...Friends?

The sound of the calm ocean waves. Loud, but faint, angry, yet tranquil.

Dull, but meaningful.

The crashing of waves, their roars…they sound as if they were so far away. Soundless, diluted, and Inaudible, as if there was a wall between the ocean and those who listen to it.

A girl floated in what seems to be an ocean; so deep that the area around her was like a void. The darkness seemed to be embracing her, and she can feel it begging her

Pulling her deeper.

In the far distance, she could barely see the light that shines through the surface of the water. The crashing waves formed different shapes, and bright light changed along with it. Up there, it was so blue. Blue and vibrant and yet…it seemed so distant.

So far away.

Even when her mind felt sober and clear, her body was the opposite. Sluggish, sleepy, drowsy. She felt as if she was actually moving in water. It felt like a cage, constricting her, restraining her.

A person with claustrophobia would surely have a panic attack.

…

Time passed, and the girl felt nothing had changed. No, it was not as if time froze-she could clearly see that the ocean's waves were still moving. Even then, nothing eventful changed. Alas, the only thing the girl could do was look up at the light above.

Then, as if out of nowhere, her nearby surroundings began glowing. A familiar glow, a familiar blue. It was dim at first, but as time passed, it grew brighter and brighter.

Yet, the darkness was too large for the blue glow to overcome it, but the glow never had that wish at the beginning.

From within the abyss, a small familiar blue light approached her. When the light reached her, it began to expand, and wrapped her in a blue cocoon.

All she could do is watch, as it wrapped around her...and it-

The girl's eyes abruptly shot open, and Anna sat up with a gasp.

Immediately, her hand covered her chest as she desperately grasped for air. Heart pounding and head throbbing, the girl sat there for a moment, heaving for air.

Moments passed as Anna sat there, breathing in and out. Breathe deeply through the nose, hold for two seconds, then exhale through the mouth. The process repeated for several minutes until finally her heart calmed down.

She layed back down onto the ground, and breathed in the fresh air-

'Ground? Grass?'

Sitting upright once more, Anna looked around this time with more detail.

The girl could only describe the phenomenon that is happening to her as a dream. She not only did not find herself, not only her bed, but out on a sunny hill surrounded by a golden sea. Although there were some hints of flowers, the majority was what seems to be wheat.

It just so happens that Anna happened to be laying within the shade of a dreamy blue colored tree, with purple-brown bark.It could not be a coincidence that this tree looked extremely similar to the one she saw in her dreams, the one with the butterflies.

This time, it was only more vibrant. So full of life.

Mysterious and annoying.

Observing it, and her eyes looking at it up and down, the girl then took another look around once more. Then, Anna had a thought.

'Why do I still have these types of lucid dreams?'

The girl sighed and placed her hands against her face. She swears, ever since she came to her grandpa's house, she had these really strange dreams.

'Is it really haunted? It can't be...'

So Anna began agonizing over the pain of living in a haunted house. As she was feeling depressed, she saw a familiar blue butterfly descending from the blue glowing leaves above her. Holding out her hands, she watched happily as Amor landed on her raised hands gently. She brought the butterfly close to her face.

"Amor, you're here too?" she asked.

If the butterfly heard or understood what she said, he ignored her as he simply fluttered off.

Anna simply stood up and began following him. One does not expect an answer from a butterfly.

As she walked down the hill, she felt the breeze pass by her face. It truly felt like she was in a dream. The butterfly fluttered farther, and so Anna had to move faster. As she did so, she closed the distance between herself and the chest-high wheat.

Finally walking up to it, she took a closer look.

Anna felt the world became even more beautiful.

Different fauna and floras she'd never seen before existed around her. That's when she began registering that this really was a dream, and she was sober enough to walk around with coordination, not some drunk.

This place really is different from her 'world.'

Then, her eyes trailed to something that stood out amongst the golden sea.

Anna walked over to it, and knelt over it. It was a flower, albeit a small one.

There are many varieties of flower that exist in the world, yes, but the fact its petals 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 blue when the sun was out was a different story. It wasn't just one group of petals, no. There was another group of petals connected to it. A circle of petals grew out from the base of the purple-brown stick-looking stem, and the other circle she first observed grew near the top. At the very top, three blue orbs grew from the stems, surrounded by something transparent.

