Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

"Hey! Satou, wake up, definitely hold on! They will definitely find us, when the time comes—"

Sato's vision was blurred, and William's voice forced him to open his eyes, only to see that the stick had stabbed William's abdomen fiercely, and the young man happily stirred William's intestines, while William desperately swallowed down his screams.

"Don't worry, I can't find you. Where do you think this is? Unless someone from us tells them personally, no one will disturb you. What's more, what if we find it? Do you think there are only ten people besides you?" What can the ruler do to us? Oh, I almost forgot. Mr. Kaede Watanabe is on our side, to be precise, the nine rulers."

"Don't...don't listen to him... soon there will be a change in the town, and the King Thief of Dreams will have to go too, if you hold on—"

William's body was cut in half before the words were finished. Sato never felt that the dark blue particles would make people so hopeless and helpless. Hot tears filled his eyes, and he howled in pain . The violently shaken conscious finally couldn't bear it any longer, and forcibly separated from the imprisoned subconscious, pulling Sato Kazuhiko back from his dream to reality. He suddenly sat up from the bed, it was foggy and rainy outside the window, and the sheets were soaked with sweat. There is a strong smell of alcohol lingering on his body, and there are also many empty bottles on the ground that have been drunk and discarded at will.

He Yan wanted to get out of bed, but felt that his body didn't listen to him, and there was a sense of lack that no longer existed in his abdomen. He opened his clothes with dull hands and touched his abdomen. Startled, he retracted his hand back. What should have been taken for granted made him so moved that he cried.

"Still...my limbs are...alive..."

The cold stick was stuffed into his mouth several times and his throat was pierced, and now he can only speak intermittently. The influence of the dream undoubtedly continued into reality. The drowsiness has not yet subsided, and the hangover headache haunts Sato, trying to force him to go back to his dream, but he never wants to go back. Sato regretted that in order to figure out why he came to the cracks in the dream, he made himself drunk last night.

"Walk around...yes, as long as you keep yourself busy, you won't fall asleep..."

Sato Kazuhiko squeezed out a smile uglier than crying, he quickly jumped from the bed to the floor, put on his slippers and came to the living room. He did everything he could do, and nothing was left behind for washing and breakfast this time. He was afraid that he would be idle, think of the hell-like situation in his dream, or couldn't help being sleepy and want to sleep. He must stay awake.

Usually when taking the bus, he would accidentally fall asleep holding the handle and leaning on his head, which has almost become his habit of catching up on sleep. So this time Sato decided not to take the bus, but chose to walk. The sky in the morning predicted that it would rain today, and the raindrops were dripping down at this moment, but Sato didn't bring an umbrella, so he had to put on a hood.

Only then did he discover that the sound of raindrops hitting the ground, awnings, umbrellas, or ponds can also have a hypnotic effect. When drowsiness ensued, Sato woke up suddenly, and he felt an incredible chill. He slapped his face hard, and continued to walk forward, his eyes fixed on the ground. But this didn't seem to work, so he had to force himself to pay attention to things that he wasn't really interested in.

For example, the black car that slammed on the gas pedal and slid across the pond, for example, a high school girl with freckles on her face and buck teeth passing by him... For example, more than half of the people were actually holding their mobile phones and looking at the people around them. He didn't care about things, even Sato knew that his complexion was terrible, and his appearance on foot without an umbrella was ridiculous and strange. But passers-by can only stare at the mobile phone screen, sometimes chuckle, sometimes seriously pass by him, no one will look at him at all, and no one will find that he is about to collapse. The steel bars inserted horizontally in the floor are like...

——Like the iron rod piercing the skin of the abdomen.

"Cough! Cough forehead, cough, cough... Ugh—"

Yes... Even if you kneel down and vomit the wine you drank last night, you will only receive strange and contemptuous looks from passers-by, accompanied by a burning pain in your throat. How about me, who said to my sister, "The world is rich and beautiful, and only the most scumbags would say the words of wanting to die"...? Do you feel the beauty of this world? This world is so rich that it is disgusting!

Sato left the filth all over the floor, dragged his tired and weak body against the wall of the street and stepped forward, his eye circles were painted a layer of purple black. He thought he might be grateful for the nausea that made him spit out the drink, and the drowsiness was temporarily swept away. As soon as he stepped into the circus city, someone threw a doll costume on his head with his back foot, and that person hurriedly did other things, and there was no time to apologize.

Feeling the soreness in his throat, he swallowed from time to time, and put on that funny cat face doll costume. Fortunately, there was a gap through which a large amount of air could pass. Sato heaved a sigh of relief, cheered up and came to the position he was in charge of, and performed various signature movements with ease. This entire morning, only at this moment did he feel that everything seemed to have meaning for him to persevere. Even if someone will show a disappointed look, as long as you have the determination to definitely make him laugh next time, your mood will be revived again. Sato was extremely grateful to the self who returned to the circus city, which became the only habitat where he could keep his sobriety.

"Finally I'm done! There's "Unnatural X Death" that I want to watch tonight, I have to hurry back... Sato, please help me clean up these tools!"

"Call...Call work? Are you kidding me..." Sato's face suddenly lost color, he looked at his colleagues who left freely, and then glanced at the empty paradise around him, the corners of his mouth drooped involuntarily down. "Damn it...are you kidding, where else can I go..."

In a bar that is open late at night, Sato sits alone at the bar counter, struggling desperately with his sleepiness. The boring little game on the phone barely cheered him up. When he won, he shared it on Twitter, and accidentally saw the colleague just now happily sharing his impressions after watching it. He suddenly had some weird thoughts and moved his thumb to the other side. He clicked on the senior's Twitter homepage, and the date stayed on the day before his accident.

In the end, Sato Kazuhiko still couldn't work up the courage to go to the hospital, and stayed in the bar all night. He knew that he would not be able to bear it sooner or later, but he didn't want to go back to his dream. During the whole day, he was sometimes calm and sometimes impulsive, but he understood one thing—William in his dream was encouraging himself, which was not realistic. Even if there are changes in the town, the King of Pirates of Dreams will definitely have a countermeasure to stay there.

Knowing that he has no way out, Sato is determined to hold on until he can no longer hold on. Since it is possible to die after returning to the dream, it is better to enjoy the last life of your life while you are still awake. He thought he would squander the money he saved, but instead of doing so, he made another decision-he booked a time to send the savings to his parents. Because he felt that it was impossible for parents to bear the pain of losing their daughter and losing their son. But if they had a fund, maybe they would take the opportunity to travel around the world. This trip may allow them to smooth out the pain in their hearts.

So Sato, who sent the money, began to live as usual. He put on the circus costume, again and again. He desperately performed the performance, wanting to see more people's smiles, and recalled countless times the scene when the senior handed him the laughter in his childhood. She can endure the pain and laugh from the heart, so I will definitely be able to pass on happiness the next day after a sleepless night.

this morning. Sato Kazuhiko sat in the coffee shop, quietly watching the scenery of the city that has not yet woken up. He didn't expect that a week of the world would be endured by him. At the same time, he actually felt that his week was more fulfilling than any other week in the past. If there is no domination war, there is nothing wrong with being able to devote yourself to such a life. But it is impossible for him who did not participate in the domination war to understand this. This is why it is contradictory. Sato sipped the bitter coffee bitterly, he knew that the limit of his ability to stay awake was coming.

Regarding William's question - the reason for participating in the domination war, he hadn't actually found the answer before. Only now did he realize that he was not so great at all, and it was a shame that he would say such big words in order to eliminate the darkness in his senior's heart. The same goes for going back to the time before my sister died. What Sato Kazuhiko wanted was actually a chance of redemption. Eliminating the darkness and returning to the past are just extensions of this desire.

