19

We couldn’t wake up.

It took some time to accept that horrifying revelation.

We could jump and fly, we could pinch our cheeks and pull on our fingers, but no matter what we did, we couldn’t leave Nightland. We could only look at one another in a daze.

It was probably impossible to make Nightland disappear completely. The collective unconsciousness that connects all of humanity—if that interpretation of dreams was true, even if we expelled the rest of humanity from Nightland, the consciousnesses of those people in Dayland would not let go of Nightland. And so, we were left behind, the last two dreamers in Nightland. The price of robbing people of sleep was that we had been imprisoned in it.

It could be that just one of us might have been able to wake up. However, in that case, the other would be left behind. One of us was guaranteed to be sacrificed—it was a deadlock.

“Well, I’m beat. Guess it’s time for a double suicide,” I said out of desperation. Hitsuji thought deeply about it.

“...I understand. It’s okay.”

“No, don’t understand.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t want to wake up alone. I’d rather we disappeared together.”

“Well, yeah, I feel the same, but...”

Sitting down on the mattress, looking up at the encroaching wall of Suiju, we were at a loss for what to do for a while.

“Thinking this much is making me sleepy again.” Hitsuji tilted her head onto my shoulder. I didn’t know how long we could stay like this, so I stopped holding myself back and leaned my head against Hitsuji’s, too.

“You smell nice, huh, Hitsuji. Even in dreams.”

“You do, too, Saya. Didn’t you know?”

“I never knew. I don’t just stink of sweat?”

“Not at all. I love it.”

Hitsuji pressed her nose against my neck, making me shrink my neck into my body because it tickled.

“Hey, now.”

“It’s a relaxing smell. When you’re beside me, I feel like I can sleep really well.”

While I was at the mercy of her sniffing, I had a flash of inspiration.

“...That’s right.”

I picked up a set of sheets that was right by us, rolled into a ball. The sheets had seemed to stretch out to infinity, but now that I held them in my hands, they were a perfectly normal size.

As I stood, Hitsuji looked up at me.

“What about the double suicide?”

“We’re not doing that. Just hold on.”

I spread out the sheet on top of the mattress.

“What are we going to do?”

“Sleep.”

“Here?!”

I put my memory and imagination to work. The pillow I always used appeared in my hands. I passed that to Hitsuji, making another identical one for myself.

“Sorry to make you use my pillow, though.”

“Wait, this is your pillow?” Hitsuji hugged the pillow and sniffed it. “It is.”

“Hold on! Stop that, you’re embarrassing me.” While I was protesting despite myself, I used my imagination to produce another tool. A light summer bed cover. I put the pillow down on the mattress, laid out the bed cover, and invited Hitsuji to join me.

“Come on, we need to sleep quickly. Scary things are coming.”

“What do you mean...?”

“If you sleep during a Sleepwalk, you’ll be swallowed up by Nightland—I’m pretty sure that’s what I was told,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“It’s all or nothing. Let’s bet on that. Just maybe, like the Suiju turn Dayland to Nightland, we might be able to turn Nightland to Dayland with our Sleepwalk. This could be a double suicide, it could be an escape, but we won’t know which it is until we find out ourselves.” Taking a wide-eyed Hitsuji’s hand, I sat down on top of the covers and pet her soft hair.

“Sorry. This is about all I can think of. If you’ve got anything better, tell me.”

“No. Saya... if I’m with you, I can handle any nightmare.”

I kissed Hitsuji on the forehead. “You be the one to put me to sleep this time, Hitsuji. Like always.”

“Okay, my beloved.” Hitsuji got under the covers with me. Together in bed, the two of us side-by-side, we looked at one another. I saw myself reflected in Hitsuji’s eyes.

“Good night, Hitsuji.”

“Good night, Saya.”

When Hitsuji closed her eyes and relaxed, her Blanket immediately wrapped around me.

In the middle of this apocalyptic scene, as Suiju rushed in from all sides, we went to sleep in Nightland.