Day: V

CHAPTER 3

7.

The next morning started and gloomy weather calmly greeted us. In my opinion, this is the perfect weather for everything. A drizzle of moist, a soothing breeze, a lukecold type of scenario. You could sleep all day or go out and enjoy, there's plenty of choices.

Every time I wake up, my day starts as it is, the latter of the day is what differs. Gaining new information is integral to my goal! Speaking of new information, I have to discuss my hypothesis with Xav. Minutes later, I reached our meeting place and Xav was already there.

"Good morning Xavi the worrywart~" I energetically greeted.

"Are you not content with just X, A, and V?" Xav replied. At first I thought he was only a worrywart but it turns out, he is grumpy as well.

"A single syllable name sounds lame. Anyway what's up? Any notes to tackle?" I responded.

Xav did not furtherly argue, we proceeded to our discussion and it went kinda lengthy. As we try to cross examine our findings, his pair have the same memory that they remember while mine isn't. The only common denominator is the pair share the memories, regardless if they remember the same scenario or not. Which means it is also possible to remember differently as long as both of the pairs are included in that instance.

It was a monumental discovery since we cannot think of any counter argument to nullify our hypothesis. We gather more data to strengthen our claims and so far the always true statements are;

-Adults can remember a single certain memory/scenario that has a huge impact on them individually or as a pair.

-Both adults in pairs and alone have this feature.

-The young ones could not perform the same feat.

-The pairs can have the same or different memory that they remember as long as both of them are included in that memory.

The only claim that we could not prove is if that memory can be changed into a different one, especially when they have another huge impact scenario. For example, Kari could potentially remember the same thing as Nato in her perspective, but it was replaced by the memory of choosing me in the Globules. I think there's no way to prove it that's why it remains as a hypothesis.

As monumental as it is, it does not help us drastically. Well yes, it's good that we now know but in terms of looking for further leads, it does not spill anything. I guess aside from no actual punishment in disobeying the orders, which I already know. We were quite distracted by this discovery, I hope Xav is now convinced that we should try breaking the other rules.

"So Xav, I know our data is all over the place. I think we are quite off tangent to our goal" I mentioned.

"I guess so… What do you suggest?" Xav asked.

"Are you ready to break some orders?" I immediately responded.

"Hmm… So far we are discovering information that is normally not known to anyone. I was on guard this whole time, checking if there will be a catch upon knowing all of these, so far there's none…" he stated.

"Soooo?" I impatiently replied.

"I guess we can try breaking some" he said as an observably hesitation showed on his face.

"Yosha!" I shouted.

"What order do you want to break?" he asked.

"LET'S GO TO THE EDGE OF THE BUBBLE!" I enthusiastically said.

"Are you nuts? Do you have a suicide mission? Besides, that's not even an order, it's a warning since it's fatal!" He madly argued.

"Tsss…" I reacted.

"Don't Tssss me! Let's do something else" he said.

"Fineeee… What about staying outside of the shelter beyond 23:00?" I suggested.

"Hmmm… That seems doable, but it's kinda frightening I think" Xav said.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Well since everything resets in this place, I cannot imagine how it actually happens. Maybe we are ordered to stay inside our shelter because the reset occurs beyond 23:00" He explained.

"That is actually a strong claim! I would like to see how they will grow back or something! Let's do that!" I replied.

"Are you sure about this?" he clarified.

"Of course! There's not much of a choice anyway. The reset could be magical!" I answered.

"Or horrifying" He argued.

"Stop being soooo pessssiiiiimiiiiissssttiiiiic" I said.

"Fine fine.. Let's do that, we will meet here at 22:30. Let's pretend that we are sleeping first so that our adult pairs would not worry." He planned.

"Roger!" I replied. "But before we go…." I started breaking multiple branches of the tree, as well as some flowers right after I agreed with Xav.

"What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Creating some marks, you know. So we can observe how they regenerate or something" I confidently answered as I continued to wreak havoc.

"Oooh in that case, I'll join as well" he said as he grabbed a pointed stone.

A few minutes have passed and I think we have already made a noticeable damage. I looked around and saw Xav carved "Tanya the Goddess" on the back part of the tree.

"Oy you sly disrespectful racoon dog!" I shouted.

"Whaaat? You like calling yourself a Goddess right?" he sarcastically asked while laughing.

"I am the only one that is allowed to say that!" I responded.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because I mean it when I say it but you are just teasing me when you do it!" I responded madly. He just laughs at me while I'm about to explode, I want to tear him apart!

