39. Dreams

[Reaper Academy]

It was the middle of the night at Kubo Academy. The moon had risen high in the blackened skies and most of the students were sleeping snug in their beds. However, on the Girl's Dorm floor, one young lady was about to wake up from the most frightening nightmare she had ever had.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! Nooooooooo!" The young lady in question shot up in her bed, screaming and shaking. She was terrified, the nightmare had frightened her down to her soul. "Oh NO, first my cheese, and now I've gone blind!"

She had not gone blind, she had simply forgotten to take off her eye mask (which had large, cartoonish eyes drawn on it). This young lady was named Sayuri, and shockingly she was not an honor student at Kubo.

Luckily for her, Sayuri did not room alone at Kubo. The other two young women sleeping in her room both groaned as their chances of sleep were ruined by Sayuri's loud screams. After a moment, a very sleepy Amelie stumbled out of her bed, rubbing her eyes as she walked over and lifted the sleep mask off Sayuri's eyes.

"You're not blind. Now go to sleep." Amelie mumbled.

Sayuri gasped suddenly and threw her arms around Amelie, hugging her tightly. "Oh Amelie! You fixed my eyes! Thank you! ..."

She paused for a moment, breaking away from Amelie and rubbing her chin. She could not remember what it was that had originally bothered her so, but she knew something was very wrong.

In the time it took for Sayuri to remember her horrible dreams, Sarai had drifted back off to sleep, and Amelie had returned to bed and was just snuggling beneath her blankets. Then, Sayuri shouted once more.

"Ahhhh the cheeeese! Get up, get up, GET UP girls! We have to goooo!" Sayuri sprang from her bed and leaped across the room, landing on the corner of Sarai's bed, shaking the Indian girl away.

"Ack!" Sarai whimpered as she was woken up by Sayuri in a far more traumatic way this time. "W-W-What is it?"

"The cheese! We have to save the cheeeeese! Those evil mice are going to eat it all! Hurry up, get dressed, we have to get to the kitchen nooooow!"

Amelie stumbled out of bed once more and frowned. "Sayuri, calm down, what are you talking about?"

Sayuri shook her head. "The mice from my dreams! They're going to eat all the cheese in the kitchen! WE NEED TO GO SAVE THE CHEESE or else I can't have a grilled cheese sandwich tomorrow! The world will END! We have to gooooooo!"

For a moment, Sarai cast a worried glance to Amelie. She was not worried over some lack of cheese thanks to evil dream mice; she was worried that they would miss sleep because of Sayuri's hyperactive imagination. Amelie would have liked to reassure Sarai that Sayuri would go back to sleep in a few minutes and forget all about this.

Sadly, Amelie knew better. A second later, Sayuri grabbed both girls by their arms and pushed them towards the closet. "Now hurry up and get dressed! And be sure to wear something cute! A major cheese emergency isn't an excuse to dress badly, you know!"

[… … …]

Despite their protests, Sarai and Amelie had ended up dressed and following along behind Sayuri as they walked down the empty midnight halls of Kubo, towards the kitchen.

Kubo Academy was known as a weird place. Many of the teachers were considered quirky, and some were just plain creepy. No place in all of Kubo was considered creepier than the kitchen, however. Many students were vocal about their preference to helping the assistant Gym Coach, Armstrong, stock the dark, private supply closets than go into the kitchen.

So when Amelie, Sarai and Sayuri reached the gigantic wrought iron door that led to the kitchen, Sarai stopped in her tracks like a stubborn pet digging her claws in. "S-S-Sayuri, we c-can't go in there!"

Sayuri spun around, tilting her head like a confused puppy. "We have to, Sarai! Not for us, but for our children! If we don't do this, there will be no cheese for our childrens future! Do you want your and Connor's kids to be without cheese?"

Normally Sarai could ignore the crazy things Sayuri said, but when she mentioned the idea of Sarai having children with Connor, the girl's face turned as red as a ruby and she began to quiver like a lonely leaf on a shaking twig in a storm. "W-W-W-W-Whaaaaaaaat?"

"Good! Then we have to go in there and defeat those evil dream mice!" Sayuri nodded, and then she spun around and delivered a powerful kick to the door, blasting it open and causing it to swing wildly on its hinges.

