The Dream Shifter

Chapter 34

The school felt busier than usual in spite of missing someone. Students were talking between each other as they walked into the school stopping at the shoe locker taking a pause. Girls were running their hands through their hair or tidying the mess up from the windy morning. The boys were talking about the latest show or magazine. Some were busily pushing through trying to make morning meetings with the student council. However, when Yuki stepped into the school it did not feel crowded to him and a nagging feeling at his side made him think Saki was next to him the entire time.

Yuki left the shoe lockers once he was finished and went straight to class. He managed to ignore the bullies in the hall that were looking at him strangely. The classroom was still filling with students in his homeroom, but the more important matter for him was answered. 'She's not here either.' He looked around a second time to be certain and still found nothing.

Hiroshi had been standing around at the window watching the students coming in when he noticed Yuki with a pensive expression. He walked over to his desk from the window. "Hey, Yuki! You look like you got something on your mind."

"Hmm…huh?" Yuki tilted up from his chair seeing Hiroshi was standing next to him. "Hey, Hiroshi!"

Hiroshi was not going to let it end simply at the greeting like the distant Yuki seemed to be thinking. "What's wrong?"

Yuki pulled out his books from his school bag and flipped through some papers. "I didn't see Saki this morning."

"Yeah, neither have I," said Hiroshi looking around the classroom for a second look to make sure that she had not suddenly appeared on them. "There's still a few minutes before class begins."

"I know, but it's not like Saki to be late and she didn't say anything about practice this morning. I wonder if those bullies from the other day stopped her."

"Saki's a big girl, Yuki. She can handle herself, a lot better than you can."

A heavy iron plate fell on Yuki's shoulders and head from the insult as he tried to shake it off. It was no mystery that Saki was strong and that Yuki was helpless when it came to a fight. "Thanks…Hiroshi."

"Hey, sorry man. It's not your fault that you're bad at sports and fails in P.E." Another iron plate fell on Yuki quickly followed up by a third nearly pressing him to the floor. The tired exasperated looked from Yuki was enough to stop Hiroshi joking, though he was already satisfied with how far he went. "I'm just saying. You've got nothing to worry about. If she ran into trouble she can take carry of them. Besides, she's probably just sick and staying home."

Yuki let the weight go from him and straightened up to look back at Hiroshi. 'He's probably right. Don't know why I'm so worried about it.' He put a smile back on his face to reassure Hiroshi that he was feeling better. "Thanks, Hiroshi. I guess I'm so used to having Saki nearby that it's weird when she's not."

The front door of their classroom slid open allowing Ms. Kuniyoshi to enter walking to the front of the class. The class representative called on the class to come to order and rise for the teacher. Hiroshi gave an understanding nod to him before rushing off to his seat hoping not to have the attention. "All be seated," the class rep said. Ms. Kuniyoshi began taking role of the class with peace restored.

Yuki dragged his eyes forward to see that Saki's seat was still empty. 'Where are you Saki?' Class for everyone went on without Saki, it was only Yuki that seemed to think to the contrary. However, he tried to push it to the back of his mind and focus on his class. He had expected to see her just simply appear sometime during homeroom late and get yelled at by Ms. Kuniyoshi again, but that did not happen. Saki never appeared the entire day at school.

After school ended Yuki left with Hiroshi, who insisted on going with him, to visit Saki's home to learn what had happened to her. Ms. Kuniyoshi had no answers for them other than she was reported as sick for the day. Yuki wanted to know what had happened and needed to put aside the weird feeling that he had in his stomach. It was an unexplainable nagging that never went away during class for him no matter how much reassurance that he had. The feeling was pounding even stronger inside him now that he was getting closer to the apartment building.

He remembered playing with Saki in her home when they were younger and his parents were still alive. Back then his parents and Saki's parents were close friends and so he was introduced to Saki because of them. She was much different from a person back then having longer hair than now and kinder attitude. She would get into trouble, but would not be able to protect herself. Time had a greater effect on their lives than he realized.

It had been more than a year since the last time he visited Saki and her parents were not very understanding of him being there. He had still been in middle school then and Saki was his only friend at the time that had not abandoned him. 'Saki…something's off about this and I don't know why.'

The five-story apartment building stood before Hiroshi and Yuki as they gave a moment for a pause before going to the front door. When they came to the main hall and the stairs in front of them Hiroshi turned to Yuki. "Where is their apartment?"

"It's in the fourth-floor room 403." Yuki started up the stairs alone with Hiroshi looking at his back in a little disbelief. They had walked from school to Saki's apartment building (which really isn't a long distance from the school) and now it was three sets of stairs to reach their floor. Hiroshi let out a fatigued sigh and went up the stairs catching up to Yuki before he made it to the second floor. 

The apartment building was old from the exterior and it was even clearer the age of the building from the inside. There was no elevator in the building or at least one that worked. All of the walls were lined with cracks or plastered over and painted cracks poorly maintained. The main stairs ran through the middle of the building with a narrow set on the opposite ends that all would groan under the weight of any person no matter the size. It was from the reconstruction era of Japan after the war when everything was built up quickly and the building was showing its age under an owner that did not have a very caring eye for it. However, the building might have been old and falling apart in appearance, but it managed to be sturdy.

