Kingdom Hearts: Dream Team

Chapter 19: Call From Another World 💜

"Aislynn, you can sleep anytime... just not during the lesson." It was the very next day. Because I  stayed up late last night, I had fallen asleep in class. "Sorry," I said. "I had trouble sleeping last night." The teacher shrugged and said it was alright as long as it never happens again. Joshua looked at me, twirling a strand of his hair. "You look awful! What happened last night?" I said I would tell him at lunch.

At lunch, I told Joshua what happened last night. "I told you not to go looking for trouble." Frustrated, I clutched the table; it was a stress ball under my fingertips. "I knew you wouldn't like it," I said. "That's why I didn't ask you to come with me. Fortunately, something good came out of it." When Joshua questioned my meaning, I told him to lean in closer. "I was right. Cyrena isn't who she says she is."

This major break in the case pleased me, but my boyfriend wasn't as eager. "What does this tell you?" I didn't know how to respond. Joshua does this: He's usually the first person to come up with answers, but he expects everyone else to answer the questions, too. The two of us are so much like each other in that regard. "Cyrena probably knows why you're here," I explained. Joshua nodded.

"Aislynn, I think it's time you spoke to a friend of mine about the issue." I didn't need to respond; I already knew who Joshua was referring to. "Mr H has been conducting his own research back in Shibuya. There seems to be a major issue there as well and he thinks the two events are likely connected. You should share your theories with him and maybe you'll come up with the same conclusion." When I asked him if he could set up a call time, he said yes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, at Dream Team HQ, Joshua called me into his room so the phone conversation would be more private. "Mr. H is on the other line," he explained. "I've already told him about you." The knowledge of this pleased me. Grabbing his orange flip phone, I held it to my ear and listened. It was a conch shell and Mr. H's voice was the sound of the ocean. "Is this Aislynn?" He knew who I was; Joshua was telling the truth! "Yes, this is Aislynn. Mr H I presume."

"That's right," said the voice. "I'm Sanae Hanekoma , calling you from Shibuya UG." UG? What does that mean? "Joshua has told me all about you. He says you've been helping them to get back and finish the gam they started." I explained to him that all of that was correct. "But progress is really slow," I went on. "I still don't know exactly why this world and for what reason, but I have come up with some theories."

"Fire away," Mr. H responded. "Wait!" I said not realizing I had raised my other hand. "Joshua tells me that you've monitoring the situation on your end." I paused. "Mr. Hanekoma, are there any major issues in Shibuya at the moment?" Silence on the other end, but Mr. Hanekoma's voice soon returned. "There is one major problem." Wanting to go straight to the point, I asked what it was.

"The Reapers Game is messed up, out of juice, down for the count. Time has stopped in the UG. All of the players and reapers are frozen in time. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one still active." Fascinating, I thought to myself. "I have a few questions," I stated. "What is the UG and how come you're the only one still active? Does this have anything to do with why the mission timers are frozen?" I heard a sigh on the other end. Clearly this information was going to be hard for Mr. H to sum up.

"The UG stands for 'Underground'. It's a parallel dimension where the Reaper's Game takes place. It is a plain of existence higher than the Real Ground, the RG, where the masses live. As for why I'm the only one active... I'm an angel. Like Joshua, I'm one of the most powerful people in the game. Did you say the mission timers were frozen?"

"Yes. I hypothesized that this happened because the rules of my world are different from the rules of your world. There is no Reaper's Game here, so the timers don't have a reason to work." Even though I hadn't realized it, Joshua was standing next to me, listening in on the conversation.

"Aislynn, you might want to put me on speaker. Joshua will probably want to hear this, too." After Joshua showed me how to turn on the speaker, the conversation continued.

"When did the problem start?" Me and Joshua asked the question simultaneously. A long pause followed. "Let's see," Mr. H thought out loud. "The insanity really started when that portal opened. When I first saw it, I thought it didn't mean anything." I asked him if he got a good glimpse of the person who opened the portal. "It was a reaper... I think," replied Mr. H, "but they wore a black hood, so I couldn't see their face. What so I couldn't see their face. What about you? How are things going on your end?"

"Have you ever heard of the Heartless?" I asked. There was a moment of hesitation from Mr. Hanekoma, but the answer he gave sounded solid. "Little black creatures that don't have hearts? Yep, I've heard of them." I proceeded to talk about the Heartless attacks, my keyblade, and Cyrena. "Cyrena also wears a black coat," I stated. Before the conversation could continue, though, a large amount of static wiped out the connection.

I was disappointed; all of our questions still went unanswered. Joshua sat on the bed. "I'm even more confused than I was before," he mumbled. " I sat next to him. "We have one answer and more questions," I replied. "That's a start. All of that was enough for me to come up with a new theory." Joshua looked up at me, his lavender eyes had a faint glimmer of what I assumed was hope. However, that glimmer soon faded. "This was all my fault."

"The Reaper's Game needs me to function properly," he explained. "Without me, the whole thing messes up. You were right, Aislynn. The rules of your world are different. There can't be a Reaper's Game in this world because the conditions are not the same." I put my hand on Joshua's shoulder, like he has done to me many times. "Joshua, don't blame yourself. As far as we know how, it's not your fault you guys are here."

Theory mode had been activated in my mind. I gazed around the room: at the walls decorated with complex equations, at the simplicity of the furniture, and I knew what I wanted to say. "What if you guys being here, the Heartless attacking only at certain times, and Cyrena's presence after an attack are all connected?" I was ready to lay down the big news. "What if Cyrena and the cloaked reaper who opened the portal are the same person?!"

Joshua said that there was a possibility that my theories were correct, but the chance was fifty-fifty. Later, I relayed the message to the rest of the Dream Team. "Aislynn, calm down," Shiki insisted. But I couldn't calm down. I was on a roll with these theories; I had to help them and the issue was becoming more urgent. I kept rambling until Beat shouted, "Chill it, yo!"

The shout scared me... a lot. That's when I remembered we had other things to worry about, like Homecoming. Now that Apple Festival week was almost over, we had a little over two weeks to be ready. "Beat's right," I said, all business. "Homecoming should be the main priority at the moment. I need to cool it with everything else."

Neku said he'd gotten the song list for the dance, but he still needed to choose which order to play them. Shiki said that she just needed to put the finishing touches on the outfits. Lastly, we had to come up with arrangements for Rhyme. The youngest of our group reluctantly agreed to have Noah watch her in the main house. I was so pleased, all of this was coming together. However, there was still one lingering problem... how to ask Joshua to be my date.