Amelie frowned, rubbing the back of her neck. "We're going to get into so much trouble."

Sayuri jumped into the kitchen, looking around wildly. She crept along on the tips of her toes, all the while making a small "nin-nin-nin" noise, pretending to be a ninja. She dropped down to her knees and investigated beneath the sink, and under a cupboard. She was looking for any sign of the terrifying mice from her dreams.

"... I'm worried about Sayuri." Amelie sighed, rubbing the temple on her forehead. "I mean, it's one in the morning and we're looking for some kind of 'dream mice'... I just don't get it."

"M-Maybe she's been e-e-eating too much cheese before bed?" Sarai wondered aloud, frowning. She really did not want to be in the kitchen. The lunch lady was a scary woman, and the school's chef was a very strange man.

After several minutes, Sayuri returned to her roommates with a frown on her face. "Huh... I don't get it... how come there aren't any dream mice? I know I dreamed all about them!"

Amelie frowned. "Sayuri... a dream is just a dream, it's not real. You don't need to worry about it so much, okay?"

"No! I'm telling you! The dream mice want all the cheese! Amelie, we have to stop them or else there won't be any cheese! Think of your children! Your and Hammah... um... Thunder... um... who are you having children with?"

As the blush rose in her cheeks, Amelie's face twisted to an annoyed expression. "S-Sayuri, don't say stupid stuff like that!"

Sayuri pouted, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her arms. "Come on! I'm serious about this! Help me out with these dream mice!"

The combination of a lack of sleep and Sayuri's stubbornness pushed Amelie too far. She exploded with some rage, putting her hands on her hips. "Sayuri, there are no dream mice! Stop this now and let's go back to the dorm!"

"H-H-Heeeelp!"

Before Sayuri could respond to Amelie's outburst, Sarai had screamed out in terror. The two spun around and looked to see Sarai, who had jumped up onto the stove top. Down on the ground was a rather gigantic mouse, with gnarled fur and bent whiskers. It twitched its nose and suddenly turned to look at Sayuri and Amelie, and let out a growl like a dog.

"W-What the heck!?" Amelie gasped, backing up.

"DREAM MOUSE! I toooooooooold you!" Sayuri seemed happy to have been proven right, as she crossed her arms in triumph. After a second, she gasped and then grabbed a large pot from off the stove top. "Evil cheese stealer, I will defeat you!"

Amelie quickly grabbed Sayuri by the shoulders and pulled her back, to keep the short girl from charging at the massive mouse with a pot. "Don't do that! You'll get rabies..."

The idea of rabid Sayuri caused Amelie's brain to temporarily go blank. There was no telling exactly what a rabid Sayuri would be like, but the idea cause Amelie to shudder in fear. However, as Amelie shook, Sayuri broke free from her grip and charged at the massive mouse.

She seemed to forget that she was holding a heavy pot specifically to bash the mouse with, and instead kicked it as hard as she could, sending the mouse flying across the kitchen and smashing into the wall. The mouse squeaked and rushed beneath the stove.

"You saw it, right? The evil dream mouse!" Sayuri called to the other girls. "We need to get that nasty evil mouse before he gobbles up all the cheese! Sarai, you're small, can you fit beneath the stove and catch that mean ol' mouse?"

Sarai's face lost all color and she began to quiver even worse than usual. "W-W-Whaaaaat? No, Sayuri, I c-c-can't!"

The idea of crawling beneath a stove to go looking for a plump mouse was just about the worst thing Sarai had heard all day.

Sayuri frowned, crossing her arms. "Hmmm... Hmmmmmm..... HMMMMMMMMM!" Sayuri thought loudly to herself. "We need a way to get that mean ol' mouse out from under there! Maybe we could lift the stove ourselves?"

Amelie and Sarai exchanged glances. "Maybe we could just go back to bed and tell a teacher in the morning?"
"T-That is a good idea..." Sarai encourged.

"NO!" Sayuri stomped her foot. "The cheese will all be gone by then! We have to find some help right now! Hmmmm... OH! I have an idea! We can lure the mouse out with some food from the fridge!"

