III - SWORD OF THE BRAVE // Doraemon Fanfic

5 - AN ADDED COMPANY

Where the hell did she run off to?

Nobita kept wondering about Christina at the back of his head and if she was okay. But at the same time, he knew it was no use worrying about her because by the looks of it, she could protect herself better than anyone could.

Suneo had already gone to sleep and all alone in the night, he was getting bored.

Unfortunately, Nobita couldn't get himself to sleep. All the new information he learnt about the world, how it was built, along with how the dream tool actually worked, if it was safe or not; all these questions were closing his brain.

He was absentmindedly playing with a twig when the monitor window appeared before him with Doraemon on the other side.

"Hey Nobita! Any trouble so far?"

Nobita shook his head.

"Then why aren't you resting a little?"

"Just trying to put some pieces together about this world, that's all. Anyways, why are you here, Doraemon?"

"Actually there is a reason why I came. I wanted to ask something."

Nobita shrugged in curiosity. "Shoot."

"Do you-um-do you--" Doraemon hesitated before finally resolving to say it. "Do you want me to see if I can put- uh- Shizuka as the princess in that world?"

Nobita flinched. As if all along he was speaking to Doraemon but his mind was somewhere else. However, with the mention of that name, Doraemon now fully had his attention.

"But..." Nobita stated, "I thought the tape does the choosing for us based on our personal signatures. So that we fitted our roles better."

"True. I don't know if I can do it yet. I just asking if you wanted me to try atleast?"

Nobita gulped, staring at Doraemon.

"Do you, Nobita?" Doraemon asked again after a pause, not receiving any response from Nobita other than the boy blankly staring at him.

Nobita looked down at the ground gloomily. He started tearing the small leaves from the twig. Deciding something like that was almost impossible.

After his recent encounter with her, or a version of her, the image of his previous lover had become clearer inside his head than it had been for the past four years.

Even though he knew perfectly well that Silf wasn't his Shizuka, that didn't mean that meeting and talking with her made it any less depressing.

A long minute passed with Nobita just pondering over that choice and Doraemon patiently waiting for his answer.

Releasing a deep breath, Nobita muttered out, "No, it's alright, Doraemon. Let it be. I can't just cling on to it forever. At some point, I'm gonna have to let go. No matter how difficult it might be."

Doraemon said, "That's quite a responsible choice you made, Nobita."

"It still hurts though."

"I know, Nobita. But it'll all be okay. With time. It always is. Now, get some sleep."

Just before Doraemon turned off the window, Nobita called him out, "Doraemon-!"

"Hm?"

"Uh- All these years I've been wondering something..."

"What is it?"

"About this thing with me and Shizuka--" Nobita looked up at him and continued, forcing a pained smile on his face, "Do you think... I'll ever find closure?"