The Dream Shifter

Chapter 152

The marked day was hardly a long time away, but for Yuki it seemed to be arriving much faster than he had wished for it. In part, his work at the school made the time pass quickly. There was also the fact that he had finally brought some calm to his mind that he was not focused on forgetting and resolving the problem. The problem had been resolved within his mind, for the most part anyway. He still required the fortitude to actually carry it out. Everything that needed to be done was not going to be easy and it still made his heart tighten at times feeling the dilemma surface.

He arranged with Ayumi to speed up the work a little so that the remaining construction would be finished within the day. The progress on the school moved along accordingly. It came together quickly bringing the final pieces of the wall up in the afternoon. From the exterior the school looked whole and unchanged from two weeks ago. The only sign that anything had really changed was that the building looked newer and the grass was completely gone from all of the construction work. All that remained for the school was interior work that was mostly being left to Ayumi's machines. Even after all of their work there was still going to need to be smaller work done to make the place useable. But for them the work was completed.

Yuki managed keep his spirits high for his last day. Since he solved most of the troubles in his mind that made it significantly easier for him. Last night made it clear to him that how he had been acting was far more transparent than he wished. Changing back meant that he drew less attention and provided little concern to those that might be watching. He hoped it would blow over smoothly enough.

Chapter 89 – Invitation to Gather

As the afternoon began to close giving leave to the volunteers the finished school stood as their achievement. Yuki had already left along with Saki and Ayumi, but Yumi remained behind with her brother, Yori. Yori still had a few things left for him to finish. So she waited for him at the tent.

On the main table sat several water bottles waiting to be picked up and thrown away. There were a couple of the volunteers for the tent still around, but they were out picking up anything that might have remained on the grounds. Yumi kept to the tent, mostly due to Yori's continued insistence. She picked up a couple of the bottles in her arms before she found herself staring at one of them. Her thought back to yesterday with Yuki. 'He seemed to be back to his usual self today…'

She walked the empty bottled over trash bin. Her mind hung around Yuki trying to sort it out for herself. 'So did he solve his problem?' Yumi dumped the contents of her arms into the bin. She paused unable to return back to her work. 'But what was it? Why did he seem so troubled before?'

"Yumi?" called a familiar voice, one that had been trying to get through to her for some time.

"Huh?!" Yumi slowly spoke before jumping completely startled by Yori suddenly being next to her. The thoughts of Yuki still in her mind and her brother staring down at her made all of the blood rush out of her face. "B-Brother!? What are you doing here?"

Yori confused by her reaction took a step forward to trying to calm her down a little. The movement, unfortunately, had the opposite effect. She stumbled backwards knocking over of the trash bin in her frantic state trying to keep distance between them. "Yumi?! What's wrong?"

'I've got to stop thinking about him! Yori will figure it out soon!' She looked around at the mess that she had caused and scrambled around trying to fix it. 'Look at the mistake I've made!'

"Are you feeling ill again?" inquired Yori, thinking that the incident in the school was causing her to relapse. He was already on the ground helping her pick things up so that she did not over exert herself. "You don't have to do everything yourself."

"I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't…"

Once they had cleaned everything up Yumi rushed off to resume what she had been supposed to be doing before she had dazed out. Yori followed her still not satisfied with it just being an accident. "If you're tired you should rest. You don't need to push yourself. No one will think anything of it."

"It's okay!" she tried again to reassure her brother. "I was thinking about what dinner to make tonight and I got distracted. You just startled me."

Yori remained unconvinced, but he was not going to push her. He figured that she would tell him when she was ready. However, he stuck by her side to help clean up the rest of the area around the tent. All of his work was finished already so he was actually waiting on Yumi.

The walk home left her no better off on her internal issue. She kept away from the problem interfering with her too much so that Yori did not suspect anything. However, even while she cooked dinner her mind could not give up the idea that there was something wrong. 'Does it have something to do with that man who attacked the school? Is he planning to go after him? But what about school and his friends?'

Dinner ended fairly quietly between the siblings and despite Yumi's best efforts it was very clear to Yori that something was wrong. He continued to keep it to himself, but watched her carefully for anything health problems. When he found her outside of the house staring at the starry sky he knew that he could not hold himself back. "…sister…we need to—"

Yumi turned around quickly to face her brother. Her face revealed to be narrowed and serious, one that made Yori cut off his word. "We need to talk, brother…" She folded up something in her hands making it disappear in the pocket of her work pants.

