The Dream Shifter

Chapter 58

The morning came and Yumi pulled herself up out of bed still feeling a little tired but confused as well to being under her covers. She let it pass by though as she looked down to see that she was still wearing her school uniform.

"Oh no! I slept in my uniform! It's going to be so wrinkled! Oh no!"

Yumi jumped out of her bed tossing her uniform on her bed in a panic starting to running around her room. Then she looked down at her alarm clock to see the time was twenty minutes past when she normally woke up.

"I'm late too!"

She realized that she needed to shower as well as get new clothes and deal with her wrinkled ones. In the flurry of her panic, she started to feel lightheaded with her eyes becoming spirals and smoke escaping her ears as she collapsed to her knees trying to calm down.

"What am I going to do…?"

After an exhausting start to the morning, Yumi made it to school with her friends. Her brother Yori usually had student council matters to attend to in the morning that required him to leave earlier than her. So it made it rare for her to see him except at home. She had mostly recovered back to her normal quiet shy self that smiled and agreed with her friends' idle conversation.

Once class began she could see that Yuki was back at school after his strange absence from class yesterday. She was not certain, but there seemed to be something a little different about him. He was still cheerful and happy, but it looked like he was not complete or something. It was a strange feeling that she could not put her finger on, but she did not dwell on it.

During class, she tried to keep her eyes forward, but could not help them swaying away from the lesson towards Yuki. She tried to push down the fuzzy feelings that were washing over her each time.

'…Yuki…'

While their last class of the day was being taught she noticed that Yuki had fallen asleep. Most of the day, he had kept his outbursts down to a minimum, though Yumi noticed that Saki and Ayumi were often covering for him.

'…Saki and Ayumi…'

It made her curious about what sort of relationship the two had with Yuki to always been helping him so much. She had tried to help him once or twice, but she was so timid that her voice was never heard.

Even though Yumi was watching Yuki sleeping peacefully, the teacher was not enjoying him sleeping during his lecture and shouted to him wake up. Yuki was slow to pull himself up looking half-awake even when he sat up.

"But the galaxy's in danger…" he said still waking up.

The rest of the class began to laugh while the teacher only became more frustrated with Yuki's lack of focus. He managed to keep his composure with Yuki.

"Well, the galaxy can wait until after my class is done, Mr. Hayashi."

"…Al-right…"

Yumi smiled to herself seeing the Yuki she was so familiar with. She could not see what her brother was concerned about in Yuki in the slightest. Yuki was just a normal student in her class that had a little more attention than most. When she caught him looking around in her direction she quickly snapped back trying to keep her face from getting too red.

'…Yuki…'

"Can you believe him?" Kaede said once class ended for the day.

Yuki and his friends had already left as well as the majority of the rest of the class. Kaede and Katsumi were waiting on Yumi to finish up things at her desk and Yuki made the topic of discussion.

Katsumi nodded in agreement Kaede standing next to Yumi's desk.

"He was sleeping in class, again."

"How many times does that make?"

"I don't know, but it's like three times a week at least."

"Yeah, and then he goes on about his dream-like we care."

"He can't even tell when he's awake or dreaming."

"Don't you think so, Yumi?"

Katsumi leaned over to see what Yumi was doing in her pack.

Yumi pulled her head up from her seat and stood up ready to go. She was not willing to answer them knowing how badly they talked about Yuki every time he did something in class. Kaede and Katsumi hardly caught it and followed Yumi out of the school. The subject of Yuki was not dead though as she had hoped it would be.

"Don't you think that Yuki is a troublemaker too, Yumi?" Kaede said looking over at Yumi as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Well, I…he's…"

"You've spent some time with him. You know right?"

Yumi did not like it when they confronted her like this about Yuki. She was never able to speak up strongly to them even though they were her friends.

"He's not…"

"How can you defend him, Yumi? Look what he did in class."

"Kaede's right, Yumi. He just causes trouble! And there are those rumors too!"

"What rumors?" Yumi said remembering that Yori had been concerned about rumors around Yuki as well. She wanted to know more about why people did not like him.

"I don't know much, but they say he got into fights every day at his last school."

"But he doesn't—"

"Yumi, you should stay away from him. He'll get you into trouble too just as he does to that new girl Ayumi."

Yumi was getting to the end of her rope listening to her friends talking so badly about Yuki. Her body was shaking knowing that all she could do was stutter continuing to lose the words that tried to come out.

She came to a stop at the corner of the street with her friends turning to look back when they realized that she was not following them. Her head was held down casting a black shadow over her eyes obscuring them from view between her bangs.

"Yumi?"

"Is something wrong?"

She tried to hold back her tears knowing that it was not going to help her in any way. Her friends began to touch her shoulders trying to figure out why she had gone so still, but she did not answer them. Yumi remained like a statue for a minute stuck in turmoil. When she finally snapped out of it and rose her head up her expression had changed back to normal.

"I'm sorry. I've got work today. So I have to leave now."

"Yumi?" said Kaede and Katsumi as they watched Yumi cross the street waving to them. They looked back at each other feeling puzzled by the way she had been just a moment ago.

'Yori and now my friends too… What should I do? I could barely hold back the tears in front of them. I can't let them know…'

The town was busy with activity crowding the streets and sidewalks leaving the noise to plow through everything around. Near to the neighborhood of Yuki and many of his classmates was a shopping district within walking distance that provided much of the after school entertainment. It left the sidewalks filled with students just off from classes.

For Yumi, she had to make it to her part-time job that she kept. Since their mother worked so hard to make enough money for them, Yumi took it upon herself to help in any way that she could to make things a little easier for them.

She had decided when she entered high school that she would get a job. It was not uncommon for high school students, but still was something difficult to do. However, the school knew about her family situation and she was allowed to work.

She arrived out front of the local bookstore that she had found through the school. They had helped her in locating a respectable business that was near to school. She helped them with whatever was needed in the store filling in where there were gaps. It was a simple job, but Yumi enjoyed the people that worked there and the friendly atmosphere.

Yumi smiled and nodded to the owner at the front desk as she walked through to the back. Since she came straight from school she was still wearing her uniform. It meant that she had to change out to what was worn for the store, which was simple slacks and a pink polo with the store's logo embroidered on the left side. As she put her bag away her mind began to wonder through memories and thoughts.

The back room gave her the moments to think back with her mind still spinning in uncertainty from her brother's words. It made her think back when she was younger, when their family was still whole.

'When I was younger, father was still with us and mother didn't have to work. She stayed home most of time taking care of us. During that time Yori was a little distant from me.'

Yori, age eight, was standing next to the table in the adjoining room to the kitchen where their mother was still looking at a paper. She returned the paper back to him smiling to him rubbing his head.

"That's amazing, Yori! You're so smart!"

Outside of the kitchen looking in through the doorway was Yumi, age seven, watching with curiosity. When Yori caught the eye of Yumi his gaze shifted for a moment narrowing at her and then changing back as he looked at their mother. The look made Yumi recoil around the corner of the door frame barely allowing her eyes to peek around. Their mother quickly picked up on Yumi's presence and turned making Yumi go into complete hiding.

"Oh Yumi! It's alright you don't have to hide, dear!"

She pulled herself back a little catching the warm comforting smile from her mother that made her feel some courage pouring through her to get her out from hiding. Yumi stood in the threshold of the doorway hanging her head down trying to hold back her tears.

"…Mom…" Her entire body was shaking ready to run away.

Her mother stood up from the chair walking over to Yumi kneeling down to her a little confused for why she was getting so upset.

"What's the matter, Yumi? Why are you crying, dear?"