Our Fleeting Dreamscape

"Raging wind, your howls doth sway, As visage fades, night turns to day~"

"World in fragments, at my feet it lies, fire, storm, snow, and mist intertwine, they rise~"

"Hail my queen, in shadows cast~"

"Lonely ruler, time's moments passed~"

"Wax and wane, in ebb and flow, Ukiyo's song, eternal echo~"

A soothing melody rang in his ears.

"Who are you?" Kazami called into the sea of white. His eyes darted around the empty, formless landscape, searching for the source of the song.

As he panned up, Kazami flinched as he found himself now standing before a cherry blossom tree. The tree stood tall beneath well-kept grass, dappled with sunlight filtered through the blossoms.

The dreamer stepped upon a soft pink carpet of petals that floated down from the branches above like little confetti. The air smelled pink, along with many other sensual aromas of cherry, enveloping him in a blanket of warm tranquillity.

The singing continued as if the person the voice belonged to had not heard his call.

"No longer loved, no longer craved~."

"Yet in solitude, strength is paved~."

"Fair moonlight, fill my void eyes~."

"Guide me through these endless skies~."

Amid his slumber, Kazami found himself ensnared in a surreal dream. Blurry faces of two girls emerged from the tree; the one in tears looked like a middle-aged woman dressed in white, while the other was a young girl seething with anger, her form covered by a black dress that clung to her shape.

The weeping figure began to sing, the harsh melody weaving through the air, while the enraged girl's eyes bored into him. 

"It was you. You were singing?" He asked, trying to get closer to see their faces.

Suddenly, Kazami felt a sharp, cold sting as she drove a phantom blade into his gut, and the dream began to bleed crimson.

The other figure of the middle-aged woman reacted and tried to reach out her hand towards him before vanishing, as the dreamer found himself calling out to her. '...'

Nothing came out, as if the words were trapped in his throat.

Gasping violently, Kazami jolted awake as sweat clung to his skin. The memory of the vivid nightmare was still lingering in his mind as he looked around, unsure whether or not he was still dreaming.

He was underground, surrounded by the familiar rocky terrain that he had been in for hours. The flickering glow of a small campfire illuminated the sleeping faces of his friends around him.

"Shit! We overslept," he groaned, rubbing his sore back.

A sense of concern pricked at Kazami's consciousness as he scanned the dreary campsite. Everyone was accounted for, except for one. 

"Ukiyo?" He whispered, trying not to wake everyone up.

From behind him, he heard the shifting of clothing.

'Ukiyo?' He thought, turning his head sharply to face the source of the noise.

On the other side of the makeshift camp was Emiko, who was deep in the throes of an uneasy slumber, her restless mutterings punctuating the quiet night.

A mixture of embarrassment and sympathy washed over him, prompting a rueful shake of his head.

As he scanned the camp once more, he noticed that Tang-Ji was teetering on the edge of her rock. Acting swiftly, Kazami moved silently to intercept her fall, cradling her gently. He eased her back onto the stone surface, ensuring her rest would be undisturbed.

"That was close," he sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. '

This is gross; I really need a shower. I hope my real body doesn't smell like absolute shit when I get out,' scrunching his nose at the thought.

However, amidst the stillness, a familiar soothing melody once again echoed in his ears. He tried to dismiss it as a lingering illusion, a remnant of sleep-deprived delusions.

Yet the singing continued, and eventually his curiosity got the better of him. Kazami pushed himself up and cautiously ventured towards the ethereal serenade, drawn to its melancholic strains.

​​As he made his way to the source of the song, he paced himself along the rocky route that was getting steeper with each step.

However, he noticed that the light around him was gradually becoming brighter, as if the mellow singing were quietly driving away all of the darkness. 

​​

Not too far ahead of him, he could vaguely hear running water, and not before long, the scene before him shifted once more. The small stream that flowed between the rock formations began to widen, becoming a vast body of water.

The reflection of the moon shimmered; its complete, bright form now perfectly mirrored in the water. Above, a crack in the ceiling of the cave opened into a large hole, revealing the night sky—almost a perfect recreation of an artwork Kazami had once seen. It was as if the sky was a black canvas, with specks of white dotted soul here and there around the moon's beautiful shape. 

And there, at the water's edge, sat Ukiyo. Her voice carried the weight of the song, the lyrics etching themselves into the very walls of the cavern. There was a mixture of awe and trepidation as he approached her with careful steps, hoping not to disturb the echoes of the harsh tune.

