The Late Bird's Tale: A Tale of the Floating World

Part 2 || 4 | Sakura | A Strange Visit II, A Delicate Matter I

Written on 2/22/23. Winter Season, February 2023 edition (1st scene).
Written on 2/28/23. Winter Season, February 2023 edition (2nd scene).
Sakura Yume (picture reference).

* * * * * * * * *

Part 2 || 4 | Sakura

* * * * * * * * *

A Tale of a Strange Visit II

* * * * * * * * *

"I couldn't sleep afterwards that night," Judy said, leaning back, raising her arms into a stretch on the sofa, and getting up from the sofa. "It's one of my crazier dreams, and I've had some crazy ones over the years."

Sakura was about to say, 'I know what you mean,' but stayed her tongue as Momo's account of her entrance exam involving the figments of Judy's dreaming imagination surfaced through her thoughts. Sakura was just 10 years old when her exhausted sister came home after her entrance exam during the first full week of August before the start of the fall semester at the end of the month, so she said, 'How was it?'

'Crazier than I thought, but I passed,' Momo said.

'Awesome, sis!' Sakura said, offering to treat her sister to a much-deserved dinner that consisted of foods a 10-year-old could make: hotdogs, cheese omelets, and Spam musubi. That afternoon saw Sakura listening to all of Momo's exploits during the Judy Windermere entrance exam at the Muse Bureau Academy, which Sakura experienced for herself earlier this August. So Sakura said, "Were you at The Cake Fairy with this 'Emma' person during the first week of August?"

"I wasn't there," Judy said.

"Then where were you?" Sakura said.

"I'm not sure," Judy said. "It's kind of fuzzy."

"But you know you weren't at The Cake Fairy?" Sakura said.

"Look, I know I wasn't there," Judy said, "because I would've remembered if I was."

"Then can you remember anything else about it, anything that sticks out to you?" Sakura said, hoping her line of questioning was not a dead end. (While Judy paused to think, Sakura waited for her sister Momo to finish her phone call with the Muse Inspector on her smartphone, maybe to fill him in about this 'Emma' fox girl. When she thought Momo was done with her phone call, she said in her mind, "Sis, what did he say?"

"Said he'll contact the Chief," Momo said.

"And what did the Chief say?"

Momo paused.

"Momo, what did he say?" Sakura said.

So Momo said, "The Chief told him it might be a dream eater, so the Muse Inspector added that we keep our eyes peeled for anything unusual around Judy's presence."

Sakura paused and said, "What about on your end?"

"Besides the fox girl," her sister said, "Judy's repeating what's in the witness statements."

"Which is?"

"The fox girl might have been surveilling people connected to Judy's dreams during the entrance exams," Momo said. "Ergo, based on the witness statements from last night's incident at The Cake Fairy, the fox girl might have been the same one the witnesses saw that night."

"Might have been?" Sakura said.

Momo let out a sigh through the telepathic connection, saying, "We're talking about a dream Judy had two months ago. Other than The Cake Fairy, the feeling of being watched, sightings of eyes during exams, and fox eyes at her home and in her school, we've only got circumstantial evidence connecting everything together. We don't even know if this 'Emma' woman was there during the exams beyond hearsay. Right now, she's a person of interest. Now pay attention: Judy's calling you.")