chapter 33

The atmosphere is weird. That's how Hikaru felt when his two best friends came almost at the same time. Unusually, this morning Hikaru was the first to arrive at the dining table for breakfast. He was also surprised and thought that his two friends might have finished first and then left him. But it wasn’t like that.

“Good morning.” Hikaru broke the silence created by the two people before him. It was clear that the two of them looked shocked when their eyes accidentally met.

“Ah, good morning.” Mika answered Hikaru's morning greeting first then Yama.

The strange silence continued. Time to eat together will usually be crowded with exciting chats between the three of them. Mika is always the first person to start a conversation with light and casual topics, like her trademark. However, this time Mika seemed silent and reluctant to start a conversation. She continued to feed the food non-stop as if to show that her mouth was too busy chewing and there was no time to talk.

“Have you guys packed?” Hikaru tried to break the silence once again.

“I have,” Yama replied briefly. “How about you?”

“I didn't have much stuff. So I finished packing everything in a short time before going down to breakfast.” Hikaru raised his thumb, feeling proud of what he had done.

“How about you? Hmm … Mika?” Yama asked that girl who sat opposite him hesitantly.

“Hmm … yeah, I have. I'm quite bothered with souvenirs that I have to stuff in the crevices of the suitcase.” Mika answered with a mouth full of toast.

Hikaru glanced at Yama for a moment, noticing what kind of expression that young man was going to make. As expected, Yama smiled without realizing it himself. Mika's cheeks puffed up with food and her chewing motion might look adorable to Yama's eyes.

“Ah, it seems like yesterday that we arrived at this place, beautiful Toyako. Too bad we have to go back to Tokyo today.” Hikaru who had finished his breakfast then leaned back casually in his chair.

“You guys are still luckier, spending time having fun is a little more than me. Huh, my dad is annoying.” Mika seemed still annoyed by her father's sudden order a few days ago.

“But at least we took many good memorable photos at Mount Usu yesterday. Sweet memories of Toyako. Isn’t it?” Hikaru said it without any meaning. He just wanted to remember the pleasant experience he had yesterday when he went to Mount Usu with his two best friends. However, for some reason Mika and Yama's faces looked flushed at the words that were spoken by Hikaru. That's when Hikaru realized something was going on between them.

“What is this? Could it be that Yama had already told Mika?” Hikaru asked himself. He really wanted to ask this question to them. However, Hikaru who was good at reading the situation preferred to hold back and divert the conversation to another topic.

“By the way, is Uncle Yuuchi going to take us back to the airport?”

“Yeah, you guys get ready. Maybe Uncle Yuuchi will come in half an hour. Make sure none of your belongings are left behind. I'll have all the staff gather later. At least we have to be grateful and say goodbye in a good way. They worked really hard, especially about the surprise party.” Mika's tone sounded so thoughtful. At this rate, Mika really looks like Young Lady of Takashi’s Family.

“Yes, Miss Mika.” Unconsciously, Hikaru responded as if he had completely become that lead girl's subordinate. Hikaru's cute facial expression made Yama and Mika laugh at the same time.

“Oh, you two finally laughed.” Hikaru thought. He seemed happy that his two friends were starting to overcome the tension they felt.

“Seeing you who are like now, it feels like you are fine. It is not like that?” Yama patted Hikaru's shoulder as he laughed out loud.

“Well, what's wrong with Hikaru? You’re sick?” Mika was surprised and looked worried hearing Yama's words.

“No, it's not like that, I just lacked sleep and Yama said that my face looked really messy yesterday.” Hikaru quickly explained.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Mika looked relieved. “So, you slept well enough last night?”

“Ah, yeah, I think so ....” Hikaru hung up his sentence. It was too good even, for me to dream like that, he continued unsaid. 

***

The vast green grasslands and clear blue sky without clouds looked familiar to Hikaru. For a moment, he was silent, looked around and tried to dig up his memory.

“It feels like I've been in this place before.” Hikaru frowned. “Oh! I remember!” He then exclaimed quite loudly.

If this was the first time, maybe Hikaru would be surprised by the presence of a figure who was also so familiar to him. Yeah … his grandma. Grandma with a smile as warm as the sunshine and her eyes as cool as the full moon. The grandma he missed, as well as the person he most hoped to meet again and this place was the place where he and his grandma met for the first time after he passed away.