He cleared his throat softly, breaking the spectral serenade. "That song," he began, his voice carrying a hint of wonder. "That's 'Dusk Befall,' isn't it?" The words hung in the air, and the bridge between dreams and surreal reality finally faded away.

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"Ukiyo, what are you doing?" Kazami asked before slowly approaching her. 

"What I do is none of your business." She replied coldly, not even bothering to turn to face him.

"That song you were singing... It's 'Dusk Befall,' isn't it? The first soundtrack that was made for this game." He paused, and his brow furrowed.

"The lyric version was never released... So where did you get the words from?"

Ukiyo responded with a cold, icy silence. Only the ambience of the night could be heard as the sounds of insects reverberated from the pool of water Ukiyo sat facing and the walls of the cave.

He grew more concerned by how secretive Ukiyo was being.

"There are only a handful of people who know the lyrics to this song, and most of them are gone. Tell me… Who are you?"

As if the question had piqued her interest, Ukiyo finally turned around to face Kazami, now standing atop the rock where she once sat, the moon's pure, white light casting shadows from her form.

"What good is it for you to know?" She answered.

"Will you be able to fix everything if you knew?" 

Kazami hesitated and thought about her words. But before he could say anything, Ukiyo began to speak again.

"I doubt it. If you could, you would have done so already. You and everyone else only care about satisfying their own desires. You say you're doing it for the sake of others, even though you're only acting out of self-interest." She looked down at Kazami and frowned.

"Knowing can't change the past; it will only put more burdens on you."

"How can you be so sure? You don't know me," he scoffed.

"I don't need to know the current you to know that you haven't changed one bit." Ukiyo turned back around and looked up to face the crack in the cave's ceiling. The source of the moonlight dimly illuminated the cave.

"What do you mean by that? Have we met before?" Kazami said, puzzled.

Ukiyo hunched her back before sitting down, hugging her legs tightly.

"Indeed, we have met before. You are the one who lays dormant in every single one of my nightmares."

"You were the one who was eating my life away, as my flesh slowly rotted while you continued with your unending torture." She shuddered and crossed her arms over herself, as if hiding her body.

"Every night would be a different dream—a dream of being choked by your words, a dream of being manipulated to rip at my own flesh, a dream of being used as sexual relief, a dream of being isolated from reality by the rusted bars of a jail cell."

He could sense the real pain in her voice but was in disbelief that he was the source of it.

'What? I've never even considered harming Ukiyo like that. Hell, why would I ever do that in the first place?' Kazami's face was a mixture of confusion and pity.

'Why am I the villain in her dreams? Have I done anything to her to make it that way?' His mind reeled, trying to process what Ukiyo had just told him.

"That's insane. What you're saying is insane; you're crazy if you think I believed all that," he chuckled hollowly.

"It's scary when people make you question your own sanity, but I realised I'm not insane at all. I was just made to think there was something wrong with me.

"Even if the other person doesn't know that they're manipulating me, they are." Ukiyo smiled softly for only a second, and it disappeared as quickly as it came. 

Her silhouette framed by the crack above her. Moonlight spilled into the cavern, casting a silver glow over her skins.

Her voice echoed softly.

"Believe whatever you want," she said, her eyes narrowing. "In a world that feeds on the minority, may that childish belief bring you the peace you've always envisioned."

She paused, her gaze distant as if lost in memory.

"I still remember it all... You and that boy spread me open for dolly pink and stuffed me with snow white artificials. Beauty? No. Just a child's misguided dream."

"I always thought of the possibility that you could have had someone else in your heart. 'All that stubborn loyalty is going to get you killed.'

Her dress fluttering gently in the cool breeze that swept through the cavern.

"That was my mother's warning," she said, her voice tinged with regret. "The one I foolishly ignored. But if that were true, you'd never waste your time tormenting a 'cold machine' like me."

She exhaled softly, as if pushing away the weight of the memory. Behind her, the lake mirrored the scene, its surface disturbed only by the occasional ripple.

"If you truly meant to replace me back then... you should have had the decency to kill me completely. But no, you were relentless."

Her gaze fixed on him, distant and pained. "Every time we've met, you've hurt me without realising it. It's like there's another Kazami, someone I can't quite shake off."

Ukiyo's eyes flickered, a quiet frustration building.

"The parallel lines of our lives should never have crossed, yet here we are... face to face." She hesitated, the moonlight reflecting the vulnerability in her eyes.

