The Dream Shifter

Chapter 216

"That's what I want to know. Why you?"

"I-I don't understand what you're asking!"

Chiharu turned a little in their walk to face Yumi better. "Why are you doing all of this? Why do you act strong, but are actually a coward? Is it all for him? Because of some pointless crush? Why? I want a real answer from you."

Yumi felt the slam of all of the words against her chest. Her past conversations with Chiharu ran mostly indirect and even when it seemed like they were direct there was still confusion left. It was the first time that Yumi actually felt that Chiharu was being direct and not jumping around words. 'Was everything from before about this? She's still bothered by it?' Most of the nervousness in Yumi faded away. If it was a question such as that, she felt confident in an answer. "I did provide you a partial answer already."

"You want to change yourself?"

A nod in agreement came from Yumi. She managed to smile a little feeling the warmth returning to her body. "Yes, that's correct." The image of Yuki painted through her mind as she thought about her words.

The tone in Chiharu's voice cracked slightly as she spoke, "What do you think you can do with such weak and naïve ideas?"

She shook her head a bit at Chiharu. Yumi began to see that she really did not understand. Originally, she thought she might have been too young, but she did not know Chiharu's past. Their chats showed her that Chiharu had maturity. She still lacked something else. What she lacked prevented her from understanding. Yumi knew that finally. "I guess it could be seen as that to you. But you sure that it is not you that are weak for not being able to see?"

"I'm not weak," Chiharu immediately replied. The tone in her voice broke again in her words. Her arms tightened in further. Any further movement from Chiharu would begin popping her joints.

Yumi's smile had weakened a bit seeing the unsettling stress from Chiharu. "There are different types of weakness. I think…" She needed to explain herself. It was clear to her that something still bothered Chiharu enough to keep pressing the issue. Yumi did not claim to understand her reasons, but she felt the importance of it to her. "I already know that I'm not very strong. I have to keep picking myself back up. I'm always doubting what I can do. The truth is that I probably shouldn't even be here."

"If you know this, then why are you still here?"

"I already answered that question four chapters ago," Yumi quickly commented with a grin.

A quick glare jumped from Chiharu at Yumi. "I mean what makes you think you can do this. You know you're weak and not suited to this. How can something so soft as the notion of change be your reason?"

"Well honestly a lot of it is because of Yuki. He's the reason I want to change." Some bits of nostalgia floated through Yumi's mind calling her back. However, a low growl from Chiharu snapped her out of her memories. Yumi saw the looked of 'no more flashbacks' in her eyes. It made her sweat a little, but she pushed on. 'I guess a lot of I didn't really fully understand at the beginning either. It just sort happened…'

Yumi let her hands rest back at her side. She forgot that they still walked under the moon towards her brother. The conversation with Chiharu completely absorbed her. "Back at home, I did not really mind being ordinary and normal. If anything I wanted that more than anything, but I knew I wasn't. I was below average and I had to struggle just to try to be average. During all of middle school that was always my dream, just to be normal. And I thought I felt the same for high school too."

"Don't tell me, because of the weakling you changed your mind."

She giggled a little at the thought, but shook her head. "No, I don't really think he had much to do with that. After everything that happened with Japan changing, I didn't know what to think. Everything had changed and I could no longer see things the same anymore." Her left hand rose up to rest on her right upper arm to hold on for safety. She saw things that defied nature out of her window. Everything no longer had the same meaning, at least she hoped. It gave her a new chance.

Chiharu would have crossed her arms in disbelief, if she had not already. She could not even tighten anymore as a show. All she could manage was narrowed eyes to carry any further disbelief within her. "You're saying he had nothing to do with it? That since the country changed you came to the conclusion?"

"I guess he triggered things or was part of it. But the changes happening around me definitely changed my way of thinking." The impossible happened around her. People with strange powers surfaced in every corner. Nothing was as she knew. Her thoughts changed then. "I didn't think much of it at first. All of it scared me too much. Even from the window of my home, nothing felt safe anymore. But slowly I felt something different. I started considering something. Back then I couldn't give it words to exist. However, our last night in Japan I made my decision."

"You made a decision?"

Yumi nodded back to her. "Yes, it was at that same time I decided I was going to help Yuki."

"So it does come back to the weakling."

"Eh? I guess…though they're two separate issues." Yumi stuck her hands out as if she held something between them and moved her hands to the opposite side. She wanted to keep them apart from each other. "I felt that if I was going to do anything, I needed to do something… Something possibly drastic and reckless, something that I might regret."

"Isn't that counterproductive?" The thought process of Yumi failed to make Chiharu understand her any better. She felt like she was getting the full answer from Yumi, but not the answer that fit. It only served to confuse her further. Questions swam in her head. Yet curiosity remained strong enough to keep from breaking off.

