CHAP 20

Chapter 20: The End of the Dream

The breeze was gentle, brushing past the rustling leaves in the park. Children laughed in the distance. The sky was streaked with soft orange and fading blue, the sun lowering over the horizon like a tired god resting for the day.

Naoki, now old and gray-haired, sat quietly on a bench. His back was slightly bent, his fingers trembling slightly as he tore pieces of bread to feed the birds gathering near his feet. He wore a long beige coat, a knit scarf wrapped neatly around his neck.

He looked content.

Each movement he made was slow, deliberate—as if savoring every breath, every fluttering wing that brushed near him.

Then, as he glanced up across the park lawn, his heart skipped.

There he was again.

The boy.

Sitting alone under the old cherry tree, in the same hoodie, in the same worn-out jeans, hair still messy, eyes still hollow.

That same young figure that had appeared countless times throughout his imagined life.

But this time… the boy didn’t vanish.

Naoki blinked. Once. Twice.

Still there.

With his cane, he rose slowly, taking careful steps through the grass, past the pigeons, past the running children, until he reached the cherry tree.

The boy looked up at him.

Naoki sat beside him.

Silence.

The birds sang nearby.

For a moment, Naoki hesitated. Then he opened his mouth.

But no sound came out.

He tried again—his lips moved, but his voice failed him.

Still, the boy looked at him and smiled faintly.

“It’s okay,” the boy said softly. “I know what you want to say.”

Naoki turned to him, eyes trembling.

The boy looked out toward the horizon, knees pulled to his chest.

“I watched you. For a long time. Your life was... beautiful.”

Naoki smiled gently.

“You had laughter. You had pain. You had her.”

The boy turned, his voice more emotional now.

“I watched you grow old with her. I saw the way she held your hand until her final breath. You cried every night for a month after that. But you smiled again. You took care of your kids. You made sure they never knew pain.”

Naoki nodded slowly, lips trembling.

“You became the man you always wanted to be.”

He looked down at the ground, and then whispered,

“And I was happy to be the dream.”

Naoki looked at him with teary eyes, shaking his head, wanting to speak, wanting to tell him he mattered.

The boy smiled.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say it.”

He placed a hand on Naoki’s.

“Thank you for giving me a life I never had.”

The wind blew.

Petals began to scatter from the cherry tree.

And slowly, the boy began to fade—his figure becoming translucent, like smoke drifting into the sky.

Naoki reached out.

“Wait—”

But there was no voice to carry his words.

And the boy was gone.

Naoki sat there, hand extended, tears slipping down his wrinkled cheeks.

Then he turned his gaze toward the street.

Across the crosswalk, a man in a black hoodie stood with his hands in his pockets, unmoving.

It was raining now.

The crowd passed him by like water parting around a stone. He didn't move.

Naoki stared at him.

The man in the hoodie slowly turned his head.

They locked eyes.

And in the next blink, Naoki was gone.


---

The man in the hoodie stood in silence. Raindrops slid off his hood, masking the tears beneath.

He muttered quietly, almost inaudibly:

“So... it’s almost time.”


---

Somewhere, far from the dream—in a cold, silent hospital room—Naoki's real body twitched.

His fingers flexed.

His eyelids trembled.

And for the first time in months—

His eyes slowly opened.

To be continued...

Chapter end