The Boy Who Weaves Dreams and the Woman Who Spins the Starry Sky - The Clumsy Two and the Child's Dream

Several days had passed since training began on Kanata Hill. The black haze that had flickered in the eastern sky at dusk that day—the one Riri had frowned at and said "might just be my imagination"—had been catching in the corner of Yuu's memory ever since. But right now, there was a far more pressing problem. " Alright, this time it's a dog!" On top of the hill in the morning. Yuu stretched both hands toward the sky. A few silver threads from the remnants of night still drifted in the air. Kanata Hill—located about twelve kilometers southwest of Hoshi no Sato, a gentle slope at an elevation of two hundred fifty meters—was the place in the northeast of Higashikou where star threads lingered most. Morning dew clung to the grass beneath his feet, and his shoe tips were damp. "Dog. Dog. Dog..." Yuu moved his fingertips while concentrating. Star threads were delicate silver fibers of light that only dream weavers could grasp. When Yuu touched them, his palm glowed faintly—this was proof of aptitude, Riri had taught him. He pulled the threads with his fingertips, folded them, bundled them. He was properly imagining a four-legged form. It had ears. A tail too. Slowly, the shape took form. Riri watched intently beside him. Her long straight hair in pale purple swayed in the morning breeze. With calm silver eyes, she quietly observed what Yuu had created. Silence. "...Yuu, that..." "It's a dog!" " ...there are eight tentacles..." Yuu looked at what he'd made again. Sure enough, instead of four legs, something made of glowing threads was stretching out in eight directions with a whoosh. The body part was rounded and squishy, and in terms of shape, it was clearly— "An octopus." " ...I think the amount of thread is correct. It's just the shape that..." Riri trailed off. She seemed to be choosing her words. But apparently she couldn't find the right ones, and she closed her mouth with a slightly troubled expression. "Just the shape that what?" " Completely different." "I already know that!!" The octopus scattered into particles of light and dispersed. Yuu took a breath and tried again. This time, a flower. It should be simpler than a dog. Just make a few round petals and place a small circle in the center. Five minutes later. " ...Yuu." "A flower!" " Spikes in every direction..." A cactus had formed. And it was a plump, magnificent cactus at that. It seemed quite well-executed in its own way, but it was completely different from what Yuu had been trying to make. Riri thought for a moment, then began drawing something on the ground. Slowly, with a stick. " Like this, the petals—if you drew the threads with this kind of image—" The drawing was complete. Yuu leaned in to look. There was a cactus in the center of the drawing. Riri tilted her head. "...I drew a cactus too." "Why?!" " ...I wonder why." Riri laughed softly. It was rare for Riri, who was usually so composed, to laugh out loud, and somehow that made Yuu happy. But at the same time, a dark feeling began spreading through his chest. "...Hey, Riri." "What?" "Do you think I'm hopeless when it comes to talent?" Riri took a moment before answering. " I don't think so." "The fact that you said 'think' is scary." " ...Your sense for the threads is genuine. That much is certain. It's just that when it comes to giving it form—" "It becomes an octopus or a cactus." " It does, doesn't it." Both fell silent. Wind swept across the hilltop. A bird that looked like a lark called in the distance. Yuu sat down on the grass with a gloomy feeling. Riri sat beside him. (I was told I had talent and set out on this journey, but if all I can make is octopuses and cacti, that's not funny.) As Yuu was thinking this, a voice came from down the hill. --- "Hey there, you young ladies!" An old man was climbing Kanata Hill from the opposite direction of Hoshi no Sato. He was in his seventies with a slightly bent back, carrying a large pack on his shoulders. He appeared to be traveling, with worn straw sandals and a sun-tanned face. Yuu instinctively turned at "young ladies," but the old man looked between Yuu and Riri before adding, "Oh, and a young man too." " I heard something, you see, and there's a bit of trouble down south." The old man set down his pack and took a relieved breath. He seemed to have come from the southern settlement. Hikari Village, according to the old man's account, was a small settlement further south from Kanata Hill. It was a different frontier from Hoshi no Sato, and outside the routes where dream weavers typically traveled. There, three children had been having terrible nightmares every night and crying out in their sleep. " The crying is awful. Their parents are at their wit's end. But there are no dream weavers in this area, and with the star blight progressing, they can't remove the nightmares—" Star blight. The moment Yuu heard those words, he thought of Hoshi no Sato. Dream weavers—those who grasped star threads with their bare hands and wove them to deliver dreams to people—were essential. In areas where star blight had progressed, nightmares couldn't be removed without them. The fewer the star threads, the more turbulent people's dreams became. Before the old man finished speaking, Yuu was already standing. " I'll go!" Riri's hand grabbed Yuu's sleeve. " Yuu." It wasn't a loud voice, but it was quiet in a way that cut right through. Riri was looking directly at Yuu. Her silver eyes were steady. " You can't yet create stable weavings. If you fail, you might make the nightmares worse." "..." He knew. He really did know. He'd just been trying to make a dog and an octopus came out. Yuu opened his mouth to argue back. But he couldn't find words to convince Riri. There was no basis for his counterargument. He had nothing to show as proof of his training progress. The old man, seeing the two of them, made a troubled face. "...I'm sorry if I've caused trouble. I just thought I'd mention it in passing." "Thank you very much." Riri answered gently. The old man shouldered his pack again and headed back down the way he'd come. They were silent for a while. Yuu kept looking toward the south. "...You're not saying it's impossible for me, right?" " I'm saying it might be impossible. That's different." "I know." Silence again. Wind blew. Grass swayed. Yuu turned to face Riri. " But I can't just do nothing when there are children suffering right in front of me." His voice came out quieter than he'd expected. He hadn't meant to shout. He'd just said what he felt. Riri said nothing. They held each other's gaze for several seconds. Riri's silver eyes looked steadily at Yuu. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. But Yuu didn't look away. Riri sighed. A small, soft sigh. " ...I'll come with you." She stood up smoothly from the grass. " If I'm beside you, I can stop things in the worst case. That's all." "Thank you!" " Save your thanks for after we succeed." --- Hikari Village was about two hours' walk south of Kanata Hill. A cluster of a dozen or so wooden houses—an even smaller settlement than Hoshi no Sato. Looking up at the night sky, almost no star threads were visible. The blight had progressed further than in Hoshi no Sato. The air felt stagnant somehow. When they asked for directions, a kind old woman led them to the homes of the three children having nightmares. The children's mother—a young woman in her thirties with dark circles under her eyes—showed hesitation when she saw Yuu and Riri. " A dream weaver has come to help us... but you're both so young." " We're apprentices, but we'll do what we can." He thought it was a bit of bravado on his part, but he couldn't take it back. Riri nodded quietly beside him. The children's bedroom was small. Three children—a girl around seven years old and two boys around five and six—were already in bed. They were asleep, but their faces were tense. Their brows furrowed occasionally, and their small bodies trembled. Their expressions looked painful. Yuu took a deep breath. " Let's do this." He raised his hand. He grasped the star threads that drifted faintly in the room—apparently a few still remained even in Hikari Village—with his fingertips. His palm glowed softly. Confirming this, Yuu began to weave the threads. He didn't need to make a dog. A flower, a cactus, an octopus—none of it mattered. Just something warm. Something not scary. With that feeling, he moved the threads. Slowly, a form began to emerge. But the edges started to unravel. (Ah, this is bad.) He couldn't hold it. The thread density wasn't enough. The form was thinning. The shape he'd barely created was slipping through his fingers. It would come undone before he could let the children touch it. "——" Riri's hand reached out from beside him without a sound. It was reflexive, Yuu thought—the most accurate description. He hadn't thought and then acted. Riri's fingers gently grasped the edge of his half-woven creation. Both their hands touched the same thread. Something—changed, Yuu thought in that instant. He couldn't explain it well. Riri's thread and Yuu's thread were in the same place. It should have been just that, but the air felt different. Their breathing seemed to synchronize somehow. Yuu inhaled, Riri exhaled, and it naturally aligned. (I want it to be not scary.) That's what he wished. That was all. A small golden light was born from their fingertips. Yuu's silver threads and Riri's slightly different wavelength threads overlapped, and from that point, a light bloomed softly. It slowly spread, gently enveloping the three children. The furrow between the girl's brows relaxed. The trembling in the boys' bodies stopped. All three slept peacefully again. There were no more cries. Yuu released the threads. Riri gently withdrew her hand too. " This is it——" The words came out involuntarily. He quickly covered his mouth so as not to wake the children. But his voice trembled slightly. He'd tried to suppress it but couldn't. This was what he'd wanted. This feeling. The moment when a sleeping child's face changed from pained to peaceful. The moment he'd created that with his own hands. Riri watched the children quietly. " This is different from Twin Weave. But... I couldn't have done this alone." Her voice sounded surprised. It was rare for Riri to be surprised. For some reason, that made Yuu happy. The mother, who had been waiting in the hallway, peeked into the bedroom. Seeing the peaceful faces of the three children, tears filled her eyes. "Thank you... thank you so much." " Well, I'm still in training, so..." His voice trembled again. He was embarrassed and moved at the same time, a confusing mix of emotions. Riri laughed softly beside him. --- They returned to Kanata Hill when the night had grown deep. Despite being exhausted from the round trip and the work, Yuu's feet felt light. As he climbed the hill, stepping on the grass, he kept thinking about that golden light from earlier. That sensation. The moment their breathing aligned. The way the threads had changed. " When your power is added, my threads change." Riri's voice came from behind. She was walking at a slightly slower pace than Yuu, about a step behind. "What do you mean?" " I can't explain it well, but... the way the threads moved was different from when I weave alone. It was like your feelings mixed in, and something I couldn't create by myself was born." Yuu stopped near the top of the hill. The night sky spread out before them. Kanata Hill had far more stars remaining than Hoshi no Sato, and several silver threads could be seen drifting in the air. Looking at them, Yuu pondered Riri's words. (My power changes Riri's threads.) They sat down side by side on the grass. Both looking up at the night sky. The distance between Yuu and Riri seemed slightly closer than usual. Perhaps beca

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Episode 3

Name: The Boy Who Weaves Dreams and the Woman Who Spins the Starry Sky
Author: Novelia

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