The Dream Shifter

Chapter 109

The incident at Monou High School had left confusion throughout the entire country. No one knew what was happening or how it had happened. In an instant every single law of nature had been permanently rewritten. Things that could not possibly be explained by science existed as though it was natural. Panic and terror were the first emotions to set in until people tried to figure what came next for them. It left the day as an unofficial holiday as no one was willing to do anything in the state that many of the cities were.

Connection to Hokkaido and the smaller islands had been completely lost. Nothing was known about the condition or if they were affected. It was determined that only Japan had been affected by the change. There were still many unclear or early reports from the prefectures, but it had already been confirmed that every single main island prefecture had been altered. The only consistency was that they were all different, though some similarities did exist. Several prefectures were altered to have a futuristic or science fiction appearance with even the buildings, vehicles and roads no longer looking like anything from the current level of technology. Robots and cyborgs were seen walking the streets. In other area prefectures looked like they belonged to the feudal era and warring states period down to the homes themselves reflecting the period. Fantasy elements were to be found yet still with even some people having been physically altered to fit with the new 'themes'. Chaos was the only word that could be used to describe it.

For Saki, she understood better than most, even if she still did not know why it had happened. Even Ayumi could not give her an answer to the reason. They were forced to accept that it was the reality now. However, the cause, Yuki, had gone missing after they saw the news report on the TV. It had not been until it disappeared that they knew he was gone. Saki and Ayumi had looked everywhere for him, but were forced to give up late into the night. The search for him had resumed for Saki the next day, which found her in the downtown area.

It was the middle of the week, a school day, but school was not in session. Most schools in town were canceled, but it would be a while before they could attend due to the damage that their school had taken. Much of the town had taken the day off like the rest of the country. It left the normally crowded noon streets of the downtown eerily bare of life. A few people walked around, those in their own way finding a way to deal with the extraordinary situation. Most had remained in their homes or alone almost afraid of the outside.

Saki could feel for those that were afraid. She was walking in downtown, but it was strange sight for her. It was almost as though the apocalypse had occurred and nature was reclaiming the land. Everywhere in the town grass, flowers and trees were to be found and yet all of the buildings remained unchanged. It was the only place in the country that managed to remain mostly as it used to be. However, nature was growing over everything covering a lot of the buildings and unnaturally tall trees were in the middle of the street. The town officials were trying to clear out the green growth, but there was too much to do and almost no one to help in the work, even if they cleared out the grass and plants they were still going to have to lay down new roads and sidewalks everywhere. It meant for Saki that she had to walk everywhere.

Her search was starting to become wandering aimlessly with the hope that she would find Yuki somewhere. He had Momoko and his brothers worried having never returned home. She promised Momoko that she would find him and drag him back, but she feared that with how things were that he might never recover.

The wandering had brought her to an unpleasantly familiar place, Konomoka General Hospital. "Takako…" Saki's mind wondered for a moment recalling her last visit. She was hesitant, but found that her feet were moving themselves towards the glass doors to enter the building.

The interior of the hospital was still well lit. It was one of the strange things, electricity still worked uninterrupted along with any other utilities. Other parts of the country were not nearly so fortunate. Televisions in the lobby were still playing, a local news broadcast. However, there was no one watching it, just left to run alone.

Saki took the elevator up to the twelfth floor. She did not remember pushing the button just that it was moving for her now. It left her to her silent thoughts as low dings for the floors played out. 'What am I doing here? Should I even be doing this? She probably isn't even here anymore. The hospital looks empty, but what if they left her here in the confusion. Maybe she needs—' The doors slid open cutting off her thought, but it was more a surprise to her that there were three tall men in business suits staring down at her. 'There's someone here?!'

She stared up at them for several seconds almost amazed to find another human being, however the moment soon faded into uneasiness. They had a stern and serious look to their faces that seemed to speak more with their eyes than their mouths as they just continued to exude an unwelcomed presence. 'What's with them?' The awkward minute held until the elevator cut them off by attempting to close the door.

It was nearly allowed to close between them giving Saki a sigh of relief when an arm shot through the narrow gap forcing it open. Saki jumped startled by the sudden movement feeling as though she was cornered. Their staring would have continued if one of the men had not move aside providing an exit for Saki. The offer made to her she was glad to accept. She quickly bowed to them from the side before trying to leave it all behind. "That was weird and a little scary. What was that all about?"