"Let's just leave it there, it will reset soon. Besides, you made quite a mess already. That's way more noticeable compared to my carving" He said. I looked around and realized that he was right, maybe I overdo it. I'm quite embarrassed to be honest.

"Aahhh… yeah… it will reset anyway.. Hehe" I shamefully said. "Let's just go home and get some rest, we need more energy later" I added.

This mess is an actual disgrace to this place. To be fair, I wouldn't break that much if I know that the place doesn't reset. Thankfully it does, I can't wait to see the miracle later on.

8.

Time truly moves slower when you are anticipating something. No matter how hard you try to keep yourself distracted, it does not help that much. I slept right after reaching our home but the moment I woke up, it felt like every second was a minute!

The star settles and it's about time to escape. I put pillows under my blanket to have a decoy, just in case they check my room. I don't want Kari and Nato to worry about me.

Exactly 22:00, 30 minutes ahead of our meetup, I fled through the window. Our meetup place is not that far from our home. It's like a 10 minute travel since we're not that close to the center, I think we're far southwest? Xav's house is close to the west side from the center, probably 5-7 minutes away from our house.

Eventually, I reached my destination. I never knew that traveling at night was this peaceful. It's a beautiful scenery and also a thrilling one. We are not allowed to do this, that's the thrilling part. A couple seconds after my arrival, Xav showed up.

"You are 20 minutes ahead of our meetup" I greeted.

"Look who's talking" Xav responded.

"Glad that you did not chicken out" I said as I tried to tease him.

"To be honest, I was about to" he immediately replied.

"HOY!" I shouted.

"Chill, it's just a thought, I still showed up" Xav said defensively.

I guess his extremely understanding trait comes with a cost. We both arrived early and there's not that much to talk about. Awkward times like this still exist, good thing the night view offers a free show.

More minutes have passed and I almost forgot that we were anticipating the reset. The dark night theme suddenly glows gold in sparkle, like a thousand fireflies suddenly appear. Truly magical scenery! That was the time I realized that the reset is happening.

Xav and I were moved, we instinctively moved closer to each other because we don't know what will happen to us during the reset. The flowers grew back, the carvings slowly restores, I can't believe what we are witnessing!

We were stunned by this unbelievable moment. Due to shock, we did not notice that we were standing too close to the tree. Suddenly Xav screamed loudly, I looked at him and saw a branch near Xav grew and tangled his arm. Both of us acted swiftly and tried our best to pull his arm.

Good thing we managed to break the branch that closely swallowed him… him… Wait a second… What is happening? Did I just suddenly forget his name?

My friend and I looked at each other and we both had this same expression. Like we are slowly forgetting something…

"QUICK, GO HOME NOW! WRITE A WORD OR ANYTHING THAT WILL REMIND US THIS MOMENT!" he suddenly shouted.

Due to his instruction, I remembered our purpose here. That's when I realized that together with the restoration of the surroundings, our minds also resets. We both don't know what will happen to us if we forget everything while we are outside.

We immediately ran towards our house. Both of us sprint as fast as we could, I can feel my memory slowly slipping away and it terrifies me. I don't want to forget, I want to remember!

At 23:15 I arrived at my house, I guess Xav also reached his in a small time difference. I am in panic and I'm trying to figure out what to do. All I remember is that I have to do something once I reach our home, but I just can't! Frustration made my tears flow and I don't know how many minutes have I been walking in circles inside of my room.

Eventually I saw a notebook and a pen on my desk. I don't know why but I stopped crying and slowly moved to that area. I opened that notebook and saw a lot of writings. Did I write those? I kinda want to write something. Oh the fireflies earlier were beautiful, I guess I'll write something about it. After a couple of seconds, my vision turned black and I fell asleep at my desk.

The morning rises and why the hell am I sleeping on my desk? Did I do something that exhausted me this bad? My head hurts so much, I should head down and drink something warm. That woman over there is… Kari and that man is Nato.. Oh yes, they are the adult pair who are taking care of me. For some reason my memory is quite fuzzy.

Kari noticed my unbearable situation, "Are you alright?" she asked.

"My head hurts, It must be because I fell asleep at my desk" I answered.

"Poor cutie, don't worry. I'll cook some warm soup to relieve the pain." Kari softly said. I'm actually thankful that I have a caring adult on my side.

