It was dark, deafening dark.

  "Where am I? Guhh....everything is so dark! Worse than that day Aiko-chan blew on the candle shut!!"

  Minami Mina woke up in a pce she didn't recognize. Everywhere she looked, it was all just pitch bck. Even with the darkness engulfing her entire body, she could still see her own hands clearly lit up, which made this pce all the more eerie.

  The silence, the cold, and the void—no matter how hard she tried to look out, there was nothing to be found. Nothing extraordinary beyond the absence of light and sound. This frightened her even more, as if she could feel that she was not truly alone in this space.

  If I'm here, does that mean I'm now a goner? Am I dead?

  Is what crossed her mind when she observed the environment. Slowly, in desperation, Mina curled her body up.

  At the very least, her own body temperature could keep her slightly warmer for another minute until she finally succumbed to the inevitable fate of freezing to death. But another thought walked past Mina, what if this is just another weird and not important dream she often had while sleeping?

  As she held out a little sigh of resignation, she hugged her own body even tighter. Sometimes, she quickly rubbed her own palms together, hoping the friction would give her a little bit more warmth.

  Until suddenly, a mysterious voice echoed throughout the constant void and pierced straight into her ears. The same ears that were already used to the absence of sounds. It was calm, soothing even, and very much loud enough with sprinkles of divine touch as it seemingly came from every direction.

  "Every single branch will always...sprout from the same root of a single tree..."

  "Tree? Roots?" Mina tilted her head to the side in confusion.

  Upon hearing it, Mina could only shake her head and scratch her hair in frustration at how cryptic it sounded. The voice lingered heavily, the long pause was maddening with each second, no more voice present to calm Mina's mind.

  Knowing that there was at least something or someone that accompanied her in this loneliness. Even with slight relief, she couldn't shake the feeling that the voice somehow made the void feel even tighter around her.

  And with the absence of it, the feeling of getting squeezed by nothing gets even worse. Seeking crification from the voice, she shouted back to the void.

  "What roots? What's with the branches?"

  Surprisingly, the voice finally responded with the other half of the riddles.

  "...On which, throughout many cycles of decay and growth, will eventually sprout a new branch that unfurls young leaves and blossoms"

  "Ano...who are you? Why did you drop something so cryptic at me all of a sudden? Where am I exactly? And why am I here in the first pce? Am I dead?"

  "Not exactly, Thou will eventually find it out all by thyself, I confidently think thou art capable of achieving that..."

  "Huh...t-thank you, I guess?"

  Now that I think about it...that voice seems pretty talkative, huh?

  She pressed a hand to her chest Maybe I could ask for a way out? It wasn't much but it was something she could try...

  "Hey, may I ask you a question? Is there a way for me to leave this pce?"

  ...

  "Hello?"

  The void immediately went silent again, right back to square one. Which frustrated her even more as she kept floating aimlessly in the pitch bck dimension where she had no memories or ideas of.

  "I guess it's just another bad dream again, already guessed it! Ah~ why can't I have some fun dream even for once?"

  While she resigned to the idea of leaving this nightmarish pce, she began humming one of those some melodies she usually does in the kitchen, her own habit to stay distracted while doing nothing. Then, a completely different voice rang in her ears, jolting Mina upright.

  "Mina-chan! Wake up! It's already morning!"

  At first, Mina seemed like a shocked deer, looking around for the source of the voice. It was her friend, Fujimori Aiko, calling for Mina to wake up from her sleep. While calling out to Mina, Aiko kept on knocking, hoping to of finally rouse her sleepy friend.

  Outside the complete darknessーwhich is Mina's unusual dreamーshe slept very peacefully on her own bed..., upon hearing Aiko waking her up behind the door, Mina wriggled beneath her bnket.

  "Nghh~ Five more minutes..~" Mina answered the calling with a very zed out answer.

  "What, five more minutes? The sun is already up and high now! Come on! Wake up, Mina-chan!" With a pretty mildly irritated voice.

  Unable to wake the sleeping beauty, or rather, sleeping log on a bed, Aiko let out a tiring sigh, as she continued yelling behind the door. While Mina herself still curled up in the bnket and deliberately covered her ears, trying to get a little bit more sleep as possible.

  Desperate, Aiko ultimately resorted to a cheap trick that somehow always worked perfectly on Mina no matter how many times she used it, which is...

  "Mina-chan...if you don't wake up right now...there would be no dango for you~"

  She knew it was a very childish trick. But if it meant getting Mina out of bed, she would use it without hesitation. The moment the word 'dango' reached Mina's ears, her eyes snapped open; there was no way she'd miss such a tasty morning treat.

  "Dango? Really?"