Anna wasn't knowledgeable about plants. In fact, she couldn't be considered an expert, just some experienced beginner from her time being a gardener. Alas, even if she couldn't tell what it was exactly, what she knows is that it truly was unique. Unique and-

"Beautiful." she whispered, breathless.

She really wanted to take some of this back to her garden.

Anna truly regretted not even having her sketchbook with her. Is this not a dream? Why couldn't she simply manifest the sketchbook into her hands?

As she mentally grumbled and forgot that she was really in a dream, she noticed a figure a couple meters away from her on the hill.

…

The girl's first instinct was to back away, but her instinct made her more curious. Taking a closer look, she noticed that the figure was a girl.

A girl slumbering peacefully and quietly.

The moment Anna's eyes laid her eyes onto her, a dialogue of words similar to a game notification suddenly appeared in front of her.

===============================

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁: Talk to the girl

𝘛𝘢𝘴𝘬: Waking in what seems to be a lucid dream, you seem to have found a stranger sleeping near you.

-Your task is to talk...to the girl.

It's that simple. Exceedingly simple.

===============================

Anna didn't bother to take another look at the sleeping girl, because it was obvious that the screen in front of her was even weirder.

"!?"

She waved her hand in front of her, but it waved behind the strange screen.

'So in a dream, I am also hallucinating. Great,' Anna thought to herself as she attempted to touch the blue transparent screen once more. Alas, was no use, as her hand phased through the screen. After trying a couple more times, she gave up.

The thought of her being in a dream made her think of something else, and she felt a smidgen of excitement.

'Since it's a dream, this might all be fake, so let's just play along with it...'

So, Anna simply walked up to the girl. Standing by her side, she looked down on the girl. When she looked at the sleeping girl, Anna felt nervous. Just saying something is a huge difference from acting on what one says.

'How does one initiate a conversation with a sleeping person again?' Anna thought, rubbing her chin.

While Anna began pondering, something must've happened, because the sleeping girl started to move.

The girl yawned, and raised her stiff arms, rubbing her eyes.

"...hmm? Is this another dream-ooooaaaaahhHHHH!"

Seeing a girl standing over her, she started crawling back. It was obvious that the poor girl was startled. Unfortunately, her hands slipped, and she let out an 𝘰𝘰𝘧 as she fell back onto the ground with a 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥.

"Ow..."

The girl sat up and started to rub her back in pain, but she finally registered the fact where she's at. And that she wasn't alone. Alone with a stranger, and alone in an unfamiliar environment.

"W-who are you? Also, wh-where am I?" the girl asked in a shaky, tentative tone.

She followed the mindset of 'if a person didn't bother to hurt her while she was sleeping, that means she's safe...

For now.

"I would also like to ask you the same thing..." Anna asked, trying to stop her nervousness from leaking to her voice as she looked upon the fallen girl. In response, the girl was surprisingly...surprised?

"Eh, you also don't know?" the girl asked bewilderedly.

Seeing that Anna didn't seem to be trying to harm her, the girl let out a big sigh. Subsequently after, she stood up with a huff. Brushing off the grass and dirt from her clothes, the mysterious girl did the same thing Anna did.

First looking at the surroundings. Like Anna, the girl was awed by the scenery.

"Wow...it's so pretty here. This is nothing compared to where I lived-ah!"

The girl stopped what she was saying, and turned to Anna. While Anna blinked at the mysterious girl, said mysterious girl made a serious face.

It made Anna feel a bit nervous.

Before she could even ask what was wrong, the mysterious girl suddenly bowed her head a little over 45 degrees.

"H-hello! My name is Abile-Abi! I-I hope that we can be friends!" Abi said, keeping her head bowed. Seconds past, and she peeked at Anna before bowing again.

'Oh,' Anna thought. She finally remembered what to do. She had forgotten to introduce herself! So, Anna bowed her head politely in return.

"...hello Abi. I also hope that we can be friends."

"No, I really do hope we can be friends!" Abi bowed more quickly than before.

"No no, I hope that we can be friends..." Anna responded, also bowing slightly faster than her previous bow.

