~~~ Shizuka's Perspective - Inside Her Dream ~~~

I found myself sitting in the classroom, trying to finish an assignment that I personally has difficulties with. Basically, my physics teacher gave an assignment for us to finish tomorrow.

I felt the pressure, a 40 questions assignment due tomorrow? I couldn't even do it if I were to do it all back home!

So, I tried doing all the assignments as much as possible while still at school, hoping that someone would come and help me.

But all my friends went home first because they had to finish the same assignment. So, I was left doing all these things alone.

I looked outside for a moment, seeing the sun finally setting as I went further into it, turning the sky into a more distinct orange hue.

As I pondered into the sky, I heard someone calling my name from the classroom door.

"Shizuka-chan... You still here?"

My gaze shifted to the boy, and there he stood, with those brown eyes locked onto mine. He had this aura about him, like he belonged in a library buried in books, yet here he was, in the hustle and bustle of school life.

His hair, a little tousled from the day's activities, framed his face in a way that made my heart skip a beat. Even without glasses, there was an unmistakable intelligence in his eyes, a spark that drew me in.

"Y-yeah, this physics assignment is killing me."

He then entered the classroom, "Oh that 40 question homework that assigned by Mr. Murayama?"

"Yup..."

He walked to my table, glancing at my homework notebook. "You're stuck?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I had a trouble in this question. The question that I had a problem with is the change in entropy of a system that absorbs 50 J of heat at a constant temperature of 300 K?"

"Oh, to solve this question, you need to use the formula delta S equals to Q divided by T, where delta S is the change in entropy, Q is the heat absorbed or released, and T is the temperature."

"Oh okay."

This boy then chuckled to me, "Hihi, good luck, Shizuka-chan! You got this."

That chuckle hits directly to my heart on how cute it seemed to be. It does give me a considerable amount of boost in doing this question.

As I was writing stuff on my notebook, the boy walked towards the window and took a glance outside. From the classroom, we could hear the yells of the school's football team down in the field.

I gazed at him, his captivating smile being lit by the dim orange light honestly made my heart flutter, and his brown eyes sparkled like stars in the sky. His hair was a little messy but in a charming way, and his uniform looked good on his athletic frame.

I sometimes wished that a boy like him is my future prince. But now... the boy that stood in front of me suited the image of a prince that I always longed.

However, one thing is for sure.

Who the heck is this guy?

"Hey, Shizuka-chan... You finished?" He asked, breaking the gaze.

"O-oh! Yeah... I had finished it, and I think I'll do the rest back home."

He kept looking at me for some reasons, and I was anxious because of it. His charming looks really caught my eye and I really hate to not look at him. I really feel like asking him out but what if he had other girls in mind?

Then I felt his presence close to where I was sitting then. I looked up and sure enough, he looked directly at me. His brown eyes, clear of any obstruction and spectacles stared directly at my soul.

My heart is racing fast that it'll jump out from my chest. And I'm not even sure if my cheeks went red because of this guy. Probably the orange light of the sunset will conceal the red hue.

"Shizuka-chan... You're so beautiful."

At this point, I feel like he's attached to me. I really wanted to hold it inside my heart, but my mouth said it anyways.

"I-I like you!"

~~~ Nobita's First Person's perspective – Reality ~~~

~~~Monday, 15th of August 2012~~~

"So, what did she say?"

"..."

I hesitated, unsure how to respond to his question. A torrent of emotions surged through me as I recalled my conversation with Shizuka-chan at the hotel. The revelation she shared was something I could hardly believe.

"She doesn't remember anything, Doraemon," I sighed.

I glanced at my blue robotic friend, noticing the concern etched on his face, though he didn't seem surprised. It was almost as if he'd expected that answer all along.

"Well, I don't know what else to expect right now, Nobita-kun. Every road seems to lead us to a dead end."

As painful as it was to admit, he was right. But then, Doraemon said something that struck a chord.

"But you have to consider something, Nobita-kun... Destiny doesn't deceive. If Shizuka-chan wasn't meant to be the one, then that dream was just a fleeting illusion."

Though the revelation from Shizuka-chan wasn't what I'd hoped for, life didn't stop there. Perhaps I'd been dwelling too much on that dream anyway. Maybe it was time to let destiny take the wheel. Shizuka-chan might have been the one, or maybe someone even better suited for me was out there.

Doraemon kept reminding me that my world wouldn't end if I didn't marry Shizuka-chan, the love of my life. Maybe Non-chan was the one, or even Jaiko-chan! Perhaps I needed to move forward and seek the answers, if there were any to be found.

However, everything I did seemed to remind me of her. Today was the first day of school after the long summer holiday. The morning was quite uneventful—a typical morning where I woke up way too late, forcing me to speed through my morning chores.

Despite the chaotic start, I miraculously made it to school on time. But there was something unusual:

Shizuka-chan seemed... absent?

I looked around the classroom, in search of the girl whom I had crush with, but she's nowhere to be seen. Her seat seemed to be untouched, with no sight of backpacks or school bags to be seen.

After putting my bag on my table, I gathered with the rest of the gang. It seems like they were actively discussing about the summer project.

Dekisugi-kun was there also.

"Hey guys!" I greeted.

"Oi... 'Sup dinner bell!" Gian exclaimed.

"What'cha discussed about?"

"We're talking about our summer project, Nobita-kun. Your star map seems quite interesting with the details it got." Dekisugi-kun remarked, his eyes were quite fixated to the star map poster that Non-chan made for the presentation.

"Well thank you... I mean, we made it without any clues as to what we're looking at in the sky. We could have labelled Jupiter with Spica or sort." I laughed.

"To be fair, while that's true... You got most of the star correctly."

"Huh, alright then..."

Then, I asked them something else...

"I think I want to address the elephant in the room..."

"What's that?"

"Where's Shizuka-chan?"

The gang looked each other with similar concerns as I got right now. They were confused and concerned at the same time.

"Not sure. Usually though, she was the first one to arrive to school. If she was absent, she would usually send us a message as a heads up early in the morning."

"Yeah, this is new for her... She doesn't usually do something like this."

Then, as we were discussing about her... The school bell rang. Still, there's no sight of her.

I was left wondering about the whereabouts of Minamoto Shizuka. Is all good? Is she safe?

I glanced towards the gang, and they seemed to share similar thoughts like I do. Suzy-chan and Non-chan, the two that would be the first to receive the info if she were to be absent, were equally clueless and concerned.

The teacher came into the class, still no sight of her. We greeted the teacher, still no sight of her, and even when the teacher started to check the student attendance, no sight of her.

"Minamoto-san." The teacher called, to check her attendance.

No answers...

All the students could only do is to glance around, to find Shizuka-chan's whereabouts.

The teacher then repeated her name again.

"Minamoto-san!"

Still no answers...

"Does anyone know where Minamoto-san went?"

No answers...

I mean, it is understandable if the teacher was concerned about her. Because she's the girl that no one expected to be late, and if she did absent, she would give anyone a heads up at least 30 minutes before the class starts.

"A-anyways... I will try to consult Minamoto-san's whereabouts after this class with the other teachers. Perhaps she had confirmed her absence with one of my colleagues." The teacher concluded as he prepared the lesson. "Please prepare your summer homeworks,"

The classroom started the lesson just like usual.

But not for me.

I'm quite concerned to her wellbeing. What happened to her on her way to this school? Does she get kidnapped or some sort?

I could picture the scene of Shizuka-chan being abducted by some unknown people and threw her into a white van. And uh.... I really don't like where my thoughts has brought me into.

As I was about to take the poster out my bag however...

Tap tap tap tap tap

Shrieekkk....

It was the classroom door being flung open with a degree of force. I looked up, my heart racing, to see who had entered so abruptly.

It was Shizuka-chan.

However, she appeared far from her usual self.

She stood at the door, her face a mixture of embarrassment, anxiety, and a touch of anger. Her raven hair was dishevelled, hastily tied up, and her body glistened with sweat as it sought to regulate her rising temperature.

"S-s-s-sensei.... I-I'm sorry!"

He appeared visibly irritated, and it became evident that his annoyance stemmed from Shizuka-chan's abrupt door-slamming entrance just as he was about to start the class.

Regardless of Shizuka-chan's identity, our homeroom teacher wasn't about to let this slide.

