18

Her heart racing with tension, it was hard to settle down to sleep. This was something she’d done countless times before, but the drowsiness just refused to come.

“...Hey, are you done yet?” Hitsuji said.

“Sorry, it’s just kinda...”

“You’re feeling tense?”

When Hitsuji said that, her voice sounded deeper than usual, and it felt gentle.

“Yeah... I wonder why. I should be able to just do it like I usually do.”

“Let’s try breathing in sync. Breathe gently. Keep an easy pace. Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep up just fine.”

“Got it. Okay... Here goes.”

Saya focused on her breathing.

Breathe in... Breathe out...

Breathe in... Breathe out...

She could hear Hitsuji breathing right beside her. Matching Saya’s breaths. Breathing in, breathing out...

In a room with the curtains drawn and the lights out, the sound of a ticking clock caught her ear. It felt like she was gradually relaxing, but there was still no drowsiness yet.

Hitsuji let out a giggle. “I don’t feel sleepy at all when you’re squirming around next to me,” she whispered in a hoarse voice.

“Sorry.”

“Why don’t you try singing a lullaby or something?”

“Whaa...”

“What do you mean, whaa? Are you serious about putting me to sleep or not?”

“I am... Just hold on a bit...”

While Saya was trying to find a way to get to sleep, Hitsuji turned on her side so she was facing her.

“Okay, then talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Like about how you feel about me.”

“What do you mean?”

Hahh, Hitsuji let out a deep sigh. “Saya, you loved me in Nightland, but not in Dayland, right?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess.”

“Is that still true?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve recently been calling me by my given name, so maybe you’ve gotten a little more familiar with me.”

“Familiar... I guess you could say that, but...” Saya trailed off.

“I’m still no good?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s the opposite—Ah! No.”

“The opposite...?” Not meaning to tease the flustered Saya, Hitsuji spoke softly. Saya let out a little sigh and confessed.

“I know I’m probably going to weird you out when I say this, but...”

“Mm-hm.”

“I don’t know when it started... My feelings for you, the gap for them in Nightland and Dayland’s been disappearing.”

“Mm-hm.”

“It seems like... I love you now, too.” The moment she spoke the words, she felt a rush of regret. “Ahh! Hold on, wait. That’s not it. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about. Sorry, just forget I said that.”

“As if I’d ever forget. I’m thrilled.” Hitsuji’s tone was unexpectedly warm.

“B-But, Hitsuji, you’re... you know, you only like me in Nightland, right?”

“Nuh-uh. From the very beginning, I loved you whether it was in Nightland or Dayland.”

“Wha?!”

Saya sat bolt upright despite herself, while Hitsuji stayed horizontal and looked up at her.

“...From the beginning?”

“Ever since you suddenly appeared in front of me in the health room, I’ve always felt that way.”

“Huh? Huh? But...”

You were the one who suddenly showed up, Hitsuji, Saya wanted to say that in response, but her mouth refused to form proper words. Hitsuji, meanwhile, carried on.

“I’ve never once said I don’t love you in Dayland.”

“No way...”

Looking up at a dazed Saya, Hitsuji giggled.

“You’re so heartless. Just because you only loved me in Nightland, I bet you assumed I had to be the same way.”

“...No fair.”

“I’m not being unfair. You just misunderstood. Don’t try to make it anyone else’s fault.” Hitsuji placed her hand on Saya’s back, the former utterly speechless. “I wanted to tell you someday. I’m glad I could... Because you opened up to me, I was able to muster the courage to do so. Thank you.”

“N-No, I sh-should thank you..”

“Pull yourself together. You’re barely coherent,” Hitsuji said in amusement. Saya was hooked into laughing at herself, too. Laying back in the bed again, they looked at one another and shared a hearty guffaw.

“Geez, be quiet. Weren’t we going to sleep here?”

“R-Right, we were. Let’s calm down.”

They tried to take deep breaths, but even having their eyes meet was enough to trigger a cascade of laughter.

“This is hopeless. Let’s lie on our backs.”

“Mm-hm.”

The two laid facing the ceiling, trying to steady their breathing.

“Fwah...” Hitsuji covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. It was infectious, and Saya let out an even bigger yawn.

“...Haww. You getting tired?”

“Now that I’ve said what I wanted to, maybe it’s the sense of relief, but I’m suddenly feeling sleepy.”

“Me, too...”

“Don’t pass out before me, okay? You promised you’d be the one to put me to sleep.”

“I know...”

When the two of them closed their mouths and were quiet, the drowsiness gradually crept up on them.

With her eyes closed, Hitsuji whispered, “Good night, Saya.”

“Good night, Hitsuji—”

Beneath the bright night sky, atop the sheet-covered land, countless humans were sleeping.

The scene I’d seen when the crystal egg was shattered spread out before my eyes again. Was this the result of all veneer being stripped away from Nightland? There was a massive Suiju that looked like a stretched out elephant stepping over the sleeping people.

When we descended to the sheets, Hitsuji and I looked at the line of sleepers stretching off into the horizon.

“We’re... going to wake all these people up?” Hitsuji asked.

“Every last one of them, yes.”

“It looks like a lot of hard work, you know.”

“We use the power of imagination in Nightland, right? Isn’t that what all of you taught me?” I crouched down, grasping the sheet at my foot. Hitsuji grabbed the fabric beside me.

“We’ll do it on three.”

“Got it.”

“One, two...”

“Three!”

Shouting the last number together, we pulled with all our might.

“Good moooorniiiiiing!” we both shouted.

The sleeping people rolled over, one after another. Their eyes snapped open one moment, and in the next, they were gone. Their surprised faces were hilarious, and we both laughed ourselves silly.

“Everyone, get up! No more sleeping!”

Hitsuji shouted and then burst out laughing. At some point we’d grown to be the size of mountains, and we were driving the miniature people at our feet out of Nightland one after another. The massive Suiju realized something was amiss and tried to approach, but with its feet caught up in the waves of the sheets it couldn’t get close. Taking advantage of that, we kept pulling on the sheets for what seemed like forever.

How much time had passed? Eventually, we ran out of sheets. The land became a pull-out mattress, and there was not a single person left sleeping on it. We’d returned to our normal sizes, too.

In place of the vanished humans, we saw a towering wall closing in from the entire horizon. Made from countless Suiju, it was a horde larger than anything we had ever seen. The sea of sleep had dried up, so all the Suiju had poured into our sleep.

“Whoa, what a sight.” Hitsuji said in amazement. “There were that many Suiju, huh. When I think about how they’re all in our dreams, it feels kind of strange.”

“I’ll bet Nightland’s never gotten this small before, though.”

“Now if we just wake up, we can wipe out the Suiju... You’re so smart, Saya.”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Ran, and Kaede, and Midori—Do you think we’ll all be able to Sleepwalk together again?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“Okay, well, I guess it’s about time... Let’s wake up.”

While embracing a sense of accomplishment, we tried to wake up.

“...”

“...”

“...Huh?”

Wait, how were we supposed wake up again?