Sunday, 15 April 2012

08:30 Local Time

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~ Nobita Nobi ~

After another night of restless sleep, the day had finally come... The day where I was hoping to find out the deepest truth of my dream.

One hot bath later (Doraemon's idea, not mine), I cleaned myself up. As a change of pace, I decided to grab the best clothes I had in my wardrobe before going to the sacred shrine, around 50 kilometres west in Hachioji.

We only took necessary things with us and just enough money to buy a two-way ticket, along with a little lunch if needed. And after a few minutes, we were heading out to the nearest station to catch our train.

At around 10am, we managed to get on our train just in time before it disembarked. I was feeling a little more confident than I was yesterday. This shrine and its proprietors, according to a few people we asked, were able to accurately interpret the dreams of their guests.

"Sounds like we might have a winner here, Nobita-kun!" Or so Doraemon thought.

We arrived at the shrine, located on the foot of a tall mountain covered with blossoming cherry trees. The shrine wasn't too crowded, but rather empty. We noticed a few shrine maidens walking around the shrine at that time, performing what looked to be their usual duties.

Entering the shrine, we decided to pray in front of the praying hall, before proceeding to make an offering by throwing some coins into the offering basket.

After all that done, we continued our journey by looking for the person that everyone referred to. We approached one of the shrine maidens to ask on the whereabouts of this person.

"Um, excuse me..." I asked.

"Oh, yes? How can I help you?" The shrine maiden replied.

"I'm looking for a person that can interpret dreams, and the people we've asked said that they lived around here. Do you know who and where can we meet them?"

"Oh, I know who you're talking about. His residence is just right behind this main shrine building." She pointed at the large building in the centre. "He's currently out running an errand, but he should be back in a few minutes."

"Hm, I think we can wait for his arrival here. We won't bother him in his residence."

"Alright, you can take a seat on wherever you're comfortable with." The maiden directed us to some nearby benches. "I'd suggest you sit on these benches under the cherry tree to get a good shade."

"Um, where?" I asked.

"Um, right there." She giggled as she pointed at the very obvious bench right in front of me.

Embarrassed, I scratched the top of my head as Doraemon and I took a seat, as we waited for the arrival of this supposed person. The shrine maiden told us she had to return to their duties and wished us the best of luck.

"Hey Doraemon, are you sure that this person can interpret dreams?"

"Yeah, at least that's what people said on the internet."

"Well, if he is indeed a famous interpreter, wouldn't there be many people flocking to this shrine only to meet this person?"

"Not sure... But you've got a point." Doraemon replied, "W-we'll see..."

We waited for some time, and after a few minutes, Doraemon decided that he was going to take a stroll around the shrine to see the surrounding area. I said yes to his request, leaving me alone under the tree.

The serene atmosphere, combined with smooth gusts of wind blowing from the top of the mountain, was making me feel a little drowsy. I couldn't keep myself awake and I eventually fell asleep on the bench that time.

After a while, I felt something snap me out my nap. This is where I decided to open my eyes, which were feeling fresher than ever. As I opened my eyes though, I was greeted by a very old man, watching me from above.

"Hi..." He greeted me.

I jolted up, a little surprised to see him. "Oh uh... hi!" I greeted him back.

"Sorry for disturbing your sleep, but this is the man that you're looking for." Said a familiar voice next to him, that being the shine maiden from before.

"Oh!" I said... I stood up immediately and bowed down to greet the person we were looking for beforehand. "I-I'm sorry for being rude!" I exclaimed.

"It's fine, young man." He replied, "I see that you're looking to interpret the dream that you had, right?"

"Yes, I'm here to consult my dream with you... My name is Nobi Nobita and I'm with my friend... But he's gone somewhere."

"Oh, the Tanuki over there was your friend?" He pointed to a distant Doraemon, who is heading towards our direction.

"Yes, but please don't call him a Tanuki, he would be angry if you did that to him."

"Understood, young man..." He said,

As Doraemon reunited with us, we headed into the other large building in that shrine complex. While that was happening, we found out that this man was the guardian of the shrine itself.

In the building we're in, we sat on the floor, around a square kotatsu table. Hot ocha was served by the maidens inside a teapot in the centre of the table, ready to be poured into the available glasses.

