"There seems to be a bump on my head", Mark said while scratching his head, "Rena... don't you think you owe me an apology? You just hit me for no reason!"
"For no reason!? As if! You talked as if in case you did not wake up something bad would happen and then proceeded to say that all you care about is waking up before 7!"
"That's true though. You have not seen the angry face of my mother. She will keep on shouting the entire day if I wake up late!"
"That's not something you should be afraid of right now! Things are way more serious now!"
The entire time Rena and Mark were quarreling, the other girl kept on staring at them with clueless eyes. The other boy had finished all his pop corns and now seemed least bothered about anything. With his hands in his pockets he walked off on his own. Mark noticed him leave but did not bother telling him to wait.
"It's better to let him go. I don't know how to speak his language anyways... He also seems least bothered about this", Mark thought as he saw him go.
"Ano...yokubo no ike o mitsukeru tame ni isshokenmei doryoku subekida to omoimadu!"[Eng: umm...I think we should work hard to find the pond of desires!]
The other girl said the above words with a serious tone. Suffice to say, no one understood anything. Mark and Rena blankly stared at one another with a confused countenance.
"What... what did she say?"
"As if I know..."
The girl saw their expressions and quickly realized that they had failed to understand her. Similarly, she did not understood what Mark and Rena said either. She could not communicate with anyone. An expression of sadness filled her face. Both Rena and Mark felt bad for her.
"To not be able to understand anyone around her... she might be feeling lonely...", to hear these words from Rena, Mark felt that he was seeing a different side of her.
Rena walked up to the other girl with big steps, held her hand and said, "Me... Rena! And You?"
The other girl seemed to understand her. "I... Me Kanako..."
"Kanako?"
The girl nodded.
"Kanako! Friends?"
This time the girl did not seem to understand Rena. Rena tried in many different ways but all her efforts went in vain.
"Rena... she is not understanding you", Mark said after a few minutes of Rena's failed attempts. Rena looked a bit disappointed but quickly recovered herself.
"Let's find the pond of desires already! That spirit told us that it can make us understand each other if we do that!", Rena said with seriousness. Mark realized that Rena was more than just a violent girl. "Let's hurry up then!", Mark answered with a smile.
Rena held Kanako's hand and dragged her along with them since they could not make her understand what they were doing. However, Kanako did not resist. She followed them without any questions.
They walked through the forested mountain as fast as they could.
"Are we going down the right path?", asked Mark.
"It said that the pond was at the bottom of the mountain. Let's head towards the bottom for now. After that we will go separate directions in search of the pond"
"Why separate?"
"That will save us time. Even if anyone of us solves the puzzle, all of us will be able to wake up."
Rena's words made sense so Mark did not question her decision. They walked for quite a while when suddenly they heard a very subtle sound of flowing water.
"Did you hear that!?", Mark asked.
"I did!"
"It came from here!"
That was when they realized, Rena was pointing towards the left while Mark was pointing at the right.
"The sound came from the left!", said Rena.
"No, it definitely came from the right!", protested Mark.
After a while they decided to go separately in search of the sound. Mark went towards his right while Rena and Kanako went left.
Mark walked for quite a while. He had almost given up hope since he never heard the sound of water ever again. "Maybe Rena was right...", Just when he was about to return back, he heard the sound of water once again. This time he was sure that he was almost near the pond. He picked up his pace and rushed towards the sound. The sound grew clearer and clearer and the very next moment, he found himself standing in front of a pond.
"Is...is this it? the pond of desires? But why are we not waking up yet?"
He heard footsteps which were coming closer to him. He was scared and worried. He had almot jumped into the pond when suddenly he felt a hand touch his back.
"Why are you so scared!?", It was Rena's voice!
"It's you? But didn't you go towards the left?"
"That is what I was about to say! You clearly went towards the right! How are you here?"
Mark and Rena could not figure out the situation.
"Whatever it is, we are here at the pond of desires already right? This has to be it! But why are we not awake yet!?", Mark exclaimed.
"I don't know... maybe this pond is not it??..."
They looked around for a bit and then blankly stared at the unusually still water of the pond.
"How many hours has it been already... 3?", Mark was worried.
"Who knows..."
Just when they were devoid of hope, a hologram appeared before them. It was a screen with the following words written on it,
[Good Work! You have successfully managed to find the POND OF DESIRES! Now it's finally time to solve the puzzle]
"Solve the puzzle? So finding the pond was not the actualy work!?", Rena was very pissed off as she shouted, "Just Give us the goddamn Puzzle already!"
"Calm down. We have come this far. Let's solve the puzzle and leave as soon as we can", Mark said although he himself was nervous.
"What kind of puzzle is it gonna be?", Mark kept on wondering.
The writings on the holographic screen changed. This time it said,
[Puzzle No.1: Why is this pond called the POND OF DESIRES?]
Mark blankly stared at the question. Rena kept on scratchig her head. Poor Kanako knew that all she could do was try to solve the ouzzle on her own for neither Mark nor Rena would undertand her. She looked at the screen. Everything was crearly written in japanese. And yet when Rena or Mark looked at it, they seemed to understand it.
On the other hand, Rena and Mark saw it in english.
"Why is this called the POND OF DESIRES?", asked Mark.
"Cause it is named so", answered Rena.
By now they knew, waking up before being cemented would be difficult.
YOU ARE READING
SPIRIT PUZZLE
FantasyOne day suddenly Mark felt like he was drowning into darkness. He soon found himself living inside his own dream besides three others, Kanako, Rena and He-Yoon. But how come they all had the same dream? How did they all find themselves in their own...
