I Fell In Love With A Girl Who Died Before I Was Even Born

As her fist sailed through the air towards my face, I felt time slow to a crawl.

And then it stopped, completely.

I saw Hibana frozen mid-swing, Inego with a shocked look on his face, and Yuki frozen in place, eyes wide with disbelief.

No one moved a single centimeter.

Only Lana wasn't frozen. She just shook her head and smirked.

"That's such a cute trick," she said. "So, I hope you don't mind if I did one better and just froze time for a… um…"

She snickered like she was telling the world's funniest joke.

"Well, since time's frozen, a second is however long I want it to be."

If she were waiting for that to get funny, she'd still be waiting, but she just punched my arm.

"Look, you didn't want to train with Hibana earlier. Why do you want to train with her now?" Lana asked.

I had an answer.

"Because her cousin, Hotaru, shot me in the neck with a damn poison dart, and I want to know what the hell her clan wants with me."

Lana barked a laugh.

"Ha! You think dream Hibana's gonna know if you don't already know?" Lana asked. "Everyone here, except for me, is summoned from your subconscious, buddy."

I looked around Dick's Discotheque.

"So, all of this," I gestured.

Lana's red and orange hair bounced playfully as she nodded.

"Yep! You guessed it. It's all in your head," she said.

I looked over at Hibana and Yuki.

"What happens if I imagine them naked?"

She laughed even harder.

"Then you imagine them naked, you naughty American boy. I'm not peeling their clothes off."

I had to ask.

Inego suddenly clapped his hands together, which made me jump.

"You ready or what, mate?" he asked as I spun around, remembering the punch coming my way.

Only Hibana was gone.

I spun in a circle looking for her, only to find Lana giggling and shrugging mischievously.

"Whoopsie," she said. "Who cares, though. She wasn't the real Hibana anyway. Go dance with your friend. He's got some things to teach you."

The spot where Hibana stood was as empty as though she'd never been there at all.

I stepped onto the dance floor.

"Stuff I already know, right?" I asked Lana.

She nodded.

"Oi. It's all stuff they taught us in class, chap," Inego said. "It's just that this time around, I'm going to help you through it."

I looked up at the speakers. Electronic techno flowed all around the two of us.

"After that line, I half expected 'You've Got a Friend in Me' to come on."

Inego rolled his eyes.

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"Yeah, you know how much they'd charge us to license that song? Even in a dream world, we've got to work with the budget. Here's some C & C Music Factory for you instead."

The synth bass thumped beneath our feet. Dream-Inego swayed like he was getting ready for a proper tutorial montage.

"Alright," he said, rolling his shoulders and stepping back like a dance coach. "Let's review, yeah? Pop quiz. What's the first rule of magic?"

A sigh escaped from my lips.

"Oh no," I groaned. "Is this gonna be like class again?"

He gestured to the dance hall around us.

Yuki was walking around the perimeter, looking at the flashing lights and nodding along to the music.

She saw that I was watching her for a moment and grinned at me.

"Go Ryu!" she mouthed.

Inego rolled his eyes at her.

"Oi, does this look like class?" he asked, grinning too wide. "In class you were stuck behind your desk listening to Enshō-sensei."

Ugh. Enshō-sensei.

The guy looked like Liberace's Japanese cousin, if Liberace were colorblind and somehow ever worse at fashion.

"But still," Inego said. "If you slack off, I'll personally slap the apathy out of you with a rolled-up syllabus."

He raised a finger dramatically.

"Rule one: Magic can't solve your problems."

I squinted at him.

"That's... right. I remember you telling me that earlier."

I shook my head.

"It's just as depressing now as when you said it back them. Isn't solving problems literally the point of magic?"

He exhaled through his nose, like he was trying very hard not to whack me.

"No, mate," he said patiently. "The point of magic is to help you solve your problems. It's like having extra options. It's not a cheat for getting out of problems."

What the hell was?