"I'm sorry, Minamoto-san, but could you please show some respect and good manners? You barged into the class as I was beginning the lesson. Is that the right way to enter when you're running late?"

Shizuka-chan looked down, her expression a mix of guilt and intense embarrassment. She clutched her bulging schoolbag, a clear sign that she had hastily thrown in her belongings without tidying up her belongings.

"O-okay, sensei..." She muttered.

"Now, as a consequence for being late, you'll have to wait outside," the teacher declared. "You won't be allowed back into the classroom until I call you in. Is that clear?"

She closed her eyes, nodded in understanding, and quietly closed the door behind her. It was a scene that had become all too familiar, at least for me.

I was shocked, shocked at the fact that Shizuka-chan arrived late. It was a scene that we never thought would see in the past. As I glanced around the classroom, I could see the shocked face of my friends.

Naturally, I found myself pondering the cause of her sudden tardiness.

But anyways, the lesson starts like nothing has been disrupting it. I don't know what Shizuka-chan feelings like standing outside the classroom.

Frankly enough, the punishment wasn't as prevalent as the punishment that I usually got, because Shizuka-chan was able to get into the classroom at around 30 minutes since her arrival. She still racks some points up in her student record though.

But the escapade doesn't end there, because it seems like she's trying to avoid looking at me.

Not sure what, and why did she do something like that.

"Now, it's your turn to present what you've already done during the summer break, Nobi-kun!"

As the teacher called, me and my group stood up from where we sat, taking our well written posters with us as we headed to the front. It was then that I got another chance to admire the improvement that the girls did to make the poster look even better.

We then arranged our posters and stuck it on the blackboard with a simple tape accordingly. The final result was quite amusing to say the least.

We have made a complete map of the night sky!

"Alright, can you tell us about your summer project?" The homeroom teacher asked, as he stood right next to the front seat desk.

"We'd happy to!" I replied, smiling as I glanced to my other friends.

Their response was a smile but it seems like I did something wrong.

"Y-yeah?"

Non-chan then whispered to me, "You are supposed to start the presentation immediately."

"Ah!" I exclaimed, scratching my straight hair. "Alright then, so first and foremost, this is the night sky map that we made at precisely at the date, 8th of July at 8-9 PM."

We did our presentation quite well. I managed to tell everything we saw that night, and even delve deeper into some of the lore behind some constellations.

I'm not the only one presenting at that time, at some point, Non-chan came forward and continued the presentation, followed by Suzy-chan, and Suneo. Gian couldn't really present because he's the one to hold the poster up and Shizuka-chan... well uhh.

"So uhh... here's Lyra and uhh Cygnus..."

She stopped, her eyes fixated at one spot she thought was the constellation Lyra and Cygnus. It was then that we realized Shizuka-chan had forgotten about Tanabata lore.

It was something that I didn't expect coming. Shizuka-chan, the girl that was tasked to present and tell our friends about Tanabata lore, the lore which she told me back in Tanabata festival few years ago, had struggled in telling the backstory of Tanabata festival.

"Minamoto-san?" The teacher asked, rousing back from his amusement from preceding presentations. He does seemed to get confused as well.

Non-chan quickly took over her part to save our presentation.

As we finished though, Shizuka-chan was noticeably flustered. It seems like her mind wandered everywhere. She's clearly not Shizuka-chan I knew well and love.

As we returned back to our seats, I decided to ask her.

"Shizuka-chan..."

She glanced at me but returned shortly after.

Hey what's this all about? I haven't even said anything, and she had just looked away as if I had finished saying something.

"What happened back there?"

She ignored me at first but replied... rather shortly.

"None of your worries..." She brushed-off.

The way she brushed off my question though, it feels like she was hiding something from me, or she thought that I tried to sneak my nose into something I shouldn't have.

During lunchtime break, Shizuka-chan exited the classroom as soon as the teacher dismissed us. It was quite unusual for her to do so, because she would usually wait for us before we head into the place where we usually eat. The rooftop that is.

I asked the gang about going to the usual place, but they seemed to have other plans in mind. Suneo and Gian thought of going to the cafeteria to get lunch there, Suzy-chan and Non-chan had to go to the teacher's office to hand in some assignments first before going to the cafeteria to get some lunch as well.

Now alone, I decided to go to the rooftop to eat my lunch there. I honestly liked it there, because I would be able to see the clear skies and the scenery as I enjoyed the lunch that my mother had made.

As I arrived in the rooftop, I pushed the heavy green door open and soon, early autumn breeze greeted me there.

I glanced towards the only bench present there, and I noticed that there is a bento set sitting there. I initially got quite disappointed because I assumed that someone had occupied my spot.

But I soon realized that the 'someone', is actually Shizuka-chan.

I saw her standing a few meters away, looking at the scenery of the Kawaguchi City.

"Shizuka-chan?" I asked her, not hoping to get some answer from her, as I recalled the event that has just unfolded this morning. I approached her, and inquired her about what's going on inside her mind.

"Where's the others?" Shizuka-asked, she didn't turn her head a single degree to face me.

"They've been occupied with other things, so they won't make it here." I replied, "So I guess, we're on our own... For now."

"Okay..." She muttered.

As I was going to put my lunch at the bench, Shizuka-chan asked me about something.

"Ne, Nobita-san..."

"Yeah?"

She paused for two or three seconds before continuing "Have you confessed your feelings to someone else?"

I stopped on my tracks, remembering the awful memories of me trying to sort of confess my feelings to girls, in which I faced the inevitable outcome of the girls getting disgusted or worse, I had to face the humiliation afterwards.

There's one thing though, I never in any capacity confessed my feelings towards Shizuka-chan. I was just afraid of hearing her answers if someone like me were to confess my romantic feelings towards her.

Maybe someday...

"Many times, why?"

She didn't immediately respond to my question. In fact, she actually left me on read while staring emptily towards the cityscape view. I knew there is something going on inside her head, but I might not know what it really is.

I figured something must've gone down this morning, or maybe even last night, that connects to her earlier question. Perhaps she tried confessing her feelings to some guy (though it's a stretch), and he left her hanging, leaving her restless and causing her to oversleep.

I hope that wasn't the case though, because if it does... Then I'd never had any chance to make a move on her.

My heart aches a little with the thought, but I asked her about what's going on anyway.

"Is it what caused you to arrive late today?"

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Shizuka-chan nodded in response to my question. It seemed like my earlier suspicions might've hit the mark after all.

Oh god... She admitted she didn't have the same dream as me, and as much as I wanted to believe she just forgot about it, it seemed more likely she'd confessed her feelings to some guy none of us knew.

At this point in time, I felt like leaving the rooftop to give her some room and help me cope with a possible bitter reality.

"There's so many things going on inside my head, Nobita-san..." She started before coming into a pause. She continued shortly after "W-well actually... last night, I had a dream in which a good-looking guy helping me in the class. He's virtually perfect and I can't imagine such person will exist in my lifetime. In a true dream nature, I immediately confessed my feelings to him."

"Huh?"

I stopped on my tracks, following the statement that Shizuka-chan gave to me.

"A dream?" I asked her, "Do you mind if we sit down and talk about it?"

It was then that Shizuka-chan finally turned her head towards me, "Sure, why not?"

We sat down on the floor and leaned our backs on the concrete walls just under the guard railing before Shizuka-chan proceeds to tell the dream that she had before.

"Yeah, a dream... I don't know anything about it, all I know is we met in the classroom in a very serene evening. I think I was trying to do a physics homework and this boy approached me. I don't know who he was."

"Oh, it's just a normal dream you had?" I asked back.

"I'm not sure whether to call it normal or not... But the dream does feel like it really did happen to me."

"Huh, alright."

At this point, I just feel like Shizuka-chan deserved to know what I'm currently on about. So, I decided to tell her about my dream and hope that we could trace the answers of the dream.

"Well, speaking of a realistic dream, I had one too back in April."

"What's the dream about? I want to hear it." She said.

"Well, I found myself standing on this incredibly lush green hill, surrounded by an endless field of grass. It was like something out of a fantasy. But that's not even the weirdest part. There were fireflies everywhere, creating this magical glow, and in the distance, I could see the imposing shadow of Mount Fuji against the night sky."

"Huh, alright that's interesting..."

"As I wandered around, taking in the surreal scenery, I stumbled upon a fig tree unlike any I've ever seen before. Its branches were adorned with these bright pink petals that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. And beneath the tree was a girl, just sitting there and staring up at the stars. What's odd is that she looked strangely familiar, like someone I knew, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As I approached her though, things took an unexpected turn. She looked up at me, and to my surprise, she recognized me. Without any honorifics, she casually said, 'Yeah, I missed you too, Nobita.' It was perplexing, yet oddly comforting at the same time. We ended up standing there together, hand in hand, both of us admiring the majestic silhouette of Mount Fuji in the distance. It was a dream, but it felt so vivid and real—I can't shake off the lingering sense of wonder from that surreal encounter."

"Oh wow, that sounds romantic..." She paused a little before continuing. "D-did you find out who she was?"

"No, that's the strange part. She confessed she loved me, said she'd liked me for a long time, but her face was kind of a blur. I couldn't make out who she really was." I replied.

Then what followed is a silence between us. Frankly, it's not that awkward though because I spent the time to open my bento box. Shizuka-chan seemed to have fallen in silence as well. Only her and God knows what she's on about.

I was quite baffled though at the dream that she had. It wasn't like my dream, since she was the one who confessed her feelings to the boy that she didn't even recognize. While in my case, the girl that was virtually perfect for me confessed her love towards me.

One thing is for sure though, she hasn't told me the details of the boy she saw in the dream. Only thing she said about this guy is that he's perfect for her and I don't really know her preferences.