  "Y-yes, to-...tally real~! So wake up now, Mina-chan!"

  Aiko-chan sounds so suspicious today

  "What if I don't wake up now?"

  Upon hearing that question, Aiko jolted back, thinking that Mina probably knew it was just a bait.

  Oh no, does Mina knew it's just a bait? No, no, no! I already used this trick many times, it should work!

  "Come on, don't be like that, you've already asleep for like 12 hours! It's not good for your health if you kept on oversleeping. So, please wake up now!"

  "Do you...really, really have them?"

  "W-well, If I don't have them, then I'd just wake you up like usual without mentioning it! Tho, if you don't want to believe me that is, I'll just eat them all, you know~ Are you sure you want to miss that out?"

  Wa-wa-wait, she wants to eat them all? No way can do! I have to wake up now!

  "Noーwait! I'm waking up right now!"

  In an instant, Mina sat upright on the bed, wiped her sleepy eyes clear as she set the bnket aside. The floor at that time was very cold, it shook Mina the moment she set her feet on the floor. As Mina tried to stand up on her feet, one of them was anchored on the bnket which still tangled from the bed, slid and tripped Mina to the floor, now her back hit the cold floor with a thud that could be heard outside.

  "Uggya!!" Mina yelped from the sudden fall.

  "Mina-chan, are you okay over there?! I'm coming in!" Aiko's worried voice could be heard from behind the door.

  "N-no, Aiko-chan, I'm fine!"

  "Oh my goddess, you made me worried right now..."

  "Seriously, I'm fine, very fine!"

  Once again stood up on the floor, getting rid of the bnket that made her fall just minute ago as she approached the door.

  The door slid, and two girls finally met, Aiko tilted her head and smile as she saw Mina standing in front of her.

  "Good morning, My dear Mina-chan!~ Slept well?" Somehow, Aiko's tone sounded a little bit sarcastic.

  "Morning...Why did you go all out of your way to wake me up?"

  "That's because, I can't help but worried about my adorable Mina-chan not waking up early and missed her breakfast"

  "WHAーt-that's none of your business!"

  "It is! And if you don't eat your breakfast and starved, I'd feel very sad..."

  "Nggh!! And besides, stop calling me 'adorable'ーI'm not!!"

  "Eh? I thought you're so so so adorable...even...right now, your sleepy face is so cute, like a sleeping beauty!" Aiko smiled while pointing finger up upon mentioning that Mina looked like a sleeping beauty.

  "Mou! Aiko-chan, stop teasing me!!" As Mina gave Aiko a pout.

  "Fufu, fine fine..."

  Mina-chan...like usual, you're so adorable today, even your face when made is so cute!! AreーMina-chan's hair

  Aiko saw that Mina's hair was messy and disheveled. Quickly pointed it out to Mina.

  "Mina-chan, your hair!! Let me fix it for you" With Aiko's hand quickly got closer to Mina's hair.

  Realizing that Aiko's hand was about to touch her hair, Mina hurriedly tried to stop it with her hands.

  "N-no! Aiko-chan, I can fix it myself!"

  "Mina-chan...just let me do it for you!"

  "F-fine..."

  Upon approval, Aiko's fingers slowly brushed Mina's hair, the warm hand caused Mina's face to reddened a little bit. Mina wanted to escape from Aiko's grasp and did the hair herself, but she let Aiko did it.

  Mou...Aiko-chan...so pushy!!

  "Mina-chan...hair is like a crown for girls, you need to treat it very seriously!"

  "Kaaayy...!"

  "There, now you look cuter!" While smiling, Aiko's hand departed from Mina's hair

  "T-thank you..."

  Mina couldn't hide how red her face had become. Suddenly jolted back from Aiko that already leaned closer to Mina's face, just inches away.

  "Are-re~...Mina-chan, your face looks red"

  The more Mina tried to put distance away from Aiko, Aiko kept on getting closer, the smile etched on her face made Mina more embarassed.

  "NoーNO! It's just...ah yes! Heat! The Heat!! My bedroom is unusually hot today! Yeah, that's why" Quickly waved her hands, as she tried to deny that her face went red like tomato.

  "Alright, alright, I believe you" Slowly leaned away from Mina's face.

  Araーseeing Mina-chan getting all flustered makes me really happy...Goddess, thank you so much for making me befriend Mina-chan!!

  "Still, seeing your face went red is actually very unusual!! Can't get enough of it!"

  "Aiko-chan!!!"

  "Fufu, Just kidding"

  Both girls ughed after they teased each other that morning, prepared to have breakfast, Mina closed the door behind her and walked alongside Aiko downstairs.

  ***

  YukiAsano