Chapter 7: Waking Up From A Long Nightmare
I
After dreaming about something she could no longer recollect, Minami fluttered her eyes open. The faint remnants of a headache pulsed in her temples and behind her eyelids, though it started to fade away with each flutter of her heartbeat. She swallowed, her mouth feeling like dust, and someone offered her a glass of water in a setting she didn’t recognize as her own.

Yet despite all that, it was comfortable and safe. When Minami asked who the people surrounding her were, they each gave their names. Hotaru Chikasa. Takara Yukimura. Yukiko Matsumoto. Kaede Ikeda. All unfamiliar names. Though they could’ve been friends in the past that Minami couldn’t recollect, Minami was unsure how she should feel. What should she do or say?

They tended to her, giving her a glass of water, fluffing up her pillows, and adjusting the cover of her blanket so that she was warm. It was a nice gesture, though Minami didn’t need to be babied like this. Minami shifted so she could stand, though the one named Hotaru immediately set her in the bed, telling her to not get up and bother, that she would do everything possible to make sure that Minami would recover.

“Recover from what, exactly?” Minami said confusedly, wondering whether a fever was something to be so worried about.

“The thing is,” Hotaru said, looking down and unable to exactly meet her in the eye. “You’ve lost your memories, Minami-chan.”

“I’ve figured that much,” Minami said softly, looking at Hotaru’s face and trying to see what expressions lie there. Who was this person and why was she so devoted to making sure that she was comfortable and stayed in bed? “But who am I? Where am I?”

“You’re a very brave, courageous person, Minami-chan,” Hotaru said as she wiped at her eyes. “The most beautiful and self-sacrificing person that I’ve met. You’ve saved us all, even if it meant a cost to yourself.”

“I’m really not that great,” Minami said. She looked toward the one known as Takara Yukimura, who was holding her hand. “Ah, if you don’t mind…”

“Sorry,” Takara said, before he immediately retracted his hand away from Minami’s, though his long-fingered pianist hands brushed against Minami’s and it caused a flustered feeling to curdle in Minami’s stomach like the afterglow of a rich drink.”Was just making sure that everything was okay, that’s okay.”

“You don’t need to hold my hand for it, do you?” Minami said with a slight huff, though a small smile graced her lips anyway. In fact, she liked that someone as handsome as Takara was holding her hand, though she wouldn’t admit that aloud. “Anyway…could someone please explain what’s going on? Why I don’t remember anything except…well…I know some things, but there are some things that I don’t remember. The important stuff.”

“Right now, you’re in what we call a Memory Palace,” Takara explained, folding his hands in his lap. “You destroyed the original Memory Palace to get rid of a villain that was holding your best friend, Hotaru, hostage, though it remained intact enough that you weren’t completely gone and could still be salvaged.”

“How does that work, exactly?” Minami said confusedly. “I don’t understand. I don’t think that Memory Palaces have anything to do with stuff like that, unless if it’s stuff like the memory of loci from the stories of memory palaces and locations in memorization techniques.”

“Ah, you’re right,” Takara said while bowing. “This must be all very confusing and new to you. We’re not in the ‘real world’ per se, but in a psychological construct of a world that is called the Phantom Realms, or the cognitive world.”

“How does one enter the cognitive world?” Minami said in confusion. “It’s like you can’t enter a ‘wave’ like a sound save or something like that, right? So how does one…”

“It’s something that is hard to explain, but once you’ve had more exposure to this world, it will become more intuitive,” Kaede said with a smile. “The paranormal has a lot of mysterious things in it, some of them unexplainable to science, so you might be unfamiliar with this part of the world.”

“Okay,” Minami relented before she looked out the window to see the reverse neon colors of Tokyo. "Why don’t I remember anything?”

Hotaru held Minami’s hand with gleaming eyes before the brunette bowed her head. “I’m sorry, Minami-chan. It’s my fault that you ended up this way. You tried saving my life, and you did. But at the cost of yourself.”

Minami frowned. Was she really someone that noble and selfless? Maybe these people were overly exaggerating her noble feats. For now, she felt fever-ridden and bedridden and the only thing that she wanted was a glass of water.

“Water,” she muttered.

The black-haired woman managed to fetch bottled water from the mini-fridge in Minami’s house, to which Minami took off the cap and drank it gratefully. She sank into the covers of her futon, settling into the blankets and basking in its lush warmth. She eyed the blond-haired man from underneath her lashes before she looked toward the brunette girl who sat there with brimming tears in her eyes. The other girl simply washed Minami’s forehead from the remnants of fever while the male looked tenderly down upon her as though he had known her for several lifetimes…what could this possibly mean?

“I’m feeling fine, you know,” Minami said with a fake grumble, though she couldn’t help but feel grateful toward these people whom she didn’t know taking care of her so well, paying attention to her every whim and need. Something went down before that Minami couldn’t quite recollect, but as they stayed in this headspace together, they had a light conversation and got to know one another in a circle of introducing themselves.