~~~ Shizuka Minamoto ~~~

How could a dream have such effect on me? It's like I fell in love with an entity that don't even exist!

Basically, for the whole day, I felt butterflies in my stomach as I recalled (accident or intentional) that dream. With that, I couldn't focus on anything in school.

But who could that boy be? Does he even exist? Or is it someone that I had met in my lifetime that I had supposedly forgotten about?

It couldn't be Nobita-san. What I remember from my dream was the boy don't even wear glasses, which contradicted the assumption that the boy was Nobita-san. He also had an exceptional intelligence, which was quite far off from the real Nobita-san.

What about, say Dekisugi-san? Well, his face doesn't resemble him at all. The way he spoke was closer to that of Nobita-san, but I couldn't really judge because Nobita-san never talked to me about studies.

I went through many faces in my life, both past and the future, and I couldn't trace back who it really was. It could be anyone!

"Minamoto-san!"

Oh shoot!

"What'd you thinking?"

"Ah! Uhm no-nothing... I was just getting a little distracted!" I replied.

"Can you answer the question number 25 for me?"

I rushed to locate the mentioned question in my physics textbook. Yeah physics, a lesson which I'd been zoning out of all along. I knew there was no chance I could tackle this one - not a shot in the dark.

But then, a flicker of recognition hit me. This question? It rang a bell.

'What is the change in entropy of a system that absorbs 50 J of heat at a constant temperature of 300 K'.

Hold up, wasn't this the same question from my dream?

"Y-yes sensei" I reluctantly replied as I stood from my desk.

I walked to the whiteboard and grabbed the marker. I pressed the marker onto the whiteboard as Sensei and the whole classroom watchful eyes were locked onto it.

Geez! I can't recall what my dream prince whispered to me about this!