Abby then bowed faster than her previous bow, followed by Anna bowing, in which she responded by bowing again...

The both of them continuously bow to each other politely repeatedly while also saying similar responses.

...

In the end, they somehow figured out a way to compromise, and finally started their other half introductions. While they were talking, she found out that Abi was her age! How interesting.

During their talk, Anna started observing her in detail.

Abi is a blue-eyed, twelve year old girl. She wore a simple red bow on the top of the right side of her wheat colored hair, which unusually blends in with the golden sea of wheat surrounding the hill where they were at.

Her attire seemed to be a gray-black dress, outlined with patterns of beautifully woven black lines. The girl also seemed to wear a peculiar hat on the top of her head. Her strange dress stopped at the top of her thighs, and from there, wore white puffy pants that stopped just above her knees.

For some reason, Abi's short dress comes with a long sleeve, a sleeve so long that it nearly doubles the length of her arm. When she waves her hands left and right, the sleeves fly around in the air.

One must wonder why she wears that kind of clothing? Anna didn't want to ask. It was impolite of her to ask.

…

Eventually, she accidentally asked because she had no idea what to talk about next. Thankfully, Abi responded happily.

"I like it!"

That's it. Nothing else.

Then, there was the uncomfortable silence…

"..."

"..."

It seemed both of them did not have any real social experience. Inevitably things seemed to start becoming awkward. Quickly thinking on what to say next, Anna suddenly had an idea.

"What else do you like?" she asked quickly. That's one way to make a friend, like having common likes and dislikes, right?

"Something I like...something I like..." Abi held her sleeve beneath her chin, thinking. After a few seconds, her eyes light up.

"Ah! Please listen to this well..."

*Ahem!*

She coughed into her sleeve.

"First of all, it's waffles! The crunchy and fluffy ones, made with thick butter!" Abi said, raising her hand and pointing with a finger up. Although her hand was still in her long sleeve, it's easy to discern that her finger is pointing up.

'Waffles, huh?' Anna gulped, imagining the dish in front of her. It sounds delightfully appetizing.

Just hearing her describe the dish made her salivate, and her stomach growled a tiny bit.

"Having crispy roasted bacon with it is out of this world!" Abi continued, clapping her hands. "Ah, and mash potatoes as well! Covered in gravy sauce and..."

Anna gulped again, unconsciously nodding along with Abi. Also unconsciously, she gradually began to be too invested in the conversation.

...

It turned out the two girls had a lot in common. For example, their love for tasty food, sweets, and being polite. The both of them became increasingly excited. Seems like there were hardly any people that could relate to them.

What a sad world this is.

Alas, they almost never really talked to other people in real life. Even if this was a dream, it should be alright to call each other friends...

Right?

Even then, although they had a lot of things in common, there was a difference between them. Anna was mostly silent and rarely spoke, while Abi wanted to try new things, smile a lot, and try to make friends.

Strong emphasis on 'try.'

It turns out through a bit of talk, Anna found out that this hopeful girl never really had a real friend before.

Just like herself. What a fascinating con She couldn't help but cow away as Abi looked to be exhilarated. Once the nervousness shredded away, the girl became talkative. She was such a lightbulb of joy, Anna couldn't show her tiredness on her face.

While they were talking, Abi spoke up about something she got.

"Um…by the way…ummm…"

"What's wrong?" Anna asked politely.

"Well, you see…umm…I-I have these two teddy bears I just got...but I don't know what to name them..."

While Abi was standing around, shaking her legs and fidgeting. Anna only watched as Abi seemed to be waiting for something…

"If you need help naming them, then I guess I can help-"

All of a sudden, Abi's face closed in on her, and she grabbed Anna's hand. Anna became so flabbergasted by the sudden movement, she froze. Even when said girl didn't notice. Abi's face and eyes brightened as she jumped up and down, pulling the stunned Anna along with her.

"Really!? Oh gosh, oh gosh, thank you thank you-!"

The two girls spun around on the hill. Abi spinning in laughter and joy, smiling brightly. On the other side, Anna went with the flow and tried to make a smile.

"Oh…yay…happy…"

It was not even close to a decent smile, but Abi didn't notice.