"You can use this, I invented an automatic head massager, put it on!" Nato proudly said as he handed over an upside down bowl look alike. I tried it and this is truly a relief. I love my adult pair.

We all eat our breakfast, I want this moment to last. Maybe having this headache is not that bad after all, as long as they will pamper me. Sometimes, this type of moment is needed. Wait, is this the first time that this happened? My headache kinda prevents me from thinking beyond. Maybe I'll just try to rest and take it easy for now.

After having this wonderful meal, they advised me to lie down and rest until I regain my strength. That is exactly what I'm gonna do! I took a shower to refresh myself. It is also a preparation for a round 2 sleep. Cold showers really help me feel better, though taking shower makes me think. It's like a room for a thinking session while cleaning yourself. I kinda wonder why I worked so hard last night.

As soon as I walked out of the shower, I saw a notebook and a pen on my desk. That is where I fell asleep last time, something tells me that what I did last night is related to that notebook and pen.

"Am I a writer or something?" I sarcastically said as I walked closely to my desk. I picked up the notebook as I sat down on the chair. I started to read the writings and to be honest, it's kinda similar to my handwriting, I think…

With a format like this, it looks like a diary without a date. I continue reading the content of the notebook and it kinda feels odd. Why is the description close to my room? This is so strange, I try to check if the notes refer to my room. There's a part here wherein it says "I've put a pebble under my pillow to prove it" but when I checked it, there's no pebble. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid on this, it is just similar to my room, it's not like they are not allowed to have the same room as mine.

I have nothing else to do. That's why I keep on reading this journal to whoever it may belong. These logs were actually funny, it legitimately looks like something that I would do. As I continue reading, there's a part where that person put a scar on his or her left shoulder. That instant I realized something… I also have a scar that looks like an X in the same position as it describes. I saw it while taking a bath earlier, I thought it was a birthmark since I could not remember how I got that…

9.

The first page of the notebook says "You forget everything daily, this is a guide for you to remember". At first I thought this was a fiction story but it turns out to be a journal, and it's definitely blowing my mind. As I dive deeper into these notes, everything here is outlandish. It's surreal but I'm starting to believe in it. My scar is the only strong evidence that I got so far. I should check the places that were mentioned here as I read through the pages. If everything inside of this notebook turns out to be true, then this is not just a journal, it's my diary..

I immediately went outside and tried to locate the cave that contains a "glowing blue thingy" according to the notes. The instructions were as detailed as it could be, as if it was written perfectly for someone who doesn't know where it is.

After like more than a hundred steps, I think I finally reached the cave that I was looking for. Near a flowing river, within the woods, an old tree can be seen from afar, it definitely fits the description. I enter the cave and carefully walk deeper. At long last, the glowing blue thingy appear before my eyes. I can't believe that it exists, meaning the notes were right all along. The instructions said that I should touch that thing but I am not sure if I should. Something this mystic is intriguing yet frightening.

Holding the notebook tightly, I'm still torned about the next step that I should take. Am I going to let the fear from the unknown consume me? No, I should stop whining and finish this. I muster my courage and bravely walk towards it. My hands were trembling but that will not stop me, I slowly extended my arm and eventually, I touched the glowing blue thingy.

My fuzzy mind is slowly clearing up, it feels like I'm connected to everything. It's odd, I cannot describe this experience, it feels right…

I removed my hand from the glowing blue thingy and I kinda feel better now. I can't really tell if those events in that notebook actually happened but it feels familiar. I wrote those, this is my diary, I just cannot remember.

I went outside of the cave and started to walk to the big old tree. I would like to rest there while I read until the last page of my diary. As I got closer to the tree, I saw someone sitting under the shade of the tree.

"Aaahhmm… hi?" I hesitantly greeted.

"Tanya?" he asked.

"You know me?" I said in a low tone.

"I am Xav, according to this sketchbook you are Tanya and I can meet you here under the big old tree" he said.

"Sketchbook?" I questioned as I noticed his yellow sketchbook.

"Yes, there's a sketch of you on the front page and there's a small note at the bottom (She is Tanya, meet her everyday). I don't know who drew and wrote this, I came here because you might know who is the owner of this sketchbook." He explained.

In that instant, I immediately realized that he should touch the glowing blue thingy as well. Maybe he can think better after touching that one!

"Come, follow me!" I initiated. Xav followed me as we both went immediately to the cave.

"Do we really have to hurry? Where are we going anyway?" he complained.

"Just trust me, we can find your answer inside of the cave!" I replied.

It is not that far from the old tree, what took us too long was the part where he should touch the glowing blue thingy. It's really hard to make him trust me, he is unbearably a worrywart! This long argument kinda pisses me off. While he is off-guard, I quickly pushed him, made him stumble then accidentally touched the glowing blue thingy.

The way his eyes glow is actually bothersome. After a short moment, he removed his hand as he looked at me.

"How was it?" I asked.

Xav slowly looks into the sketchbook that he is holding. It looks like he remembered who the owner of that sketchbook was. "Do you know now?" I added.

"Yes…" he shortly answered.

"Good! Let's return it to the owner, maybe I know that person" I said.

"We don't have to…" He added.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Because the owner already has it.." he said shyly.

"Wait what?" I was legitimately confused. All of a sudden, he blushes and in that instant I realized what he meant. "oooooh…"I reacted, I DON'T KNOW HOW SHOULD I REACT TO THIS MOMENT, I'M PROBABLY BLUSHING AS HE IS RIGHT NOW!

"May…maybe I.. I drew you… so.. So I can remember" Xav defensively mentioned as he stuttered.

"Right riiiigghhtt… hehe" I awkwardly replied.

"Iitt… it's not what you think!" He added.

"Sure suree… Want to go back to the tree? I haven't finished reading my notes yet" I offered in order to escape this awkwardness.

"That's a good idea, I'll examine my sketchbook as well" He replied.

I don't know if I can live another awkward moment like this. Is that the reason why he always lurks around this forest? It's on the first page after all! No no no, I should not jump into conclusions here. Let's pretend that this moment never happened and everything will be alright~

Xav and I spent our time assessing our own notes. We eventually removed the awkwardness since it looks like we are friends, we just forgot about it due to the setup. Even though we forget daily, we highly doubt that we were like this everyday. Our initial guess was something happened last night and it went horribly, making us start to zero. We finally reached the last pages of our notes and we started to compare.

"I guess I don't have the time to sketch, I just wrote last night (Tanya and I are friends, trust your sketchbook, 23:00). I think there should be more to it but I fell asleep after writing 23:00." Xav discussed.

"Mine was… hundreds or maybe thousands, fireflies lighting up the dark land, like stardust on my bare hand…" I replied.

"Is that a metaphor or something?" Xav questioned.

"I don't really know.. Based on what we have done before last night, we were trying to unfold the secrets of this world. Especially the part of breaking the rules." I answered.

"I think it is slowly making sense… I wrote 23:00 last night. We already knew that the order about the adults taking care of the new birth can be broken. Most likely that we were trying to break the 23:00 rule?" Xav hypothesized.

"That is true…" I responded.

"But what does it have to do with fireflies?" he questioned.

"Maybe a large amount of them appear at night? Specifically at 23:00?" I replied.

"All I can think of is that the fact that we are like this now, something terribly happened last night. Maybe our experimentation went wrong" Xav mentioned.

"You are probably right, this is the first time that I wrote without a conclusion in my diary, only a metaphor or something. Though I'm kinda curious.." I said.

"What are you implying?" he asked.

"Yes, the fact that we are like this proves that something wrong happened. But it also means that there is SOMETHING, during that time." I mentioned.

"That is also possible" he commented.

"What if we try it again?" I suggested.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Xav shouted. "How can we make it different from last time if we don't have enough data to guide us?" he added.

"Then we will try to gain data. It's not like we are fully back to zero. This time we are aware that something is up. I'm quite confident that the metaphor or something that I wrote was related to last night's event" I argued.

"That's true… but it's too risky. I… I don't want to forget you…" he said while being embarrassed by what he said.

"Relaaaax. We were able to find each other even though we have zero memory. I'm sure we can do it again." I replied. "Besides, we can add more details to our notes now, like not letting me know that you drew me" I added as I winked.

"ALRIGHT FINE!" he shouted while extremely blushing. I laughed as I enjoyed teasing him, it's payback time~

"Though not tonight, let's do that 2 days from now" Xav suggested.

"Fine with me, but why?" I curiously asked.

"Let's make sure first that there's no more bad effect from what happened. Let's observe for now and do some prep for the meantime." He explained.

"That's a good idea, maybe I'll write some manual or something. See you in 2 days!" I responded.

"We'll make it this time." He firmly stated.

After having an agreement, Xav and I went home. We cannot always win, what matters is what we will do after losing. I admit that we lost last night but I won't stop until I unfold the depths of this place!

End of Day V-VI