'What's with Yumi? I've never seen her like this before…'

"I'm going to help Yuki. I know you don't like him, but this is something I've decided on my own!"

Yori could see there was not talking her out of it. If she looked so determined about doing it there was not going to be anything he could say. "I'm going too then."

"What?!" exclaimed Yumi. 'I thought he was going say no and do whatever it took to make me stay!'

"You're right. I don't like Yuki. There's something about him I still don't trust. So I'm going with you. Wherever you go I'll be there to protect you."

While their mother was still out Yumi and Yori left their house together with Yumi guiding them. She held back on the reason that they were leaving, but insisted that it was related to Yuki. It left Yori to follow at a pace that Yumi set, an odd feeling for him. He was unfamiliar with seeing her taking such a proactive and assertive position on anything. It pleased and troubled him to see this side of his sister surfacing, especially since it was Yuki that was drawing it out of her. He remained uncertain about Yuki hung up on the rumors and how violence seemed to be drawn toward him. A fact that re-enforced his opinion that Yuki was a dangerous person to be around.

They drew out of their neighborhood into the evening air of the town. A slight scent of dread hung in the air. Ever since the city changed travel at night was strictly advised against by mayor. A fact that was not lost on Yori, but Yumi appeared uninterested in the unknown that might threaten them. The driven expression on her face revealed how together she was keeping herself. It was impossible to know if she was acting or every drop was real.

Yumi slowed her pace down once they arrived in one of the larger city parks. Considering the condition, being called a park became a matter of opinion and memory. Like the rest of the city, tall grass grew through with no care for order or design. Massive flowers sprouted throughout the field to provide color to an otherwise bland affair. A great tree that would have been considered ancient, if it had not been obviously grown two weeks ago, sat in the center pretending to be nature's skyscraper. The tree managed to dwarf everything around it including the buildings with a trunk that was easily a thick as a city block and a canopy that covered more than four times the size of the park, which was substantial itself. Any of the remaining trees became intimidated by its presence looking like saplings in comparison.

The massive tree was the target of Yumi. She strolled up the roots quickly forced to treat them like steps and then cliffs to be climbed. When she came to a stop she found a small mound of grass that seemed to divide the roots creating a comfortable little knoll. Around the small piece of earth was a sourceless light that illuminated the area in a warm glow. Yori arrived shortly after her still not certain what was purpose of traveling so far away from their home.

He looked about the area trying to find anything that might have been of significance to them. "I didn't know this was here…"

"Neither did I…" replied Yumi. She could not explain it, but she had a feeling since before Yori came out of the house. The feeling told her where she needed to go and that it was important. It seemed so vague and soft, yet natural and instinctive. She understood without having to actually know.

"If you didn't know about this place how did you find it?"

Yumi's eyes became distant for a moment as she tried to recall, peering out over the park. "I didn't know, but I still knew. It's weird, but it was like there was a path laid out in my mind."

"You're not making much sense—" Nearby scrambling and scraping underneath them interrupted Yori. He immediately placed himself between Yumi and the root foundation where the noises were coming from. "Stay behind me…"

"It's alright, brother!" Yumi stepped out from behind him and moved out to the edge of the grass. She leaned out over the wooden cliff to see a darkened figure coming into reach. Yumi looked back at Yori to reassure him. "It's safe. They're friends."

"Yumi!" he shouted grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back. "You can't be certain that this time of day with the way the city is!"

"But!"

Another sound of fumbling on the roots bounced up to them. The uncertainty tightened Yori's hold on Yumi pulling her back towards him. A struggling hand appeared up from shadows taking hold firmly on the roots.

"Damn it!" snapped a young, but rough sounding voice. "Why the hell it'd have to be like this?!" A few seconds later found the other hand to surface soon followed by the rest of the person. The faint unnatural light of the hill revealed the individual to be a young man, who was probably younger than Yori, but with a wild look about him. He dusted himself off and looked back down at the roots that he had climbed. The man knelt over casually examining his route. "I guess I should have taken the gentler sloop." He threw off the concern and shifted his body back to face towards the siblings.

Yumi stretched out from Yori's still solid hold to greet the young man. "Hello…did you receive a letter as well?"

"Letter?" questioned Yori loosening his hold on Yumi, becoming distracted.

The man nodded back to Yumi being cautious. "I'm guessing you too?"

"Do you know Yuki somehow?"

"Yeah…I knew him from middle school. Why?"