Before either of the girls could do a thing, Sayuri yanked open the fridge and looked inside. She quickly grabbed a small, unmarked Tupperware container full of an strange, unidentifiable meat. Sayuri pulled open the container and threw a piece of the meat on the floor.

"Hey you dumb evil dream mouse! Come eat the meat! Come on and eat it!" Sayuri frowned, expecting that the mouse would have appeared in seconds. Sarai made a small meeping noise and stepped back, while Amelie shook her head.

"Sayuri... can we please just go to bed..." Amelie frowned.

"No! We need to catch this dumb dream mouse!" Sayuri stubbornly refused. After a moment, the mouse came scurrying out and picked up the hunk of strange meat. The mouse nibbled, swallowing the meat quickly.

"... I didn't think mice ate meat..." Sarai frowned.

Suddenly, the mouse, which had already growled at them once let loose a massive roar. This time, all three girls jumped back in surprise and Amelie decided to grab a large knife from the kitchen table in case she needed to do battle with the mouse.

The mouse, however, was suddenly growing. As strange as it might be to think that a mouse would suddenly swell in size just from a bit of strange meat, this was Makai, where hot dogs would magically switch people's souls.

As the mouse continued to grow it quickly inflated to the size of a full-grown shinigami male. The three girls yelped, and Amelie immediately moved in. While Sarai was frightened and Sayuri was rushing to stand her ground in front of the fridge to guard the cheese.

Amelie, however, ran forward and jumped up, slashing at the giant mouse. The mouse let loose a roar and knocked Amelie with its massive paw, causing her to go stumbling back and land on the ground, between Sayuri and Sarai.

"A-A-Are we going to be eaten?" Sarai mumbled.

"Even if we die, just remember we died in defense of the cheese!" Sayuri proclaimed loudly, proudly. Her best friends did not seem as enthusiastic to lay down their lives for a foodstuff.

The mouse came charging at them, fanged mouth wide as it pounced – and then suddenly the mouse came to a screeching halt and slammed against the ground. The three girls all blinked, and then the mouse whipped its head over its shoulder to see a tall woman standing on its tail.

"..." Nanami did not say a word. She had her hand on her hip, and one eyebrow raised above the other.

It looked as if the kitchen was poised to be the stage for a massive battle of epic proportions. Nanami, one of the most dangerous Shinigami in the school, fighting against a monstrous rat made giant by unknown, poorly-refrigerated meat.

Then, a giant cat hopped over the counter that separated the kitchen from the lunch line and scooped up the mouse, eating it in one gulp. Sayuri, Amelie and Sarai all looked dumbfounded, and even Nanami looked unsure what had just happened.

"... Sarai, why are you playing with mice in the middle of the night? That's very un-ladylike!" Rumi teased, sticking out her tongue as she hopped over the counter following the massive cat she had drawn.

"R-R-Rumi!" A wave of relief washed over Sarai as she ran over to her spectacle-wearing friend and hugged her. Somehow, whenever Rumi was around, things did not seem to be as bad as any other time.

Nanami raised an eyebrow, looking over to Rumi. "What are you doing here?"

Rumi shrugged her shoulders. "Oh I usually keep an eye on Sarai to make sure she doesn't get into trouble. And you...?"

"Same, but with Sayuri." Nanami replied.

"That seems like a full-time job." Rumi snickered.

"You have no idea..." Nanami trailed off, shaking her head.

"Nanami I'm so glad you're here! The evil dream mice are planning on stealing all the cheese! I took care of that one, but the other ones might still be hanging around! We have to make sure we get rid of them all!" Sayuri was at her cousin's side, instructing her on the viciousness of dream mice.

"... No problem. I'll have Lavan do something about it. He's very good at getting rid of pests. Now go on back to bed, Sayuri... and next time, just call me, instead of dragging your friends along in the middle of the night, okay?" Nanami asked with a small smile to her cousin.

"Ooooh! Okay! That'll work! Time to go back to sleep!" Sayuri grinned, helped herself to a piece of cheese, and skipped off towards her dorm as if nothing strange had happened at all.

[… … …]

The next day, the lunch lady was fired by the scary chef. Apparently the kitchen had been burnt down, the assumption being somewhere left the oven on overnight.