CH 22

A Closed Future Dream

It is the story of the inexplicably stupid life of one who is nothing but a fool.

The “fool” had committed murder in her sophomore year of high school.

At that time, the “fool” did not understand the magnitude of her sins and even believed that her actions were the right thing to do.

……Because it was irredeemably stupid.

The victim of “the Fool” was not the target of the actual murder, but a boy who was her childhood friend.

At the time, the incident made national news, and in addition to the tragedy of the incident, the boy who protected his childhood friend was considered a hero throughout Japan for his noble act.

And… Needless to say, the more he was regarded as a hero, the more the criminal was condemned and abused for her selfish acts.

“The Fool”, at this point, still did not understand her sinfulness and even found it annoying.

She did not understand the hatred and resentment in the words that the person she was trying to kill, “Kanzaki Amane”, had said to her.

[I will never allow you to escape to death.]

The “fool” would spend the rest of her life tasting the meaning of those words, which she said with a face that was almost bleeding.

She was a minor when the “Fool” left the reformatory… The “Fool” had lost everything.

No, to be precise, she was “letting them disappear”.

The people she had considered her friends and loved ones, pretended she never existed, as if they had never known her in the first place.

And the sins committed by the “Fool” were unexpectedly directed at her family, as is the norm in the world.

The murderer’s family, for which her father and brother were fired from their jobs, and her little sister was forced to drop out of school because she couldn’t leave the house due to the abuse and blame she was subjected to at school and in the suburbs.

In order to change their names, her parents divorced, and her brother, who was about to get married, broke up.

The Fool’s family was happy, her parents were so close that they were said to be newlyweds for many years, her brother’s fiancée was a very good person, and the younger sister was very fond of her…

Her own foolishness had torn it all to pieces and ruined it.

At that point, the “Fool” finally came to understand the magnitude and weight of the sins she had committed.

It is too late to realize… And most of all, she knew that the lives she had taken were irrevocable.

She said that she would never be forgiven for her sins and that she would have to live in a hell where she would have to watch everyone else become unhappy because of her…

“I want to die …………”

Finally understanding the weight of her sins and her stupidity, the “fool” muttered such things every day, almost overwhelmed by regret and remorse, and understood the meaning of those words.

[I will never allow you to escape to death]

It was a curse word filled with the utmost hatred from a woman whose beloved had been taken from her.

No matter how hellish it is to live, dying is something she will never allow…

These words became an invisible shackle that prevented the “Fool” from choosing suicide as an option.

.

.

.

And a few years later.

The “Fool” began to enter foreign conflict zones where travel was banned.

Of course, it’s not in the name of doing good deeds, but if she is not allowed to die herself, why wouldn’t she let herself die in such a dangerous place? She thought… It’s based on a foolish idea that seems to be the idea of a “Fool”, which is to blaspheme those who are risking their lives to do good.

However, “The Fool” has a fateful encounter in a poor village in a war zone.

It wasn’t a person, but a series of medical books.

The villagers explained to her that the book had been left behind by the Japanese who had been stationed here before, but the fact that it was written entirely in Japanese decided the fate of the “Fool” from now on.

After all, the village was a poverty-stricken war zone where no one had any medical knowledge.

Even though she was a mere Japanese “Fool” without a medical license, she had to imitate a doctor with a medical book in her hand just because she could read Japanese.

Of course, there is no way that an amateur with no knowledge or skills can provide proper medical care, and the treatment of the “Fool” fails again and again, but… In the war zone, where injured people are sent to every day, the fool decided to improve her skills through practice.

Over the next few years, as the “Fool” honed her knowledge and skills through practice, she gradually saved the lives of several people, and the poor village began to call her the “Saint of the East” in gratitude.

But… When the “Fool” began to be called that, she suddenly disappeared from the land.

Then, she would go to a different impoverished village, do some medical imitation, save some people, and then disappear when people started thanking her.

“Stop! I’m not a saint !!”

The “Fool” always said such things with a tearful face to those who expressed their gratitude….

And… 50 years have passed since the day the “Fool” committed the murder.

“Can I… escape… now?”

