The Dream-Weaver's Grave: Arai Tsuruki's Hidden Heart - Losing everything—the price of illusion

That's wrong, he thought. Something deep in his chest had been snagging at him all this time. Arata looked out the window of the inn. The sky over the Imperial Capital of Miyabi was still dark. The blue-black of the hour before dawn wrapped the city in silence. *(I'm not wrong.)* Arata stared at the single letter lying on the desk. A summons from the Ministry of the Imperial Household. It had arrived at the inn last night. *"The anomaly surveillance officer Tsuruki Arata shall report to the Ministry of the Imperial Household's Anomaly Management Division by midnight tonight."* Arata had not obeyed the order. No—he'd never intended to. *(I can't hand Miyo over.)* Miyo's dream-weaving power had been classified as dangerous, and she was to be surrendered to the Usuba family. The Ministry was already pushing the paperwork through. While Arata had stalled on submitting his reports, the situation had rolled toward the worst possible outcome. Arata let out a long breath. *(Violating a secret directive, is it? ...I knew this was coming.)* As a member of the Usuba family and as the Ministry's anomaly surveillance officer, Arata had been tasked with watching over Miyo. But that assignment was never meant to protect her. It existed to control her power—and to eliminate her if she became a threat. *(That's not a duty. That's not anything.)* Arata remembered Miyo as a child. The tiny cousin who had cried all night in the storehouse of the Saimori estate. Her light-brown eyes brimming with tears, trembling as she whispered that she was an unwanted child. *(Back then, I couldn't do a thing.)* Arata clenched his fist. *(This time, I'll protect her.)* That was when it happened. A heavy *thud* slammed against the inn's door. Arata's body went rigid. *(They're already here.)* He pulled his white gloves back on and rose slowly to his feet. When he opened the door, two men in black coats stood there. Ministry officials. Their faces were hard as iron. "Tsuruki Arata. This is a notice from the Ministry of the Imperial Household's Anomaly Management Division." One of them thrust out a slip of paper. Arata took it. "Your credentials as an anomaly surveillance officer are hereby revoked." Arata looked at the paper. Cold words marched across it. "There are two grounds. First, violation of a summons order. Second, suspicion that your illusionary arts stimulated Saimori Miyo's nightmare and adversely affected her mind." Arata's heart gave a violent lurch. *(My illusions hurt Miyo?)* It was utterly unfounded. Yes, Arata had entered Miyo's dreams many times. But that was to protect her heart. Stirring up her nightmares was unthinkable. "That's a false accusation. I was only trying to protect her—" "No excuses are necessary." The official cut him off. "The Ministry has concluded that the runaway of Saimori Miyo's dream-weaving power was caused by external illusionary interference. Your illusions destabilized her mind. That invited the activation of her nightmare. So it has been decided." Arata bit his lip. *(I drove Miyo into a corner?)* He had entered Miyo's dreams. To know the depths of her heart. To save her. But had that act wounded her? *(No. This is just a pretext to remove me.)* Arata understood. The Ministry knew he was trying to protect Miyo. So they had stripped him of his post to keep him from blocking the path that would deliver her to the Usuba family. *(They've turned my illusions against me.)* Arata ground his teeth. "You are hereby banned from the Kudou estate and ordered to vacate the Kudou residence. Leave the Imperial Capital by the end of today." With that, the official turned his back. Arata watched him go. *(Leave the Imperial Capital?)* Inside his heart, something was freezing solid. *(As if I could obey an order like that.)* Morning came. Arata stood before the gate of the Kudou estate. *(Even stripped of my credentials, even banned from entering—I have to see her.)* He moved to pass through the gate. Then, from the other side, a man came walking toward him. His long black hair was tied back in a single tail, and his silver-gray eyes held a cold light. Around the ring finger of his left hand was wound a braided cord—one Miyo had made. Kudou Kiyoka. Kiyoka stopped short the moment he saw Arata. "Tsuruki Arata. I heard from the Ministry." Kiyoka's voice was low and cold. "Your illusions hurt Miyo, I'm told." Arata met his eyes. The silver-gray gaze was full of anger and wariness. "That's wrong. I only ever tried to protect her." That was what Arata said. "Protect her? You've mistaken your own role." Kiyoka took a step closer. "The closer you come to her, the more she suffers. Your illusions disturbed her dreams and drew the nightmare to her. That is the truth." Arata's chest tightened. *(I hurt her?)* Kiyoka's words were the same as the Ministry official's. But hearing them from Kiyoka's mouth drove them in many times deeper. "She is my fiancée. I told you plainly enough to stay out of it." Kiyoka fixed Arata with a direct stare. "Do not come near the Kudou estate. Never again." Arata tried to argue back. But no words came. *(I just wanted to protect her. That's all it was.)* Kiyoka's silver-gray eyes pierced him through. "Your very existence drives her into a corner. Don't you understand?" With that, Kiyoka turned his back. Arata stood frozen before the gate. *(I can't say a single thing back.)* Watching Kiyoka's retreating figure, Arata chewed over his own helplessness. Arata wandered the streets of the Imperial Capital of Miyabi with no destination. *(What could I actually do for her?)* He asked himself. He hadn't been able to save Miyo when she cried in the storehouse as a child. At fifteen, he couldn't wipe away the tears he saw in her dreams. And now, entering her dreams had ended with her driven into a corner. *(I failed to protect her again.)