Miako: The Child of the Night

Chapter 8 - The Real and the Dream III

"Woah, that was epic!" Hawk exclaimed. The final scene of the movie had just finished, and the credits were rolling out.

"Umu..." Moe wasn't nearly as impressed. For her, the movie wasn't as high quality as she had hoped it would be. The plot was all over the place, the characters felt ingenuine, and worst of all — the CGI was barely decent at best.

"That part when they finally met was what got me," Hawk looked as if he wanted to cry.

"Y-yeah, same," Moe couldn't help but play along with Hawk, not wanting to ruin his fun.

At that moment —

Booooooooom!

— thunder sounded across the neighborhood. The two middle schoolers flinched at the sudden noise, immediately panning their attention over to the window.

"...Rain?" Hawk looked up at the ceiling. Not a second later, the pitter patter of crashing water filled the room.

"What bad timing..." Hawk placed himself next to the window, staring outside. The street was shrouded in shadow.

"You reckon the rain'll let up?" he turned back to Moe with a frown.

"Um, is there a problem?" Moe met his gaze with her own.
"How're you getting home?" replied Hawk, "Your parents aren't home until late, right?"
"Oh..." it had slipped her mind that she'd eventually have to go home.
But I don't even know where 'home' is...

She panicked at the thought of being lost in the streets late at night. Just as she was about to speak, Hawk threw Moe a lifeboat.

"You can stay over. Though mom might get angry again..." he casually suggested. Moe simply blinked.

...He makes it sound like it's normal.

A barely-teenage girl staying over at a barely-teenage boy's house... had she misinterpreted 'Lyla''s relationship with Hawk? There was absolutely no way their parents would allow it if the two were lovers — especially since Hawk's mother seemed to dislike hybrids. Maybe they were childhood friends... or childhood friends hiding their true relationship...

"Well, I'll make dinner then," Hawk continued, "Anything you want?"

"N-no, not really," Moe was swept away in the moment. What was going on?

"Oki, thirty minutes," the boy disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Moe in the living room by herself.

...What just happened?

Moe sat stunned for the next thirty minutes, confused and unsure of what to do.

Time passed quickly as Hawk and Moe enjoyed a simple, yet scrumptious dinner. After their meal, they took turns in the shower before splitting ways to separate bedrooms. Naturally, because Moe was a guest, she expected it to be the guest bedroom. However —

What is this?

— it appeared to be a personal room. On the desk and bed were several neatly placed plushies, and covering the windows were light pink curtains. From what she knew, Hawk was an only child, so it couldn't have been one of his siblings' rooms. The bed was also too small to fit two adults, so she couldn't imagine it being Hawk's parents' bedroom...

Is this Lyla's room?

Moe surmised. Earlier, Hawk had implied that she had stayed over before, so there was a good chance she was correct.

Well, no sense in thinking too much about it...

She shook her head and climbed into the bed, tucking herself into the blankets. Engulfed in the cool warmth of silk, she found herself reflecting on what happened thus far in her dream: