Dream A Lost Time

Chapter 3 "A Clue"

Every time Rey dreamed. A girl always appeared in his dreams. It doesn't matter which world he dreamt about, that girl always appeared in his dreams. However, this time it was different than usual. Rey was walking through the thick fog in his dream. He could not see anything in that fog. He carefully took his every step while walking straight to find his way out of the fog. He could not see anything; however, he had a feeling that if he walked straight, it would lead him to way out of that foggy place. "What is this feeling? It's like, someone is calling me" Rey thought while carefully taking the next step. After taking a few steps, he found himself in the forest surrounded by green trees. Everything turned clear like crystal, it was like that fog never existed in the first place. "How could this place be so clear? a few seconds earlier, I could not see a single thing, but now…" Rey thought while looking back at that disappeared foggy place. While he was still in his thoughts interrupted by someone, "hey what are you doing here?" Rey looked at the direction of that voice and saw a young boy with blue eyes and black hair. Even Rey was in a dream, but still it was real for him, because he was living in that dream. "Hey what are you spacing out for?" a young boy asked again when he saw the other party in daze. Rey snapped out from his thoughts and asked him instead, replying, "who are you? What is this place?" Young boy laughed and replied, "ha, are you an idiot? You could not even recognize yourself." Rey did not get angry at his reaction, instead asked again, "Okay if you are saying you and I are the same person. Explain this to me, how could this be possible?" Other Rey replied with a serious expression, "this is a good question. I think you have not changed that much. Look I am your past self, and I still exist in you. I am a part of your brain." Even though it was hard to believe what he was telling him about past and future life, but still Rey chose to trust him, "Okay, I believe in you, but why I could not remember about you, I mean my past life? Could you tell me about that girl I always saw in my dreams? If you are my past self, then you knew everything, is it true? Other Rey answered with a sad face, "it's not that simple. You would be better off not knowing anything about me." Rey punched the other Rey while feeling frustrated, "What the hell are you saying, you have no idea what I am going through. I am trying every single day to remember you, but I could not have any clue. Now you are telling me I would be better off without knowing anything." When he saw the future Rey acting in that way, he sighed before saying, "I am running out of time, I can't stay in this form for forever." he stood up and continued, "let's go, I want to show you something." Anger could be seen in Rey's eyes; however, he still chose to follow him. They started walking up the stairs. Shortly after, building came to sight and they both stopped. Rey turned around to look at the buildings and asked, "why did you bring me here?" However, he did not receive any answer. Rey looked back to see his past self, only to find himself in front of Shrine, "where did he go?" After not fining anyone around, Rey looked at the front gate of the shrine and started walking towards the gate. He was about to enter the shrine, however brilliant light shot from the shrine at him. Sudden assault made him flustered, and he closed his eyes. He did not feel any pain when he opened his eyes, Rey found himself in his room lying on the bed, "What a weird dream. Shrine…." In real life, Rey also has the same schedule as a high school student. Rey checked his phone and there were messages from his friends. he texted them back and walked out from his room. After taking shower, Rey ate a delicious breakfast from his mother's hand before going to school. Rey walked to school with Kiniko. On the way, Rey and Kiniko stopped when they heard Kern's voice. They looked back at him. Kern was with Mikasa. Kern and Mikasa got close to them in a few steps. Kern asked Rey, "Rey, how are you feeling today?" Rey answered him while in deep thought, "I am fine today." Kern said, "that is good." Rey and Kern walked together followed by Mikasa and Kiniko. Rey and Kern parted ways with Mikasa and Kiniko to go to their classes. "Will I be getting my memories back if I visit that Shrine?" Rey questioned himself. Rey asked Kern, "Hey Kern, do you know about any Shrine in this town?" Kern was also thinking while walking with Rey, "Where should I take Mikasa this weekend. Should I take her to the arcade? I don't think she is going to like that. Maybe an amusement park?" Kern turned to Rey, "Sorry, did you say anything?" Rey asked when he saw his pale face, "how are things between you and Mikasa? Did you guys fight again?" Kern replied, "No it's not that. I was thinking of taking her on a date somewhere. I could not decide where I should take her. Do you have an idea?" Rey replied with a neutral face, "I don't know what she likes. So, I can't advise you on anything. By the way, do you know any Shrine in this town?" Kern pondered for a moment before replying, "there is a Shrine in this town called God of Nirvana's Shrine. Why do you ask about shrines?" Rey replied while thinking about the name of the shrine, "it's nothing, can you take me there?" They entered the classroom and Kern replied, "yeah sure, I can. We can all go together with Mikasa and Kiniko after School over." Rey thanked him while taking his seat, "thanks, I will ask Kiniko then." Miss Aruna started the class. She looked gorgeous in black dress as usual. She started taking attendance while calling names one by one. After taking attendance, she started teaching mathematics to his students. Rey and Kern attended all the lectures before lunch break. Rey and Kern walked up stairs to go to the roof. Kern and Rey took their places close to the bars. They both did not start eating immediately because Kiniko and Mikasa were also going to join them. Kern asked Rey, "Do you want to go to the shrine for anything specific." Rey replied while thinking about the dream, "last night I saw a shrine in my dream. so, I am thinking of visiting the shrine. maybe I can remember something if I visit there." Mikasa and Kiniko also arrived at the roof. Kern looked at them and waved at them "hey Kiniko and Mikasa." Rey also looked in the direction and said, "finally you guys are here." Kiniko and Mikasa also joined them. They all opened their lunch boxes and shared their food with each other. Mikasa asked Kern, "what were you talking about?" Kern replied, "Rey wants to visit the shrine. because he saw a shrine in his dream. He thought if he visits the shrine maybe he could remember something. Do you guys want to come with us?" When Kiniko heard all this from Kern she lost in thoughts, "Rey still wants to remember about that girl that's why he is trying so hard to get his memories back." Rey asked Kiniko, "Kiniko are you coming with us?" She came back to reality and replied with a smile, "yes, I do not have any plans for today. I will go with you guys." Kern spoke, "that's decided then we will go together. Rey and Kiniko meet us in the town park at 5pm. Mikasa and I will wait for you guys." Rey and Kiniko nodded. Lunch break was almost over. After finishing delicious food, they all picked up their lunch box and returned to their classes.

In class, Rey and Kern walked to their seats. All the other students came back to the classroom to attend the next lectures. After a few minutes, a middle-aged man showed his presence in the classroom. His attire was formal with White shirt and black paint. He looked attractive with his short, well-groomed beard with short black hair. His name was Kin. Kin started the lecture while taking the attention of his students, "Okey students, break is over. let's do some study now." All students turned silent and paid attention to the English teacher Kin. Rey and Kern were no exception either, they also paid attention to the teacher. After a few hours, Rey and Kern attended all the lectures. All classes were over. They both grabbed their school bags and walked outside from the classroom. They walked to the front gate and stopped for Kiniko and Mikasa. Mikasa and Kiniko were walking towards the front gate of school when they saw two handsome boys standing at the front door. Rey's eyes looked towards the direction of Kiniko and Mikasa. When he looked at them and said to Kern, "they are finally here." Kern also looked at the direction and asked Mikasa and Kiniko, "what took you so long guys?" Mikasa and Kiniko already got close to them. Mikasa answered, "We had some matters to discuss with the student council president." Kern got his answer and started walking as followed by others.