“So, I guess this is reintroducing ourselves to one another again,” Minami said as she scanned the faces of the people who looked back at her with warmth and remembrance. “Tell me about yourselves.”

They looked at one another before the blond-haired male introduced himself first. “My name is Takara Yukimura. I’m a detective and leader of an organization called PsiCo that investigates paranormal cases such as this one. As you can see, we’re in the middle of a phenomenon, and we’re trying to rebuild your memories so that you can go into society again.”

The black-haired woman went next. “I am Yukiko Matsumoto. I’m an Onmyouji/psychic practitioner, along with being a model/idol on the side. I also have an impressive collection of books, whether in the real world or in my Memory Palace, that you can borrow at any time that you like, Minami.”

Minami nodded, before saying, “Thank you.”

The blond-haired girl introduced herself as well. “My name is Kaede Ikeda. I’m a therapist/psychologist who specializes in psychic fractures and fissures in the mind such as the one that you’re suffering through yourself, Minami-san. I will be working with you personally to make sure that you recover from this incident so that you can go out in society and interact with everyone like you normally did…though keep in mind you might’ve lost ‘some’ important fragments along the way, the ‘core’ of who you are is intact.”

Minami nodded, before her gaze lingered on the brunette girl, who said nothing and lingered in silence most of all She held back tears and continued to wash Minami’s forehead with the rag with dutiful attention, and Minami cleared her throat. “And you?”

“Minami-chan…” the girl said before she blinked out tears and said. “You’re my very, very, very best friend. One of the truest friends that I will ever know. I hope that we will journey together and learn new things and make new memories and become the best of friends again like we’ve always have.”

Minami went to wipe away the tears that were dripping from Hotaru’s face. Hotaru threw herself into Minami’s arms, grasping her into a tight hug that surprised the pink-haired girl, but it somehow felt right. Her very best friend…the one that she shared a history with. All that gone, blown into the winds, and now those precious memories that they once shared were obliterated in Minami’s mind thanks to her actions of stopping this Hypnos guy. She might’ve stopped him for now, but the fact that he might come back and wreak more havoc.

Minami shook her head. She needed to comfort her friend. Even if she didn’t remember everything, there was a girl who was crying in front of her right now, and something in Minami told her that she couldn’t leave it as is. She hugged Hotaru back, rubbing her back in soothing circles with the palm of her hand, before patting Hotaru’s head as the tears began to patter against the pillow and into Minami’s seirafuku shirt.

“Everything will be fine,” Minami said, patting Hotaru gently. “Like you said, we can make new memories together. I’m sorry that I may not remember everything, though I believe you to be a good person, Hotaru. Thank you for being my friend, before and after, all this.”

Hotaru blinked away some happy tears, before saying, “Of course, Minami-chan! Why wouldn’t I? You were…you were my very first friend. And you helped me gain even more friends together. You stood up to my bullies and gave me the courage to stand up for myself. So I’m going to work on finding a cure for your memories, Minami, even if it means writing down everything that I remember about you to construct in a book for you to read one day.”

Minami cocked a brow.

“You’re going to write an autobiography of me? Who would believe…something like this, I mean? This cognitive world stuff and everything? I don’t think that, even though I’m seeing it right in front of me, people will believe in the paranormal world.”

Minami’s gaze softened as she clutched her hands into the sheets.

“Still…despite all that…I would love to read it.”

“It’s a book that is just for us,” Hotaru said happily. “I write for the sheer joy of writing, and stuff of great emotional impact. I think you’re a hero, Minami…”

Minami smiled before she patted Hotaru on the head again.

“You exaggerate. I…I don’t remember any of this stuff that has happened. But I hope…that I can continue to rehabilitate and work underneath you all so that I better understand the situation between Hypnos and these Phantom Realms.”

“This situation on Hypnos,” Takara said, as he looked out the window and saw the birds sailing on the power lines. “I might have to call them in.”

“Who are you talking about?” Minami said before Takara turned to her and gave her a charming smile.

“Don’t you worry your head about that? Rest now,” Takara said gently before he cleared his head and began to explore the room and the various knick-knacks within. “Say, Minami…if there ever is a time that I turn against everyone…would you do me the favor and turn me back to the side of truth and justice?”

“What makes you think you would do that?” Minami said before she settled further into her comforters. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, Takara.”

Something flickered in Takara’s gaze before he cleared his throat again. “There is something that you should know, I suppose.”

Minami looked curiously toward Takara and his group of friends, while Hotaru continued to dab the washcloth against Minami’s head and make sure that she was comfortable.

“Hypnos is targeting you, specifically,” Takara said in an ominous tone, putting a hand to his chin and looking thoughtful as he mused for solutions. “What exactly for, we don’t know, yet.”

“Was he specifically trying to trigger a ‘reawakening’ in me?” Minami said, remembering what Kaede and Yukiko had to say about something like that when one has their Memory Palace nearly destroyed but just enough intact that they survived. A near-death experience, or a revival.