"So, young man... Would you care to tell me the details of the dream you've had?" He asked, while pouring his own glass with the ocha tea inside the teapot. "Describe it as thoroughly as possible."

Glancing at Doraemon, he gestured me to go ahead. I cleared my throat and started explaining the dream as thorough as I possibly could.

"So, a few days ago, I had this dream where I was standing under the shade of a very big fig tree, somewhere in an empty field under the starry night sky, together with a girl whom I don't know the identity about. In fact, there is barely anything that I can remember about this girl, other than the fact that she had her hair tied in a ponytail." I explained. "And she called me without any honorifics too, which surely caught me by surprise as I had not allowed any random girls to call me that, let alone to my best friend, who is a girl."

"Then what did this girl do to you? Or what did you do with this girl?"

"Well, at first, she wrapped her arms around mine, which caught me by surprise. I looked at her, in which she replied with a weak smile. After that, she confessed her 'love' to me with such a genuine tone, a tone that really made my heart go crazy. I can't think of someone would actually confess her truest feelings or one should call 'love' to me, and I doubt the fact that there is someone who actually has a crush on me." I replied. "I know this might sound ridiculous... But thinking about the dream is what prevented me from sleeping for 2 days after the day of the event happening. I wanted to know what this dream wanted to convey to me, and if it was trying to convey something, I wanted to know the identity of that girl."

As I stopped explaining the details of my dream, I noticed that the old man closed his eyes and nodding. "Hmm... Alright, let me process."

He continued a few moments later, which was honestly a little wait compared to the rest of the interpreter that we had visited in the city. "What an interesting dream. I can tell from the genuine feeling you had from this dream." He started with a remark, "But you know what? The dream you had was trying to convey some information to you."

I felt the rush of excitement inside of my head accompanied by such a large surprise as I leaped forward in my seat. "Is it?"

"Yeah."

It was so surprising to finally hear a positive interpretation result from an interpreter, that it was almost unbelievable on the first glance.

"What does the dream wanted to convey to me?" I asked,

"I will tell you word by word on what the dream is trying to convey..." He said, as he stood from his sitting place and walked towards the large open shoji walls that led to a view of the city of Hachioji. I followed his steps and listened to what he's trying to say.

"So, the dream is trying to tell you that your destined future wife and partner is the girl that confessed her love to you in her dream. It wasn't just any ordinary girl though; she is the girl that has been by your side on most of your daily life." He started explaining. "There are some hints that I can catch from your dream though... First of all, the blossoming cherry tree that you happen to describe. It means that this girl's heart was blossoming with love and the 'fact' that it grew on a fig tree, in which got so many scars in the trunk, means that the blossoming of 'love' happened soon after a long period of darkness and hurtfulness."

I was confused. Darkness? Hurtfulness?

"Then what about the hanging roots tied up to each other in that tree?"

"Hmm, honestly from what I know, roots tied up into each other means the bond of friendship that tied so tightly that it would be hard to rip apart." He said, "I'm not sure whether that will corelate to the dream or not."

"Ah okay, so it is not something related?"

"I guess so, but if you ask me, that's what it truly means."

I tried to process what the man had said to me, before continuing to ask him the identity or the hint that will lead me to the identity of this girl.

"Is it possible for you to identify who the real identity of this girl actually is?" Nobita asked.

"I'm not sure, I can tell though, that you really had a hard time trying to remember who this girl was. Because your conscious didn't remember the identity of the girl, but rather, it remembers the subject as just 'the most beautiful girl you had ever seen'." He replied, "However, I can help you derive most of the hints that will lead you to the identity of this girl."

"You can derive any information about this girl?"

"I can, I think... The first one, the fact that she immediately called you without any honorifics means that, at one time... This fated girl, is going to ask you... forcibly even, to eliminate the use of honorifics, either for you calling her, or vice versa." He said, "Remember what you said that she immediately wrapped her arms around your left arm in particular?"

"Yeah?"

"It means that, this girl would be so supportive of you, and she would always there for you ever since you were young. Whether you noticed it or not." He said, finally turning around to see the bemused face of both Doraemon and I."

"I-I see..."

Immediately, I can sense that the girl that he meant was Shizuka all along. But then, I ruled out the possibility because she haven't forced me to call her just by 'Shizuka'. In fact, either of us had never even used the first name only, unlike the relationship between Suneo, Gian and I; in which we had eliminated the use of honorifics whatsoever.

This doesn't make any sense, why would someone think that eliminating honorifics means that the girl is going to be my destined partner?

In fact, his whole interpretation, although the fact that he could 'see' what the dream is trying to convey is making me a little happy, doesn't mean that what he said makes any sense at all. It sounds like those fairytale stories that has bizarre dreams that derives into something meaningful in real life.

A thought came up in my head, thinking that this old man, might have just letting out his own fantasies at me, free of charge.

I glanced to my robotic friend, Doraemon. All I could see was a face that someone would make after they heard that all dorayaki was outlawed.

"Anyways, that's all I could derive for your dreams." He said, sitting down at the table yet again, in which we followed suit. "I was astonished at how enriched your dream really is, it does want to convey that you have a destined princess right around you at this very time. It just the matter of how you will be able to meet this girl in the not-so-distant future."

"Yes..." Reluctantly, I replied while nodding to what he had said. "Thank you for the session..." I said together with Doraemon.

"You're welcome, young man... Please do come to this shrine if you want to seek more clues about the girl in your dream." He said, as we stood up to leave the building.

"Sure thing!"

We headed out to the Torii gate that led us to the staircase. My mind was still imbued by what this man had said about my dreams. I truly found it hard to believe every word that this man had told us about.

"Doraemon..." I called.

"Yeah?"

"Do you find everything that the man had said to us extremely hard to believe?"

He paused for a second. "You just realized that?"

"I think... But everything sounds so bizarre from the start." I explained.

"Yeah, I mean... How could he derive the meaning of the girl not using any honorifics? How could he say something so oddly specific like 'This girl forces you to eliminate the use of honorifics' from something so mundane as that?"

"Yeah, I started to think that the man is just fantasizing himself about everything. Thankfully, the session was free of charge, so we at least didn't lose any money."

"Agreed." Doraemon nodded.

We finally arrived at the bottom of the stairway, returning to the empty countryside road that we came from before. By the time we arrived at that spot, the sun was already high above the sky, on its maximum height at the time of the year.

"But you know what, Doraemon... What would happen if everything he said was true all along?" I questioned.

"Not sure, but if you ask me, I really doubt the fact that everything the dream had conveyed is true." He replied, still being skeptical. "But still... I'm going to help you in your efforts to trace everything you've got in your dream."

I smiled, hearing those words from my loyal friend. "Thank you, Doraemon..."

As we were walking towards the bus station to catch our next bus to the Hachioji station, I took my time to ponder about who this girl in my dream really was.

But always, no matter how much I try to remember who she really was, nothing came back to me. As much as I got a few answers today, I boarded the train left with almost no idea where to go next.

I tried looking for the truth with the help of some people that claimed to understand how to interpret dreams, and again, nothing useful had come out from it. Most of what they were explaining felt like it was made up as they went along. Maybe I should've just forgotten about this dream after all-

No. I can't accept all these things and let the dream fall into the void of forgetfulness just like that. There is something in that dream that shouldn't be forgotten.

This is not the end of my quest to trace my dream. I need to find the truest answer to who this girl was, no matter how people think that it was a meaningless dream, regardless of it being a girl other than Shizuka.

Maybe Shizuka is not the 'best' or 'perfect' woman to be with me in the future. It might be another woman, maybe even Jaiko might be the better choice for me to go with. Who knows at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if my timeline is a mess of spaghetti now.

Finally, the train arrived at our neighbourhood right after midday. We were a little short on money after we spent much of it on a batch of second-hand manga that we happen to come across during our trip back to the train station.

The not-so hard to predict event happened soon after, our stomach were all emptied out and my throat is as dry as Atacama Dessert. But of course, because we have exhausted our money on a manga, we couldn't get any drinks at all.

Delirious, we stumbled our way out of the terminal. It was a 2 kilometre walk back home, which roughly translates to a few hundred light years due to our minor hunger problem.

Suddenly, a 'miracle' happened to both of us.

"Ah! N-Nobita-san!" A girl with an outstanding beauty us boys called 'Shizuka' called out to me right after she left a big blue house that we happen to stand in front of. "Perfect!"