After a few minutes' walk, they all stopped at the traffic lights. Kern said, "Okay guys, we will meet you at 5pm in the park." Kern and Mikasa's house were in different directions. They parted ways with Kiniko and Rey. They started walking towards their home while holding hands. Rey's phone rang, "ding, ding" two times. Rey took out his phone from his pocket and started reading the message which was from his mother. Rey started walking while reading it, "I am going to market, if you want something from the market just text me." Rey texted her back, "Okay mom, I will if I need anything." Rey put his phone in his pocket after texting his mom. Rey walked just a few steps. After putting his phone back to his pocket, Rey realized that he was walking alone. Kiniko was still standing at the same spot. He looked at her and thought to himself, "why is she just standing there?" Rey walked back to her and asked her, "hey Kiniko, what happened? why are you still standing here?" Kiniko snapped out from his dreams and looked at Rey. Kiniko was looking at Kern and Mikasa with envy when she saw them walking happily while holding hands. Kiniko answered with a smile, "it's nothing, let's..." Kiniko was about to finish her sentence, but before she could finish it, Rey reached to her hand and gently held her hand with his right hand, "let's go, we need to get ready to visit the shrine before 5pm." Rey was a little excited to visit the shrine because he did not want to lose any possibility to get his memories back. Rey wanted to get his memories back, because he wanted to know about that girl in his dream. Kiniko always wanted to walk with Rey while holding hands with him. She did not reject him, and she started following him. She was happy to walk with him, but she did not read too much into it, because she knew that he just wanted to go home early, that is why he just held her hand. "If I got my memories today, will I also get memories about that girl in my dreams?" Rey questioned himself. Rey was still in his thoughts. On the way, other students from his school started staring at both Kiniko and Rey. Rey heard while walking with her, "is he Kiniko's boyfriend? who is he?" Rey was a little shocked by the reaction of other students. Rey did not understand why they were looking at them like that. Kiniko also heard students talking about them. She did not mind, instead it made her happy. Her face turned a little red. Rey looked at Kiniko and realized he was holding her hand. It did not take him to understand the whole situation. Rey felt a little embarrassed and slowly lost his grip from her hand. Rey apologized her in deep voice, "I am sorry, Kiniko." Kiniko looked at him and said with a gentle smile on her face, "it is okay. do not worry about it." Rey sighed inward after hearing her words. Rey did not know what to say to her after looking at her beautiful smile. He averted his gaze and stayed silent until they reached his home. Rey stopped at front of his home and said to Kiniko, "ok I will meet you at 5pm." Kiniko nodded and started walking to her home while waving her hand at Rey. Rey stayed there while waving at her until she took the right turn at 50m from Rey's house. Kiniko's house was just 500m from Rey's house. Rey's house was on the way to school, so she always came first to his house to go with him. After parting with Kiniko, Rey walked to the front gate of his house and entered the gate after opening the door with Keys. Rey quickly ascended to his room on the second floor and changed into casual clothes. Rey wore a blue t-shirt with black jeans. Rey walked down the stairs to the Kitchen. Rey opened the refrigerator, picked up the mango juice bottle, poured it into glass, and started gulping it down. In Kiniko's house, Kiniko was in her room and looking at the dresses in the wardrobe. After looking at the dresses, she finally decided to wear a pink color top with blue shorts. She thought to herself while looking at the dress, "I think he will like this dress." She took out the dress from the closet and walked to the washroom. After wearing a beautiful dress, she walked to the study table and moved the chair which was under the table to sit on it. She murmured to herself, "I should start with mathematics, I will do the rest after coming back from the shrine." She picked up his blue school bag and opened it to take the notebooks out. After placing the notes book on the table, she started solving math problems. Kiniko was interested in mathematics as compared to other subjects. She liked to solve math problems. She thought mathematics was a game. Whenever she faced difficult problems then more, she enjoyed solving those problems. It was like that she was killing the monster in a game and leveling up. Time flew like a plane flying in the sky while she was busy solving problems. It was around 4.30 in the evening. Someone rang the bell, "ding…." It was only then that the sounds of the doorbell were able to distract her attention from the mathematics. She looked at the hanging clock on the wall and quickly started putting back the notebooks, "oh no, it's already this late." She heard another doorbell while she was putting her notebooks into the blue bag, "ding…." She walked out from her room and thought to herself, "I forgot that mom is not at home. Who could be at the door?" She descended to the front door in a hurry and opened the door. She looked at black -haired young boy with ocean blue like eyes in front of her home. Rey looked at her with a smile painted on his face and complimented her, "hi Kiniko, you look beautiful in this outfit." After hearing a compliment from Rey, she averted her beautiful hazel eyes to avoid looking into his ocean blue eyes and her lips moved to pronounce a word, "thanks." She asked him while her cheeks were still red like apples, "Rey, what are you doing here?" For a moment, he lost in her eyes. He only came back to his senses after hearing her question and he answered, "I texted you and called you, but you did not answer. I thought, ``I should come here to check on you, because it is about time to meet with Kern and Mikasa."