Up to now, Sato Kazuhiko no longer needs to continue to dominate the war. Because his wish has been granted, he knows that when he resolves to stay awake and live every day as usual, he has obtained the redemption he wanted. The death of his sister was the first turning point in his life, and the day he chose to commit suicide was his second turning point. He just wants to go back to before the first turning point, which is his "usual".

"It's already... I can't go on anymore... But there's still one more place... There's one more place I have to go to..."

＊＊＊

The sun is setting. Sato Kazuhiko supported the tile washstand in front of him weakly, and took off the headgear of the doll costume.

The cards in the torn pocket were strewn all over the floor, and he didn't even have the strength to bend down to pick them up. However, the smile reflected in the mirror was sincere, but that face was too pale, and there were countless bloodshot eyes. Even with a daily shower, my hair still oozes oil. Seven days without sleep, it is natural to become like this.

"Today should be the last day.. Go to that place where you have to go again! If you don't go, you probably won't have a chance."

William once said that if you lose your concern for Domination War, you will be forcibly kicked out of Domination War. But Sato is now trapped in the arena where the ruler is imprisoned. Unless he leaves there, there is no way for the dream to drag him to other places. The end of such a self can only be "death". Only then did Sato suddenly understand why Pirates of Dreams described this as "the way to kill the ruler".

He didn't get a chance to tell William, though. Maybe William realized this earlier than Sato, and he didn't need to remind him at all...William must have understood what Thief Dream King meant.

Sato came to the hospital with his last remaining will. Enduring the dizziness and the severe headache at the back of his head, he registered his information, and with difficulty, he came to the senior's ward. I don't know when the senior was changed from the intensive ward to a ward where the breath of critical illness is relatively mild. He hugged the somewhat messy flowers he had rubbed out of pain just now, and put them in the vase.

"I'm still a little scared. What does death mean? From now on, whether it's reality or a dream, it's impossible to see senior. By the way, senior's worries about dominating the war are gradually disappearing. Senior, do you know about this? ? Or did you know that you would be forced to withdraw from the war of domination from the moment you joined the Dream Stealer?"

Sato wanted to pull away the chair and sit down, but his legs resisted first, and he stumbled and fell to the ground, and the chair hit the ground heavily and made a loud noise. There is no sign of Watanabe Kaede waking up. Sato smiled bitterly, and this was the first time he had shown a negative expression since the seven days of redemption. He let himself lie on the floor wearily. The eyelids drooped heavily over and over again, and slowly opened again.

"'The death of the dead is only meaningful when the living is revived', this is what you once said to me, senior...but I failed to do this. To be honest, even now I am also because of my sister. I regret the things I have done. I think no matter how heavy the redemption is, it will not be able to wash away the guilt brought about by this matter. Time is gone forever, and there is no way to move forward by relying on the delusion of going back to the past... If seniors can do it because of me It’s good to recover from death.”

In fact, I don't even know if my seniors can hear my words. Sato Kazuhiko's confession is destined to seem to be talking to himself. The electrocardiogram beeped "di, di", and my heartbeat caught up with the frequency of the sound. The setting sun outside the window just shone on He Yan and senior, and some of the scattered petals floated into the ward. Sato stretched out his hand to grab the petal, but it was always too far away.

"I really hope you can hear it.. But people can only do what they can. All I can do.. is to calm my heart.. In the end... I am the only one who didn't expect to be saved..."

It was indeed Sato's wish not to go back to the past and tell his sister "I will face it with you", nor to stop in front of the senior and tell him "I will eliminate the darkness in your heart". Although it is a product extended from "getting redemption", it does not mean that the wish of "getting redemption" is fulfilled, and the other two can also be easily solved. It is precisely because desires give birth to desires and continue to expand that life becomes unsatisfactory.

Sato raised the corners of his mouth and slowly closed his eyes. Consciousness is immersed in the endless abyss. What he never imagined in his life was that the end of his life would be so peaceful.

The number on the No. 2 Ruler's clock, which symbolizes the character "Kazuhiko Sato", gradually faded away, leaving only the gray "5" imprint.