Elise and I began the dream awakening process on the Spirit's Airship.
Firstly, Kain.
"We need to force him to think that this place is fake."
Elise, who had entered Kain's dream, suggested a simple method.
White robes and long hair. That became our disguise as Kain's nightmare.
"Hehehehe- Kain-"
"Kyahahaha-"
We disguised ourselves as phantoms.
"You, what are you! Don't come- Don't come- Don't come-!"
Kain was chased by us for a long time, screaming until his throat was sore.
"No! No! Ah, no, ahhhhhh-!"
In a state of extreme exhaustion, he desperately wished that it was all a dream, and while mindlessly repeating the words of the stone statue, he found the answer.
"…Ah, right! This is the answer! Everything except me is fake!"
Immediately after shouting that,
Kain woke up from his dream.
"Huh… Huh…."
He looked around blankly.
Of course, he was inside the airship, and there were no phantoms.
"Did you wake up?"
Elise, who was sitting next to him, asked.
"...."
Kain seemed too exhausted to answer, just panting and looking at Elise and me alternately.
"He seems to have woken up."
At my words, Kain quietly closed his eyes.
It was a mix of exhaustion and fainting.
"Let's go to Asher next."
Next, Asher.
A considerable amount of time had already passed in Asher's dream.
The location was the continent where the college board had already ended. Edsilla National Magic University.
I clenched a newspaper that was rolling on the ground.
[College Board Valedictorian: Asher]
[Asher Dredd, fastest to reach 100 million SNS followers....]
"What is this."
Asher was even the valedictorian of the college board and the brightest star at Edsilla Magic University.
"Hey, this seems a bit difficult?"
Becoming a superstar on top of being a star, it might be hard to persuade him.
"You're short-sighted, aren't you?"
"What the hell?"
Elise spoke as if it was no big deal.
"The higher you climb, the greater the despair when you fall."
"That's true. But how are you going to make him fall?"
"Easy. All you have to do is ruin Asher's face."
"…Face?"
"Yes. If you tear his face off or burn it, he will automatically-"
"No, no. I'll do it. You're too brutal."
There's no need to burn his face. It would be too painful.
"Do whatever you want. Look, Asher is passing by over there."
Elise pointed her chin in the distance. Asher was surrounded by people. He was taking pictures while laughing in a cheesy way.
"I'll go ahead."
I approached Asher. As soon as Asher saw me, he frowned.
"What. Isn't that my manager Shion? What are you doing here?"
Manager. I smirked at his words.
"I'm glad I'm not a slave."
"You're a third-tier manager, so you're practically a slave."
Should I just burn his face?
"…Hey. You have something on your face."
I slapped a makeshift face mask I had created with 「Notepad」 over his face. It was the ugliest face I'd ever seen on a person.
"Hey, what are you doing with those filthy hands?"
Asher slapped my hand away. I grinned at him instinctively.
"Yo, Asher. What's with your face?"
"Jealous?"
"Nah, just take a look at this mirror."
I showed him the mirror.
"What's this mirror for… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Hey, you're going to rupture my eardrums–"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
At that moment, Asher found the answer and woke up from the dream.
Like Kain, Asher immediately fainted upon finding the answer.
"Both of them got it easy."
I said to Elise. She nodded in agreement.
"Should we wake her up too, though?"
This time she pointed at Layla.
"True."
This one seems like she might wake up, but hasn't yet. She's just been mumbling something vague the whole time.
"…Yes, I have to do it. Only I, Layla, can do it."
She was making a face as if saving the world depended on her. Is this why she becomes a hero later?
"Sigh… yes, that's right. Layla. It's something only I can do."
"I wonder what she's dreaming about."
I took a seat next to Layla. Elise sat right behind her.
Suddenly, I grew curious about what Elise was thinking about her dream.
"Hey Elise, what were you dreaming about?"
She didn't respond, just glared at me with flushed cheeks, then looked away.
"It wasn't any dream. I woke up right away."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie to you? It's not like it's something important. You're not that important."
I raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Quite the outburst there."
"It's not an outburst–"
"I'm going to sleep first."
I dozed off beside Layla.
* * *
──Layla.
The hero of the continent, Layla the Great.
She's preparing for a duel with the stone statue.
Amidst the swirling sands of a desert, in a grand coliseum, the final showdown is about to take place.
"Sigh…"
In the waiting room, Layla sits with her eyes closed, deep in thought.
Thinking about her own end, and also the end of the stone statue.
"Right, I've been so foolish. So complacent."
She mumbled, practicing some sort of mental exercise.
"I've been lazy in my training and studies."
"That's true."
"But now…?"
A voice answered from somewhere.
Layla furrowed her brow. She was definitely alone in the waiting room. Did she hear wrong?
"Did I hear wrong?"
"No, you heard right."
"What the–!"
She swiftly turned her head. Shion was in one corner of the waiting room.
When did he get here? Was he here the whole time?
"What! Shion, why are you here?"
"I've been here the whole time."
Shion responded with a natural ease. Layla tilted her head in confusion.
"…Huh? Since when?"
"I'm your manager, aren't I?"
"Ah… right. I forgot for a moment."
Layla accepted this quickly. Shion chuckled softly.
Dreams are like that. Even when the plot changes abruptly, you just accept it.
"But don't throw up. This is a serious situation. As a manager, you should support me."
"Got it."
Layla took a deep breath to calm her heart.
"Huff…"
She immersed herself back into the situation.
Everything she had learned so far.
Everything she had honed to win against 'that guy'.
She gathered all of it within her, warming herself up.
Creak───.
Slowly, the door to the Colosseum's waiting room opened.
Layla stood up.
Of course, her heart was not perfect. It was still incomplete, and she was still afraid.
Because the weight of too much expectation was on her shoulders. Because the fate of this world depended on her.
But…
She couldn't run away.
Unyielding determination. A will as strong as a mountain.
Holding these resolutions, Layla stepped beyond the threshold.
Whoosh──!
The hot wind of the desert swept through the Colosseum.
"I've been weak for too long."
Acknowledging herself, Layla took a step forward, staring at her enemy across the way with determined eyes.
"Not anymore."
──Ha ha! You've finally arrived!
Her opponent was a massive stone statue.
Layla clenched her fists.
"…Stone statue. I'm here."
Just as she was setting a resolute atmosphere, from the side again.
"Hey, Layla."
The manager kept bothering her.
"…Damn it, really."
Shion, the manager, might get fired at this rate.
Layla turned towards him and shouted.
"What now!"
"Who did that to your cheek?"
"…Cheek?"
Layla touched her own cheek. It was still burning hot.
"Heh…"
She let out a bitter laugh.
A long time had passed, but this wound had not yet healed.
"This… was the beginning."
She nodded seriously, continuing her story.
"I was once slapped by that stone statue. I followed it, calling it my master… but I was betrayed."
"Oh, is that so."
"Yes. From that day on, the stone statue became my enemy, and I pushed myself to the limit."
Layla gently closed her eyes.
─One! Two! Three! Four! Hundred! Five hundred! Thousand!
A thousand push-ups a day.
─1km! 2km! 3km! 40km! 100km!
A hundred kilometers of running a day. In addition to that, a thousand pull-ups, five thousand games of flicking stones, fifty thousand jump ropes, and so on.
After countless efforts, she had reached this point.
Defeating all enemies and finally── arriving at the end.
"The final boss… the stone statue."
Layla muttered, glaring at the statue.
"No, this won't do. Hey, let me see your cheek."
But Shion interfered again. Why was the manager so annoying?
"Can you just shut up! If you interrupt one more time, you're fired! You're a contract worker, you know!"
Layla pushed him away.
"From here on, it's all up to me. Only I can stop the stone statue-"
Slap-!
Shion slapped her cheek. Layla shuddered.
It was a familiar sensation.
A pain too vivid.
It felt like she had just been slapped 10 minutes ago… a slap on the cheek.