Kiniko apologized to him, "I am sorry. I forgot to change the phone setting. It is still on silent mode." Rey replied, "it's okey, you don't have to apologize." Kiniko invited him to house, "come on in, Rey'' Rey asked her while they were ascending to her room by the stairs, "where are your parents?" Kiniko's heart started beating fast when she heard his question. She thought to herself, "I forgot, mom and dad are not at home. That means, I am here alone with Rey." Rey asked to her while seeing her in silence, "Hey, Kiniko, are you alright?" It was only then that Kiniko answered to him while opening the door of her room, "I am okay. Mom is out with her friends and dad is on his job." Rey entered the room after Kiniko. Rey looked at walls and things in her room. It was completely different from his room. Walls had a pink color and bookshelves attached to the walls filled with books. Most of the books were about mathematics and just a few of them were manga and comics. Kiniko's heart was still beating fast, and she nervously asked to Rey, "Rey, would you like some tea or coffee?" Rey replied while his eyes staring at the photo on the wall, "No Thanks, Kiniko." Rey walked to the photo and looked curiously at the photo. Photo was framed in black color frame. In the photo, there was a boy with black hair with blue eyes and a short brown girl with hazel eyes who were playing in the park. Rey recognized the kids in the photo. It was Rey and Kiniko. Even though he knew that he was in that picture, he did not have any memory of when that photo had been taken. Rey tried to focus on his mind to recall that scene in his memories, but to no avail. Rey thought to himself while still his eyes fixed on that photo, "I can't remember anything about this photo. I can recognize this kid as myself when I was a child, but still it seems like this scene never happened in my life and this photo just made by imagination." Meanwhile, Kiniko was looking at him. She composed herself and thought to herself, "it's not the first time that I am alone with him." She walked towards him and said, "Rey, don't put too much stress on your mind. eventually, you will remember everything." It was only then; Rey took his eyes away from the photo and turned around to look at the source of the voice. Rey looked at Kiniko and nodded with smile before saying, "if you are ready, we can go now then." Rey did not show any sign of sadness in front of Kiniko, instead he put a smile on his face. After his accident, he spent most of his time with Kiniko and he came to know how much she cared about him. He did not want her to be unhappy. Kiniko's lips also curved up to see him smiling before she nodded with his head. She walked to her bed and took her phone. Kiniko and Rey walked out from her room. She started texting to her mother while descending to the front door with Rey by the stairs. After a 10 minutes' walk, they arrived at the park where they planned to meet with Kern and Mikasa. It was a small city park. Children were playing on the rides and adults were sitting on the green grass while some old people were sitting on the benches in the park. Kiniko and Rey walked to the small water fountain. Kiniko saw a beautiful red-haired girl in a purple dress with a handsome green-haired boy in a red t-shirt and blue jeans. Red hair beauty and green hair boy also noticed two figure who were approaching them and waved their hand at them, "hey Kiniko and Rey." Rey and Kiniko waved their hands and greeted them with smiles. They did not waste any time in the park and started walking towards the main entrance of the park. Kern and Rey were walking together followed by two beauties behind them. Kern said to Rey, "hey Rey, I brought a camera, let's take some pictures at Shrine." Rey nodded with his head. Mikasa and Kiniko were also busy chatting with each other on their way. After a few minutes, they arrived at their destination. "We are here," Kern said while looking at the stairs. Rey looked at 50 stairs which lead to the main shrine. They all started climbing up the stairs and shortly after reached the main entrance. There were two statues of mythical creatures at the main entrance. They were facing each other on the main entrance. From the looks of the statues, they seem to belong to the cat family, but they had wings and horns on their head. Rey looked around for a moment and felt a little disappointed. He thought to himself, "this shrine is different than I dreamt about. I don't think visiting here would be any help for me to regain my memories." he started walking again to cross the main entrance with Kern. Kern asked Rey, "Rey, did you remember anything?" Rey shook his head and replied, "I don't think this is the same shrine that I saw in my dream. it's okay, while we are already here let's pray." Kern did not know what to say after hearing his answer and he simply nodded with his head. Kiniko and Mikasa did not pay