We decided to go see a movie before settling in for the night. None of us were too impressed by it, even though it was supposed to be an action movie. It ended with the main character dying and his soon-to-be-wife committing suicide. It was a tear-jerker, but personally, we could've done better. Afterward, we decided to go out for dinner.

I leaned over to Jacob in the passenger seat. "Let's surprise them with hibachi."

He looked back at me with a peculiar expression. "Are you sure? That's pretty expensive."

I shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Alright, then."

The trip there was congested with traffic. It took us longer than anticipated, and we had to find a different area to park in. When we parked, I turned to Jacob.

"Keep a gun on you just in case," I suggested. "Crystalline's forces could be close."

He nodded and slightly lifted his shirt. I patted my pocket as well.

We had to walk a few buildings down to get to the restaurant. Jacob and I stood on each side of the girls in case something similar to when Sayori was snagged in the alleyway happened again.

The Japanese restaurant was completely packed. The Asian lady greeted us at the front desk with a slightly strained expression. She spoke in a rough Asian accent.

"Hello. How many we have today?"

I smiled in greeting. "Six, please."

She nodded and clicked her pen. "It will be about a thirty minute wait. Is that okay?"

I turned to them, and they nodded. I turned back and nodded as well.

She nodded and wrote something down for a second. "May I get the last name?"

"Whitfield," I said.

"Okay," she said. "We will let you know when we are ready for you."

"Thank you," I replied and sat down in front of the main doors.

"Why did you choose here?" Natsuki asked over the noise. Meanwhile, clanging could be heard from behind me. She looked over my shoulder, and it was the guy preparing to cook the meal in front of the customers. I smiled.

"That's why."

Suddenly, a large flame spewed out in front of the people. Yuri gasped.

"Oh, my lord! Is that supposed to happen?"

"That, and a lot more to come, too," Jacob said.

Surprisingly, we waited less than we were told. The hostess smiled and motioned behind her. We followed her back and sat down at the table. There was another family there as well with two children who looked as if they could've been twins. The two boys looked about ten or so years old and wore party hats.

Natsuki was on the far end of the table, and a middle aged woman who sat beside her complimented on her hair.

"Where did you get it dyed at?" the woman asked.

"Oh, I never dyed it," Natsuki answered. "I was born this way."

She looked at her with a strange expression. "W-What?"

Natsuki chuckled. "It's a strange concept, I know."

The waiter came by, who looked around our age, if not a little older. He took our drink orders and later said that he'd come by to get our food orders in a few minutes.

I was sitting next to Monika as well, and she excitedly tapped my shoulder. "Noah, they have squid. Should I try it?"

I chuckled, recalling the reference in the game. "I'd prefer you not get an appetizer, but you can do whatever you want."

Natuski leaned over in my direction as well. "Hey, what are scallops?"

"They're like clams," I explained. "I like them. They're pretty chewy."

She hesitated before nodding. "What do you think I should get?"

I shrugged. "Get whatever you want. I brought y'all here so you could try it."

Soon enough, the waiter came by and refilled some of our drinks before taking our food orders. I decided on the steak and shrimp, while Natsuki decided on the scallop and shrimp. After he was done, he left to go turn in the order.

"What happens now?" Monika asked me.

"We wait for the cook to come out," I answered. "He makes the food right in front of us."

"Really?" she asked. "Won't it burn us?"

I smiled. "Oh, no. Probably not."

A confused and slightly worried expression came across her face. "Probably?"

I couldn't help but start chuckling. "I dunno. Maybe, maybe not."

"Have you gotten burnt before?"

I slowly shook my head. "No, but there's always a first for everything."

"Oh," Monika said, clearly worried. I began laughing more when she slowly scooted her chair back.

"Monika, I'm joking," I reassured. "You'll see what I mean when the cook comes."

She playfully punched me in the shoulder, which actually hurt some. I hit her back and she stuck her tongue out at me.

A few minutes passed, and the cook came with his far full of who-knows-what in it. He confirmed our orders and began banging his tools on the grill to begin. Both Natsuki and Monika jumped at the initial hit, and I'm quite sure the other two girls did as well.

