Lily Rosette's Story

The finally quiet air around her did not get a chance to stay for very long, as a mechanical beeping next to her interupted what little sleep she had managed to obtain. Her hand moved over her head, trying to locate the source of her misfortune, hoping to strangle it. She finally succeeded as her hand hit the off button. There was another slight groan, and Lily slowly opened her eyes, yawning. 'It's Five already?" She complained. She slowly sat up, and began to work on her day to day tasks she always did.

First off was a shower, the blazing heat serving to both comfort her and get her to thinking about things she needed to do, or important things to remember. 'I'll have to go to bed earlier tomorrow... I barely got a wink of sleep.' She thinks, turning the heat up further. 'I have drama practice later today, We're supposed to hear what Play we're going to do for competition... Before that, my assignments are due- I had better make sure I prepare everything before hand...' She thought, finishing up, making sure to towel dry her hair, and style it as needed. She noticed when she looked in the mirror that a ring was beginning to form around one of her eyes, and she deftly covered that up with some makeup, having to do the other eye so she wouldn't look weird.

After that came her early morning chores. Before her parents got up, she would go around the shrine to clean, collect the donations, sweep out the leaves, and prepare breakfeast for everyone. This usually didn't take as long as it sounded, but the lack of sleep was making her yawn every ten or seconds. Eventually, she finished her cleaning, then went back into the house to prepare food... she was thinking a good meal today would consist of Pancakes... because she had a feeling she would really need the energy boost the syrup would provide.

Her mother was the only one to come in , which wasn't all that of a rare occurence. "Good morning, Lily... my, you look positively horrible! Are you alright?"

Lily smiles. "Good morning, Mom... I didn't have to well of a night, so It'll take me a little bit to seem like myself... the pancakes are almost ready, so give me a few more minutes."

"Again?" Her mother said, the concern evident on her face. "YOu usulally sleep like a baby, but this is the second night in a row you haven't been sleeping well... with this Nightmare Syndrome going around, I can't help but be worried."

Truth was, Lily was getting a bit scared herself. People never waking up after they go to sleep... and then they die, looking like their worst fears had come true. Lily hadn't had a nightmare, or at least not one she remembered. Still, everyone that had the Syndrome had first complained about not getting any sleep. How could Lily NOT be scared at this. " I know, Mom... I'm going to try to get to sleep early today, so can you turn down any requests for me today?"

"That's not a problem, dear." Her mom says, smiling as Lily puts down a plate of pancakes for her. They ate in relative silence, enjoying the meal Lily prepared. "I got the dishes, dear, so hurry on to school." She said.

"Alright, thank you!" Lily said, getting up, stretching, and walking out the door. It would take her about twenty minutes to walk to school, three of those being the annoyingly long steps down from her shrine. Once she was on the main road, her feet didn't hurt nearly as bad. A few students caught up with her to say hellp, and they talked about nothing in particular on the way to Hirasaka. Soon the gates were in sight, and her school day had officially begun.

While not the most popular girl in school, Lily still had a lot of people say hello to her, and it was her duty to seem as happy as she had ever been. Nothing else special happened besides this, however. No one came up to her asking for advice about something, and no one asked to borrow her English notes. Perhaps they sensed that Big Sis Lily was a bit under the weather, and she couldn't be more grateful for their understanding on this subject. She gets her things for class ready, then heads up to the third floor, where the seniors held class.

She gets to her homeroom class, and sits down on her desk, a full ten minutes early. A few of the normal girls approach her for an early morning session of girl talk. She did her best to communicate well, as she was slowly starting to get some energy in her… at long last, that sugar from the pancakes was beginning to kick in. She gives a smile as she gossips with these girls, though the fear that something is not quite right with her fails to leave her mind..

Kyosuke was awake even before his alarm went off, as had happened the last few mornings. He rarely slept well, but recently his nightly sleep patterns had been even more disrupted than usual. He assumed he was just under the weather or something.

Yawning, the blue haired youth rolled out of bed and stretched, wincing as his body protested at the movement. That was also odd, this unusual stiffness he had been feeling recently. There wasn't any need for it, he hadn't been exerting himself any more than usual lately. Yet more strangeness to weigh on his mind.

He considered this as he quickly showered and got dressed in his usual uniform, making sure he was at least presentable. He was quite honestly too exhausted to make any kind of effort with his appearance, but certain things couldn't be rushed. Besides, he lived close to the school, so he could afford to take his time.

Had I the choice, I wouldn't be going at all..., Kyosuke thought as he locked the door to the small apartment that he and his mother shared. They'd gone from a penthouse in Tokyo to this tiny two bedroom place. How far they had fallen since the divorce. Not that he held a grudge against his mother, quite the opposite. He understood how hard it was for her to even keep this place, even with two jobs. It was sad really.