any attention to Kern and Rey. They were simply following them while busy talking with each other. They all arrived in front of the main and Kern called to Mikasa, "Mikasa let's pray together." Mikasa walked to his side in front of the main shrine and started praying. They both clapped their hands and closed their eyes while praying. After Kern and Mikasa had finished, they left the spot for Rey and Kiniko. Rey walked in front of the main shrine with Kiniko. Kiniko stood beside Rey. Kiniko closed her eyes and started praying. Rey took a glance at her before started praying. He followed her way to pray. He closed his eyes while closing his eyes slowly. He prayed, "I don't know what happened in my past life. I don't care if my past was good or bad. I just want my memories back." After praying, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at the short brown hair girl next to him. She also turned right to face Rey. Rey gazed into her shining hazel eyes before starting walking towards Kern and Mikasa. Kern said, "let's take some pictures." Kiniko and Rey nodded in unison and walked close to the statues. Kern handed the camera to Rey to take his pictures and the others. Rey started taking pictures of Kern. They all took their turn to take each other's photos. Kern used a timer option to take group pictures. Kern was looking at his camera to check all the photos and said, "these are nice, I will send you these in email guys." Everyone nodded their heads. Mikasa looked at the sky and said to others while pointing her finger at the sky, "look you guys, it's beautiful." They all looked in the direction. Sun was about to hide behind the towering mountains around the city. Beautiful crimson sunlight painted the clouds and the sky in its color. All four of them was looking at the beautiful dusk and praising the beauty of nature by showing astonishing expressions in their eyes. Kern started taking pictures while praising its beauty, "it's so beautiful." Kiniko looked at Rey and her heart ached for him. Rey did not want to show any sadness in front of his friend. Rey could fool Mikasa and Kern because they barely spent a month together. but Kiniko was different from them. She was his childhood friend. She could feel about Rey if he is okay or not by just taking a glance at him. When Kiniko looked at the sad eyes of Rey, causing her to feel sad in her heart. Kiniko realized that what's the reason for his sadness. Rey wanted to come to the shrine, because he dreamt about a shrine which could help him to remember his memories. Kiniko emphasized on the Shrine while thinking, "what's about the shrine? why he dreamt about a shrine. oh, I know, we used to visit shrines in Old Town. Perhaps that shrine is related to his dreams. Rey did not come to this shrine before that's why he could not remember anything. but if we visit a shrine in Old Town, maybe he could remember something." Kiniko spoke to Rey, "Rey, maybe I know, which shrine you had dreamt about." Rey was taken aback by her sudden declaration that she did know about that shrine. Rey looked at Kiniko with disbelief and asked to Kiniko, "how can you be sure about that shrine." Mikasa and Kern also turned their attention to the duo. Kiniko replied with a bright smile, "I am not 100percent sure, however, we used to visit the Shrine in Old Town. Before your accident, you never visited the City of Nirvana. So, all your dreams should be related to Old Town, because before the accident you spent all your time in Old Town. That's why, I think you should have dreamt of shrine in Old Town." Rey did not know much about his past life. Charlette did not tell him anything about his past except a few things. She did not want to take any risk regarding her son, so she hid most things about Old Town. Rey asked her about his past life, but to no avail. Rey knew that she did not want to talk about his past life for his own benefits. Now, Rey understood one thing that his past life had nothing to do with the City of Nirvana, because he never had been there in the first place before his accident. "If I visit to Old Town, then maybe I am able to recover my memories and about that girl." After thinking for a while, Rey replied to Kiniko, "you are right, Kiniko. My memories have nothing to do with this town. Let's visit the Old Town. Maybe I would be able to regain some of memories." Rey had a new hope in his eyes now. Kiniko nodded with a smile. Kern said, "Let's go to Old Town together." Rey turned his head towards Kern and nodded with his head. Mikasa looked at her phone and said, "Okay, guys it's getting late now. We will do things in school. we should go now." Everyone agreed with her and started descending the stairs. After dropping Kiniko at her home. Rey walked to his home and talked about his plan to visit the Old Town to Charlette. After listening to him. She did not refuse him. After eating dinner with Charlette, Rey straight went to bed.