This was the first time we had a proper conversation, after a while of passive and cold interactions between us since we had some 'disagreements' with the clubs.

It surely is a refreshing thing to hear, but for some reason, I couldn't give a proper expression to reply with. Literally every single feeling that I had was mixed up. The crush that I've had on her, mixed up with a bitter taste in my heart after our cold interactions.

Aside from that, I was so confused as to why she said 'perfect' suddenly. "Shizuka-chan?"

Shizuka was about to open her mouth when she stopped herself while her expression changed a little, "Nobita-san... Are you okay?"

"Yeah..."

"Hmm?

"No, nothing... I'm okay, really." I said, "What do you want?"

"Well- "

Just as she was about to say something, another brown-haired girl jumped out from the house that Shizuka had just exited from.

"Nobita-kun!" She exclaimed, with a voice that immediately echoed in my heart. Yeah, it was none other than my past childhood friend, Nonko. "Perfect timing!"

Her appearance makes me feel so different compared to when I see Shizuka before. Perhaps, it was just a sense of 'nostalgia' or maybe even more than that.

What is this? What happened to me?

I proceeded to respond to her, "Why are two of you saying, 'perfect timing'?" I said, "And whose house is this?"

Nonko pouted at my question. "How rude, this is where I live now!" She replied, stomping her foot in both anger and poutiness.

I held back my hand in defence. "A-ahh!! I completely forgot about it, sorry!"

Just then, another girl came out from the house, and it was different from these two. It was Suzume Tokugawa, or so we knew her by 'Suzy-chan'. She was carrying a rounded small container made from plastic, in which piles of cookies can be seen neatly arranged inside that container.

"Nobi-kun?" She called me.

"Hi, Tokugawa-san!" I greeted her, using rather respectful tone, as we both weren't so close now. "What are you guys doing at Non-chan's house?"

"We're making cookies!" Nonko exclaimed, "We happened to meet you two when we were about to share these cookies with the boys in the empty lot."

"Suneo and Gian are there?"

"Yeah, where else would they be?"

"Well, then it should be alright to take some for them while we're there. It's not fair if I took the lead from the other guys." I replied, "What do you think, Doraemon?"

"Sounds good!" He replied almost immediately.

"Excuse me, but who are these boys we're talking about?" Suzume asked,

Ah yeah, she was still pretty new around us, so this was to be expected.

"Takeshi-kun, and Suneo-kun. These four including Shizuka-san and Nobita-kun were playmates ever since they were 5." Nonko explained, "I too were their playmates, but my journey was cut short because I have to move to America when I was 6." She explained.

"I see... Well, can I join your circle?" She asked, as if it wasn't evident enough that she was already into our gang (in which she excludes Suneo despite the impossibility of that happening).

"Why sure!!" Doraemon exclaimed.

"Now that I think about it, who is this racoon dog who has a rather peculiar looking body?" Suzume asked,

"I-I'm not a Tanuki!!!! I'm a sophisticated state of the art robotic babysitter and worker from the 22nd century!" Doraemon exclaimed, with his usual angry tone when faced to this kind of embarrassing first introduction.

Suzume backed off a bit, her happy face turned a bit full of guilt, "E-eh?? I'm sorry!!" She exclaimed,

I calmed Suzume down, to avoid her getting the wrong idea about Doraemon's personality. "I-it's fine, Suzy-chan.... Doraemon's just like that if he was faced with such question, regardless of who asked it." I said, "And Doraemon, would you want to accept her apology? Just this time..."

Doraemon was clearly still fuming, but he understood what I had said to her and granted her apology. "Alright I will forgive you, but don't do it again okay?"

"Okay!" Suzume exclaimed, while I was relieved after everything has been sorted out.

"Now, let's head to the empty lot, shall we?" Nonko exclaimed.

We went to the empty lot together right after Nonko said that.

But one thing is for sure, Shizuka seemed to be a lot more silent than she usually were. This was new, even for me. She would be talkative, even when she was cornered or borderline angry.

Honestly, this sparked more questions than I've had anticipated before, but the most important one kept bugging me: Why did I act more friendly and talkative to Nonko, but not Shizuka?

I still find Shizuka pretty admirable though, but why did I feel like talking to Nonko today? Was she the destined girl all along?

No way that would be true.

...It's not true, right?