Chapter 25 - Dreams

Tick. Tock.

The sound of a clock ticking and tocking made Ayami open her eyes.

What greeted her was a bunch of bookshelves with books neatly arranged on it, seemingly no end to it.

Tick.

Ayami stood up from the smooth cold hard floor that was polished to the point that she could see her reflection.

Tock.

Looking around while wondering where she was, Ayami found a book lying on the floor. It seemed like it fell, as it was half opened with its cover facing upwards.

Tick. Tock.

Slowly, Ayami walked towards the book to pick it up.

Thump.

As soon as she touched the book, she could feel her heartbeat was struck by a hammer.

Strange. This book… Where had I seen it?

This book with a red hard, she clearly had never seen it before but why does it feel familiar.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heartbeat started running wild and strange emotions swirled inside her.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Once more, she heard the sound of a clock ticking and tocking with the same speed as her heartbeat.

Ayami turned the book around, to read, but just as she was about to…

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Her heartbeat started running wildly as if telling her not to read the book. Pain suddenly assaulted her head, as if it were splitting into two.

She felt like everything was spinning. Until…

THUD!

"Ow~!" Ayami groaned in pain as she rubbed her forehead. She frowned as she got up from the floor and looked at the two women occupying all the space of her bed.

She fell from the floor because of these two. Ayami looked at the time and saw that it was still early. Looking at the bed which had no more space, Ayami grimaced inside.

Ugh! Why did she even agree to sleep with them in the small bed?

They were up partying last night to commemorate their friendship. Celine decided to stay in Ayami's dorm for the night too.

Ayami was still sleepy so she decided to sleep again, but in the other room.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she took her pillow and went to the other room to go back to sleep.

As she lay down on her bed, trying to sleep again she suddenly felt like she dreamt of something but couldn't remember.

'It's probably nothing important.' Ayami thought and soon, her eyes slowly closed.

***

At the same time, in a certain dorm room, far away from Ayami's dorm, a girl was pacing back and forth while biting her fingernails.

"Weird. This is weird. Why is she so different? Why isn't this going in the same route?"

The girl murmured to herself, anxious. She then stopped in the mirror and reached out to it.

A girl with an outworldly beauty, yet pure and delicate, reflected on the mirror.

She had a silky ink black hair that flowed until her waist, a glazed golden brown eyes making her pure and innocent, a pointy nose and pink lips with a mole underneath.

Every time she stared at the mirror, she couldn't believe that she went back in time.

A smile formed on her lips as she clenched her hands.

"This time… If it is this time, I could stop the tragedy from happening. Maybe, Ayami would even forgive me."

That girl who said that, was the same girl that Ayami wanted to take vengeance on, Yanna Jin.

✵✶✵

"Here, take this ring. Whatever you do, you must not lose it. In exchange, I'll take your most precious necklace so when I come back you can return the ring, while I return this."

With a cute smile on his chubby face he placed the box of ring, with the rose inside, on top of Ayami's palm. Then, Ayami gave him her most precious necklace.

"…Den…*hic*… Are you really *hic* leaving?"

"Sheesh, you are still a crybaby."

He wiped her tears away as he smiled warmly at her.

"Ayami, wait for me. I'll definitely save you. So, you must not—"

"Ayami! WAKE. UP. ALREADY!"

"Chop, chop, lazy bum! It's already noon."

Her peaceful dream was interrupted by the two loud voices that were like a megaphone.

Angrily, she opened her bloodshot eyes and furiously glared at them for interrupting her dream.

They even interrupted the most important part!

"H-huh? Are you crying?" Celine asked in horror after seeing the glazed eyes of Ayami.

"Did you dream of something bad?" Rina asked out of concern.

"Get out." She coldly spoke in a deep threatening voice, obviously angry.

Rina and Celine looked at each other and scurried outside.

Ayami wiped the tears in her eyes and brushed back her hair using her hands as she sighed and recalled the contents of her dream.

The boy's face was a little bit blurry, but she could see his figure was chubby.

Den…

For now, that was the only thing she could remember about the boy who gave her the ring. She still needed to get back her most precious necklace.

That necklace was a gift from her mom, so she really wanted to get it back from him.

"Sigh, no need to fret over it right now. I can just find him later."

As her goal right now was revenge, she decided to focus on it. Anyways, she has a lot of time after her revenge.

After preparing herself, she went to join Celine and Rina who were already eating their lunch, which they ordered as they were too lazy to cook. Not that they know how to.

"Why were you crying earlier?" Celine asked as she prepared plates for Ayami.

"Dunno. Forgot about it." Ayami simply lied like it was a breeze.

"That happened to me too! I was dreaming and suddenly woke up crying. I didn't remember what I was dreaming about." Rina said as she gobbled down the food in an unladylike manner.

Ayami smiled while she stared at Rina's behavior, with a thought.

'Is this the same Elegant Rina Young, the role model of many ladies, that I know of?'