I realized I was holding my breath, but I wasn't sure why.

All of us were waiting, but I wasn't sure what I was waiting for. But I could feel it, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood upright.

My eyes were turned to the sky, the east, and then it happened.

Suddenly, from the distant horizon, dawn shattered the night, pouring a single golden beam across the heavens directly to the onsen.

It was the purest, most brilliant ray of sunlight I'd ever seen.

At once, the tanuki erupted in jubilant cheers, their voices rising in glorious chorus. "Let the sunshine in! Let the sunshine in!"

I was smiling and singing with them. Yuki threw her head back and laughed, her eyes open, hands thrown upwards, fingers outstretched.

I'd never felt so alive and wonderful, bathed in the first light of that morning.

I looked at Yuki. Her throat fluttered, her breath shaky, her chest rising with something deeper than joy.

She stopped, tears filled her eyes.

"Ryu!" she said, reaching out for me.

I took her, putting my arms around her and holding her, feeling the weight of her body against mine.

"Yuki," I said, feeling tears lining my own eyes.

"You're alive!"

I felt her press her face into my chest, laughing and crying at the same time. I never imagined I'd get to hold her like this.

My fingers ran through her silver white hair. She smelled like cherry blossoms and peaches.

And the gold light shimmered, turning a multitude of colors: any color you like.

And through that rainbow veil stepped a figure I never thought I'd see again, and something inside of me crumpled like a tower of cards.

Yuki watched me slump to my knees.

My eyes, already full of tears, flooded like a river as I saw a magnificent old man, a bake-danuki, except the moment my brain told me what I was looking at, I saw who it really was.

"Dad?" My voice cracked, raw with yearning.

I felt Yuki's hand on my shoulder.

She knelt beside me, wrapping her other arm around me, and whispering.

"Shh, it's okay, Ryu," she said.

I fell into her, letting her hold me as I cried openly.

I could feel the warmth of her and smell soft peach lotion on her skin.

Then, I felt another hand, a stronger one, grasp my arm and help me to my feet.

"Ryu," he said. "Or Andrew? It doesn't matter, my son. You're here!"

He embraced me fiercely, solid and real. I was enveloped in the familiar warmth of tobacco smoke, brut aftershave, and processed meat—my childhood.

Home, comfort, love.

Tears burned my cheeks as he whispered, "My son, you're doing fine. I love you."

He stepped back just enough to meet my gaze, eyes twinkling with gentle strength.

"Listen carefully., okay? You're alive, and pain is part of that gift."

I took a slow breath, trying to focus on his words.

There were so many things I wanted to say, to ask, but I knew, without the tanuki needing to say a word, that my time with my father, the bake-danuki, was preciously short.

"But why are you suffering?" he asked.

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I opened my mouth, but I wasn't sure what to say.

"I-I-uh… Isn't it obvious, Dad?" I asked.

His expression didn't change, but I saw in his eyes that he understood.

"There's always pain. But suffering, my son, is optional. Look around. You are not alone."

He gestured warmly to Yuki, whose eyes shimmered with tenderness. "She loves you, deeply."

I already knew. I looked at Yuki, and she did too.

"She is part of you," my dad said.

I reached out to her, and our fingers intertwined with one another.

"Ryu. Andrew. Son, the truth is that you're not separate from anything. You're a part of this world and even beyond that. Don't you remember where you were before you were born?"

Azuki climbed down from the rocky outcropping and skipped towards the three of us.

And I knew time was growing shorter.

"No, dad," I said. "Where was I? Heaven?"

He laughed.

"Where's that? Son, you were here. You've always been part of this."

He gestured all around us.

"So, what're you so afraid of? Human? Dragon? There's no difference, okay? All that's small stuff. Like changing a shirt."

I took another breath.

It couldn't be that easy.

"Son, that's just your ego talking," he said. "Your mind is a wonderful servant, but don't you dare let it start calling the shots. Lead with your heart. You're a uniter."

And he turned to Azuki, who plopped herself beside me.

I never noticed before, but she looked radiant and hopeful. "She loves you too" my dad said. "She'll carry a part of you into the future."

Azuki blinked.

"I will?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" Yuki asked.

But my dad just shook his head.

"You already have," he said to Azuki.

He held my shoulders firmly, his eyes bright with wisdom. "Remember what you've learned tonight, Ryu. Remember this moment—a new age, born of love."

I felt my hand around Yuki tighten.

"Please," I said to my dad. "Don't go."

He smiled at me one last time.

"I'm not going anywhere. But that won't stop you from missing me."

He put his hand above my heart.

"I'll see you again. You'll see us all again. You know when, right?" he asked.

And I nodded, knowing what came next.

"Until all are one," I said, along with Yuki and Azuki.

"We already are," my dad said.

Azuki sprang to her feet. Somehow she was holding a gong.

"Now?" she asked.

And my dad nodded.

"Son, do you know what reality sounds like?" he said as Azuki brought the mallet down.

I awoke with a gasp, jolting upright in bed.

A dream?

My chest rose and fell heavily, heart thundering.

"Ryu?" Yuki's voice was soft.

I turned. She was standing by the window overlooking the onsen. The room glowed faintly blue in the early morning light.

I blinked away the last haze of sleep and climbed out of my futon.

"Ryu," she said again. "Look."

I stepped closer.

She was standing. Her bare feet rested firmly on the onsen's dirty floor, dust soft beneath her toes.

And she was solid. As real as anyone with a body.

"I can feel my weight," she whispered, eyes wide with wonder.

I heard her draw a breath.

My mouth hung open. She took a step forward into the sunlight.

And then her body faded. Like a dream slipping away in the moment before waking.

"Oh," she said quietly, staring at her ghostly arms. "What happened?"

I couldn't believe it. I'd seen it. Yuki, whole. With a body. Just like in my dream.

"I had a dream last night," I said. "You were in your body."

She looked at me, and I saw the sadness blooming in her eyes like a frozen flower cracking under spring thaw.

"The Nightlands," she whispered. "You were in the Nightlands! You brought me a body from the Nightlands, Ryu!"

I shook my head.

"What are the Nightlands? I heard Inego mention them once."

Yuki floated beside me, her head bowed, her feet no longer touching the floor.

And I heard her breathless sigh before she answered.

"They're where people go when they dream, or when they have an important dream, or something like that."

That kind of made sense the way anything in Shin'yume made sense.

"So, if I'm dreaming, then I'm in the Nightlands?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"Maybe. I'm hardly an expert. I've heard some people talk about the Nightlands. Hibana. Um, her cousin Hotaru. If you heard Inego talking about it, you might want to ask him."

I looked at her. She was still staring at the floor.

"Yuki," I said.

But she didn't move.

She's a part of you. She loves you.

"Yeah?" Yuki asked.

Then she looked at me.

"I don't know how I did that. But I promise you, I'll do it again," I said.

I stood in the hallway with Yuki by my side. I had my school uniform on, with the silver buttons polished and the "borrowed" reference book in my backpack.

I could've gone straight downstairs and grabbed breakfast, but there was something I needed to do before I did anything else.

"What are you waiting for?" Yuki asked, noticing my hesitation.

I looked at the stairs leading towards the third floor curiously.

"Isn't that were Natsumi stays?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Yes, but what would you see Natsumi about?"

I shrugged.

"She's always bothering me, Yuki, and I have no idea what she wants," I said.

I started climbing the stairs and Yuki floated beside me.

"Her stretches, her teasing, wiping her face on the front of my shirt," I muttered to myself as I reached the top of the stairs.

I reached the third floor.

There was a shorter hallway at the top of the stairs, and only three rooms.

One on the left, one on the right, and Natsumi's room lie at the very end of the hallway.

I didn't have to guess.

Who else would have a cloud of purple-colored smoke snaking out, like ribbons, from the thin gap between her door and the onsen's wooden floor?

Not to mention the leopard print door paint.

"Yeah, that's Natsumi's room," I said.

Yuki floated in front of me.

"Be careful, Ryu. She's not a morning person," she warned.

I looked at my arm, at the still visible claw marks where she'd slashed me a few days ago.

"She's more of a cat-person, eh?"

Yuki grinned.

I didn't have to knock. A moment later, Natsumi's door swung open and she stood by the entrance, vape cart in one hand and a half-drunk bottle of Ramune in the other.

Wearing only a smile.

"American-jin," she said, letting my nickname roll off her tongue. "Come. Show Natsumi what the cat drug in."

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