Once the flames came, Natsuki squealed and covered her face for a second as if she thought that she'd get burned. The cook saw this as chuckled at her. She glanced at me and pouted.

"I see what you mean now," Monika said as she nudged me. I glanced at her and smiled.

The rice was placed on the stovetop, and it was personally one of my favorite parts of the meal. Shortly after, the vegetables were added on. I looked down the table, and I could see Sayori with her mouth watering. I nudged Monika and nodded towards her. She turned her head and began laughing.

The food was finally finished after another five to ten minutes. The waiter came by and refilled all of our drinks, and we ate as if we hadn't in weeks.

"I wonder if I can buy scallops here," Natsuki said after a minute of eating. "I honestly didn't think that I'd like it, but these are great."

I shook my head. "Good luck finding them at a decent price. I could be wrong, but I don't think they're cheap."

I ate the majority of my food, and decided to take the rest of it to-go in case I wanted a little snack for later. I told the waiter to split the check between Jacob and I so none of us had to pay the entire bill, which I knew wasn't going to favor us regardless. I left him my debit card, tipped the waiter a healthy amount, and we left the restaurant.

"Wow, that was probably the best place I've ever been to," Sayori said as we were making our way to the car. "Can we go there again soon?"

I chuckled and nudged Jacob with my elbow. "Told you it was a good decision."

He rolled his eyes. "My wallet didn't think so."

Sayori cleared her throat. "So, it that a no?"

"We're going to have to wait for a while," I said. "First, we need to decide whether or not we're going to get a motel room or find a place to pull over for the night."

We climbed in the car and I started the engine. Jacob sighed before he spoke.

"I suggest we go to that park and sleep," he said. "Our wallets will both thank us for that."

I nodded. "It's probably for the best."

----------------------------------------

We pulled over to a safe place by the woods to sleep. I knew it was gonna be cramped, but I didn't think it would be as bad as it was.

Natsuki groaned. "Ugh, can't we check in to another motel or something?"

"I wish, but we'd be short on money," Jacob reminded her. "We only have but so much left, and we need it for food and gas."

I pulled the seat back and closed my eyes. Jacob and Yuri were a little too close for my comfort, as Yuri was laying on top of him. Then, Natsuki crawled up to the front seat and did the same.

She shushed me before I could say anything. "Don't make it more weird than it has to be."

I honestly didn't mind that much. Her body heat, or what body heat she had, felt perfect in the chilly Chicago weather.

"Whatever you say," I whispered back.

I pulled the seat back a little more and I wrapped my hands around her waist. Natsuki rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes to which I did the same.

To my surprise, I found myself standing on the platform, but something was different. Instead of the usual white mist, it was blood red. Maricana was nowhere to be seen either.

Her voice, however, could be heard. It echoed through out the vast and empty room.

"A devastating future lies ahead of you, Noah," she said. "Stop my sister at all costs, before it's too late!"

The platform disappeared, along with the dream itself.

Fortunatley, I didn't wake up screaming in fear this time; I woke up to screaming in fear.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Yuri's voice rang out like an alarm clock.

Natsuki jumped, unfortunately for me, she accidentally hit my scraped knee. "Ow, that kinda hurt."

I pulled my seat up to see what the screaming was about. I saw that a deer was at our window that Yuri was staring hard at in a mix of angered fear.

Jacob began to chuckle as he wringed his ear out from the screaming. "That's only a deer, a buck to be precise."

"The hell is a buck?" Natsuki asked.

"They're harmless! Here." I said as I rolled the window closest to Sayori down. The deer poked its head through the back window, where Sayori was sitting.

"Awe! It's so cute!" Sayori carefully put her hand through the window to pet it. Unfortunately for her, the deer ended up taking her bow.

"Hey! You can't have that!"

It was too late. The deer ran off with her bow in its mouth.

"Aww, well at least I have an extra," Sayori said as she took one out of her bag and clipped it in her hair as if nothing had happened.

We all had a good laugh that morning, about as good as Sayori eating breakfast the other day. I decided to start up the car and began diving.