“This is my dream again, right?” Hikaru kept asking even though he already knew the answer.

“As before, honey.” His grandma answered in a soft voice. Her voice so warmed Hikaru's soul. Hikaru hugged her figure tightly.

To Hikaru, hugging that old lady didn't feel like a dream. His grandma's body felt warm, so real in Hikaru's arms. Grandma's distinctive scent also filled his nasal cavity. For a moment Hikaru lulled into the past. Thinking back to how the feeling of his grandma's hug and the times when he cried in that old lady's lap after falling many times from a two-wheeled bicycle that he wasn’t good at driving.

“Can I haven’t to wake up? Do you know how happy I am to hug you like this again?” Hikaru wiped the happy tears that had started dripping since sometime and wet his cheeks.

“You’re still as whiny as ever, aren’t you?” Grandma rubbed her beloved grandson's cheeks lovingly. “So, Hikaru is already 20 years old, right?”

Hearing that question, Hikaru flinched a little. Suddenly he thought of something to say, “Wait, is this dream related to my age now? So far, I rarely dreamed about grandma until yesterday's dream ... when you asked me to find the moon pendant. Is that true?”

Grandma nodded, then said. “And it looks like you've found that thing. I think you've also started discovering the magic that Grandma told you about.”

Hikaru thought for a moment, trying to understand the situation and the word 'find a miracle' mentioned by his grandma. Hikaru really didn't understand what miracle his grandma meant.

“Grandma, what do you mean? I feel like I haven't found anything.” Hikaru tilted his head, confused.

“Is it true? Haven't you met that girl? That beautiful silver haired girl.” Hearing that words of his grandma, Hikaru then remembered the strange light he saw right on the night of his birthday and his unexpected encounter with Tsuki's figure.

“Is seeing ghosts is a miracle I got, Grandma? Oh God, this feels like a gift that isn’t pleasant, even harmful to me.” Hikaru was annoyed.

Hikaru couldn’t hide his disappointment in front of his grandma. He had believed in receiving miracles since he was very young. He was already thinking about lots of fun things that he might only have one day. If he had known earlier that the “gift of seeing ghosts” was a miracle of him, he might have refused sooner. One ghost like Tsuki might not be a problem, but what if later he could see ugly ghosts who were more annoying than that girl.

“Are you disappointed? But, isn't she a pretty girl?” As if she didn't care about the disappointment that her grandson felt, the grandma teased him.

“I'm not saying that she's not pretty, it's just ….” Hikaru hung up his sentence because he remembered several times that he had been fascinated by Tsuki's figure. “It's just, what if I can see ghosts with scary faces? Are they also going to sticking me like that ghost girl?”

“Ah, I understand. So, that's what you're worried about?” Grandma gave him the signature smile to get rid of the anxiety in her grandson's heart. “You won't see anyone but that girl. You two are special, have a destiny that is interconnected. Ah, one more thing … she has a time limit.”

Hikaru was a little relieved when his grandma said that he wouldn’t see another ghost. However, he also felt confused by the words said by his grandma. It feels like there are many things he should ask his grandma about Tsuki and the reason the two of them can communicate with each other. Hikaru knows that there aren’t many days to meet his grandma. The image of his grandma is fading away from time to time, indicating that he will soon be awake and who knows when they can meet again.

“Wait, Grandma. Before you leave, I wonder what I can do for that girl? She doesn't remember anything, doesn't even remember her own name. Then, what do you mean by time limit?” Hikaru tried to ask the most important thing for him to know.

“She doesn’t remember anything? I also don't know what she wants to do because only she herself knows.” His grandma seemed surprised to know that the girl had lost her memory. “Then, hurry up and help to recover her memories. The girl didn’t have much time to remain on earth. You have to help her before the deadline ends.”

“When? When the time limit is over?” Hikaru could no longer see the shadow of his grandma, but he could still hear her faint voice.

“The next full moon. Until then, if you miss it, that girl will disappear forever.” That was the last sentence his grandma said, before Hikaru finally saw a blinding light. The light that brought him back to his full awareness.

***

[to be continued]