* Arata clenched his fist. The city wore its usual bustle. The calls of market merchants, the laughter of children, the clatter of the streetcars. But to Arata's ears, all of it sounded distant, like something happening to other people. *(What have I been living for?)* Bound by the Usuba family's rules, obeying the Ministry's orders, watching over Miyo. Had there been any meaning in a life like that? *(I want to protect Miyo. That's all it is.)* Arata looked up at the sky. The sky over the Imperial Capital had been heavy with clouds since morning. A leaden sky, as if rain might fall at any moment. Then a familiar voice cut into his ears. "Master Tsuruki!" Arata turned toward the voice. There stood an acquaintance from the Ministry, out of breath. "It's terrible! Something's happened at the Kudou estate! The dream-weaving power has gone completely out of control—the aberrations are materializing!" Arata's heart gave a violent lurch. "What about Miyo?!" "I don't know! All I know is the Kudou estate is in chaos!" Arata broke into a run. *(Please hold on, Miyo!)* The closer he came to the Kudou estate, the more the air itself seemed to change. A lukewarm wind brushed Arata's cheek. But mixed into that wind was the presence of aberrations. The foul stench of nightmares. *(This can't be happening.)* Arata passed through the gate of the Kudou estate. Screams came from inside the mansion. The servants' voices, filled with terror. "Aberrations! Aberrations!" Arata ran into the courtyard. There, an unbelievable sight spread before him. Black, shadow-like aberrations were appearing all over the estate. Nightmares. Materialized aberrations born from Miyo's bad dreams. "Damn it!" Kiyoka was fighting back with his lightning ability. Bolts of lightning loosed from his hands pierced aberration after aberration. But no matter how many he struck down, new ones welled up. "Kiyoka!" Miyo had collapsed weeping on the veranda. Her sakura-pink kimono was in disarray, her black hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. From around her, something like black mist rose and materialized into aberrations. *(Miyo's power is running wild.)* Arata tried to run to her. But then Kiyoka shouted. "Stay back! Don't come near her!" Arata's feet stopped at Kiyoka's voice. *(I mustn't go near her.)* According to the Ministry's finding, Arata's illusions had provoked Miyo's nightmares. Kiyoka believed it too. If Arata approached Miyo, her power might run wild even further. *(Is watching all I can do?)* Arata gritted his teeth. Kiyoka fought the aberrations while shielding Miyo. Wielding lightning and flame, he struck them down one after another. But their numbers didn't dwindle. If anything, they multiplied as time passed. "No... nooo!" Miyo's scream amplified the aberrations further. "Miyo, pull yourself together! I'll protect you!" Just as Kiyoka moved to gather Miyo into his arms— An aberration lunged at Kiyoka from behind. "Kiyoka! Behind you!" Miyo's scream. Kiyoka spun around and met the aberration head-on. But in that instant of opening, another aberration flew at Miyo. "Miyo!" Kiyoka threw his body forward to shield her. *Shhk.* The aberration's sharp claws tore deep across Kiyoka's stomach. Fresh blood sprayed. "Kiyokaaaaa!" Miyo's shriek echoed through the entire mansion. Kiyoka's body sank slowly to the ground. "No... no... Kiyoka...!" Miyo clung to the fallen Kiyoka. Arata could do nothing but watch. *(Move. Body, move.)* Arata commanded himself. But his legs wouldn't move. Kiyoka's words clung to the inside of his skull. *"The closer you come to her, the more she suffers."* *(If I go near, Miyo will only suffer more.)* Arata tried to halt the aberrations with his illusions. But against materialized aberrations, illusions had little effect. And as a man stripped of his post, his use of abilities was restricted as well. "It's my fault... if only I didn't exist...!" Miyo's scream amplified the aberrations further. Black shadows swallowed the mansion. "Miyo... it's not your fault." That was all Arata could manage to say. *(I can't even go near her.)* Arata bit down on his lip at his own helplessness. The taste of blood spread through his mouth. How much time had passed? The presence of the aberrations finally began to subside. After Kiyoka fell, Miyo's screams had broken off, and the aberrations too had lost their strength. Kiyoka had fallen into a coma. The wound in his stomach was deep, and even after the doctor's treatment, there was no sign of him waking. Miyo wept silently at Kiyoka's bedside. Arata stood outside the mansion. *(I couldn't do a thing.)* Arata looked up at the sky. At some point, it had begun to rain. The cold rain wet his cheeks. Then, from behind him, came a voice. "Oh my, you look quite exhausted." Arata turned. There stood a man with the bearing of a Shinto priest, his long platinum hair loosely bound at the back. His pale purple eyes carried an eerie light. On the back of his left hand was an old scar. Amami Naoshi. The founder of the Gifted Communion. "Master Tsuruki Arata. Or—would you prefer I call you Usuba Arata?" Amami wore a gentle smile. But his eyes were not smiling. "What do you want?" Arata regarded Amami with open wariness. "I thought I might give you what you desire." Amami drew slowly closer. "The power to protect Miyo. And a new world, with her as its queen." Arata rejected Amami's words outright. "I refuse." Amami smiled. "Then what, pray tell, will you fight for?" Amami's voice grew low and cold. "You've lost your credentials and your place. Do you have the power to protect her now?" Arata was at a loss for words. *(I don't have the power to protect her.)* Stripped of his surveillance credentials, banished from the Kudou estate, his illusions sealed. There was nothing left to Arata anymore. "God is watching. Your suffering, and Miyo's sorrow. All things shall be guided toward what is good." With that, Amami

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Episode 5

Name: The Dream-Weaver's Grave: Arai Tsuruki's Hidden Heart
Author: Novelia

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