Yuki and Hiroshi made it to the fourth floor and while Yuki walked forward without much concern to his safety Hiroshi hung to the edges where the wood did not make as much noise. He was slower in reaching the room leaving Yuki to stare confused at him as he eventually reaches the door to Saki's apartment. On the door, it was clearly labeled '403' in a rusting metal with splintering wood for the door itself.

Yuki straightened up beginning to feel nervous about meeting the Furukawas again after the last time that he visited. They had been on good terms since he was young, but a rift developed between them after his father died. He was not certain how welcomed he would be at their door. Saki's mother no longer approved of Saki spending time with Yuki making it difficult for her to do anything outside of school with him. It left him to take care of the time that they did have. Yuki gave a firm knock to the door and stepped back waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Hiroshi looked back to Yuki, who was now further from door than Hiroshi, wondering why the sudden change in courage. "You look a little pale, Yuki. Like you expect something to grab you when the door opens." He stepped over to Yuki's side coming between the door and him placing his hand on Yuki's shoulder looking for an answer. "Yuki?"

"N-No, nothing's wrong. I'm just b-being p-polite." He tried to give a comforting smile to show that he was not nervous, but it was a futile effort when his arm was shaking.

Hiroshi was not convinced by Yuki and put his other hand on Yuki as well not letting this go. "Polite? Then why are you shaking?"

"I'm giving them room. Don't want to crowd the door, right? And I'm not shaking."

"Hello?" said a voice from behind Hiroshi as well as obstructed by him. Hiroshi turned his head over his shoulder while still holding on to Yuki a little surprised that someone answered the door. It was a middle-aged woman with longer still black hair tied back that was dry, but kept. When Yuki came in sight to Saki's mother her curious and open express quickly disappeared for a narrowed almost angry one. "What do you want? Thought I told you never to come back here. I don't care how much my daughter tells me that you've changed."

Hiroshi was unable to say anything taken back by the woman's sudden assault on Yuki. Yuki placed his hand on Hiroshi's arm gently giving him a steady smile as though he knew what he was doing before stepping around. "I'm sorry for breaking my promise to you, Mrs. Furukawa. I needed to ask you if Saki was feeling alright. She didn't show up for a class today and I was worried."

Saki's mother was quiet after Yuki stopped speaking as though she was considering whether she would say anything to him. "Yeah, she's sick. Now leave before I call the police." She closed the door behind her sharply on Yuki kicking his hair back from the force. The door was enough to tell him that he was not welcome and should not press his luck any further to get information.

Yuki walked away from her apartment making it down the stairs and to the street before Hiroshi caught up to him bringing him to a stop. He grabbed Yuki by his arm preventing him from continuing on. "What was that all about?"

The past that was shared between Yuki and the Furukawas was a long one and something that Yuki generally avoided thinking about. It was in his past along with everything else that was no longer a part of him. He was a different person back then and there were many things that he did that he regretted now. The Furukawas was one of them. Yuki was not certain if he was ready to tell someone about what he was truly like before high school. All of his new friends knew nothing of his middle school life and the troubles that followed him. 'I guess it was eventually going to happen. If it was to be anyone Hiroshi should be the one to know.'

He turned around to face Hiroshi directly making it clear to Hiroshi that he was not going to be trying to run away. Hiroshi let his arm go free. Yuki changed his cheerful expression to a serious narrowed one staring back at Hiroshi. "How much do you know about me before high school?"

Hiroshi had to think about the question but quickly knew that he had nothing. "Just that you and Saki are close friends from back then. You've never said anything about your past."

"Saki is a childhood friend and I used to go to their apartment frequently when I was younger. However, I…" Yuki hesitated on the memories that were coming back to him. The time was painful for him as he looked back at a side that he wished not to look at. It was before his mother had died. He had become distant from most of his friends as they could no longer stand to be around him any longer. His personality had been getting violent and almost unstable at times worsening the further after his father's death time went. 'Saki had been the only one that stuck by me back then. None of my friends could deal with me any longer. I had arguments with all of them driving them away. They all knew that I had lost my father, but friendship is only so strong. They left me alone and all I could do was fight more. But Saki was at my side. She never left me even when…'

It was the fall a year and half ago and the school day had just ended. The air was cool with a strong breeze blowing through the school grounds. Their middle school was further away forcing them to travel for more than half an hour to reach their neighborhood. Yuki was in a sour mood, but he was always in a sour mood usually because of a fight (which he usually started). Saki was walking alongside him looking cheerful enjoying the fall air.

"Hey, Yuki?" Saki said running up ahead of him and turning around to face him.

"What?" Yuki said shortly in a rough tone with his uniform looking dirty from a fight.

"Want to go here and get a snack for the walk back?" She pointed to the convenience store behind her that they regularly passed by on their walk each day. It was a normal stop for them when they were hungry and wanted to take a break or rather when Saki wanted to take a break. Yuki would never bring it up.

"I guess." He dug his hands into his pockets walking a little stiff annoyed by the stop. He stayed outside letting Saki go inside to shop for him. Saki knew what he would like to eat that he did not need to be with her. Yuki stepped away from the store for a moment to stare up at the sky out of the overhang of the building.

The atmosphere around the street suddenly changed when three boys in school uniforms from his school appeared, the jackets of their uniform let open showing off their undershirt. The three boys marched towards Yuki with vengeance in their eyes. The two following up the middle one were tightening their fists looking ready to start something immediately. "You Hayashi?" the middle boy said coming just outside of punching distance.