I Think I Had A Dream

I think I had a dream.

After all, the perspective was strange.

It was as if I was looking down from above.

Spread out below me was a scenery I had never seen before.

It was probably a garden… maybe. It had a shape and style I had never seen before.

On the ground where grass grew, there were things that looked like benches here and there, and people dressed in similarly strange clothing were sunbathing and chatting.

Right beside the place that seemed to be a garden, several buildings stood in a row.

Honestly, I was stunned.

All of them were tall.

How were those walls made? They were not brick, nor were they plaster. I could not tell what the building material was. Why did they not collapse at that height?

Moreover, an enormous number of glass windows were fitted into them.

On the top floor of the buildings, slanted black metal plates rose high. They did not look like iron plates. They shone black, but… what were those? They also looked like some kind of weapon using reflecting mirrors.

The garden was plain, but… was this some royal castle? Weapons to protect it?

Suddenly, I heard a voice and moved my gaze away from the buildings.

One of the benches.

There was a man and a woman there.

The woman was wearing a long white coat. Was it a medical coat? Hanging from her neck was a long, thin thing I had never seen before. One end had a U-shaped metal fitting, and the other had a round silver fitting. It did not look like an accessory.

The woman was swinging her legs and puffing out her cheeks.

For some reason.

I thought, “That is Shitoen.”

I had no idea why.

She did not have white skin, purple eyes, or silver hair like Shitoen.

The woman in the medical coat had ivory skin, black hair, and black eyes. Her hair was short, like a nun’s.

The only thing similar to Shitoen was probably her age and build.

But.

That was Shitoen.

The man sitting across from her.

That man’s face was… blurred.

No matter how hard I strained my eyes or focused my mind, I could not see his face clearly.

However, he was very tall, broad-shouldered, and muscular.

This man was also wearing strange clothing.

A navy short-sleeved shirt and long trousers. In his breast pocket, several long, thin rods seemed to be stuck in, and to my surprise, something like a watch was wrapped around his left wrist.

Was it really a watch…?

I had never seen something that small.

The man said something.

The instant he did, the woman laughed as if she had been struck.

The woman lightly nudged the man’s shoulder with her clenched fist. The man let her do as she pleased, but apparently said something again, and the woman laughed…

Seen from the outside, it was probably an extremely heartwarming scene.

But.

It made me so angry that my insides nearly boiled over.

Maybe “angry” was not quite right.

It was irritation, or rather.

To put it plainly, it was something resembling jealousy.

When I clenched my back teeth and suppressed that emotion, I heard a beautiful sound.

It resembled a music box, but it had a strange tone.

The woman put her hand into the pocket of her medical coat, took out something square, and held it to her ear. Its surface was smooth… what was it? It might have been some kind of device, but even so, it was thin. It did not look as though there were any instruments inside it. It looked like nothing more than an iron plate.

Then she spoke something into it and stood up.

That was… what kind of device was it? Could she hear something from it? Why was she holding it to her ear?

While speaking into the long, thin plate, the woman glanced at the man.

The man made a gesture as if to say, “It’s all right.”

The woman raised one hand like a knife, lowered her head, and then turned the hem of her medical coat as she trotted away.

All at once.

A sadness that made me want to scream filled my chest.

Don’t go! Come back!

I did not know why, but you must not go that way!

Come back!

What assaulted me after that impatience was.

A sense of loss that made me want to struggle.

It was as if something precious had been stolen right before my eyes, and I myself had been crushed flat.

I was swallowed by a wave of sorrow unlike anything I had ever felt before.

She was going to disappear…

That felt like a clear fact.

And because of that certain something.

I could not breathe, and I could not move.

My thoughts were simply consumed by “sad,” “painful,” “frustrating,” and “agonizing.”

I covered both ears and shouted loudly…

“…!”

Before I knew it, I had thrown off the quilt blanket and sat up.

Still breathing roughly, I slowly looked around.

It was the bedroom.

Inside my mansion.

It might have been early morning.

I could tell that morning sunlight was shining through the curtains.

Sweat that had formed on my forehead slid down my temple and fell from my jaw.

“What was that…?”

Even I was startled by how my muttered voice trembled.

When I lowered my gaze, both fists that I had clenched with all my strength were trembling finely.

“Shitoen…!”

Driven by an indescribable anxiety and fear, I looked beside me.

Then a sigh of relief escaped me.

She was properly sleeping beside me.

With her back turned to me, lying on her right side, and her body slightly curled up.

She was breathing softly and regularly in sleep.

I lay down once more and embraced Shitoen from behind.

“Mm… hm? Huh, Prince Saryu…?”

Shitoen was weak in the morning.

Wanting to hear more of her melting voice, I put even more strength into my arms.

“What… is wrong?”

“Nothing. I just thought I was glad you were here, Shitoen.”

“That I was, you mean?”

Her puzzled voice immediately began to show concern for me.

“Did something… really happen?”

“Yesterday, Shitoen just got drunk.”

“…………Hauuuuuuuu… Th-That… is right…!”

Shitoen shrank into herself.

While still holding her, I chuckled softly.

Thinking that it was a dream.

Because.

I would protect her.

Forever and ever.

Here in these arms.