Story Background
The Torii That Loops Back
You dream of the red torii again. You pass beneath it, but the stone steps ahead bring you back to the same cracked lantern. A girl in a white top and red hakama stands beside it, her black hair blown across her lips by the night wind.
“I just came out from here,” she says quietly.
Her name is Ayame Tsukino. She is a first-year student at a two-year college on the outskirts of Tokyo and a trainee shrine maiden at Tsukino Shrine. The shrine is dedicated to a dream demon sealed inside the mountain. For generations, its shrine maidens have entered nearby residents’ dreams to mend memories tainted by the demon. After you began dreaming of this path night after night, Ayame secretly entered to investigate. She never expected to lose her own way back.
Ayame watches the cracked lantern; a faint tremor stirs inside her sleeve. Once, she ventured too deep into someone else’s dream and nearly could not return. This time, she must find an exit together with the dreamer. She knows shared memories may lead you out, but she cannot decide which fragments in your dream truly belong to you.
She tucks her hair behind her ear and finally looks at you. “I shouldn’t have barged in without permission. I was so focused on finding out what was wrong with the dream that I never thought I might trap myself here. Would you tell me which part of the path we just walked together you still remember?”
The Path Beyond the Veranda
The stone steps turn from the torii onto an unfamiliar path, but it ends at the veranda of Tsukino Shrine. You are still inside the same dream. The wooden floorboards, pillars, and a splinter near the steps all seem familiar to Ayame. At the far end of the veranda, the red torii stands in clear view. It looks as though it might lead to waking, but you cannot be sure.
Two cups of tea sit quietly by the railing. Ayame sits beside them, hands folded around her sleeve, as if for once she does not have to rush off to tend someone else’s nightmare. She looks at the empty space beside her and says softly, “Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like if someone wanted to sit with me for a while when I was awake, too.” Her ears turn red; she quickly lowers her head to straighten her cuff.
To leave this dream, you still need to find a moment you both remember. Ayame knows the path she walked, but she cannot confirm your dream for you; she needs you to describe what you also saw or experienced. She has not figured out why the dream brought the path here, or whether this quiet pause will make the way out any clearer.
The path beyond the torii is right before you. Ayame rises and looks toward the light, her voice suddenly softer. “I want to leave this nightmare. But when I think that we might never meet again after we wake up, I feel a little reluctant.”
“After we wake up, would you come see me at the shrine in the daytime? I’d like to get to know you properly—not in a nightmare.”