"Now, number two, you have to be aware of whatever you're casting a spell on, as in you've got to be with it or near it. If you can't see it, hear it, or you're not there with it, forget it. That means if you're in New York City, then you can forget about your spells affecting anyone in Shibuya Crossing."

I crossed my arms.

"That makes teleporting basically impossible," I said.

He grinned.

"Oi, picked up on that, did you? Well, you're right. Which is what makes having an Achillies Gate nearby useful, even if you don't know exactly what it looks like."

Then he snapped his fingers and produced a wand from his sleeve.

"Finally," he said. "You need something to focus your magic through."

He held his wand out. I'd seen it before but seeing it in the dream world was something else entirely. A faint pinkish light seemed to emanate from the wand. Even here, in the Nightlands, it hurt my eyes if I looked at it too long.

He slid his wand back in the sleeve and motioned for me to join him.

"Oi, you're a pain in the ass, yank. You've got to learn how to dance, damn it. You already know that magic has to be performed. You want the universe to listen to your suggestions? Convince it with a show."

He began to move with the music, and he was good.

I was jealous because he made everything he did look effortless.

He suddenly posed dramatically.

No. He seemed to freeze in place for a moment, and a strange expression crossed his face.

Then he looked at me, tilted his head to the side, like Shion did when she was thinking, and he grinned.

"We doing kabuki?" I asked.

In fact, the way he moved almost reminded me of Shion. Then he reached out and took my hands.

"No," he said before I could protest. "Keep your damn trap shut, okay? Just… for once. Shut up and listen. You've got to let go. You're too wound up, you tight ass."

His eyes flashed, and suddenly, his features softened.

It wasn't Inego. It was… Lana?

And I realized, somehow, it had been her for awhile now.

I glanced up and saw dream Inego by the bar talking to dream Hotaru.

"Shh," whispered Lana, letting go of my hands and putting her arms around me.

"Dance with me, Blondie," she said.

My entire body tensed, but she never stopped dancing.

If anything, my tension became part of the dance.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Her eyes seemed to glow, or it could have just been the lights from the discotheque, or it could have Lana.

"Don't give me that," she teased. "This is what we always do, isn't it?"

My mouth dropped open.

"That sounds like something…"

Lana winked at me.

And I watched as her hair shimmered in the light. It changed, growing longer, darker. Then Lana's fiery eyes became a smooth, cool green.

And I felt the fire in her touch leave, replaced with something as cold as stone.

Shion.

"Miss me, Blondie?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

She pressed herself against me.

"Apparently, I'm showing you how to dance for some reason. God, you're awful," she said. "Loosen up. Here, move your shoulders like this. Gah, if you're going to dance with me tomorrow evening, I'd better show you how before you make a damn fool of me on the floor at the real Dicks."

Somehow, dancing with Shion felt better. Like, her judgement somehow felt like affection at this point.

Even if she was a dream. I didn't care. It was good dancing with her.

After a few moments, she looked up at me.

"Okay," she said letting go. "You ready to try this for real?"

I grinned.

"Oh, are you my magic instructor now, Shion?" I asked. "Since when do you know magic? Well, it's my dream so, go for it."

She tilted her head, like she did when she was confused.

"Magic?" she asked. "Blondie, I don't know a damn thing about magic. I was going to teach you to dance."

I shook my head.

"Yeah right," I said. "As if. You're 'dream' Shion, right? Didn't Lana send you here to teach me how to perform magic?"

This time I felt her tense.

Her tone shifted. Not loud. Just sharp enough to draw blood.

"Who's Lana?"

Suddenly, without knowing how, I realized that Shion never introduced herself as 'dream' Shion.

And the others knew about Lana because I knew about Lana.

"You're really her, aren't you?" I asked.

But I already knew.

She looked up at me, and suddenly the music stopped.

"Don't be mad at me, Blondie," Shion said sheepishly. "I saw you were dreaming, and I wanted to see you."