"In the Next Life" [TBHK - HanaNene] (Short Story)

Chapter One

Hurried footsteps echo throughout the halls of the university without ceasing.

"I'm so late! Tsuchigamori isn't going to go easy on me!"

The door slams open, startling the students inside the classroom with Tsuchigamori staring at them in anger.

"You're late, Amane!"

In the doorway stood Amane, clothing in disarray and huffing for breath as he ran for a near thirty minutes since the last bus took off as soon as he got to the stop.

"At least I made it before the end of class!"

"Although you are correct, it's still not an excuse for you being half an hour late!"

It turned silent as he finally caught his breath and fixed his shirt and jacket to be a bit more presentable. Tsuchigamori just stares at him before sighing in annoyance.

"Just sit your ass in your seat before I change my mind."

Amane just giggles and sticks his tongue out at him as he makes his way to his seat, his voice taking on a slightly teasing one, knowing that Tsuchigamori wouldn't really do anything as he is his favorite student despite how it looks.

"Yes, sir."

The professor's eye twitches as the male irks him before turning back to the rest of the class as he heard soft laughter.

"Let's turn to page 166 in the astronomy textbook and continue where we left off from yesterday."

His voice fades out of Amane's head as he looks out through the window in wonder. He was late to class today because he had a vivid dream of someone; someone who seemed familiar, yet, he couldn't quite remember who it was. It was a girl, that's for sure. Her voice was crystal clear in the dream, but the rest was fuzzy.

'It's not going to do any good dwelling on it. It was just a dream, but her voice... it made me feel at ease. Like... like I belonged...'

---

"Ow!"

Aoi stares at her friend in worry since she's been acting weird the whole day.

"Nene, are you okay?"

Yashiro rubs her forehead in hopes that it will ease the ache from walking into a wall.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Aoi. Just a bit out of it today."

The purple haired girl helps her up from the floor before holding her steady.

"What's going on? I've never seen you like this before, Nene."

Nene walks to her seat with Aoi's help and sits down, sighing.

"I had this weird dream last night."

"What kind of dream?"

Aoi takes her seat right next to her, getting the materials out and ready for their next class after their break is over.

"I saw this guy, but everything was blurry. I couldn't really see him, but his voice was as clear as crystal. His voice sounded so familiar, but I can't remember where I heard it before... and, his voice made me feel warm... like, I was wanted and loved..."

Aoi listened carefully until the end of what she had to say and then a cog clicked in her mind once she recalled something she had read once before. She stood up, slamming her hands on her desk.

"Nene!"

Said platinum blonde jumps, her heart going a million miles a minute at the sudden scare.

"Why'd you have to scare the crap out of me like that, Aoi!?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, but I remember reading something about this before."

"About what?"

Nene calms down, her hand unconsciously playing with the ends of her hair as she puts her attention back to her friend and not the near heart attack she just had.

"Dreams of a past life bond!"

Her eyebrow raised in a silent question at Aoi's answer.

"It's a dream about a person you had a bond with in your past life. This bond is usually a romantic one."

Nene just stares at her in disbelief.

"A romantic bond? Aoi, this is me we are talking about. I've never had any luck in that department. Ever!"

"Hmmm, maybe not at this moment, but your luck may change soon! They say that you will either fully remember this person from your past life or meet them soon after having that dream."

She wasn't fully convinced about this, but one thing is for sure; she knows that person somehow. She could feel it. Whether it's romantic or not, she doesn't know. She just hopes it's nothing bad.