Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054895375647/episodes/1177354054901040932
“Welcome……, what’s up, are you here alone again today? Yume chan.”
“…… Suzu nee, will you please stop calling me that?”
After school, I open the door to a small coffee shop in my neighborhood where local coffee connoisseurs gather and am greeted by a familiar older woman in well-fitting jeans, smiling.
This person is Kendake Misuzu. She is an older childhood friend that I have known for a long time and also shared with Amane, who used to play with me when we were kids.
She is the signature girl of the store, embodying the “cool girl” that she has always been, while exuding more and more adult sex appeal now that she is a university student.
“I keep waiting for the two of you who used to come here to play with me to be my guests together?”
“Uu…..”
Suzu nee’s jittery eyes pierced my heart.
The store has been around since I was a kid, but it was only recently that I started coming to the store as a customer.
Back then, I used to walk through the doors of this place to play, not as a customer.
Of course, she knows that we’ve been drifting apart since one day, and she probably cares about that more than I do.
“I’ll serve coffee and cake to the two people who come here with me as customers. That’s what I want now~”
I’ve talked to Suzu nee about it a few times,
She can’t stand to see us in our current situation, as she had even lobbied me many times to improve our relationship.
But …… I can’t make my older childhood friend’s little goal come true any sooner than I can.
“That may not be …… possible anymore. ……”
“….why?”
Because she has a boyfriend.
An old friend who has a boyfriend, let alone someone who hates me, will no longer visit this restaurant together.
But I could only bite back the words that were about to come out and turn my head down.
I felt like …… that if I let it out of my mouth, it would be an acknowledgment. ……
“……, a cup of coffee, please.”
“…… yes, yes, always American.”
The words that I squeezed out instead of the other way around, she might have guessed something, and she didn’t ask any more questions and let me through,……, although her expression was subtle, as if she were exasperated or annoyed.
I was sitting at my usual table, avoiding the stares of the others, and was somewhat bored with my time, when I suddenly looked at the bookshelf and noticed a strange book.
“What is this book?”
It is a leather-bound book that is suitable to be called an old book. It is old enough to feel its age, but not so old that it looks shabby, and it has a kind of majestic presence.
At the very least, it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should be kept in a coffee shop with old magazines that the manager and Suzu nee have finished reading to pass the time.
It’s a cliché, but like a fairy tale grimoire?
I picked it up without thinking, and from the cover to the contents, it was written in not only non-Japanese, but not even English ……, no, I had never seen it before in my life.
“What country’s script is this …… when I can’t even read a foreign book?”
But as I was thinking that, …… strangely enough, I could read the words in the book that I thought I couldn’t read, …… or rather, the Japanese words that I could clearly read were lined up in the book that I opened.
“……Eh?”
I winced and opened and closed the book, looking back at it from every angle.
However, this book was written entirely in Japanese, except for a blank page in the middle. It was as if the book had been written in Japanese from the beginning.
“No, …… surely I didn’t recognize any of the letters on …… earlier? Is it my imagination?”
When I looked through the electric light, there was nothing unusual, and finally Suzu nee, behind the counter, asked me, “What’s wrong?” She was worried about me.
“…… must be my imagination.”
I decided to conclude that it was probably an illusion created by the atmosphere of the book and my own second nature.
But if I could read it, I was suddenly curious about what was written in this grimoire-like book.
However, when I saw the title of the book written in large letters on the cover, I raised my eyebrows.
“How to manipulate dreams?”
The title of the book is indeed marked as such.
“…….Fishy…”
I can’t help but let such true feelings leak out.
It was somewhat similar to the feeling I had when I saw someone in a UMA or UFO article who clearly didn’t want the readers to believe in it.
The atmosphere of the book is great, but …….
[To the qualified person who takes this book in his hand, I offer the best dream you can imagine.]
Dream Manipulation Elementary [Manipulating Your Dreams]
-Lucid dreaming: be aware of, grasp and control your own dreams. Realize that your dream is your world, where you are the world itself and God.
-Before you fall asleep, place your hand on the magic circle marked on the page and quiet your mind.
-Let thou see the best dream thou couldst wish for.
I’m sure it stinks ……, but after skimming the first part of the book, I’m a little more interested in the book than I was.
Manipulating Dreams…… So the literal translation is that it allows you to dream whatever you want, right?
I want to see the dream I want. With such a desire, I put a piece of paper under my pillow with my wishes written on it, which is probably a standard method of spell casting.
“…… my best dream ……?”
When I think about it, a quick thought comes to mind: …… for example, the dream of winning the lottery and making a fortune.
With a large amount of unused money in my hands, I bought a mansion and went on a world tour.
Dream of becoming a world-class athlete, singer or movie star and being pampered by people all over the world.
Or, try …… for an 18- and R-rated dream of building a booze-filled, harem of beautiful women.
Hmmm~~~……… I can only come up with my own clichéd image.
Even if “something that can make any wish come true” were right in front of me, I’m sure only similar ideas would come to mind.
As I lament my poverty of ideas in this way, an image comes to me unexpectedly.
[Yume-chan~. Play with me!]
The image of the girl who pulled my hand forcibly and carried me around with a carefree smile on my childhood day.
I can no longer wish for that smile that she gave only to me ……
I can no longer see it in reality…… but what if it was a dream?
“Even if I could see ……, it’s still just a dream.”
I muttered to myself in self-mockery, but still, could I see that smile again?
As I thought of this, my hand naturally touched the magic circle on the page. I didn’t believe it, I just wished it was so.
The moment I realized what my most desired dream was,…… I felt a strange sense of fatigue surging through my body.
Thinking about it, I’ve been thinking about it all day today, and I feel like I’ve been mentally exhausted every time I think about it.
The moment the image of that thing …… Amane popped into my mind, my consciousness was cut off.
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