Soon after, Abi released Anna, much to her relief. The excited girl clapped her hands together, even when Anna was desperately inhaling air.

"Oh I know! When I have the chance, I'll give you one of the two, and we can name them both together, okay?"

Even when feeling tired as her social bar was low, Anna couldn't help but smile. She tossed away the fact that someone she met just minutes ago intruded on her personal space.

'That sounded like what friends do. It would be a fascinating-'

Suddenly, a blue butterfly fluttered down to Anna, and landed on her head.

"Huh? Where did you go off to Amor?"

Anna picked him off her head and held him in her hands.

"There you were, Amor...where have you been?"

As expected, the butterfly didn't really respond. He was just fluttering his wings.

Anna didn't care.

"Is that...your friend?" Abi hesitantly asked, leaning closer. Anna nodded.

"Oh, yes. I came here with Amor...somehow. I raised him since he hatched from his egg," saying that Anna looked back at the butterfly in her hands.

"Ohhh...how lucky...I've always wanted to raise a pet..." Abi mumbled sadly.

From her eyes, they looked like a true family. Something she always wished she had.

"It's okay Abi. If there's a chance, I'll give you a caterpillar egg of Amor's species if you can't get one," Anna said.

The butterfly's wings simply twitched. While the two were looking at it, Abi spoke up.

"Still, that is a butterfly, right? And it doesn't look normal at all. Does that mean it's your bonded companion?"

"Bonded...companion?" Anna said, tilting her head. She had absolutely no idea what that was.

Abi nodded sagely, putting a sleeve below her mouth.

"Um…yeah, you signed a...contract? Yes, a contract," she said, then subsequently nodded. "You signed a contract with it-him, right? If he's your companion, then it should be shown on your status screen. Maybe? I think."

"You…think?" Anna asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, I think," Abi nodded confidently. "Didn't those blue floating words tell you?"

'Status screen? Blue floating words? What is this, a game?' At the thought, Anna almost cringed physically..

"Blue...floating...words?"

"I had another dream similar to this one, and I figured out that I can open my status here, since the blue words told me so."

'Here's a chance!' Anna thought.

"Oh I see...what is it anyway? Those blue words?"

"I don't know, but it helps me a lot!"

"..."

Anna stared at Abi's face, but she found nothing but enthusiasm, sparkles, and confidence. This new friend of hers seems to be too trusting towards strangers and weird things.

Even if that stranger is herself.

Be that as it may however, at least she had figured out something crucial to her mental health.

'So this is a dream after all.'

For the past few minutes, Anna thought she somehow died and was isekai'd into a world with litrpg game elements. What kind of cliche would that be?

'Dying in my sleep…that would be a way to go.'

Anna, over the many years, had read many books. A side effect of living inside her room for the majority of her time in the city. Some of these books were mostly fantasy, and they had these weird types of cliche moments. She guessed that some of the author's didn't intentionally write the fillers or cliches, but it must be because of the word count.

Or they just don't care and write whatever they want.

One would usually have a panic attack once they knew they were dead, but not Anna. She believes in common sense! Logic! If Anna doesn't see actual magic, or something that will shake her confidence, she won't believe it for a fact.

Anna shook her head.

"What is this status thing? Attribute page? Game screen thing?"

"What are you talking about Anna? You just have to think of the word status in your head, and then a blue page will pop up, listing your stats and skills!" Abi said with a smile and a nod, as if it was the most logical, common sense type of thing in the world.

Well, Anna can at least give it a try.

Breathing deeply, Anna clearly thought of the word in her mind and tried to focus on it like those people who mentally say these things to activate it.

'𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴.'

...and a moment later, a blue screen appeared in front of her.

===============================

Name: Anna Choko

Titles: ???

Bonded Companion: Amor

Race: Human (???)

Strength: F

Endurance: F-

Agility: F

Magic: E-

Luck: C+

-------------------------------------------------------------

𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀:

???

===============================

Subsequently after, another screen abruptly appeared in front of her.

===============================

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁: Talk to the girl (𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱!)

𝘙𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥: Abi's friendship!

===============================

Anna stared at the reward notification.

Abi looked confused at her reaction.