"Maybe so," laughed Yumi. She could not deny the notion that everything she did was pointless. Even starting out she knew the possibilities. However, she did not stop and kept pushing forward. 'Maybe that's why the voice inside me comes out…when I find myself in doubt…I can't turn away…' Yumi fixed stares with Chiharu. She felt some of her determination returning. "But I decided to do anything knowing that. I needed to change I realized. The world around me had changed and though even before the changes occurred I did not necessarily fit neatly into its works… I knew that now I definitely wouldn't… The world outside my home wasn't a place for me. So I needed to be someone different to keep moving forward."

"Someone different?" Chiharu raised an eyebrow in uncertainty. The longer she listened the less it made any sense to her. 'I really don't understand her way of thinking. You don't just decide to change yourself. Training and discipline are the only way to improving yourself.' She was not finding the answer she wanted. She had to correct her thoughts. "Change isn't possible."

"Huh?"

"You're born who you are and who you will be. You can't change that. You can refine what you're given. You are you. Nothing more."

Yumi closed her hands together with her fingers laced together. She held on tightly to them as though desperate to keep something from escaping. "I know I'm trying for something that is impossible. I've been who I have been for my entire life. So changing now seems beyond my limits, but even though I falter, stumble and fail I need to keep trying anyway."

"For him?"

"For myself! My friends support me and know I can be more. So I have to believe as well in what they see in me. So I'll do this for myself. I'll become stronger and more confident." Yumi made it into a promise rather than a dream or hope. She stood in a land where she could not let her weaknesses and fears keep holding her back. She was afraid and scared of the future, but she needed to keep trying anyway. Yumi jumped forward a little ahead of Chiharu and turned around to face her completely. "After all, we're in the land where anything is possible, right?" A wide grin appeared on her face brimming with resolve. "Even the impossible can happen!"

Chiharu came to a stop still questioning the logic presented to her. She did not have the energy to debate the further irrational ideas with her. Nothing came as clear as she wanted with Yumi. Deep inside, she held onto hope to finding the answer that she needed for herself. The phrase that would solve her own questions, but her quest would have to continue. She knew it would not be so easy. "Logic only a fool can understand. No wonder you're stuck on the weakling."

"That's fine with me for now!" Yumi still have some uncertainties about Chiharu and herself. They definitely did not see eye-to-eye on almost anything. She was positive that they would probably continue to argue and disagree about any decision. However, after everything that happened it still felt better having talk to her. She was not sure how much of it helped, but she no longer saw Chiharu as cold and distant. Even if only a little bit, she thought she could call her a friend and feel like Chiharu might not complain about the notion. Yumi was happy. 'Everything will be fine! I'm feeling good about this! We're a team!'

Seiji and Fumiko came to a stop next to the two girls. However, their reasons were not because they interrupted the march. They aimed their eyes forward to the distance. Fumiko was the first to speak, "Is that a village?"

"I can't tell from here," answered Seiji, leaning forward as though it helped him. "It's too dark."

Chiharu pulled her focus back to the attention that grabbed the others. The features on her face all became narrowed and intense. "No, that's no village. It's a camp."

The sudden change in atmosphere finally reached Yumi. It pulled her around, curious to know what the others were talking about. Once she saw the same thing, her eyes widened and pupils shrank in disbelief. "A camp? It can't be!" She staggered back unable to hide her surprise.

"Yes, and judging by the size there are more than a hundred camped there."

"How's that possible?" asked Fumiko, taking a step back as well. "We would have seen something this big!"

"My brother's in there? How are we supposed to get him out of there?" Despair fell back into Yumi's lap dropping her to her knees. The sight grew more expansive in her mind. Her brother stretched out of her reach. 'How will I save him?'

Long confused hours passed since the unnerving end to the interrogation. Only a small piece of new information came out of it. A piece that did not end have a defined edge. No edge or shape, it meant it had no hint or clue to how it fit together with everything else. Unfortunately, the piece was important and critical. Everything else used it to hold together. If it was not present, all of the rest of pieces already put together held no meaning. The significance of the piece demanded its use immediately. Yet in such condition, the piece had no means of use.

Such was the state Simonides' mind was in since he gained the new puzzle piece. All he had was a torrent of dependent questions with no answers.

He could not sleep with such questions.

Isolated in his tent for the empty hours, he had enough of the restless. Simonides stood up from the chair in the mostly empty space. "I need more pieces. This won't be solved on what I have currently." He straightened his step and smoothed out his stance before exiting his tent.

Across the camp, Simonides waved his hand in acknowledgement of the soldiers that passed him. After they passed he turned to face the tent next to him. He still had to move ahead with the next stage of the plan, even without knowing all of the answers. 'I've already set the pieces in motion. I can't undo it now.' Simonides pushed open tent to one of the many men's tents that acted as their barracks for the camp.

"Attention! Captain Simonides is present!" shouted a lower officer that saw his arrival. It signaled a mad dash throughout the long tent. A few seconds passed to present all of the men in the tent standing out in front of their beds.