“We’re not sure,” Takara said, furrowing his brow at the implications. “There are many dangling threads that we’ve been chasing all this time, and we haven’t been able to capture and pin this Hypnos and his crimes.”

“We will unmask the man,” Minami said with determination. “We will rip out his secrets one by one from his throat. If that’s the last thing that we’ll ever do!”

Everyone looked toward Minami curiously. Minami fidgeted in her coverlets, before blushing self-consciously. “I’m sorry. HE’s a keeper of secrets, and knowing that he harbors some keys to my memory is very important to me. He probably left with something, rigght?”

“He probably destroyed something rather than left anything intact that was of use to him,” Yukiko said. “Your Memory Palace was pretty much destroyed to smithereens, and well, you locked him in so he couldn’t access the inner corridors that were important.”

“He could’ve left with something,” Minami pleaded. “Anything. Regardless…Hypnos and I are tied together now, whether we like it or not. And I’m responsible for endangering Hotaru, who is supposedly my best friend in the entire world. Why would I do this to her, to put her through such pain and make myself delete my memories—“

“You did nothing wrong, Minami-chan!” Hotaru cried, before she smiled. “You did it all for my sake. You did wonderfully. You helped me several times, so…so it’s about time that I helped you, Minami.”

Minami looked down at her folded hands. “I appreciate the help. I know you really want to, Hotaru. Though this previous me…I’m not her…you know? It won’t be the same.”

Hotaru looked Minami straight in the eyes, before she gave Minami another fierce hug. “That doesn’t matter to me. I’m just glad that you’re safe and you’re ALIVE. When you were in a comatose state, my breath caught in my throat. I was…so worried that you wouldn’t wake up!”

Minami’s arms slackened at her sides, before a small smile overcame her features. She patted Hotaru affectionately on the head again—she just felt so tempted to, for some reason, though she couldn’t echo the reason why. “Do you mind if I give you head pats like this?”

“I don’t mind!” Hotaru said in a chipper tone. “It’s what you used to do all the time, so it makes me really, really, really happy that something like this is something that you still do.”

“Huh,” Minami said, before shaking her head. “Though if I were to go back to school…”

“I will tutor you in EVERYTHING,” Hotaru said with a manic gleam in her eye that brooked no argument. Minami gulped at the absolute fervor and delight that Hotaru had in her eyes about coaching hre on math equations and Japanese kanji and English terminology and the social studies scope of the world and science. “Please, Minami-chan! Let me do this for you!”

“Okay, okay,” Minami said, laughing a bit helplessly when Hotaru tackled her further into the coverlets. “You don’t have to do so much for me, you know.”

“Just think of it as repayment for what you did for me?” Hotaru said as she stuck her tongue out and winked. “Gosh, Minami, there’s a lot of catching up to do, but you should havee a good idea of the basics. Remember, the fundamentals are what we have to work with, though we will maintain that you’re the ace student and athlete that you were before! I promise!”

Minami sweated.

“Was I really that amazing before?”

“Your work ethic was like none other,” Hotaru said, before she got off of Minami and sat on the edge of the futon. “We always pushed one another to do our best. If one of us lagged behind, we would pick one another up again so that we would go at the same pace. It was a beautiful friendship—and I will be the one to pick you up again!”

Minami pinched tears in her eyes.

“Hotaru…”

“Oh!” Hotaru said as she chattered on, seeming to forget there were other people in the room with her. “You know what we should do? We could go on a dessert binge across Tokyo, going through the sweet shops and cafes and look at all the anime conventions that are taking place and maybe do some cosplay! Wouldn’t that be fun! It would be like old times!”

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad,” Minami mused, though she really had no memories of the supposedly large amounts of photoshoots and cosplay pictures that she and Hotaru shared together. “Could you show me pictures of those?”

“Will do!” Hotaru said cheerily, taking out a photo album book aand sharing the various selfies that she had with Minami in different cosplay getup, from cat girls to nurse uniforms and kunoichi and maids and anime characters and everything else between. Minami looked through them all, mouth agape, marveling at the wonderment and innocent charm in their eyes.

But still, it didn’t elicit any memory within Minami.

“These are very nice,” Minami said, wondering how to tactfully put it. “Though I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything.”

“That’s okay, Minami-chan,” Hotaru said, still smiling. “I’m sure that one day…one day…you’ll get your memories back.”

“And that is why,” Yukiko said as took out her fan and fluttered it to her face, along with holding out a leatherbound journal to Minami. “We expect you to chronicles your days and adventures in this leatherbound tome. It’s a very enjoyable hobby…to write.”

Minami took the journal in her hands, caressing the cover, before she opened the creamy pages, smelling the scent of fresh vellum. Pristine and white. Stark and fresh. It reminded her of herself, where she would start over anew again. Maybe not quite anew again, as she had some basic functioning as a person rather than having all her knowledge go kaboom with her Memory Palace, though recovering the rest of her memory and self would be something that she would try to do. She wanted to write in these journal pages…but what did she have to say?

Maybe one day her story would really begin.