresh in their minds. A quick and pleasant goodbye was exchanged, as was the nature of a clerk and customer. Akira proceeded to lead the girls to the door, but not before Tatsuo could catch their gaze from behind his father, giving a last solemn nod before they were to be parted until the following morning.
Yet the sense of dread hanging over all three was heavier than ever, the thoughts and memories of and caused by the night before just wouldn't let go... and the tingling at the back of Tatsuo's head had grown into a solid throb, the image of the massive shield now fixated in his mind, the edge of a bronze helmet peering out at him from behind, judging him for all that he once did and had yet to do.
Just what the hell was going on?
