Fractal Plane: Maiden's Heart

Prologue - My Hero

Miki Amagi found herself collapsed on the cold, hard floor in the midst of the world dyed in red.

She found her thin frame helpless as the ominous form of the giant, shadowy monster towered over her.

Then, it happened.

A valiant figure, coming to her rescue, emerged out of nowhere and smacked the monster away. On his hand was a shield, and he gave Amagi a reassuring smile.

She had seen this sight before, but she would never get tired of it.

"Arata..."

Amagi reached out toward her savior. She waited for the form of her childhood friend to take her hand.

However, he only smiled.

He did not lift a hand to take her hand.

His confident profile remained unchanged, and while he acknowledged his childhood friend, he instead shook his head.

"Arata!"

Amagi tried to call out, but her voice failed her, and she collapsed right back, just in time to see Kazuki Arata charge at the monster that he had just downed.

Her eyes flung open. The world in red faded in an instant, and in front of her, the sight of various forms of blurry text, darkened by the shadow her face cast over them.

The blurry image slowly cleared up, and Amagi knew that the dream had reached its abrupt end.

She woke up and found herself staring down a math workbook. Formulas and solutions of all sorts faced her, and with her eyes, she located the last few unsolved problems at the bottom of the page.

Following a short exhale, the girl rubbed her eyes repeatedly and lightly shook her head.

She had dozed off inside the Fuyusato Academy library, and that fact began registering as she looked at her surroundings.

The library was quite packed considering that it has been a few hours after school.

"Haha! You're so cute when you sleep, Senpai."

"Ah!" the surprised Amagi yelped.

She covered her mouth in time before looking at her companion seated beside her, the redhead ace of the swimming club and her underclassman, Akane Fujiwara.

Instead of the usual upbeat face that one would expect from the tone she used, furrowed eyebrows and a worried expression were on the redhead's face.

"Even in practice, you don't seem to be yourself lately, Senpai. Is anything bothering you?"

After looking at the time through her phone, Amagi realized that she had slept for half an hour already. She sighed.

Passing off two separate invitations from your two childhood friends is never an easy thing, but she knew that sacrifices have to be made, especially with a class trip over the weekend and exams coming next week.

She's also the only one among the three of them who has commitments to a club of some sort, so she found herself in a struggle in terms of juggling her time.

However, she just wasted thirty minutes of not only her time but also her friend's. She remember that she had felt more and more tired the longer the group study session went on and eventually dozed off.

"Can you tell me something?" asked Fujiwara with a curious look on her face.

"What is it?"

"Well, for starters, you were calling out Arata's name repeatedly—."

"W-w-w-was I that noisy?" Amagi responded after an abrupt silence.

Fujiwara waved her hand in an attempt to calm her flustered club mate.

"Of course not. I just heard you mumbling his name repeatedly, that's all. You sure are close, aren't you?"

Amagi smiled. She nodded in affirmation.

"You could say that."

"You know, every now and then, I want to know what the two guys are like. You three seem to be a fun bunch of people, and I do not think that Arata is as bad a person as Reijy and other guys is saying."

"What makes you say that, Fujiwara?"

"Well, every time I see the three of you together, you all seem so happy. Also, if he started becoming a jerk, I'm sure that you would have done something about it. I just wish that I can say the same for Reijy."

"Reijy... you mean Ishida, right?"

"Yeah. You should know very well that I can't hate someone I kinda grew up with, but his behavior sometimes irks me. You know how someone you have known for so long is genuinely a nice guy except when it comes to the few people that they pick on? I can't see what he sees in Arata."

Amagi did not answer, instead letting her underclassman continue.

"I just don't get people. Why do they have to put others down for trivial matters then pretend to be a good guy? Why not just be honest with yourself and pick a side? Go all the way with it."

Upon hearing this, Amagi cannot help but think. On one hand, she wanted to talk to the redhead about that naïve and simplistic worldview. On the other hand...

"Hey, don't you think so, Senpai?"

Fujiwara's words interrupted her thinking.

"E-eh? Think what?"

"That we should all just be honest and frank with others. No beating around the bush and all that. Let us all be honest and love each other, flaws and all."

Fujiwara shrugged and scoffed before resuming.

"Don't you think that people will end up regretting not being honest and true to their feelings?"

It took a while for Amagi to give her reply, but she eventually did in her indecisive way. "Hmmm... That makes sense, I think."

Fujiwara did not seem to pick up the subtleness and only took the answer as one of affirmation.

"Hah! I knew you could understand, Senpai. That's an awesome friend for you! Now, back to studying."

While her club mate returned to solving math problems on her own workbook, Amagi found her thoughts completely occupied by something else.

She twirled the pen on her hand and stared blankly at the far end of one of the library's many bookshelves. Her thoughts kept going back to that dream she just had.

She has found herself being visited by the same dream so often ever since her visit to the Arata household three weeks ago. She knew that something was up. Something did happen that night.

While her memory failed to recapture everything, she remember that it was the night that she first had this dream.

"What are you trying to tell me?" she asked herself, completely oblivious to Fujiwara's happy shout as she finished answering a tough question.