I was scared for life that I wouldn't be able to answer this question. I can feel Sensei waiting for me to finish writing down the answers. But then the saving grace saved me.

Suddenly, I felt like someone was trying to assist me.

It was him! The prince that I remember from my dream!

"Remember Shizuka-chan... You'd have to divide the Q and the T, and you have the delta S".

My heart was racing so fast, that the prince was here to assist me.

Oddly I thought it was Nobita-san who was trying to assist me, but I think that's just me because Nobita-san won't even be able to do this question.

So, I plugged the numbers, and I got the final value of 0.16.

"That's the correct answer, Minamoto-san. You can sit down now." Sensei said, before proceeding to tell the classroom about the steps to solve the problem in question.

Feeling a little relieved that I was able to do the question, I sat down at my chair. I pondered about the presence of that particular boy again.

I asked myself : "Where and why did he appeared out of thin air?"

This hallucination is killing me, and it made quite a lot of impact to my activities all across the day.

Evening came not long after, the sun is starting to set down in the western horizon.

"Shizuka-san, let's walk home together," Suzume-san invited me. As much as I really wanted to join them, I couldn't because I have a violin course tonight.

"Ah sorry, Suzume-san. I have violin lesson to attend tonight." I replied, as I was about to pack my stuff up.

It was then that I remembered that today is going to be my turn to tidy and clean the classroom up.

As my classmates left, I started doing the chairs from the very back of the room. Frankly these alumunium made chairs are not something that is heavy to lift, so I picked it up with ease.

It took me no more than 10 minutes to complete my task, and I finally got the chance to return back home.

Before I go though, something caught my eye.

It was the light rays coming from the eastern horizon. Yeah, the sun light has turned more into orange hue as we go further into the evening.

I couldn't help but to feel the sense of Déjà vu of this atmosphere.

Yes, this atmosphere...

It seems like I could see him standing near the window, looking down to the field.

"Shizuka-chan?"

That call surprised me a lot. I looked to the doorway where the source of the voice came from. There I saw Nobita-san standing in the doorway. I couldn't help but to admire the details of his looks.

His hair has gotten a little longer, much longer than I remembered back then in elementary school. His brownish amber eye shone through his round spectacles, presumably gazing at me.

"Shizuka-chan... What happened?"

It was enough to rouse me back to reality.

"A-ah, it was nothing. I just finished doing my turn to tidy the classroom." I replied,

"Oh, okay then. I just want to take my school bag if you don't mind."

"Yeah yeah, I don't really mind."

As he took his school bag (I'm not even sure why I didn't notice that his bag was still in this classroom) he asked me, "Wanna walk home together?"

"Oh, I have violin lesson this evening." I replied, "Maybe later, sorry."

"Ah that's too bad, but it's fine." He replied, "How's your violin lesson? Doing good?"

"Yeah, really good. I actually learned everything from scratch and I think it worked the best for me."

"I'm glad if everything goes to plan, Shizuka-chan. Good luck achieving your dream, hihi!" Nobita-san said, followed by a friendly and kindhearted chuckle.

That sentence...

"Hihi, good luck, Shizuka-chan! You got this."

The image of that boy flashed in place of Nobita-san. There he was, with his cute and bright smile under the orange hued light of evening sun. This evokes a stronger sense of déjà vu and I really hate that the thought came up in front of Nobita-san.

I can feel my heart racing at that thought, and I do hope my cheeks don't get warm. But my body said otherwise, and it really made my whole face warm for some reasons. I hope the evening sun was enough to conceal this face.

"T-thanks... Nobita-san." I stammered,

He smiled as he grabbed his backpack and put it... Well on his back. "Anyways, I think I'll go first then. See you later, Shizuka-chan!" Nobita-san said as he was about to walk towards the other door.

Before seeing him go, I have one thing that I want to do.

"Nobita-san!"

He stopped on his track, "What's the matter?"

At first, I was a bit hesitant to ask him so, but I did it anyways, "Would you want to walk together?" I asked.

"Sure, I guess you need some company until we got to music school."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Alright then, let's go."