In a muffled voice, the “Fool” finally asks for someone’s forgiveness….

*

“……WA!?”

When “she” woke up, she couldn’t help but scream.

It’s not a battlefield, it’s not a reformatory, and of course, it’s not home… It was a desk in a classroom.

The strange voice that was suddenly heard in the previously quiet classroom was met with curious stares from her classmates.

“What’s up~ Shindo, you got a question~?”

“Eh!? Ah… No… Nothing…”

“I see, sleep study in moderation~”

While her classmates were giggling at the teacher’s joke on the stage, she was shivering from the cold sweat that broke out all over her body.

[A-A dream? You’re telling me that the fifty years or so of my life that I’ve just been watching was just a dream I had while I was napping!?]

Fifty years of wandering around, regret and repentance, atonement, and looking for a place to die, after having caused misfortune not only to herself but to all people.

”She” couldn’t believe that it had all been a dream.

But… Gently looking into her bag, she caught a glimpse of the brand new “unused” survival knife she had just purchased, which made her blood boil even more.

[!? I… what the hell was I trying to do!?]

The selfish jealousy that had been burning this morning was no longer there.

On the contrary, “She” could not help but shudder at the gravity of the crime she was about to commit.

Why did she think that doing so would make her boyfriend, Kawaguya, happy… “She” shuddered by her stupidity.

For “Her”, her boyfriend was everything to her.

Everything he said was right, and she was all about doing what he wanted, being liked, and being able to keep her position as a girlfriend.

That’s why no matter how many girls he hooked up with, no matter how many other girls he talked to, “She” was afraid of him leaving her and kept her irritation to herself.

… So, she thought that “Kanzaki Amane”, which didn’t go as he wanted, was a hindrance.

When he said, “Maybe I need to show you what happens when you disobey me,” she took it for granted that it was her role to do so.

Then… He will praise her.

And… He recognizes me as the only one.

[No, of course not!!]

But the dream of 50 years of hell she had just seen had made ‘Her’ completely calm.

What was she going to do… And what was she going to lose or let lose?

……Also, when she was calm, she didn’t even know what was so good about this unpleasant man with a somewhat good face.

[It’s really stupid… isn’t it? What I was going to do for that thing…]

She saw “Amachi Yumeji” and “Kanzaki Amane” chatting amicably in the next class, alive and well… She was relieved from the bottom of her heart.

“It was a dream… I’m glad… I have to apologize to that girl tomorrow…”

With this in mind, she threw away her unused survival knife at the school’s garbage dump after school.

And everything related to the data of her boyfriend…

On this day, “She” abandoned the path of becoming a “Fool”.

“………… I wonder if a doctor is something I can pursue now?”

*

“Well, I guess it’s good enough with this…”

I muttered and tapped a page in “Dream Book”.

At that moment, the name “Shindo Kaori” that had been written on the magic circle disappeared.

Future dream　

A dream to show the subject a “possible parallel world”.

The previous owner used it mainly for the purpose of “making someone regret it first”.

I tried to use this “Future Dream” to try to get Shindo Kaori, the person who pushed Amane, to stop her from committing future crimes, but… This was a rather merciless dream.

The 50 years of hell that may have happened by killing me…

I took a peek through the application of shared dreams, and sure enough, it was a powerful wake-up alarm that blew away the “blindness of love”.

“That’s right… Shindo-san is…”

After school, Amane called out to me from the second-floor hallway as I looked at the garbage dump.

She looks quite complicated, knowing that it was the girlfriend of the guy who had been messing with her who had been malicious towards her.

I didn’t tell Amane about “the dream I had about Amachi Yumeji dying.”

…… Somehow, I felt like I shouldn’t tell her.

“What do we do? She actually pushed you down the stairs and clearly harmed you. Do we sue her legally? Or do we use this to push her further?”

I jokingly showed her the “Dream Book”, but Amane shook her head as expected.

“I don’t care about that… I’m satisfied with I’m in good health right now.”

“……I see”

“And ……… In a way, she was the one who gave me the opportunity…”

“What?”

“No~thing”

Author Notes:

If you find it interesting, please let me know what you think.

It encourages me to write.