"Yume, did you practice venipuncture yet?" Naozumi asks while keeping his walking pace with Yume who has slower pace than him.
"No, not yet," she answers while holding her books on her hand.
"Give that to me," Naozumi took the books, the sun painted the sky with bright orange color while greeting night time.
Most of the students went home already while some are still having their class.
Thankfully, Naozumi and Yume's schedules were the same.
"Thank you," Yume answers while hiding her blush.
Naozumi captured Yume's heart with being a gentleman.
It's been five months since they started dating.
"You can practice with me if you need, we'll have our practicals next week. You should be prepared."
They are already outside the campus which is why they held each others hand tightly and walked closely together.
They agreed that whenever they are on campus, they should keep distance from each other to avoid being punished for Public Display of Affection.
"Ah~ I missed you," Naozumi said while smiling. He's looking straight but Yume can feel that he did.
His hands are holding her hands tightly.
"We were together all day," Yume answered while tilting her head to Naozumi's arms.
"Yeah, but I can't touch you, and it was really killing me."
Yume just giggles while enjoying her time with Naozumi since her house is already nearby.
But she can't keep her thought away from it, and sometime she has to tell it to Naozumi, that she's dropping her course.
During her first year, she knows that she does not enjoy her course.
That she's passing because she's studying not because she loves what she is doing.
Now that she's on her second year, she found out why, it's not her passion.
Ever since she was young, she loves drawing and painting.
Now, she wants to pursue that.
She knows that Naozumi will understand it but with how he's acting around her, she can't say it easily.
He wants to be with her all the time and the distance that they agreed whenever they are on campus is already killing him, what about when she's on another department and they can only see each other during breaks?
"Sorry," Yume said while holding unto her books which are full of sketches on its pages.
"What are you thinking? You don't want to finish our course? Because of art?" Naozumi brushes his hair annoyingly.
'Damn, those heart striking hair makes me want to stay in this course,' Yume thought while watching Naozumi making her smile because she has the most handsome man in campus.
"You're not good in art," he said looking at her blankly.
"What?" Yume's heart suddenly sank. The beat it has while looking at Naozumi suddenly disappeared.
It feels like her heart suddenly stopped beating.
"You're not good, remember that drawing of me that you showed? I only told you that it's beautiful because you looked so happy and excited so I told you that, but no, it's not. If that's the thing that pushed you to decide to drop this course, stop. Okay?" Naozumi went to Yume and held her face softly between his hands.
It was warm.
It was comforting.
But it was painful as well.
She can't believe to hear those words from Naozumi.
"No, it was not about you telling me that it was beautiful. It's about me enjoying and loving and pouring my heart out into every art I made. And your portrait was my favorite even though it was not that good, my heart was in it. And if your saying that it was not beautiful, then you just broke my heart, Nao."
She pushed Naozumi's hands and started to walk away but he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him then he kissed her.
Yume's tears were streaming down while he caress her cheeks while their lips were the ones talking for their hearts. She closed her eyes because she suddenly felt that this will be the last and she can't look at Naozumi, it pains her to know what he will say after this sweet kiss they shared.
And when Naozumi stops, his words suddenly made a hole in her heart.
"I'm letting you go," he said before letting Yume ran from him.
She did not understand what he fully meant during that time.
She just ran away because she thought he's breaking up from her since that is what she was expecting to hear.
But now that she looks at the Art Naozumi in front of her making some Art tea, which has a flowery cup and a tea being poured which has a color made from the mixture of orange and brown watercolor, she wants to know what he meant by 'Letting her go'.
Suddenly she realized that the Art Naozumi does not know about that.
'But why did he never texts me or call me or meet me after he said that? Did he really broke up with me? Why did I not contact him before?' she got lost in her thoughts, the tea was the only thing that brought her back to reality.
"Here, Yu," Naozumi said.
He sat down on the couch in front of Yume then started to sip his own tea.
"Hey, why do you call me Yu?" Yume asks since Naozumi does not call her like that or that the art Naozumi even knows her name.
"Because that is what your name is, you told me before, right?" Art Naozumi said puzzled by Yume's question.
"What? When did I tell you that? This is my first time going here."
Art Naozumi suddenly brushed his hair.
He usually does this when he's confused, just like before.
"No, maybe you don't remember, but you went here before. You said your name's Yu and you left us the creator for her to look after us especially me. You made Rei--"
"Who's Rei?" Yume cuts off Naozumi with the mention of a girls name from her ex-boyfriend's art mouth.
"Rei, the creator, the guard of the door. You said she will be taking care of us. She'll keep the world happy and alive as long as you love art, but now, she suddenly lost consciousness that we don't know if she's alive."
Art Naozumi looks so down and heart broken, it's as if he loves Rei so much that it pains him to see her like that.
"Alright, then let's go to Rei," Yume stands up but Naozumi just looks at her sadly.
"You have to deal with the scavengers first, then the witches, then the gores, then the giants, and finally, the demon," Nao says looking down.
"What?" She suddenly remembered that she did draw those things recently.
"They started to appear suddenly when Rei started to get weak and there were a decrease in creations appearing, and the colors started to stop flowing.
It was really her fault.
When she feels helpless, she also draws helpless arts.
"Can you tell me, what is this color? Why do you keep on telling me that?"
Yume got curious with how Nao keeps on telling her about the color, she can understand that there are few art creations that appear in their world since she's drawing less and less.
"Colors, these keeps us alive. It's our air, it's our breath. If there's no color, there will no more life to us," he said while sighing every sentence.
"What? No, lines, there are still lines," Yume reassures that they will be alright without colors since they still have their lines which are obviously their anatomy.
"No, lines are still made of colors. Black, White, they are still colors. So we have to wake her up, if the door closes, there will be no more color and creations."
Now that Yume thinks about it, lines do have colors as well.
But how will she be able to wake Rei and save the world?
"The demons and hideous creatures will also escape from this world and go out to spread disaster," Nao added.
Those hideous creatures are still her art, but they are also her sorrow and pain.
If they get out, she might not be able to handle them.
"I decided, I'll save this world", she said, 'and myself as well,' she thought.
Nao smiled at her, but it was full of sadness and it shows lack of confidence in her.
Still, she does not remember when she got in this world before.
"Tomorrow then, we'll have our adventure," Nao said while looking at Yume's face.
'They really look alike,' he thought while smiling.
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