However, I couldn't stop thinking about what Maricana had told me. She said that I had a devastating future ahead of me, but what? Is something going to happen to the girls? Me? Jacob? Maybe even Spencer whenever we meet him in the near future? It was going to be one of those times where I'm gonna stress about this, similar to other nightmares and dreams I've had in the past.

I had gotten so caught up in my thoughts that I wasn't paying attention to the road, and I didn't notice a car coming in my direction. I didn't even notice it was there until the car honked and it tried to swerve around me.

"Watch out!" Natsuki screamed.

I barely missed it by what felt like an inch. I pulled over on a side road and into a parking lot. I was shaking profusely from shock and I rested my head on the steering wheel.

"Noah?" Monika asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"

I pulled my head up from the wheel and threw my hands up in frustration. "I-I don't know. I had another dream last night."

"Well, go ahead and tell us then," Yuri said, to which I did. I told them the little bit that happened.

Jacob spoke up first. "Red mist? Didn't you say that it was white?"

I nodded. "It reminded me of the Third Eye."

Nobody said anything for a moment.

"Do you think it's Crystalline?" Natsuki asked.

I nodded. "It would make sense."

After a couple of seconds of silence, I added on. "What confused me was that it only lasted for about fifteen seconds, if not less."

"I wonder what she meant by that you have a devastating future," Sayori question. "That sounds pretty scary."

"Yeah, that was one of my many questions that I never got to ask," I answered kind of sarcastically.

"Well, let me drive so you can clear your head," Jacob suggested.

"Maricana seems to know what's going on," Monika mumbled. "I wish that she'd tell us so we can at least try to prevent."

Jacob took the wheel, and I climbed in the passenger seat. I suddenly felt extremely tired and tried to get Jacob's attention, but everything went dark before I could do anything.

I found myself back on the platform, but the red mist was still there. However, it was mixed with a white color as well. Maricana appeared, and she looked visibly worn down as if she hadn't slept in a few days.

"I apologize, Noah. I was in a rush."

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Is it Spencer?"

She nodded. "He does play a role in this as well, but I do not have much time."

I nodded in return. "What is it?"

"Crystalline," she said. "Her forces have grown stronger. You must hurry and prepare."

"What did you mean about having a devastating future?" I asked.

Maricana lowered her head. "The only thing that I know to tell you is this: Remember what I said about building and losing relationships."

I was confused for a second, but it hit me. "W-Wait..."

"I'm sorry Noah, but I must go. I have much to do."

I woke up in a cold sweat, and nobody was in the car. I thought that it was another nightmare for a second.

That was, until I looked out of the window and saw something that looked all too familiar.

-----------------------------------------

Jacob knew he screwed up.

After Noah had fallen asleep, he spotted a house that looked abandoned, so he pulled off the highway to check it out.

"Hey, I think we should check this building out. It could be somewhere that we could stay for the time being."

It looked empty, so why not?

"I'm not so sure, Jacob," Yuri disagreed. "This is giving me a weird feeling."

The truth of the matter was, if Yuri of all people was scared of a house, he knew that was a red flag right then and there. However, he didn't want to pass this opportunity up. Still, in his head, Jacob was having second thoughts. He shut off the engine and prepared to get out.

"Jacob, are you sure?" Monika asked.

"I'm grabbing my gun just in case."

We took a step in the house, and it seemed completely empty.

"You hear that?" Monika asked quietly.

"I didn't hear anything..." Sayori trailed off.

Jacob could tell that she was nervous. Maybe this was a bad idea, but it was too late.

"Hey! Put your hands up! Now!"

Jacob fumbled for the gun, but he dropped it in front of the soldier.

A soldier with the name "Johnson" sewn into his uniform stepped up to us.

The other man picked up the gun and holstered it into his belt.

"Wait a minute," Jacob heard him mumble, but he shook his head and continued to aim the gun at us.

"Okay! Get on your knees!" They did as they were told, and the two soldiers put duct tape on our mouths and tied them with ropes. Jacob was dragged to a separate room with Yuri, while Sayori and Natsuki went a separate direction. What scared Jacob the most was that two of the guards took Monika by herself.

Jacob leaned his head back and wished Noah would wake soon.

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