Checking his watch as he entered the school grounds, he nodded. He was right on schedule. Usually he timed his arrival in class for just before the bell, so as to avoid contact with his classmates until he had read the atmosphere in the room, so he could alter the 'mask' to fit. That was how he had always operated, and it had worked for now.
Glancing about the crowded room, his pale blue gaze landed on Lily, his usual source of information regarding atmosphere, due to her popularity within the school. She.seemed rather subdued today, unusual for the dark haired female. It worried Kyosuke slightly, but he took it as a sign that perhaps he should stay out of people's way today. That worked perfectly for him.

It was the same morning "greeting" he got for the past few days. At the moment he would open his eyes Ryu began to feel a soar, tired sensation throughout his body. It reminded him of the long lack of sleep he had back when he was young. Only for some reason, it felt more like he just about didn't sleep at all. He turned onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as he contemplated on what was going on. Was he starting to suffer again from what he did years ago? Maybe he was just not getting comfortable at night? Either way, he had little to no time to just lay around and think about it. Letting out a deep sigh, he got up from his bed and worked on getting himself ready for school.

Dressed in the school outfit, he purposely left his shirt open as he passed through the kitchen and took a piece of toast with him as he headed for the door.

"I'm heading out..." He mutters as he stepped through the doorway. Listening to the empty silence behind him as the long traditional silence was all that replied to his words.

His home was a good ten minutes from his school, a "gift" from the men that helped him find a place to start over. Not like he even cared much if he arrived late or not. The most of the teachers didn't even try to do any discipline at him out of fear ever since word got out of what happened back where he grew up.

Holding his bag over his left shoulder, he walked through the school gates as a number of the students either glanced his way or tried to avert their eyes from him. Yup, just a typical day at school.

Once he stepped into his class room, he just took a look through the room before making his way to his seat. In one corner was the "mask" kid. Always apparently adjusting his additude to appeal to the other students around him. But he could always tell that he seemed to be faking it with the others. He had a knack for telling what someone was feeling.

In the other side was the "big sis" girl chatting with a few classmates. Something seemed a bit off about her as she didn't have her usual energy. Maybe something at home? Didn't really matter much to him right now as he took his seat by the window and silently looked outside in waiting for classes to finally start. He sure hoped today wasn't going to be a long one.

The morning classes had been relatively the same as the other classes, which Lily paid close attention to the entire time, despite her still being somewhat tired. It wouldn’t do for her to miss something important for the test or, even worse, exams. She was a diligent note taker, and thus had to listen to every sentence the teacher said. First came English, then Mathematics. Both of those classes too up the entire morning. Lily half wondered why they put one of the more boring classes in the morning, when the students could still be half asleep… but something that most students won’t need, like science, up first, why don’t they?

As she finished her notes for math, and took note of the homework she was to do, she allowed herself a little time to relax. After all, lunch time was fast approaching. She didn’t make anything to eat before hand, so it looked like she was going to go to the cafeteria to eat today. That was fine by here, it was her chance to catch up with the goings on of the school

Finally the bell for lunch rang out. Lily put her things away, standing up. One of the students waved to her, asking to borrow her science notes, since she seemed to have forgotten hers. Lily gave a smile. “You silly, here you go. Try to be a little better at keeping your things together, mkay?” She says, handing the notes over with no real issue. A few of the girls from school were putting chair’s together and invited Lily to join them. She declined, apologizing for not bringing a lunch of her own. With that, she was out and walking to the cafeteria. It was a short distance, so if Lily wanted to have plenty of time to eat and think, she had to hurry.

Her pace was brisk but not unsightly so as not to look to silly, and she made it to the cafeteria in under three minutes, though she was rather winded after that. Physical things like that were defiantly not her strong suit, which was the very reason why Lily didn’t take place in any competitive sports. She was happy with drama, thank you very much. She looked around the room, wondering what she should eat, taking a look at the list of food. “I guess you really can’t go wrong with Ramen.” She said, going to place her order. A minute later, she was sitting down on a table, eating up.

But still, It’s not often that I was slow paced like that She thought, thinking back to earlier today. I suppose people do have nightmare’s occasionally but… now? When the Nightmare Syndrome is taking place all over Japan? I’m not…going to die, am I? . Her hands shake a little at that though t. The problem with that was, it was a very real chance that she could die. All of the other Syndrome Victims had lack of sleep before they finally never woke up, without fail. SO should I…write a will, or something? That seems like the most logical thing to do, not that I have anything to give. It would mostly just be a message to my friends… great, I’m depressing myself. She thinks, noticing the sad sigh she had just given.

She continued eating her ramen in silence after that, though a few people did place hands on her shoulders, urging their big sis to cheer up. That made her happy, glad that some people cared about her to do that…