The Goddess Needs A Break!

There was a pitch black void that encompassed the entirety of the landscape that filled Takei's vision.

Even out in the horizon, Takei could see nothing but the endless black that seemed to stretch on forever.

It was as if the void was telling him that there was no escape.

"I'm in a dream, aren't I?"

Since there was no one else around, Takei ended up talking to himself as he tried to find any form of sentient life around him.

Surprisingly, Takei realized that this was a dream while he was in it. He distinctly remembered going to bed after finishing all of his nightly duties.

"Why am I here? Can this even be considered a dream if I know I'm in one?"

Due to this being a dream, Takei's unconscious thoughts began to leak out and materialize.

With all of his thoughts being turned into words being stated out loud, Takei could only sigh and laugh self deprecatingly at the troublesome situation.

As Takei began to think that the situation was hopeless, an image appeared in front of him and replaced the deep black horizons.

Rather than an image, it was more of a video that began to play.

There was a familiar boy standing there in the hallway of a familiar school.

Of course, Takei realized this to be himself from the past.

Specifically, the day he changed by interacting with Akari.

The Takei of the past grabbed an umbrella from the rental basket and walked outside into the rainy weather.

At this moment, he was definitely fated to meet the girl who would give his life color.

However, he saw no one when he went outside.

There was not a golden haired beauty standing at the front of the school.

Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, Takei went home without ever meeting the girl who would change his world.

In a short flurry of memories, Takei lived through his entire life without ever being truly happy.

From high school graduation, to college, to adulthood, Takei monotonously went through all the stages of life without truly looking at the things in front of him.

The current Takei was dumbfounded at what the Takei in the video was doing.

"Had Akari really changed my future that much?"

Essentially, the two Takei's were the same at one point in time.

However, the external factor that was Akari helped change Takei's future.

"I really should thank her more often, huh?" Takei laughed.

As he began to feel thankful for all that Akari did, the Takei in the video appeared in front of him.

Instead of the mediocre looking face that he was used to seeing, it was a slightly older looking version of him with some beard stubble.

If he had to guess, this Takei was probably in his late 20s or early 30s.

"It looks like you've been having fun."

The older Takei spoke with a deeper and hoarse voice.

It was also important to note that there was very little emotion and a sense of loneliness and envy in that tone of his.

"Yeah, I really have been having lots of fun." Takei agreed. "I'm sorry about what happened to you though."

Seeing the parallel Takei's changed future, Takei could only feel remorse for him.

"Ah, it's okay. I'm only a dream version of you. Once you're awake, I'll be completely gone."

Seeing the original Takei's grim expression, the dream Takei simply laughed it off and reassured him that the things he saw were just purely fictional things that his subconscious made up.

Understanding the situation, Takei breathed a sigh of relief and got to the root of the conversation.

"So, why am I here?"

To understand why a parallel version of Takei was standing in front of him, he had to first understand why he was here in the first place.

"Just as a reminder."

Parallel Takei replied to his question with an ominous answer.

"A reminder for what?"

Takei couldn't figure out for the life of him what was going to pose a danger for him. Most of the death flags had already been erased beforehand, so there shouldn't be anything left to pose as a problem for him.

"Don't run away this time."

With only five words spoken, Takei immediately understood the imminent problem.

He was prone to running away from stressful situations or situations he couldn't handle, instead of standing up and tackling the problem head on.

It was a bad habit that he had been doing his entire life.

Takei really wanted to fix it, but old habits die hard.

This time however, running away was not an option.

Akari was not someone he wanted to ever hurt.

Therefore, Takei would resolve himself to face her with his genuine feelings.

Seeing the uplifted expression on Takei's face, the parallel Takei began to chuckle.

"It looks like your future is safe for now. I'm happy to see that you're going to reach heights that I'm not capable of."

The parallel Takei smirked and nodded knowingly.

"Good luck, I wish you the best."

He outstretched his hand and looked at Takei with a sincere smile.

"Thank you."

Takei grasped his hand back in return and shook it as a nonverbal way of showing that he was going to do his best.

"Now..."

After the handshake, Parallel Takei stepped back and clapped his hands.

"Wake up."

***

"Kuh..."

Takei woke up in the middle of the night from a weird dream that he had.

As expected, there were many parts that he didn't remember.

It was just mostly fragmented mumbo jumbo that meant nothing to him at this point.

However, there was one thing that he remembered distinctly.

The resolve to reveal his genuine feelings to Akari was still burning deeply in his heart.

Something so trivial such as a dream wouldn't be able to truly remove what he was feeling.

It was a feeling that stood above all others.

And that feeling was...

---

Disclaimer: This wasn't supernatural, just a fun little chapter to help push Takei forward a bit

Serious-san: Is this all the seriousness?! This chapter was barely even serious at all!!!

Sugar-san: You're just a stepping stone for my path to become the ruler of this world!

A/N: Totally didn't forget to upload this chapter and then proofread/edit it in 30 seconds.