"…This sensation."
Layla turned to look at Shion. Her eyes widened. It felt like a thunderbolt had struck her head.
"You… don't tell me."
Shion silently looked at her.
"I thought it was the stone statue… but it was you!"
"The stone statue slapped you?"
"Do you take me for a fool?!"
Only then did Layla realize the strangeness.
Was the slap she thought was from the stone statue actually from Shion?
That made no sense.
Then who slapped me?
I clearly remember the stone statue slapping me in my memory.
Why am I here in the first place?
How many years have passed?
Why is my cheek still swollen?
No, has that much time passed?
Didn't it all go by too quickly, like a movie?
"Could it be… all of this was a trick by the stone statue!"
In the flow of these thoughts, Layla finally realized.
"This whole world is a fake!"
The truth she finally realized.
She pointed at the stone statue and shouted.
"Stone statue! This whole world is a fake!"
Then, the stone statue, her final boss, spoke in a tone of contempt.
──…That's correct, you foolish creature.
Immediately after, Layla opened her eyes. She was still inside the airship. Shion was next to her, and so was Elise.
"Did you wake up?"
Shion asked.
Layla tilted her head and muttered faintly.
"…I've been through too much. I'm exhausted."
And then she fell asleep again.
* * *
Kain, Asher, Layla, Elise.
A total of four people had been awakened.
"So, there's one left."
Finally, Soliette.
I sat next to her. Elise also took a seat next to me.
"I think I can handle Soliette on my own?"
Elise said with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
"Let's do it together. You never know what could happen. …But how do you maintain a human form?"
"Human form? Oh, right. Why didn't you show up in Layla's dream?"
Elise was not in Layla's dream. Fortunately, it was easy enough to handle on my own.
"I was there. But not as a human, as a weapon. It seems that when you're excluded from a dream, you appear in that way."
"I see… I guess my mental strength is strong enough to maintain a human form."
"I'm good at enduring too, you know?"
I shrugged my shoulders and leaned my head against the seat.
"Anyway. I'm going in."
And with that, I fell asleep.
….
The dormitory of Planarium.
Soliette and her party returned to the airship. Thanks to Soliette's amazing deduction, everyone passed the test.
"You've worked hard, Shion."
As she disembarked from the airship, Soliette said.
"Oh, yeah."
Shion responded a bit awkwardly. Soliette added with a small smile.
"I didn't expect Elise to be a fake."
Then, a sharp sound rose from the ground.
"What is this?"
There was a cat next to Shion.
"A cat."
"Isn't it the one we saw before?"
"Ah. I… am taking care of it."
At the mention of 'taking care of it', the cat reacted subtly. It seemed pleased, smacking its lips and raising its tail.
"It seems to resemble Elise. Haha."
Soliette smiled contentedly. It did resemble the real Elise.
The cat, despite being a cat, had long hair, shiny blonde hair, and sparkling golden eyes.
"Indeed."
The cat, however, seemed displeased, glaring at her.
"How cute."
Soliette reached out her hand. Elise, no, the cat tried to bite her, but Soliette managed to touch it while dodging its attempts.
The cat, having been touched, let out a cry and ran away.
"Let's leave it be. Shall we take a short walk?"
Shion pointed somewhere.
"A walk?"
"Yeah. There's something I want to talk about."
"Sure. Let's do that."
Soliette walked with him.
Before she knew it, they were in a forest.
"Soliette."
She refocused on the situation.
"Yes."
"What did you want to be when you were a child?"
In the tranquil forest, a somewhat base question.
Soliette looked around the forest and pondered for a moment.
What she wanted to be.
What did she want to be?
"I'm not sure."
"Think about it. You had something you wanted to be when you were young. Besides killing Knightmare."
At the word 'Knightmare', the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
"A dream… you mean?"
"Yeah."
Looking back, she had a dream too. A dream she had nurtured since she was young, but had somehow forgotten.
"A swordsman."
"A swordsman?"
"Yes. I vaguely wanted to be the best swordsman."
Shion gave a small smile.
"That was an easy dream."
"An easy dream? It's very difficult."
Soliette's eyebrows shot up.
"No. It would have been easy for you."
Shion chuckled and drew his sword.
"Why are you drawing your sword?"
"Let's have a match with Eight Swords."
Eight Swords? With her, an Arkne, using the basics of Arkne?
Soliette was momentarily at a loss.
"Shion. I am Soliette Arkne. Don't you know?"
"I know. But I feel like I won't lose to you right now. Here."
Shion threw the sword. Soliette caught it in surprise.
In that instant, the surrounding scenery transformed dramatically.
"Let's do this."
Shion assumed his stance.
"Sure. Anytime. I'll give you the first move."
Soliette prepared her defense, as if she found the situation amusing.
Meow-
Just then, that cat, Elise, appeared. It was cute because it resembled Elise. However, the actual cat seemed displeased as soon as their eyes met.
"Don't get distracted!"
Shion immediately swung his sword. It was the First Sword of the Arkne's Eight Swords.
The First Sword is usually defended with the Third Sword. It's a sensation that has become second nature after learning it for over a decade.
"...Huh!"
However, Soliette missed her timing. Her body moved awkwardly, and she couldn't muster strength in her arms and legs.
It was as if she was in a dream.
…A dream?
"Why are you floundering?"
"...This is strange."
"Strange indeed."
Shion laughed at her.
"You're just clumsy."
"Clu, clumsy? What are you-"
"Huh!"
Shion swung his sword again. This time, it was a beginner's move, a mix of the First Sword and a second sword.
Soliette raised her sword, but, clang-!
She was pushed back by a single collision.
"Ugh!"
"See? You're clumsy. You don't have a purpose right now."
"For fuck's sake, Shion, don't look down on me!"
She yelled as she got up. She struggled to steady her trembling arms and legs.
"Then come at me first. I'll give you the first move."
"..."
Her pride was scratched. She gritted her teeth.
"Don't regret this."
She charged at Shion, but he easily blocked the First Sword she deployed with his Third Sword.
"See? Easy. Pretty skilled."
"Would you just shut up-!"
"Then try to block it."
He laughed and swung his sword.
Chaaaaaang──!
Soliette couldn't block it. She fell flat on the ground. She was surprised at herself.
"What the hell…."
Am I losing to Shion, who has only learned the Eight Swords for a mere two months?
Me, who has been mastering the arcane of Arkne since birth?
"Do you get it now? You're falling behind me."
Shion taunted with a cocky tone. Soliette blankly looked up at him.
"A sword bound by the past cannot move forward."
Soon, he raised his sword high into the sky.
Boooooong──
That strike.
Looking at it trying to settle into her essence.
"…A sword bound by the past cannot move forward."
Soliette quietly murmured.
At that moment, Shion's sword stopped abruptly.
'A sword bound by the past cannot move forward.'
She gently closed her eyes.
Just now, she felt as if something had broken.
It was not an illusion.
Fragments of a childhood dream, somewhat splashed onto her heart.
…Don't forget your dream.
Shion's voice whispered faintly in her ear.
Soliette opened her eyes again.
"…."
Shion was already gone.
The suddenly 'created' stage of emptiness, her 'dream'-like floundering body movements, were now gone.
"…The fake is."
Soliette spoke to the sky.
"Is this world."
──That's the correct answer!
The scenery reflected in Soliette's retina- slowly changes.
It's still inside the airship. A space that hasn't taken off or landed.
"Soliette?"
Someone called her with a gentle voice.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
"…."
Soliette quietly looked at him.
He is the one who helped her, even in her dreams.
Shion Ascal.
"No."
She shook her head blankly.
"Rather than a nightmare…."
Suddenly, she felt relieved. Her body and mind settled peacefully.
"…Somehow."
Without realizing it, Soliette leaned her head on his shoulder. She playfully rested her forehead against him.
"I dreamt of finding a dream within a dream."