When she felt that she was far enough away she turned around quickly towards the elevator trying to see what happened to them. "They're gone…creepy…" She turned back and walk to the counter, surprised to find the nurse from before seated reading a book.

The nurse looked up from her book with a smile. "Oh you're back! Come to visit Miss Yamazaki, again?"

Saki gave a small nod feeling uneasy about her presence as though she did not belong. "Yes, is she still here?"

"She is," the woman said standing up going for the keys at the wall. "She's quite the popular one today." She walked around the counter joining Saki and leading her through the hall.

"Those men were here to see her?"

"No, Dr. Shiotani came to her. He's still with her."

"Then who were those men?"

"They were with him, but he sent them down. I guess it comes with being part of the Aburakoji Foundation."

The name did not seem to be familiar to Saki. She gave a look over to the nurse. "What's the Aburakoji Foundation?"

"It's provides funding to this hospital as well as administration. I hear they support many hospitals across the country."

"And Dr. Shiotani is part of that group?"

"Yeah, he's a top doctor in neuroscience and he was told about Miss Yamazaki's condition. So he came to visit her for an early examination to know if he could do anything for her."

They reached the door to Takako's room. The walk had been fairly quiet with none of the patience acting out as they the last time that Saki visited. It was something that was mostly ignored by her with her focus being on Takako. 'It's mental damage though, can anything be done? It's not like her brain is broken or something…' She did want Takako to get better, but she was not certain medicine would be able to do it. All of it seemed just to be a little barbaric to her, though she just had the images in her mind from movies and shows to go by. "If he's still here I shouldn't bother him."

"I don't think he'll mind," said the nurse sorting through the keys, "It'll be good for her to see a familiar face."

Saki took a step back feeling the urge to leave growing in her. "Well I'm not that good of a friend to her. We barely know each other. She probably doesn't want to see me."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Miss. We should cherish all of the friends we have in this world, regardless of how well you know them."

Across the town at the Tsuji Shrine things had not changed as much physically. The surrounding area had looked like it gone back into the feudal era with nature in control rather than man over the environment. It was like the rest of the town.

Activity in the shrine had increased since yesterday. Normally, light on business the entire shrine grounds were crowded with worried people. Many that had hardly ever been very devoted followers suddenly wanted advice and safety. The unknowns had frightened them and they were seeking comfort. It meant that Seiji's grandfather was never allowed to rest.

Shoji was too young and inexperienced to help in the same capacity as that of their grandfather, but he had found his own way to help. Whole families were on the grounds meaning there were numerous children running around. Shoji kept them mostly entertained playing with them using some of the things in their shed, which held all of the ceremonial tools for the Shinto practices that they did. It was enough to keep them busy and quieter through the shrine. However, the one that should have been helping their grandfather was missing, Seiji.

"Hrmph…" Seiji said slowly strolling down the grass pathway a few blocks away from the shrine. He had left in the morning having had enough of the crowds. Doing the 'Shinto thing' was never for him, but could help a little. By morning his patience had run out and he needed to be alone.

The solitude of the neighborhood was almost depressing to see. All of the overgrown plant life required to be navigated carefully. Seiji even had to side step a large rodent that was taking its time walking. "There really is no end to this… Man, it's almost too hard to believe…" He dug his hands into his blue jeans pockets and tried to shuffle on, but the nagging feeling in his head was growing stronger. It was something that he had been trying to avoid since the morning, however it was becoming too annoying for him to ignore.

Seiji took a turn up the street, what used to be one, sending him further away from the shrine. The short walk up it ended with him abruptly coming to a stop. His eyebrows were narrowed and pulled down shaking a little through frustration. "No! No! …NO!" He pulled at his legs to move forward, but he could only manage a few steps before he stopped again. "Gah! I hate this!" Seiji turned around looking towards the shrine.

Nearly outside of town and completely surrounded by an overgrown thick green forest was the Chinen estates. Massive trees had grown up around large Japanese mansion blanketing the entire area in shadow with its canopy. Most of the technology that they had had trouble working properly through the rapid reclamation by nature.

For Chiharu, her life had only begun to return to normal the day before after waking up. The grounds were in chaos now trying to find ways of dealing with the forest that surrounded them. They were even being visited by the wildlife that found their home to be much more like a small dot in the forest rather than civilization as it had been. She was left with managing the heavy burden of the house and the new problems that had arrive. No one knew why it had happened so it left most of her men unsettled, however she had refused to let it visibly get to her. She kept her men on task clearing away paths needed to reach the town.