21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 897 - 891: A Pipe Dream

Chapter 897 -891: A Pipe Dream

When Minami woke up from her deep sleep, the first thing she saw was Chen Yu and his wife conversing tranquilly with the Shrine Maiden, as well as the others who, like her, were just beginning to rouse and climb up from the ground.

Minami felt quite confused, glancing at Kohinata Kaori beside her. She noticed that Kaori didn’t seem to have any discomfort—her expression was as if she’d just had a good night’s sleep. This relieved Minami somewhat, allowing her to check herself over and confirm that she too was fine before turning her gaze to Inomata Naoki.

For some reason, Minami felt an overwhelming urge in her heart—a yearning to take a closer look at him.

At the same time Minami looked at Inomata Naoki, he coincidentally looked back at her. A similarly strong impulse surged in his heart—the desire to truly take her in.

The two stared at each other, and within that single glance, it was as though centuries had passed. Although neither had any memories in their minds, it felt as if they had shared countless experiences together.

Unconsciously, Minami’s face was suddenly covered in tears. Her heart swelled with bitterness and pain, yet she couldn’t fathom where this sorrow stemmed from. It felt like she had once given up something incredibly important, and now, at this moment, she was overcome with longing and reluctance.

Similarly, Inomata Naoki’s heart was stirred by an intense feeling of guilt and regret. But he too was unable to comprehend why this emotion arose, especially toward Minami.

In that moment, both of them were filled with a myriad of emotions. There was joy, happiness, and exhilaration, but equally, there was sadness, melancholy, pain, and reluctance.

The flood of emotions erupted as though the two had experienced thousands of years in an instant. The culmination of countless feelings from this vast time span burst forth, yet neither could understand the origin of these sentiments, as no memories remained in their minds.

This peculiar situation was akin to something profound happening between them in their dreams—a separation of life and death—but now they could not remember it at all.

While the two stood frozen, overwhelmed by the odd emotions permeating their minds, Kohinata Kaori, who had already regained her clarity, noticed Minami crying with tears streaming down her face. She quickly tugged at her and asked, “Minami, why are you crying? What happened?”

Being jolted by Kohinata Kaori’s touch, Minami snapped back to reality. She quickly wiped her tears and replied, “I don’t know… it’s just that I seemed to dream for such a long time, and when I woke up, I couldn’t help wanting to cry.”

Hearing Minami’s response, Kohinata Kaori’s face showed bewilderment. Though she too had fallen asleep earlier and seemed to have dreamed for a long while, she hadn’t felt the urge to cry. Instead, her impression was that the time in the dream was filled with bliss, as though she’d just had a delightful dream.

This odd discrepancy made her glance toward everyone else, especially at Inomata Naoki, who was still being fixated on by Minami.

However, upon observing him, Kohinata Kaori noticed something strange. Chen Yu and Hiromi Jounouchi remained sitting upright, their clothes unrumpled, as if they hadn’t fallen asleep at all.

Besides Inomata Naoki and Minami, the other individuals wore subtle smiles, resembling the satisfaction of waking up from a good nap or a beautiful dream—this aligned with what Kaori herself felt.

But the peculiar part was the expressions on both Inomata Naoki and Minami’s faces, which were markedly complex. It was as though the dreams they had were not pleasant but rather long, tragic tales.

“Senior, what exactly happened just now?” Kohinata Kaori hurriedly turned to Chen Yu for answers. At the same time, she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Minami, hugging her shoulder and gently guiding her gaze away from staring at Inomata Naoki.

Upon being questioned, Chen Yu picked up the tea cup from the table. He sniffed the now-cold tea within the cup but did not drink it. Instead, after setting it down, he explained, “The tea you drank earlier had something added to it. After drinking, it would make you fall asleep and dream of the things you desire most.

Everyone’s desires are different, so the dreams you experience vary as well—some may be short and adventurous, while others may span a lifetime. This phenomenon is akin to the famous legend from ancient China: a pipe dream.”

After hearing Chen Yu’s explanation, Inomata Naoki—who had previously heard the story of the pipe dream—was the first to react. Though his mind was still affected by the explosive emotions from the dream, he questioned Chen Yu, “If this was a pipe dream, then why can’t we remember anything? And Brother Yu, why weren’t you affected?”

“This was to help you return to normal life.” The one who spoke was the Shrine Maiden seated silently at the side. Although she had previously been the incarnation of the Inari God, she now appeared as an ordinary human.

Having received the divine message from the Inari God, she dutifully cooperated with Chen Yu in orchestrating this event. Continuing the explanation, she said, “What you experienced in the dream were your deepest desires. But because the dream could be so profoundly beautiful, dreamers might mistake it for reality. If unable to separate dream from reality, one may become lost in the dream and never recover.

Thus, to prevent those who’ve gone through this from being overly entangled in the beauty of the dream and become obsessed, you cannot recall the specifics. The only thing left behind is the lingering emotional impact of the dream, sparing you the constant longing to relive its beauty.”

The Shrine Maiden’s words left everyone exchanging puzzled looks. None of them understood why she tampered with the tea nor why they were made to experience this inexplicable dream. Still, after she explained, nobody felt there was anything particularly wrong.

Nonetheless, the strange experience left everyone feeling slightly out of place, unsure of how they should react.

Chen Yu cleared his throat lightly and addressed the group, “Alright, this whole thing was something I asked the Shrine Maiden to help with. It’s also part of the reason we came to Inari Taisha—to give everyone this pipe dream. Now that it’s over, I trust that all of you are feeling some sense of relief, joy, and contentment, right?”

Seeing Chen Yu take responsibility for the incident, and upon realizing they indeed felt lighthearted and fulfilled in their hearts, the group decided not to pursue the matter further. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

However, the peculiar states of Minami and Inomata Naoki continued to attract attention. Yet, as both insisted they were fine, nobody pressed them further.

The Shrine Maiden, on the other hand, showed an unexpected generosity, acknowledging the impropriety of not informing everyone beforehand about the dream-inducing tea. As an apology, she offered to prepare dinner for the group. Thus, everyone chose to stay at Inari Taisha for the meal before heading home.