"You've probably changed, so it should be okay... but sometimes it's like the 'old' Kazami is still around."

"W-What are you talking about? I… I've never met you before. And I've never done anything of those things you accused me of doing. You're not making sense," Kazami replied, gritting his teeth. 

Suddenly, he felt a sharp, numbing pain in his forehead. He held his head as images and memories began to flicker in his mind—images of things he couldn't recall.

The images were scarily accurate depictions of Ukiyo's dreams—things he had done yet hadn't at the same time.

Kazami stood, shocked, with his hands still resting at his temples.

"There's no way... What the hell did you show me?!" He stuttered.

"I never did any of these things!" He yelled with familiarity.

Ukiyo's eyes narrowed, her voice steady but edged with sharp clarity. "The current you might not have it, but the you from the past? That one was different."

She took a breath, the air heavy with the stillness of the cavern. "Every version of you I've met, there's always been one constant flaw—your uncontrollable anger, your selfishness."

She stepped closer, her dress brushing the rocks beneath her feet. "You didn't see people as individuals. You saw them as possessions, things to be held, to be played with, not as equals."

Her words hung in the air, the moonlight casting long shadows on the stone walls as if even the cavern itself understood the weight of her accusation.

"Shut up! What the hell are you even talking about?! The current me?!" Kazami continued shouting, slowly losing his temper.

He began moving closer to Ukiyo as she continued talking, stepping heavily as he approached. 

"Have you ever thought about what happens every time you get mad? Whenever you're mad, someone gets hurt." She said it coldly.

"You never really think about the consequences of your actions, do you?" She stepped closer again, her voice a low hiss. "Have you ever considered what comes out of your mouth? Your words were like poison knives."

She paused, her breath steady but her eyes unforgiving. "Not only did they leave scars on the surface... they withered people's hearts away."

Kazami's frustration reached its limit. He grabbed her arm, yanking her down from the rock with more force than he intended.

As he did, her sleeve slid back, revealing a scar on her right arm—one he had never noticed before. His grip faltered, his eyes momentarily fixating on the mark, something that only deepened the silence between them.

"What… what is this?"

Ukiyo hesitated, a fleeting shadow passing over her expression. Slowly, she pulled her sleeves up, revealing the scar. It was a slender line, a faint reminder of a past wound that had long since healed but left an indelible mark.

"It's from you, Kazami Lynn," she said quietly, her eyes meeting his.

"Seven years ago, in that fiery hell, you burned me down along with our dreams."

His eyes widened in realisation, and the weight of reality came crashing down on his chest. It was identical to one he had given seven years ago. The same scar he gave to the person he loved the most in the world.

"Hoyeon…" he whispered, covering his mouth. The name escaped his lips, a revelation that rewound the years and brought back the forgotten echoes.

A dense stillness wrapped around them, the weight of her words pressing down his conscience.

Ukiyo continued, "I can never forget you, Kazami. Your image has been engraved in my memory. Every night, your face haunts my dreams, a constant reminder of my stupidity."

Suddenly, warm liquid began to well up under his eyelids. Kazami attempted to wipe them away and stop the flow of tears, but it was impossible.

Tears began to stream down his face as he continued to stare into the eyes of his lost love.

"I-I thought you were gone forever... Your illness, I heard all those years ago... Y-you didn't have long left to live. How are you alive?" He stammered through tears.

He collapsed to his knees, overwhelmed by the influx of familiar and unfamiliar memories, yet he still clung firmly to Ukiyo's arm. His head ached with a splitting pain, and his eyes continued to run with salty tears.

The space between him and Ukiyo seemed to shrink, the unspoken threads of their shared history pulling tighter with every unsteady breath.

Silence filled the void, heavy and electric, as though the past itself had crept up from his shadow, pressing against his head. Kazami's gaze flickered, searching, while Ukiyo's fingers trembled ever so slightly at her side, brushing against her worn hemline as though grounding herself.

The moment stretched, unyielding, like a storm building on the horizon, their unacknowledged truths crackling in the charged air.

Her gaze burned as she wrenched Kazami's arm away, the sharp motion breaking his reach. His hand hung there in the empty air, caught mid-motion, the space between them feeling heavier than the silence that followed. The abruptness of her pull felt final, as if she had pucked away his remaining will. 

"After that night, I should have died long ago. However, I was given a second chance to once again live out my painful life." Clenching her fist, her expression was boiling with seething turmoil.

"Why? Why did I have to live again? After many years, I finally got my answer. It was because of my worth, because my skills are needed by someone else." A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress, knuckles pale. 

"They didn't want me for me; they wanted me for my talent alone. After my father forced me to become an idol, he began working relentlessly to keep me alive. Eventually, he found the cure to my illness, but it came with a massive cost."

The silence stretched, heavy enough to crush.

Ukiyo exhaled slowly, her gaze steady on Kazami's—then shifted, drawn to the cracks in the carven wall where moonlight spilled like spilled memory. The fractures ran deep, silver-edged, as if time itself had wedged her past into the stone. She looked not at him, but into those crevices—as if something lost was waiting there, just out of reach.

"The reason my father trapped everyone in the game..." Her voice was quiet, deliberate, each word dropping like a stone into still water. "Was to extract their lives. That was the only way he could preserve my brain. It was so that it could keep mine from deteriorating."

Kazami's pulse pounded in his ears. A dull ringing.

Ukiyo's arms hung stiffly at her sides, her posture rigid, as if holding herself together by force alone. "A series of nanites have been implanted into my brain stem, nervous system, and sensory organs."

She hesitated, just for a second. "These are the only things that are keeping me alive."

Kazami, still with his hand suspended in the space where contact was denied, listened to her story with a mixture of astonishment and disbelief. The words fell like a bombshell, detonating in the silence between them. 

All this time… all this suffering… and now the truth stood before him, undeniable.

It finally clicked. The pieces slid into place, forming a picture far more twisted than he had imagined.

This wasn't about a madman slaughtering millions. It wasn't about greed, power, or some warped obsession with control.

Kyushu hadn't done this for the sake of destruction.

He had done it for her.

'But if her claims about her father's reason for keeping her alive is true... then...'

Then it would be not out of love—no, that word wouldn't belong here. It has to be something else. Something colder. Calculated.

Kazami stood frozen beside Ukiyo, his pulse hammering in his ears. The weight of her words lingered, pressing down on him like the cavern walls had drawn closer, suffocating. His stomach churned. He had been the reason for her pain, and now, standing here, he was finally seeing the truth for what it was.

"Is that really all there is to it?" The thought clawed at him, refusing to settle. "This entire scheme—millions of lives, all for Hoyeon? No... there's no way. Someone like him wouldn't go this far without something more."

His jaw tightened.

"Sacrificing millions for one life, huh? And here I am, unsure if that was the wrong choice after all."

Kazami remained silent as Ukiyo continued. 

"You and that boy, I've had dreams over and over where I relive everything you did to me." Hoyeon shuddered.

"I've had multiple dreams where I was forced to kill my best friend, and some where I was assaulted. In the dreams that I had recently, I died because it was the end of the world, and in another dream, I was stuck in a time loop, trying hopelessly to save the people I loved from dying." 

Ukiyo's gaze shifted, her voice softer but tinged with a bitter undertone.

"Long ago, there was a picture I drew. It was of a far-off dream..." She paused, eyes lost in thought, the weight of the memory pressing on her chest. "I wrote 'Ukiyo,' the floating world."

A small, sad smile tugged at her lips as she continued. "At first, it seemed wholesome. A dream. Something pure. But it changed for me."

She took a step back, looking at Kazami with a quiet intensity. "The cabin and lake on an island... all alone. And me, the girl... isolated. So far from Earth." Her voice cracked slightly, but she steadied herself.

"That's how you made me feel. That's how I felt I'd be forever. Isolated."

"I see you still kept the same name I made for you long ago. The name Kirizkuuk means cut through. I always thought that you were a knight in shining armour that was able to cut through my darkness and protect me.

"It's ironic how, rather than using your blade to protect the weak, you used it to strike them down, severing those who cared for you."

"But, I–I didn't want it to, please… You were the only one I– I'm sorry for everything…" Kazami mumbled incoherently.

He tried to speak again. But the only sounds he could wring out from his parched throat were a few haggard breaths.

All the words he tried and failed to cry out—'I'm sorry, wait, don't go'—remained trapped in his lungs, swirling around in a toxic haze with all the other things that were left unsaid.

His chest burned with the urge to let them all out, but his mind raced too fast to even remember to breathe; he was slowly starting to get lightheaded. 

Before the weight of her confession could settle in his mind, there was a sudden voice that cut in between them, sharp and chilling. 

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The poor thing got rejected. You know it's bad to play with your food, Mai-sama~" The voice prickled at Ukiyo's heart like a saccharine charm, as if she were stunk by sewing needles.